Chapter 264 - Some Tips
Although Ryan looking for the version that drains mana and health of the same skill, he didn't find it. Most likely, even though they had similar effects, their prices were different, given that mana and health were more important than stamina.
"Have you finished your business in the dungeon shop?" Tristan suddenly appeared and then asked.
"Yeah," Ryan replied.
"Since that is the case, can you give me a few hints as to how I should make myself stronger?" Tristan asked. "I don't think I can clear dungeon as fast as you, but even so, as long as I can have half of your current strength, it will be enough for me."
"You are asking the wrong person. I am not a mage," Ryan said. "I can only say the obvious. Raise your mana, intelligence and recover as much as possible. To increase your survivability, try to obtain Mana Shield."
"I already have that skill, and I am already focusing on those statuses," Tristan said.
"See? I told you that I could only give you some obvious tips." Ryan shrugged. "In any case, I found some dungeons in which you can find some variations of mage classes. If you form a group to clean those places, you might find some clues as to how to make yourself stronger."
"All right, I will do that," Tristan nodded cheerfully.
Although Ryan wanted to make his new skills level up as possible before he could start a training session, Luke also approached him, looking for advice. Ryan sighed since even though that wasn't annoying per se, it was troublesome.
"You shouldn't ask me how to be stronger while punching and kicking monsters," Ryan said. "You probably will never see me doing that."
"It is fine. Any tip will be welcome," Luke said. "I just need to obtain a little more strength because my big sister is too awesome, and I feel like I am dragging her down."
"… Do you have any charged attacks?" Ryan asked after sighing. "One that only consumes stamina?"
"I do," Luke nodded. "Is one of the most basic melee skills. The problem is, I can't move while I use that skill."
"Do you have the Trickster class?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah, what about it?" Luke frowned.
"Try to combine those that skill and Flash, and you will probably find a way to counter the weakness of both," Ryan said. "You will have to stop moving, but when the enemy approaches, you will be able to move to his back and cause critical damage. If you are strong enough, you might kill several monsters like that. So, the sage class might help you as well."
"Oh! That is true! How come I never thought of that?" Luke asked with an excited smile.
"Probably because you are dumb," Ryan said.
Luke ignored Ryan's final comment and left the area to test that combination. Before he could forget it, Ryan decided to test that skill Luke had mentioned. When Ryan prepared a punch and tried to focus all his strength in a single-arm, he felt his stamina being drained, but he didn't receive any notification since he didn't perform the skill, but when he punched the air and caused a small shockwave…
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Concentrated Strike.
Effect: Increases the power of your next melee attack in one point of strength per second.
Cost: Cost: 01 Stamina per second
You obtained 01 status point.
"I can't imagine why you learned that," Lilian asked. "Anyway, you certainly a popular with kids, and you are pretty nice to them."
"… There is a hobgoblin inside this dungeon. Why don't you go stare at its abs or something?" Ryan asked.
"Perhaps I will," Lilian smiled from ear to ear.
Ryan sighed. As expected, the lone wolf life suited him better. Still, while he moved away from the camp to train a little bit, he couldn't help but ponder about Lilian's comments. She was right. Ryan was pretty nice to those who were younger than him, but only because once he planned to be a teacher. From his perspective, having that kind of patience and the will to help the younger generations wasn't something he needed any longer.
At the same time, while the idea of being someone others could rely on or look up to weren't so bad, Ryan could shake off from his head if that admiration and respect were true or the others were just looking at him and seeing a useful tool to make them reach their own goals.
"Those doubts are annoying, so in the end, it is better that I keep fighting alone."
Ryan spent the rest of the day training his archery skill, and, in the end, he even managed to learn something useful. As long as he tries to simulate his training close to a fight, his skills could level up much faster than just by using them randomly. For example, if Ryan tried to hit something in the distance at the limits of his range, his archery skills could progress a lot more than if he just tried to fire the bolts randomly at the sky or something.
Another thing that Ryan confirmed was the fact that vampires disliked sunlight more than anything. As soon as night fell, the bosses led their minion toward the dungeon where Ryan and others were camping. However, just as Ryan predicted they didn't enter the dungeon, they didn't even try to damage the place.
"Ryan was right," Daniel said. "Now the bosses want to take the fight to us."
"We can choose the time in which we can fight, but that doesn't mean we will have all the advantage when we fight the bosses," Angela said. "They will be inside the dungeon if we attack during the day. Considering everything, they will wait for us at the end of the dungeon, and at such a place, we won't be able to fight."
"I will force them to come out during the day," Ryan declared. "They don't suffer damage due to the sunlight; their status just decreases to some extent. Regardless, I can force them to fight where I want."