Darius Supreme

"A healer might try the same, by casting Heal on an undead. However, their spell would fail and they would suffer a backlash, harming them. That is why no one even bothers to try it anymore."

"You don't face backlashes because of the Supreme System's targeting mechanic and your Magus subclass. If you ever learn to cast on your own, you would lose these advantages."

"Since you cannot face backlash, the spell had to succeed. There is no failure rate in your casting, only that you are burdened by various limitations like no double-casting, channeling, or delayed casting. These are various casting techniques you can only use with manual casting for now."

Mikey took back his hand and gazed at Darius with his cyan Soul Fire burning strongly. "Boss, do you understand now?"

Darius nodded. "I do, thank you Mikey. I also have one miscellaneous question. I'm guessing that the targeting system doesn't account for external factors caused by skills or spells resulting in 'Friendly Fire'?"

Mikey nodded. "That's right. When Boss Gunner jumps and uses Earthen Stomp, the damage of the skill itself won't affect you, but the earth that gets cracked and fractured can be harmful to you, since it's not part of the skill, but an external effect of it."

"If you were to gain an Earthquake spell in the future and used it in snowy regions, thereby causing an avalanche, you'd be safe from the spell itself, but you would have to figure a way to save yourself and your allies from the snow."

Darius nodded. "So the calculation for the Heal spell is done sequentially because when it's first activated, it only accounts for the elemental bonus, but due to the activation of its offensive nature within the body, it then deals a critical?"

Mikey shook his head. "Actually, we don't know either."

Darius frowned. "How come?"

Mikey coughed as he explained. "Well, just like you, we can only see the equations at best. Like you surmised, it was an elemental bonus of x6 and a critical hit of x3. However, looking at the raw equation here, you got the order wrong. The critical hit comes before the elemental bonus."

Darius was stunned. If the critical came first, then it would still yield the same result, but why? Darius rubbed his forehead in exasperation. Since even the 'spokesmen' of the system could not see the reason, then it would be difficult for him to do so at this stage.

However, the good news was two-fold. The first was that the exact equation was confirmed for him, so he knew how to do the maths. The second was that thanks to the Supreme System, it worked in the first place.

Darius now knew what spell he had to prioritize while he was here. Heal undoubtedly would increase his combat effectiveness against undead as well as his utility to allies.

Putting all this aside, Darius unsummoned Mikey and Joneson, checking his and Gunner's spoils for the battle.

[You have gained 64,000 EXP, 3 Green Soul Fires, 1 Black Book of Necromancy.]

[Gunner has gained 64,000 EXP, 5 Undead Essence.]

[You have leveled up x33! You are now level 20(+60). You have gained 3.3 Ability Points and 3.3 Skill Points to spend as you wish!]

[Gunner has leveled up x32! He is now level 20(+56). He has gained 3.2 Ability Points and 3.2 Skill Points to spend as he wishes!]

Good experience as before. Their loot had reduced this time, but Darius realized that the relative quality had increased. Also, the number of foes was lower.

Before allocating points, he checked this so-called Black Book of Necromancy. It was an Intermediate-level spell tome that allowed one to perform various necromantic spells of that level.

If only he would be allowed to learn it, he would gain more than just a single Journeyman spell. Darius resolved to find more spell tomes going forwards, as they seemed far more convenient for bulk learning than spellbooks or manuals.

He put it aside and checked his point totals. Since he had exactly 0.7 leftover from last time, this added to his current inflow to make an even number of 4 AP and SP.

Pleased by this, Darius put his AP into Endurance and Strength. 1 point in Endurance sent it from 19 points to 20, and the remaining 3 points into the Strength to send it from15 points to 18.

It might seem weird that he wasn't stuffing every point into Intellect, but Darius had only wanted to reach a threshold back then because spells had been his go-to combat method at the time.

Additionally, Caesar had specifically warned him against min-maxing, and Darius didn't favor it either. He preferred a more equal balance, so his current goal was to bring Strength, Agility, and Endurance to 50 points, to acquire their basic abilities.

If possible he would even bring Charisma to 50 points, assuming he had the time and means to do so. Darius realized that after this Quest, he would have to partake in many Events in order to acquire more AP and SP in the future.

After allocating his AP, Darius then placed all four of his SP in Heal, which surprised no one. After what he had just learned, it would be extremely foolish to continue farming without this powerful skill buffed.

With it, Darius could insta-kill even stronger undead foes within this band, granting him and Gunner far more experience, at a far faster rate.

The effectiveness of the heal spell had climbed from 25% to 45%, which was a substantial increase. The spell was now level 9, and Darius would need to find 11 more Skill Points to bring it to the max.

Sure, Caesar had warned him against wasting time trying to reach (+200) which was the cap, but that warning had been separate from the ones he received from Vena through Caesar.

That one had merely stated that it would be foolish to try and abuse his Dagger of Death. True enough, after Caesar had changed the rules to the Leveling System, Darius would have merely gotten a pittance for attempting that.