Chapter Fourteen: Unlocked Traits

The flickering firelight cast wavering shadows as the group of guards from the Lord of the City’s mansion, along with Sister Alena, the abbess, quickly retreated to where Eric was standing.

To his slight surprise, they no longer seemed as alarmed as before.

“Young master... uh, what’s this?” Leslie strode over and immediately noticed the broken wooden staff hanging at Eric’s waist.

“Loot,” Eric replied, kicking the corpse lying on the ground. “This is the mastermind I mentioned—the necromancer hidden in the hall at the end. He tried to escape in the chaos just now.”

“A necromancer...” Leslie paused, suddenly realizing what Eric must have faced alone. “You defeated him?”

“Yeah,” Eric answered. “I chased after him. The guy disguised himself as a corpse, lying on the floor, almost ambushed me. Luckily, I reacted quickly.”

He spoke casually, but Leslie’s imagination magnified the danger a thousandfold.

“You can’t take risks like that again, young master. If the undead escape, so be it, but your safety...”

“Enough chatter.”

“Yes, sir!”

Leslie glanced again at the corpse on the ground and suddenly understood. “No wonder the undead stopped fleeing outward.”

Eric also realized why the guards were less tense when they retreated to his side. “How’s it inside?”

“The last of the fleeing undead were intercepted and killed by us. We didn’t see any others. I was worried about your situation, so we pulled back first.”

Eric looked at the weary guards—prolonged fighting had drained most of their strength, and now they greedily enjoyed this brief respite.

“Rest here for a while,” Eric ordered. “Once rested, we’ll go back in and wipe out all the undead in this mine tunnel. That’ll be today’s mission.”

“Yes, sir!”

The guards all exhaled in relief, unfazed by the harsh conditions in the mine, and settled down to rest on the spot.

“Mr. Eric,” Sister Alena approached and knelt beside him, scanning his face. “Let me check you over.”

Eric was taken aback. “Check for what?”

“Curses or similar spells,” Alena said, gesturing toward the staff at his waist with her eyes, making her meaning clear.

Eric thought for a moment. It was hard to guarantee that before discovering the necromancer, he hadn’t been targeted by some subtle spell. So he allowed the abbess to examine him.

What surprised him more was her initiative.

Though they had been too busy fighting to communicate much since entering the cavern, Eric felt a subtle shift in her attitude—especially now.

The abbess’s expression remained calm, as if not overthinking it. She grasped the holy pendant she held before her chest, lowered her gaze, and whispered softly. A pale green light appeared out of nowhere above Eric’s head, quickly expanding into a halo that rotated around him before settling and enveloping his body like a full-body scan.

When the halo finally dissipated, Eric realized, now viewing from a first-person perspective, that the image of the halo spinning down around his body was increasingly familiar. As a frontline warrior, he had lost count of how many times he had been “buffed” with this skill.

“...Purification?”

‘Purification’: A divine spell that removes all negative status effects from the target and restores a small amount of health. The chance of success decreases if the negative status originates from a class at least one tier higher than the caster.

Alena glanced at him, unsurprised by his maturity beyond his years. “Yes, it’s Purification.”

She soon released the pendant and stood up. “Finished checking. No abnormalities detected.”

Having witnessed countless uses of this skill, Eric already knew the outcome before she spoke:

When ‘Purification’ successfully removes a negative effect, the halo takes on a color corresponding to the nature of the status: black for will-related effects like hypnosis or fear, earthy yellow for movement-impairing effects such as immobilization or slow, and blood red for physical conditions like stun or bleeding.

If the removal fails, the rotating halo shatters immediately—a very intuitive indicator.

Eric thanked the abbess, who only shook her head slightly before moving to inspect the necromancer’s corpse lying nearby.

He actually wanted to chat with her more—whether to build rapport or to learn the casting technique of ‘Purification.’

“Is it a matter of talent...” he mused.

He had learned Leslie’s storm-step technique after watching just twice, without any explanation from the captain. But divine spells learned from Alena were either secretly overheard during her lessons with monks or taught personally—just watching wasn’t enough.

The only explanation Eric could think of was that he was naturally gifted in the path of the ‘Valiant Warrior,’ picking up combat skills quickly and intuitively, but was a novice in the ‘Devout Believer’ path, requiring instruction to understand and master these class skills—much like learning skills from NPCs in his previous world’s games.

Looks like he would need to find a teacher specializing in divine magic after all...

Lost in thought, Eric’s gaze drifted over to Alena, who was squatting with her back to him, carefully examining the necromancer’s corpse.

Her smooth cloak fell to the ground, gathered unconsciously in front, the black fabric tracing a perfect curve below her waist.

The monastery’s nutrition was excellent...

No, wait.

Before his thoughts could wander further, Eric quickly snapped back and averted his increasingly focused gaze.

He decided to put off the search for a divine magic tutor until they returned to camp.

Opening his status panel, he scrolled down to the profession system.

He hadn’t paid much attention to the attribute boosts after his class promotion since he’d been chasing the necromancer. Now, with time to spare, he finally took a closer look.

[Professional Path: Valiant Warrior (Second Tier)]

Class: Swordsman (Proficient)

Level: 17 (Experience: 225/1780)

Traits: ‘One-Handed Sword Mastery,’ ‘Keen Insight’

Skills: ‘Basic Swordsmanship,’ ‘Storm Step’

Upon advancing from apprentice to proficient in this class, a new trait was unlocked as a reward for progress.

‘Keen Insight’: Makes it easier to identify weaknesses on the target, dealing increased damage.

“Hmm... it’s a bit different.”

In the original “Crown of Thorns,” this trait was described more straightforwardly: a 5% increase in critical hit rate and damage.

Eric wasn’t too concerned—he hadn’t advanced to a higher class but had instead elevated the base ‘Swordsman’ class. His goal wasn’t this trait but the third-tier trait, ‘Pursuit Strike.’

‘Pursuit Strike’: When a physical melee skill hits, it triggers an additional normal attack. Unlock condition: Swordsman (Veteran).

This divine-level trait was why almost every player choosing this path advanced their ‘Swordsman’ class to veteran. Eric was no exception.

“Better level up as soon as possible.”

His gaze shifted to his secondary class below. Upon promotion, the ‘Monk’ class had also unlocked a new trait.

‘Devotion’: All divine spell effects increased by 5%.

Early on, this trait was negligible; what he valued was the third-tier trait here as well.

“Young master.”

Leslie squeezed through the guards and handed Eric an oversized chunk of dried meat. “Eat something.”

Eric took it, first marveling at its size, then looked at the others. “Did everyone get some?”

“Everyone did. This is for you and Sister Alena,” the captain replied.

Eric tore the meat in half with some effort.

After eating and resting, the group spent nearly an hour in the pitch-dark mine tunnel, recovering their strength before setting out again.

With no necromancer skulking in the shadows to cause trouble, their deeper exploration was remarkably smooth. The undead they encountered offered little resistance and were disorganized, wandering aimlessly in small groups.

Eric and Alena became the main force in dispatching the undead. Accompanied by golden light, daggers stabbed and straight swords fell, felling rotten corpses one after another.

Soon, they reached the underground hall Leslie had scouted earlier—the end of this mine tunnel.

With only a handful of undead left, they eliminated them one by one.

When the last corpse fell, illuminated by the light spell above, Eric noticed a recess in the rock wall deep within.

Approaching, he found a small space carved out inside the rock—seemingly a laboratory, though very rudimentary and filthy. Rotten meat and bone fragments littered the floor, and a long-dead corpse was tied to the table in the center.

“So he was just a grassroots researcher...” Alena came over and heard Eric muttering.

“This must be the necromancer’s lab,” she said, scanning the area before looking back at Eric.

Both the necromancer and the hall at the mine’s end had fulfilled his “prophecy.” It seemed the gods truly favored him, sharing their vision. This only made her more uncertain how to regard him.

Oh, gods...

If You truly need a spokesperson to convey Your will, even if not the current pontiff or saint, why not choose someone who at least looks like a divine messenger?

Though in appearance, this fair-haired, blue-eyed handsome youth was certainly fitting.

Yet she could see no trace of true devotion in him—he seemed more like a skeptic who merely mouthed faith—and she couldn’t fathom what his deepest, most genuine purpose was.

Alena could only faintly sense that she was not within the scope of his intentions.

Perhaps that was a blessing—he didn’t care about her attitude, nor did he require her to declare any stance...

“—Still, it’s quite disappointing.”

“...?”

“What’s wrong?” Eric looked toward the suddenly thoughtful abbess.

She gazed at him. “You say ‘disappointing’ because...?”

“Because it’s poor!” Eric sighed. “I thought there’d be something better here.”

He was leading a team through this wilderness, finally reaching the deepest point, and all he found was a shabby lab with nothing worthwhile—barely enough to feed a beggar.