Chapter 149: I’m a Sage?

[Savage Dance] has reached level 20.

Appraising requirements…

Congratulations. Skills requirement met.

Congratulations. Concept requirement met.

Congratulations. Soul requirement met.

Would you like to evolve the skill [Savage Dance]?

Julius wore a satisfied grin on his face. It had felt like he had this skill for the longest time, but now that he was about to evolve it, he couldn’t be happier.

It had routinely been a cornerstone skill for him during his fights and training. The skill had originally come from a combination of [Brutal Strike] and [Battle Trance]. The synergy between the two skills created a stronger skill that was mainly a combat concentration skill that had a weak point detection component.

However, Julius very quickly realized that there was much more potential to this skill than just that. It started off with him practicing to use it outside of battle and then fully embracing the weak points aspect of it into his own fighting style, not needing to rely on the skill to do so.

He had adapted the skill and now it was basically a very potent general focus skill. It was also one of the skills that he felt would benefit the most from evolving. The skill itself wasn’t as useful as it once was. Julius found that he improved at a faster pace than what the skill could handle.

He gave the notification one last glance before accepting it.

Skill evolution commencing…

Skill [Savage Dance] is evolving… possible advancements: [Savage Storm], [Raging Sage], and [Sage of Savagery].

To be honest, Julius was a bit surprised to only see three options. [Savage Dance] had been a skill he had for the longest other than [Spatial Perception]. He would have thought that various applications that would have gotten him offered a wider variety of skills.

Then again, everyone had told him that epic skills worked differently than the ranks before it. Perhaps, this was one of the effects they were talking about.

However, he wouldn’t be surprised to learn that as he progressed skills, they more specialized, and fewer options he would have to choose from. It was even possible that when he evolved it again to legendary, he would have only one or two to pick from.

Putting that aside, he did what he always did, he went through each skill.

The first one, [Savage Storm] was a bit of an odd one. Since it was the first skill on the list, he assumed it was the general upgrade of [Savage Dance]. The only word that was different was replacing the word “dance” with “storm”.

He could see the connection between the two, but the idea of [Savage Storm] as a concentration skill was weird. It sounds more like a skill Derek would have for a large area of effect attack.

Julius assumed it was just a skill that specialized in punishing the enemy’s weak spots. Very similar to [Savage Dance] but just on a large scale.

The second one was more interesting to him. It was called [Raging Sage] and Julius had an idea about why he was offered it.

He had been using [Savage Dance] as a skill that helped him control his emotions, specifically rage. It was very likely that he was offered it because of that very reason.

However, it was the sage part that really intrigued him. Sages were known for being extremely wise and knowledgeable.

Julius was confident that he could barely qualify for those two characteristics. He knew certain things that many of this world didn’t, but that had more to do with his memories from his past life. It didn’t really make him smarter

As for being wise… well he laughed aloud at that. Smart? Maybe. Cunning? Sometimes. Wise? Uh uh.

That wasn’t him. He was a person who was willing to cut off his arms and burn himself alive. Julius believed that one of the prerequisites of being wise was also being sane. He was self-aware enough to understand that he wasn’t quite the traditional definition of sane.

Still, the word sage was very cool. And made him want to get it just because of that.

However, it wasn’t only one skill that had sage in its name. [Sage of Savagery] was also available for him to choose from.

It seemed like the Words of the World was trying to tell him something. Whether or not it was trying to tell him to be more wise or something else, he wasn’t quite sure.

Nevertheless, being a sage of any kind was very tempting. Even though he wasn’t a sage now, that didn’t mean he couldn’t aspire to become one later on. Perhaps, taking one of the sage skills would help him become one. Maybe it would even get him to start making more wise decisions.

They were also the only two skills that really had any interest to him. [Savage Storm] didn’t have him jumping up and down in anticipation to get. Thus, the last two skills were what he had to decide between.

The one thing that Julius noticed right away was the difference between [Raging Sage] and [Sage of Savagery]. It was a small difference, but one that he already had experience in. The difference was exactly two letters.

There seemed to be a large contrast between skills with the “of” descriptor. Derek had mentioned a skill that many of his family with lightning affinities got. It was called [Lightning Barrier] and then there was the much more rare and powerful one, called [Barrier of Lightning].

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Now, Julius didn’t know if that held true for every skill, but it was something to keep in mind. However, there was also the fact that Julius enjoyed the word “savagery” more than “raging”. One had a closer connotation to being fierce and the other had implications of being out of control. While the “sage” part of the skill made it sound like it would provide some balance, Julius didn’t like the idea of being out of control.

The good news was that this skill selection was one of the easiest choices he had made so far. He felt pretty confident in his selection.

Congratulations, skill [Sage of Savagery] (Epic) acquired.