Awakening：The Infinite Evolution of My Talent as a Low-Level Awakener - Chapter 71

Chapter 71: [Mastery: Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts]
The only problem with Sterl’s plan was—

Once he learned an arcane skill and then enhanced it, the difficulty of training would not be low. Accumulating proficiency wouldn’t be that easy.

Sterl had a strategy for this. He could continue to farm places like the Death Village to accumulate blood force.

Including [Mastery: Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts], Sterl could use blood force to brute-force his proficiency in arcane skills.

Blood force itself could push a player’s skill proficiency to a mastery level and even break through to a grandmaster level. Naturally, it could be used to increase daily proficiency. Though it would be somewhat wasteful.

So, no matter how difficult it was to train secret techniques and arcane skills, as long as he utilized blood force, he could forcefully increase his proficiency. And with skills like Starfall, Sterl’s efficiency in farming monsters was extremely high, fully supporting this approach.

“I originally thought that the last time, when I farmed nearly 100 blood forces in one go, this stuff would eventually overflow…”

“In the end, it’s still not enough” Sterl sighed helplessly.

After finishing his plan, he glanced at the bedside. Daphne and Teresa were still sound asleep. They were really exhausted.

Sterl also felt a bit tired. So he simply flipped onto the bed, hugging both Daphne and Teresa, and fell asleep, enjoying the softness of the two pillows.

…

When Sterl woke up, it was already the next morning.

The aroma of fried eggs drifted through the air.

Teresa and Daphne had already prepared breakfast and brought it to the bedroom.

By the way, Sterl clarified that he slept for a whole day not because of overexertion but because he had used too many ultimate moves in the temple to deal with other alien players, which left him mentally exhausted.

With his physical strength and combat power, he could easily go a few hundred more rounds with Teresa and Daphne without feeling any fatigue!

“Not bad.” Sterl fairly evaluated the breakfast they had made.

Then, looking at Daphne’s alluring figure, he made a decision that went against his usual style… He decided to use this mysterious senior identity for a few more days.

After enjoying breakfast, Sterl quickly used Teresa’s and Daphne’s permissions to investigate suitable leveling spots nearby.

It had to be said that the intelligence work of Earth’s human race was quite good.

Sterl saw places like [Azure Lake], [Sunset Forest], [Mental Cathedral], and so on, all of which had high monster densities and rich experience gains, although they couldn’t compare to the frenzied monster farming in the Death Village.

Sterl casually chose the Mental Cathedral as his leveling spot since. Although the average level of monsters there was lower, their numbers were higher.

He wasn’t just farming experience. The most important thing was to farm blood force to first learn the foundational abilities required for [Mastery: Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts].

This could only be accomplished with blood force.

Because Sterl’s talent [Arcane Soul] only enhanced his aptitude in spell-related skills. Back in the day, he had practiced basic footwork for nearly ten years without reaching mastery. The proficiency in over ten types of cold weapons required for [Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts] would take too long to achieve through his own practice…

Sterl spent half a day traveling to the leveling spot.

This was an imposing cathedral, with massive portraits on both sides. However, each face was covered with eerie stains, transforming what was once a sacred place into something deeply unsettling.

As Sterl walked through, he noticed several player teams leveling up around the area. Their eyes met, and they nodded at each other in acknowledgment.

Utilizing the teleportation ability of his Starlight Domain, Sterl made his way to the deepest part of the cathedral. There were no other players in sight now, as this area had the highest density of monsters and was extremely dangerous.

With a quick glance using his Star Insight, Sterl observed that most of the monsters were around levels 30 to 35. He realized he didn’t need to use his Celestial Stars for this.

Sterl drank an advanced experience potion he had evolved from yesterday’s evolution points and activated Ignition Flame.

Soon, flames erupted!

Numerous monsters were charred to a crisp, and then Starfall scattered, slicing humanoid creatures wielding scythes into pieces with energy threads.

Notification sounds continuously rang in Sterl’s ears—

[You have slain a level 33 wild monster [Purified Monk], gaining 511 experience points.]

[You have slain…]

…

Simultaneously, the blood points in his Blood Treasure were steadily increasing.

Sterl needed to master twenty-three basic skills to learn Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts. Although he didn’t need to reach mastery, even with his current increased efficiency in training basic skills, it would take at least half a month to master one.

On the other hand, using blood force to boost proficiency, he only needed two blood forces for each skill.

Clearly, it was a better deal!

So, for the next three days, he stayed immersed in the Mental Cathedral, steadily increasing his experience and blood force.

…

Bang!!

A swift figure was slammed against the cathedral wall, letting out a scream of agony.

“How dare you slaughter so many of my followers!!” A priest in a robe and tall hat screamed in rage.

Standing opposite him was a young man with a youthful face—Sterl.

“Incredible!!” Sterl exclaimed, playing with a spear formed by his Star Blade.

Through Star Insight, he sensed that the enraged humanoid monster was an elite level 38 [Sacrificial Shepherd]. Monster durability was much higher than that of players, and elite monsters had additional vitality. So, if Sterl used Celestial Stars, it might leave the monster with just a sliver of health.

Not long ago, after using blood force to enhance his basic skills, Sterl finally learned [Mastery: Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts], which he had exchanged for 2000 contribution points.

He decided to fight in close combat using his Star Blade.

And the results… his expression said it all—he was extremely satisfied.

Sterl felt that in previous battles, he had fought like a brute, relying on sheer strength and heavy blows to defeat his enemies. While this worked against weaker opponents, it could put him at a disadvantage against those of similar strength.

But now, facing this elite monster, Sterl didn’t even need to activate his Celestial Descent. Relying solely on a spear and the effects of Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts, he perfectly suppressed the enemy in close combat!

Sterl shouted as the priest got up again, pulling out a sharp dagger and charging at him. Sterl stepped back half a step, easily dodging the attack. With a sweep of his spear, he effortlessly knocked the elite monster to its knees.

With a powerful flick, Sterl brought the spear blade down from above, striking the elite monster’s head with force.

The accumulated damage from earlier was enough to crush the [Sacrificial Shepherd]’s head, splattering blood and brain matter. The red and white gore stained Sterl’s weapon, which he then dismissed, allowing the filth to fall to the ground, creating a crimson scene.

“Well,well, well…Not bad”

Sterl was in a great mood. After this battle, he felt that the shortcomings in his skillset had been significantly addressed. Learning Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts was worth it!

Of course, he quickly discovered the skill’s drawbacks. After all, it only cost 2000 exchange points.

While Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts sounded great on paper, claiming mastery over a dozen cold weapons, the reality was that it made Sterl competent with these weapons but far from being able to use them to their full potential. He couldn’t rely on technique to overcome stronger opponents.

Additionally, leveling the overall proficiency of Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts to a mastery level to unlock its additional skills was extremely challenging.

Sterl had learned the skill yesterday, and after a day of practice, his proficiency had only increased by three points.

On the skill panel, it showed up as—[Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts: Novice (3/6000)].

Just to reach the [Proficient] level required 6000 proficiency points… At this rate, it would take Sterl six or seven years!

“Is this what they mean by high-value difficulty in training?” Sterl helplessly rubbed his forehead. After three days of leveling, he had reached level 31 and a half. After deducting the blood force used for prerequisite skills for Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts, he had twenty blood forces left.

As for why Sterl didn’t use blood force to add points directly to [Mastery], it was mainly because he had more important arcane skills in hand!

Once he learned those arcane skills using items to lower the requirements, he planned to raise their quality. The training difficulty for those could be even higher than Proficiency in Multiple Martial Arts!

In short, the need for blood force was immense.

So, after dealing with the elite monster, Sterl continued to scour the cathedral, hunting monsters as efficiently as possible. Three hours later, he paused.

Sterl opened his panel and saw messages from Teresa and Daphne in the private chat.

[Master, we’ve collected five units of the energy essence you requested!]

[Boss! Boss! Come back quickly. We’ve got great news, super great news!]

…

Ignoring Daphne’s excited calls, Sterl decisively stopped leveling and returned to the base after receiving the messages.