The Noble Orc was planning to attack a human town. There was fear over whether he would order his large village of Orcs to attack the Ghoul village before doing so.
Vandalieu was to fight them with the Ghouls that were his family, bearing the Title of Ghoul King.
Vandalieu was in the midst of an alchemy lesson.
He crushed the contents of the mortar while pouring a certain amount of Mana into it. Incidentally, the contents were Kobold bones, Magic Stones from Kobolds, dried Poison Toad organs and his own blood.
He used the resulting product to draw a magic circle, and if it functioned as a Magic Item, he had succeeded. If not, then it would be a failure. Regardless of whether it succeeded or failed, he would repeat this process until he obtained the skill.
Though the contents of the mortar varied a little, the contents of his lessons did not.
An individual of a higher race of Orcs, the Noble Orcs, was leading a group of monsters five hundred strong including the Goblins and Kobolds under its command. There was a powerful enemy to face, but was it alright for him to be doing something like this after receiving the Title of Ghoul King?
While he was doing this, the Orcs were treating the captured Ghoul women and female adventurers as their playthings!
But Vandalieu continued crushing the contents of the mortar, not thinking about these things.
「If we panic and rush things now, it’s certain that only bad things will happen.」
The Ghouls and Vandalieu knew this.
Of course, they were gathering information. Vandalieu had distributed Undead bugs to determine the location of the Noble Orc’s village and find other Ghouls, and messengers had been sent to other Ghoul villages whose locations Zadiris and the others still remembered.
There was no need to move until such information had been gathered. The earliest the enemy would make a move would be spring. And it was still the end of December, not even halfway through winter.
Orcs had a gestation period of half a year when they bred and they only took another half year to grow into adults. This was why the Ghouls did plan to move as soon as they got the information they needed, so the enemy numbers wouldn’t be too great.
「Still, this skill is quite hard to obtain.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu honestly found it difficult to learn. Several months had already passed since he began his alchemy lessons and he still hadn’t obtained the skill.
「That is to be expected. In fact, you are quicker to learn it than most monsters, boy.」(Zadiris)
However, Zadiris encouraged him.
「Though if you were a human, that may not be the case.」(Zadiris)
The levels of skills generally range from 1 to 10.
Those with a level 1 skill are novices that have just learned the skill. For combat-related skills, this is the level at which the user can just manage to use the skill in real battle. Those with level 1 crafting skills would be at the level of an amateur hobbyist.
The average soldier possesses level 2 combat-related skills, and those with level 2 crafting skills are considered unskilled craftsmen.
Adventurers and mercenaries that possess level 3 combat-related skills are considered fully qualified. Craftsmen with level 3 skills are quite skilled, but not allowed to operate independently.
Those with level 4 combat-related skills are considered competent veterans in their fields. Level 4 crafting skills are the minimum requirement for an independent craftsman.
Those with level 5 combat-related skills are top-class users of those skills, and it is common for C-class adventurers to possess skills at this level.
Those with level 6 combat-related skills are fit to be instructors for nobles, and are close to being B-class adventurers. Those with level 6 crafting skills are able to run stores in large cities.
Those with level 7 combat-related skills are sought after by countries and noblemen; adventurers with skills at this level are B-class unless their behavior is considered greatly problematic. Craftsmen with level 7 skills have multiple people that apply to be their apprentices every year.
Those with level 8 skills are masters whose names are known across the entire country.
Those with level 9 skills leave their names in history. A-class adventurers possess skills at this level.
Level 10 skills are in the realm of superhuman abilities.
And there are rare cases where a skill surpasses level 10, becoming a transcendental skill. Possessing such a skill could make one worshipped by others. One would be called names such as Sword King or Flame Emperor, and be considered a god.
It would perhaps be equivalent to Miyamoto Musashi* on Earth. It is unlikely that Miyamoto Musashi could move faster than sound, fight for a week straight without eating or drinking, or cut through a mountain-sized rock that’s harder than steel, however.
TLN*: A legendary samurai/roni
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