The first part was the vision , which Zac now was certain was showed to him so that he could plant his Dao Seed . The other part was this guidance system that could help him improve his form and fighting abilities . It might have been more convenient if the System crammed his head full of these things , making him master these aspects immediately .
Perhaps that wasn’t possible , as it was related to the Dao . Or perhaps the system didn’t want to just hand things out willy-nilly . The guidance system was a god given in any case as Zac had missed the tutorial and sorely needed some guidance .
Of the two he felt the Dao-vision was the most valuable . One might be able to gain those seeds by themselves by meditating or being an expert on a subject , but Zac’s intuition told him that it wasn’t that easy . Otherwise , he wouldn’t have been the third , but the 3rd millionth , to attain a Dao Seed . The world was full of experts , after all .
He decided on the spot to use the time he earlier spent on cutting wood on practicing his axe-form in the future . That time would be freed up as soon as he finished the second class quest in any case .
Zac sat down to recuperate and devoured some meat from his pouch , before continuing back home . It was dark when he returned to camp , as usual , this time due to his new skill rather than grinding monsters all waking hours .
Still , he couldn’t rest , as he was too excited about what his other skill would be like . He started cutting wood in a furious speed , lumber flying left and right . After roughly 90 minutes he slowed down and caught his breath . He was only 10 swings away from finishing the quest for the Chop] skill , and he wanted to be in rested condition just in case .
He drank a mouthful of water and steadied his breath before once again hefting his axe and swinging the 10 final strikes .
This time cosmic energy didn’t enter his mind , but information . This time the impartment was akin to when he bought Eye of Discernment] from the Nexus Crystal . Zac was a bit disappointed that he wouldn’t get another vision that could give him another Dao seed or the like , but he knew that was a rare opportunity he gained .
The skill was another fractal , and the usage was similar to the identification skill . It needed him to circulate cosmic energy through his energy pathways in a specific manner , then imagining it entering this fractal . The difference was that while Eye of Discernment] placed the fractals inside his eyes , the new one was on the top of his right hand . It wasn’t a physical manifestation , rather it superimposed itself on his pathways .
This was different from his eye skill , which was isolated fractals in his eyes . The Chop] skill’s fractal seemed to actually merge with his Class-pathways . It didn’t look out of place or messy , but it felt as a missing piece of a puzzle was added .
When Zac rewrote his pathways there were many parts that looked blurry and missing . It seemed that from his new skill that they were slots for his skills . Maybe even other skills , like Steps of Gaia] that he was eyeing in the store , could be slotted into his pathway gaps .
He tried doing the same with his ocular skill , but it was a closed circuit fractal , giving no opportunity to integrate with his pathways . The axe mastery fractal was in an enclosed space in his mind , and he had no way to connect it to his pathways either . Unfortunately , he lacked any more skills to experiment with . He actually had enough Nexus Coins to buy the cheapest skills by now , but he didn’t want to burn his hard earned cash for an experiment .
He wasn’t sure what benefits there were to slotting it into his pathways compared to simply having them like his identification skill . He would have to test it and find out .
Even though it was late at night he couldn’t wait , too eager to find out the effects of his new skill . Even if he realized it would be nothing like the great spells he saw in the vision , he had already fought against someone with an impressive skill . It was the demon leader with the great sword , whose furniture now adorned his campsite .
The black arcs of lightning had almost gotten him killed a few times . From the simple name of his own skill he realized that it might not be as extravagant though . But he did get it from a rare class after all , so it shouldn’t be useless .
He planned to try out the skill by using it a few times , then finding a demon beast to test it on , so he left his camp in search for a decent target .
As he walked some ways from the camp he made a new discovery . A skill screen had been added to his various prompts . It hadn’t been there when he bought the identification skill , which is why it had taken him all day before trying it . He surmised it must’ve activated when he got his class skills .
Normal Skills
Eye of Discernment - Proficiency : - . A glimpse into the unknown . Upgradeable
Class Skill
Axe Mastery - Proficiency : Early . The seed of Dao is planted . Upgradeable
Chop - Proficiency : Early . There is greatness in simplicity .
The screen showed scant information , but it did give Zac a few answers to things he had been wondering about . The class skills seemed to have proficiency , and both were at early stage . His Dao seed was at early stage as well , and he guessed that if he progressed in Axe Mastery] , the seed might follow .
Chop] would likely simply get stronger if the proficiency increased . His identification skill had no proficiency , and it seemed that it wouldn’t get stronger . He had wondered about whether he could improve his skill and get more information about enemies , or even be able to identify items .
It was , however , upgradeable . He saw no hint of the requirements , but it was good to know that he could improve the skill into a better one . Chop] wasn’t upgradeable , which was a bit disappointing . He could only hope the description was true , that there was greatness in simplicity .
If he went by his knowledge from video games , then he’d likely need to raise proficiency to the max before somehow upgrading Axe Mastery] into a higher tiered skill . As that option wasn’t available for Eye of Discernment] , he could only hope to find out some clues at a later date .
Of course , even if he wouldn’t be able to upgrade Chop] he’d still try to max out its proficiency . Who knew if the System would reward a Title , or new class quests if he did . The system did like it when people put in effort , after all .
Chapter 40 - Chop
As he walked away from the camp in the dead of the night he was going over his future path of development . He couldn’t just focus on training with the new guidance system all day due to the third class skill requiring large amounts of time battling in the forest .
On the way from the camp he tried using Axe Mastery] in an actual battle with a barghest . He was disappointed to see that the trajectories wouldn’t actually assist him in battle , and completely shut off right before the battle started . It seemed it was purely a training mechanism .
Finally he arrived at a small clearing some distance from the camp . He didn’t want to accidentally ruin his home in case the skill had any unexpected effects .
He started with using a small amount of energy and channeled it through his new fractal as he swung the axe . The energy transformed as it ventured out through his hand and into the axe . As he swung down he could see a translucent edge formed by cosmic energy .
It was like the axe head had gotten a bit larger , as the translucent edge ran a few centimeters in front of the actual edge , and its length was roughly 10 centimeters longer compared to the actual steel edge . The edge created from cosmic energy looked like a copy of his axe’s actual edge , with some faint fractals added along its length .
It wasn’t spectacular but he used a minuscule amount of energy in the strike . He tried using the skill once more , but this time he put far more cosmic energy into the skill . The translucent blade grew quite a bit larger , now stretching noticeably outward . The blade was now over one meter long , making his once short-ranged axe have almost as long a range as the great sword he had commandeered . Luckily the edge didn’t grow downward along the haft , but rather outward . Otherwise it would be hard for him to swing it without maiming himself .