Level 1 Fallen

Chapter 175: Training Guide

Standing within the training camp were twenty young men and women, all with pitch black skin like the soldier that escorted me here. They wore a black military uniform and stood at attention with their hands behind their backs. To my surprise, there was no scorn or disrespect in their gazes when they looked at me, only a firm determination.

“These are your students, Sir Advent,” the man gestured towards the group, before bowing. “Now, I have to make a report to the general. If you’ll excuse me.”

After he said that, he quickly left, leaving me with the twenty trainees. I had ideas for how I wanted to train them, but first I needed to figure out what they could do already. It wouldn’t be very good if I trained a scout as if they were a tank, after all.

“Everyone, step forward and introduce yourselves, one at a time. State your name, special skills, and level,” I instructed, and they began to do just that without a moment’s hesitation. I listened to their introductions, committing each name and skillset to memory as another prompt appeared in front of me.

Due to your position as Instructor, you have unlocked the Skill Synthesis system.

Using this system, you can synthesize skills you own, whether their current forms or previous evolutions, into new skills that you can teach to your students. You do not get these skills yourself naturally, but they will be added to the pool of skill rewards at the end of the dungeon.

Skills created with Skill Synthesis: 0/5

Additional slots may be unlocked by completing certain achievements.

My eyes briefly widened when I read this, taking a moment to consider if my former plan was still viable. Originally, I planned to teach my students the method to get an elemental dragon form like Diane’s, which would massively increase their sustainability in battle.

However, if doing so would put those skills on the reward list for everyone to grab, I was no longer sure if that was worth it. After all, I did not want to widely spread such a powerful skill.

On the other hand, I would need something powerful if I were to fulfill my role as an instructor. Just… maybe not that powerful. Though, this should only apply to skills created through the synthesis method. If I teach them the skills naturally, it should still be viable. At that point, the only thing that will be revealed is that I know how to create these skills, without the skills themselves becoming public.

As I was thinking that, the last of my recruits finished their introductions. To summarize, I had six mages, all of which specialized in shadow spells, six assassins, six fighters, and two archers. I couldn’t help but look over the group in confusion at this layout, which seemed strangely even with one exception. “If I may ask, why are there so few archers among you?”

One of the archers, a man who had named himself Brennor, spoke up. “Shadow archers lean more towards assassins than pure archery, so there are fewer that primarily utilize their bows.”

That made sense. “In that case, I have a few skills that I want you all to learn. Some of these, you will need to actively train for the next two or three days at every available moment until they evolve to reach their full potential. Others, you will be able to see their power from the start, and they will simply grow stronger with training. After I have taught you these foundational skills, I will begin teaching you individual skills based on your specialty.”

As I spoke, I was already working on creating a series of quests. “First is Shadow Blend. With this, you will be able to obscure your form in darkness. The assassins and archers among you may already know a higher version of this skill, but I will require you to train the basic version again regardless.”

The six assassins furrowed their brows, clearly confused. However, I disregarded their concerns and continued. “Next is Dragon Pulse. While active, this skill enhances your Strength and Stamina, enabling you to fight harder and longer.”

“Finally, there is Dragon Form. This skill will grant you draconic scales and claws, serving as both natural weapons and armor. All three of these skills must be trained to the maximum level as quickly as you can, and I will be assisting with that. Any questions?”

“Yes, sir.” One of the assassins spoke up. “If you tell us the end result of this training, it will clear our doubts. Why would we need to retrain the basic form of a skill we have already outgrown?”

I gave a small smile at this question. “Because, the fusion of these three skills will grant you the intermediate skill, Shadow Dragon Embodiment. You can use this skill to turn into a half-dragon form, and while you are in this form, all skills of the dark element will no longer burn your mana. As long as you do not use any skills of other elements, you will be able to fight indefinitely.”

All twenty pairs of eyes widened when they heard this explanation, their bodies going stiff. It was hard to tell if they believed me or not, but everything that I had said was true. “These are skills that I acquired with great difficulty. I believe that using them, we can defeat the army of light.”

With that, I issued the three quests to all twenty students, who reviewed them eagerly. I couldn’t use quests directly related to dragons for the latter two skills, so I had to come up with alternative quests that increased their difficulty. For Dragon Pulse, they needed to run laps around the camp while encumbered. And for Dragon Form, they had to withstand twenty powerful blows from a blunt weapon.

“I will be waiting here for you to finish these quests, at which point I will help you with your training while assigning you the next skill you will learn under me.” When I said that, the students nodded their heads, running towards the quartermaster and asking for anything they could get to weigh their bodies down.

Meanwhile, I sat on the bench, waiting for them. I knew that I would have a fair bit of time before they returned, so I opened the Skill Synthesis system first. Given the nature of the battle, I not only needed skills to enhance their dark attribute, but also ones that would defend them against the light.

For that, I chose to combine skills while hoping for an optimistic result. The skills that I chose were Black Flame Aura and Shadow Shaping. When using the system, it was distinctly different from how I would typically enchant. There was a window listing all of my skills and their past forms, and I could select these skills to choose aspects like ‘element’, ‘form’, or ‘special effect’.

Naturally, I selected Black Flame Aura for both form and effect, but chose Shadow Shaping as the element. This presented me with an option of two skills, much to my surprise. The two were called Utter Darkness Aura and Empty Shadow Aura. For the most part, their effects were identical, with only one difference. Utter Darkness Aura absorbed light element skills, and Empty Shadow Aura absorbed dark element skills.

The fact that the system gave me multiple choices when synthesizing skills made me more confident that I would be able to create what I wanted, so long as I provided the appropriate ‘materials’. In this case, I selected the Utter Darkness Aura, and the number of filled slots for Skill Synthesis changed from zero to one.

As for the rest of the skills that I could create, I had a choice to make. The odds that they would be able to bring a skill to the master rank within the span of one week was abysmally low, even if I buffed them with my aura. Should I give them basic skills to let them train up, and have these skills be something that I could personally obtain myself, or give them more advanced skills to bolster their power?

If I went with the former, I could potentially set up a deliberate skill fusion for myself by combining various synthesized skills. As long as I don’t tell any of the other players what skills to go for, they could easily pass over them when looking at the rewards. However, the viability in actual combat would be low for most intermediate skills. Even their Shadow Dragon Embodiment wouldn’t let them bring out their top power with each skill, unless they truly trained nonstop.

If I created skills at the master level, they would gain a burst in power, but have a lower growth potential. At the same time, players would be more drawn to the powerful skills, even if they weren’t able to evolve them to the ‘perfect’ grandmaster level without demoting them first.

After thinking it over, and debating the goals of this dungeon, I decided that the latter option was more valuable in this case. These were skills that I was creating by combining what I already had to begin with. If I could create a skill through synthesis, I could create it through enchantment later. However, I couldn’t give these recruits the time to train up their skills to a high level for combat.

Let’s start with the mages, I thought to myself, opening the window again. I combined Dark Intent-X for ‘element’ and ‘effect’, and Shadow Magic Expertise for ‘form’. Again, two skills appeared, but I already knew which one I wanted. Shadow Lord was a magical equivalent to Dark Intent, allowing the user to create and manipulate darkness for a variety of effects.

Next, for the assassins, I combined Ghost-X and Glancing Steps-X to create Walk Unseen, a skill which grant vastly increased movement speed while the user was under the effects of stealth. Although it did not have my ability to teleport directly to wherever I was looking, that was something that I learned only came after Glancing Steps had been evolved from the basic level.

For the warriors, I combined Vitality of the Forest-X and Dark Intent-X to create Life of Darkness, which changed the former’s skill to apply when the user was in a dark area as opposed to natural terrain. Given how they seemed to fight, this would be an invaluable skill for them.

Finally, it was time for the archers. For these, I combined Shadow Arsenal-X, Empty Bow Expertise, and Internal Strike to create Shadow Arrow Mastery. This skill worked exactly as you might expect, just creating shadow arrows instead of regular ki arrows.

With these skills, I was confident that the recruits could show a greater power in the fights ahead, while also limiting how much benefit other players would be able to get. Though, I was certain that Diane would be interested in the Shadow Lord skill when she saw it. Although it was just a remastered version of Dark Intent, she might decide to have me make a version of it for her Chosen.

As I was finalizing the last of the five skills, I could hear heavy footsteps running back towards me. Looking over, I saw the haggard expressions on the twenty faces as they trudged along, their bodies strapped down with weights, weapons, and one unlucky warrior carrying a large cauldron on his back. Obviously, they had put as much weight on themselves as they could carry to complete the quest faster.

“Sir… we have finished the first quest,” the warrior in the lead said with an exhausted tone. “We will begin the second whenever you are ready.”

I gave a small nod, activating Vitality of the Forest-X. The ground beneath my feet began to glow a gentle green, wrapping around their bodies. Almost immediately, the exhaustion began to fade from their faces, their eyes going wide. “Take the burdens off, and rest for five minutes. Afterwards, pair up to complete the Dragon Form quest. Then, you can meditate in the shade for your final quest.”

There was an immediate exhale, the sound of metal clattering to the ground as they all began to unload their burdens. Afterwards, most of the twenty students fell down onto their backs, taking deep breaths. Only the warriors seemed mostly fine, though their breaths were still heavy as they recovered.

Five minutes later, I watched as they all paired up, ten of them carrying giant hammers while the other ten braced themselves for the beating that was to come. Was this a conventional way to teach students? Probably not. But, given who trained me, I’d say that this was a fair bit nicer than killing them repeatedly to drill the skills into their heads.