World Of Karik: A Game Of Villains 75 The More You Know

Combo step length cannot last more than 2 seconds.

A combo can be interrupted if your weapon is. .h.i.t.

After the fourth strike, each blow must deal damage in order to continue the combo.

Interesting, very interesting. I then tried to increase all four stats at once, drinking all of the tinctures in one sitting, but it didn't work. Alchemy has its limits, as it turns out. Only two attributes could be raised at once. Well, that wasn't a crucial problem. Now I had to check endurance. There were a few surprises there too.

Immobilizing doesn't work when striking the solar plexus.

Invulnerability doesn't work when striking the liver.

After repeating the experiment a couple more times, I found out that my weaknesses changed each time I reached a hundred points and that they were randomized. I believed that this was for the best as almost everyone would know how to break through such a defense otherwise. This way, people had only two options — they could either make a guess or study the characteristics of each skill using raised intelligence. Everyone had to choose their way. I grinned against my will. It seemed that the second option was only available to me.

Being in high spirits, I got ready to, ironically enough, look for strength's weak spots.

It turned out that defense was 50% weaker when using a combat skill. More importantly, any skill could be interrupted; combos as well. It was enough to hit the weapon with a counter-attack. I always thought that it was stupid how heroes in movies can fight for hours, clas.h.i.+ng swords time and time again. In this world, such a thing appeared to be necessary. If one missed an attack, they could immediately be sent to the graveyard. If one invested in a special ability and their enemy noticed and stopped that, nothing would save the first person from a counter-attack. This d.a.m.n world was similar to the real one in terms of combat.

My view of the world still wasn't a joyful one, but it also wasn't as dark as it was ten minutes ago. I had to stop whining; there was a lot of important work to do. I checked all of the stats, but there were still potions, armor, and weapons to attend to. I wanted to see what I didn't know about them yet. I started with the flasks with the tinctures as they were close at hand. Each of them had a general description and information about its usage. Now I could see the names of potions in which a particular herb could be used. Sedge was suitable for Color of the Night and Slippery Child. I didn't know what these names meant and what other herbs were required for a complete recipe. I will try to mix them later if they match with the ones I already have. Stonerose made me upset as it could only be used for Troll Blood. First of all, it was a shame that it could only be used in one recipe, and secondly, I really hoped for a match. Cordyceps was used only for Thunder Claw. Holly, the first magical herb I came across, didn't disappoint me, though.

Azure Holly is a component of complex potions such as Karik's Escape and Troll Blood.

I couldn't make the first one, but I had one more ingredient for Troll Blood. Holding my breath, I mixed Holly and Stonerose... Nothing happened. I tried different proportions but didn't succeed. The tinctures lost their properties when they would get mixed. Well, that didn't work. That only meant that I either lacked ingredients or just had to prepare them in a different way. Maybe they had to be boiled. Witches brewed their potions after all. Judging by my spells, tinctures could work the same way. To be honest, I didn't believe in the success of this dubious idea. It was better not to get distracted and finish checking all of the other items.

After having checked my entire inventory, I didn't find any additional effects in my magic books, but my scythe appeared to have pa.s.sive mental protection. A very pleasant surprise as I thought it was quite useless. I then pulled out the metal shoulder-straps from the corner of the room where I had put them a while ago. I still couldn't wear them because I didn't have heavy armor. As it turned out, they granted a 200%bonus to defense against arrows. I also found the shadow world gra.s.s in my pocket. I almost forgot about it. I couldn't see its description even though I had 100 intelligence. I didn't consider the phrase "can be used for sacrifices" as something serious. Anything could be used for such purposes.

Finally, the most important thing — the Cursed Armor that I gained in the duel with Igor.

Reinforced Cursed Steel Chainmail Set

Reduces resistance to mental attacks by 10.

Damage received against the creatures of the abyss: 100%.

Activates the hidden geas, Help the Darkness.

Ordinary armor (set characteristics): 100.

I knew that the word "cursed" meant something! I didn't even want to guess what Help the Darkness was about. Obviously, it would bring more harm than good. I also couldn't imagine that things like being weak against the creatures of the abyss even existed. Perhaps, I shouldn't put the armor on. I'd better think how to get the most out of it. Maybe I should give it to somebody. But not to our people. I didn't need a person with this geas by my side.

As people used to say, ignorance really is a blessing. Instead of being glad that I had a miraculous armor and magic, I kept looking for problems and solutions. Being deep in my thoughts, and realizing how bad the situation was, I remembered that I hadn't checked the most important thing — the people around me. I would definitely see something new now. So it was time to go outside. I decided to have a walk around the camp, staring at everybody and pretending that nothing special was happening. Or I could do it in a more cunning way.

Petrovich told me to recruit people for a campaign to the Forbidden City, so I would use this as an excuse in to thoroughly examine everybody. However, I couldn't inhale my tinctures all the time. Fortunately, I had a solution to this problem. Using Cordyceps, I soaked a piece of cotton that I had gotten after the tournament and put it into my nose. Now I would have maximum intelligence for about 20 minutes. More importantly, n.o.body would know about it.

Dear neighbors, do you still have secrets?