Chapter 27: Dual Skill Evolution

The resulting explosion blasted him backward and tore apart the arm he had put up to protect his face. [Savage Dance] protected him from the influx of pain and he was still able to function, frantically evading the trolls who had taken advantage of his mistake. However, he was injured pretty badly. He had lost his entire right hand and half of his arm from the explosion. Furthermore, he had severe internal bleeding from the concussive force, which had ruptured several of his organs. For the next several moments he was trying all he could do to survive the troll’s assault while running [Restoration] as hard as he could.

The troll’s endurance showed and they didn’t give him even a little breathing room, he was stuck within their flurry of attacks. They kept up the assault and he could feel himself slowly falling behind. [Restoration] not able to keep up with his accruing injuries. Finally, Julius realized he needed to take a risk. He allowed the next swing of the troll to hit his already injured shoulder and used every ounce of kinetic energy from the strike and what he had collected to launch himself as far away as he could.

He landed over a hundred paces away, and though he had tried to absorb as much kinetic energy from the attack as he could, the entire left side of his body was still crushed. Okay, no more playing around. Julius was preparing four condensed spikes to kill the rapidly approaching trolls. However, something stopped him.

If he killed them with the spikes then that would mean he practically admitted defeat. He had told himself he would kill the trolls without using his new technique and would use [Firebolt] instead.

Was it dumb that he still wanted to continue with his plan even if it meant he would die? Yes. Was it his arrogant pride that was driving him to make this decision? Absolutely.

However, was this the limit to how much he was willing to risk to get stronger? Hell no.

With a snarl, he immediately dissipated the spikes and summoned four [Firebolts], modifying them into strings. The last failure had Julius realize that he couldn’t compress the entire thing after it was finished. He needed to compress the strings before he started to weave them.

Once he compressed them he began to weave four separate [Firebolts] together. However, it was like braiding four steel cables, they just wouldn’t bend. Julius was rapidly blasting himself as far backward as he could so that he had time to finish this construct. His frustration reached its limit, not even [Savage Dance] was able to control the flood of emotions. With his entire will, he started to smash the four strands together. Blood was dripping from his eyes and nose. Slowly, but surely he was braiding the condensed cords of mana together.

Then they came together and created a beautiful construct of brilliant red. It was small, only the length of his hand and as wide as a finger, but it radiated power. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to admire his work, as the trolls were almost on him. He launched it at the group and it triggered on impact. The resulting explosion tore through the two trolls in the front like they were wet toilet paper and the two in the back were blasted dozens of paces away.

Julius didn’t give them the chance to get up, he had already started creating another woven [Firebolt]. This one was created using only three strands and compressed to a slightly lesser degree. He was sacrificing a little bit of power for a much faster creation. In mere moments he had another ready to go and sent it at the troll staggering to its feet. It didn’t even notice the attack before it was killed.

The last troll had lost its legs from the first attack and was regenerating its limbs quickly. But Julius created another projectile and dispatched it before it had even regrew its feet. He immediately dropped to the ground, exhausted. He had come really close to dying this time around. And it would have been entirely his fault if he did.

However, there were some nice rewards for his boneheaded risk.

[Savage Dance lvl 7 -> lvl 10]

[Thermal Compression lvl 14 -> lvl 15]

[Firebolt lvl 14 -> lvl 15]

[Restoration lvl 12 -> lvl 14]

[Kinetic Reinforcement lvl 11 -> lvl 13]

Julius had finally reached level 15 in both [Firebolt] and [Thermal Compression].

[Firebolt] has advanced to level 15. Would you like to evolve the skill?

Skill [Firebolt] is evolving… possible advancements: [Scorching Lance], [Thermo-Kinetic Javelin], and [Arcane Construct]

He was offered three paths the skill could take. [Scorching Lance] was the direct upgrade, while [Thermo-Kinetic Javelin] was an upgrade that included kinetic energy in it. However, [Arcane Construct] was an interesting one. The other two seemed to be limited to a projectile or a single shape. Yet, [Arcane Construct] sounded like it would allow him to have more freedom with the shape and manifestation of the construct.

It probably came at the cost of offensive power, compared to the other two, which seemed more like direct damage skills. Did Julius want a stronger offensive tool or something that could give him more diversity in its usage?

It was a hard decision. He didn’t make a choice yet and wanted to see what he was offered for [Thermal Compression].

[Thermal Compression] has advanced to level 15. Would you like to evolve the skill?

Skill [Thermal Compression] is evolving… possible advancements: [Extreme-Thermal Compression], [Thermo-Kinetic Compression], [Mana Consolidation], and [Pure Compression]

Julius was offered four choices for his next skill. He would happily choose any one of them. They all sounded good. [Extreme-Thermal Compression] was a general upgrade, but he compressed fire mana the most out of all his mana affinities so it would have a massive impact on his fire constructs.

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