Chapter 214: The City of Rage (2)
From Zone 107 of the Devildom, where the laboratory was, to Zone 100, where their destination, the City of Rage, was, Ian’s party pa.s.sed through freely.
Fundamentally, the smaller the number attached to the zone was, the more the monsters of the Devildom became stronger.
However, when the first digit changed, it wasn’t to the point that it really hit them, but whenever the tens digit changed, it was a system where they drastically grew stronger by one phase.
Because that was the case, with the fighting power of Ian, who broke through Zone 107 without any difficulties, they could get through Zone 100 easily as well.
On top of that, the fact that he used all of his magic stones and grew another step stronger also played a big part.
His ‘Judgment of the Spirit King’, which had become a monster-like weapon with over 3 thousand Offensive Power, pierced through the skin of the magical beasts as if he was cutting through tofu.
‘And the skills that I’ve newly obtained are incredible as expected, too.’
After Ian had succeeded in raising the tier of his ‘Taming Master’ cla.s.s by one step, he had obtained two new hidden skills.
The ‘Communion I’ skill, which was one of them, had a function close to a utility skill, while ‘Sacrifice I’, the other one, had the characteristics of a battle a.s.sisting skill.
However, both skills were the same in that they were skills that a.s.sisted in increasing Ian’s fighting power immensely.
Ian firstly looked at the ‘Communion I’ skill.
• Communion I
Cla.s.sification: Pa.s.sive skill
Skill level: Lv 0
Proficiency: 0%
Cooldown time: None
Duration: No limit
(In the case that the distance between the Familiar and the Summoner is greater than the span of control of the Summoner, a 300-minute restriction time will form. If the Familiar is still outside of the span of control of the Summoner even after the restriction time is over, the Familiar will forcibly be Summon Released.)
Conditions for Use: This is a pa.s.sive skill that can only be applied to Familiars with maximum Affinity with their Summoner.
Exceptional Summoners are able to deeply commune with their Familiars.
If your Communion skill develops past a limit, Summoners will be able to handle their Familiars in a place that they aren’t even in as well.
Also, even if the Summoner is to log off, their Familiars can be kept in a summoned state for a fixed time.
*The higher the Proficiency of ‘Communion I’ grows to, the greater the span of control of the Familiars, as well as the longer the time the Familiars are kept outside of the span of control.
*Once the Proficiency of the ‘Communion I’ skill reaches its maximum potential, the ‘Communion II’ skill may be opened.
Just at a glance, the ‘Communion I’ skill had content that was hard to understand.
However, Ian, who had a higher degree of understanding of Summoners more exceptional than any other, was able to immediately understand exactly how to use the skill and its point the moment he read the content of the skill.
‘If you read it without much thought, you could understand it just as a pa.s.sive skill that increases the range to control Familiars, but the true value of this skill is not there.’
The range that a Summoner can control a Familiar is fundamentally proportionate to their ‘Leaders.h.i.+p’ stat.
However, to be honest, that doesn’t have a lot of meaning.
This was because the control range itself was fundamentally enough.
The maximum range that Ian could control his Familiars in was almost 800-900 metres, and even Ian hardly had any cases where he used all of this range and lead a battle.
In other words, it meant that the range growing bigger wasn’t much help in battles.
‘From the beginning, it’s hard to even see an opponent that is close to a kilometre away with the naked eye, so why would you send a Familiar that far away and control them.’
As that was the case, the core ability of this skill was a different part.
‘The ability that allows Familiars to move even after the Summoner logs out. This is the truly sweet function.’
This skill had the ability to allow Familiars that were outside of the control range of the Summoner or when the Summoner was not logged onto the game to continue battling for a maximum of 300 minutes.
To Ian, who found even the time that pa.s.sed by for situations where he needed to leave the game unavoidably like when he slept or ate, this skill presented an ability that was the same as an incredible treasure.
‘Now, even when I’m lying on my bed sleeping, my Familiars will be able to level up!’
Ian thought of the time that he spent raising the G.o.d Dragon Karceus from level 1.
Because he just leveled up Karceus without being able to summon any other Familiar as he lacked Leaders.h.i.+p, right now, the level of Ian’s Familiars was quite low compared to Ian’s character.
Since there was a difference of at least 3 levels to a maximum of even 15 levels.
However, with this ability, it would be an instant for the Familiars to catch up to Ian’s level again.
‘I’ll work them hard.’
Ian’s plot would be enough to make his Familiars freak out indeed if they found out.
‘For now, after I’ve finished the quests that I’m currently proceeding with, I should designate a hunting ground to each Familiar.’
Ian hummed to himself.
Kaizar approached Ian, who was thinking about this and that while laughing.
“It seems like we’re almost at the end of Zone 101 now as well.”
At Kaizar’s words, Ian nodded his head.
“You’re right. We might be able to enter Zone 100 before I log out today if we’re lucky.”
Kaizar, who slightly started a conversation with Ian, lifted his greatsword and pushed it towards Ian as he got to the point.
“But Lord guy, can’t you fortify my greatsword a little more? Raise my sword up to the 8th fortification like your spear.”
“I’m lacking magic stones, retainer guy. Later, when I have a lot more magic stones, I’ll do it for you.”
“Don’t lie. I saw you put over 5 Low-grade Magic Stones into your bag.”
“… Either way, not now. Later.”
“Tsk.”
“Go over there and help Ly and Bbakbbak instead. How can you be relaxing when you’re the strongest?”
“Alright, Ian. But you have to fortify my sword when we arrive at the City of Rage or whatever.”
Ian nodded his head reluctantly as he replied.
“Ah, alright. So, hurry and go work, retainer guy.”
As Kaizar, who was excited at the words that he would fortify his weapon, bolted forward like lightning, Ian shook his head.
‘Ha, Kaizar has a greed for items greater than most users. Well, still, should I just find comfort that his Loyalty goes up little by little every time I fortify his equipment…?’
Kaizar was still the greatest fighting power of the party.
For the Loyalty of Kaizar, who was like that, to be going up indirectly meant an increase in Ian’s fighting power.
Of course, even if he doesn’t listen to Ian’s words, Kaizar knocked out opponents severely, but since if his Loyalty went up and he could use him strategically, he would become an even more amazing fighting power.
‘Speaking of which, when does Halli’s unable to battle state end?’
Ian opened the Familiar window and checked the state of Halli.
• Familiar Halli – Rank: Legendary / State: Unable to battle (Remaining time: 02:49:23)
Halli was in a state where he couldn’t be summoned for close to another 3 hours.
However, Halli hadn’t gone into an unable to battle state from receiving damage during a battle.
Ian had used ‘Sacrifice I’, another hidden skill he newly obtained, on Halli, so that was why he was in an unable to battle state.
‘The disadvantage of having to down-level by 1 is definitely big, but since there’s no other buff like this amongst the ones I have.’
The ‘Sacrifice I’ skill was a skill where one Familiar that the Summoner possessed was ‘sacrificed’ as the name stated, and for a fixed amount of time, an enormous buff was given to the whole team.
The skill information was the same as the following.
• Sacrifice I
Cla.s.sification: Active skill
Skill level: Lv 0
Proficiency: 0%
Cooldown time: 320 minutes
Duration: 300 minutes
Conditions for Use: A Familiar that is currently summoned, or it is even possible to use on the Summoner themselves.
This cannot be used on other users or NPCs, or the Familiars of other users.
The sacrifice of a fellow Familiar brings sadness and anger at the same time to the party.
The party will obtain a powerful buff proportionate to the fighting power of the Familiar (Or the Familiar themselves).
Movement speed: +(The level of the sacrificed Familiar/3)%
Cooldown time –(The level of the sacrificed Familiar/5)%
Combat abilities: +(The combat abilities of the sacrificed Familiar/2)%
*The sacrificed subject will receive the same penalty as when they die on the battlefield.
*The buff is applied to the Summoner themselves, all of the Familiars they possess, as well as their retainers. (It is not applied to other users or NPCs that are in the same party.)
*If the Sacrifice ability is used on the Summoner themselves instead of a Familiar, the Summoner will float around the battleground in a spirit state for the duration of the battle. (Opponents cannot be attacked when in a spirit state, and not one skill can be used.)
Once the spiritual state is over, the Summoner will automatically be logged out of the game, and just like if they were to die, they will not be able to log on to the game for 24 hours.
Also, if the Summoner uses the Sacrifice ability on themselves, the coefficient of all buffs and the duration time will be applied as double the amount.
*The higher the Proficiency of ‘Sacrifice I’, the greater the buff coefficient grows little by little, and the duration time will increase by a lot.
*Once the ‘Sacrifice I’ skill reaches maximum Proficiency, the ‘Sacrifice II’ skill will be opened.
As much as it was there was a lot to lose, it was indeed a skill that had a buff effect that was more amazing than any other ones.
Ian used the Sacrifice skill on Halli as a test, and he saw great results from its power.
‘For the 5-hour duration of the buff, it seriously felt like my fighting power had gotten twice as strong.’
Halli was a Familiar that specialized in reflexes, and as the other Familiars and retainers obtained 50% of all of the stats of Halli, who was like this, its effectiveness was incredible.
Even Bbakbbak, who had the slowest reflexes, was able to possess a reflexivity that was higher than an Upper Intermediate monster.
‘On top of that, the cooldown time of all skills were reduced by 34%. All movement speed has increased by 56.6%.’
Because Halli was a lv 170, a coefficient of 34%, which was one-fifth of the value, was applied to decrease the cooldown time, and their movements speed quickened to 56.6% from the one-third of the value.
‘The penalty of a decrease by 1 level is tremendous, but still, it’s an ability that I’ll use every now and then.’
It was a skill that he needed to use when he was in a boss battle where he was facing a boss that would be difficult to handle or when he was in an important territory war.
Ian organized his thoughts and looked around at his Familiars that were in the middle of a battle with the magical beasts.
“We’ll rest for about 2 hours as soon as we catch all of the ones that you’re facing right now!”
At Ian’s words, the Familiars rejoiced.
• Ooh, I think the owner has eaten something weird!
• There’s no way. We’ve only hunted for 5 hours, but we’re resting for a whole 2 hours!
• It’s hard to believe.
However, the real reason why Ian was trying to rest was not because he truly wanted to.
It was because of his thought of wanting to enter Zone 100 after the duration of Halli’s unable to battle state was over.
‘Since there’s no way of telling what kind of dangers will be in Zone 100 as well…’
Ian pulled out and held the Judgment of the Spirit King that he had on his back as he headed towards the front.
“Let’s wipe out all of them quickly and go rest, guys!”
The Familiars, who had obtained strength from Ian’s shout, ignited their fighting spirit even more as they began to hunt the magical beasts.
• Understood, owner!
Karceus opened his mouth widely as he began to suck in a breath.
• Alright, I will barbeque all of them!