(Leo's POV)
It was a day just like any other for Leo, where he was meditating with his Marrow Meditation Manual, however, his progress today seemed much slower than the previous day, which was a regression in meditation speed that was hard to conventionally explain.
'What's going on? Why is it taking me so long to produce new cells today?' Leo wondered, as somehow he felt as if his body was just unable to absorb mana at a sufficient rate, slowing down his meditation progress.
However, although he was slower than usual, Leo did not suspect any foul play by the Ship Operators, as he had no reason to think that anyone would want to sabotage the speed of his meditation outside the game world.
Instead, he wondered if he was making a mistake in the absorption process, or if he was too focused on making new cells that his mind did not have enough energy left to focus on other tasks.
"Odd… the meditation manual isn't pointing out any problems with me. I'm sorry sure the scroll would point it out if I was making some mistake that I could otherwise avoid, but the fact that it's not displaying any warnings means that the fault is not with me…." Leo muttered, as he decided to unexpectedly cut his meditation session for the day short and focus on physical practice instead.
It had been 3 days since he rejected Captain Kid's preliminary offer, however, the ship's Captain had not reached out to him since.
He had neither been pressured to reduce his gaming time nor informed that his conditions had been accepted, placing him in a limbo where he was unsure about his own future.
"I hope they don't outright ban me from the game–" Leo mused, as he picked up his practice daggers and began to warm up in the manor's training area.
To prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, he had avoided logging into Terra Nova for the past three days, hoping to conserve every remaining gaming day he had left. However, with the situation in the game world growing increasingly volatile, he knew he was going to be inevitably forced to log in tomorrow.
He had hoped to hear back from Captain Kid before he logged back in, but with the Captain not actively seeking him out, he could not go look for him either, as looking desperate now would only make his negotiating position weaker.
*Stab*
*Stab*
*Stab*
Throwing his daggers with streamlined precision, Leo began his physical training for the day with dagger throwing, as he worked on his aim and his ability to throw daggers in a curved arc.
Currently, he could accurately place a 15° curve on his dagger throw arc, with pinpoint accuracy, while only a rough accuracy with a 30° or higher curve.
His goal was to someday learn the 90° dagger throw, so that he could take out opponents behind the cover of a wall/obstacle without risking exposure.
It was apparently possible upon reaching [Perfect] mastery of a weapon, but so far he was nowhere close to that realm.
"I once again have two empty skill slots, bringing my potential skill tally to 8…." Leo muttered to himself as he trained, as he let his mind wander about what sorts of skills he still lacked as a warrior.
In more ways than one, he was a complete Assassin having every necessary skill needed for stealth and assassination, however, he lacked any skills related to self-regeneration and healing.
After having fought several 'Master' level fighters in the game over the past few weeks, Leo understood that having a self-regeneration skill was extremely important, however, he just could not wrap his head around a suitable option.
The most-effective healing skills were all restricted to the 'Healer' class players and consumed a lot of mana to perform.
Spells like [Greater Heal] drained nearly 50% of the mana bar of an average level 450 player, which was too expensive a cost for Leo to bear even as a level 1000 maestro.
For him, he needed something more subtle, something passive that could heal his micro-injuries fast and clot his blood incase of a major wound, however, could not find anything matching the exact profile.
So far, he got-by from carrying lots of stamina and HP potions, however, to fight against the Black Dragon, Leo knew that he had to learn every skill that he could.
The second skill he singled out to learn was any skill related to proper defence.
So far, his superior speed and reflexes were the only defence he had, however, with yet another empty skill slot at his disposal, Leo knew it was time for a change.
Dodging a blow was not always an option in a high-stakes battle and having active defensive measures under such situations was a huge advantage.
If he were to be restricted as a 5 skill-slot player, Leo would probably never waste a skill slot on defence especially when his speed and reflexes were so high, however, given the luxury to have one, it was not a bad choice to make.
Any skill that could deploy a body barrier, or reduce the impact of an incoming blow by 30-50% could be a game-changer in a life/death battle and Leo understood this all too well.
Unlike the healing skill where he found no suitable options to learn, Leo knew exactly what sort of defensive skill he wanted in his arsenal, with him already having singled out three choices.
[Full Cover]
[Mana Barrier]
[Damage Control]
All three of them were Semi-Legendary skills whose skill scrolls were available for purchase in the market and Leo planned to buy one in the near future.
The fight for the Empire was going smoothly and was likely to conclude within this week, leaving Leo with only one last milestone to focus on.
A milestone that would be the ultimate test of his gaming journey so far.
The fight against the Demon King and the Black Dragon Drogo.