Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

Chapter 114: New Contract

Adam swiftly chose a name for his cultivation technique, and read the description of the skill with shock.

Flowing Water Art (B): Absorb the energy of the world into your dantian. Capable of passively absorbing energy, but the speed is ten times slower than when used actively. Affinity to water related skills upgraded by 200%.

He didn't expect the art to only be B Rank. He had used what he knew were the absolute best pathways to create this technique, but it was only B Rank?

But as he continued to think about it, he suspected he found the reason. As far as he knew, it was impossible for a Bronze Rank to use an A rank skill, not even Sovereigns could do so. Maybe that was why his skill was 'only' B Rank.

Nonetheless, B Rank or not, Adam was quite curious about the effects of this technique. He didn't know what the increased affinity would bring him, nor by how much his Aura would be able to recover when used passively and actively.

Actually, at first he wasn't even sure whether the technique would have any effect in the game, since cultivation was different in the game, but those effects were a nice surprise.

Adam got down from his sword and used it to quickly send out fives slashes, all of them being a combination of [Mighty Strike] and [Aqua Slash]. Each one of those slashes took 20 Aura from him, so he expended 100 Aura Points.

Normally, the regeneration rate for Aura was of 1% per minute, meaning one would take more than an hour and a half to recover from 0 to 100%.

For Adam, who had about 36500 Aura, he was able to recover 6 Aura per second. But now, with his cultivation technique used passively, his dantian was absorbing 20 Aura ever second! That was more than a three fold difference!

And that was only when he used passively. If he meditated and used the cultivation technique actively, it would jump to 200 Aura per second, meaning he could get from 0 to 100% Aura in slightly more than three minutes!

Of course, he would need to be out of a fight to use it actively, as he would be unable to fight back, but even if he used everything against an opponent, he would be able to recover his Aura in only three minutes to fight again.

This not only made him much more durable in a fight in term of Aura consumption, but it also allowed him to be much more durable in term of health.

At max efficiency, Adam could recover 5% of his health per second, but that would drain his Aura way too fast and made him unable to fight. That's why until now, the best ratio was still 1% every second, which allowed him to heal without feeling the cost.

Now though, he could recover 3% of his Aura every second, and it wouldn't cost him anything, as the Aura he recovered every second was bigger than the cost of this healing rate.

All in all, this was really incredible and allowed Adam to become even stronger than before. If he were to fight against Holdir once again, Adam felt like that he might actually win by attrition, even without using Berserk Skills.

There was one thing that confused him though, and that was the 200% bonus to water related skills. At first he thought it would make his water skills stronger, but he found out that it didn't, he didn't feel any change in his [Aqua Slash].

In the end, Adam shrugged helplessly and decided to leave it for now, he would find out later. He got ready to finally go back on the road since the morning sun had already risen in the sky, but he was surprised when he felt the presence of someone hiding nearby.

Adam slashed out with his sword, sending an [Aqua Slash] toward the approaching person. Adam heard a cry as sand fly in the sky from the impact with the flying slash.

Both Adam and Neith looked in the direction of the cry, and saw a person in black clothes was holding his chest in pain, a large bloody gash could be seen on his chest.

[Blackheart Assassin] (Silver, Level 80)

HP: 3000/25000

Adam approached the figure, who was bleeding out and in deep pain, and asked curiously "Is there a new contract on my head? What gave such a weak assassin as you the confidence to chase after me."

Actually, this assassin wasn't that weak, but he really had no chance against Adam. First, following the rule of the Golden Pyramid, an Assassin was weak against a Warrior. But more importantly, an assassin's strong point is their stealth, but the assassin's stealth was useless in front of Adam's senses.

And finally, Adam's flying slash took the assassin by surprise, there were very few Bronze Ranks capable of flying slashes, normally this was a skill reserved for Silver Ranks.

The assassin didn't say anything and tried to run away, but the ground below him caved in and became like quicksand, trapping him where he was. The assassin, in his desperation, was about to use a skill to flee out of the skill's range, but before he could Adam appeared next to him and grabbed his shoulder.

The assassin looked at Adam terrified, he knew it was over. Adam grabbed the mask hiding the assassin's face and teared it away, and pulled down the hood, revealing the face of a middle aged man. Adam smiled and said "I prefer to know who I am talking to. So, is there a new contract on my head?"

The middle aged man nodded, with a pale face. His chest was hurting him greatly, and if it wasn't taken care of soon, he would die of blood loss. But he knew that this probably wouldn't happen, he would die well before he ran out of blood.

Adam looked at the assassin with a deep look as he asked "Do you know who put this one on my head?"

The assassin replied "Our clients are anonymous" However, he didn't get to finish his explanation that Adam crushed his shoulder bones, making the assassin cry out in pain. Strengthening his grip on the broken shoulder, causing the assassin even more pain, Adam said "I didn't ask your client policy, I asked you who ordered my death."

The older man clenched his teeth and amidst the terrible pain, he managed to blurt out "Demon's Cult." Adam raised an eyebrow, and said "So that's how it is. They just cant' let go last question, do you know a female swordswoman in your organization, who is a Hero and has a red energy?"

The assassin's howled "I don't know!!" Adam sighed and his hand, which was grabbing the shoulder, moved up a little, and he broke the man's neck.

Adam looked at the loot disappointed, and ripped off the man's head from his shoulder using his bare hands, and put the head in his inventory.

Neith then approached and ate the body with a single bite, and the two finally left the fake Orui's Oasis, heading for the nearest Orc city.