In the school field, over 600 students had gathered once again, all hoping to pass their assessment this time. The student council president walked alongside the teachers, holding a token containing the portal key to a new Mystical Realm. The students lined up neatly on stage, awaiting the principal's arrival.
Suddenly, Principal Dalhmer appeared in the middle of the podium. "Are we ready?" he asked.
"Yes, Principal Dalhmer," answered one of the teachers at the top of the stage.
Principal Dalhmer looked out at the students in front of him and began to speak. "Before we begin, I have a few reminders for you all. Firstly, the points accumulated yesterday for the ranking will be continued."
"Secondly, if you're in serious condition, don't risk your life. Get out of the Mystical Realm."
"Thirdly, giving up does not mean you have lost your dignity. Knowing when to give up and when not to is a valuable life lesson."
"Fourthly, it's foolish to start a situation blindly. Always plan, check, and wait patiently."
"Lastly, logic may guide you in some situations, but your instincts will guide you in any situation. Trust your instincts, especially when logic fails you."
With his final words, Principal Dalhmer shouted, "LET THE ASSESSMENT BEGIN!!!" A portal suddenly opened, and the students entered it one by one.
.....
As soon as Gabriel arrived at the platform, he couldn't wait for the rest of the group to catch up. He was determined to start his assessment as soon as possible. He quickly dashed out of the platform and entered the forest, ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead.
It didn't take him long to find traces of a low-level magical beast. He followed the trail and soon came across a group of white rabbits with a moon symbol on their foreheads. From his extensive knowledge and experience, he immediately recognized these rabbits as 3★ Iron stage magical beasts called Moon Rabbits.
Before taking any action, Gabriel carefully assessed the situation. He observed the rabbits from a safe distance and checked their status. He wanted to make sure that he was well-prepared to face them and that he could take them down without risking his safety.
[Name: Moon Rabbit]
[Health Point: 500/500]
[Mana: 400/400]
[Physical Attack: 120 – 175]
[Defense: 55]
[Rank: Iron Stage ★★★]
[Skills: Moon Drip, Moon Kick, Moon Blast]
[Description: According to ancient beliefs, the rabbit held a special place as the closest companion of a certain goddess. Legend has it that this goddess would often sit with the rabbit, grinding herbs with a mortar and pestle to create potent medicines. The rabbit's gentle presence and unwavering loyalty made it the perfect companion for the goddess in her healing practices. It is said that the rabbit's keen senses and intuition were also highly valued, as they helped the goddess to identify the most effective combinations of herbs and spices. This sacred bond between the goddess and the rabbit is still celebrated today in certain cultures, as a symbol of the power of compassion and the healing energy of nature.]
(A/N: From here onwards, I will be using defense. Here is the formula: total damage = Physical (magical) attack - total defense, where total defense = 2x (defense + defense increase - defense decreased). One point of defense negates 2 damage; defense doesn't ignore true damage, so reverse heal does not count.)
Before Gabriel entered battle mode and activated his talent, a prompt suddenly appeared in front of him.
[Yin - Soul - Harmony - Activate Y/N?]
[Yang - Soul - Harmony - Activate Y/N?]
He chose to activate Yin-Soul-Harmony and set a precondition. Then he input his choices. Before clicking yes, he checked his options once more.
[ Yin-Soul-Harmony]
[Skill 1- Light Hurricane
Mutate Skill: No]
[Skill 2- Healing Totem
Mutate Skill: Yes]
[Skill 3- Goddess Blessing
Mutate Skill: Yes]
Then he proceeded.
[Mutate Successful! Choose effect to Reverse]
Once again, he preset the conditions.
[Skill 2- Curse Totem
Healing Per Second (allies) reverse to Damage Per Second (enemy): Yes
AOE Damage (Enemy) reverse to AOE healing (Allies): Yes]
[Skill 3- Demon Curse
Damage Increase (allies) reverse to Damage Reduction (enemy): Yes
Immunity to Debuff (allies) reverse to Silence (enemy): Yes
Shield (allies) reverse to Guaranteed Hit (enemy): No]
[Save Preset: Y/N?]
[Would you like to name the Preset: Y/N?]
[Name set to "R1": Y/N?]
Once he completed his options, he looked at the effect of the mutated skills.
[Curse Totem Level 1(☯): Summons a totem full of curses that drains the life out of all enemies near the totem (radius of 20m) for a duration, causing continuous damage. The relic summoning process will heal all friendly units around the caster (radius of 20m).
Damage per second = {(B. level + INT+VIT)/2 x Skill Level x 10 x (1 + HealingEffect%) + MAtk}
AOE Healing = {1 x (MAtk x MagicPen)}
Healing Duration= 5 seconds
Mana Cost = 150
Cooldown = 4 seconds]
[Demon's Curse Level 1(☯): Summons a powerful curse to an area 20m x 20m that decreases the Physical Attack (Magic Attack) of all enemies by 20% and grants a shield that blocks the user from any harm for a duration or until the shield breaks, at the same time the skill silences enemy units for a certain amount of time.
Shield: Blocks any damage (physical and magical) equal to 300% of caster HP
Shield Duration: 5 minutes
Damage Decrease Duration: 5 minutes
Silence Duration: 10 seconds
Mana Cost: 200
Cooldown: 20 seconds]
...
Once he finished his preparations, he switched to battle mode. He charged toward the group of rabbits, and in that instant, the nearest Moon Rabbit noticed him. It fired a moon blast and spun around him, readying itself to unleash another skill.
[Moon Blast: Borrowing the power of the moon, the user attacks the target.
Mana Cost: 150
Cooldown: 5 seconds]
Using his powers, Gabriel infused his feet with mana, enhancing his agility to quickly sidestep the ferocious attack of the Moon Rabbit. Suddenly, a deafening explosion rocked the area, signaling the Moon Rabbit's attack had missed its mark. But the commotion had attracted the attention of the other rabbits, who began to converge on Gabriel with great speed.
Before the group of rabbits could reach him, Gabriel unleashed a powerful spell.
"Light Hurricane!"
The spell struck the Moon Rabbit three times, each hit landing with a thunderous whoosh.
The first strike caused -215 HP damage, the second -200 HP, and the third -195 HP, leaving the Moon Rabbit visibly weakened and struggling to keep up and then die.
[Prompt: You killed the Moon Rabbit! Gained 60 exp!]
As the group of Moon Rabbits approached, Gabriel quickly cast another skill to defend himself. He called forth the "Curse Totem (☯)" and a totem instantly appeared between him and the incoming rabbits. The totem was imbued with Gabriel's legendary talent, which had the power to reverse the area-of-effect damage to healing, adding +271 HP to Gabriel.
But the real power of the totem was yet to be revealed. Suddenly, an eerie sound emanated from the totem, and the skull at the top of the totem opened its mouth, sucking all the life force from the surrounding enemies. This caused a tremendous amount of damage to the Moon Rabbits that were nearby.
The sound of their screams echoed through the air as the life force was drained from their bodies. One by one, the rabbits fell to the ground, their health bars rapidly depleting.
HOOOOOOOOHHH!!!
The first Moon Rabbit lost -496 HP.
HOOOOOOOOHHH!!!
The second Moon Rabbit lost -455 HP.
HOOOOOOOOHHH!!!
The third Moon Rabbit lost -480 HP.
HOOOOOOOOHHH!!!
The fourth Moon Rabbit lost -430 HP.
HOOOOOOOOHHH!!!
The fifth Moon Rabbit lost -476 HP.
Gabriel stood there, watching as the last Moon Rabbit fell to the ground. He was relieved that he had survived the encounter, but he knew that he couldn't let his guard down just yet.
[Prompt! You killed the Moon Rabbit! Gained 65 exp!]
[Prompt! You killed the Moon Rabbit! Gained 60 exp!] x2
[Prompt! You killed the Moon Rabbit! Gained 55 exp!]
[Prompt! You killed the Moon Rabbit! Gained 70 exp!]
[Prompt! You killed the Moon Rabbit! Gained 75 exp!] x4
[Prompt! You obtained Beast Core x 4]
...
As soon as the battle ended, Gabriel quickly deactivated his talent to avoid any unwanted attention. He then sat down to rest for a bit and checked the total amount of experience he had received from the fight.
[Experience: 913/1000]
Gabriel knew that, if he were still the old Gabriel, this round of battle would have been enough for him to level up. However, ever since he had become the equivalent of two people, his experience bar had also doubled its capacity, which meant that leveling up would take even more time now.
Satisfied with his experience gain, Gabriel turned his attention to his Ranking Points and loot. He carefully inspected everything he had acquired during the battle, making sure he hadn't missed anything important. Gabriel was always thorough with his loot, as he knew that even the smallest item could be useful in the future.
[Name: Gabriel Heart
Rank: First
No. of Kills: 3 - Iron ★, 6 - Iron ★★, 9 - Iron ★★★
Points: 420
Class: Support - Type, Healing]
[Beast Core: A core made from a Magic Beast's mana pool]
After checking the loot, another prompt appeared in front of him.
[Convert Beast Core to Harmony Essence? Y/N?]
....
"Convert to Harmony Essence?" A puzzled look crossed Gabriel's face.
He placed the cores inside his new magic bag. While doing so, he suddenly remembered something. He looked at his status panel and, after searching for a few seconds, found what he was looking for.
[Harmony Essence: Used to upgrade equipment grade by 1.
Harmony Essence can be obtained by sacrificing different types of energy cores.]
He remembered that he was supposed to upgrade his weapon yesterday. But because of a small incident, he had forgotten about it and put it in the back of his mind.
He called his weapon forth, and suddenly his weapon materialized in front of him.
[Name: Iron Staff]
[Type: Staff]
[MAtk: 50 - 85]
[Rarity: Common]
[Description: It is made of precious minerals. The strong magic adaptability makes its power more stable. It is the mage's best choice.]
[Durability: 100/100]
[Can be upgraded, use 10,000 Harmony Essence: Y/N?]
Gabriel chose to upgrade his weapon and clicked yes.
His weapon was enveloped in black and white light, and after a few seconds, the light shrouding it vanished.
[Prompt! Upgrade Successful!]
After hearing the prompt, he checked the status of his new weapon.
[Name: Survival Staff]
[Type: Staff]
[MAtk: 500]
[Rarity: Green]
[Description: A special staff with a red pattern of a divine cross, this staff is used by high-status clergymen.
Additional Attribute:
+15 INT
+15 VIT
+10% Max HP
Equipment Effect: Healing + 20%]
[Durability: 200/200]
He equipped his new weapon without hesitation, then opened his status panel.
[Name: Gabriel Heart]
[Class: Cleric]
[Level: 1, Iron Early Stage]
[Health Point: 750/750 (+55)]
[Mana: 1780/1960]
[Experience: 913/1000]
[Magic Attack: 206 (+500)]
[Defense: 81]
[Attributes: STR: 10, AGI: 6, DEX: 8, INT: 33 (+15), VIT: 11 (+15)]
[Skills: Light Hurricane, Healing Totem, Goddess Blessing]
[Talent: [☯] Yin-Yang Soul Harmony (D)]
[Harmony Essence: 0]
[Equipment: Survival Staff
Equipment Effect:
Healing + 20%
+10% Max HP]
Due to this newly upgraded equipment, his personal attributes had undergone a substantial change. The most obvious one was the upper limit of his MP, which had almost reached 2000 points.
He looked once again at the upgraded weapon, observing every crook and cranny on it. There was a hint of holiness in it, and moreover, a faint brilliance circulated on the equipment, making it obviously much more exquisite than his old staff!
A broad smile appeared on his face as he immediately bolted out and started looking for his next prey to test his new equipment.
(A/N: I will now remove the min-max damage indicator and will only put the max to avoid confusion and ease in calculation; also, I will increase the equipment base damage (Patk and Matk) for all equipment and defense for all armors starting from now)