The Strongest Spellblade

My Son,

The campaign goes well. Already we have secured critical provinces on the continent. My new system of tripartite government has proven successful in delegation, control, and managing the group of legends under my command.

But I know you are not interested in any of that. I was surprised when you asked about social skills. I am glad you are taking an interest, even if you are growing older. You have enough of a foundation that you won’t be completely hopeless working on them in the future.

For your etiquette skills, the three of them can be merged to a higher-tier skill of Social Performance. But this is slightly sub-par in terms of choice. There are two skills called Seraphim Etiquette and Formality. Getting these two skills and leveling them up and then getting Social Performance is a much better decision.

If you wish to get high-tier social skills, a firm foundation is incredibly important. I have included books for both tier 1 skills with my letter. Seraphim Etiquette is long and difficult, with many obtuse and complicated rules. Formality is much the same but deals with specific prose construction while speaking.

It adds a touch of elegance to any encounter. I cannot stress enough how important both skills are before you get Social Performance. As for other foundational skills, Speech is a core skill you can work to level up to Empowered Speech.

Where other methods might fail to kill a demon, never underestimate the true power of social skills. Acting, Voice Projection, and Drama are also good tier 1 social support skills to get. I have included a book explaining how to get and level these skills. I know you probably won’t focus on them until after you graduate and you have other skills. But don’t underestimate social skills.

I love you and wish you the best, Justin.

Supreme General Darren Burnstock

I had received a stack of books from him as well. It didn’t escape my notice that my father had used the word Seraphim to discuss serious threats against humanity. I would have to ask him about that group of beings or individual when I met up with him.

The books and letter went into my spatial pouch, which was one of the best things my mother had ever gotten for me. It made carrying around all my stuff much easier. Sure, if it was destroyed, I would lose everything stored inside, but the convenience was too much to pass up.

I let the messenger know to come back tomorrow and I will have a letter ready for return delivery. I would thank my father, but he had given me more work.

I needed to study fewer skills rather than more skills.

Making my way to my room I sat down on my cushion chair. I steadied my breathing and meditated. I needed to keep practicing all the time, even during my break, if I was going to keep my first-place spot.

”Light Orb.”

I drew on my Mana and filled in the spell structure that had formed. I could use the Mana to alter the spell structure during the casting process, which I did. The orb of light was cylindrical and floated around my head.

While it wasn’t necessary to say the spell skill name, Empowered Gestures was a useful support skill that made such an action helpful. I could make hand gestures or say something; the result was greater control.

The skill wasn’t taught in one of the main courses here at the College, but it was still highly recommended in all the books and spell skill classes.

”Light Orb.”

I kept my control over the first while casting a second. I could feel a skill wanting to emerge. Multi-casting was a tier 4 skill. But I held off.

My soul couldn’t support it. But I could still work on the skill. Another small thing I had picked up on. One could work on skills and not accept the skill right away.

It was like how a child without access to their status could get a tremendous boost to certain skills once their status was unlocked. I was using the same concept with multi-casting. Once I got a high enough Mind stat, I would accept the skill. Or I might continue to hold off. Once I got it, I would quickly shoot up in skill levels.

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It was another little thing I had been working on for the last couple of years to ensure I got first place in my minor struggle with Windshell. I knew she would try similar things as well. But that was what made our competition quite amusing. I am sure she didn’t think that, but it was her loss.

Winning in a competition where it wasn’t about killing or destroying the other person was a lot like Pulse Strike. You got certain cards and had to make the best of the situation. There was some luck involved, but ultimately worrying too much about the other players would only drag you down.

Sure, higher-level gameplay involved calculating other players’ hands in relation to your own, but the key to the game was playing an optimal game yourself before going after others. Windshell was targeting me and burning herself out.

While I could respect her determination to beat me, I would not give her a single opportunity to make a comeback. Once I accepted this tier 4 skill and earned 20 to 30 levels in the last three months from years of hidden effort, that would mean a boost of 80 to 120 levels to my final score with a multiplier of 4.

It was the ultimate flex I had planned. My performance had gone down, but I still had a trump card hidden up my sleeve for this very situation. All my skills involving thinking and planning weren’t completely useless. I just had to put them to work over a long period of time, carefully evaluating the entire situation and everything I knew about skills.

Checking the records revealed that no one else had done such a thing as pre-learning a skill, but not accepting it onto their status. It sounded nice in theory, but it was incredibly difficult to pull off.

First one had to do this with a tier 3 or higher tier skill, which wasn’t easy.

Second, it had to be a skill that could be readily practiced. I was constantly working on my spell skills, so multi-casting met these criteria.

Third, a person had to have the support skills necessary to block themselves from getting a skill. This last requirement was harder than most realized. Without Soul Sense, my System Control skill would have struggled to block the skill for such a long time.

Finally, you had to have someone who was so far ahead; they were willing to sandbag for years just to utterly crush their opponent in the final round. Any tricks that Windshell might attempt to pull off would be futile.

It would be amusing to see the pure despair that would cross her face once she realized I had gotten so far ahead. I knew she would work herself to death to get a slight lead these next three months.

While it might seem mean, this was an academic competition, not life or death. She should have known what year I was entering the College, and she had also challenged me multiple times. If she didn’t want the competition to heat up, then she shouldn’t be so competitive.

”Light Orb.”

My Mana reserves were low. Even this most basic spell skill costs around 40 Mana to cast and 1 Mana per second to maintain. Even while I was meditating and recovering Mana points at a decent rate, maintaining spells was costly.

That was why death in the dungeon was from being ground down. Anyone could unleash multiple powerful spells at the start, but the real danger came from the fights. Mana points would come back slower, and an adventurer’s reserves would slowly run out.

Being able to dish out a lot of damage at once was important, but long term, stability was key to success. At least, that was my understanding based on everything I had learned so far. That could change as I improved and got more combat experience. As for the demon that had killed my mother, that was something I had no chance of confronting for a long time.

I let the Light Orbs disperse. I then got up and had some water, salt, and nuts to help replenish my points. Food was useful. It was tempting to take potions to speed up training, but my Alchemical Toxicity had finally decreased too almost nothing. I didn’t want to mess up my health again. The experiences I had growing up were more than enough.

The risks I had taken as a child had been immense. There were safeguards, like my subconscious rejecting more skills, which I am sure my mother knew about. Even so, I had been on the edge of disaster and hadn’t realized. The alchemical stuff just made everything worse.

Now I was on the edge of disaster with my skills once more, but I knew exactly how much my soul could take and was using this to my advantage. There were other support skills that would be useful for spell skills and Alchemically extracted monster skills that could prove useful on my personal list.

Sitting back down, I began practicing again. Even though it was my break, I couldn’t afford to let my competition get too big of a lead or even a lead to begin with. It would be interesting if I didn’t even need to flex on her to win our little contest. I would set that as a bonus accomplishment.

While both my mother and father had given me what they were planning to give me if I placed in the first position already, it would be an insult to everyone, even myself, if I didn’t place first. With all the advantages I had already received, not placing first in the College would make me a joke.

All those resources and opportunities and I couldn’t even use them properly. That kind of stigma and rumor would stick with someone forever. That was why I had put some effort into the contest of taking first between Windshell and myself. I wouldn’t be found lacking in effort on my part. If she wanted to beat me, then she needed to go beyond in ways I couldn’t even conceive of.

Even brainstorming with Healer Melon, he did not know how she might surpass me, except by consuming another soul fruit to help her level. It was interesting to face up against someone who had similar advantages to myself, but my mother was still the best at helping me out even though she had passed away.

”Light Orb. Light Orb.” I used the spell skill twice and had them intersect and move through each other while they were different colors, creating a light show. A minor application of the spell skill, but one that was useful for helping to level it up. Stretch the skill to its very limits of what was possible.