Praying silently he raised his hand and shot off a mana bolt It struck the Shaman in the chest disrupting the spell and making him take a step back The Other Shaman was shocked and glared at Randidly furiously But as Randidly raised his hand for the second shot the Shaman had already completed whatever strange incantation it was doing and the purple smoke began to rush backwards towards it forming a huge skull the size of a fast food restaurant Its mouth opening soundlessly its rushed forward losing its shape but becoming a wide flood of purple energy as tall as a man
Even Shal paled swearing colorfully
The wave hit Randidly first submerging him completely The pain was horrendous enough to make him sway barely holding onto consciousness He opened his eyes and immediately regretted it the strange poison eating away at his eyes But still he kept them open using Phantom’s Eyes to stare at Shal waiting for something
Shal frowned and then started running towards the oncoming rush of purple smoke At the last moment he thrust his spear into the ground vaulting up and over the skull
The monstrous thing turned and howled soundlessly and then collapsed
But then Randidly’s bloodshot eyes widened as it reformed growing from the middle of the purple smoke area rising up to devour Shal
With a worried expression Shal considered his options
Gritting his teeth Randidly raised his hand and pointed invoking mana
As Shal descended to the wide open mouth of this poison mist skull he saw something A weak and sickly series of vines quickly rotting wrapping up forming a foothold Shal softly landed and kicked off leaping again over the smoke even as the vines collapsed from his weight
It had been enough and the Shamans were both killed before they could do more than stare stupidly at the descending god of death wielding a spear
Chapter 18
Randidly woke up with a start Then realizing Shal stood only a little ways away cooking stew he calmed himself and immediately began meditating To his surprise it increased a level But more than that Randidly was shocked to see that Entangling Roots had gained a level and he had a new skill Root Manipulation
Root Manipulation Lvl 1 Control roots in the surrounding area by sensing them and infusing them with mana Duration of control and distance increases mana expenditure By using more mana you can increase the size and strength of the roots you control
Before looking at his path screen Randidly took a few minutes to experiment with this new skill earning himself another level in it increasing it to two
Although there was only grass in the immediate area on this strange plain Randidly could still sense several larger roots deeper in the earth But moving them basically emptied his mana pool immediately
Shifting his attention the smaller grass roots he marveled at his ability to control every single one causing them to reach up out of the ground and grip tightly at the toes of his bare feet
Ruefully he shook his head This was basically useless currently The mana expenditure was much higher than Entangling Roots and the power wouldn’t stop anything But at the same time
Randidly shrugged inwardly He kinda liked it that way It was versatile and would only get stronger as he trained it
Then with a rapidly beating heart Randidly returned to the path screen and placed the last point into Pathless
Congratulations You have completed the Pathless Path You have realized that all paths are the same and all paths lead to the same place
But after this utterly worthless notification came up another one appeared
Although all paths lead to the same place you have realized that different feet traverse them and as different footsteps echo the whole world shifts You have unlocked the Soul Path Skill Green Spear Mastery Lvl 1 A Soul Path Skill will gain a skill level anytime you consume a PP moving forward on another path PP cannot be used to advance a Soul Path Skill Remember that as the path extends before you ever onward ever changing sometimes you will change too
Warning At any point you may only have one Soul Skill Gaining another will cause you to lose the previous skill as well as all associated gains
Curious Randidly brought up his stat screen Sure enough he had a new skill although it appeared slightly different underlined on his screen
Green Spear Mastery Utilize insights into the spear to understand the earth and insight into the natural world to advance with your spear Success at crafting with materials from the natural world increases with skill level High skill levels makes it marginally easier to learn spear crafting earth and life related skills
Just a passive buff Although it would grow naturally Randidly was still somewhat disappointed At first he thought it was something similar to a class but now it just seemed like an affinity skill
Still like his new Root Manipulation it would grow to be extremely strong (he hoped) after a short while so no use complaining
Soon Randidly’s attention returned to the rest of the path screen and his plethora of options
Physical Fitness Path 0/25 Mana Bolt Path 0/25 Evasion Path 0/35 Phantom Thrust Path 0/40 Spear Mastery I Path 0/50 0/
All of theses had paths except the last one had been unlocked when he reached certain levels in his current skills The question was which he wanted to do first
Immediately he eliminated the mystery path and Spear Mastery I The former because it was probably more pathless stuff and Randidly was tired of that The latter because it would cost so much PP
For the same reason Randidly hesitantly set aside Evasion and Phantom Thrust even though those were his bread and butter The real reason that Randidly was leaning towards these smaller paths was the possibility he entertained that they would reward him with a skill Because Mana Bolt seemed more likely to do so and would likely give him mana Randidly decided on that one
Immediately he put 5 PP into it earning him 1 mana on levels 1 4 then +1 of any M stat on 5 Randidly put that into Intelligence
But what was really surprising was the notification that had followed
Green Spear Mastery has reached Lvl 5 +5 Mana Spear Affinity Increased
So it was a skill that behaved like a path And it would level every time he used PP
Feeling oddly pleased with himself and peaceful Randidly looked again at his status screen
Mana(/R per hour) 139/159 (44 25)
Willpower 52
Inteligence 42
PP
Paths Newbie 7/7 P Def 10/10 M Supp 10/10 Risk Taker 15/15 Basic Physical Fitness 20/20 Trainee 15/15 Wandering Survivor 20/20 Pathless I 5/5 Pathless II 5/5 Pathless III 10/10 Pathfinder 15/15 Disciple of Shal 37/37 Pathless IV 10/10 Pathless V 15/15 Pathless VI 15/15 Pathless VII 20/20 Pathless VIII 20/20 Pathless IX 25/25 Pathless X 50/50 Pathless 100/100 Mana Bolt Path 5/25
Skills Running Lvl 10 Physical Fitness Lvl 20 Sneak Lvl 6 Farming Lvl 17 Mana Bolt Lvl 21 Heavy Blow Lvl 15 Acid Resistance Lvl 13 Poison Resistance Lvl 10 Sprinting Lvl 11 Iron Skin Lvl 19 Equip Lvl 12 Plant Breeding Lvl 9 Meditation Lvl 24 Dagger Mastery Lvl 8 Entangling Roots Lvl 23 Mana Shield Lvl 16 Dodge Lvl 24 Potion Making Lvl 18 Analyze Lvl 7 Pathfinding Lvl 3 Mapmaker Lvl 1 Spear Mastery Lvl 34 Phantom Thrust Lvl 30 Pain Resistance Lvl 10 Fighting Proficiency Lvl 19 First Aid Lvl 13 Block Lvl 23 Spear Phantom’s Footwork Lvl 19 Eyes of the Spear Phantom Lvl 9 Phantom Half Step Lvl 3 Mental Strength Lvl 8 Curse Resistance Lvl 3 Root Manipulation Lvl 2 Green Spear Mastery Lvl 5
His Intelligence and Willpower seemed pretty respectable even if his physical stats especially strength had fallen by the wayside What was really impressive was his long list of skills
Randidly walked over to Shal Now what
Shal gave him a dismissive look Obviously we continue until every enemy in front of us is dead
Chapter 19
The dungeon boss a Poisonous Salamander oddly reminiscent of one of the first creatures that Randidly had encountered lay dead behind them A glowing yellow portal floated before Randidly