"So… what are you planning to do to fight against the Shadow Tigers?" Seeing that it had been a few minutes since Valyr became silent, Noel decided to break the silence by asking the former a question, prompting the young man to stop what he was doing for a bit, closing the screen he had just brought up as he looked at the old man in front of him with a faint knowing smile.
"Well… let's just say I have a skill up my sleeve that would probably help me out." As Valyr said these words, Noel raised his eyebrow in curiosity, soon asking the young man as to what he meant by that. In response, Valyr told him that he would have to wait until he was ready to start moving.
Though Noel had a slight frown on his face after hearing that, the elder stayed put and allowed Valyr to do his own thing once more, which prompted the latter to inwardly let out a sigh of relief as he commanded the system to bring up the description of the [Arx'has Boar], wanting to see whether the changes to the skill brought by the evolution also applied to the Orcbeasts he could summon.
"No way." As the notification sound resounded in his mind, Valyr read through the contents of the screen before him, inadvertently blurting out his reaction to the change.
Of course, the change was all positive.
Ding!
[Arx'has Boar]
The Arx'has Boar… description has been omitted.
Once summoned through the normal summoning method of [Intermediate Shamanic Summoning Arts], this boar shall have 35% of the user's VIT, STR, AGI, and DEX, 20% of the user's INT and WIS, and 25% of the user's PER and LUK.
However, once summoned through the growth summoning method of [Intermediate Shamanic Summoning Arts], this boar shall also gain the ability to improve its stats by 0.5% of its original stats per gained level, with each subsequent tier the boar passes improving this percentage by 0.3%, reaching a maximum of 2% of its original stats per gained level before it achieves sentience.
Cost to summon: 1,000 MP
'If I summon an Arx'has Boar through the growth summoning method the skill gained, considering that its stats ranges from a quarter to two-fifths of my current stats, factoring in the improvement per level it gains and how it changes per tier…'
Naturally, Valyr voicing out his surprise piqued the interest of the old man, prompting the latter to ask the young man what had happened for him to react that way. Unfortunately for Noel, rather than obtain an answer to his question, Valyr instead flashed a knowing smile at him, telling the elder through his expression that he would find out with due time.
'By the time the Arx'has Boar reaches the peak of Rank 5, it would probably be able to handle Rank 4 beings without a problem, perhaps a couple of weaker peak Rank 4 beings even.' After responding to Noel's question, Valyr returned his thoughts to how strong an Arx'has Boar would become through the new summoning method the skill gave him access to, finding the conclusion somewhat satisfactory.
'Then again, with the curse in play, hehehe…' Though, after recalling the fact that the skill would be affected by the Mark of the Alltide, a slight grin slowly crept up onto Valyr's face as he let out a faint yet mischievous chuckle.
Whoosh!
Closing the screen that was in front of him, Valyr soon began to move in the direction of a Shadow Tiger, prompting Noel to follow behind him to see what plan the young man had in store. While doing so, the gears in Valyr's mind started to turn as he began to think out loud.
"Considering how summoning a single Arx'has Boar through the growth summoning method costs at least half of my current mana pool, I could choose whether to summon five normal Arx'has Boars or summon two Arx'has Boars that have the ability to grow." Muttering these words to himself, Valyr thought back to his original plan of dealing with the Shadow Tigers by aggroing a lot of them before finishing them off with one destructive skill.
Becoming silent for a bit, Valyr thought about how five normal boars would allow him to aggro a great number of Shadow Tigers at once, but at the cost of having to re-summon them every time due to the difference in strength between the boars and the tigers. After that, he replaced the five normal Arx'has Boars with the two growth Arx'has Boars in his mind, imagining how the latter would fare in taunting a lot of Shadow Tigers at once.
"At this point, it's probably a no-brainer." Swiftly coming to a conclusion in his mind, Valyr soon jumped down from the branches, landing at an area on the ground that he surveyed to not have any Shadow Tigers nearby. Noticing this, Noel stopped in his tracks, watching Valyr from the branches to see what the latter was up to.
"Ih pyn'ah tt'wagg k'ahn haap nmal'kas at meht'tagg!" Expecting to see the young man on the ground either summon his spear or conjure a strong magic skill, Noel was left at a loss for words when he instead saw Valyr begin to chant a string of words that sounded gibberish to his ears.
Though, just as he was about to head to where Valyr was and ask what the young man was doing, those thoughts disappeared in Noel's mind in the meantime as he watched the young man place both of his hands on the ground, chanting the string of gibberish-sounding words once more before proceeding to channel mana through his hands.
Swoosh!
Within seconds, a complex magic circle made up of multiple runes appeared before Valyr, consuming a great portion of his mana pool before giving the young man the feeling that it could continue operating without his input. With that, Valyr stepped back and allowed the magic circle to do its thing, keeping the cooldown of the summoning skill in mind as he watched the magic circle before him absorb the ambient mana in the surroundings.
By the time the first magic circle he had conjured was around halfway to becoming saturated with mana, Valyr felt that he was able to use the summoning skill once more. Without hesitation, he distanced himself from the first magic circle, only to do the same thing all over again, chanting a string of gibberish-sounding words before slamming his hands to the ground and infusing it with mana.
Swoosh!
Taking in a few deep breaths as he allowed his mana to regenerate, Valyr sat on a nearby boulder as he watched the two magic circles absorb the ambient mana in the surroundings and do their thing. Eventually, the first magic circle had become saturated with mana, prompting the mana it had absorbed to congregate at the center as a boar spanning over four meters in length manifested on top of that.
Sometime later, the second magic circle had become saturated with mana as well, undergoing through the same process as a boar of the same size appeared before Valyr.
"Well then…" With a somewhat excited smile adorning his face, Valyr stood up from where he sat as he moved closer to the boars, noticing that both of them were looking at him. With both boars giving off the feeling that they were connected to him in soul, the young man went ahead and identified their stats as he asked them a rhetorical question.
"Let's do some combat testing, shall we?"
