Max had a few troubles with learning the [ Curse ] spell, but eventually he did manage to learn it as well.
The curse spell was extremely practical because Max could technically imbue it on any item given enough time.
He could imbue curse on a piece of paper and then send it as a letter in a sealed envelope to his enemy, who would be afflicted with the curse once they come in contact with the paper.
He could use it on items or even his own armour, this way if the enemy's skin ever came into contact with his armour they would have a cursed effect from it.
The only downside was, the curse was not everlasting. Depending on the thickness of mixture used it could last for up to 3-5 months, but would definitely need to be redrawn after that.
The duration would undoubtedly improve with mastery, and Max could already see ways to make the curse permanent by carving it into something, but it was not practical for surfaces such as glass or cloth.
It took Max 1 hour to learn how to brew the mixture properly and then imbue the curse spell onto an item, but he still had 1.5 hours left for learning the final spell on the list to get a SSS rating.
[ Medium Of Power ] - Call on the Shaman God ' Angakok ' and become his medium of power.
Use his divine power to wreak havoc on your enemies
It was the only skill that did not require Max to make inscriptions to perform, but rather it was a skill that required the largest amount of sacrifice.
It was a skill that came with a cost, the cost being 50% of one's HP bar, 50% of one's MP bar and 50% of one's stamina bar alongside 100,000 EXP ( roughly worth 1 tier 3 level )
The cost was very steep considering the skill lasted for a total of 5 minutes and every ounce of MP used by Angakok during the duration of the skill had to be returned back to Angakok over the next 10 days.
This meant that if Angakok expended 500,000 MP worth of power while taking over one's body, they needed to repay him that 500,000 in the coming 10 days or their life would be forfeit in his name.
This made using the skill a double edged sword as apart from losing HP,MP STP and EXP one was also indebted to a god.
Given the choice Max would never choose to learn this skill, however, he had none at the moment. To pass the tier3 promotion test he was compelled to learn it and hence with no options left, Max took a deep breath and began chanting the mantra to connect his status bars to that of Angakok.
" O holy one, the progenitor of all shamans
Your descendants call for your help.
In exchange for my vitality, my mana and my vigour grant me your immense powers,
for my enemy's need to be destroyed.
Heed my call for I know your name ' Angakok ' the shaman god, the enslaver of the' Kraken ' and the slayer of the sea god Poseidon.
Heed my call! "
Max felt his status bars deplete rapidly, as he felt dizzy and disoriented all around.
He felt his consciousness being pulled out of his body as a pair of burning purple eyes stared into his red ones before dismissing his existence all together as nothing but whiteness remained.
The purple eyes were surprised to see him; it seemed like it had not expected Max to call for help, or not have any descendants knowing the spell being alive anymore.
However, although it was for just a second Max felt a suffocating pressure from those eyes, pressure just like what he felt when he saw Kremeth get serious for the first time ever when he fought off the horde of dragons.
Pressure that could only be created by an ancient god whose power was unfathomable.
For 5 minutes nothing seemed to be present around Max, nothing but an empty white void that threatened to destroy his sanity if he stayed there too long, but thankfully 5 minutes later he opened his eyes being back-in control of his body.
All around him the entire testing area created by the system was destroyed.
Destroyed was an understatement, it was wiped off existence as nothing but charred soil remained where Max stood.
None of the three stones were present, nor were Max's hounds which were guarding him around as only destruction remained where Max was.
[ Note : Your debt to Angakok - 430,000 units of mana ]
[ System Notification - You have mastered all 3 spells and hence passed the stage 2 of the tier promotion test.
Evaluation -
You have cleared stage 2 in 2:01:03 setting a new record for this stage, being the fastest to clear it in the history of the blood shaman class.
You receive a bonus rating for being the fastest one to ever clear it.
Final evaluation - SSS+ ]
[ System Notification - You have successfully cleared stage 1 and 2 with high rating and are eligible for stage 3 the ' Willpower ' testing stage.
Note - This stage is not compulsory and should you wish to end the promotion test with an A+ rating you can end now.
For higher rating the third stage is a must.
Do you wish to continue onto the third stage?
Yes
No ]
Max did not come this far to back out now, also the willpower testing stage did not seem so bad as Max considered himself to have considerably strong willpower, so he selected ' Yes ' and prepared himself for the third stage.
He was definitely going home with a SSS evaluation, he was not going to settle for anything less.
—-------
/// A/N - Bonus chapter for hitting the GT target, good job everyone!
The GT growth has been slow this month, we are only 14th, it is partly because of my lower release rate, but hopefully we shall rectify that and aim for a higher spot for February! ///