Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 108

108. The Essence of Hunting

“Hoo…”

Aeil sighed, looking at the skill books laid out in front of him.

As always, it was a nerve-wracking moment.

The importance of skills for a Warlord was beyond question, so Aeil pushed down his trembling heart and reached out.

But what he grabbed was not a skill book, but a shimmering red Luck Stone.

Before using the skill books, there was something he had to do first.

Flash!

Aeil used the Luck Stone to temporarily increase his Luck by one level and began to think about what skills he needed right now.

First and foremost, he had to consider the skill ranks.

Aeil wanted to secure Unique or Heroic rank skills as much as possible from his current level.

Legendary rank, above Unique, was practically impossible to obtain, and low-rank skills were a fatal poison in the long run.

‘Actually, Rare rank is quite decent too…’

For most players, just filling their skill slots with Rare rank skills was a huge achievement.

But Aeil, who had been hitting jackpots one after another, had his expectations set high and couldn’t help but desire higher ranks.

Moreover, he couldn’t be satisfied with ordinary standards when aiming for the top rank.

‘I have quite a few skill books saved up. Four red ones, one purple one, and even a purple skill book with a brilliant modifier… That should be enough.’

Generally speaking, this should be enough to get at least one decent skill.

He wanted to believe it was possible, but you never knew what might happen.

Aeil picked up a red skill book first.

[Thrust (Common)]

– Class Restriction: Melee Classes

– Inflicts a sharp thrust attack on the enemy.

“Hmm…”

A common rank, mediocre skill.

An ordinary player might have been satisfied and moved on, especially if they were short on skill books.

But, of course, it was far from enough for Aeil.

He couldn’t fill a precious skill slot with such an attack skill, and considering he used a red skill book, it was a bad start, to put it bluntly.

Aeil picked up another red skill book.

[Tough Skull (Lowest)]

– A tough head can be helpful sometimes.

– Increases head defense by 35 (fixed value).

[‘Luminary Judge, Ru’ twitches his lips.]

The lowest rank skill finally appeared.

“Sigh… I feel like I’m just going to waste them all if I keep using these.”

Aeil frowned and scratched his head, looking troubled.

Before starting Warlord, when he used to play online games, there were times when he had a bad feeling about these kinds of draws.

And now, he had a strong feeling that using the remaining red skill books would only result in consecutive failures.

Based on his experience from playing numerous online games, it wasn’t a bad idea to change course instead of stubbornly sticking to it.

He decided to use the brilliant purple skill book right away, which had a higher probability of giving him a decent skill than the red ones.

‘Please…!’

Aeil’s brilliant purple skill book shone as it was used.

Flash!

[Baptism of Fire (Heroic)]

– Inquisitor Exclusive Skill

– Inquisitors are always fighting many enemies. If there are not enough pyres to execute the sinners, turning them all to ash is also a good method.

– Unleashes a fierce sacred fire over a wide area by swinging the weapon.

“Phew, okay!”

Aeil clenched his fist, relieved.

Fortunately, a Heroic rank skill appeared, and Aeil immediately learned the skill.

Although it was his second exclusive attack skill, it played a different role without overlapping with the existing Flash Strike skill.

The emergence of an area-of-effect skill.

Aeil had been lacking a high-firepower area skill, but this skill would greatly increase the efficiency of mob hunting.

It wasn’t that he didn’t expect a Unique rank skill at all, but realistically, the probability of that rank appearing from a purple skill book wasn’t high, so he was satisfied enough to back down.

‘Having three active skills already is a bit unstable, but… it should be fine for now.’

His only passive skill, obtained through additional acquisition, was a Unique rank armor penetration effect, and he could gradually acquire various buff skills from now on.

Out of the four skills he had learned so far, two were Heroic, and one was a Unique rank skill.

If he could maintain this pace, he would have a skill set no different from a ranker [top-ranked player].

Aeil, who had been looking at his skill window with satisfaction, shook his head and came to his senses.

‘Even though it’s a Heroic rank, I haven’t fully checked the skill yet. I should try it out later.’

Since the Inquisitor’s exclusive skills, a minor class, were not widely known, he had to test the skill.

Aeil was planning to go down to the dungeon below and use the skill against the undead.

‘Next… well, the video seems to have turned out well.’

Aeil re-watched the video of his Basilisk variant攻略 [walkthrough/strategy].

Even he thought it was a clean and skillful finish compared to the difficulty.

Without a doubt, he would upload it along with the videos he had taken before.

Now that he had found an editor, there was no need to keep the videos he had taken while worrying, he could just send them right away and have them made.

But the problem he was facing now was one.

There was nothing in this room, where the Spirit Stone was placed, that could be a clue to the quest Aeil was undertaking.

‘I should have captured the cult member after all…’

The thought of Sledge, who had died in vain, made his mouth bitter.

If he had captured him alive, he could have obtained some clue.

He didn’t think he would have revealed everything about the cult, but no one who was dragged to the Inquisitorial Tribunal could withstand the interrogation while in their right mind.

‘I can’t help it. I’ll just have to find it myself.’

Aeil felt a deep regret and left the room.

Asking the Bloody Hands, who were trying to maintain a neutral stance, for another favor wasn’t a good option.

The fact that they had given Aeil this information had already come to light to some extent due to the large-scale defense war, and the fact that they had only given him information about Sledge, who was a small fry in the cult, was also related to that.

It seemed unlikely that they would give him key information even if he made another request.

Moreover, the gold provided by the cult had been used up in the last request, causing a cost problem, so the Bloody Hands were pushed to the second option for now.

But that didn’t mean he had no other options.

Aeil was confident that news about the World Quest would gradually be heard as it progressed.

Even now, he could see that more information about the World Quest was being released than before.

Aeil, who had his ears open in almost every direction, could collect clues by searching various information sites while he grew stronger.

Clang.

Aeil, who had come down to the underground dungeon through the corridor to test his newly acquired skill, took out his longsword in advance.

He had already made a mess fighting the Basilisks, but the dungeon was so large that it didn’t make much of a difference.

Drag, drag, drag.

Aeil deliberately dragged his longsword on the floor and started walking inside.

Then, hearing the sound, undead monsters swarmed in.

Ordinary monsters around level 40.

He had already faced them, and all the information needed to estimate the skill, such as their approximate health and defense, was in his head.

‘Then shall I use it…!’

Aeil gripped his longsword with both hands and activated the skill.

Heroic rank skill, ‘Baptism of Fire’.

Whoosh!

Kueeeek!

Aeil’s sword was swung, pouring out a massive flame in front of him.

A large white flame completely engulfed the surroundings and swept away the monsters in front of him.

Fssssss.

‘Huh…’

Aeil stared blankly ahead.

The monsters that had been rushing in were nowhere to be seen, only traces of black ash.

Even though the opponent was undead, so he had significant bonuses such as attribute damage and the longsword’s Full Moon effect, he didn’t expect to wipe them out all at once.

Not only the damage just now, but even the skill’s range was beyond what he had expected.

Although it was limited to the front along the path the sword was swung, it was enough to attack even enemies that were some distance away.

‘This is one of the best among Heroic rank skills…’

As it was a wide-range area skill, it didn’t deal as much damage as Flash Strike, but such a high-rank area skill was not common for melee classes.

‘Honestly, I thought I needed more passive skills… but with this much power, this might be better.’

Aeil thought, inwardly admiring.

The only problem was that it consumed a bit of mana, but the cooldown was short, so the efficiency of mob hunting against ordinary monsters would greatly increase.

‘Fortunately, thanks to the Madness I raised to 136 this time, I’m not short on mana…’

When it came to combat-related stats, it wasn’t just the Madness stat that increased mana.

The Faith, which exceeded 140, also reduced the mana consumption of the Inquisitor’s exclusive skill, Baptism of Fire, and slightly reduced the cooldown.

This meant that there was no major problem in actively using the two attack skills.

‘Hmm?’

Then, Aeil, noticing something strange, turned his gaze.

The experience he had gained from wiping out the undead with the skill was much higher than he had expected.

At first, he hadn’t noticed because he was busy dealing with the Basilisks.

But when he considered the number and level of the guys he had just defeated, and the amount of experience he had gained, he realized that the experience efficiency here was very good.

‘This is really good…?’

Even though it was a low-level dungeon, the efficiency was so good that the surrounding guilds would manage it separately and charge tolls.

Even if the guild didn’t manage it, there would be so much competition among users that it would be impossible to hunt normally.

But this was a new dungeon that had not yet been revealed.

In addition, the entrance, hidden in the fog of the plains, was not something that could be easily found by chance.

A smile spread across Aeil’s face.

“Shall I do some serious hunting for a while?”