Second World

Chapter 1848. Replaced Skills

From Void Sword Saintʼs passive abilities, Jack thought this pinnacle class was more offense-oriented compared to Brave Swordsmaster. He lost the endurance boost and the chance to reduce damage, but he packed a lot more punch from the passive skills of Void Sword Saint.

Peniel materialized next to him. After the trial ended, the limitations during the trial were lifted. Jack could also access his equipment.

”Luckily, you didnʼt take too long,” Peniel said. ”I had been locked inside my hidden dimension. I could see you during the trial but couldnʼt do anything else. Anyway, congratulations on passing the trial.”

”Thank you,” Jack said and took out his Storm Braker. He started slashing around. Once in a while, his sword created some sort of a tear in the air. He had seen this before. It was similar to the effect caused by Azzarilthʼs Void-tearing Claws. He figured when his sword created this effect was the time the ignore defense was triggered.

He channeled mana manipulation and continued slashing. The void tears were more frequent. It was possible to increase the chance using mana manipulation.

The chance to bypass protective skills and spells was also very useful. It would be like having a passive Ghost Sword skill. The chance of it triggering was very small, though.

He went back to his status page and checked his skill page. The skills from Brave Swordsmaster had been replaced by a series of new skills. Their levels and stars followed previous Brave Swordsmasterʼs skills.

*

Void Slash, level 20/20 (Active skill, range, requires sword), star: 2

Deals 2000% physical damage and ignores the targetʼs defense.

+50% critical chance and +100% critical damage.

30% chance of causing Bleed and Weakness.

High chance of wounding the opponent.

Range: 34 meters

Cooldown: 2 minutes 48 seconds.

Stamina: 200

*

Void Walk, level 20/20 (Active skill), star: 1

Teleport to a maximum distance of 20 meters. Teleports up to 5 times.

Causes the space around the destination to become unstable. All enemies in a 2-meter radius are stunned for 1 second.

Can teleport through a barrier that normally blocks teleportation.

The skill ends if the next teleport isnʼt triggered within 5 seconds after the last teleport.

Cooldown: 2 minutes

Stamina: 150

*

Void Defense, level 20/20 (Active skill), star: 10

Turns the space around the user into a malleable space. The user can manipulate the space at will.

Duration: 30 seconds

Radius: 2 meters

Cooldown: 30 minutes

Stamina: 300

*

Void Cage, level 20/20 (Active skill, range, requires sword), star: 10

Tears the space of a 100-meter radius area into a dimension filled with chaotic energies. All within the area receive 200% chaos damage each second.

Everyone within the affected area received a strong pull.

Those who escape the affected area receive 1000% chaos damage and are afflicted by Disoriented status.

Those who remain in the area after the skill ends receive 2000% chaos damage and are afflicted by Confused status.

Range: 200 meters

Duration: 10 seconds

Cooldown: 2 hours

Stamina: 400

*

Void Slash was similar to Brave Slash. It dealt the same percentage of damage and had the chance to wound the target, but it was a range attack with a higher critical chance and completely ignored defense.

”The star upgrade of Void Slash affects range and cooldown, is it?” Jack asked Peniel.

”Yes, each star increases Void Slashʼs range by two meters and reduces its cooldown by six seconds,” Peniel answered.

”I have the passive skill of increasing all the range of a swordʼs skill by 25%. This meant this Void Slash had a range of 42.5 meters.”

Jack gave the skill a demonstration. He slashed while using the skill. He saw a tear happen in the space some distance away. The tear appeared instantly once he completed his slash. This meant Void Slash not only ignored defense but was also virtually unblockable. Unless the target had acute mana sense and was extremely fast, this skill would also be very difficult to dodge.

Jack turned to the second skill. After reading its description, he found he liked this Void Walk very much. It was like teleportation without casting time. Its distance was shorter than the Teleportation spell, but teleporting five times using Void Walk covered a distance of a hundred meters. It didnʼt lose too much to the Teleportation spell. It could also bypass a barrier that otherwise blocked Teleportation.

”You should know, this doesnʼt mean you can get past all barriers,” Peniel informed.

”It doesnʼt?” Jack asked.

”Every barrier has different powers. The star upgrades of this skill give it a stronger power in passing through a barrier. So, if you want to truly be able to pass through any barrier, you should upgrade it to its ten stars.”

”I see. Thanks for the info,” Jack said.

”Aside from the power to penetrate barriers, Void Walkʼs star upgrades also increase the instability that occurs when you teleport. Some enemies with high endurance are very hard to be stunned. By upgrading its stars, enemies will have a hard time resisting its stun effect.”

When Jack read the description of the third skill, he said, ”Hey, this is what Elder Maniac did to stop my slash from hitting him. With this skill, I can achieve the same feat in the outside world. Nothing will be able to hit me.”

”Nothing except skills or spells that take effect directly on the target,” Peniel countered. ”For example, your Void Slash, the Peerless Slash from your weaponʼs skill, or Hopeʼs Light. Those skills donʼt traverse a distance to hit the target. They just appeared directly on the target. Hence, Void Defense is useless against those types of skills.”

”But those types of skills are rare. I can pretty much stop any other skills. Even one that causes AOE damage.”

”Thatʼs true,” Peniel agreed.

The last skill was an AOE offensive skill that affected a very large area. It didnʼt lock the enemies inside the area, but it did slow them down from escaping. If he could keep the enemy throughout the skillʼs entire duration, the accumulated damage combined with its final damage would be massive.

All in all, he was satisfied by his gains.

”The pinnacle special class truly doesnʼt disappoint,” Jack remarked.

”You donʼt say,” Peniel said.

”Letʼs go out,” Jack said.

He interacted with the hyperspace and stepped into it. He went directly to the gate at the center. Once he did, he found himself outside the Lost Forest.

Jack closed his eyes. He opened them again after a while. ”Yeah, there is no hyperspace outside here,” he said.

”Hey, the disc is glowing,” Peniel said.

She could see into Jackʼs inventory. Currently, Chrisʼ disc inside the inventory is gleaming. It became brighter with each second.

Jack took the disc out. A display box appeared. The texts inside the display box asked him if he wanted to return to Chrisʼ secret garden.

”What the… There is only a yes option. What kind of request doesnʼt give people the choice to say no?” Jack complained.

”The kind that comes from the creator, I guess,” Peniel said.

When Jack was still speaking with Peniel, the yes button on the display box suddenly shone. It was as if someone had pressed it.

”F*ck! Why bother asking then?” Jack cursed as a flash of light enveloped him.

He found himself at the pavilion by the lake inside Chrisʼ secret garden. Chris was sipping tea inside that pavilion. Above the round table was an image projection. Wilted was seen inside that projection. She was climbing some sort of winding stairs.

Jackʼs sudden arrival startled Chris. He did a spit take out of surprise. He quickly pushed the button on the table and the projection vanished.

”Hey! Are you spying on Wilted?” Jack asked.

”Donʼt make it sound so bad. I was watching over her!” Chris answered.

Jack wanted to say, ʼThen why did you act like a burglar getting caught?ʼ But he decided not to tease the guy.

”You… So fast? It has only been four days!” Chris exclaimed after realizing what it meant for Jack to be there.

”Hehe, yeah. I do remember you said the trial should last at least one week,” Jack said.

”I was being generous by saying one week. I never believe anyone can do that. At most, I think two weeks is the fastest… Not to mention, aside from Time Sage, the trial for Void Sword Saint is the hardest among the twenty-four pinnacle special classes.”

”Damn, man. So, I unintentionally chose the two classes with the hardest trials? Do you have something against Blade Dancer and Archmage?”

”Actually, those two special classes you got are also the strongest. Well… I guess that depends on perspectives. Those two classes embody the fundamental aspects of space and time. I must say it is rather poetic that you acquire both.”

”I hope this power is enough,” Jack said. He then asked Chris, ”So, how is the march of the underworld forces?”

”I donʼt know,” Chris answered.

”F*ck! You spied on Wilted but didnʼt bother to check the underworld forcesʼ march?” Jack cursed.

”Their march is limited to the speed of the corrupted manaʼs expansion. The speed is fixed. What is there to check?”

”It is still good if we know for sure. We donʼt want to get caught in surprise when our enemies already greatly outnumber and outpower us!”

”Fine, fine! Here, I take a look for you,” Chris said.