The Strongest Spellblade

“How are you doing Mister Burnstock?” Melody asked me after being invited into my dorm room. Healer Melon had picked up breakfast for both of us. He was nice like that.

“Well, and yourself?” I asked.

“Quite busy. The middle and the end of the semester is always one of our busy times. Assessing everyone’s skill levels. We are going straight to a professional evaluation since I have no doubt you will be one of the top ranked students,” she said.

“So, you just check my status?” I asked.

“You will fill out status sheets. Then your overall status will be checked by one of the Professors to compare to what you wrote down. Just be truthful and everything will be fine,” she said.

“Sure. Let me finish breakfast,” I replied, and Melody nodded. She told me where to go in the afternoon. There were no classes offered during the next week as a mid-semester break. The end of the semester saw a two week break.

Level: 1 Experience: BLOCKED

Healing: 430/430 Stamina: 430/430 Mana: 250/250

Class: Tier 0, Child(Blue)

Effect: Increased Skill Acquisition(+10%), Increased Learning Speed(+10%), Increased Stat Gain(+10%), Increased Physical Gain(+10%), Increased Mental Gain(+10%)

Vitality: 43 (+1)

Endurance: 43 ()

Strength: 33 ()

Agility: 41 (+1)

Perception: 31 ()

Mind: 98 (+6)

Magic: 25 ()

Focus: 45 (+2)

Free Points: 0

Tier 1(26)(10+): Light Armor(100), Dwarven Language(94+64), Spear Skills(89+18), Eldarin Etiquette(75), Monster Processing Skills(75+29), Shield Skills(75), Dwarven Etiquette(73+58), Drawing Skills(70), Dwarven History(68+55), Pulse Strike(67), Bow Skills(52), Combat Tactics(51+1), Cleaning Skills(50+3), Pugilist Skills(50), Speech(50+33), Driving(39), Dancing Skills(38), Axe Skills(34), Deflection(30+5), Dagger Skills(29), Stealth(25), Throw(25), Sweet Tooth(25), Cooking Skills(22), Wrestling Skills(21), Medium Armor(20)

Tier 2(44)(2+): Mana Sense(100), Danger Sense(100), Focused Breathing(84+4), System Sense(76+2), Focused Running(64+20), Soul Sense(61+1), Focused Toughness(61+1), Algebra(60+11), Darkness Vision(56), Focused Meditation(53+10), Geometry(50+8), Trap Detection(40), Focused Sword Skills(37), Shadow Vision(34), Speed Reading(34+8), Critical Thinking(27+3), Mana Vision(24+1), Focused Dodge(24+2), Monster Analysis(20), Depth Sense(20), Focused Rage(14+2), Eldarin Lore(8)

Tier 3(54)(1+): Empowered Will(99), Soul Resistance(91+2), Poison Resistance(65+9), Fear Resistance(61+1), Healing Resistance(55+1), Eldarin Runes(40), Fire Resistance(27), Lightning Resistance(26), Empowered Writing(20), Cold Resistance(20), Soul Strike(20+3), Mana Manipulation(18), Arcane Resistance(16), Skill Control(16), Physical Resistance(12+2), Alchemy(5), System Control(5+1), Social Resistance(4+1)

Tier 4(8): Soul Link(20+20), Pain Immunity(5+2)

Tier 5(-): Experience Siphon(C)

Equipment

Gloves: Gloves of Processing(T2) (Blocks Mana T2 and Below)

Boots: Armored Boots(T1) (Basic Equipment)

Head: Armored Helmet(T1) (Basic Equipment)

Body: Light Armor(T1) (Basic Equipment)

Ring1: Ring of Concealment(T3) (Hide Status T3 and Below)

Ring2: Ring of Remote Awareness(T3) (Allows for remote viewing from companion ring)

Amulet/Bracelet: Experience Blocker(T4) (Prevents all experience gain for primary level)

Weapon1: Beginner’s Blade(T2) (Sharpness-T2, Durability-T3, Self-Repair-T2)

Equipment1: Runic Writing Set(T3) (Write Runes T3 and Below)

I handed the filled out status sheets to Healer Melon who looked them over. He let out a sigh of relief. “At least your Mind stat has gone way up. That is good. Only one new skill, but a tier 4 skill. That has probably contributed to your recent exhaustion. Your soul is being weighed down. Too many high tier skills,” he said. I knew he was looking at that tier 4 Soul Link skill. Some quick math put me at a skill level gain of 560 over the last 3 months. If anyone could beat that number, they would get my sincere congratulations.

Some skills looked like they should have gotten more levels like Skill Control or Focused Toughness. But that was the issue with having so many skills. Skill Control wasn’t being heavily used, since I didn’t have a need to suppress my Pain Immunity skill like I had during resistance training. Physical Resistance was overriding Focused Toughness, that was the problem with overlapping skills.

Many skills got the same results, but in different ways. That was why having too many skills wasn’t always a good thing. You could get skill conflict like that, making one skill much harder to level. That was why knowing what skills to focus on to achieve the best synergy was important. But even with that knowledge accumulated for thousands of years there were still issues.

“But I am at 74% now. I could get 8 more tier 1 skills and still be okay,” I replied.

“Don’t stress me out like that,” Healer Melon said.

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“My Soul Resistance only went up by two levels. I was hoping it would go up a lot more,” I replied.

“It shouldn’t even be that high to begin with. At least your Mind stat should keep going up for when you change courses next semester and focus on Elven skills,” Healer Melon said.

“At least I am closing to maxing out a couple of Dwarven skills, I can drop those classes once I maximize the skill.”

“You will need to pick up new auxiliary classes,” Healer Melon pointed out and I nodded at this.

“Weapon’s training is always a good choice, since you are around. I really want to start improving my tier 1 skills.”

“Perhaps, but maybe you should consider focusing on improving Focused Sword Skills. Having one strong weapon’s skill will be useful if you are attacked again.” I considered the suggestion and it was a good one. Just that a tier 2 skill would take much longer to improve than a tier 1 skill.

“Or working on Mana Manipulation in an auxiliary class in preparation to learn spell skills. They are a huge force multiplier,” I replied.

“Don’t overestimate spell skills. While they are flashy, there is a reason people still use handheld weapons, including your mother. It is challenging to use spells in combat and hit your target. That is why very few people go the path of becoming a spellblade,” Healer Melon explained.

“I know, but I do want to learn spell skills. It is one of the major reasons I am here after all.” I then considered that I had Healer Melon here to help me out. Personal protection was important, and my father was going to gift me a better sword when I graduated. “Focused Sword Skills then. Fill up my time with more physical skills to balance things out, since my brain is melting.”

Once we were done with our late breakfast, we made our way to the building where they would confirm a student’s exact skills. I was shown to a room and asked to remove any equipment that would block or distort skills that would check my status. I removed the ring my father had given me long ago.

While it might not seem useful since I was sharing my status right now, it kept casual attempts to scan me away. After a couple minutes a worn down looking older man in a staff members uniform arrived. A younger woman entered and set a truth orb on the table.

“Skill sheets,” he said and I handed them over.

“Lots of growth over the last three months. Lots of skills as well. Place your hands on the truth orb and I will ask you questions while I check your skills. Answer yes or no.”

“Understood,” I replied and put my hands on the truth orb.

“Is your name Justin Burnstock?”

“Yes.” The orb glowed green.

“Are your skill sheets accurate?”

“Yes.”

“Is your Dwarven Language skill level 94?”

“Yes.” I then was asked several other questions about specific skills.

“Alright, we are done.”

“Couldn’t you scan my entire status and see it at once?” I asked.

“I did, but for every truth orb and truth seeking skill, there are counters. You would be surprised by how many people think they can slip something by the College and one of us staff members managing the ranking system here at the College. Combining a truth orb while I actively scan you makes it near impossible to hide your actual skill levels,” he explained.

“It really is that bad?” I asked.

“Trust me, it is. It is nice to see a student who doesn’t try to cause trouble and has improved so much over the last three months. Keep up the hard work,” the older staff member said before leaving along with his younger assistant who took the truth orb and my status sheets I had written out.

I looked at Healer Melon who shrugged. This place was quick and efficient. Just a bit impersonal and weird in some aspects. Like the sudden departure without even a goodbye or an introduction. It went against etiquette, but this place was fueled with math not niceties.

We left the building as more students were brought in and checked. “Lots of students to check,” I said.

“At least your silver ID got us through quickly. Once you get gold, things should be even easier,” Healer Melon said. I wasn’t too concerned about getting a better ID from the College. Benefits came naturally to those who did well. Worrying about things like that was distracting.

“Well, it feels weird to have an entire week with nothing planned,” I said.

“You could always work on your skills on your own?” Healer Melon suggested, but that wasn’t very appealing. I did note that a large chunk of my skill gain came from almost dying to the Dark Cabal. I wouldn’t be able to repeat that next semester. I knew other people were probably busy working hard to gain more skill levels, but I didn’t have it in me to do all of that.

“Aren’t we above a city?” I asked.

“The City of Genoa. An island nation with a temperate climate that has instituted a voting system for their ruling class,” Healer Melon told me.

“I thought we would stay near the dwarves?”

“They aren’t very happy about what happened, even though the College provided aid and helped save a lot of lives. Moving above more traditional human nations would create political instability. So, it moved to Genoa. We are floating just South of the city along the coast. The elevator goes down to the surface and students are allowed to freely visit the city if they want to,” Healer Melon said.

“Then let’s plan on that. After they release the public rankings tomorrow,” I said.

“Very well. I see that you are worried,” Healer Melon said.

“Just want to compare myself to the other students. I didn’t look before, since it was just a guess by the faculty. But now these are actual rankings. How I do by the end of the year will be determined by this.”

“Planning to increase your Sweet Tooth skill?” he asked me, and I shrugged.

“I work hard, so I get to relax. Maybe my mother can keep fighting and working day after day, but I need a break. I gained 560 skill levels, which is immense. If anyone can beat that, I want to meet them and shake their hand,” I replied.

“That is a lot,” Healer Melon said. A lot was an understatement. It was ridiculous. I knew enough now to know that the amount of levels I was gaining was insane. Healer Melon was just trying to not let me get a big head or slow down, but I was going to have my break and enjoy it. Other people could exhaust themselves trying to squeeze in extra levels during the break, but I wanted to live a little. Life wasn’t just about studying and getting stronger. We were near a new city, a new nation. I wanted to check it out. For new sweets and if there was anything else that was interesting.

“Hmm, anything else I should know about the city?” I asked.

“There is a bit of chaos, since they are preparing for enrollment in half a year. Since Undercraft was heavily damaged, the College is going to a rotating system of visiting a different city each year, or at least that is the plan. They are starting with Genoa. The main city has the same name as the country,” Healer Melon explained.

“I am glad you are on top of this,” I said.

“The other healers and I get together and chat occasionally. Got to keep the flag raised for the Five Star Institute of Healing and all that,” he said with a small grin.