The World of Tactics

Chapter Nineteen IV: Dear John, Off-Road, From Dork

Chapter Nineteen IV: Dear John, Off-Road, From Dork

"A kingdom would not be able to operate without workmen. Today, we will be covering those classes that boost an increase in the military power of a kingdom. There will be three common classes used as examples today.

The three classes were blacksmith, imbuementer, and the alchemist class.

The ability of a blacksmith was slightly on the lower side compared to an imbuementer and an alchemist. However, their complexity does not pale in comparison. The creation of a weapon consists of shaping the metal into a weapon. Afterward, the blacksmith would create a null mana engravement on the weapon to make it stronger, balanced, sharper, and durable. Today's example is this normal bronze lance with a standard null mana engravement. The other example is the bronze fire lance with a modified mana engravement. The normal bronze lance was created without any magic engravement while the other was created with a fire attribute magic engravement.

Other than the bronze fire lance, this is another armor-breaking lance made using rare metals and armor-breaking magic engravement. This armor-breaking lance is very effective against someone with heavy armor.

[Side Note: A weapon with a magic attribute like the bronze fire lance would increase the wielder's might by one-half of the wielder's magic stat. It also allows the wielder to inflict damage on monsters that do not have a solid-state. Most importantly, a fire soul core is also used during the engraving process to solidify the engravement onto the weapon.]

The ability of an imbuementer was much more intensive than a blacksmith and an alchemist. An imbuementer could imbue the power within a soul core into an accessory. Even with the same soul core, an imbuementer would not always create an accessory that would provide the same boost. However, the quality of a monster's soul core does matter. A grade one soul core would only be able to give the wielder a weak boost, while a grade two would be able to provide a moderate boost. Finally, a grade three would be able to provide a great boost. So, the grade of the soul core does matter.

[Side Note: A specific monster soul core also matters in regards to imbuing an accessory with a soul core. For example, a fire attribute monster soul core would have an increased chance of being imbued with an accessory that would provide a boost to fire magic. Though that is considered rare.]

The ability of an alchemist was a bit complicated, but their main ability was to extract and combine healing liquid properties within a herb. This way, the standard vulnerary, concoction, elixir, antidote, antitoxin, and magic water can be created. Unlike the elixir, all of the others do not need any exact ingredients. As long as the liquid property can do the same, then a vulnerary, concoction, antidote, antitoxin, and magic water can be created in batches. This is why an elixir can completely restore the body of all injured and regrow back limbs (Restore + Fullheal).

[Side Note: There are still many potions that were not mentioned. Samples: Vigor potion, strength potion, magic potion, skill potion, speed potion, luck potion, defense potion, and magic resistance potion. All of this increases a stat by one point permanently but can not go beyond the stats' limit like the accessory does (All except the vigor potion, which increases health points by three). There are still many other than this. Also, the naming could change if it was on a different continent.]"

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The earth draco lizard came to the hobgoblin and unleashed a tail attack. This time, it confirms that his guesses were right. He saw how the earth draco lizard uses its long tail expertly rings around the hobgoblin's left arm, tilting upward like a scorpion. The talons easily grab the shoulder bones and with a twist. The whole right left arm, including some parts of the shoulder bones, broke off with immense might. The hobgoblin suffers twenty-one damage and a permanent decrease in the strength stat by three points. Even the hobgoblin's counter-attack was not able to scratch the earth draco lizard (N/A, EXP +100, Level Up).

It was a gruesome sight to see a whole arm pulled off just like that. It spooked him into a cold sweat and his breath contained some sense of fear. The prospect of losing one of his limbs never came into his mind until now. At least until he saw a potential threat that could do so like this earth draco lizard. The action of the earth draco lizard also came easily. A hobgoblin's level up was the reason why he snapped back. His drained face became much redder after he braced himself back from fear and he was lost in thought again.

No matter what, only three unallocated points were given. Given that the earth draco lizard could easily deal twenty-one damage to the hobgoblin. Within the earth draco lizard's next turn, the hobgoblin would not be able to escape from dying at all. He sighs and allocates all three points to the hobgoblin's maximum health points because he knew. Once the allocation was done, the turn finally turned around to [Player's Turn][2].

At a point like this, he felt like running away because losing a limb is not worth exchanging it for the earth draco lizard's soul core. However, given that he had great defense, the same situation might be different from the hobgoblin. After all, compare twenty-one damage to six damage. It was three times the difference. He checks his status screen, specifically on his health points and defense status. With a deep breath, he did not want to cower there because he was close to leveling up. After he levels up, he can max out his defense and allocate the remaining points to his strength stat. He still got a huge chance of defeating this earth draco lizard.

The bout started once he attacked the earth draco lizard. His attack could only deal three damage, but in return, he suffers six damage from the earth draco lizard's counter-attack. His last attack evens out the difference between the two of them (John Smith, EXP +20). In this bout, he gains another good amount of experience and learns something. Even though the earth draco lizard could tear away limbs like nothing, because of his high defense stat, he was able to withstand the tearing force generated by the tail talon of the earth draco lizard. One more bout against the earth draco lizard and he should be able to level up easily.

As for the hobgoblin, he had already chosen to give up the hobgoblin from the beginning. So, he ends both of their turns just like this. [Enemy's Turn][2]. The earth draco lizard seemed hasted and directly shot through the stomach of the hobgoblin. With the same twist and pull, the hobgoblin was directly torn into two halves. The fighting style of the earth draco lizards is quite extreme and seems to prefer physical attack over magic attack. Very aggressive, b****y, and brutal (Side note: summons do not bleed).

At this time, he saw something more horrifying than before. As the soul of the hobgoblin starts to disappear into thin air, the earth draco lizard opens its mouth. The disappearing souls of the hobgoblin are being absorbed. He could see that every strain of the hobgoblin soul was being pulled into the mouth of the earth draco lizard. Once everything was done, he finally realized why the monsters were so desperate to kill his summons.

Above the head of the earth draco lizard floats some messages that read: [Absorption complete!][Max level +2][Max HP+2][STR+2][SKL+2][SPD+1][DEF+2]... [Growth rate increases...][HP GR+10][STR GR+10][MAG GR+10][SKL GR+10][SPD GR+10][LCK GR+10][DEF GR+10][RES GR+10]

It was no wonder why it was so attractive even on their deathbed. Just by killing one of his summoners and gaining an overall boost that rivals several levels. Not only that, it seems that monsters instinctively can perceive something that will allow them to become stronger. The more benefits it provides, the stronger the allure of the instincts. He became breathless as he saw the current status screen of the earth draco lizard. The earth draco lizard's status screen reads:

[Name: N/A][Race: Earth Draco Lizard (Grade 2)][Level: 25/37][Rank: 0][HP: 22/41] +10 +2

[STR: 15(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][][][][][] ] +2

[MAG: 3(10) / [1][2][3][][][][][][][]

] +0

[SKL: 6(10) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][][][][]

] +2

[SPD: 5(10) / [1][2][3][4][5][][][][][] ] +1

[LCK: 3(20) / [1][2][3][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +0

[DEF: 15(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][][][][][] ] +2

[RES: 3(10) / [1][2][3][][][][][][][] ] +0

[Hidden: [CON: 12][MOV: 5][SKILL: [Dragon Blood][Innate Sharpness][Earth Affinity]][EXP: 0/100][WEA: Innate C]]

The earth draco lizard became much more terrifying than before with an overall increase of two points for each stat. Seeing the result is completely knowing it because he could see that the earth draco lizard also grows slightly in size. The scales became glosser and the tail became half a meter longer. It was only two turns, two bouts, and two fears before he was left breathless. This time, his attitude completely changed as he saw that the yellow tiles on the map disappeared. He had no way to escape this time. Unconsciously, his mind blanked because the escape option also disappeared from the conditions as well.

The only way out alive was defeating the earth draco lizard. He saw the [Player's Turn][3] within his vision but ignored it for the moment. He replayed within his mind his stats compared to the earth draco lizard. Right now, he can only deal one damage with each attack on the earth draco lizard. If he was lucky enough, he would gain a few levels under the condition that he did not exhaust his healing items. Once he gains one or two levels, the situation will turn around. There is also the risk that he will have taken a critical hit from the earth draco lizard. That is the same as losing twenty-four health points. No matter what, he had to keep his health points over twenty-four.

Once he became calmer, he closed his eyes and breathed out a long breath. He felt lucky and unlucky at that moment because he did not know that summons were extremely beneficial to monsters. Likewise, he also did not have any other summons. Otherwise, he would no doubt have any chance of surviving something like this at all. He knows his fate and calmly moves toward the [Item] option and [Use] two herb batches out of the batch of ten. This would completely heal him up. Thus, his turn ended just like this.

[Enemy's Turn][3], the earth draco lizard's draco tail talons came straight for his right thigh. The attack was so fast and he was unprepared for such a swift attack. His right thigh was quickly encircled and then punctured. He could feel that his bones ached in great pain as the twist came. There were three spirals of injuries that circled his right thigh, knee, and lower leg. Even the metallic armor plate was not much better. He suffered eight damage. He huffed in pain, but he did not wait for his counterattack. He counterattacks right away and only manages to poke two smaller b****y holes in the earth draco lizard flesh. Each counterattack deals exactly one damage each (John Smith, EXP +20, Level Up).

Even with great pain over on his b****y left thigh, he felt the pain eases as he saw that his level went up by one. He had wanted to increase his defense at first, but he felt that a single increase in the defense stat does not help much in this situation. So, he turned his attention toward his strength stat. A single increase in strength will be the same as dealing two damage. With three additional points to his strength stat, he could potentially deal a total of eight damage. This would help more than an increase in defense. He does not have unlimited healing items and resolving this imminent threat is the best course of action.

[Basically, the EDL has only 20HP. If STR+3 = 8 Damages, while STR+2 = 6 Damages. This means, STR+3 will take only three bouts, while STR+2 will take four bouts until EDL is dead.]

He was glad to see that it was [Player's Turn][4], yet again. His pain was real and his posture began to tremble as the pain was coursing through his body. This time, he used three herb batches to ensure that he fully recovered. The reason why he wanted to be fully recovered was that he felt that he had been hit by a critical attack. He would at least have enough health points so that he does not faint again. It had happened once and he did not want it to happen again. The other reason was that healing himself to full health was the same as stopping the pain. He was using the herb batch as a painkiller of sorts. Even though it aches a bit, it still stops most of the pain.

He turns his attention over to the earth draco lizard because it was currently [Enemy's Turn][4] right after him. As expected, the earth draco lizard was unrelentingly striving to attack him. This time, the target of the earth draco lizard was his stomach, and before he could get his bearings. His stomach already had three-string lines of cuts due to the three talons on the tip of the earth draco lizard's tail. He suffers another eight damage and luckily suffers no critical attack. He took a deep breath to overcome the pain before launching his counter-attacks. This time, each attack deals four damage instead of one. As a result, the earth draco lizard suffers eight damage in total (John Smith, EXP +20).

He was gasping for more breath since the pain directly came from the injured stomach and three nicks on his spine. The pain that was coming from his spine was much more intensive than the injuries on his thigh. His eyes strained and quickly rushed for the [Item] option after it was [Player's Turn][5]. He used another three herb batches to fully restore his health. It was just that painful. Even though he might have some tolerance to pain, he was not immune to such incredible pains. Even with the herb batch healing him to full health, he could still feel the uncomfortable itchiness.

He did not worry too much about the uncomfortable itchiness because he was not given much time. It was now [Enemy's Turn][5] and the earth draco lizard is not willing to leave him time. This time, the attacks were much better since the earth draco lizard aimed toward his ribcage. Due to his quick reflexes, he was lucky to dodge such a difficult attack angle from an earth draco lizard. He smiled with relief and continued his counterattack twice. Both the attacks hit true and he dealt eight damages in total (John Smith, EXP +20). He also felt happier when seeing his experience increase by so much.

He was eager for his turn to come and it arrived shortly after. [Player's Turn][6]. He did not even wait to look at the turns because he knew that one more hit and the earth draco lizard would surely fall. The experience, soul core, materials, and meat would become him the moment after. His first attack did not fail him at all because it punctured through the eyes of the earth draco lizard and into the brain. It was a critical hit as well, which jolted out a red negative twelve number (John Smith, EXP +60, Level Up). He was happy, he survived and leveled up at the same time.

He has not allocated any points to his status as of yet, because the future is unknown and without the ability to increase stats during a crucial battle, he is at a disadvantage. It would spill his death like today's battle. He had an unexpected battle with an earth draco lizard and almost did not make it out alive. He felt that every point was much more precious than the last. He did not get conceited of defeating such a foe as this earth draco lizard at all. He only felt relieved because he never knew that homecoming would be this dangerous.