Death Mage with an SS-Rank Talent-Chapter 162

Three days before Stage Three.

This was supposed to be the recuperation period for the contestants. This is to make sure that all the contestants are in good shape and will give a good show for the viewers. Also, the alliance can find the best ones to invest in, without making any mistakes.

Also, since there would be many big shots attending the matches, there was an auction happening on the second day, which most likely made the rest period three days.

For Aaron, the rest period was not necessary as he wasn’t injured. Sure, he burned his brain power, but a full night’s sleep would take care of it. No further issue there for him.

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The morning after the end of Stage Two, Aaron had breakfast with others before heading out to look for any new arrivals. With a constant flow of traffic, there is a high chance of new goods appearing on the market that were not there the previous night.

Moreover, the previous day, he was busy with three matches. So, there was no market visit to see if there were any goods available for him to buy.

After breakfast, he went out, and so did others. It was the same for the staff who came with them too. Only Lyanna stayed behind. She is the Vice-Headmistress and is at the peak of Rank-6. It would be beneath her to go out to look for such low-end items.

If she wanted to do that, she needed a good disguise, which would be problematic as almost everyone knew that she was in the capital and where she was staying.

Going out was troublesome for her. Moreover, there is an auction, where she can spend some money she has accumulated to satisfy the itch.

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Aaron searched the market the entire day, but he was not able to find anything interesting or related to his profession.

Aaron knew from the beginning that death-related resources are rare and aren’t easily found.

It was why he joined the academy, but even the academy is not showing any Death Skills or resources for him to choose from. It can be understandable from that how rare Death skills or resources are.

Though that was the case, he has hope that after this tournament, that might not be the case. He was hoping to get his hands on some Death resources, which can help him grow a little bit faster.

Aaron, before starting the academy, always wondered why everyone mentioned resources when it was a level-up world. The only resources are weapons and armour, potions or foods that can add buffs, remove debuffs, etc...

Also, there are skill scrolls to learn skills. Other than these, there were no other resources, or at least that’s what he believed, and so did many.

Only by coming to the academy did he come to learn about Skill stones that can give extra SPs or even increase the rank of a skill by one when used.

In addition to these, there are other resources.

These are element-related resources like Fire Crystals, Frost Crystals, etc...

These crystals are formed in areas where one type of energy is higher than others. Fire Crystals are formed in Volcanoes, where the Fire element is higher than other elements.

Fire crystals can be absorbed by awakeners. For that, there are certain techniques. When absorbed, they would give EXP to the awakener. Yes, the same EXP that can be gained by killing monsters.

The amount of EXP gained would be based on the crystal’s rank.

The problem was that these crystals are rare and, when found, would be used by the finders.

From him, he would need Death Crystals, which are even rarer when compared to resources like Fire Crystals.

There are a lot of resources like that. He found a few such resources in the Undead Ruins that he entered during the tournament, but most are not usable at the moment, as he lacked the other ingredients to use them. Aaron was looking to find any such resources, but luck was not on his side.

He was once lucky enough to use some in the ritual that gave his skeletons lightning power, or boosted it if they had before.

Most resources had to be used in combination with other resources instead of being used alone. Though they can be used alone, for maximum benefits, most resources are used by mixing one with another.

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Alhough there was nothing of interest to Aaron in the market, he still brought a Defence skill before returning to the hotel. All this time, he depended solely on the skeletons for defence, and if there was any danger, he would sprint away, but after watching all the matches, he came to understand that what he was doing was not a good protection measure.

There might be a scenario where all his skeletons would be entangled or where he can’t run away, but to take the attack head-on. He needed to be prepared for every scenario possible.

So, he brought a skill for defence, Mana Shield.

Just like Mana Ball, Mana Shield is an attribute-less skill. Anyone with access to mana can use this skill, regardless of their profession. It means, even warrior professionals can use this skill, but due to limited mana, the protection that the shield offers would be minimal.

So, usually only spellcasters would buy these skills.

Originally, Aaron wanted to buy a defence skill that is Death element related, but he didn’t find any. So, he had to settle down for Mana Shield.

If it were a Death-related skill, then he could easily substitute mana with Death Energy. In a battle, extra energy can create a victory for you. So, every spellcaster would be looking for a way to increase their Mana, while physical professionals try to improve their Stamina.

After getting the Mana Shield, he ended the search for the day and returned the next day for another search.

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Unlike the previous day where he didn’t find anything much of any use, the second day was not like that. It was almost dark when Aaron finally found something useful for him in a major way.

What Aaron found was a Death-related skill.

Skills are already rare to find, especially when it comes to elements like Light, Dark, Death, etc...

He has been on the look out for since he awakened his profession, but he was never able to find one. He has seen some skills related to Dark and Light elements, but none related to his profession, not until now.

The skill that he found was called Death Lock.