Ascension from Dual Professions

Chapter 87: Chapter 86: New Skill, Perfect Level Inscription

Unlike the guaranteed Excellent Level skill from the [Act of Justice] reward, the Skills and Inscription from these two quests were guaranteed to be at least Rare Level!

The difference between Excellent and Rare could be illustrated with a ready example: Jon’s [Balanced Cleaver].

This finely-forged cleaver, made by Sutton, had superb quality and an excellent feel, but it was ultimately just an Ordinary blade with no special effects.

But if an Enchanter applied a proper Enchantment to it, it would become a true ”Extraordinary Weapon,” and he wouldn’t have to worry about it being ineffective against certain special enemies!

Therefore, Jon took the two chances to draw Rare Level Skills and one chance to draw a Rare Level Inscription very seriously.

He first took a shower, then sat on the sofa. He used the remaining uncut Silver Crystals to roughly form the shape of a cat’s paw—the Divine Emblem of Phoebe, the Goddess of Luck. It wasn’t guaranteed to work, but it was a good luck ritual.

Jon placed his hand on the crystal paw and murmured softly.

”Come on... Draw!”

’First, the Warrior Skill!’

[Drawing Random Warrior Skill (Minimum Rarity: Rare)...]

Light flashed as countless Skill icons flickered past, finally settling on an icon of a small blue figure charging forward, sword held in both hands.

[You have learned the Skill ”Glory Charge LV.1 (Rare)”]

[Glory Charge LV.1 (Rare): Consume 10 Stamina to lock onto a target and initiate a charge. The charge consumes an additional 2 Stamina per second. While charging: movement speed +50%, damage taken -10%, and melee attack range +10%. Cooldown: 2 minutes.]

It allowed him to lock onto an enemy and charge, and it even provided damage reduction and increased melee range. Overall, it was a great skill, perfect for chasing down fast enemies.

But as Jon read the description, a strange look crossed his face.

’This skill... doesn’t it seem a bit like when I charged out to kill that Evil Mage?’

’How exactly does this skill-drawing mechanism work?’

’I’m not sure. Let’s keep going!’

’Next up, the Holy Domain Skill!’

[Drawing Random Holy Domain Skill (Minimum Rarity: Rare)...]

The light flashed again. This time, it was another blue icon, depicting a white Knight’s gauntlet tightly gripping a ”disc.”

[You have learned the Skill ”Aura Mastery LV.1 (Rare)”]

[Aura Mastery LV.1 (Rare): Consume 10 Willpower to switch your Aura’s state between Normal, Concentrated, and Diffused. Cooldown: 10 seconds.]

[Normal State: The Aura affects you and your allies. Aura effect +10%.]

[Concentrated State: The Aura only affects you. Aura effect +50%.]

[Diffused State: The Aura only affects your allies. Aura range +100%, Aura effect +20%.]

It was a skill similar to ”Stance Switching,” but it switched the state of Aura Skills instead.

Its appearance proved that drawing Skills was, in fact, quite random. Getting [Glory Charge] was just a coincidence.

Having confirmed this, Jon couldn’t help but rub his chin.

’This skill is pretty good. It covers three combat scenarios: small-team fights, solo combat, and large-scale battles...’

’But here’s the problem... I don’t have any Aura Skills yet.’

At that thought, he couldn’t help but recall Ingram’s kind, yet ”sly and cunning,” smile.

’Tsk... To use this skill, it looks like I’ll have to pay a visit to the church...’

After drawing these two Skills, it was time for the last item: the ”Inscription,” which was extremely rare during the novice stage.

But Jon didn’t have high hopes for this item, which was used by players to alter the form of their Skills.

After all, he had already proven through his experiments with [Magic Mastery] that anyone could alter the form of a Skill, so long as they practiced constantly to raise its Skill Level.

Therefore, something extremely valuable to players wasn’t necessarily of much use to him.

A Rare Level Inscription had limited effects; it wouldn’t matter much whether he got a good one or a bad one.

Jon casually initiated the draw with a thought.

[Drawing Random Inscription (Minimum Rarity: Rare)...]

Light flashed. A series of oddly shaped symbols with archaic strokes flickered by, their forms a blur.

But this time, the drawing process seemed to be taking a little longer.

The light continued to flash, but it slowly began to shift from its original blue toward a clear cyan...

At this sight, Jon’s eyes widened, and he sat up straight.

’No way, did I actually get a good drop!?’

Generally, any quest reward involving ”rarity” was almost always of the minimum guaranteed level.

Cases of receiving a higher-tier reward weren’t unheard of, but the probability was very low. Some players had even compiled data on it, finding the chance of a ”tier-up” was only about 5%.

’Did I really hit that 5% chance today?’

He couldn’t care less about a Rare Level Inscription, but a Perfect Level one was a completely different story!

An instant later, the light settled.

A cyan Inscription materialized before his eyes!

[You have obtained the Inscription: Multiple Projections (Perfect)]

[Multiple Projections (Perfect · Inscription): Skill Projectiles +2]

Staring at this effect, Jon couldn’t help but glance at the Cat Claw Divine Emblem he’d made, clasping his hands together in prayer.

”My apologies, Lady Phoebe! I take back what I said!”

After his prayer, Jon eagerly opened his Skills panel.

Sure enough, after the Warrior and Mage tabs, a new Inscription tab had appeared!

A lone, cyan Inscription was now gleaming within it.

By touching it with his mind, Jon gained a clearer understanding of how to apply the Inscription.

It was simple: just touch it with his mind, select a Skill to apply it to, and it would take effect. He could also detach it whenever he wanted and move it to another Skill, just like in the game *Yino*!

As for which of his current Skills the Inscription could be applied to, he only had [Elemental Arrow] and [Righteous Counter]. In terms of practicality, however, only Elemental Arrow was a good fit.

After all, Righteous Counter already produced a large number of light spikes, so adding two more wouldn’t be a major improvement.

But Elemental Arrow was different!

With [Multiple Projections] equipped, he could cast and fire three Elemental Arrows at once. This transformed a single-target Skill into a multi-hit one, making it far more powerful against both single enemies and multiple targets.

In terms of pure damage output, it was essentially a threefold increase!

’A Perfect Level Rune... so unbelievably powerful...’

The lucky man sighed in amazement.

But this upgrade wasn’t without its price.

When Jon applied [Multiple Projections] to Elemental Arrow and gave it a try, he could clearly feel that creating three Elemental Arrows at once placed a corresponding demand on his Magic Mastery.

When manipulating a single Elemental Arrow, he could alter its flight path and its very form.

But when trying to control three at once, he could only alter their flight paths, and even then, they didn’t respond as well.

After another failed attempt to make the three Elemental Arrows fly in a circular orbit, a realization dawned on Jon.

’Perhaps... I can use this to train my Magic Mastery Skill Level?’