Broken and Freya rented a training room in the city, a private space designed specifically for testing skills that have a wide area of impact. However, this room wasn’t without its faults- it could suffer damage if the combined intensity of the attacks became too overwhelming. Because of this, the room was only meant for those under level 200.
They entered a large hall bustling with adventurers coming and going. After purchasing their tickets, they proceeded to the designated room. The room itself was entirely white, from the floor to the ceiling, and spacious enough to test out area of effect skills.
Such rooms were commonly used by adventurers who wished to test their abilities in private for various reasons or those who found it difficult to practice in the open, where conditions were less controlled and potentially hazardous.
Once the door was securely shut, the two turned to face each other.
“Come on, summon the new spirit. I’m eager to meet her,” Freya said, her voice tinged with curiosity.
“I doubt she’ll be very friendly towards you,” Broken replied with a grin.
[Awaken the Nature Goddess (Active Skill)]
Broken invoked the skill, and a green aura emanated from the ring on his finger. The energy enveloped him, forming a glowing cocoon. From this radiance emerged a translucent figure of a woman. Her cascading hair and cold gaze gave her an ethereal presence as she seemed to float behind Broken.
Freya was awestruck. “Wow… She is so beautiful…” she murmured, entranced by the apparition.
[Nature Healing (Active Skill)]
Broken activated his first skill. This would continually heal him and negate any negative effects. The green energy enveloping him began to move more wildly, forming a protective armor layer over the armor he was already wearing.
Recognizing her role, Freya swiftly darted away. “Are you ready, Broken?” she called out as she nocked an arrow and let it fly toward him.
The arrow zipped through the air, striking Broken in the chest. His health dipped momentarily but rapidly began to regenerate.
Freya then unleashed another skill, shooting an arrow skyward, which caused a shower of arrows to rain down on Broken. Normally, this would reduce his movement speed, but he remained immune to the negative effect.
Returning to his side, she eagerly asked, “How was it?”
“Health regeneration isn’t instantaneous, but it’s definitely fast. Seems like I still need to be cautious, even in this state,” he replied enthusiastically.
“Now, let’s test the second skill. I’ll try to control the vine arms to capture or attack you. Are you ready?”
Freya smiled and sprinted away, waving her hand. “I’m ready, Broken…”
[Nature’s Wrath (Active Skill)]
Just as Broken cast the skill, a cluster of ten massive vines erupted from various spots around him. Each vine was about four times his height, stretching impressively long. These vines twisted and swayed, some slamming down onto the ground with a heavy thud.
Broken tried to sense them, and surprisingly, despite the strangeness of it, he could feel these vines. With the commands he issued within his mind, the vines began to move. Magically, it seemed his brain could control them all.
He stood still, experimenting with the movement of each vine arm, making simple gestures like striking the floor. He repeated this motion until all ten vines could obey his commands reliably.
Freya kept running to evade the vines, which, while hitting the ground rather haphazardly, still posed a challenge to dodge.
“Master… It may take some time to master them, but these vines can serve as extensions of your body. You can twist them, wrap them, lock targets, and even relocate them as needed. Although their range won’t be too far at first, as my level increases, so will the potential of these vine arms,” Gaia explained softly.
Broken nodded, channeling his concentration as he tried to direct a vine to strike Freya. She easily dodged the relatively stiff and uncoordinated movements of the vines, deftly avoiding each attempt.
Three minutes flew by, and Gaia began to fade away, limited by the five-minute summoning duration.
Freya ran back to his side, her curiosity piqued. “How was it?” she asked eagerly.
“Not bad. It’s a bit tricky to control all the vine arms at once, but I’m confident that with practice, I’ll get better at it,” he explained.
“Yes… I’ll arrange a schedule to book this space so you can train over the next few days,” she suggested.
Broken also had plans to start working on his Moonvine Knuckles soon, so he needed to balance his crafting schedule with this training. He knew that crafting those knuckles would take considerable time, but he intended to make it work efficiently.
Broken had successfully tested only two of Gaia’s skills, yet even from this limited experience, he could sense the immense combat potential she could offer if he summoned her at a truly critical moment. While he also wanted to test the third skill, he had to wait for the one-hour cooldown to reset.
After leaving the training space, he and Freya moved on to their next agenda, something he was quite eager to get to.
“Do you want to test the third skill in the next hour?” Freya asked.
“I do, but first, I need to go to the blacksmith workshop to secure my workstation for next week. I think I’ll be spending a lot of time there,” Broken replied.
They quickly headed to their destination. As they entered the workshop, Broken could feel the eyes of the blacksmiths in the room on him, especially considering the recent news that he had joined the party from the Ass Guild.
He secured his spot, a workstation of notably higher quality than before.
He actually wanted to book a private blacksmith workshop where he could work undisturbed, away from any prying eyes, but such a facility was not available in Clario Town. This meant he would have to return to Deadbay City and use Fokil’s place. However, he had a commitment to another meeting with the Ass Guild in Clario Town scheduled within the next week, so he postponed that plan.
Ignoring the noisy blacksmiths around him, Broken felt a calm resolve. Although he had experienced the same skeptical stares a few days ago, this time, their skepticism had waned as they had seen a bit of what he could achieve with his blacksmith skills.
After double-checking the materials he needed, Broken left the blacksmith workshop, eager to return and test Gaia’s third skill.
“I’m sure more people will become your admirers if you manage to produce a Legendary- grade item from your next project, especially since there are many blacksmiths from two countries in that place,” Freya said, giggling.
“Hmm…” Broken murmured, the idea of garnering admiration felt odd to him. “I don’t really
care, actually.”
Was it because Broken was beginning to amass power that he felt more confident than before? Regardless, he genuinely didn’t care about the opinions of those people.
Returning to the training space, Broken prepared himself as the cooldown would be
completed in another five minutes.
“Twelve plant creatures with a level of 185, huh?” Freya remarked, her excitement evident.
“What do you think?”
“An army of different types of beasts with a variety of abilities-tanking, damage dealing, healing, ranged attacks, support, etc. At least that’s what I envision if you can summon twelve
creatures with a single skill.”
“That sounds overpowered, doesn’t it?”
“Well, we’re talking about a high-grade spirit here,” she responded. “But that’s pretty reasonable because you can only use those skills once every hour. Still, I think an hour is a very short cooldown. I agree, those skills are quite overpowered.”
As soon as the cooldown concluded, Broken eagerly summoned Gaia again.
[Awaken the Nature Goddess (Active Skill)]
The majestic figure of Gaia appeared behind him, and with great anticipation, he cast the
third skill.
[Nature Conjuring (Active Skill)]
It was like the plants and grass around him were growing uncontrollably. Trees shot up quickly, twisting around each other. From twelve specific spots, shapes began to take form. Out of this wild growth, animal-like figures made of plants and leaves appeared.
There was a rat as big as a dog, a dog the size of a horse, and a horse even larger than usual.
There was also a chicken four times its normal size. Each creature’s shape became clearer, displaying unique and detailed designs.