Chapter 854 - Nevermore: Promise & Mark (Patreon)

To be strong… was something that truly didn’t matter in the world before the system. One could be the best swordsman in the world or the best martial artist, but the difference between the bottom and the top was never that significant. Even the greatest fighter would lose against a few average men who teamed up on him. If they had weapons, even fewer. If they had a gun… a single shot could end the journey of a martial artist who had trained his body and skills to perfection over decades of struggle and hard work.

Due to this, and the peace of society as a whole, being able to fight rarely mattered. It was more done for sports or to stay in shape rather than any practical applications. Sure, the army did also teach hand-to-hand, and being able to stand your ground could come in handy when situations got tricky, but that was about it.

Yet Miyamoto had dedicated much of his life to training with a sword. Despite how many people told him he was wasting his time, he kept training whenever he could and only laid down his sword the day his body no longer allowed him to lift it.

It had simply been a passion of his, pursued for no other reason than the fact he enjoyed it. He worked most of his life, and it became his one selfish pastime where he could just be himself and ponder. His one childish pursuit…

And when the system arrived, he realized indulging in this childish pursuit was no longer that childish. Instead, it became a true Path to power, and no one looked down on him or questioned if he was wasting his time whenever he trained. One other thing did change, though, and that was the reason for his training.

Miyamoto had always been ambitious. It was simply an innate trait of his. During the Tutorial, he had simply fought, doing his best together with the allies he gathered as he struggled to survive. His body was weak in the beginning, but as time passed, he got stronger and stronger, and he still remembered that one fateful day.

It was a rather large fight, and one of the youngsters was struggling. Miyamoto had a breakthrough as he hurried over and managed to kill the opponent in the nick of time. The young woman who had been lying on the ground had called him something then. Something reminding him of a rather childish concept as she said he was like the Sword Saint of history…

The title stuck with him, as others also began to call him it, and Miyamoto never corrected anyone. Instead, he took this new title as a promise. To be the Sword Saint was to be at the peak of swordsmanship. To be the strongest…

And as of this moment, Miyamoto didn’t feel like he lived up to that promise. He hadn’t for quite a while, especially after he returned from the Challenge Dungeons and heard how others had done. Even if others said he hadn’t done badly, he was still far from satisfied.

The Sword Saint had done quite a lot better overall than Sylphie and finished with a final multiplier of 70%. His 10% in the Colosseum of Mortals had very much been a disappointment to him, as it turned out to be one of his worst despite, on the surface, looking like one he should have done well at. However, he had also gotten very unlucky. His “basic state” was that of an old man who had been a single step away from death before the system. When he entered the Colosseum and had his stats reduced, he was far more negatively affected than someone like Jake. His brittle bones made him take more damage every time he tried to block. His old muscles made him slower, and especially his striking power was negatively affected by his aging physique. He simply didn’t have a body that could make full use of his stats.

This wasn’t a problem when he had his full stats… but in the Colosseum, it became a severe limiter, in many ways making it impressive that he even managed to get 10%. He did feel sad about having had to use his Transcendence to beat Umbra, though, as it meant he could barely walk when he faced Valdemar for the final fight… but at least the backlash had been minimal due to the special circumstances of the Challenge Dungeon. By the time he had finished the Test of Character afterward, he was all good.

Speaking of the Test of Character, the Sword Saint did a lot better there. In fact, it ended up being one of his best-performing Challenge Dungeons with a 20% multiplier. Despite still being “young” in the context of the system, he felt like an old man, and he was very much set in who he was. He was good at judging situations and adapting when necessary, no matter what story he experienced.

A place he did a lot better than expected was the House of the Architect, where he got a 10% multiplier. He had expected not to get much here, but he had ended up surprising himself. In many ways, it had been a good respite as he had done this one last and had spent longer in it than any of the others. This allowed him to spend plenty of time working on his painting skills while naturally also upgrading some class-based skills, making it a very pleasant experience.

Endless Journey had turned into a tie for his best with a 20% multiplier. It had also been another Challenge Dungeon he had very much enjoyed. Doing the menial jobs as a Courier reminded him of the jobs he had when he was young, especially while in the military. The later happenings and dealing with the political turmoil reminded him of what he had to deal with in his later years. Except, the political arena was too… simple. Easy. Simplified. There were a lot of twists and turns, but in the end, nothing ever felt too complicated, and he ended up challenging himself by aiming to broker a peace agreement between the Dragon Tribe and the Guild, as well as all the other nations. Something he was quite proud of had succeeded, even if he knew peace would be short-lived had it been a realistic setting.

Finally, he got 10% in Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth. There was not much to say here. He was fast; he managed to decipher many of the clues given and even deployed some tricks of his own to go faster. All in all, the Sword Saint had performed as a peak-tier genius… but he still felt disappointment in himself.

For to “only” be a genius was far below the promise he had made and the burden of the title he had taken upon himself. He felt far below the realm of monstrous existences like Jake and even Ell’Hakan, whom he had faced in combat once and came out with a minor victory. Yet even then, knew there was more to the Chosen than what he had shown… far more, which was clearly proven true with how well he was doing in Nevermore.

Sitting on a small hill on the sixty-ninth floor, Miyamoto simply observed as Sylphie ravaged the land in front of Miyamoto, showing that she had also improved. A figure sat beside him, made up of pure energy that only he could see and interact with.

“You are too harsh on yourself,” the former Monarch of Blood, Iskar, said.

In Nevermore, he could not fully materialize his body but only be in an intangible form only the Sword Saint could see as the owner of the divine item.

“I do not believe I am,” the Sword Saint said as he sat meditatively with his sword across his legs. “Look at the young hawk. Her personality is utterly whimsical; she never seems to take any situation seriously, and she appears to only be playing around… yet her rate of improvement is unquestionable. Despite it looking like she isn’t trying, you can see she innately is pushing herself to improve with every fight. Instinctively, she is driven to improve. She needs no motivation or purpose for doing so; it’s merely in her nature.”

“You speak as if you also aren’t improving by the day,” the Monarch of Blood added. “Every entity has different rates of improvement, coming at different intervals, but more importantly, in different spurts. Remember, the Path to power is not a sprint but a marathon toward the peak.”

The Sword Saint didn’t say more as he heard the cliché words he had listened to so many times before. He just kept watching Sylphie as she battled the pack of beasts while considering if he truly was going about things the right way.

“You know…” Iskar added after a while. “One of the things that are holding you back is your profession.”

“I will not become a vampire,” the Sword Saint said with a sigh.

“I’m not saying you have to,” Iskar said. “I’m just saying that maybe there is just something to be looking at there. You have a lot of untapped potential you never truly dove into, especially in regard to certain affinities… because I do not believe that the Primordial of Time chose to give you a Divine Blessing for your swordsmanship alone.”

The Sword Saint sighed as he closed his eyes. He feared his Path becoming murky again if he tried to diversify himself too much… but perhaps the former Monarch of Blood had a point. His Patron, Aeon, had told him that his time affinity was quite impressive, after all.

--

The hunter stalked his way through the forest as his prey moved a few kilometers ahead of him. It was a small group of scaled deer-like creatures, all moving in a defensive formation. Even so, the hunter wasn’t worried. He knew he would find his time to strike at some point, as he felt for all their locations, and as he peered through the trees, the outlines of every beast were clear as day.

Time passed as the hunter kept up his tracking while making sure to mark any potential future prey along the way. Every time he marked one, he became able to see them even through solid matter as they were highlighted in his vision.

After only a few more hours, the hunter spotted his chance. The creatures had all split up slightly, slacking on their defensive formation as they consumed herbs in a small clearing. Without missing his chance, the hunter took out his bow. Never once did he get close or enter their line of sight as he got to a high position to shoot from.

As the hunter moved to draw the bow, arcane energy appeared as it formed an arrow. Pulling back the string, more arcane power appeared as an Arcane Powershot was slowly charged, the hunter still a few dozen kilometers away from his prey.

Releasing the string, the first arrow flew forth. It slightly curved around all the trees in the way as it slammed into the side of the first beast’s head before it could even react, making it fall to the ground, bleeding heavily.

Rather than assist their comrade, the other beasts didn’t hesitate to take off in four different directions. However, sadly for them, they were all already marked. The hunter didn’t even care to pursue as he sprung wings to fly further up into the air, where he nocked another arrow.

Another Arcane Powershot blasted out as it hit one of the fleeing deer now over thirty kilometers away. The damage was even greater than the first deer the hunter had hit as he promptly nocked another. A second powershot in rapid succession was released, hitting a third deer for more damage yet again. It wasn’t an extreme amount, and the reason for the extra damage was the distance between him and the marks.

With a few more arrows, all of the deer were soon taken down except for one. The hunter looked at it closely as the outline of its Soulshape revealed the damage done. The outline was slightly damaged, letting the hunter know the damage was significant and would potentially lead to death on its own. Not that he would let that up to chance as he shot one more arrow to finish off the final beast.

Right as the final beasts died, everything warped. In the very next second, the hunter found himself standing atop a watchtower. He narrowed his eyes and spotted a scout in the distance. Instantly, he marked the target, and even when the scout tried to use his stealth skill, the hunter still easily kept track as the scout failed to dispel the mark completely, its resistance to any form of dispel mechanics significantly stronger.

After the scout was hunted down successfully, things warped again as a third scenario played out.

This hunter who was using Mark in different ways was quite an odd character… because it wasn’t really Jake. Not to misunderstand, Jake was along for the ride, reminiscent of the Test of Character – though without the ability to take control – but even if the hunter used skills Jake had, it clearly wasn’t him.

The Storybook Page seemed to trigger a miniature version of a mix between the Test of Character Challenge Dungeon and Jake’s Path of the Heretic-Chosen, though compared to Path, it was a lot worse. It didn’t have the time-rewind stuff and the ability to allow Jake to hyperfocus during the most important moments, but the Storybook Page did allow Jake to experience the use of a slightly different version of Mark than his own a few times.

A total of nine visions ended up playing out, each of them using a slightly different version of Mark. One of them allowed Jake to kind of “see” the area all around the target, other upgrades allowed him to use Mark in an area to hit everything there, while a third version changed Mark from a solo-hunting skill to one that was more effective the more people targeted the marked prey.

Nine different versions, but Jake was stuck on the first one as it had the effects he wanted the most. The outline of the Soulshape was something he could see be very useful for a very particular reason that would be clear in the future, and the bonus damage based on distance was definitely a great addition. Ah, not that the part about dealing more damage based on distance was unique, as that was present in all the different skill upgrade Paths, likely due to influence from his class.

After what felt like several days to Jake, but was in reality only a few seconds in the real world, the effect of the Storybook Page was over. Jake awoke back in the Order, but he didn’t hesitate to enter meditation as he reflected on the visions. He remembered the feeling of using the skill, and he began to integrate it into the skill.

After about a full day of focused meditation, Jake opened his eyes as a system notifcation appeared, putting a smile on Jake’s face. Success.

Without further ado, he opened up the description of the improved skill.

[Mark of the Horizon-Chasing Arcane Hunter (Ancient)] – Your prey is chosen; the hunt is on. Covertly mark targets, making you aware of their positions while allowing you to see an outline of their Soulshape at all times until the marks expire or are dispelled. All damage done to marked targets is increased. This extra damage is amplified further based on your distance from the target. All effects increase for arcane damage done. The extra arcane damage inflicted while the marks are active will be built up in the form of an arcane charge that you can detonate to release all the stored-up energy. Additional bonus experience earned for slaying a marked target above your level (this effect remains even if your target dies to the mark detonating or within a short duration of the detonation). Adds a bonus to the damage inflicted, the duration of the marks, maximum effective distance, the subtlety, and the number of marks available based on Perception.

The description had naturally gotten longer as Jake had added on two extra wonderful features. The first one was the ability to see an outline of his foe, while the second was to make the damage he dealt increase with distance. Yet another skill that did so, which was naturally only good.

Stacking similar or identical effects that worked together was the best way to get extremely powerful attacks. Jake stacked skills dealing more damage to higher-leveled foes as well as opponents he was far away from, while someone like the Sword Saint stacked skills and effects that increased the sharpness of his katana. At least Jake was pretty damn sure he did that.

The final improvement to Mark was something Jake had added on as a bit of an extra. During one of the visions, he saw how the marks had a limited range before they would automatically be dispelled, so he worked on alleviating that, which had materialized in the form of the effective distance now also scaling with Perception. Something Jake was pretty sure it already did, but hey, it was good to have it in system text.

Along with all of the new effects, all existing effects had naturally also increased. With how much the skill did, it wasn’t a massive amount, but Jake was pretty sure that this one skill upgrade alone increased his effective damage output per arrow by a few percent, only getting higher if his target was very far away.

Jake felt more than satisfied with the upgrade, and it sure put him in a good mood. His mood only got better a few minutes later when an attendant came and knocked on the door to his chamber to inform him that Dina was also done with her Challenge Dungeons. Now, they just needed the Fallen King, and it was time to do some live testing as they continued their Nevermore journey.