"Affecting the casting of witchcraft? Staying still will ease the pain?" Reine asked with confusion.
After all, the curse he had just been hit with was not the Pain Curse but the Weakening Spell.
It seemed that the Witchery Curses Master tailored the curses differently depending on the enemy.
The Pain Curse inflicted upon Vinica, the Wizard Apprentice, would amount to crippling a third-level Wizard Apprentice's ability to fight if she couldn't dispel it.
The Weakening Spell cast upon him, a Great Knight, would reduce his combat capabilities from the level of a Great Knight to that of a knight if he couldn't dispel it, significantly lessening his threat.
But obviously, the enemy could cast two different curses on the same person.
More than two curses, such as three... or even more...
Reine nodded, as he began to understand, then turned to glance at Baron, the Fish-Dragon Squad Captain, who was swiftly moving across the main battlefield in the distance.
At that moment, the pressure Baron must have been under was surely intense!
"Miss Vinica, you should rest in the boat for a while; I'll go and support Captain Baron."
"Lord Reine, please be extremely careful. The Witchery Curses Master's attacks are difficult to withstand, and their power should not be underestimated," Vinica said as Reine helped her to slowly sit down in the boat.
Reine nodded, and promptly stood up, preparing to turn and leave.
However, he quickly remembered something and began to check the system notifications:
[Your skill Tokkal Hammer Technique has improved, Experience +791]
[You have been through a combat, Weapon Master (Legendary) Experience +465]
(Note: The above skill experience has been enhanced by 30% thanks to the exclusive talent 'Primary Extraordinary Understanding'.)
[Congratulations, your Weapon Master (Legendary) Profession Level has increased!]
The Profession Level of Weapon Master (Legendary) has been elevated by one level, reaching lv4 (10/1000).
This allowed Reine to gain another attribute point and skill point, bringing his remaining attribute points back to 6 and his remaining skill points to 1.
Since he was about to face a formal wizard for the first time, and a troublesome Witchery Curses Master at that, Reine pondered for a moment and decided to allocate another point to his Tokkal Hammer Technique.
He had a vague sense that upon reaching lv12 in the Tokkal Hammer Technique, it felt as though just a bit more improvement could elevate it to an even higher realm.
Perhaps then, he would grasp the true secret technique!
At that moment, Reine's brow suddenly furrowed.
The system notification read as follows:
[Addition of a skill point failed!]
[Your skill Tokkal Hammer Technique has reached lv12 and is at a certain threshold. It cannot be elevated through skill points! To improve further, please use Golden Skill Points!]
Reine quickly recalled the system's previous message when his Weapon Master (Legendary) profession leveled up to lv2 — 'Golden Skill Points can be synthesized from three skill points, or obtained by defeating powerful enemies.'
At that time, he had wondered what the Golden Skill Points were for.
Now it seemed that one of their uses was to break through certain limits of Extraordinary Battle Techniques.
Even if he couldn't elevate the near-secret technique to a true secret technique, Reine was not about to choose flight over fight!
Suddenly, just as Reine was rapidly moving toward the main battlefield, he sharply sensed an increase in dark energy particles around him, and, instantly, the same sense of weakness he had felt before surfaced again!
This caused his movements to slow considerably.
But this time, it was far from over!
Reine felt a cold, mysterious side energy suddenly invade his body, like a cold little snake boring into his heart, followed by an intense pang of pain!
An excruciating pain, steming from his throbbing heart.
It forced Reine to come to a stop...
But the negative energy condensed once more, surging into Reine's body, adhering to every joint, fascia, and muscle...
Reine felt every muscle, every fascia in his limbs ache profoundly!
Now, even a slight movement of his hand would bring the piercing agony.
This was Nehru casting the 'Weakening Spell,' 'Cold-Heart Curse,' and 'Pain Curse' together!
He applied the same tactic he used against the Peak Knight and Captain of the Fish-Dragon Squad, Baron, now onto Reine, with the aim of eradicating this unpredictable factor. Find your next read at My Virtual Library Empire
At that moment, standing midway, Reine, upon feeling the pain, silently opened the system's attribute panel and added another point to his Spirit attribute.
As his remaining attribute points decreased from 6 to 5, and his Spirit rose from 32 to 33 points, instantly, a warm current forcefully pumped from his heart, scattering the negative energy serpent coiled around his heart!
Then, this warm current began to sweep through his entire body...
All the negative energy lurking in the joints, fasciae, and muscles of Reine's body, like snow under hot water, were promptly dispersed and melted by the warm current!
In less than a second, Reine felt warm all over, the dark energy vanishing like specters banished into oblivion!
Reine cracked a slight smile.
Although he didn't know how to dispel curses, he had an edge!