Rise of the Strongest War God

Chapter 60  Skills level up!

Near the broken wall…

Ramsey's group turned around and left after talking for a while.

After half an hour…

Rumble!

The dust and rocks shifted in an area close to where Ramsey's was standing to reveal a haggard, blood-soaked figure.

If Luke and others were here, they would immediately recognise this figure because it was none other than James—the guy they found hiding in the closet.

Right now, he had many injuries, some of which were still bleeding, such as his forehead and shoulder injury. Fortunately, they weren't too serious.

He stood with difficulty, looked around to see if there was anyone, and sighed in relief when he didn't see anyone. Then, a fearful expression filled his eyes, as he mumbled, "S-Sir Luke and others, they… left me. I need to find them."

Mumbling this, he ambled out of the broken wall and entered the forest.

…

After two hours, Luke opened his eyes. He had recovered most of his mana.

Glancing around, he saw professor Nina and Julia sitting in meditation, recovering their mana. Near them, Lori—who had woken up a while ago but chose not to disturb them after she saw them meditating—was also sitting in meditation.

His gaze then drifted to the still unconscious Ben and he couldn't help but feel his heart clench. Apart from his father and younger brother, he only cared about Ben and professor Nina. So, seeing him in this condition was very painful for him. Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything but wait for the next day, so Lori can cast her healing on him once again.

He then glanced at the man tied to the tree not too far away from them and saw that he also had his eyes close. For a moment, he wanted to go and finish him off, but decided against it for the time being since it would disturb the ladies. Instead, he summoned his status screen and went down to the skill section.

{External active skills: Berserk Level 5 (First order), Mana amplification Level 3 (First order).}

{Passive skills: Rapid steps Level 3 (First order), Basic weapon mastery (First order), Rapid Recovery Level 1 (First order)}

Glancing at them, he willed to see [Mana amplification] skill's level up requirements which immediately appeared in front of him.

[Evolution requirements: 1 skill point, 60+ Intelligence, 30+ Mana.]

Seeing that he met all the requirements, he levelled it up to level 4. Immediately, a skill point was deducted and [Mana Amplification] skill rune in his soul went some subtle changes.

[Mana amplification Level 4 (Active) (First order skill): The user can use his mana to amplify the effects of his active skills. He can also cover his weapons with mana to enhance their destructive or defensive power. Requirements: 60+ Intelligence.]

'There is no mention of enhancing my body?' Luke thought when he read the skill description, which was almost the same as before.

'Maybe that application is too high levelled to be shown under first order, level 4? If that's the case, aren't I genius since I can already do it?' He chuckled at the thought and then willed to see its evolution requirements to level 5.

[Evolution requirements: 2 skill points, 70+ intelligence, 40+ mana.]

'Good thing the berries increase my mana to 44 units.' He thought and levelled it up. Another two skill points vanished and the skill rune changed a little once again.

However, when he read the skill description, it was almost the same.

This time, he couldn't help but feel a little excited because it meant that the body enhancement application of mana was truly high levelled.

'This means the skills' usage isn't limited to their level mentioned but how expertly you use and control them.' He concluded and decided to continue his experiments with his skills.

'Let's see what its evolution requirements are to second order.' He thought.

[Evolution requirements. 5 skill points, 5 Second Order mana cores, 100+ intelligence, 100+ mana.]

Luke took a deep breath when he saw the various requirements.

'I wonder how strong it will be in second order.'

He thought and then his eyes zeroed at the requirement of mana cores, 'Despite it being such a useful and powerful skills, it only needs 5 second order mana cores while the [Berserk] needs 10.'

He then remembered how he had erupted with that insane power when Ben almost got killed and how the [Berserk] still seemed to be undergoing some changes.

'Maybe…' His heart racing and eyes glinting in excitement, he thought, 'Maybe… the [Berserk] will be a lot more powerful when it is at the second order level. Maybe even more powerful than the [Mana Amplification].'

Phew!

He inhaled and exhaled a deep breath to calm down and shifted his attention to his passive skills. He still had 3 skill points left and wanted to level up his passive ones.

[Basic Weapon Mastery (Level 5) (First order)]

<Evolution Requirements: 1 second order mana core, Intelligence 50+.>

[Rapid Steps (Level 3) (First order)]

<Evolution Requirements: 3 skill points, Strength 10+.>

[Rapid Recovery (Level 1) (First Order)]

<Evolution Requirements: 1 skill point, health 10+.>

Since [Basic weapon mastery] couldn't be levelled up right now, and levelling [Rapid steps] wasn't worth it since it only gave 2 agility points, he levelled up the [Rapid Recovery] to level 2 and used the last 2 skill points to level it up to the level 3.

[Rapid recovery (Level 3) (First order): The user can recover their exhausted stamina and mana, 1 point per minute.]

A smile appeared on his face when he saw that [Rapid recovery] could now recover mana, too.

'Now I won't have to worry about exhausting my mana and stamina too much.' He thought.

Just when he was celebrating, he felt his danger sense flare up. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Whoosh!

A shadow leapt out from the bushes, and before he could react, it lunged at his captive. The guy couldn't even open his eyes before his head was bitten off his shoulders.

"An evolved black panther!" Luke sucked in a cold breath before rushing in front of Professor Nina and others and shouting, his voice laced with urgency and a hint of dread, "Everyone! Wake up!"