Kieran himself was not a resourceful person in the game, but Coll definitely was.
Coll delivered the news to Kieran the instant he got it.
...
Coll: Doomed! Finished! This is the end!
Coll: Broker, that bastard, went as far as hiring Black Hell Banning!
Coll: And Lawless is not around; anyone who come across his path will surely be killed!
Coll: 2567, Remember, stay in your room. Don't even step out of your door, even if u r a Chosen One!
Coll: Black Hell Banning is one of the strongest Chosen Ones during the early batch. u won't stand a chance against him!
...
Although it was through a screen, Kieran could feel Coll's anxiety between the lines.
No doubt, his recklessness before made the veteran that Lawless had entrusted felt deeply helpless, resulting in Coll's repeated emphasis on how powerful Black Hell Banning was.
Truth be told, even without Coll's emphasis, Kieran wouldn't neglect Banning's existence.
He saw it with his own eyes, Banning's specialty of a wide area attack. If it wasn't for Lawless who foiled Banning's casting, they would have met some serious problem.
As for Kieran's current strength level?
He wasn't sure and unable judge, since Banning's skill casting was interrupted by Lawless, he didn't really fully activate his skill. If after Banning activated his skill and was similar to what he experienced, he wouldn't be too concerned about it.
Though, this theory that bloomed up was not something even Kieran himself was willing to believe.
However, compared to Black Hell Banning who was hired to kill him, Kieran was more concerned about Broker who hired him.
After realizing Zorl was a Chosen One, Kieran started to speculate how Broker brought him under his service.
No doubt Kieran couldn't know the process, but he could speculate some of the required conditions for Broker to do so. One of the most important condition was that Broker's Spirit had to be definitely higher than Zorl's or Broker had some special equipment that granted him special defensive measures against spirit attacks.
Otherwise, with Zorl's display of unusual power, the methods that Broker used against other common players wouldn't work on Zorl; there was a higher chance that he might go out for wool and come back shorn.
Of course there was also the possibility that Broker scouted Zorl when he first entered the game, but it was too low to bet on to the extent that it could be completely neglected.
Then, Kieran went to Coll to get answers to his questions, and Coll's answers verified Kieran's speculations.
The registrar Zorl wasn't Broker's trusted man from the start. After Zorl had displayed a certain degree of strength and gained some reputations for himself, Broker had approached and recruited him under the name of appraisal master.
As for the process, no one really knew what had happened. So Kieran would need to go through Broker himself to confirm his own theory.
However, Broker was too cunning to begin with. Not only did he not provide an answer that Kieran was expecting, he even fired out a smokescreen.
Broker didn't send his own men over to Kieran; he hired other parties to do the job instead. Since the hired mercenary was one of the Supernovas, it might have appeared to the other players that Broker must have gotten involved in something troublesome, and it forced him to spend a fortune to remove the trouble!
More coincidentally, Broker had one goal to achieve currently. The Witch's legacy!
"Hiding his real fangs? What the hell Broker is after?" Kieran thought with a frown.
Through the earlier short but deep encounter, Kieran knew that anything Broker did had profound reasons behind. Although it might be obscure when it was viewed separately, but surely it would affect the final outcome.
So why did Broker conceal his abilities under the light at the moment?
"The Witch's legacy?" Kieran thought about the sole possibility that he could think of, but he wasn't certain about it.
...
2567: Contact me if there's any more news on Broker!
2567: Thanks!
...
After replying to Coll, Kieran had to pull himself out of the swamp in his mind about Broker and his goals.
Kieran also knew perfectly well that with the information at hand, he could never guess what Broker was after. Rather than wasting time grinding on a futile subject, he might as well perform some useful duties, such as upgrading!
Wasn't the reason that he chose to leave his room and join the messy fight between Blood Alliance and Broker's men to earn more Points and Skill Points so that he could afford to upgrade his strength more?
Kieran was lingering over the points tab.
179,800 Points and 55 Skill Points might seem much, but it was far from enough for Kieran.
Most of the basic skills and [Barsical Kick], [Hundred Violent Kicks] and [Blade Kicks] had reached a considerable level. If he wanted to use his newly acquired weapon skills like [Great Sword Blocking], [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper], [Sword Skill, Dragon Force], [Sword Skill, Tiger Stance], [Spear Skill, Dash Lunge] and [Viper Kick], he would need to level all of them to at least Master level.
As a lone-wolf player, ditching one of the skills was also not a viable option.
Firstly, since Kieran had chosen two-handed sword and kick combats as his fighting style, [Great Sword Blocking], [Sword Skill, Dragon Force], [Sword Skill, Tiger Stance] and [Viper Kick] couldn't be left behind.
Secondly, [Sword Skill, Fast Sting] and [Spear Skill, Dash Lunge] needed to be at a considerable level once contingencies were added to the equation.
As for [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper]?
Being the only Spirit-related Legendary skill, leveling it up was a no-brainer.
After experiencing the spirit suppression himself, Kieran wasn't willing to let go of his advantages.
Thus, Kieran came up with the decisions immediately after considering all the options.
Excluding [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper], Kieran would first level up every other newly acquired skill to a considerable level before focusing on [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper] itself.
[Great Sword Blocking, Basic to Master, cost 1500 Points, 1 Skill Point. Yes/No?]
[Sword Skill, Dragon Force, Basic to Master, cost 2000 Points, 8 Skill Points. Yes/No?]
[Sword Skill, Tiger Stance, Basic to Master, cost 2000 Points, 8 Skill Points. Yes/No?]
[Sword Skill, Fast Sting, Basic to Master, cost 1500 Points, 4 Skill Points. Yes/No?]
[Spear Skill, Dash Lunge, Basic to Master, cost 1500 Points, 4 Skill Points. Yes/No?]
[Viper Kick, Basic to Master, cost 2000 Points, 8 Skill Points. Yes/No?]
"Yes!"
Kieran answered to all of the upgrade options.
Prompty, a lot of information was poured into his brain, synchronizing with his body at the same time. New skills then started to form under his tab.
[Name: Great Sword Blocking (Master)]
[Related Attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution]
[Skill Type: Defense]
[Effect: You know how to block enemy attacks effectively with your great sword, increase 30% defense]
[Special Effect: Extra Block (After familiarizing the structure of a great sword, whenever a successful block, increase extra 10% defense]
[Consume: Stamina]
[Prerequisite: Strength F+, Agility F, Constitution F]
[Remark: Skilled in two handed great sword blocking!]
...
[Name: Sword Skill, Dragon Force (Master)]
[Related Attribute: Strength, Constitution]
[Skill Type: Offense]
[Effect: Whenever you attack, you could perform a 5-second charge-up and unleash a slash with 60% increase in attack, consume 150 Stamina, cooldown 4 minutes]
[Special Effect: Extra Charge (decrease charge up time by 0.5 seconds]
[Consume: Stamina]
[Prerequisite: Sharp Weapon, Heavy Arms (Master of Two handed Sword), Strength C+]
[Remark: This is one of the secret esoteric sword skill of the Dragon Sect, and the base for all Dragon Sect secret skills]
…...
[Name: Sword Skill, Tiger Stance (Master)]
[Related Attributes: Strength, Constitution]
[Skill Type: Offense]
[Effect: Whenever you use a two-handed sword, battle mace, battle axe and successfully block an enemy's attack, if you counterattack, +20% in Strength, +20% in Agility, consume extra Stamina when attacking]
[Special Effect: Power Focus (+5% Strength in counterattack)
[Consume: Stamina]
[Prerequisite: Sharp Weapon, Heavy Arms (Master), Strength C+]
[Remark: This is one of the secret esoteric sword skill of the Tiger Sect, it's the first step in mastering the two-handed sword.]
...
[Name: Sword Skill, Fast Sting (Master)]
[Related Attributes: Agility, Constitution]
[Skill Type: Offense]
[Effect: Using an explosive speed to perform a stab at a target 4 meters in front you, +40% attack speed for that particular stab. (Consume 80 Stamina, cooldown 4 minutes)]
[Special Effect: Extremespeed (+5% attack speed)]
[Consume: Stamina]
[Prerequisite: Any of Sharp Weapon- Dagger, Knife, Longsword skill reaches Master, Agility E, Constitution E]
[Remark: You can choose either dagger, knife or longsword to perform the skill, but greatsword and two-handed sword are out of the range!]
…...
[Name: Spear Skill, Dash Lunge (Master)]
[Related Attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution]
[Skill Type: Offense]
[Effect: When using a spear/lance, perform a forward lunge with the same Strength and Speed, Strength +20%, Speed +20%, consume 80 Stamina, 4 minutes cooldown]
[Special Effect: Combined Effort (Extra +2.5% of Strength, Speed)]
[Consume: Stamina]
[Prerequisite: Sharp Weapon, Polearm Weapon (Master), Strength E, Agility E, Constitution E]
[Remark: Share the same Strength and Speed, but not having both offense and defense!]
...
[Name: Viper Kick (Master)]
[Related Attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution]
[Skill Type: Offense]
[Effect: Your leg muscles and joints could be altered, slightly increasing the attack range or your kicks.]
[Special Effect: Viper Hiss (Whenever you launch a kick, your muscles will produce snake hissing sounds, targets who gotten struck will force to go through a Spirit authentication not lower than F+, Fear will be induced when failed)]
[Consume: Stamina]
[Prerequisite: Hand-to-Hand Combat, Kick Combat (Master), Strength D-, Agility D-, Constitution D-]
[Remark: A set of kicking techniques that is infamous for its bewitching movements, catching your target off guards!]
...
After going through all the newly-leveled Master skills, Kieran turned his attention to [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper]
[Sword Skill, Myriad Viper, Basic to Master, cost 20,000 Points, 20 Skill Points. Yes/No?]
"Not Golden Skill Points!?"
Kiera noticed the skill [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper] costed only normal Skill Points from Basic all the way to Master. His heart was confused with delight and disappointment; at the same time, he was very shocked.
[Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] already costed 1 Golden Skill Point from Basic to Entry only.
So, what category was [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art], after all?
While such thoughts wandered his mind, Kieran chose to level up [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper]
[Name: Sword Skill, Myriad Viper (Master)]
[Related Attributes: Spirit]
[Skill Type Offense]
[Effect: Utilize your aura to pressurise your opponents in a 15 meters diameter. Target will be forced to undergo a Spirit authentication. When target's Spirit is lower than yours, target will fall into the illusion of ten thousand snakes, allowing you to exert your will freely, consume 150 Stamina, 4 minutes cooldown]'
[Special Effect: Viper Venom (Whenever your target passed the Spirit authentication, another Intuition authentication will occur. Only after passing the Intuition authentication will the target break free from the myriad viper illusions.]
[Consume: Stamina]
[Prerequisite: Spirit B+]
[Remark: Although it is categorized as a Sword Skill, but in fact, it is actually an illusory attack, no weapon limitations]
...
Different from the previous skills with the free Master level options, [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper]'s Master option was fixed.
"Viper Venom? The name really suits it!"
Kieran nodded in agreement when he saw [Viper Venom]'s description.
There might be others who had high Spirit attribute naturally, granting one unparalleled aura; some others even might have defensive equipment against spirit attack. However, when the authentication combined Spirit and Intuition, everything would be different.
While getting caught off-guard, most of the targets would fall into the [Viper Venom] trap.
It was an extremely delightful news to Kieran, so he continued his leveling by opening the leveling option for [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper].
[Sword Skill, Myriad Viper, Master to Pro, cost 20,000 Points, 2 Golden Skill Points. Yes/No?]
This time around, Kieran became doubtful.
According to his past experience, if [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper] would continue leveling, it would only make the enemies unable to defend against it. However, since his Spirit attribute was already at S rank, if he wanted to raise Spirit any higher, the possibilities would be very slim.
Compared to the other two skills which also costed Golden Skill Points, [Blade Kick] and [Hundred Violent Kick], things were different.
Among the three related attributes, Strength, Agility and Constitution, Strength might not increase anymore since it was already at A rank, but with only B+ rank, Agility and Constitution had quite the high chance of increasing.
After a few minutes with his thoughts, Kieran finally came up with an option, which was to level [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper]!
Although, utilizing 2 Golden Skill Points for leveling [Blade Kick] and [Hundred Violent Kick] would also increase his stats, it didn't mean that Grand Master level of both kicking skills would be more powerful than Pro level [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper].
Even if Kieran calculated his increased stats, plus the buffs from [Hand-to-hand Combat, Kick Combats], the result was still the same.
[Sword Skill, Myriad Viper] was unique! It was not related to the strength of the body but to the strength of the Spirit!
Unless Kieran encountered some enemies with naturally high Spirit or with special measures, he would benefit in every possible way. As for those who weer naturally high in Spirit and had special methods to defend themselves, how many would there be?
The address of a "Chosen One" stated the situation clearly.
The little things gave away the bigger details. From the looks of the ratio, the natives within the dungeon world with the qualifications of being a Chosen One shouldn't be that many, unless Kieran came across an extremely unusual event or if the dungeon difficulties were too high.
However, even if that was the case, Kieran could still rely on his S-rank Spirit.
Kieran was a person who would execute his plans once he set his mind to it, thus he chose to instantly level up [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper].
The Pro level of [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper] increased its range once more to a 20 meter diameter. Stamina consumed and cooldown time were shortened again to 135 Stamina and 3.5 minute cooldown time.
[Viper Venom] that Kieran was most concerned about wasn't disappointing at all.
The original calculation was Spirit + Intuition and was changed to Spirit + (Intuition+1) in equation.
"Confusing the five senses?"
Kieran suddenly had this realization when he saw the special effect [Viper Venom] and gathered all the knowledge about [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper] in his mind.
His understanding was boosted even more when it was combined with [Viper Kick]. Moreover, Kieran discovered that both skills could assist each other.
"The Viper Sect?" Kieran muttered softly.
He knew the reason for such feeling was because [Viper Kick] and [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper] originated from the same sect and had a lineal descent.
However, he didn't manage to get his hands on more Viper Sect's lineal descent skills, but it didn't mean he couldn't in the future.
[Acquired special dungeon: The Queen's Shield II]
[The Queen's Shield II: The assault of the Prairie invaders was not the end. They kept staring at Warren like hungry wolves, but the rumours about the devil made them halt their march as they were preparing some special method to deal with the devil…]
[Main Mission: Begins when player enters the dungeon!]
The continuous special dungeon made everything possible.
Meanwhile, Kieran's next dungeon and the one after that were special dungeons as well.
Kieran even did tons of preparation with regards to the upcoming special dungeon.
Before entering [Primordial Invasion], he would study [Herbert's Note] thoroughly, and try harder to gain more knowledge before entering the next [The Shaman's Partner III].
Compared to the unknown main mission of [Primordial Invasion], the advanced main mission of [The Shaman's Partner III] no doubt required more of Kieran's attention.
After all, Kieran still had a fresh image of that unknown stone gate.
Before this, he wasn't even qualified to look at it, and now?
Kieran was still lacking confidence. So, to ease his mind, he continued leveling his skills.
Although he ran out of Golden Attribute Points, he still had nearly 130,000 Points and 2 Skill Points. Using them to level the skills that didn't require Golden Skill Points would be the best options.
[Great Sword Blocking], [Viper Kick], [Barsical Kick], [Sword Skill, Dragon Force], [Sword Skill, Tiger Stance] were all within that category, though it would be impractical to level every one of them.
Not only were the Points and Skill Points insufficient, other than leveling, he still needed to fork out repair fees for his firearms and purchase other items and bullets respectively.
It would be a huge sum when both of them were added up, and if his equipment were beyond repair, he would need to repurchase a new corresponding equipment.
His expenses would definitely increase again, so he needed to save up sufficient points.
"Two out of five then?" Kieran muttered.
TL Note:
The author mentioned Kieran's Constitution was at B+ but he did raise it to A rank to suffice his Fusion Heart requirements. This is because Golden Attribute Points increase wasn't included in the related attributes increase in the skills. Just a friendly reminder, in case someone got confused.