Ves believed that the Tree of Possibilities was the most useful facility of the ch Designer System.
The other two users readily agreed with him. The ability to infuse knowledge, reflexes and to a lesser extent muscle mory into his mind, body and spirit was an incredible ti saver.
Humans were tool users, which ant that mastering knowledge was one of the best ways to enable its soldiers to gain strength.
Ves had received countless benefits from the knowledge infusions acquired through the System. It had saved his hide more than once in the past. He hoped that it could do so again.
When he appeared at the clearing that hosted the magical tree, his gaze imdiately fixated on an enlightennt fruit with a very specific shape and coloration.
He had dreamt about it so often that he was able to recognize it instantly among hundreds of other dangling fruits.
Gloriana quickly noticed his interest in this particular offering.
[Divine Blacksmith Records]
Price: 975 Ascension Points
Imparts a large collection of related smithing recipes and techniques developed by a Divine Blacksmith. The majority of techniques consist of special hamring thods that can impart tallic and organic materials with special properties. The smithing recipes contain many combinations that enable a craftsman to forge powerful materials with the infusion of special energies and materials into a work.
"I can see why you are attracted to this fruit." She said in a mild tone. "How long have you been pining for it? You only need to earn 934 more Ascension Points to afford this fruit. You need to work much harder and refrain from spending your points elsewhere if you want to acquire it. Can you even persist?"
"...Probably not." Ves admitted with a sigh. "There is just too much stuff that is more affordable and more useful to . I know that the System is generally stingy, but it never truly underpriced its own goods. I have a strong belief that absorbing this enlightennt fruit can completely revolutionize my craftsmanship and my works, but..."
Ketis shook her head. "It is too expensive. This is a high-end enlightennt fruit that is clearly aid towards users that have already beco good enough to earn hundreds of AP with relative ease. I have been eying this particular fruit as well in order to learn how to forge the best sword artifacts, but there is too much stuff I need more. I still need to spend my AP on basic enlightennt fruits that can strengthen my foundation as a ch designer. I also need to earn 400 AP on a regular basis in order to create portals that lead to the Blue Dinsion and hopefully other dinsions. There is no way for to justify an expenditure as large as this at this ti."
They all turned away from the Divine Blacksmith Records Enlightennt Fruit in order to avoid its temptation.
Ves could almost swear that the System deliberately dangled it from the Tree of Possibilities in order to tease him and encourage him to earn more AP!
"Let’s look at stuff that can strengthen my spearmanship." He said. "There is a lot of useful stuff here, but we should focus on strengthening my foundation rather than learn exotic new powers. I need stuff that can hold up in a battle between two physically imposing phase lords."
They did just that. It took ti to go over every individual fruit and figure out whether they fit the criteria or not. Many of them sadly did not. Most of them were either unaffordable or did not impart the right set of skills and knowledge.
That did not an that Ves ignored all of the unsuitable fruits. He still took note of ones that looked interesting but always fell way outside his ager budget. Perhaps he could aim for them when he used up his radiant lottery ticket.
[The Stormlord’s Spear Inheritance]
Price: 350 Ascension Points
Imparts the inheritance of a peerless warlord who used to be hailed as the Stormlord. The inheritance imparts a full set of qi techniques, thorough understanding and initiation of how to summon the power of storms along with its constituent concepts such as lightning and wind while wielding a spear in battle.
The Stormlord’s inheritance possesses a strong offensive focus and centers around launching continuous attacks. Each strike of the spear builds up a charge in the surrounding environnt that can slowly turn into a raging storm that can overwhelm champions and sweep apart entire armies of enemies. The Stormlord’s approach towards combat excels at breaking down the protection of particularly resilient opponents, but performs poorly when the practitioner is forced to defend against incoming attacks.
Since this enlightennt fruit contains a complete inheritance, it also contains a remnant of the Stormlord himself. Aspiring inheritors must pass its test and earn its approval in order to access its most powerful finishing techniques.
"Damn. This is the first ti I have seen an enlightennt fruit that contains an inheritance as luxurious as this." Ves said as he studied the Stormlord’s Spear Inheritance Enlightennt Fruit. "If it truly contains a remnant of this Stormlord fellow, I may be able to take it out and turn it into a design spirit."
His wife did not like the sound of that. "It is best to let the dead enjoy their rest. I do not think it is a good idea to revive an ancient warlord, even if he is human. Who knows how much his values clash with modern human civilization. He may have more in common with the Ascended Giants than us. Will he be willing to help you defeat them if that is the case?"
"Hmmm, you’re probably right. It is best not to take the risk."
He went back to his search.
A mont later, Gloriana encountered another desirable enlightennt fruit that was unfortunately outside of her husband’s spending range.
"Look over here, Ves. This is exactly what you need, I think."
[The Lonely Spearmaster Manual]
Price: 150 Ascension Points
Imparts the technique and philosophy of the Lonely Spearmaster, a fad duelist who has developed a self-made spear style. While his self-made techniques lack the elental refinents of many other weapon styles, it possesses excellent basic spear-wielding techniques that are versatile and can be applied in many different combat scenarios.
The Lonely Spearmaster’s combat approach possesses a strong emphasis on survival and counterattacks. A practitioner of his spear style primarily focuses on blunting an enemy’s offensive and waits for the right monts to parry and counterattack. This spear style performs well in most duels against single opponents, but fares worse when fighting against multiple enemies.
"Hm, you’re right. It does look appropriate for my current needs."
Ves could see the attraction in this fruit. It was quite reasonably priced. If he was able to scrounge up 110 AP, he would have felt tempted to redeem it right away.
Unfortunately, he could not even muster up this amount in a short amount of ti. He had no choice but to turn away or hope that one of his golden lottery tickets could deliver it to him later today.
Perhaps he could use his radiant lottery ticket to aim for this enlightennt fruit, but that would most certainly waste the potential of the forr!
Radiant lottery tickets could yield prizes of much greater value than an enlightennt fruit that Ves could readily obtain for 150 AP!
Ves shook his head. "The value of this enlightennt fruit sits in an awkward range. It is too cheap for a radiant lottery ticket, but it is too expensive to fall within my ager budget. I probably won’t be able to learn the Lonely Spearmaster’s tricks anyti soon."
They continued their search. There were not a lot of enlightennt fruits that primarily taught weapon fighting skills, and there were even less that imparted spearmanship in particular.
While there were a number of cheap enlightennt fruits that promised to impart knowledge on how to fight with knives, swords and so on, Ves deliberately ignored these offerings.
He would rather master a single weapon than beco diocre in wielding two different weapon types.
He admired the strength of Venerable Davia Stark, Venerable Rosa Orfan and Saint Dise. They were the most solid proof of how mastery in a single weapon type could elevate them to success.
That did not an that wielders of multiple weapon systems were inferior, but Ves knew that he could not allocate enough ti and resources into mastering so many different combat thods.
It was better to tighten his focus and ensure that the Dark Apostle possessed the qualifications to beco a real champion.
[The Sacrificial Spear Throwing thod]
Price: 35 Ascension Points
Imparts a technique and weapon design developed by a forgotten spear tribe that can inflict great damage at a cost.
By concentrating fire energy into the tip of a specially made spear or other polearm that is already attuned with the fire elent, the weapon can explode upon impact with an obstacle.
The higher the quality and the more fire energy it can accommodate, the greater the blast radius and blast power of the explosion. It is advisable to throw the spear as opposed to holding it in order to avoid getting affected by the violent discharge.
The spear used to launch this attack will be destroyed after releasing a blast. Only fragnts of the weapon can be salvaged.
"This may be just what you need to finish off an opponent during a close fight." Ketis said with clear interest in this fruit. "You will need to design and make a spear or javelin that is specifically designed to work with fire energy in an explosive capacity. That might eat away at your mass allowance, but the power of this may be strong enough to make it worthwhile."
Ves felt a little more conflicted. "I have a suspicion that my mastery of the fire elent will have a great influence over the potency of this technique. My comprehension of the fire elent is not that impressive to be honest. It is considerably worse than my understanding of the water elent, and it is far below my affinity towards the darkness elent."
"So you will turn away from this fruit?"
"Maybe. Let’s keep it in reserve. It can still be useful if I can put my own spin on the technique. Let’s look at the remaining fruits. If there is nothing better, I will think about redeeming it. Using it may be costly, but the Red Collective has promised to supply with most of the raw materials I need. I am more than willing to sacrifice a good weapon if I end up as a winner in the end."
They continued to examine the other enlightennt fruits that fell within his budget. Only a handful more promised to teach him how to impart one skill or another related to spearmanship, but they were all lacking in potency.
Ves already knew that what he would get out of these fruits would overlap with the spearmanship that he had already acquired from a previous enlightennt fruit.
He eventually decided to turn back to the Sacrificial Spear Throwing thod Enlightennt Fruit.
"Sacrificing an artifact for a montary boost in power is a legitimate tactic." Ketis said as she understood Ves’ dilemma. "You are not used to treating your works as consumables, but there are tis when there are no better options. Regardless if you attempt to pull a better enlightennt fruit from the Wishing Fountain, you should at least secure this thod so that you have at least one strong finisher at your disposal. The lack of finishing moves can very well spell the difference between victory and defeat in duels."
She should know considering that she was far away the best fighter out of the three ch designers.
Ves hesitated for a dozen or so seconds, but eventually decided to redeem the enlightennt fruit.
"Here goes nothing."
He bit into his newly acquired fruit.
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