Second Life as a Soldier

“So?” I asked once we stopped.

Instead of answering, Leif looked around, making sure not many people were present, even though we were already in a mana-shield-protected area. After all, Leif was staying with nobles, and their conversations could not be easily leaked.

“Look, I have learned some things in knight school, some of which could be very important for your future progress.”

I held up my hand, stopping him.

“I don’t want to learn anything if it will get you in trouble. Also, I have Lieutenant Cicero. He has been helping me so far. I am sure he would not mind helping me.”

Leif waved his hand dismissively.

“Yeah, yeah, I know you have a master and all, but what I am sharing is information and theories they only started teaching in most academies in the capital in the last two years. It is nothing secret. Nobles share this information with their families and friends all the time.”

He paused for a moment before continuing.

“It is just that there are many nobles who think we should never share knowledge taught in the academies with low-affinity people, to avoid giving them false hope. At the same time, what I am going to say is not completely verified.”

Then he shrugged.

“But I could not care less about all that. If noble heirs are learning these things, then there has to be some truth in them.”

“What about my low affinity?” I asked with a teasing smile.

Leif scoffed and did not even address my question. Instead, he asked one of his own.

“Do you know that in Tier-3 and Tier-4, we should try to reduce our general skills as much as possible?”

“Yeah. The lieutenant told me that by the time I am ready for Tier-3, I should minimize my general skills as much as I can.”

“Did he give you a reason?”

“Nothing specific,” I replied. “From what we know, general skills do not help build mana network like class skills. Also, at higher tiers, relying on lower-tier general skills can cause injuries. Other than that, he said it should help with getting a better class.”

“Yes, the lieutenant is really teaching you everything,” Leif said, nodding enthusiastically. “So here is the thing. There is a theory that follows almost the same principle. It says skills can affect mana cultivation in more ways than just improving the mana network.”

He leaned forward slightly.

“We all know that to reach Tier-5, mana cultivation requires a domain. But you see, there are skills that have domains.”

I frowned slightly, listening more carefully.

“So, it is already known that if you can get an Epic-tier domain skill before your breakthrough to Tier-5, the breakthrough becomes much easier. But recently, academics started looking even deeper. They want students to get at least one Rare class skill before their Tier-4 breakthrough, and multiple Advanced-tier class skills before their Tier-3 breakthrough.”

Leif paused for a moment before continuing.

“Obviously, two years is too short a time for any proper results. Most of us have not even attempted our class trials yet, but those who did gained rare or very rare classes, higher physical stats, and easier mana breakthroughs.”

“Then why are these things not applied to the whole kingdom? Even if most of us cannot reach Tier-4, the Royal Army has no shortage of Tier-3 soldiers. Improving their class quality should increase the whole kingdom’s combat power, and I am sure even nobles would benefit from this,” I asked.

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“The official reason is that it is not fully proven,” Leif replied. “We still do not know how skills affect cultivation, or rather, how different types of skills affect cultivation. At Tier-5, we know domain skills help with the breakthrough, but we do not know if the same principle applies to Tier-3 and Tier-4.”

He paused for a moment before continuing.

“That is why we are asked to take multiple skills to Advanced-tier in Tier-3, in the hope that at least one of those skills helps. The same thing applies to Tier-4. We do not know what type of skill will help with core formation.”

I stared at him with a deadpan expression.

While the reason sounded valid, he and I both knew it was not something I would believe.

Leif sighed and shook his head.

“From what I assume, nobles want to monopolize it first. Even if people like me spread some information, it is not like everyone has a noble mentor who can help train their skills, so the effect would be minimal.”

“Yeah, thought so,” I said, nodding.

It was nothing new. Nobles always tried to take advantage of new discoveries before anyone else.

Thinking about it for a second, I shook my head, then clasped Leif’s hand and pulled him into a hug.

“Thank you, brother,” I said with genuine gratitude.

“What, you think I am done?” Leif asked, raising an eyebrow.

Then he passed me a handwritten notebook.

“I wrote this for you. Mostly, it has details about what I just talked about, but there are some other things I found interesting as well.”

Looking at his handwriting, my eyes became watery.

This was a guy who hated any sort of studying, yet to provide me with information, he had not only learned about new theories but also written them down for me.

Afraid I would show some emotion that would get me teased for the rest of my life, I thanked him one more time and almost ran from there.

Once I got back to my tent, I kept Leif’s notebook in my backpack, then opened my status to check the progress I had made.

+23,000 XP

13,000 XP – Defending the town and healing the people of the town

6,000 XP – Surviving combat against a mage

4,000 XP – Patrol, night watch, and travel

Name: Edward

Class: Battlefield Coordinator

Rank: Initiate (T2)

Level: 39 / 50

EXP: 2500 / 11,700

Elemental Affinity: 0.1% Wind

Mana Cultivation: Tier 2 (85.5/100)

Mana Nodes: 6 / 7

Physical Attributes

Constitution: 77.4 → 80.4

Strength: 60.9 → 64.9

Agility: 57.2 → 59.2

Spiritual Attributes

Intelligence: 107.6 → 116

Wisdom: 89.5 → 99.1

Willpower: 85.2 → 94.3

HP: 800 / 804

HP Regen: 204.5 per day

MP: 3000 / 3777

MP Regen: 347.1 per hour

Class Skills

[Operational Cognition (A)] – Level 42 → 47

[Unbroken Stride (UC)] – Level 50*

[Flowing Spear Style (UC)] – Level 50*

[Perceptive Instinct (UC)] – Level 50*

[Adaptive Vital Restoration (A)] – Level 1 → 5

General Skills

[Battlefield Command (UC)] – Level 40 → 45

[Triage Ward (UC)] – Level 50*

[Rune Analysis (UC)] – Level 50*

[Fortification Planner (UC)] – Level 30 → 32

[Logistics Routecraft (UC)] – Level 40 → 42

[Mana Manipulation (A)] – Level 20 → 35

[Mana Reinforcement (UC)] – Level 50*

I had made huge improvements since the last time I checked my status.

The major improvement came from [Mana Manipulation (A)]. My spell-like Mana Arc and Mana Shield were already pushing it forward, but the core formation exercises I had been doing for the last two days might have been the biggest contributor to those fifteen levels.

With two more nodes cleared, the throat node and solar node, I received one extra point in strength, 1.5 points in wisdom, and 2.5 points in willpower.

With this, six out of my seven nodes were clear.

I was closing in on Tier-3, which meant it was time for me to slow down my cultivation progress and allow my level to catch up with my mana cultivation.

Another source of satisfaction was realizing that, even without knowing the theory Leif had explained, I had already been following the correct path.

I already possessed three Advanced-grade skills: [Operational Cognition (A)], [Mana Manipulation (A)], and [Adaptive Vital Restoration (A)].

More importantly, the combat skill I was developing would combine [Flowing Spear Style (UC)], [Unbroken Stride (UC)], [Mana Manipulation (A)], and [Mana Reinforcement (UC)].

If my understanding was correct, once I successfully created it, the resulting higher-grade combat skill should replace [Flowing Spear Style] on my status screen. The other three component skills would likely remain, but most of their functions should already be contained within the new skill, making them redundant.

I had already experienced the same thing with my skill upgrades, most recently when [Vital Restoration] and [Triage Ward] combined. [Vital Restoration] had been replaced by [Adaptive Vital Restoration], while [Triage Ward] remained among my general skills despite its major functions already being incorporated into the new healing skill.

When I eventually undergo my Tier-3 class trial, I should be able to remove [Triage Ward], [Unbroken Stride], [Mana Reinforcement], and any other skills made redundant by my new higher-grade skills, getting rid of most of my general skills.

A bright smile appeared on my face.

Without even knowing most of the details about the relationship between skills and cultivation, I had already been preparing to enter Tier-3 with fewer skills of much higher quality.

Closing my status window, I made my way to Lady Flavia’s lab, hoping that after this progress, I might finally make headway in forming a stable core.