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[Notification]
Congratulations! You've been bestowed a Title!
Title Name: Frostbinder Initiate
Description [Identification Lvl.5]: .
Title’s Bestowed Enhancement:
- Cryo Attack Potency: Your proficiency in Cryo magic improves, increasing the potency of your Cryo attacks by 10%. Your icy spells will now deal greater damage, freezing foes with even more chilling efficiency.
- Debuff Attack Potency: Your mastery over debilitating magic grows, enhancing the potency of your debuff attacks by 20%. Your ability to weaken and hinder foes with curses and hexes becomes more formidable, ensuring their swift demise.
- Cryo-Debuff Potency: With your newfound title, the potency of your Cryo-debuff abilities is amplified by 25%. Enemies afflicted by Frostbite or any other Cryo-based debuff will find themselves succumbing to the icy grip of despair even faster, as their HP, MP, SP will be drained away by your chilling spells.
[Notification]
Congratulations! You've Acquired a New Skill!
Skill Name: Inflict Frostbite
Description [Identification Lvl.5]: With Inflict Frostbite, you—the caster—freeze your vulnerable enemies from within, causing a relentless gnawing at their H.P. This debuff slowly saps the enemy's health over time, making it a persistent threat on the battlefield. However, be wary, as some resilient foes may resist the freezing grasp of Frostbite, requiring strategic application to maximize its effectiveness.
[Notification]
Congratulations! You've Acquired a New Skill!
Skill Name: Amplified Frostbite
Description [Identification Lvl.5]: Harnessing the bitter chill of the most frigid environments, upon casting Amplified Frostbite infuses the caster's ice related-attack with a malevolent force that will inflicts a cursed frostbite onto their targets, gnawing away at their very vitality.
『Expand』
[Notification]
Congratulations! You've Acquired and Unlocked a New Ability!
Ability Name: Debilitate Surge
Status: Unlocked
Description [Identification Lvl.5]: With Debilitate Surge, you harness the latent energy within debuffs, unleashing a surge of power that amplifies their effects. Upon activation, debuffs you inflict become 15% more potent, making them increasingly crippling for your foes.
『Expand』
[Notification]
Congratulations! You've Acquired a New Ability!
Skill Name: Negative Resonance
Status: Locked
Description [Identification Lvl.5]: Through Negative Resonance, you attune yourself to the discordant energies of debuffs, creating a resonating field that intensifies their impact on enemies. When triggered, this ability boosts the potency of existing debuffs on enemies by 20%, allowing you to manipulate the battlefield with heightened control and inflict greater harm upon your adversaries.
---
It was only as Justaff was waving to me that my senses went back to me. "Oi oi, Milady, are you still with me?"
"Yes... Yes, I was just a little lost in thought. What were you saying?"
He looked at me for a moment, silent, then said, "I was just saying that we don't have to resume training this soon."
For a moment, I was confused about where he came to that suggestion, but then he added, "Seeing you get stronger was your grandfather's dream, but... it's only been a week since he left. It's alright to take a pause, to grieve. I doubt he'd blame you for doing so."
Things finally started connecting in my brain as I pondered how I could respond to that.
"I'm alright—I don't need to grieve, and I doubt he'd want me to," I declared, walking up to the now deathly frozen Zephyrclaw. With the end of the staff, I gently tapped the icy sculpture, promptly causing it to instantly break apart.
"So, tomorrow, we'll return to our usual training schedule."
He seemed to still have reservations but eventually decided not to voice them. "Alright, Milady, I'll have the creatures ready."
"Perfect."
Having learned what I wanted to learn about how the staff felt when used, I began exploring the additional aspect the staff offered beyond the amplification of magic potency: its ability to store MP.
It took me some moments, but I eventually figured out how to store my M.P. into it. The moment I stored my M.P. into it, it truly felt like the staff became a part of me. Slowly but surely, my MP was pouring into it. We stood there in the middle of the room, an awkward silence settling with Justaff just staring silently and me standing there.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Being more than familiar with the man, I could tell he was trying to find an opportunity to strike up a conversation but couldn't find one. So, shooting my shot, I asked, "Do you have family, Justaff?"
He looked confused for a moment by the unexpected question. "Where's that coming from, Milady?"
"Nowhere. I was just trying to strike up a conversation. So?"
"Alright. Well, of course, I do."
"So you do?"
"Why do you sound surprised, Milady? Is it that surprising, though?"
"Hm, let's say that yes."
"That's a very depressing thing to hear."
"Then you see me sorry. You just don’t strike me as a family person."
He chuckled, a hint of bitterness in his voice. "You're harsh with this one, Milady."
"So you have children. You don't look like someone with children."
He chuckled ever so bitterly, "You're right. I don't look like someone with children because I don't have children."
Justaff was old, but not that old, though.
"Oh... So you have a wife?"
Staring me in the eyes, he dryly said, "I had."
"I see... Sorry."
But pretty much without a care in the world, he added, "I have parents though."
At his mention of his parents, there were two questions I was compelled to ask him
The second question might sound strange, but for a Verdenkind like him, not so much. Being a Verdenkind, his parents were most likely peons. For him to be a Verdenkind serving this family, there's a high probability that, like most Verdenkind recruited into a noble family, he was separated at a very young age from his family.
This family has a particularly dark past when it comes to doing that.
It happened during the last decades this family spent as a royal family. Intent on fighting to keep their royal title, they began rallying anyone they could, be it high-level individual or low level ones. Rallying people to their cause could be done through mainly methods: one was bribing, paying them with money, but that method had its limit, the higher one’s level the lower is chance the person is bribable. Past a certain level, one tends to be extra-cautious with one's life as despite one’s high-level one usually come to learn it can easily be lost, and at that level money tends to mean not mean so much anymore, so unless one was willing to invest a literal fortune one might find themselves struggling to enroll them within one’s rank.
The other method was, well, by exerting a little of their available authority to "conscript" which is a nice way to not say abduct confirmed Verdenkind from their family and have them join their rank. While those days are long behind this family, conscripting was still an ongoing practice amidst the noble houses of the empire within their respective territory. So the chances were that Justaff was conscripted like that. It seemed even more likely due to the fact that he mentioned having been in this family since my father's early days, meaning that he was here from a very young age.
I was curious about the answer to these two questions, but I didn't really feel like dealing with how awkward the answer could be, so I promptly changed the subject and never brought it back.
***
Done with what I wanted to figure out with my staff, I left the dungeon. Justaff escorted me to the door and opened the portcullis for me. We agreed to meet at the entrance at the usual training hour, and I took my leave. At first, I considered heading straight for my room to check out the new skills and abilities I’d just acquired. But for some reason, I immediately didn't feel like it. Feeling a little hungry, I decided to go where the food was, having no direct servant to order to get me that. Perhaps I should, as he says, get someone random to be my personal servant.
At this hour of the day in a normal house, the only place where there could be food should be the kitchen. But this was not a normal house. There's another place where food can always be found, a strange room that could either be a reception room or a fancy living room. There's always food in that place. Located on the ground floor, I soon arrived. But closing in on the large, doorless room, I soon came to realize that the place I expected to find food was occupied. By whom? Well, by my beloved half-sisters. They were all gathered there, chitchatting over whatever topic it was.
My presence went unnoticed, and having no intention of meddling, I pondered whether to return to my room or head to the kitchen.
I was on my way to the kitchen when I saw two people approaching from the opposite direction, coming my way. It was one of my sisters and her very personal servant. From the way she frantically looked left and right, she clearly wanted to avoid me. But we were once again meeting in a hallway-like spot.
As she closed in on me, she went for a low bow and greeted, "Good evening, sister." Her servant, who earlier didn't even deign to bow to me, was now bowing far lower than her master.
Having already greeted her good evening earlier in the day, I ignored hers and simply made my way past them without a word. Or at least, I did until I came to a halt several steps later. Noticing my footsteps coming to a halt, they turned to see me staring at them before approaching them.
"Is there... a problem, sister?" She asked, her voice shuddering.
"Sister," I said, making sure to take my time to do so. "What's the name of your servant?"
Hearing herself being mentioned, the servant straightened up as if she'd been electrically tased. The exaggerated reaction amused me, but I let nothing show.
"Wh... Marina."
Not unlocking my gaze from her for a single second, I said, "Marina, huh? I like how that name sounds." Before reaching onto her trembling hand, "Sister, I need a new servant."
