The Strongest Spellblade

“Healer Castelle, I feel slightly different, at least my soul does,” I said during one of our training sessions.

“Your Soul Resistance probably broke through. That is both good and bad news. Bad, since it means your soul is at the edge of destruction. Good news, is that the skill has broken through and will help stabilize things. Describe the feeling,” he said.

“Like a thin layer on the edge of my soul. It is still turbulent, but it seems more constrained if that makes sense? Like the surface is thicker,” I explained.

“Your Soul Sense is improving as well, that is good. Your soul mirrors your body for the most part. It is how healing potions and other skills know how to fix you up. Healing points use energy from your body and the potion itself while using your soul as a template. That is why stronger attacks are more likely to leave a scar behind, since there is Mana in them. It makes it harder for healing points to overcome and remove that external Mana,” he explained.

“All resistance skills are on the surface of my soul?” I asked.

“Most. Even poison. Your body will fight it off initially, but once it makes it past your resistance, you will have to depend on other skills at that point. That is why resistances are risky to depend on. If they break, it can do so in unexpected ways. Some of the attack might get through, all of it but just a shorter burst, it all depends on the Mana and skill interactions. That is why training resistances is risky and they should never be counted on,” Healer Castelle repeated his warning.

“What comes after a resistance?” I asked.

“Immunity, a tier 4 skill, and a nightmare to level up. They consume a lot of Mana when they activate. And if you are immune, they don’t do damage. So, they have to be broken, but in combat that is insanely risky, there is a story, about an idiot healer. Very big idiot, don’t ever copy this,” Healer Castelle said, and I listened closely.

“This idiot, who I won’t even give a name, just idiot, thought she was so smart by having lots of healing skills and then getting resistances. She would train up by healing herself while taking damage. After immunity, comes absorption. Her idea was to get every resistance possible, level them up to tier 5, and be able to absorb the attacks to recharge her reserves and attack skills. Idiot!” I listened carefully.

“She died screaming when she ran out of Mana. Tier 4 and tier 5 skills use a tremendous amount of Mana. So, while she had some success due to being careful and clever, she wasn’t prepared when faced with a monster that did immense damage in single attacks. Her skills struggled and weren’t able to absorb enough of the attack, quickly enough. As her mana failed her, she was incinerated alive, becoming a flaming idiot,” Healer Castelle said with a scoff.

“So, resistance skills aren’t good?” I asked.

“They are like another set of armor. You don’t want to depend on your armor, but if you need it then it is useful. But you shouldn’t go into fights counting on your enemy to do what you expect. That is a good way to become a flaming idiot,” he explained.

That made sense. Resistances were already tier 3 and a pain to level up. Higher tiers would be a nightmare, especially if they could only be efficiently leveled in life threatening situations. “But my Pain Resistance leveled up quite a bit training under Sabin?” I asked.

“Did you want to feel pain?” Healer Castelle asked me.

“No,” I replied.

“There you go. You were training to resist the pain, not to level the Pain Resistance skill. That makes a big difference for resistance type skills. You can’t just stick your hand in some fire and level up Fire Resistance that way. The consensus is that since you want to put your hand in the fire, the skill doesn’t level. Mindset is important when using and leveling skills, especially higher tier skills,” he explained.

“What would Soul Absorption look like?” I asked.

“Don’t let the name fool you. You would gain more reserves from soul damage. But you aren’t taking any damage since it is absorbed. Your life is just under immense threat. Since you are taking an attack and if you skill fails to overcome spike damage, you will die. When these skills fail, more damage gets through, it is impossible to just let a small amount of damage through especially in combat. So, while you are leveling resistance, you won’t be able to level immunity and then absorption without something actually attacking you. Like getting Fire Resistance from being constantly in a fire, but that won’t level up higher tier versions of the skill. Yours is only leveling up from the sheer and constant danger you are under,” he explained.

“Then would it be possible to go past Meldor’s Threshold if Soul Resistance got high enough?” I asked.

“No. Don’t even think about it. While it might not truly be absolute, it is best to treat it like it is a point of no return.”

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“Sorry, it is just a skill that is leveling, that I have no control over,” I replied.

“You do have control. You are just a single skill away from death, despite my warnings and best effort. I suspect that your soul might have adapted and somehow know this after all the times I have shouted at you, but we can’t be sure. Natural soul defenses are a restricted field of study,” he said.

“Why is it restricted?” I asked.

“Slavery. Forcing people to take the Slave skill. The Eldarin Empire was a big proponent of slavery. When it collapsed, there were a lot of revolts and targeted attacks against slave owners. So, the practice fell into disuse and was heavily condemned. Now it is a black mark on human history,” he explained. I knew about the slavery of the past but didn’t realize it had to do with the soul.

“Soul Mages were hunted down relentlessly over the centuries. It is a very easy way to bypass stats, skills, and other defenses. Training up a defense is even more difficult and dangerous. While the practice isn’t banned, since there are monsters that use soul skills, and there is a need for healers to deal with such damage, it is heavily restricted,” he explained.

“You didn’t study at the College of Advancement?” I asked.

“That degenerate cesspool of Alchemists, Mages, and Mathematicians, absolutely not. I trained at the Five Star Institute of Healing. Founded by five healers from different races millennia ago. It is older than the College of Advancement, but less prestigious since we focus on healing and not other nonsense,” he explained.

“What about combat healing?” I asked.

“Stupid! I can tell what stupid thought is going through your head after my story. This is why I don’t like telling muscle brained people like yourself stories like that. You are thinking of combat healing to keep fighting even if injured?” he asked, and I nodded slowly at that question.

“Idiot! Don’t get hit. Block, deflect, dodge. Getting hit is asking to be affected by some weird skill a monster has. The higher the level, the more dodging is important,” he explained.

“Even my mother?” I asked.

“Especially your mother. Ask her if you don’t believe me. While she has her fancy heavy armor that can take a beating, and her skills, it is better to not get hit directly. You might live, you might not, regardless you won’t like the outcome. Better to focus your efforts at dodging and killing, rather than trying to heal yourself in the middle of combat,” he explained.

“Thank you for explaining Healer Castelle,” I said, and he let out a soft sigh.

“I don’t like being harsh and yelling, but I just see so many stupid people, so many people die. They think their skills and stats are enough and go with whatever nonsense enters their heads. Don’t be like those people. Even your mother didn’t think things through when giving you that soul fruit. In the race to get ahead and get stronger, many people fall, most don’t get back up, even when I try to put them back together,” he said tiredly. I didn’t ask, but I could tell he had lost people in the past.

I could only imagine being the designated healer in a team in the dungeon, and people dying one by one, while you try and save them. It would be a nightmare, and you would get all the blame, if anyone died, even if they were being an idiot.

That woman, the flaming idiot, she had probably been a friend of his if I had to guess. It wasn’t easy being a healer. The attrition rate in the dungeon was horrendous, at all layers, not just the top layers. All it took was one mistake to die horribly.

The fact that Healer Castelle looked so broken after going on about idiots, made me realize he wasn’t just yelling to yell at people. He was yelling because he cared too much and didn’t want to lose anyone else to things he considered were foolish.

It was easy to get mad at the old man when all he did was yell and tell people off, but I knew I was being reckless with my life. I just couldn’t slow down. I had to go even faster. Push harder, train harder, be better, if I wanted to be the strongest.

The risks were high, but getting a chance to level up Soul Resistance was not an opportunity that would come often. Unless I met a monster that did soul related damage and survived, how would I even begin to level up such a skill?

There was probably a way, but from everything I heard, my life needed to be on the line for such a skill. I couldn’t just have a trainer help me train up the skill, at least not quickly or easily. My mother would never let someone get away with capturing or torturing me to improve the skill either.

But one day it might very well save my life. While Soul Sense might not seem important, it was the gateway to other soul type skills and their immense power. I had been thinking about how I would surpass my mother one day, and soul skills were a possible answer to that question.

I had no idea about her skills, except that that she used magic in conjunction with her sword, going to new heights with a build of spellblade. A combination of weapon skills and magic skills to counter any and all threats.

I tightened my fists. I knew Healer Castelle cared for me, but I couldn’t slow down in the slightest. I had to keep speeding up. I had countless more skills to master. While it might seem like I had a lot of time, I knew every moment mattered in the race for greater strength and higher levels.

Looking at the other people, they just struggled to level a handful of skills. To cast away this opportunity I had been given would be betraying everyone that had invested and believed in me. I wouldn’t do that. Once again, I vowed in my heart to become the strongest spellblade possible, no matter what.

Even if the lessons were mind numbing. The books made me want to pull my hair out with how boring they were in order to stay awake. Even when my body ached and my head hurt. I would keep going no matter what.

“Stop whatever nonsense you are thinking and focus on your Soul Sense. Stabilize Soul.” Healer Castelle’s hand touched my head. I felt a wave of Mana enter my soul but didn’t focus on it. I focused on the vibrations traveling across the surface settled down once more. But they settled down less than previously. My skill was resisting Healer Castelle’s skill. I could tell he knew by the frown on his face, but there was nothing that could be done. Resistance skills were passive. Only the more powerful immunity and absorption skilled could be more easily controlled.

Perhaps if I had a skill control skill of some kind. But that was a problem for the future. Healer Castelle didn’t seem in a talking mood anymore and I didn’t want to ask him more questions right now.