Chapter 231: The Elemental Wall
A true arsenal must cover every angle. I cannot afford to be rendered harmless against a specific type of creature, pondered Kellar as he opened the skill editor and began shaping the flows of mana.
He decided to forge a suite of basic attacks covering the remaining four primary elements:
[Offensive Skill: Fire Blast]
Effect: Launches a concentrated fireball that explodes on impact, dealing thermal damage and igniting the surrounding area.
[Offensive Skill: Aqua Ball]
Effect: Fires a mass of high-pressure water capable of striking with the force of a battering ram, dousing flames, and knocking back heavy enemies.
[Offensive Skill: Wind Slash]
Effect: Projects a compressed air blade sharp enough to slice through hide, flesh, and armor at long range with velocity.
[Offensive Skill: Earthshock]
Effect: Channels mana into the ground to trigger a seismic shockwave that shatters the terrain, staggers enemies, and hurls jagged stone shrapnel.
Kellar looked over the four new skills lined up alongside his [Lightning Spear]. With this suite of spells—fire, water, wind, earth, and lightning—he possessed the versatility to exploit the elemental vulnerabilities of any beast or rival warrior in the Ash Valley.
With the offensive section finalized, Kellar closed the tab and set his gaze upon the last remaining category on his panel: Defensive Skills.
Kellar opened the final tab on his panel: Defensive Skills. Surprisingly, he had not created a single spell in this category. Until now, he had relied on his agility, reflexes, and the physical durability granted by his high level to dodge or endure blows. However, in large-scale battles or against beasts wielding wide-area attacks, relying solely on his body was reckless.
If I am to act as a mage and a commander on the battlefield, a shield of pure energy is the first thing I need, reflected Kellar, shaping a structure of neutral mana around his body.
Thus, the first technique in the section was born, conceived as the foundational barrier of any magic practitioner:
[Defensive Skill: Mana Shield]
Effect: Deploys a spherical barrier of dense mana around the user that absorbs the force of physical and magical attacks until the assigned mana pool is exhausted.
Once the baseline defense was established, Kellar applied the same logic that had led him to diversify his offensive repertoire. While a pure energy shield was versatile, specialized elemental barriers provided mitigation and counterattack properties depending on the nature of the threat.
With that vision, he proceeded to craft a defensive wall for each of the four elements:
[Defensive Skill: Fire Wall]
Effect: Summons a blazing wall that incinerates wooden or bone projectiles in mid-air and burns any enemy attempting to cross through it in melee combat.
[Defensive Skill: Water Wall]
Effect: Raises a high-density curtain of water capable of dampening and deflecting thermal attacks, absorbing shockwaves, and slowing down heavy impacts.
[Defensive Skill: Earth Wall]
Effect: Erects a solid structure of dense rock and soil before the user, serving as a cover against brute-force attacks.
[Defensive Skill: Wind Wall]
Effect: Generates a rotating vortex of compressed air that deflects arrows, spears, and light magical projectiles while pushing back nearby attackers.
Kellar looked over the restructured and balanced system interface. With his [Blessings], [Curses], [Offensive Skills], and [Defensive Skills] clearly organized and expanded, both his personal repertoire and the tribal totem had taken a leap forward.
Kellar paused as an idea that had been lingering in his mind since his conversation with the head healer surged back to the surface.
The blessings bound to the totem were great for granting temporary stat boosts, but they were fleeting buffs. His intention was to find a way to transmit direct knowledge, teaching permanent spells and skills so that the tribe members could become mages and specialists in their own right. He didn’t want them relying forever on the system’s shop items or potions.
He reopened the interface and began manipulating the lines of mana code, attempting to draft a knowledge-transfer skill. However, no matter what structure he tested or how many variations he linked, the panel consistently spat back a red error message.
Frustrated by the repeated failures, Kellar decided to query the interface directly.
"Why doesn’t the system allow me to transmit or teach skills to my village members?" asked Kellar aloud in the quiet room.
The translucent panel flickered, and a golden notification window expanded before his eyes:
[The Class feature for your village members is locked until the Tribe reaches Level 3]
Requirement: Upon unlocking Level 3, you will be able to create specialized classes for each of your members and grant specific, permanent skills tied to each class.
Reading the message, every piece of the puzzle clicked into place.
So that’s what it was... thought Kellar, letting out a breath as the window faded away.
It wasn’t a limitation of his mana or a flaw in his spell crafting, but a hard progression gate enforced by the settlement system itself. To turn his people into an army of mages, elite warriors, and professional healers, he first had to meet the settlement’s infrastructure requirements.
Completing the paved stone road to the mine and finishing the village’s drainage system were the two major projects left standing in his way. As soon as the Great Snowfall receded and the paths were clear, he would mobilize the workforce to push the tribe to Level 3 and unlock the class system.
Kellar closed the system response window and activated one of his most powerful skills, [Eyes of the Tribe Lord].
Instantly, his consciousness ascended, throwing his vision high above his residence. His perspective rose into the skies over the settlement, granting him a bird’s-eye view of the entire territory.
From up high, the blizzard was still raging with relentless fury. The landscape lay buried under a blanket of white that enveloped everything, erasing paths, fences, and natural contours. The only structures breaking the monotony of that frozen hell were the steady plumes of smoke rising from the homes.
Every chimney pipe had been deliberately built tall to prevent blockages; however, focusing his gaze down onto the rooftops, Kellar noticed with concern that the heavy snow accumulation was dangerously close to covering the air vents on several structures. The storm was not entirely done, and the snowpack threatened to choke the flues if it continued to pile up at this rate.