Jake watched the battle again, this time already knowing the outcome, allowing him to focus on aspects he hadn’t before. He observed their clashes and primarily the Viper as he kept a close eye on the claws and the poison running through them at all times.
He focused on the axe warrior and his indomitable will.
On the way that the Viper used all his skills and manipulated magic.
He focused on everything he could as time rewound again after the Viper escaped, as Jake once more intimately experienced the escape skill related to Wings of the Malefic Viper. Soon after the escape skill was used, time rewound as Jake experienced everything again.
This happened a dozen times as the Path of the Heretic Chosen skill stayed active longer than ever before. Perhaps it was due to it consuming two attempts, or maybe it was due to the way this attempt worked, but either way, it allowed Jake to learn more than before.
Fang and Wings were the two skills truly in focus, yet Jake felt like he learned just as much from Valdemar as he did the Viper. The man was what Jake could only describe as inspirational. His utter aura of dominance and willpower that didn’t allow a single trace of doubt to enter his mind, as well as skills that synergized with this, made him an absolute monster. He truly never made a move believing it wouldn’t work or fight, believing he couldn’t win. Was this delusional? Perhaps… but it clearly worked for him.
He was the epitome of a warrior despite not necessarily being the most skilled fighter from a technical point of view. Every attack was infused with every fragment of his will, and every atom of his body radiated battle intent. Jake was in awe the more he looked on, but sadly the period of the skill was soon over.
A final time he experienced traveling with Wings as he focused on it, but he felt he was still a distance away from fully comprehending it. In fact, he had learned a lot more related to Fangs as he felt he was just on the cusp of comprehension.
But then something changed. Jake flew away with the Viper, but instead of time rewinding or the vision ending, Jake was returned to Valdemar and the golden orb. The axe warrior’s weapon had broken from that final strike as he stood unarmed and looked up at the orb as he breathed heavily.
Then he took out a bottle from some spatial inventory and opened it. He went over to a pool of the Viper’s blood as he poured the liquid from the bottle out onto it.“Cheers, mates, first drink’s on you guys. I bloody won,” he said as he took a whisk of the bottle himself, and to Jake’s amazement, his wounds stopped festering soon after as he stabilized himself from all the poison in his body. It wasn’t a healing potion or an antidote he had drank but alcohol so fucking pure it washed out and neutralized much of the poison. It was not a cure, but at most a temporary fix. Not that Jake in any way thought it possible the man would succumb to his wounds, even without knowing he had later become a god.
Valdemar then finally turned his attention towards the golden orb as he flew up to it, the barrier around it fading just as he did. The orb was nearly a hundred meters in diameter, but when the man laid his hand upon it, the size reduced to fit in his palm. He looked at it a bit as he put it into his storage and just flew down and landed on the ground again as he took out another bottle of alcohol as well as two mugs.
“One for the legend made today!” he said as he poured the liquid into one of the mugs. It was a golden ale-like drink of sorts, and the mugs were both old and wooden.
“And one for those of tomorrow!”
The second mug was filled as he placed it on a stone away from him and lifted the first mug to drink.
“To victory!” he yelled as he raised the mug in triumph, and for a fraction of a moment, Jake felt like Valdemar looked straight at him before the vision ended, and the skill came to an end.
The projections were in an uproar as suddenly, without any warning, the testee had disappeared. Not just gone invisible or been teleported, but literally disappeared from existence to every method of perception they had. Nearly every method.
“His Truesoul is still anchored here,” a projection in charge of the dungeon monitoring tool said. It was only detectable due to direct system assistance from the dungeon, allowing not even the S-grades there to know what had happened.
Which meant whatever had made him disappear had to be either directly done by the system or perhaps a Bloodline or a Transcendent. Transcendent being the more probable, no matter how improbable it was for a D-grade to have one.
“Are you su-“
Before the question was asked, the human reappeared. Instantly something felt different as the Hydra also stopped up. The human turned his head towards the Hydra as he muttered: “Fangs… huh…”
None of the judges knew what he meant, but whatever had happened in the brief moment he was gone had somehow led to a change none of them was quite sure of.
The scalekin looked on as he genuinely wished for the human to win.
“He is in a state of enlightenment,” the beastkin said, as he frowned before grinning. “This might not be over quite yet.”
Jake returned to the “real world” as he processed what he had just experienced. His mind was still occupied as the Hydra stopped a few hundred meters away, looking on with newfound caution. Jake himself only now noticed he had gotten a notification quite a bit ago… about halfway through the vision.
*Skill Fusion Detected*:
[Basic Twin-Fang Style (Uncommon)] + [Basic One-Handed Weapon (Inferior] --> [Improvised Weapon Mastery (Rare)]
He was surprised at it, but it quickly became clear this was merely an intermediary step as only a bit later, another one had come.
*Skill Upgraded*: [Improvised Weapon Mastery (Rare)] --> [Fangs of Man (Epic)]
Ignoring the danger of the Hydra being able to close in and attack at any moment, Jake checked the new skill out as he finally managed to clear away that one eye-sore of a skill from his status sheet.
[Fangs of Man (Epic)] – Humanity’s natural weapons have never been their teeth, claws, or anything else innate to them, but instead the tools they wield and their ability to adapt anything into an instrument of destruction. Allows the hunter to more effectively use anything deemed compatible as a melee weapon. Makes the hunter more familiar with any weapon wielded. Adds a bonus to the effectiveness of Strength, Agility no matter what melee weapon you wield.
Jake still stood there as he held the broken wooden stick in his hand and Eternal Hunger in the other. The Bloodfeast Dagger had fallen to the ground a dozen or so meters away, but Jake wasn’t in a hurry to pick it back up.
Instead, he looked towards the Hydra as he held the stick. It was sharp, and Jake knew instinctually that his new skill worked with it. He grasped it tighter but felt it break as Jake’s grip was just too strong for it to handle. Jake frowned, and he knew it wasn’t right. It didn’t feel right yet.
Valdemar had flooded the fang with energy… no, with a sense of self. A sense of ownership as he truly made it into his weapon. Made it part of him. He also remembered what Villy had said of warriors seeing their weapons as extensions of their bodies through long-time nurturing. But Valdemar’s was not that. To him, in that moment, anything could become the axe that was the arbiter of his will.
Jake picked up another stick as the Hydra looked on cautiously. It was still healing, so it wasn’t losing out by doing so, and besides… it didn’t seem smart enough to know what Jake was doing or trying to do. Not that Jake was entirely sure either.
The new stick was as weak as the one before, but Jake tried again. Not to recreate some concept, but simply to replicate that feeling. A few moments passed as a bit of energy invaded the stick, only for it to explode, getting a bit of movement out of the Hydra that now no longer wanted to just observe passively.
It charged as Jake wielded Eternal Hunger while still picking up another stick with a string of mana. He met the Hydra’s charge as the battle began again. From the point of view of the Hydra, it had only been around a minute since it had smashed Jake away, but to him, it had been hours. Hours that felt longer than usual due to his feeling of inspiration and the effects of Path of the Heretic Chosen.
This meant Jake’s mindset had time to change, and the momentum of the fight had reset. An unexpected bonus for sure, but a very welcome one. Jake did hamper himself a little as he dove into the battle, not necessarily to fight to win but to capitalize on his enlightenment through combat.
The two of them clashed as Jake was slightly faster than before, likely due to the increased agility, or maybe just because he was not frustrated like before and his mindset calmer. He dodged away from the mouth of the Hydra as Jake cut with Eternal Hunger and felt the blade cut through the scales a bit better than before. It was slight, but there.
Just after landing a blow, he was smashed back, but Jake stabilized and attacked again. He ran on pure inspiration as he smashed down the wooden stick, only for it to break on the scales as he was sent tumbling back from a snapping maw.
But he saw it. A small nick in the scale.
With a string of mana, he got another stick as he dove in. He slipped under an attack as he stabbed again in failure. This kept up a few more times as Jake got more and more injured, but he also felt like he got closer and closer.
To the Hydra, it was clearly winning, but to Jake, he felt like he got closer and closer to victory as he was repeatedly retaliated only to return with new sticks to try and stab with. He was in some ways lucky that he kept getting smashed through trees to get him new materials for his self-made stick spears.
Not quite right, Jake thought as he frowned. Still not right… I need more… it needs to be like his…
Valdemar had truly made it part of himself. Like an extension of his body. It was entirely different, and Jake wasn’t delusional enough to believe he could copy the skill of an S-grade future Primordial, but he at least believed he was on the right track and could make something out of it. He was not satisfied with the current skill and would take it further.
Jake went all-out as he broke nearly a hundred sticks before suddenly something clicked as he lifted a stick and slammed it down. The Hydra just ignored it by now, but suddenly that changed. A notification sounded out in Jake’s mind as he felt like the stick was truly a part of himself, and to the surprise of both Jake and the Hydra, it managed to break through the scales and embed itself a few centimeters into the flesh of the Hydra.
It didn’t stop there as Eternal Hunger changed even more, and Jake cleaved down as he chopped down and left a deep wound, sending blood and scales flying into the air.
Before Jake could celebrate, he was smashed back by a tail swipe and tumbled to the ground before quickly getting up, unable to hold back his curiosity as he checked the system notification.
*Skill Upgraded*: [Fangs of Man (Epic)] --> [Fangs of Man (Ancient)]
[Fangs of Man (Ancient)] – Inspired by an old legend, you walk a path of one yourself. Humanity’s natural weapons have never been their teeth, claws, or anything else innate to them, but instead the tools they wield and their ability to adapt anything into an instrument of destruction. Allows the hunter to more effectively use anything deemed compatible as a melee weapon. Makes the hunter more familiar with any weapon wielded. As your comprehension of natural weapons grows, it allows you to truly make any weapon a part of yourself as you forcefully temporarily integrate it into your Soulshape as if an innate weapon, vastly increasing its durability if otherwise fragile. All effects related to weapon integration are more effective and easier to accomplish with Soulbound weapons. Adds a bonus to the effectiveness of Strength and Agility no matter what melee weapon you wield. Durability increase of weapons based on Willpower.
Jake felt the inspiration rush in as he smirked. It wasn’t even close to the level of what Valdemar did, but it was progress… right?
He also felt Eternal Hunger more than ever before as the faint roar of the Chimera in his Truesoul sounded out within his mind. It was utterly suppressed the next moment by his will, not that it was necessary as Eternal Hunger was clearly on his team in this fight.
It wanted to win and to drain the life of the Hydra. The life energy within the beast was far more valuable and of a higher level than anything Jake had ever fought before, and the weapon knew that. It was a qualitative difference that was recognized.
So Jake bent his knees as he prepared to charge forward with his new weapon… no, fang, in hand. The fang of a human. And as a fang, was it not natural that something else would follow? He had experienced and realized his inspiration in relation to Valdemar, but that was not all. One more thing now dominated his mind.
This is my fang… so as the Viper could use his claws, I can use this.
The weapon itself felt like a part of his body - like his own arm - if still a bit separate. One could liken it to a prosthetic, but one he could still vaguely feel, the same as he could “feel” his nails, teeth, and hair. It wasn’t truly living or a part of him, but the system still considered it part of his Soulshape.
He knew the weapon was still below that as hair and nails and such would heal naturally while the weapon would not due to its temporary nature. Either way, it was still far stronger as he intimately felt the energy move through Eternal Hunger as he prepared his fang to strike and move his next goal.
It was time to push the second skill to a higher rarity: Fang of the Malefic Viper.