The Devouring Dragon-Chapter 37: A Buffet of Skills

A weight was lifted off my shoulders after Vargan agreed to submit peacefully, and it finally came time to take what the war had been about in the first place: The quest rewards.

Immediately after Vargan had kneeled to me, a notification had appeared, but I ignored it for the time being to continue conversing with the three former monarchs.

But, after they were gone, I had taken a good look at the rewards.

[Quest Complete!]

Conquer the Land of Iron

Rewards:

All [Territory] owned by the Great Dwarf King

All [Subordinate]'s owned by the Great Dwarf King

+5,000 STR

+5,000 END

+5,000 INT

+1,000 HREG

+All unclaimed [Dwarf] related skills!

+All unclaimed [Cyclops] related skills!

+All [Dwarf] related skills will be raised to level 25!

+All [Cyclops] related skills will be raised to level 25!

In hindsight, the boost to level 25 for all the dwarf and cyclops-related skills was pretty insane. I figured that my other skills would be much higher by the time I completed the quest, and it would seem lackluster by comparison, but that was far from the truth.

The new skills I had gained were instantly some of the highest level ones I had.

As for the skills themselves-

[Analyzing [Valon]...]

[Unclaimed [Dwarf] related skills include: [Iron Wall], [Metallic Weaponary Mastery], [Loyal Men], [Ore Refinery], [Gem Refinery], [Intoxication Resistance], [Underground Familiarity], [Repair].

[Iron Wall] - Become as sturdy as an iron wall, granting you resistance to [Knockback].

[Metallic Weaponary Mastery] - Increase your proficiency with all weapons or armor containing metal.

[Loyal Men] - Harness the intense loyalty dwarves feel for their clanmates - Soldiers under your command will gain [Obedience] and gain a percentage boost to all stats.

[Ore Refinery] - Increase your proficiency with ores.

[Gem Refinery] - Increase your proficiency with gems.

[Intoxication Resistance] - Become more resistant to [Intoxicating] debuffs!

[Underground Familiarity] - Gain a percentage boost to all stats when fighting in underground terrain.

[Repair] - Increase your ability to repair a damaged object.

The dwarven skills I had gained far exceeded the unclaimed ones I had gotten from the quest for defeating Ragnar, and were overall a fair bit better.

The combat ones were very useful - as [Iron Wall] would allow me to tank attacks and not be knocked away, leaving the enemy open for a quick counterattack. [Metallic Weaponary Mastery] was useful both for my sword skills and if I decided to use any other weapons, and [Intoxication Resistance] would be useful against any debuffing opponents.

And, most importantly, for drinking insane amounts of alcohol.

Beyond that, [Loyal Men]'s percentage increase was a big boost - even if I didn't know what that percentage was yet. Any percentage boost, especially one that could affect my entire army, would make a war much easier.

[Underground Familiarity] was the skill that stood out the most - mainly because I doubted it would be all that useful. I doubted that I'd be fighting in any caves anytime soon, though I did have a few ideas of how I could force an underground fight and take advantage of it.

Meanwhile, the 'smithing' related skills would also be useful once I leveled them up enough, as I currently had an army of dwarves and the literal (former) Dwarven King walking around. So, [Ore Refinery], [Gem Refinery], and [Repair] were more long-term skills.

Aside from the dwarven skills, I had also claimed a flurry of cyclops-related skills.

[Analyzing [Valon]...]

[Unclaimed [Cyclops] related skills include: [Strength Boost], [Crushing Blow], [Trophy Collector], [Volcanic Forging], [Earthquaking Stomp], [Iron Gut], [Titanic Grip].

[Strength Boost] - Temporarily double your STR stat.

[Crushing Blow] - Double the force of your next attack!

[Trophy Collector] - Collect the trophies of your enemies to send a message - for each trophy collected, your attacks will gain a percentage boost against enemies of the same race or type.

[Volcanic Forging] - Increase your proficiency when utilizing volcanic substances in smithing.

[Earthquaking Stomp] - Stomp with enough force to shake the ground!

[Iron Gut] - Strengthen your gut, allowing you to eat usually inedible substances.

[Titanic Grip] - Increase your grip strength when holding a weapon, allowing you to wield weapons of any size.

The cyclops-related skills were definitely more combat-related than the dwarven ones, as the majority of them could be utilized in a fight.

[Strength Boost] and [Crushing Blow] could be used together nicely, making for a powerful attack. It was a pretty deadly combo.

[Earthquaking Stomp] was also good for throwing any opponents off-balance, and [Titanic Grip] was more of a safety net for if I ever was using a massive weapon that I wasn't strong enough to control. I doubt I'd ever need it, but it was still nice to have.

[Trophy Collector] was a bit of a weird skill to get, as while it was useful on one paper, it didn't mesh well with [Devour]. When I ate someone, their entire body disappeared, leaving behind not even bones. There was no trophy to be taken.

So, it would depend on how much of a boost [Trophy Collector] actually gave me. If it exceeded the boost I'd get from the stats I gained with [Devour], then it could be a seriously useful skill.

If it didn't, then it was useless.

Finally, [Iron Gut] was... definitely a skill. One of the skills of all time.

My gut was already pretty tough, as I was literally eating entire monsters - bone and all - with [Devour]. Unless I decided to start munching on some rocks, I would probably never use it.

After that came the second quest, as Velrissa had officially made the Master-Slave contract with me. Along with her, she had ordered the four princesses, along with the other surviving general, to make Master-Slave contracts with me as well.

It was probably a bit overkill to tie them all to me, as just having Velrissa as their Queen tied to me was enough, but I wasn't taking any risks. [Charm] is a very dangerous skill.

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[Quest Complete!]

Conquer the Meadow of Love

Rewards:

All [Territory] owned by the Succubus Queen

All [Subordinate]'s owned by the Succubus Queen

+10,000 CHA

+7,500 AGI

+7,500 HREG

+7,500 MREG

+All unclaimed [Succubus] related skills!

+All unclaimed [Fairy] related skills!

+All [Succubus] related skills will be raised to level 25!

+All [Fairy] related skills will be raised to level 25!

Aside from the large amount of stats, I had also gotten a bunch of skills from the quest.

[Analyzing [Valon]...]

[Unclaimed [Succubus] related skills include: [Pheromone Manipulation], [Appearance Disguise], [MP Buff], [AGI Buff], [STR Buff], [END Buff], [CHA Buff], [HREG Buff], [MREG Buff], [LUK Buff], [INT Buff], [Contract Making].

[Pheromone Manipulation] - Manipulate the strength of your pheromones.

[Appearance Disguise] - Change your physical body to match a living being of the same type that you have viewed before.

[MP Buff] - Grant a percentage MP stat increase to someone!

[AGI Buff] - Grant a percentage AGI stat increase to someone!

[STR Buff] - Grant a percentage STR stat increase to someone!

[END Buff] - Grant a percentage END stat increase to someone!

[CHA Buff] - Grant a percentage CHA stat increase to someone!

[HREG Buff] - Grant a percentage HREG stat increase to someone!

[MREG Buff] - Grant a percentage MREG stat increase to someone!

[LUK Buff] - Grant a percentage LUK stat increase to someone!

[INT Buff] - Grant a percentage INT stat increase to someone!

[Contract Making] - Manipulate life force energy to form a contract.

It was by far the most skills I had gotten from a quest so far, but also simultaneously the least complicated.

All the buffing skills were the same but just applied to different stats - overall very useful if I was fighting with an ally, and I'd have to experiment with them to see if I can buff myself.

Besides those, [Pheromone Manipulation] seemed strong, but I also didn't have any experience with it. I'll have to ask Velrissa to teach me about how pheromones affect people.

[Contract Making] was also a nice one to have, as it was likely the skill that allowed the succubi to make the Master-Slave contracts with me. Being able to make those with other races would be great for ensuring loyalty.

Finally, [Appearance Disguise] was definitely the best of the bunch - for a lot of reasons. It was mostly useful because now I knew the succubi under me had it, meaning I could send them on intelligence missions. They could disguise themselves as someone important, then worm their way into a meeting or talk their way into getting some important information.

For myself, it was a bit less useful - I'm more of a blunt person, and I doubt I'll be sneaking around disguised as someone else anytime soon. But, if I did need to gather some information or wanted to go somewhere undercover, it would be very helpful.

Finally, the last set of skills I got came from the fairies.

[Analyzing [Valon]...]

[Unclaimed [Fairy] related skills include: [Voice Manipulation], [BadLUK Charm], [GoodLUK Charm], [Minor Weather Manipulation], [Flash], [Light Barrier], [Light Weaponry]

[Voice Manipulation] - Manipulate the sound of your voice.

[BadLUK Charm] - Inflict the [BadLUK] debuff on someone!

[GoodLUK Charm] - Inflict the [GoodLUK] debuff on someone!

[Minor Weather Manipulation] - Control minor portions of the weather.

[Flash] - Release a bright flash of [Light].

[Light Barrier] - Create a barrier of pure [Light].

[Light Weaponry] - Use the power of [Light] to create weapons!

Overall, most of the fairy skills were decently useful - I could use [Flash] to temporarily blind an opponent, [Light Barrier] for a bit of defense, and [Light Weaponry] in a rare circumstance where I have to fight without a weapon on me - though I could also still use [Physical Morph] to just turn my arm into a weapon.

[Voice Manipulation] was more useful for manipulative and deceit purposes, while [Minor Weather Manipulation] could either be overpowered as hell or only decent depending on how 'minor' it was.

The two skills that stuck out were [BadLUK Charm] and [GoodLUK Charm] - as they could be pretty game-changing when leveled up a ton. In theory, I could give someone such bad luck that they spontaneously combusted, and I would instantly win the fight.

In the same vein, I could give myself such good luck that every one of my strikes hit a critical artery and the fight ended quickly. It would take a lot of leveling up to get there, but it was possible.

After claiming all the skills, along with a ton of stats during the war itself from [Devour], [Aura of Devour], and [Devouring Stab], I had become far stronger than before, and my stat page had changed a lot.

[Valon]

Level: 21 (82,975/175,000)

MP: 21,552

STR: 51,270

AGI: 45,760

END: 57,200

INT: 24,575

CHA: 37,500

LUK: 31,275

HREG: 22,290

MREG: 17,900

Skills: [Devour LVL 21], [Reinforce LVL 9], [Global Communication LVL 15], [Quick Step LVL 18], [Material Change LVL 20], [Demonic Resistance LVL 14], [Light Manipulation LVL 11], [Fire Ball LVL 15], [Intimidation LVL 14], [Physical Resistance LVL 18], [Physical Regeneration LVL 22], [Physical Morph LVL 21], [Sharpen LVL 5], [Enhanced Smell LVL 7], [Enhanced Vision LVL 8], [Predator's Howl LVL 7], [King's Aura LVL 12], [King's Command LVL 12], [Ice Resistance LVL 10], [Frostify LVL 10], [Precision Aim LVL 9], [Rough Skin LVL 15], [Mental Resistance LVL 22], [Lie Detection LVL 11], [Scavenging LVL 15], [Fearful Rage LVL 14], [Fire Resistance LVL 12], [Thermal Vision LVL 14], [Light Resistance LVL 25], [Light Heal LVL 25], [Alluring Aura LVL 25], [Charm LVL 25], [Phenex Immortality LVL 2], [Hellfire LVL 3], [Blizzard LVL 4], [Ice Beam LVL 2], [Ice Conjuring LVL 2], [Draconic Resistance LVL 1], [Smithing LVL 25], [Enchant LVL 25], [Weakness Sense LVL 25], [Runecraft LVL 25], [Demonic Power LVL 3], [Worthless LVL 1], [Holy Power LVL 4], [Translator LVL 4], [Scale Armor LVL 1], [Ash Cloud LVL 1], [Flame Inferno LVL 2], [Fire Beam LVL 2], [Iron Wall LVL 25], [Metallic Weaponary Mastery LVL 25], [Loyal Men LVL 25], [Ore Refinery LVL 25], [Gem Refinery LVL 25], [Intoxication Resistance LVL 25], [Underground Familiarity LVL 25], [Repair LVL 25], [Strength Boost LVL 25], [Crushing Blow LVL 25], [Trophy Collector LVL 25], [Volcanic Forging LVL 25], [Earthquaking Stomp LVL 25], [Iron Gut LVL 25], [Titanic Grip LVL 25], [Pheromone Manipulation LVL 25], [Appearance Disguise LVL 25], [MP Buff LVL 25], [AGI Buff LVL 25], [STR Buff LVL 25], [END Buff LVL 25], [CHA Buff LVL 25], [HREG Buff LVL 25], [MREG Buff LVL 25], [LUK Buff LVL 25], [INT Buff LVL 25], [Contract Making LVL 25], [Voice Manipulation LVL 25], [BadLUK Charm LVL 25], [GoodLUK Charm LVL 25], [Minor Weather Manipulation LVL 25], [Flash LVL 25], [Light Barrier LVL 25], [Light Weaponry LVL 25]

All my stats had at least doubled since the start of the war, with some even multiplying multiple times over. The insane constant gains that came from [Aura of Devour] couldn't be understated - I was gaining so many stats from just being in the Meadow of Love that I hadn't even noticed.

Along with that, I was practically flash-banged whenever I opened my stat page from the huge wall of stats staring back at me.

At this point, it was kind of overwhelming, but you could never have too many skills, right?

As I took in my new power, the end of an era in the Familiar Forest came to a close. The three kingdoms had been united under one ruler, and there was just one foe left to conquer before the 'Reign of the Beast King' started.

I was far from the man who had once fought for my life against a simple dire wolf.

Tiamat wouldn't know what hit her.

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