[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 25: Alloy of War

Multiple Skills have Leveled Up!

Your [Rally] Ability has reached (☆ Primitive III).

Your [Armor Foundation] Skill has reached (☆ Primitive III).

Your [Endure] Trait has reached (☆ Primitive II).

Your [Greatsword Foundation] Skill has reached (☆ Primitive V).

Your [Heavy Weapon Handling] Skill has reached (★☆ Uncommon III).

Naturally, Sam looked closer at these skills, abilities, and traits to see if anything else changed and to refresh his understanding.

For now, he was in relative safety. There wasn’t much down here. If there had been some canyon crawler kind of monster, he probably would be dead by now.

He hadn’t a clue how long he went in and out of consciousness, nor how long he rode that dead wood golem like a log raft, but beyond the river, the chasm open to the sky still shone blue.

Night exists here, I know that at least, he thought to himself.

[Rally]

(Fighter Ability) (F-Class)

(☆Primitive III)

When the going gets tough, you get tougher. Summon deep reserves of strength to perform beyond your mortal bounds for a short period of time, adding Temporary HP to bolster your body. Grants a minuscule bonus to the effect of Strength and Vigor when using [Rally].

Nope, he thought to himself, no change there.

Sam yawned, his jaw creaking traitorously. He didn’t sleep much at the best of times back in his tiny postage-stamp sized apartment, but even on his lumpy mattress, he got some sleep.

Fighting, then marching through the night, had him running on fumes. And that was before the fight with him and Komachi against the golem.

Still need to pay Darren back for that, Sam vowed. If I ever see him again, that is.

Sam worried about his friends, but unable to do anything about their predicament, put them out of his mind for now.

His fatigue had grown to herculean proportions, but the buzz of leveling up lifted him enough that he wanted to go through all his notifications first.

Then, and only then, would he feel comfortable going to sleep. And tomorrow, Sam thought, I’ll be free to test out all the new things I’ve gained. And if I’m lucky, find a way out of here.

[Armor Foundation]

(Fighter Skill) (F-Class)

(☆ Primitive III)

With your nascent understanding of armor types, you can not only identify various types of armor, but also move in them without great encumbrance. Though most of your experience with armor has been hand-me-downs and Earth-style fencing protection, your past-life’s knowledge has been added to your current Skill Level. Grants a minuscule bonus to the effect of Strength, Agility, and Dexterity when using [Armor Foundation].

There was no change there, either. Perhaps only rarity caused a change? Not that he had any guess as to how many tiers he would need to reach the next rarity. If that even was the method of progression.

Looking through the rest of what skilled up, Sam didn’t see much difference. The bonus effect granted by stats seemed the same, all of them classifying the bonus as “minuscule” which he took to mean “lowest amount possible”.

[Endure]

(Fighter Trait) (F-Class)

(☆Primitive II)

When others fall, you stay on your feet. Conditioned as all basic [Fighters] are, you are able to take mortal injuries and continue fighting. Once per day, whenever your HP would be reduced to 0, it is instead reduced to 1. Grants a minuscule bonus to the effect of Vigor when using [Endure].

[Greatsword Foundation]

(Weaponry Skill) (F-Class)

(☆Primitive V)

Provides the fundamentals of the Greatsword weaponry skill, allowing the use of Greatsword Stances. Though your dedication and training were focused on the one-handed longsword, the style in which you trained lends itself well to the larger two-handed Greatsword. A portion of your past life’s knowledge has been added to your current Skill Level. Grants a minuscule bonus to the effect of Strength, Agility, and Dexterity when using [Greatswords].

[Heavy Weapon Handling]

(Incarnate Trait) (F-Class)

(★☆ Uncommon III)

Few of the core races are able to wield the heavier and more brutal weapons. These are generally reserved for monsters and oversized creatures who require something more robust. You, however, have tapped into the beginnings of the Incarnate powers of War who was legendary for wielding weapons no other living Divine could lift.

[Flamekeeper]

(Elemental Ability) (X-Class)

(Unique)

As the Archflame’s bearer, the fate of the Archflame is entirely in your hands. You can choose to borrow some of the [Coal of the Archflame’s] Heat in order to empower yourself temporarily, or use it to bolster your mana. However, overuse will eventually kill the [Coal of the Archflame] and the Archflame will never shed its light again.

Not much change except for the [Flamekeeper] ability, and that was only to reference that it was no longer called the First Flame, but the Archflame.

What difference that made beyond a higher Heat level, Sam didn’t know. The ability had granted no further knowledge, but it had increased its Heat limit a considerable amount.

Still very nice. That’s a huge amount of improvement from a single fight, Sam thought.

It really did pay to fight something far above his level. Now to work out how to do it again without nearly dying. He couldn’t rely on [Endure] forever.

Even if it worked flawlessly forever, without having any nasty surprises, it left him at a single point of health. Without the fall killing the golem, he never would have been able to finish the fight.

Not when a single errant smack would end his life.

As tired as he was, Sam was still eager to test out the improved [Rally] in battle already. That was his first skill up, so Sam was interested to see the difference firsthand since the description didn’t give him anything to go by.

There’s no way that it goes up in tier and makes no difference. It’s already pretty clear that any information I gain is highly limited, almost hilariously so.

Which was fine by him, since it was still leagues better than Earth, where there was no Shard to provide information and insight into… well, anything.

It didn’t exactly feel like new knowledge was beamed directly into his brain, but a bit more clarity was percolating through.

His [Greatsword Foundation] going up was a decent improvement as well. He made a lot more use of his weapon than a single ability, anyway.

While he was familiar with longswords, Sam was less so with weapons as big and heavy as greatswords. The balance was wildly different, and the swing speed was uncannily fast for its size making for an odd combination.

The claymore was a beast to control given its size, weight, and the way it ignored basic laws of physics he was used to relying on.

Even though he could handle the claymore better now, the way it interacted with the world was very different from what he expected.

Little surprise since his Incarnate trait, [Heavy Weapon Handling], allowed him to swing it around like it was no heavier than your standard four-pound longsword, yet when it collided with anything else it acted like its true weight.

Which he estimated to be somewhere around three to five times that of a longsword. At least.

When you combined that with Sam’s stats increasing from leveling up, which continuously changed the scope of what his body and reactions were capable of, it only further complicated his swordsmanship.

Add in stances, and it was an entirely different field altogether.

He figured training would go a long way, though these weren’t ideal conditions to do so.

And the practice would be better with a partner, or a trainer. At least a target to hack away at. Maybe once I get some shuteye, I’ll try out some of the Arts from [Power Stance].

But anything was better than nothing. He’d need to be careful, training at the bottom of this narrow ravine, but the fight with the golem proved how much he needed to acclimatize to this new world.

And it was crystal clear that Il’dran wasn’t going to give him something as clean and neat as a trainer or safe haven to do it in. No, if he put it off, he’d just end up in another battle he was ill-prepared for.

A little insidious voice whispered in the back of his mind, a battle like the one you had with the golem. The most fun you’ve ever had in your life. The only time you truly felt alive and awake. And look at all the progress you made! You know training isn’t going to compare.

Sam ignored the intrusive thoughts.

There was one more notification pending. The one Sam was most interested in.

Incarnate Bloodline awakened: [Breaker]

[Breaker]

(Incarnate Bloodline) (D-Class)

(★★★ Rare VIII)

Yours by birthright as an Incarnate of War, you have awakened a fragment of the Kindred, War’s, power. The [Breaker] Incarnate Bloodline allows you to create critical weak points whose strength is inversely proportional to the weak points currently in existence. Bestows the title, [Alloy of War]. Grants a small bonus to the effect of Strength, Vigor, and Dexterity when creating weak points.

Sam pored over the [Breaker] bloodline’s details, going from its class, rarity to the stat effect bonuses. The bloodline’s attributes were not just wildly different from mostly anything else he had gained thus far, but plainly superior.

He itched to use it in battle already.

Rather than F-Class, his awakened Incarnate bloodline was D-Class, presumably a whole step above F-Class in power and quality. Perhaps more if E-Class was a thing.

Considering his skills, abilities, weapons and even his Legend were rated at F-Class or Unranked, his bloodline was on an entirely different level than anything he’d encountered so far.

Even more jaw-dropping was that there was more. New notifications blossomed across his vision.

Title Gained: Alloy of War

Few are born as Incarnates and fewer yet make it far enough in their life to learn of their latent power, much less to awaken their bloodline. Unlike other Incarnates, those of War’s blood must awaken their powers through trial and tribulation. Most do not live to see their powers manifest. Those that survive reap great rewards. As an Alloy of War, you gain the following:

Strength (+5%)

Vigor (+5%)

Fire Mana Attunement

Metal Mana Attunement

Sam hurriedly opened his Status and saw that while the bonus wasn’t much at his current level, it already provided a full point of Strength and Vigor. Bringing Strength to 26 and his Vigor to 27, which subsequently raised his HP 2 points from 92 to 94.

He didn’t get long to admire the free points, however, as another much more alarming notification flashed in front of his eyes.

—WARNING—

Apocalypse Mana detected.

Additional attunements impossible.

Reading Incarnate Deeds.

…

Incarnate Deeds threshold met.

Title Gained: Void Maw

Through your Incarnate Deeds, you have shown your hunger for advancement and improvement. Your ability to manipulate and manifest Void Mana, while yet nascent, now allows you to not only consume Mana Attunements to empower your Void Mana, but also to acquire Mana Affinities related to those initial Mana Attunements.

Your Void Mana Attunement has reached (★★★★ Legendary IV)

Your Fire Mana Attunement has morphed into Fire Mana Affinity.

Your Fire Mana Affinity has reached (★ Common I).

Your Metal Mana Attunement has morphed into Metal Mana Affinity.

Your Metal Mana Affinity has reached (☆ Primitive I).

Though he still hadn’t any clue how to tap into his Void Mana, Sam could feel the spreading awareness of the flames before him. An awareness that now included his armaments as well. It wasn’t quite as deep a connection as he felt to the fire, but it was oddly comforting all the same.

No idea what Incarnate Deeds are, but I’m sure as hell glad that I got that title. It was a shame that he hadn’t gotten it from the beginning.

He could have had Earth and Fire affinities much sooner. And now his rarity with Fire was even higher, though he still was a bit fuzzy on what rarity meant, exactly.

At the same time, Sam felt a spark of inspiration as he rested his hands against the flat of his blade. It was as if he had been waiting all this time for the requisite affinities to make the connection.

With a grin, Sam shut his eyes and focused on his dual affinities. His fatigue seemed to vanish, and he felt like a kid again, playing a newly released game well into the quiet, blissfully silent hours of the night. This is going to be good.