Chapter 1885: Skill Points

After Jack finished setting up his perfected Storm Breaker, Chris gave him his second weapon, the Fallen Apostle's Mystic Staff. The trial was similar to before. The difference was he could only use spells compatible with the Archmage class.

He already knew how to defeat the possessing demon, so it didn't take him long before he woke up from his coma. The others were still unconscious when he woke up for the second time.

After gaining the new magic staff, Jack asked for Chris' mobile blacksmith tools. During their stay, Chris helped everyone level up their non-heritage equipment using his blacksmith tools to level 99. His blacksmith tools had a 100% success chance, which everyone agreed was an ultimate cheat. But since they reaped the benefits, they didn't complain. Chris also seemed to possess an unlimited number of upgrade ores. Hence, he had no trouble max-leveling the equipment.

Chris originally wanted to give everyone unique-grade armor, but everyone's armor was already at least a unique grade, courtesy of Wilted.

Aside from giving definite success chances, Chris' blacksmith tools could also etch equipment. While leveling up everyone's equipment, Chris also did the etching process. He then installed armor orbs on all the equipment. He had a seemingly unlimited number of armor orbs in his inventory, but they were the standard types like the ones Jack acquired from the league factions.

Aside from giving definite success chances, Chris' blacksmith tools could also etch equipment. While leveling up everyone's equipment, Chris also did the etching process. He then installed armor orbs on all the equipment. He had a seemingly unlimited number of armor orbs in his inventory, but they were the standard types like the ones Jack acquired from the league factions.

Jack only had his shoulder armor missing an armor orb. He received a super-rare-grade Orb of Greater Darkness from Chris. Now, all his equipment had weapon orbs or armor orbs installed on them.

Chris used his blacksmith tools to etch Jack's Fallen Apostle's Mystic Staff. Jack transferred the Orb of Raijin to his new staff.

*

Fallen Apostle's Mystic Staff, level: 99 (Legendary magic weapon), embedded: Orb of Raijin (Unique-grade Weapon orb).

Lightning damage: 2,300

Range: 100 meters

Attack speed: 2

Energy: Unlimited

Bound to: Storm Wind

All stat except Luck +20

Demon Mind (Response skill): Every hostile spell that hits the wielder grants a demonic aura that increases all elemental resistances by 1 point (up to 50 points). Nullify all effects that interrupt spellcasting when the aura is active. The aura lasts 3 minutes. Another hit from a hostile spell refreshes the duration.

Demon Souls Turbulence: Lock down an area with a radius of 100 meters. Demon souls run havoc inside the area, causing Curse, Disoriented, and Weakness. Deal 100% soul damage every second. When this skill ends, all enemies within the marked area receive 1000% soul damage. Duration: 20 seconds. Cooldown: 6 hours

Demonize Weapon (active skill): Weapon's damage +1,000. Damage changes to Chaos damage. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 3 hours.

Devilize (Active skill): Transforms into a devil. Duration: 1 hour. Cooldown: 1 day.

All skills or spells that deal lightning damage +20% damage.

Each standard attack has a 5% chance to produce chain lightning that strikes up to 7 hostiles, dealing 50% lightning damage.

*

"Well, I figure the Demonize Weapon is for the respective weapon," Jack uttered after reading the weapon's description. "What about Devilize? I have two of the same skills now. Can I use it twice?"

"First of all, you are a hack. This kind of situation is never supposed to happen," Chris said. "To answer your question, yes, you can use it twice. The two identical skills have separate cooldowns. However, if you use the second one when the first one is still active, you will simply refresh its duration. You won't receive double the effects."

Jack nodded at the explanation. This meant he could be in Devilize form for two hours.

Spring Crown was the second to awaken after Jack, but Leavemealone awoke mere seconds after Spring Crown. Since Spring Crown was the first to go into a coma, and Leavemealone only did that some time after Spring Crown, Leavemealone could be considered to finish the trial the second fastest after Jack.

Jack didn't find that surprising. If the test relied on the spirit to improve and not giving up, Leavemealone was among the top in that department.

"Woo...! Look at this, people," Spring Crown exclaimed.

Spring Crown was playing with his new fallen apostle's weapon, which had also turned crimson. The weapon, originally a spear, had transformed into a broadsword. He swung this broadsword, which transformed again into an axe mid-swing. At the end of the swing, it became a pair of fist weapons. They then changed into two longswords before combining into a mace, and so on.

"His weapon is a transforming weapon. Cool!" Jack remarked.

"Hehe. A fitting weapon for a Weapon Master, don't you say?" Chris added. "A weapon master normally will not receive a damage bonus if they change to the same type of weapon within three minutes, but that weapon nullifies that limitation. Every time he transforms the weapon, he receives a damage bonus."

"Haon is using his growth weapon to consume his fallen apostle's fist weapons," Peniel informed.

They turned and saw Leavemealone starting the weapon-feeding process.

"It's okay. His growth weapon is already a legendary grade," Jack said.

"But shouldn't we warn him?" Peniel asked.

"Nah, it's okay," Jack replied.

Haon was startled when the fallen apostle's fist weapons fought back. He jumped away in reflex to avoid getting hit by the red lightning. Jack and Chris laughed at the scene. Peniel rolled their eyes at them.

The others woke up one by one as time passed. Red Death's Fallen Apostle's Dagger was the same as the Fallen Apostle's Longsword. It could split into two, allowing her to wield two daggers.

After they exchanged information, they learned that all the Fallen Apostle's weapons shared three of the same skills. These skills were all stat except luck +20, Demonize Weapon, and Devilize. The remaining two skills differed for each weapon, but one was always a response skill, while the other was an offensive skill.

"Ah, dang it...," John cursed after equipping the Fallen Apostle's Summoning Wand.

"What are you complaining now?" Jack asked.

John brought out his Staff of Mind Breaker. "If I had known, I wouldn't have bothered asking Janus to craft this staff. Waste my materials and coins for nothing."

"You can always give that staff to someone from our guild," Jack said. "Trinity Dawn or Olddemon are good candidates."

"And lose the chance to mind control and interrogate people? No way! I will keep this staff and use it when the opportunity arises."

Jack could only shake his head.

"Hey! Why is there a monster in this place?" They heard Jet exclaim. Everyone looked over and saw some sort of a metallic automaton. Its left arm had a spear for a hand, while its right arm ended with a hammer.

"It's not a monster. It's my spirit weapon," Spring Crown informed everyone. "The cool thing is, it doesn't have a cooldown anymore. I can summon it anytime I want."

'It's the same with Spark,' Jack thought. Upon that thought, he remembered his spirit weapon. Would there be a change to Spark? Spark was supposed to be in its pinnacle form already since Storm Breaker was already a legendary grade. But the fallen apostle's weapons were supposed to be at the peak of all legendary weapons, so maybe that meant something?

Due to that thought, Jack summoned Spark.

The spirit weapon materializing before him was indeed different. Its form was roughly the same as before, with metallic shiny surfaces all over its body, but its color was different. Before, Spark was golden. Now, it was Crimson. The wing blades on its back had increased from three pairs to five pairs. They were also longer.

Another difference was the color of Spark's eyes. Before, they were dark purple orbs. Now, the left eye remained dark purple, but the right one was silver.

"Master, I have upgraded again," Spark said.

Spring Crown, who heard it, said, "Yeah, right. Here I am, admiring my new spirit weapon. You just have to show off yours that can talk, eh? How petty are you?"

"Ho... You must have learned the spirit weapon from the universal technique book. Good choice!" Chris said.

"Spirit Weapon?" Leavemealone asked.

"Yes, if you had listened to me before using the universal technique book, you could have gotten a similar spirit weapon like mine," Jack answered.

"Hmph. Unlike you, I don't rely on others. The beast form suits me better," Leavemealone returned.

'Bloody hell. Is this guy looking for a fight?' Jack cursed in his mind. He ignored everyone and turned to Spark. He asked, "Do you feel any different?"

"I do," Spark replied. "With this upgrade, I have been given access to skills."

"Really?" Jack asked. Spark couldn't perform skills before. It even lost the beam attack after the last upgrade. Aside from range attacks using the flying blades on its back, it mostly fought by copying Jack's martial arts.

When Jack was about to ask Spark to demonstrate, its bicolor eyes flared brightly. Spark looked up as a beam shot out from its eyes. Silver and dark purple intertwined in that beam as it shot far into the sky.

"That eye beam deals both soul and chaos damage," Chris explained.

After discharging the eye beam, Spark said, "I still have a few other skills. I can show them, but they had pretty long cooldowns. I understand you will go to the battlefield soon, won't you?"

"We will," Jack nodded. "You can show your new powers there."

Jack turned to the others. "So, everyone ready to leave?"

Everyone had successfully defeated themselves and exorcised the demons residing in the fallen apostle's weapons. Jack could even say that this trial had benefited everyone more than the weapon gains. Everyone looked more confident. They were no longer anxious about the thought of taking on the devils, which they were about to do.

"Hold! I'm not done yet!" They heard Chris exclaim.

"What is it? You still have something that can help us?" John asked. He intentionally sounded sarcastic, but Chris either didn't catch the tone or pretended not to.

"Of course I do. You should know by now how generous I am," Chris said with pride. A large stack of books materialized on the ground before him.

"Are those..."

"Yep! These are skill books," Chris said. "They grant you skill points."

Everyone had seen a skill book before. They just never saw it in such a large quantity. There are probably a thousand books in that pile.

When some started counting, Chris gave them the answer, "There are one thousand and four hundred skill books in this pile."

Almost everyone gasped at hearing the number.

Chris continued, "If divided among the twenty-three of you, each person can get 60 skill points. Some will get one extra skill point. I'll let you people decide."

"I don't need them. Give my share to the others," Jack said.

"Right. You have the container of souls," Chris said. During their past conversations, Jack had mentioned his possession of the artifact.

"Okay, if we distribute between twenty-two people, each person should get 63 or 64 skill points," Chris said. "Prioritize using the skill points for your special classes' skills. Combined with the skill points you got from leveling up, all of you should be able to max out your special classes' skills."

Jeanny and Wilted appointed themselves as the ones overseeing the distribution. Some people got an extra skill point more than others. They decided to give the extra book to those with higher levels compared to others.

As the distribution was proceeding, Chris called Will over. He said, "You will stay in this place."

"Yes!" Will exclaimed.

"Hold! You don't get to decide that!" John, who heard, immediately came to protest.

"He is useless even if he went out there with you," Chris explained. "He will most likely stay at the back battling the common demons while you all fight the devils. It is more productive for him to stay here. I will get him ready before your confrontation with Lucifer or Apollyon. Otherwise, if he got killed because his level was too low, then everyone's effort would be a waste."

"What can he do in two weeks?" John asked. "One week, if we wish to get to Master before he becomes a God. He can mostly increase two to three levels."

"Hehe. I can help him by using this," Chris said. He revealed a small gadget that looked like a compass.

"Time Manipulator?" Wilted exclaimed when she saw the item.

"What does that thing do?" Jack asked.

"It is similar to the Time Pearl," Wilted answered. "While Time Pearl is an artifact, this Time Manipulator is a consumable. Additionally, its application is even better than Time Pearl. While ones who use Time Pearl experience a distortion in time, it doesn't affect their age. With Time Manipulator, time is fully distorted. You can increase even your age level when you use this item."