Defiance of the Fall

At least Zac finally felt he had figured out how the Axe Mastery] skill worked . It wasn’t what he expected , but he was still very happy with the result .

He initially thought he would get a bonus to stats similar to the Demon Slayer title , like bonus stats while wielding an axe , and perhaps generally get imparted some knowledge about axes . The reality actually trumped his expectations , and the rewards were twofold .

The first part was the vision , which Zac now was certain was showed to him so that he could plant his Dao Seed . The other part was this guidance system that could help him improve his form and fighting abilities . It might have been more convenient if the System crammed his head full of these things , making him master these aspects immediately .

Perhaps that wasn’t possible , as it was related to the Dao . Or perhaps the system didn’t want to just hand things out willy-nilly . The guidance system was a god given in any case as Zac had missed the tutorial and sorely needed some guidance .

Of the two he felt the Dao-vision was the most valuable . One might be able to gain those seeds by themselves by meditating or being an expert on a subject , but Zac’s intuition told him that it wasn’t that easy . Otherwise , he wouldn’t have been the third , but the 3rd millionth , to attain a Dao Seed . The world was full of experts , after all .

He decided on the spot to use the time he earlier spent on cutting wood on practicing his axe-form in the future . That time would be freed up as soon as he finished the second class quest in any case .

Zac sat down to recuperate and devoured some meat from his pouch , before continuing back home . It was dark when he returned to camp , as usual , this time due to his new skill rather than grinding monsters all waking hours .

Still , he couldn’t rest , as he was too excited about what his other skill would be like . He started cutting wood in a furious speed , lumber flying left and right . After roughly 90 minutes he slowed down and caught his breath . He was only 10 swings away from finishing the quest for the Chop] skill , and he wanted to be in rested condition just in case .

He drank a mouthful of water and steadied his breath before once again hefting his axe and swinging the 10 final strikes .

This time cosmic energy didn’t enter his mind , but information . This time the impartment was akin to when he bought Eye of Discernment] from the Nexus Crystal . Zac was a bit disappointed that he wouldn’t get another vision that could give him another Dao seed or the like , but he knew that was a rare opportunity he gained .

The skill was another fractal , and the usage was similar to the identification skill . It needed him to circulate cosmic energy through his energy pathways in a specific manner , then imagining it entering this fractal . The difference was that while Eye of Discernment] placed the fractals inside his eyes , the new one was on the top of his right hand . It wasn’t a physical manifestation , rather it superimposed itself on his pathways .

This was different from his eye skill , which was isolated fractals in his eyes . The Chop] skill’s fractal seemed to actually merge with his Class-pathways . It didn’t look out of place or messy , but it felt as a missing piece of a puzzle was added .

When Zac rewrote his pathways there were many parts that looked blurry and missing . It seemed that from his new skill that they were slots for his skills . Maybe even other skills , like Steps of Gaia] that he was eyeing in the store , could be slotted into his pathway gaps .

He tried doing the same with his ocular skill , but it was a closed circuit fractal , giving no opportunity to integrate with his pathways . The axe mastery fractal was in an enclosed space in his mind , and he had no way to connect it to his pathways either . Unfortunately , he lacked any more skills to experiment with . He actually had enough Nexus Coins to buy the cheapest skills by now , but he didn’t want to burn his hard earned cash for an experiment .

He wasn’t sure what benefits there were to slotting it into his pathways compared to simply having them like his identification skill . He would have to test it and find out .

Even though it was late at night he couldn’t wait , too eager to find out the effects of his new skill . Even if he realized it would be nothing like the great spells he saw in the vision , he had already fought against someone with an impressive skill . It was the demon leader with the great sword , whose furniture now adorned his campsite .

The black arcs of lightning had almost gotten him killed a few times . From the simple name of his own skill he realized that it might not be as extravagant though . But he did get it from a rare class after all , so it shouldn’t be useless .

He planned to try out the skill by using it a few times , then finding a demon beast to test it on , so he left his camp in search for a decent target .