The World of Tactics

Chapter Twenty-Three II: Glimpse Of Truth

"Huh? W-where am I? Where is this place? Who is that? Why did this look so similar? Am I imagining things? Is this the current me? Why do I look so old now? I did offer some of my life, but this? What had I become? This is- Ugh, pain?

I remember now! My mind was controlled! Ugh..." Awoken Victor's final moment.

---

[Name: Victor][Class: Undead Contractor (Grade 3)][Level: 50/50][Rank: 5][HP: 33/33-43/43] +10

[STR: 4(15) / [1][2][3][4][][][][][][][][][][][] ]

[MAG: 23(25) / [...] ] +4 +2

[SKL: 15(20) / [...] ]

[SPD: 12(22) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][][][][][][][][][][] ]

[LCK: 10(30) / [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ]

[DEF: 10(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][][][][][][][][][][] ] +2

[RES: 28(30) / [...] ] +4

[Hidden: [CON: 10][MOV: 7][SKILL: [Darkness Affinity][Undead Contract][Darkness Gift][Darkness Prowess][Darkness Might]][EXP: --/100][WEA: Dark S]]

1[Equip: Death Specter (MAG +4)]

2[Equip: Skull Ring (DEF +2)]

3[Equip: Darkness Shard (RES +4)]

[Darkness Affinity - Dark magic might be +2. Dark magic requires less experience to increase mastery rank.]

[Undead Contract - Create a binding contract, full control over the undead. Limit of contracts is tied to magic status.]

[Darkness Gift - Level +10, cannot exceed the limit. Health points +10. All stat +1. All growth rates - 5. One time only.]

[Darkness Prowess - Dark magic mastery rank increases by one. (Current: A -> S)]

[Darkness Might - Dark magic might +4 when using dark magic.]

Victor was crazy strong and one of the most powerful magic users that he ever came up against. Likewise, his magic resistance stat was one of his weakest points. Comparing Victor to the fire sage that he saw back in the promotion hall. The fire sage looks like an apprentice compared to a real mage. For sure, he would not have lasted two hits or another spell from Victor. He was glad that he had bet right. He already had a battle situation in mind and was very certain that once the battle started, it would be the player's turn right afterward, since the enemy was the first to start the bout.

As for the other way around, if he were to bet wrongly. Then he would have died afterward or at the start of the battle, but his judgment was correct. The bout can cause a battle map to form and it was obvious that at grade three or higher, the formation of a battle formation could be actively controlled. This time, he confirmed his guesses by the action of Victor and Victor's proactive intent on talking. If there were a battle to start, it would have formed at the very beginning and the moment he opened up the doors. However, a battle did not form even with his hostility and intent to fight.

Honestly, he is betting on his newly discovered senses. It was as if he gained this sort of singular ability to passively gain information from his surroundings. For example, he had an additional sense and a weird one. He knows that it might have been due to his levels that he just reached thirty, or rather his rank, which sits at three. Rank three might have been the reason why the surrounding information was passively gathered by him.

This might also have been the key reason why Jagen was confident in giving him the dragon stone crystal. Jegan might have been passively or actively investigating his status at the moment of their encounter and the reason why Jegan was pretty calm even when facing a stranger. He believed that Jegan had these additional senses that could gauge his intention. He broke a sweat when he thought about that point. He was glad that he had no other intention other than trying to find shelter from the thunderstorm. Otherwise, a silver lance would have punctured his body. He felt cold sweat just thinking about it.

Before his gaze was the column of tabs, but he did not rush to any of the tabs. He went to his status screen first because he had leveled up. He took a glance at his current status and went deep into his thoughts. His current status screen reads:

[Status]

[Name: John Smith][Class: Armoured Knight (Grade 2)][Level: 3-1/40][Rank: 3][HP: 37/37-45/45-12/46] +3Temp +5Skill

[STR: 20(20) / [...] ] G

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

[SKL: 12(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][][][][][][][][] ]

[SPD: 20(20) / [...] ] G

[LCK: 3(30) / [1][2][3][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ]

[DEF: 24(20) / ... ] G

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

[Unallocated Points: 3]

[Hidden: [CON: 8][MOV: 5][SKILL: [Defense Up][Lancer][Thick Blood][Troll's Regeneration][Iron Bone]][EXP: 53/100][WEA: Lance: B]]

1[Equip: Iron Lance (36-34/50)] -2D

2[Equip: Troll’s Vigor Ring (HP +3)]

3[Ring of Weapon Mastery (Weapon EXP x1.25)]

4[Dragon Stone Crystal (6/10)]

5[Vulnerary (1/1)]

He had wanted to allocate the three points to his maximum health points, but even so, it was not helpful at that point. It was not like his health points would heal three additional points when he allocated the three points in his maximum health points. The same goes for his magic resistance, even with three additional points in his magic resistance. Compared to the damage of thirty-three, he could only offset three points of damage, which is not even worth it. However, his gaze finally landed on his skill stat.

If only his skill stat were higher. He might be able to parry or deflect and minimize the damage that he suffered. Everything comes down to the skill stat. At first, he did not realize just how important the skill stat was. Now, though, he realized that a high-skill stat could potentially change the outcome of a battle between those who are extremely strong. This situation is not an exception either. His mind hesitates, but as he drags on, the pain from his injuries finally pushes his mind astray. He decided to allocate three points to his skill stat.

Once that was done, he quickly moved on to the [Select Units] tab. He [Select] Goon and Uzi without giving any thoughts about the earth draco lizard or the others. After all, this is a life and death battle, and the stronger his summons was, the higher his chance of survival. After that, he moved on to the [Inventory] tab.

Within the [Inventory] tab, he felt a little regretful because he decided not to buy something that could restore more health points when he was shopping for supplies in Fore North Village. However, being regretful will change nothing, so he moves on to his item slots and adds three stacks of ten healing pills into his three remaining item slots. This was for his guarantee that he would survive. Likewise, it was better than nothing. As for the seven remaining stacks, he gave Goon four stacks while the last three stacks went to Uzi.

He moved on to the [Skills] tab, but he found out that Uzi and Goon had each gained one skill. Goon's had gained the [Thick Blood (HP+5)] skill that increases maximum health points by five. It was a good increase because Goon's current health points were now sitting at thirty-three points. Enough to survive a blow from Victor. As for Uzi, Uzi gains a skill called [Rend (Crit+10)]. As for how useful it was, Uzi had already shown its worth after he saw that Uzi easily ripped the neck of the zombie into two. Even just thinking of it, he can still remember the scene of the headless zombie collapsing.

After seeing nothing else of interest, he moved on to the [Conditions] tab. He had thought that it would offer the same options as before, like [Route], but he was mistaken this time because it was completely different this time. It was also a new condition and it reads [Defeat Boss]. Just from the name, he could conclude something. He believed that the boss must have meant Victor because it was obvious that Victor was the one in control. Lastly, he believes that just defeating Victor would automatically end the battle, but he is not sure about this.

Since he was not conclusive, he moved on to the [Map] tab and he was right in one thing. Victor was indeed a 'boss' that he needed to defeat. From the pixilation map, he saw a familiar crest above Victor's pixelated head. The crest was a skull with an outline of black and purple fire. He had encountered only this boss crest once with his first encounter with a hobgoblin. He could probably guess why Victor and the first hobgoblin that he first met would be considered as a boss. He guesses that it all comes down to the fact that the two could easily kill him in a single bout or two and had units under their command.

He believed that it might have been more of the former than the latter since he had encountered an earth draco lizard and even after the earth draco lizard got stronger. There were no changes to the pixelation. That means that the earth daco lizard is not as life-threatening as he had initially thought. Likewise, the amount of experience points that he gained was twice as much. Which was why he had gained forty experience points instead of twenty. Including the effects of the dragon stone crystal, he gained eighty experience points.

In conclusion, a boss may be a lot stronger, but as long as he was the one to be toppled after the battle. Then he would unimaginably become a lot stronger as well. The risk is there, but the rewards were also present. That is, only if he were to survive. Otherwise, he did not need to mention it at all, since the chances of surviving such an encounter were already low, to begin with. The outcome would most likely be that they would die first before becoming strong enough to defeat such a boss.

Considering this situation, he was slightly better off since he was able to fend for himself and could deal considerable damage to Victor. Otherwise, in an encounter, there was an unbeatable boss that was outside of his league. He would have died already in the very first bout. He did not like the thought of it, even with the plentiful amount of experience points. He sighed as he felt quite lucky to have a unique ability.

He took a deep breath now that he was on the [Start Battle] tab. His finger hovered over the [Start] and pressed it. Afterward, he selected [Yes]. Once that was done, his mind refocused as the time flowed back again. His trembling stops as if it was the moment of truth, [Player's Turn][1]. Even if he knew that there was a high chance that it would be his turn, he would never know unless he verified the result with his own eyes. Likewise, there was always a small chance that it would still be the enemy's turn, but he felt a lot more relieved as it was indeed his turn.

He had no plan at all, and until that moment. He was aggressive and followed his anger before this without even thinking much. So, he released his breath as he saw that Victor's expression turned ugly. From his side, he could see that Victor's face was distorted in pain, and Victor's body becoming thinner while becoming much more dried out. Victor's current condition was completely different from the first time he saw Victor. Victor looked pitifully in pain, but his murderous eyes did change into confusion. Then the confusion became realization and relief.

[Victor - A disposable and mind-controlled pawn. By chance, Victor, who used to be the least talented necromancer apprentice, had accidentally come upon the opposite means of using dark magic. Victor knew that his talent was limited, but he was still attracted to the power offered by the darkness' gift. Everything just needed a spark and the bright Victor became twisted. It was a slow process, but it gradually became something worse than a human. An inner demon has begun to form within Victor since then. Years later, the older inner demon, Victor, fuses incredibly stronger and is selected as one of the fuses to start the turbulence. However, the fuse was not able to show its force before falling during the start of the turbulence.]