Chapter 1608: Breaking Barriers: The Third Trial (3)
Chapter 1608: Breaking Barriers: The Third Trial (3)
“Uh huh…” Though Ataraxia nodded in response to the man’s words, his expression clearly told the latter that he did not understand a single word. “What does that mean?”
Bitterly smiling in response, Aeramis soon took in a calming breath as he sorted out the information he had on personal skills in his mind.
Once he was done collecting all the information, he then posed a question to the young man. “What do you know about skills?”
“In general or in relation to movement?” asked Ataraxia in response, seeking clarification.
“Any of the two,” replied the man, prompting the young man to nod as he told the former what he knew.
“If it’s in general, then a skill is an ability activated with the help of energy and accompanying movements.”
Pausing for a bit to gather his thoughts, the young man continued, “With both energy and movement working together to tap into the inherent potential of one’s attributes, a feat normally considered impossible for one’s attributes could be achieved.”
Seeing Aeramis nod in agreement to his explanation, the young man felt somewhat motivated to continue, eventually deciding to also tell the man his explanation of skills in relation to movement.
“If it’s in relation to movement, then it could be said that energy is the major factor in its abilities rather than a fine balance between energy and accompanying movements.”
“Though I’m not really sure why that’s the case, I feel like it has something to do with the limitation of stamina,” he added, getting the feeling that the man would have asked him about it if he hadn’t brought it up just now.
“It does have something to do with stamina,” said Aeramis in response to his words, nodding at him with a wide smile.
“As to why, that’s because beings at lower class ranks have far less stamina than energy to use. After all, our energy pool is increased whenever we obtain a point in INT. On the other hand, our stamina pool more or less remains stagnant.”
“The moment that starts not being the case is only after one reaches the Divine level, where one has access to extended stats that improve maximum stamina and stamina recovery. It’s kind of similar to the movement and reaction speed improved by your title,” said the man, only to then realize that they’ve gone off on a slight tangent.
Briefly flashing a wry smile at Ataraxia, Aeramis steered the topic of their conversation back to the original matter at hand. “Anyways, now that I know that you have a basic understanding of how skills work, that makes the explanation needed to understand False Intent-tier skills much simpler.”
Whoosh!
Deciding to accompany his explanation with a practical demonstration, the man took a bit of time to conjure a magic circle in mid-air, making sure that the flow of energy throughout the circle could be easily sensed.
Shifting his attention towards the magic circle Aeramis summoned, Ataraxia briefly committed the movement of energy within the magic circle to memory, getting the feeling that the man’s explanation might have something to do about it.
After all, he wouldn’t have made its movements obvious for him to sense.
“Consider the magic circle before you as a reference of your own body,” said Aeramis as he started his explanation, his expression slowly becoming calm. “Ignoring the accompanying movements for now, it could be said that the way the energy flows within one’s body dictates the resulting effects of the skill.”
Swoosh!
At the very moment those words left his mouth, the man went ahead and changed the flow of energy within one area of the circle, causing a domino effect of sorts as the overall aura the magic circle gave off underwent a great change.
Previously sensing an aura that melded with their surroundings from the circle, the young man’s eyes slightly widened in surprise after sensing that the circle’s aura now felt more like a brewing storm of sorts.
Though he did not know which other parts of the circle should be changed, he had a strong feeling that if more of the circle had its flow of energy changed, it wouldn’t take long for the aura it gave off to be similar to that of an actual storm.
Whoosh!
Surprisingly, as if the man had read his mind, Aeramis went ahead and changed the flow in other parts of the magic circle one by one, causing the brewing storm the magic circle was giving off to slightly intensify.
In the end, after changing the flow of energy on the magic circle 10 times, the energy construct eventually gave off the aura of an actual storm, causing the young man to look at it in wonder as he briefly pondered over how he’d be able to achieve something similar.
“As you can see…” Although Aeramis noticed that his demonstration had caused the young man to fall into pensive thought, the man still continued with his explanation, confident that the latter was still listening to him.
“With enough changes to the flow of energy, the effects of the skill could be greatly amplified, reaching a level of power that would normally be considered difficult to achieve.”
“In terms of the resulting effects of the energy flow I’ve just demonstrated, you could say that the energy you’re sensing from the magic circle right now is equivalent to what an ultimate skill can unleash.”
’…Seriously?’ Though he was still pondering over the man’s demonstration from earlier, those words caused Ataraxia to briefly pause in his tracks.
After all, even though they weren’t difficult to obtain in the grand scheme of things, ultimate skills boasted the greatest level of power in terms of normal skills.
Yet, Aeramis here was telling him that he could achieve a similar feat with the personal skill he made as long as he adjusted its flow of energy enough times?
“Now, once a personal skill reaches this level of power, only then would a personal skill be considered a Nascent-tier personal skill.” Oblivious to the thoughts that were lingering in the young man’s mind, the man continued with his explanation.
“It is also considered the lowest tier a personal skill should achieve in order for beings with high class ranks to recognize it,” he continued, a slightly bitter smile creeping up onto his lips.
“If it doesn’t achieve that standard, then you’re more likely better saying off that what you made is just a slightly powerful skill to others.”
“Believe it or not, a great number of high-ranking beings take great offense to poorly-made personal skills.”
Feeling as if those words had resolved one of the doubts that long plagued his mind regarding personal skills, the young man closed his eyes for a bit before continuing to listen to the man’s explanation, processing all of the information he had just received.
“Now, after the Nascent-tier is actually the False Intent-tier.” After giving Ataraxia a bit of time to digest the information he shared, Aeramis finally reached the main topic of their previous conversation.
“For a personal skill to be considered a False Intent-tier skill, aside from the things I just mentioned earlier, it only needs to meet one other requirement.”
“And that is for the skill to make full use of an Intent Seed’s power.”