Chapter 419 The Third Turning Point Quest
"Thank you, Tobs, it will take a bit of practice, but I should be able to handle it from here." Giving her a warm smile of gratitude, Brance stood up, extended his right arm, narrowed his eyes, and envisioned everything he had learned.
Half a second later, hundreds of [Stone Spikes] manifested and shot off like rockets toward a mountain in the distance. Upon impact, the ground shook from the force of the multiple attacks, generating hundreds of craters on the surface of the mountain he had targeted.
Straightening her back and exhaling deeply, Tobs steadied herself and watched as Brance went through his list of Skills in order of when he learned them.
For a short time, explosions rocked the Mountain Range held within Brance's SOC as he went from Terra Affinity Skills to Wind, then Light, and eventually HolyFire. The longer he used his skills, the more experienced he became at casting them, with the only exception being his Multi Affinity Skills such as [Surging Earth Spike].
The problem occurred when he tried merging his Affinities. During the process, he would apply more of one Element than the other, causing the skill to fail.
Luckily Tobs was by his side, and after a bit of encouragement and a brief explanation, Brance could figure out where the error was occurring and fix it.
Once he had run through his complete list of over 30 skills, he then moved on to all of his Class skills; instead of finishing the manifestation of the skill, he would cut short the flow of Mana before it could enter the completion phase.
In doing this, not only was Brance able to get a feel for the process of using his Class Skills, but he also avoided triggering the cooldown, which was extremely important, especially in the case of something like [Hallowed Ground], a skill with a 36-hour cooldown.
In all, the experiment and or training took Brance over three hours, and if it weren't for the passive ability of his SOC, which gave him unlimited Mana, he wouldn't have been able to progress so far in such a short period.
Using his shirt to wipe the accumulated sweat on his face, Brance smiled and looked at the heavily destroyed Mountain Range.
"Sheesh, if I had tried this outside, in the real world, who knows what consequences I would face? The sheer scope of this Damage is no different than if a military force unleashes thousands of missles on a single location."
"Yes, yes, you are so strong, don't grow an ego as large as Cynrik's," rolling her eyes, Tobs swiped on her Clipboard, causing a massive earthquake that saw the entire Mountain Range mend itself good as new in no time flat.
"Woah, that was cool! How often can you do that, Tobs? I mean, not to downgrade your efforts, but if you can repair everything that quickly, couldn't Cynrik and I go at it in here without fear?" Brance asked. However, he didn't receive a reply, so he turned and looked at the young woman again, only to find her looking at him with dead eyes.
"Huh? What, did I say something wrong?" Brance asked curiously.
"You brothers, the two of you are such battle junkies. UGH, Selene isn't any better either; all the three of you have on your mind are beating each other up. Well, you aren't as bad as those two, but still." Crossing her arms and tapping her delicate foot in frustration, Tobs turned her head away from Brance and began to pout.
Seeing how she was acting, Brance couldn't help but snicker and think about how far his AI had come over the years. In the beginning, she was no better than an automated computer program, but now, she appeared to be no different than any other member of MyrkLys.
"STOP LAUGHING, JERK! Don't you have some, I don't know, sword techniques to train, you know, those knock-off anime ones you use." Tobs snorted while shaking her fist in Brance's direction.
"Haha, Nah, all of my Hiten Moves rely on Mana as a whole, so long as I can channel certain Elements into specific parts of my body and my weapon, I should be good to go." After saying that, he quickly summoned the Katana he had received as part of his equipment upgrade a few weeks back and did some practice strikes.
"Well, good; if you are finished, I can finally stop holding back these damn notifications. I had to focus all my attention and exert a lot of energy to keep them at bay until you were fully prepared, but seeing as you are in the mood to waste time, you are ready."
After finishing her statement, Tobs' face got serious, and she pointed her Clipboard at Brance.
"Once I open the floodgate Brancie, all hell will break loose, so you may want to equip yourself in your armor."
Seeing her serious expression, Brance understood what was about to happen, and he was soon decked out in a stunning Silver Heavy Plate Armor set.
The armor didn't look overly flashy, yet sported two large form-fitting pauldrons the size of Brance's head, and from the neck down, he was covered entirely in jointed metal.
The only part of his body exposed was his head, mainly due to Brance refusing to wear a helmet and instead opting for a raised collar. Overall, the Full body Plate Armor turned Brance into a miniature version of the HulkBuster Armor. Cynrik had even handed over the gear to Brance while playing Iron Man by Black Sabbath.
Gone was the Katana as he had stored it back in his inventory, and in the place of the sword were the two newly upgraded CS Tear shields attached to both his forearms.
- Cold-Steel Tear Mark 3 (F) -
-Tier-4: Special Grade(Upgradeable)-
- Classification: Teardrop Kite Shield -
- A custom-made Teardrop-shaped kite shield designed by Cinyah Jetlensr, modified by Engineer Cynrik Jetlensr, and forged by Famed Blacksmith and Runist Jessup Pinhurst for Brance Jetlensr.-
-This Shield has been modified with specific Engineering components that can drastically change its shape when a specified amount of Mana is stored in the Gems.-
-The Gems and Runes inscribed on the shield's face have been tailored to handle Earth, Wind, and Light Mana based on the user's Affinities.-
- +150 DEF.-
-+75 DEX.-
-+75 VIT.-
-Durability 100,000/100,000.-
- Ability:+ 25% Buff to Earth Skills, +25% Buff to Wind Skills, +30% Buff to Light Skills.-
-Ability 2: Any healing Skills cast while holding one or more of this shield will have an increased regeneration rate of 50%.-
-Special Passive Skill: When wielding two shields simultaneously, +25% increased Chance of Reflecting 50% of Damage at the Target.-
-Special Passive Skill: When wielding two shields simultaneously, +25% Blunt Force Critical Damage.-
-Special Skill: Fusion. This shield can retract half the main body and combine it with a second shield of the same variety. As a result, the stats and abilities of the shield will be doubled, and Special Skill: Shield Wall can also be used. Activation cost = 1500 MP.-
-Special Skill: Shield Wall (requires two similar shields)- Requires two similar-sized shields; a Mana Barrier can is generated; it will have a base durability of 50,000 HP. Activation Cost is 3000 Earth, Light, and Wind Mana. Infusing more Mana will raise the durability.-
-Special Skill: (F) ???.-
Shifting the two heavy metal teardrop shields into a comfortable position on his arms, Brance shuffled from side to side to get used to wearing his plate armor with his new stats.
'Damn, it feels light as a feather now, but that shouldn't come as a surprise since my STR stat has already broken through 5k. Not to mention before, I would steadily lose 5-10 Stamina per second while wearing my gear because it was so heavy, but now, it isn't dropping at all.' Brance thought as he adjusted to wearing the armor.
Although he knew the boosts were already in place, Brance still needed to double-check that his Set Boost was being appropriately applied, so he pulled up his Loadout and read it over.
-MyrkLys Paladin Set: Epic Ranked.-
-1 piece: 15% buff to Hidden Stat *Defense*.-
-3 pieces: 15% Damage Negation.-
-5 pieces: 25% Critical Damage Reflection.-
-7 pieces: 25% buff to all basic stats.-
Reading through the benefits of wearing all his gear, Brance acknowledged that the 15% Damage Negation and 25% Critical Damage Reflection were the most important abilities it granted.
The damage negation ability was as described; it would disperse 15% of any damage he received. Meanwhile, if Brance received any attacks labeled as Crits, 25 percent of that Damage would be returned to the attacker.
Having used his equipment during the training camp, Brance knew that the Damage negation would redistribute the force of the attack through his body and out his feet. At the same time, the reflection took the form of a kind of backlash the attacker would receive.
Satisfied that everything was in order, Brance turned to face Tobs and noticed her Clipboard was glowing bright Red and shaking so badly that he was confused about how Tobs had a grip on it.
"Go ahead and do it, Tobs; I am ready," Brance said clearly after taking a deep breath and gripping the handles of both his CS Tears. He already felt what Tobs was holding back was his Third Turning Point Quest.
Why else would the AI be so keen on him getting used to using his skills properly and getting geared up for battle?
Giving him a short nod, Tobs swiped and struggled a bit to move her hand over the surface of her Clipboard, almost as if it was emitting a high-level gravitational field. When she finished the motion, several notifications appeared on Brance's HUD.
-A Third-party has been alerted to your presence and has broken into the Host's SOC.-
-A third party is in control; any damage you take inside will affect your Soul Directly.-
-The Host is being forcefully dragged into a Turning Point Quest-
-Turning Point Quest: Challenge for Supremacy-
-Due to the influence of your Divine Blessings and your LightBringer Bloodline, A third party acting against you has stepped in during a point of weakness, and to leave, you must defeat this Being in combat. If you die in battle, your Soul will collapse and be destroyed, allowing this third Party complete control of your body and replace your existence.-
-Defeat the LightBringer Spirit ????-
-Reward:???
-Penalty for failure: Soul Destruction-
The instant the notification about the Quest's penalty disappeared, Brance's SOC shook violently, causing him to base out his legs to keep steady. A powerful flash of light occurred in the distance behind Tobs, who was already turning transparent.
She wouldn't be able to aid him any longer, and since her voice had already failed to transmit, she mouthed the words, 'Stay Strong, Brancie, you've got this,' just as a fierce battle cry echoed throughout the landscape.
"ALL WILL FALL BEFORE MY DIVINE ARROWS, AS IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN BY OUR LORD, THE GOD OF LIGHT!"
-This series is exclusively published on WebNovel if you are reading it anywhere else...You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the Discord, https://discord.gg/dcxKNJEMwg-