Elias wished for a stronger puppet, something the guide pointed out he can do. Sure enough, a brand new puppet appeared. While it is still made out of wood, it is of darker brown, plus it seem to shine, or he might be seeing things.
"Observation,"
[Iron-Wood Training Puppet
Grade: Uncommon
Description: Stronger this a regular wooden puppet. Can take more punishment]
"An Uncommon item, huh, I wondered how hard it would be to find in game?" it's likely that Uncommon items would be rare for players to use in the early game, but in the late game, it would be out of use, when stronger items make their appearance.
Though worrying about it at the moment is something he should not be doing. His main focus should be on testing and getting more Knowledge Point. After that, defeat every single boss thrown at him in the tutorial.
Swinging his sword, Elias unleashed his improved Energy Slash. The Weapon Skill changed color, from white to blue, as it hit both puppets. The weaker one did not stand a chance, cut in half with a single strike while the Iron-Wood Training Puppet, while not cut into two, did get cut pretty deep.
"Hhmm, it reached the center of the Iron-Wood Puppet," Elias hummed to himself. It gave him a better understanding of his improved Weapon Skill true power, plus, it confirmed something else.
"I managed to improve Energy Slash in under 3 minutes after my Sword Mastery reached 20, so higher Weapon Mastery will help improve how fast I learn corresponding Weapon Skill, and how fast I can improve them."
[RATE OF LEARNING
High Weapon Mastery results in faster comprehension and learning of Weapon Skill. + 10 Knowledge Points]
"That checks out," Elias muttered to himself before doing a quick inspection on himself.
"Higher Weapon Mastery and higher mastery of Weapon Skill also result in lower energy use," he could tell he used less Energy then before, which somewhat made sense. An amateur might make a mistake and waste energy and effort, while a professional would avoid making those mistakes, if he went by working terms.
At the same time, it probably hold true in combat. When he was not using any Weapon Skill and just swinging his sword normally, a higher Weapon Mastery would result in lower Stamina loss, or so it should be in game logic. He quickly said his assumption out loud.
[ENERGY USAGE
Higher mastery in Weapon Skill and corresponding Weapon Mastery will cause Weapon Skill to cost less Energy + 20 Knowledge Point]
[STAMINA USAGE
Higher Weapon Mastery will result in less Stamina loss while in combat when using corresponding Weapon + 15 Knowledge Point]
"The tutorial is a great place to get Knowledge Point, provided you know what to look for and make the correct assumption. Plus treating it like real life, with some in-game mechanics." Elias deduced even more.
'I should see if there are other mechanics, but not now,' time is ticking, and Elias don't think earning Knowledge Point would be worth it if he loses the rewards from defeating the Tutorial Hidden Boss.
He only had about 20 minutes or so left to train, and he need to train and master the other Weapon Skill.
"But first," he slashed at the Iron-Wood Training Puppet, a single strike. After seeing how deep his strike was, Elias took the Strength Crystal and absorbed it, adding 10 points to his Strength stats. Then, he strikes next to his previous attack.
"As expected, after taking the Strength Crystal, my attack became stronger,"
[ATTRIBUTE EFFECT
Increase in Strength result in stronger attacks +2 Knowledge Point]
Next, he took the Constitution Crystal, improving the stats, before using Energy Slash. As for why he did it,
"Constitution is connected to Energy, just like Stamina."
[ATTRIBUTE EFFECT
Increase in Constitution results in higher Energy. + 3 Knowledge Point]
With those two being the only thing he can test easily, Elias took the rest of the Attribute Crystal and absorbed them, improving the rest of his stats.
When he finished, he took a quick look at himself before nodding in approval.
"I feel stronger than before," eying the clock, now 19 minutes and counting down, Elias did not let his eyes linger.
Taking the Energy Slash and Heavy Slash manual, he started with the one he already practiced, trying to improve his mastery over the Weapon Skill as much as he could.
Unfortunately, he quickly reached a bottleneck, which likely required a better Sword Mastery before he could hope to touch it.
He already expected it, somewhat, and that's why he already picked Heavy Slash as the next Weapon Skill to master. Being of a higher grade than the other three Weapon Skill, Elias hoped it would help him finish the fight faster. He did not want to get into another hour long fight with the newer version of the Human Puppet.
"Time for Heavy Slash," he quickly opened the manual and read it. It was during that time he realized something.
"Uncommon Weapon Skill is more powerful, but more complicated than Common ones." it is rather obvious, but he thought his Sword Mastery will helped him learn it easier.
Yet, even after 5 minutes, he barely understands how to do it.
"I need to focus Energy on the sword, and make it stronger and heavier. Then, I need to strike it down," with 3 minutes left before the next Hidden Boss Fight, Elias could only scratch the surface on the Uncommon Weapon Skill.
"How much damage can this do?" he asked himself, his sword aimed at the Iron-Wood Training Puppet. Focusing his Energy on his Silver-Steel Sword, Elias could feel the blade becoming heavier.
It started to strain his arm but he did not stop channeling Energy, until he felt he reached the point before it became too much. Slashing the Iron-Wood Training Puppet, Elias watched the puppet split into two vertically.
If it was a human being, one could the inside with no trouble, a morbid thought that unfortunately fester in his mind.
"It would be hard to use it in a real fight, but maybe I can get a repeat of the first Human Puppet and pummeled it to death. It certainly be easier that way."