FB: Chapter 36 – Special Legendary Skill And A Full Course

“Oh, someone is actually interested in me?” A middle aged woman looked up at me from her desk where she was reading a book. The receptionist closed the door behind me. He let me know, once I left this office, my full course would be ready.

“Indeed. I am looking to have a legendary skill made,” I replied.

“Which one? No, let me guess. Shadow Blades. Thousand Sighs? Oh, you want Blink,” she finally guessed right, and I nodded. “So, you picked that item during your initiation. Good choice, but risky,” the woman said.

“The risks are worth it,” I replied, and she shrugged.

“Just some friendly advice, but no skin off my back if you just want to rush ahead. The items?” she asked and gestured at her desk. I pulled out the Tome of the Silent Assassin and two epic skill shards each for four skills, Slow, Haste, Quick Step, and Shadow Step. I also laid out 10 platinum coins.

“And they are all soul bound and personally improved by you. That is very rare, very rare indeed. Well a woman does need to eat,” she said and pulled out a large runic plate from behind her desk and set it on top of her desk. She then began laying out all the items, the skill shards around the outside with the book in the middle.

Once everything was laid out, she put her hands on either side of the plate and all the items glowed white before coming together into an orange Legendary skill shard. “And done. Here you go,” she said and handed it over to me.

This skill would allow me to teleport up to 5 meters times the rank of the skill, so 30 meters for 5 MP times rank, which meant it cost 30 MP to use regardless of the distance. There was a hard cool down time of 15 seconds. This skill was still affected by the skill being leveled up by experience I had collected so the 5% bonus did apply to this skill as well. One of the few bonuses that affected cool downs.

“I was wondering if you had any ideas about a specialized poison resistance skill?” I asked and laid out 8 epic Poison Resistance skill shards.

“That would require research, since such a skill is not known to me. But I would be interested for a small fee plus materials,” the woman said with a smile.

“I am sure you will keep things reasonable, since I plan to ask for several skills in the future. Like Black Salamander Poison,” I replied.

“Oh, but that is the future, and this is now.” The skill creator picked up one of the skill shards I had laid out and looked at it.

“I am interested in raising the maximum resistance for poison,” I said.

“What a skill does, is left up to the gods. I just need to find the right path. It will take time and a lot of epic ranked poison skill shards,” she said.

“How many, how much, and how long?” I asked.

“The problem is finding a suitable binding agent to combine these skill shards. There are very few things that grant poison resistance,” she said.

“What about an antidote?” I asked while drawing from my memories about similar skill crafting recipes.

“That could work. But it would have to be a legendary antidote. One that could counter all legendary poisons. While I know of antidotes, I would have to locate such an item,” she replied.

“If I find it, would you be able to craft such a skill?” I asked.

“I will make the attempt. Same price of ten platinum if you secure all the materials. A woman needs to eat after all,” she said while giving me a smile. “You can take these back.” I took the Poison Resistance skill shards back and switched out my skills. She just chuckled at that as I left her office.

The receptionist was waiting for me and led me to another room in the Shadow Union. I took a seat at the table that had been provided and laid out ten platinum on the table. An older man who had a scar through one white eye came over to the other side of the table and looked down at me.

“Full course. I hope you can stomach it all. I dislike people turning down my delicacies,” he said while taking the platinum coins.

“One does not become a Poison Connoisseur by declining,” I replied politely, and the scarred man chuckled. To get the next title in the poison title chain, I needed to consume 100 different poisons. The scarred man would be trying to get me to drop out before I got to the more expensive ones, so he could pocket more money from my payment. It didn’t matter if I stopped at 1 or number 100, the payment would still be 10 platinum.

That was the challenge for using a pay to win strategy. The other way to get the title was to go out into the wilderness and get these poisons oneself. That way a person could make them more edible before consuming them instead of more disgusting. A servant brought out the first dish and a health potion.

“If you can last. I find my first dish separates the children from the adults. First dish, condensed Murk Ooze,” he said and the servant lifted the metal dome off the tray. The familiar smell hit me. I picked up the finger sized crystal and put it in my mouth without hesitating. Thinking too much wouldn’t help me.

The moment I bit down, it erupted into liquid that was a struggle to not spit out. It was horrible but familiar. I forced myself to swallow. I then picked up the health potion and drank it so I wouldn’t die. “Lacking in complex flavors,” I said, and the scarred man just stared at me for several seconds. He then gave me a grin that didn’t promise anything good.

The servant had cleared the tray and had already brought out another one. “Second course, an eye of a Maggot Overlord,” he said. The cover was removed and there was a large wriggling ball composed of tiny maggots. I didn’t hesitate to pull a chunk off and put it in my mouth. I could feel the smaller worms wriggling all the way down. It took everything I had not to vomit it back up. I then took another health potion.

“Needs sauce to liven it up,” I replied.

“Third course, Flesh of the Putrid Eel.”

“You call this putrid? I call it a weak aroma.”

“Fourth course, J-Jelly.”

“Needs more slime.”

I didn’t hesitate to consume one course after another trying not to think about them. The visceral horror was immense, but I didn’t close my eyes or hesitate. That would just make it worse. Better to get this trauma over as quickly as possible.

“Hundredth course and my personal favorite. Poisoned Finger,” he said, and the cover was removed from the tray. A long and narrow finger rested on the tray. “It is hard to swallow so don’t bother. The proper way to try the dish is to suck the poison out of the bone marrow from the back.”

I picked I up and didn’t hesitate. It tasted foul, but the Murk had made me immune to such things. “The flesh should have been taken off first. Not properly prepared,” I criticized.

Poison Connoisseur
Refine your pallet with a hundred different things that poison you with no antidote taken in-between poisonings.
+10% Poison Resistance
+10% Max Poison Resistance

“You have a strong stomach, that much is clear. To even criticize my carefully curated selection of dishes,” the scarred man said.

“They were just nasty, not something that were enjoyable to eat. Perhaps a greater challenge?” I asked, hoping this would unlock the chance to go for the next poison title in the chain. That was why I had been willing to throw some sass out after each course.

“Unfortunately, you have gone through all we have to offer in this regard. If you want to go further, then you will need to look into legendary poisons, consume them, and then endure. There are many such poisons out there. If your body takes in enough, then it will adapt,” he said.

“And you don’t have such poisons here, for any price?” I asked. There had been people working on the next title in the chain, but no one had gotten it yet as far as I knew during my first go around. Legendary poisons applied a permanent debuff. These debuffs could be removed but it was a pain and expensive. To get the next title a person had to stack up ten of them at the same time.

The kinds of monsters that gave these debuffs were unique monsters in hard to reach places. I had ideas about where I could find six monsters with these legendary types of poisons. But I needed ten in total. Each debuff would make the next fight harder. That was why I was hoping to skip the entire process with money. But apparently that wouldn’t be possible.

“Most of the poisons would lose their legendary nature after a short period of time. The few we have are too precious to be considered minor trinkets that can be purchased with coin. Still, you didn’t hesitate through the entire full course.” The scarred man pulled out a vial and set it on the table. “Consider this a reward for going through the entire course in record time.”

I picked up the vial and inspected it. A legendary poison, Refined Dark Lotus Sap which halved SP regeneration. “Thank you for the gift,” I said. With that my time in the Shadow Union was over. I had gained a skill, a title, and one of ten legendary poisons I would need to advance my poison title. I had also spent a lot of money to make all of this happen as quickly as I had.

But I needed every edge I could get. My combat skills were good, very good compared to most people, but I would be going up against the best. Time to head to my next destination and spend even more money buying supplies and betting on myself.

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