[ Shadow Diviner Skill - Hallowed Crest ]

[ Hallowed Crest Lv 1 ] [ 20 Divinity Gauge ] [ Cooldown: 2 Minutes ]

The user casts out a spell of blinding light onto an enemy, dealing 350% light magic damage. Then, the inflicted enemy will be silenced for 5 seconds.

...

As the white blinding light engulfed the poor wolf in front of Shinto, the monster yelled out a loud holler as it turned into grey ash—leaving no remnants of the mob behind.

"...39 damage, huh?" Confirming the defeat of the monster, Shinto's eyes glanced over to the notification window, where he noted the total damage dealt via the skill he had used earlier. "Not bad. Though... It might've been overkill with that big of a multiplier..."

The divinity side skill, [ Hallowed Crest ]—was comparable to that of a damage-type skill due to the 350% damage multiplier. Moreover, the skill could inflict the status ailment of silence for five seconds, thus making it a highly valued ability.

"Hmm... This skill is eerily similar to that of the Priest skill, Silencing Purity..." Shinto thought to himself as he compared the two skill descriptions by memory.

The skill of [ Silencing Purity ], could only silence the enemy for three seconds whilst dealing light magic damage of 180%. By comparison, [ Hallowed Crest ] was basically an upgraded version of the Priest skill.

"Aha... It really does look that way, huh?" he chuckled slightly at the realization. "It has increased modifiers and perhaps a lower cooldown too?" Shinto could not recall the exact cooldown of [ Silencing Purity ]. "Hmm... Well, that doesn't matter. Right now... Since I've got a new class, I'll need to check up on my resources management."

With a new type of resource used for the Shadow Diviner's class, it meant that Shinto needed to evaluate the amount of time it took to fully regenerate his Divinity and Shadow Gauge. Otherwise, he would easily deplete both if he wasn't careful.

"Let's see here..." Shinto muttered to himself as his eyes averted over towards his Divinity Gauge, where he noted the number display of [ 6/31 ]. "...looking at the regenerative amount, it looks to be around one point per 10 seconds?"

Although the combined cost of [ Divinity Point ] and [ Hallowed Crest ] far exceeded Shinto's total amount of Divinity Gauge Point which was 31, it was still possible for him to use both skills simultaneously. This was because he had levelled up in between the usage of the two skills, as such, 30% of all his resources were recovered.

"...hmm, 10 seconds is quite a slow regeneration rate," he thought to himself as his attention turned towards his other gauge, Shadow—which was showcasing a display of [ 30/30 ]. "If it's like that, then is it the same case for Shadow as well?"

Unlike the two divinity skills that Shinto had used earlier, his three other shadow skills were left untouched. After all, he had neither the opportunity nor allies to use his support skills on.

"Hah... It looks like I'll be needing to find a dungeon party around here if I want to test out my shadow skills." Stretching his arms slightly, Shinto closed his status window as he began moving forward. "If I remember correctly... Black Wolf's Den should be around here."

...

Deep into Black Fang's Forest, a crowd of players could be seen idling by the open area in front of [ Black Wolf's Den ], a normal dungeon in which players can enter and leave whenever they please. This was unlike the instance dungeon that Shinto had entered previously, where he had to clear it before being able to leave.

"...phew. Finally found this place." Arriving at the entrance of the dungeon, Shinto was greeted by a plentiful of players in the area. Most of them were within the level range of one to ten. "Now then... Let's see if I can find a party."

"Looking for a ranged attacker! Anyone up for the job?" A player nearby Shinto shouted out. "We'll be farming for about a good hour or so!"

"Boss hunting group here! We're planning on finding and hunting Black Fang!" Following after, another player's voice protruded out in the area. "Rewards from the boss will be split evenly amongst the group. All we need is some extra manpower!"

Whilst walking through the crowd, Shinto could hear the constant shouts and calls for a party member. However, none of them interested Shinto. After all, they were all looking for a melee or ranged damage dealer. Not a supporter.

"Hmm... Finding a party that wants a supporter here would be hard since the difficulty of this place doesn't even require one..." Shinto muttered to himself as his eyes glanced over to the entrance of Black Wolf's Den, where he noted small groups of people were entering from and to the dungeon. "But for now... I should try finding a boss hunting party. That would be my best bet in having the liberty to test out my support skills."

The off-chance of finding a party that required a supporter was low. This was because damage dealers could simply brute force their way through the grind in the dungeon. Even Shinto, who was now a support class, could easily solo most of the enemies from Black Wolf's Den.

The only difficult factor of the dungeon was the boss, Black Fang. But, the boss usually would spawn at random intervals in random areas, thus, only those aiming for his rare drops would be after him. Otherwise, the dungeon was mostly treated as a normal hunting ground.

"..." While Shinto was deep in thought, he was still actively looking around the area, hoping to find a party amidst the onlookers for damage dealers. "...sigh. Should I just level up first and head to a much harder dungeon?"

Continuing to walk through the crowded area, Shinto's footsteps stopped in place as he reached the front entrance of the dungeon. With there being no signs of a party looking for a supporter, he sighed.

"Welp... No luck," he shook his head helplessly. "I guess I'll level up for the time being..." Just as the man was about to enter the dungeon, his ears tingled at the sound of certain words from a distance.

"Looking for a support class! Preferably one that can heal!" Turning towards the direction of the voice, Shinto spotted a particular party near the entrance. "We're planning on doing a general hunt! We need a supporter for maximum efficiency!"

"...!" At the moment that he realized that the party was looking for a supporter, Shinto quickly turned his body around—hurriedly making his way to the group in the next instance. "Hey... You said you were looking for a supporter?" Upon arrival, he spoke to the man at the forefront of the party.

As Shinto approached the young man who seemed to be a swordsman, his expression brightened up at the sight of Shinto. "Ah! You're a supporter—" However, just as he was about to continue with his sentence, a young girl immediately interrupted him.

"Oh?! You're a supporter?!" With the voice seemingly intruding onto the two, Shinto turned to the sudden voice in slight confusion. There, he saw that a brown-haired woman had gone up to him, with excitement in her eyes. "You're welcome to join our party if so! We're in dire need of one!"

"...huh?" Shinto blinked blankly at the woman's sudden approach.

"Ahem... Please don't mind her," the swordsman nervously laughed. "As I was trying to say before... You're a support class, right? If so, of what kind if I may ask?"

"Yes, I'm a supporter. Uh... One that's focused on the healing and damage side of things, to be exact," Shinto replied. "Are you the party leader?"

"Err... Well, no. Ractron went out somewhere for a bit. He tasked me to find a supporter before he came back," the swordsman answered. "Can you wait for a while? He should be back soon."

"No problem," Shinto nodded his head as he glanced around the group. Besides the swordsman and the young girl in front of him, an archer was leaning by the tree. "Besides the party leader who's missing, are these the rest of the group members?"

"Yep!" The young girl replied as she began introducing herself as well as the rest of the party members. "I'm Frey, by the way! This guy's name is Jerome! That girl over there is Kris! What about you?"

"Aha... The name's Shinto," he introduced himself. "Pleased to meet you."

It didn't matter for Shinto to hide his name from others. With the game widely released in the world, there were bound to be repeating names. As such, people could pass off a name that would typically be associated with a famed person as a coincidence. Even if someone were to recognize Shinto, he could easily deny any relation to him. After all, he wasn't a swordsman now. But instead, a supporter.

"Your name's Shinto? Cool!" Frey shouted out. "What level are you? Or well... It doesn't matter! As long as you can heal us! Well, you can do that, right? Right?"

"Ahem... Yes... I can heal," Shinto coughed at the barrage of questions from Frey. "But, do note that I've got a limited amount of resources, so... I can't always heal you."

"As long as you can, that will do!" her eyes shone brightly. "Now then... All that's left is for Ractron to come back! Just where is he?!”

At the shout of the party leader's name, sudden loud footsteps could be heard nearby the group. As the sound grew louder, a man could be seen reaching the group, seemingly in a hurry. "Hey, Jerome!" the man called out to him. "You found a supporter, yeah?"

"Uh, yeah...?" Jerome muttered out in surprise. "He's right beside you."

"Oh, him? Good, good!" The party leader—Ractron, nodded his head. "Here, quick, accept the invitation. After that, follow me inside the dungeon, we'll begin instantly!"

"...?"  Shinto raised his brow in confusion at the rushed invitation from the leader. "...why's he in a rush like that?" he muttered out in question as he noted that Ractron had quickly left the group behind and entered the dungeon without waiting for the others to be ready.

"Hmm... No idea!" Frey shrugged. "But, we should get going! We don't want to be left behind!" With her fists clenched in excitement, she began following behind Ractron. Moments after, the rest of the group members followed suit.