FB: Chapter 90 – Foxy 2.0

I smiled as I easily swung Slice about. I had done some math while I was grinding and barely had enough experience to make it all work out. Feather Weight was now an Heirloom ranked skill, and I had two Heirloom ranked Reduce Weight and four Artifact ranked Reduce Weight. All of those combined with my title, managed to get me to 88.92% weight reduction, which was enough to easily swing Slice.

It felt slightly heavy, but I was only a percentage point off from the recommended weight reduction for the mega sword. With the two skill slots I had managed to save, I had two Legendary ranked Sample Poison skill shards equipped, and I had increased Black Salamander Poison up to Artifact rank. That got my poison critical chance up to around 53%. I didn’t feel like calculating it out to get the exact amount like weight reduction. The displayed amount of 53% was good enough for me.

All the stat boosts from leveling up had gone into Luck like it always had. My Luck stat was now a massive 1,708. The rest of my stats were a joke compared to my level, but I wasn’t that concerned about them. If I was fighting other players the absolute level difference would give me a huge advantage, and if I wasn’t fighting players, I would manage my fights incredibly carefully.

There was a slight temptation to go back out to the Spider Forest grinding spot, but I was mentally done after spending an entire month grinding spiders from a tiny box. I hadn’t been able to put the experience into any of my other skills, but I wasn’t that concerned since the only other one I could level up beyond legendary at the moment was Black Salamander Poison. I would need another 31.25 million experience to increase the skill to Heirloom rank. But that wasn’t a huge concern in my mind like weight reduction.

It was nice to increase the rank of the skill, but not critical to my build. As for increasing the rank of more Reduce Weight skills, I would still need a total of six slots taken up by those skills shards along with Feather Weight to keep weight reduction in range of 90%. Unless I somehow turned Feather Weight into a Divine skill, I wouldn’t be able to free up another skill shard slot.

Both of my Poison Resistance skill shards had been increased to Legendary. I would still need two there as well to keep my poison resistance above 100%. The problem was that Poison Absorption only increased the maximum resistance poison could have, but it didn’t increase the amount of poison resistance. That meant I needed two Poison Resistance skill shards.

That was how builds became more constrained the more one leveled up. There were only so many skill shard slots and equipment slots one could use. The only slots I wasn’t using now were my armor and boot slot. I already had a pendant, two rings, and an amazing weapon.

I swung Slice through the air easily once more. I had held off using the weapon until I got back from my grinding session. The next skill I needed to level up was Poison Absorption, but I didn’t have a source for a legendary antidote. While it was a bit frustrating, I was happy that I was finally able to use Slice.

Unique Blade: Slice
A weapon as powerful as it is massive. Forged from the fang of an elder dragon.
+Mega size
+Unbreakable
+Drop on death
+500% Physical Damage
+Innate Legendary Skill: Slice

There was a training room set up in our office in the Capital. Our main headquarters in Halfenbrook had one as well. People could test out their skills on a training dummy and adjust the training dummy’s stats to see how much damage was done.

One of the many perks our guild offered. Right now the training room in the Capital was closed off while I used it. I swung Slice into a training dummy that was set at level 200. Everything below that level had been hit with critical damage no matter where I struck. The stats were evenly spread for the training dummy and I didn’t adjust any percentages based on skill shards. Still, it gave me a good estimate as to the level of combatant I could handle and damage.

If I fought the Dark Saint Gamabuturon with his sword, I would need to hit his neck or head to land a critical attack. A body or blow to a limb would not be enough the majority of the time. That was just an estimate based on my practice. I used the skill Slice as well.

“Slice. Slice.” The cost of this innate skill was massive. Each swing that used the skill took 500 SP and 60 MP. I had 1,356 SP and 135 MP. That meant I could use the innate weapon skill twice before I needed to use consumables. It wasn’t great, but it was a nice clutch surprise attack to hit something vulnerable at range, or I could swing at something and use the skill point blank just before I hit.

Slice did consume a bit more SP than I liked swinging it about. My weight reduction being a percentage point lower than it should be made this a larger impact than I had originally anticipated. It was slightly concerning, but not something that I would have to worry about unless a fight really began to drag out since SP would regenerate in combat unlike MP.

That was the key method that QAI had encouraged people to be melee fighters and not casters. While consumables got around that issue, it was an expensive solution. That was why, even though many people preferred to be a caster they had to go melee otherwise they wouldn’t be able to afford the role. That was another reason why the team set up and builds for specific roles in my guild was so powerful. It helped balance teams out, so they wouldn’t wipe easily if their caster gassed out on MP.

What was really broken about Slice was the combination with my Luck stat. Since people and monsters were built like onions and the Luck stat expanded those inner layers, it was much easier to land a critical or super critical blow to target. The synergy was incredibly strong.

It was a shame my time in the coliseum was over. I would have enjoyed running roughshod over everyone with this weapon. There was something viscerally satisfying about being able to hit something with a super-sized sword.

The fact it was large and unbreakable meant it fit perfectly in the role of a shield as well. Not that it would be a good idea to try and shield myself with such a weapon. My arm would be exposed and I didn’t have experience using the weapon as a shield. That was a desperation move, but it was another tool in my arsenal.

My build was pretty much finalized. The main thing now would be to rack up a lot of experience to increase the rank of my various special Legendary skills and get the necessary duplicator shards. As for my titles, slayer title track was maxed out, or high enough that increasing it again was effectively impossible. I would need to find a horde of monsters 250 levels above me most likely. That would put them at level 370 at least. It was possible, but not easily done. I would consider that a very long term goal that I would need an incredible amount of luck to complete. I had to kill a hundred high level monsters along with a boss monster without returning to town or resting.

Cheesing the Mega Spiders was hard enough, but something 250 levels above me would be ridiculous. The higher up you went the more resistances and immunities the monsters had, which made the fights even more difficult. That wasn’t even considering their increased combat intelligence that QAI gave the higher level monsters. Instead of rushing at me, monsters above level 200 would have attacked my altar directly to get at me. I couldn’t cheese them by manipulating my environment to suite my strategy.

Getting Poison Master required three divine poisons. Even finding one would be a massive headache let alone three of them. That wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, even if I really wanted to upgrade that title.

The Champion title track was no longer important to me since I would probably only get a 40 level reduction in the absolute level difference if I improved the title. The number of fights I would have to endure would be way too much. Even though I could win, it wasn’t worth my time or the risk of losing. I would be better spent grinding up experience for my skill shards. I was done with the arena for now.

My noble title could use come support. I was only a Viscountess. The problem with the title was that climbing higher up in the nobility would naturally draw the attention of the Human Emperor. That was one NPC I really wanted to avoid. If I ever had to fight him that reduction in absolute level difference would be a big help in the far future. But that was only so useful when I was focusing on critical attacks that bypassed the absolute level difference instead.

I considered my weight reduction title. If there was another rank to it, I probably had to kill a million monsters while heavily encumbered. That would take far too long. It took a month of heavy grinding to kill about 700,000 monsters. Still, an increase of 5% of weight reduction was tempting if a higher rank title did exist. It was something I would need to think about some more.

If I did grind the Mega Spiders again, I could do it. Set up an angled platform so I could puke down into the hole over and over. The problem would be using consumables though. I would need to have someone assist me with them. I am sure I would be able to find someone. It was something to consider.

The biggest thing for me to focus on at the moment was a set of quality armor and boots. Since I had weight reduction, it would reduce the weight of any equipment I chose to wear as well. Still, I wanted to be able to easily move without having to wear something heavy or bulky. My talent in gymnastics had come in clutch several times already.

Perhaps some sort of armor that would give me regeneration in combat. That would be quite useful for using my skills without having to burn through as many consumables. Or perhaps something to mitigate critical damage. That was a huge risk for me. While my Luck reduced the chance of such a hit occurring, I was incredibly squishy compared to my level. Making sure I couldn’t be killed in one hit would also be incredibly useful.

It was something I would have to think on, since once I committed to a direction, I would have to gather up the necessary crafting supplies or find if the type of armor I was looking for was on the market.