White Drake (3)

A tremendous boom shook the air as the White Drake's Ice Breath slammed head-on into the Holy Barrier.

The cost is steeper than I expected. The skill level must be too low. It didn't matter. Where mana is concerned, I have more than enough to spare.

Jin-soo's body was one, and at the same time it was two. The stats of his Dark affinity and his Holy affinity existed entirely apart from one another, and spent Health and Mana were no exception. Put simply, even if Health and Mana ran dry while the Dark status window was active, switching to the Holy status window meant both were full again. A second switch, however, would do nothing at all.

An inactive status window keeps the Health and Mana it held the last time it was active. No matter how much time passed, it never recovered on its own. Injuries don't vanish, either. A wound taken under the Dark status window remained exactly as it was even after he switched to the Holy one.

Raise the level of Status Window Switch, and that may change. Health and Mana might recover automatically while a window lay inactive. The switch might even divide the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠body's condition, so that injuries disappeared along with it. In the end, though, I won't know until the blessings grow further.

Flame roared up as Jin-soo unleashed a volley of fire-attribute attack skills, the natural counter to a White Drake. Hundreds of fire arrows, each swollen with mana, screamed toward the beast as one, and the blast that followed was enormous. Its body, already a wreck, was reduced in an instant to something ragged and coming apart.

"KRAAAAAH!"

Drenched in blood and covered in burns, the White Drake charged him. For any player of an ordinary mage class, that speed would have been impossible to dodge.

Jin-soo was not ordinary. His class had shifted from the warrior line to the mage line, but that did not mean his Strength, Agility, Health, or Durability had fallen with it. He slipped the charge with ease and swung his staff with everything he had. A weapon meant only for mages crashed into the White Drake's skull like a mace. The blow snapped a horn, and that was not enough—it shattered the scales guarding the head and slammed straight into the skull beneath.

"KYAAAAK!"

The enormous head dropped, limp, and drove itself into the ground, as if the beast had taken a blow from a strength-focused warrior swinging a blunt weapon. The impact rolled out in a heavy boom.

Change my class all you like. My stats stay exactly as they are.

A mage with a warrior's strength, an assassin's agility, and a tank's Health and Durability—that was Jin-soo.

"KWOOORGH!"

As if in its final death throes, the White Drake hurled every magical attack it had at him. He was already moving, weaving through the spells and answering with attacks of his own. Then, as though it had been waiting for precisely that moment, the White Drake swung a foreclaw whose fingers were still intact.

Jin-soo did not dodge. He swung the staff with all his strength instead. The instant those razor claws met it, the fingers snapped clean off.

"You really don't know when to quit. Die already."

Flame surged as he drew a fresh staff from his inventory and charged, spraying attack skills as if he meant to burn through every last drop of remaining mana in a single burst. Blast after blast shook the ground. Offensive magic melted the White Drake's scales and charred the muscle beneath, and into that ruined head he drove the staff with both hands, with every ounce of his strength. The skull burst apart.

An enormous flood of rewards poured in. The instant that flood ended, another log rose in its place.

The blessings that had devoured the titles grew in succession, not merely once, for the first time in a long while.

Let's see.

Jin-soo checked the state of the blessings. The scale of the buffs—attack power, defense, and the rest—had grown from 22.2% to 32.2%. That was not the end of it.

They didn't change. They increased.

This was the blessing born this time. The blessings he had received before had not vanished.

They remained exactly as they were.

Thank god.

Jin-soo's face brightened. The problem he had worried over most was gone.

I'll have to test it before I can be certain. A wholly new blessing had appeared, and with it a separate number of uses. What did that mean? For one thing, the skills I already raised to level 22 do not automatically become level 122. It was also highly likely that the level-122 lock was not limited to those skills alone. And the blessings that come of further growth will follow the same pattern.

A little testing would still be necessary, but the conclusion was already clear.

From here on, there's no need to hoard level-lock stacks. Spending something on the order of twenty-two level-122 locks right away would do no harm. The old blessings aren't changing. New ones are being born. When the blessings grew again, a level-222 skill lock and a level-322 skill lock would appear anew, and the number of uses would increase in the same way. Item skill-level locks would almost certainly work the same. From now on, I'll use them without holding back.

A smile full of satisfaction rose at the corners of his mouth.

He actually killed it.

Shin Sua's mouth fell open.

Once she had spent every drop of mana, cast Sanctuary, and stepped inside it, there was nothing left she could do. Cheering Jin-soo on with everything she had was the whole of it. And yet he had turned the Sanctuary she cast to brilliant use in the fight, and in the end he brought down a monster of staggering size and power. Almost without meaning to, Shin Sua received a share of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reward as well.

Her contribution was a mere 2%. The titles she received were, of course, downgraded versions of Jin-soo's—grand names whose effects were considerably weaker than they sounded. Her items amounted to only two skill books, and her experience was only the 2% her contribution entitled her to.

It's all thanks to Jin-soo.

She did not think it a shame, or a waste. The thought never even occurred to her.

I barely helped at all, and still I received rewards like these.

She felt sorry toward him, and grateful. At the same time, a question rose.

But how did he use mage skills? Jin-soo was a warrior. How could he cast the skills of a mage? And if he could, why had he never used them before?

Curiosity surged until it nearly spilled over, but Shin Sua kept her mouth firmly shut. She had no intention of asking—not now, and not later.

I don't want him to hate me. I don't want to be thrown away.

Bound by a mana contract, she was in no position to learn his secrets and then go around telling them. Even so, she refused to trust in that alone, open her mouth merely to satisfy her curiosity, and end up earning his dislike.

The White Drake's corpse vanished. Jin-soo gathered the loot it left behind and spoke to her.

"Cancel Sanctuary."

"Okay."

She dismissed the skill at once.

"Let's head back to the village."

"Yeah."

Shin Sua smiled as she answered.

The side haul is absurdly good.

The White Drake had slaughtered players in droves, and where they died, all manner of items remained—skill books, class-change tomes, equipment. Using his inventory, Jin-soo swept up every abandoned piece.

Be nice if something useful is in there. If not, he could simply sell it all at the auction house. What mattered more were the rewards he had gained today.

Ice Dragon Mage.

It was a class-change tome taken from a lesser dragon rather than a true dragon, but at this point in time its value was extremely high. And since it's Holy-affinity as well, it'll be fine to use for a while. Jin-soo chose to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠change class to Ice Dragon Mage.

Right. I knew something would drop. He had never expected otherwise. Most of the class skills are ice-attribute. Ice magic tended to fall short of fire magic in area damage. In exchange, its single-target power is higher.

Jin-soo raised the level of ten class skills to 122.

I'll decide the remaining ten after I look around the auction house. If a higher-tier Dark warrior class was available, he would change to it and invest there. If nothing suitable turned up, he meant to invest in Blood Demon Swordsman instead. Blood Demon Swordsman is more than usable, too. Its synergy with the Blood-Sucking Sword was especially good.

Summon Dragon Tooth Soldiers. It was one of the skill books he had just obtained—a mage-only skill that turned a dragon's teeth into soldiers and summoned them. A bit hard to judge. Skill level mattered, but combat power also split according to whose teeth served as the material. Still, better to learn it.

Among the rewards from the hunt were twelve of the White Drake's teeth, so he could use the skill at once. And if he hunted a true dragon later, he expected he could obtain Dragon Tooth Soldiers of considerable power. Ordinary White Drake teeth would produce weaker soldiers. What he held, though, were the teeth of the first White Drake ever hunted on Floor 50 of the Tower. Bearing the weight of that feat, they ought to give birth to Dragon Tooth Soldiers that were formidable in their own right.

Even so, they'll never be more than an inferior version of Shadow Summons. However strong the Dragon Tooth Soldiers became, they could not surpass summons that copied Jin-soo's stats and blessings. Unless he later changed class to Summoner, one of the mage-line jobs, the skill had a clear ceiling. Even so, having it now was unconditionally better than not. It's a mage-only skill that only the mage line can learn anyway, and the Holy mage status window has no summon-type skills.

While he changed class and learned the skill, he and Shin Sua arrived at the village.

"Let's get to the inn and eat first."

Hunting the White Drake had carried them well past dinnertime, and he was thoroughly hungry. Once Health and Mana are both restored, I'll return to the inn—the safe zone—and switch status windows. Only then could he recover the Health and Mana of the Dark status window, which had been left completely empty. The cooldown on Shadow Summons has to finish ticking, too. While a status window was inactive, the cooldowns of the skills it held did not decrease either.

"Huh?"

Walking beside him, Shin Sua had caught sight of someone, and a flicker of surprise crossed her face.