A breakthrough in battle
With 5,000 points of Slaughter Experience gained, Soren's expression was somewhat excited.
He currently has over 10,000 Slaughter Experience points, enough to simultaneously level up both his Wizard and Rogue classes. However, he forcibly suppressed this impulse. He could put the basic class level upgrade on hold for now; dealing with these Earth Elemental didn't require leveling up. It was best to save those for future advanced class upgrades. With his current abilities, triggering an advanced class was only a matter of time. Even if the conditions weren't met, he could create them himself, such as becoming an advanced Assassin.
There are only three prerequisites for becoming an advanced Assassin: 100 points in Stealth, 100 kills (Heart of Slaughter), and 50 points in Alchemy (Poisonmaking).
Stealth is sufficient; Heart of Slaughter is a background Feat, and Assassin are cold-blooded and ruthless professionals.
Once you assassinate 100 targets, you automatically gain the [Heart of Slaughter] Feat, which grants an additional 1 point to your Willpower. Soren has a considerable number of assassination targets; given time, achieving 100 kills is a piece of cake. As for the final 50 points in Alchemy, that will require some time to learn how to make poisons. Assassin was once one of his preferred advanced classes, but he ultimately chose the more stealthy Stalker. (The story's native inhabitants have an apprentice Assassin class that doesn't require the [Heart of Slaughter] Feat, but requires completing a series of assassination missions to officially advance to Assassin.)
The battle is over.
Just as Soren was preparing to retrieve the Elemental Core from the Earth Elemental's corpse, a row of data suddenly appeared:
"Battle over."
"You dealt 7 (+2) points of cleavage damage to the Earth Elemental!... Target dead!..."
"Extracting Soul Energy"
"You have gained 2550 Slaughter Experience points."
"Through countless Slaughter, your combat skills have become increasingly agile!..."
"You have gained information on the [Evasion] Feat."
"You have received information about the [Mobility] Feat."
Feat information has appeared!
Soren was momentarily stunned. The Halfling beside him reached out and patted him, picking up the Elemental Core and asking in confusion, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and take down the next one, there are still quite a few left!"
Soren quickly regained his senses and glanced at his own data.
Whether it was due to accumulated experience or the recent battle, he suddenly received two Information Prompt, both related to advanced extension Feat for the Rogue. Without spending Feat Point to acquire them, the only way to learn them was through combat. Often, those with more combat experience, even at the same class level, will possess significantly more feats than those who only have flashy but inexperienced Feat. Therefore, while they may appear to be at similar levels, the difference in actual combat can be worlds apart.
"Evasion [Personal Feat]: Through long-term combat, your reflexes have been gradually honed. When faced with ambushes, assassinations, or sudden attacks, you won't be caught off guard because your trained reflexes are sufficient to handle such unexpected situations. When subjected to area-of-effect attacks and Spell attacks, you can also rely on your reflexes to avoid the core area of the attack, reducing the damage to yourself. [Reflex +1, Dodge (Roll) +5.]"
"Mobility [Personal Feat]: With each battle, your footwork becomes increasingly agile, allowing you to easily dodge most attacks. Your movements are like a dance in battle; nimble footwork is the epitome of your skill. When facing enemy attacks, you can skillfully avoid much damage. [Dodge +1. Dodge (Movement) +5.]"
Two Feat that Soren was very familiar with.
However, receiving information about two Feat at once still surprised him quite a bit.
He fought so many battles at the beginning, but basically didn't get any Feat information. Now, two of them suddenly appearing at once is definitely not just a coincidence. It's very likely due to other reasons. For example, he might have been blessed with ' Greater Grace ' and ' Haste ', or he might not have been hit by the enemy at all when he was fighting the Earth Elemental.
Soren thought about it more and more and felt that this possibility was very high.
When he first trained his ' Extreme Dash ' Feat, he also needed to use Spell. He used Lighten Spell and Greater Haste to run at his limit on the river, falling into it more than ten times before finally mastering the ' Extreme Dash ' combat Feat. Although he had fought many battles before, he had never experienced the feeling of dancing on a knife's edge like this. Being hit by Earth Elemental was no joke, and Soren's attention was highly focused throughout.
He glanced at the Halfling beside him and said in a deep voice, "I'll deal with the next one by myself. I think I'm about to break through in my combat skills?"
Is this even possible!?
The Halfling was startled for a moment, then asked, "Are you sure?"
Soren nodded.
There was a previous speculation that the speed at which one could learn and master Feat would increase under high attribute conditions. After all, the agility of 15 points in Dexterity and 20 points in Dexterity are completely different, and many abilities require certain physical conditions to master. Soren currently has 24 points in Dexterity, which is higher than his attribute when he was training to master it. After all, back then, no mage was willing to waste precious Spell to help him train his Feat.
Wizard often cast the ' Fox's Cunning on themselves when learning advanced Spell, as high Intelligence improves the efficiency of Spell learning. He may have reached the critical point for Feat breakthrough, and his current high attribute state is likely several times more effective at training his Feat than usual, which explains the two consecutive Feat notifications. The 4-point Dexterity Spell bonus is equivalent to eight Rogue levels allocating all Free Attribute Point to Dexterity.
It's definitely a bit risky for one person to fight against the Earth Elemental.
When Soren lured out an Earth Elemental, he immediately felt the pressure increase significantly. Without the Halfling providing cover and drawing attention, his attack frequency dropped drastically, requiring him to devote more energy to Dodge attacks. Previously, he could seize an opportunity to strike seven or eight times a minute, but now he could only manage two or three strikes at most. Goria seemed somewhat puzzled, and only after asking the Halfling did she understand a little, but her expression as she looked at Soren was rather strange.
A breakthrough in the heat of battle?!
This seems like something only legendary figures could accomplish, right?
Where did Soren get the confidence that he could surpass his original fighting techniques in just a few minutes of combat?
Could he also be Godsbane?
That shouldn't be happening!
His talent is only slightly better than that of ordinary people, and he is close to genius in some fields, but there is still a big gap between his talent and that of Godsbane!
Ding ding ding.
Soren attacked relentlessly, not seeking a burst of speed, but simply ensuring he wouldn't be hit by the enemy.
He moved around the Earth Elemental, only seizing the opportunity to counterattack during the lull between enemy attacks. After each attack, the Earth Elemental would retract its arm, creating a one-second attack interval. One second was enough for Soren to do many things. He slashed the Earth Elemental's arm, then suddenly twisted and leaped onto its shoulder, delivering a powerful slash to the enemy's neck before landing.
The battle continues.
Soren's movements were noticeably more agile, and he seemed to have grasped the patterns of Earth Elemental attacks, gradually shifting the rhythm of the battle in his favor.
Ding ding ding.
When Soren struck the Earth Elemental's neck with several more blows, the enemy's towering body collapsed with a crash, its rocky structure beginning to weather away, turning into sand and gravel in the blink of an eye. After killing the Earth Elemental, he didn't rush to retrieve the Elemental Core, but instead closed his eyes to recall the battle he had just fought, and then exhaled a long breath.
Another Information Prompt just appeared:
"Battle over."
"You dealt 8 (+2) points of cleavage damage to the Earth Elemental!... Target dead!..."
"Extracting Soul Energy"
"You have gained 2600 Slaughter Experience points."
"I've gained some insights into my own combat techniques during the battle just now!..."
"You have gained information on the [Evasion] Feat."
"You have received information about the [Mobility] Feat."
This is the second time we've Information Prompt.
Based on Soren's past experience, he would only need one more Information Prompt to master the corresponding Feat. This meant that the next Earth Elemental elemental would likely allow him to learn two Feat simultaneously. He waved to the Halfling beside him again, whose expression was clearly speechless. However, Soren had no time to care about that. He took a short breath and excitedly lured over the second Earth Elemental, calculating the interval between the Earth Elemental's attacks based on the attack rhythm he had just accumulated.
Ding ding ding.
The continuous chopping sounds rang out, Goria's expression became much more serious.
Soren had become remarkably adept in just a few minutes. Although his combat efficiency wasn't high, he repeatedly anticipated Dodge the Earth Elemental's attacks. Eventually, he could even strike the Earth Elemental's joints before it could land a blow, disrupting its next attack. The Halfling was utterly dumbfounded. As Rogue, he knew how demanding this was; Soren's skill had improved so dramatically in such a short time that even he found it hard to believe.
finally.
After Soren killed the Earth Elemental in front of him, the long-awaited notification appeared:
"Battle over."
"You have successfully mastered the [Evasion] Feat!..."
"You have successfully mastered the [Mobility] Feat!..."
"You have obtained information on the advanced class [Shadow Dancer]!... Advancement requirements: [Evasion], [Mobility], 100 points in Stealth skill, 50 points in Dodge skill..."
...(To be continued~^~)