"Haa!!..."As if expecting his answer, Irene released a deep breath of sigh. "So you are telling me that you want to dig two disciplines at once? Do you know how hard that is? Just digging one discipline takes others a lifetime and even then, it is not guaranteed that they will be able to reach the essence of that discipline much less reach true mastery in it".
"And here you are talking about digging not one but two disciplines at once. Do you think it will be that easy?"
"I know it won't be easy. However, I have to do it. I have too many things I need to protect. if I don't become stronger than anyone else, I won't be able to keep others from taking away the things that are dear to me".
Silent glanced at the silent Irene and explained his reasoning. Thinking that it still might not be enough to convince her, he added—
"I know, it might sound foolish and I may come to regret it in the future. However, I still want to give it a try".
Seeing him insist so much, didn't want to reject him outright and throw a cold bucket in his parade.
"Alright, but it doesn't change the fact that what you decided to do is extremely foolish. With your average aptitude even understanding the essence of one disciple will be a monumental task not to mention you have to accomplish that in two disciplines".
"The effort you need to put in has to be hundreds of times higher than all the others. Are you prepared for it?"
Simon readily nodded his head not knowing what kind of hell was awaiting for him and how much he regretted this day. Nevertheless, from this point on, there was no turning back for him.
"I have often seen you run headfirst at your enemies. It was not only this time, but whenever you find your magic having no effect, you resort to a physical exchange. And honestly, you have won all of your battles up until now because of your powerful items. However, in the future as you start facing true powerhouses, that advantage will be gone"
"Weapons and artefacts are secondary strengths, they shouldn't be used in any other way but to enable yourself. Your own strength is primary and what you can rely on every time. Of course, having a better artefact can many times become the deciding factor in a fight and I'm not telling you it is bad to use".
"But you tend to rely on them too much. There are several ways to disable the buffs of an artefact or weapon. At that time, the only thing that will help you is your own strength and skills"
"That being said, you attack patterns and the way you use your skills are too simple and easy to avoid. Have you ever wondered why your enemy was able to easily read your movements?"
As Irene talked on, Simon became silent. He had no excuse for his lack of strength. After all, what Irene said was all true and Simon himself wanted to get stronger. He didn't have time for a slow and mellow training. Instead Irene's current harsh tone suited him much better since it told him all the areas he was lacking in.
Simon recalled his fight with Davis, his opponent was seemingly able to read his moves easily. He thought that after acquiring the Sword Mastery skill, he would be able tp hold his own in a direct physical fight.
However, his clash with Davis showed him otherwise. Even though the guy was a mage, his physical combat abilities were higher than his own.
"If you are thinking about that person from the adventurer's association, you should know that the only reason he was able to block all of your attacks was due to the [Intuition] skill" Irene mentioned.
"Intuition Skill?" What kind of skill was that, Simon frowned.
"It is a skill that allows one to predict the movements of their opponent. Didn't you find it strange how that guy was able to see through all of your attacks? It was due to the [Intuition] skill. It was also one of the skills that I want you to acquire if you are hell bent on learning physical combat".
So it was because of that skill, no wonder Davis was able to read through all of his attacks as if he could see them coming. It wasn't because the other party's physical abilities were greater than his, it was because they had the [Intuition] skill.
"Higher levelled warriors usually have the evolved version of this skill. So if you want to combat [Intuition] skill, you need to acquire [Intuition] yourself".
Simon continued to absorb Irene's knowledge. Before he knew it, he found himself becoming the same Simon who had newly joined the company and was hungry for knowledge.
Irene told him about a set of skills that he needed to acquire before reaching the next rank and what sort of training he needed to do for that.
"Right, open your status and have a look?"
At this moment, Irene suddenly made a peculiar request. Nevertheless, he complied with it and looked at his [Status].
"Can you see the difference after your rank up?"…
"Yeah, I gained a lot of new skills and most of my old skills evolved"…
"That's right, most of your normal skills have evolved into Ancient tier, even the Rare and Lost skills have at least become Superior tiers. A person's strength isn't judged by how many skills they have but by the quality and tiers of their skills".
"In this aspect, you already have a superior foundation than most of the other demon nobles around your rank or even the humans to say. Do you understand what I am getting at?"
Irene folded her hands and looked at Simon. If there were glasses on her eyes, she would look like the most ideal of teacher.
That being said, Simon did understand what she was pointing at.
"You want me to increase the tiers of my skills?".
"That's right, though strictly speaking increasing the tier of a skill is even harder than acquiring a new skill. Especially when the tiers of your skills are already that high".
"But didn't you say that I need to focus on training and acquiring new skills? Are you saying that I need to focus on all of them at once?".
When he mentioned that Irene's crystal blue eyes stared dagger at him.
"Of course, you also have the option of increasing the tier of your skills by ranking up an option that not just anybody has. But didn't you tell me that you wanted to become proficient in both physical combat and magic? I thought you already understood how incredibly difficult that was? if you understand then get ready to train till you spew out blood from your mouth"
It might just be his imagination but he saw her flash a cold smile at the end of her sentence.
"…Yeah" Simon replied.
This was a side of Irene that he had never seen before. Did she really plan to train him till he spewed out blood? For a second there, he was starting to regret his choices. However, the dice had been cast and Simon was not a person to go back on his words. Which meant that it was already too late, it was do or die.
What Simon didn't know was that, had anyone else said the exact same thing about digging two disciplines at once, she would have no doubt flat-out refused them for their idiosyncrasy.
However, she didn't do so for Simon was because she partly believed in his potential and partly because he had the aid of his dungeon, his subordinates and most importantly, the pond of serenity that was turning out to become quite a treasure in itself.
His average aptitude was not a problem because the pond would be able to slowly change him not to mention the other benefits he would get from it.
Perhaps Simon might really be able to do it. If that happens, he would become one of the strongest demon nobles out there.
"No, he has already started walking the Path of the King. Although I don't know how long I will be able to help you, I will make sure that you are strong enough to throw your weight around in this world before I…"
Seeing the figure of Simon pondering intensely while looking at his status, Irene muttered to herself.
And thus the prelude to an intense hellish training started. To help him out, the Valkyries were also summoned to the training floor. Where various sorts of terrains and equipment were built to help Simon with his training.
When he was done with the training for the day, he would be assaulted by the tasks of the dungeon that piled on. The busy life of the dungeon master of Laplace started like a hellish nightmare that had no ends in sight.
Even when he regretted his choice until his stomach turned green, he had no one but himself to be blamed.
The training was always varied and came with its own ups and down so there was never a monotonous day in Simon's life. It was the one thing that he was grateful for.
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Name:- Simon
Race:- Demon Earl
Titles:- Demon of Pride [Incomplete Fragment 2/5]
Level:- 535
Stats:-
HP:- 201,501
MP:- 305,100
Strength:- 5005
Defence:- 5305
Agility:- 6075
Magic:- 6675
Endurance:- 5540
Luck:- 3000
Skills:- Language Comprehension, Analysis, Mental Map, Infernal Magic Mastery, Gale Magic Mastery, Lightning Magic Mastery, High-Speed Thought Processing, Ultra Regeneration, Ultra High-Speed Flight, Ultra Enhanced Strength, Body Reinforcement, Flame Resistance, Wind Resistance, Electro resistance, Pain Resistance, Blunt Damage Resistance, Sense Presence, Hide Presence, Abstruse Demonic Eyes, Ultra Enhanced Agility, Ultra Enhanced Endurance, Ultra Enhanced Magic, Ultra Enhanced Defence, Minimal Mana Consumption, Sharpened Senses, Superior Mana Lines, Sword Mastery, Demon Earl's Intimidation, Resilient Mana Hide, Piercing Demon Roar, Black Flash, Dark Deprivation, Dark Lock, Chilling Touch, Soul Empowerment, Poison Resistance, Blunt Damage Resistance, Cut Resistance, Piercing Resistance, Demonic Eye Resistance, ??????, ??????
Amalgamation Skills:- [Flame-Gale Mastery], [Electro-Flame Mastery]
Inherent Skills:- Dungeon Creation, Main Menu, Ancestral Symbol Ignition
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High-Speed Regenration→ Ultra Regenration
High-Speed Flight→ Ultra High-Speed Flight
Super Enhanced Strength→ Ultra Enhanced Strength
Body Enhancement→ Body Reinforcement
Super Enhanced Agility→ Ultra Enhanced Agility
Super Enhanced Endurance→Ultra Enhanced Endurance
Super Enhanced Magic→ Ultra Enhanced Magic
Super Enhanced Deene→ Ultra Enhanced Defence
Mana Lines→ Superior Mana Lines
Demonic Eyes→ Abstruse Demonic Eyes
----
[??????] and [??????] in the stats were learned during the battle with the seven swords guild when Simon achieved a more profound understanding of the curse energy and created his own skills using it.
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