Nature’s Edge

*Nature is the most ruthless weapon.*

## Summary

Nature's Edge is a peak-quality skill Zac made by using one of his Skill Upgrade Quests from his Edge of Arcadia class to fuse his Hatchetman class skill Chop with Nature’s Barrier, a skill he received from his Dao Repository. The fusing of this skill followed his precept to delve into the depths of life through conflict on his human side.

Nature's Edge is a repeatable attack that can send out a storm of leaves who properties vary depending on the Dao they are infused with, and at late proficiency adds an explosion of leaves surrounding the wielder. Nature's Edge can still create a fractal edge over an axe as with Chop.

On the upgrade to D-Grade, Zac modified Nature's Edge to become Evolutionary Edge following his return from Perennial Vastness.

## Fusion

* Zac had gained his first skill upgrade quest at level 90 as expected, and another one at level 100. Both of them provided him with one opportunity to freely fuse or upgrade one of his F-grade skills, though the upgrade only allowed for upgrading Class-specific skills. **Book 7, Page 629**
* The System assisted in the upgrades, but the cultivator could actually nudge the process in certain directions as long as they had a clear understanding of the skill fractals and what they wanted to change. **Book 7, Page 629**
* The next day was spent performing one fusion after another, and Zac gained a lot of inspiration and comprehension every time. Zac also realized that he had worried about nothing, as every single fusion lived up to his expectations, even the two for his Draugr side. **Book 7, Page 637**
* They had all been at upper-middle E-grade in power, yet they had been cut apart without providing much resistance at all. This was exactly what Zac had wanted to see, and he was extremely relieved relieved to see that his fusion of **[Chop]** and **[Nature’s Barrier]** had worked out just as he hoped. **Book 7, Page 682**
* One half of him would delve into the depths of life through conflict, while the other into death and conflict. That was why he had focused on only creating skills that followed these fusions. Both **[Nature’s Edge]** and **[Arcadia’s Judgment]** followed this rule, as did his two new skills for his Fetters of Desolation class. **Book 7, Page 687**

## Skill Fractal Location

**Right Hand**

A storm of Cosmic Energy streamed into an intricate fractal on his hand, but no fractal edge formed after activating the skill that took the spot where **[Chop]** was once housed. **Book 7, Page 681**

## Skill Window

[E] Nature's Edge - Proficiency: Peak. Nature is the most ruthless weapon. Upgradeable. **Chapter 898**

## Early Proficiency

### Ranged Attack

* It was like he unleashed a storm with his swing, but that storm quickly congealed into a dozen two-meter-wide leaves that radiated not only an immense amount of life force, but also an overbearing sharpness. The leaves were long, thin, and slightly curved like the blade of a scimitar, and they swirled around as they shot into the pack of beasts. ... The so-called hard carapaces couldn’t survive a second against Zac’s new E-grade skill, though he had empowered the leaves with the Fragment of the Bodhi. **Book 7, Page 681**
* Another gust of leaves shot out a moment later, but this time, the leaves almost looked like they were made of metal, having gained a slight silvery sheen. Zac looked on with interest as the leaves cut into the rocklings with their incredible sharpness, and the ground rumbled as the beast collapsed one by one. **Book 7, Page 684**

### Melee Attack

* But the emerald swirl around **[Verun’s Bite]** moved to the front of the axe edge and congealed into a singular thin leaf that looked as real as a physical one. **Book 7, Page 682**

## Middle Proficiency

* *No textual information. From context it happened during the three years Zac spent training in the Orom World Wilderness.*

## Late Proficiency

### Burst Attack

* Reaching late mastery added a unique feature just like when **[Chop]** reached peak mastery. It didn’t add a persistent controllable blade though. It rather allowed Zac to unleash a torrent of destruction, hundreds of leaves, in every direction. Activated in the heart of an army it causes untold bloodshed, but it can also be used to break out of a siege, like now. **Chapter 818**
* The swirling storm of leaves was still filling the arena, actually providing a layer of protection in addition to being sharp enough to cut through steel. They flickered about in a seemingly random pattern, but Zac knew their movements weren't random. They were instilled with the Fragment of Bodhi, and they created everchanging formations based on his Evolutionary Stance that both targeted the mirrors while also blocking the blasts they released. The scene was reminiscent of **[Nature's Protection]** [*sic*], the defensive skill that had gone into the fusion of **[Nature's Edge]**.
* Zac guessed that the mirrors were a continuously running skill like his **[Deathmark]**, while the storm of leaves was a single-summon-ability that Zac was unable to replenish. The cooldown was quite short before he could resummon another storm, but he would still be exposed to attacks for an extended duration if nothing changed. **Chapter 818**

## Peak Proficiency

* In fact, most of his skills were evolving, proving just how powerful the altar was. That was not to say it was all thanks to this temple. Many of his skills were long overdue for an upgrade, ... After having been through two tremendous epiphanies and getting blessed by the altar, they were all bursting forth at once. **Chapter 897**

## Upgrade to D-Grade

* **[Nature's Edge]** had seen a larger overhaul, even more so than **[Deathmark]**. **Chapter 1,086**
* *Upgraded to Evolutionary Edge. **Chapter 1,086***

## Synergy

* The effect of his two Dao Fragments on his new skill was pretty interesting. The Fragment of the Bodhi increased the number of leaves, and Zac felt that they also contained more energy, which would make them harder to destroy. Meanwhile, adding the Fragment of the Axe actually decreased the number of leaves compared to no Dao infusion at all, but it did instead drastically increase the lethality of the individual leaves. That left the Fragment of the Coffin, but Zac wasn’t too certain he would be able to infuse that skill with his third Dao Fragment. **Book 7, Page 686**
* Together with the added sturdiness stemming from **[Adamance of Eoz]**, the leaves were extremely hard to damage, let alone destroy. **Chapter 818**
* Still, Zac stayed on, and a meter-long leaf appeared next to the edge of **[Verun’s Bite]**. The next moment, dense runes covered the leaf as it was infused by **[Rapturous divide]** [*sic*]. **Chapter 883**
* The hundreds of fractal leaves hadn’t managed to actually hit the invisible target, but between the omniscience of **[Ancestral Woods]** and the feedback from the blades, he had still managed to find what he looked for. **Chapter 883**
* Normally, the activation of the skill would end there, and Zac would have to wait a few seconds before he could activate the leafstorm again. This time, it was different. The leaves never stopped forming when empowered by **[Arcadian Crusade]**. Hundreds of blades grew to thousands, turning Zac into a walking calamity. **Chapter 1,070**

## Commentary

* ... but he decided that an E-grade equivalent of **[Chop]** was of the highest priority. **Book 7, Page 682**
* Meanwhile, **[Nature’s Edge]** was a perfect fusion between Nature and Axe, using the form of **[Nature’s Barrier]** and the function of **[Chop]**. **Book 7, Page 683**
* **[Gorehew]** could be used repeatedly in battle, just like **[Nature’s Edge]**. **Book 8, Page 29**
* The few that were unavoidable were cut apart by a Bodhi-infused **[Nature’s Edge]**. Such an attack full of life-attuned aura didn’t seem to draw the semi-sapient plants’ attention, allowing him to avoid any further retaliation. **Book 8, Page 371**
* It wasn’t nearly as good at dealing with crowds as the explosion of blades **[Nature’s Edge]** could release, but its lethality was close to half of **[Rapturous Divide]**’s while still being a repeatable attack. **Chapter 869**
* A storm of leaves spread out from his body as Zac released a horizontal swing. **[Nature's Edge]** was not only imbued with the Branch of the War Axe this time, but also the Branch of the Kalpataru in one of his self-made Dao Braids. The combination resulted in a terrifying force that effortlessly warded off the innumerable blade beams inside Uzu's attack. **Chapter 879**
* His ambush was followed by a burst of carnage from **[Nature's Edge]**. At this proximity, each warrior was almost instantly hit by over a dozen fractal leaves infused with two branches and empowered by both **[Spiritual Void]** and **[Adamance of Eoz]**. ... It was almost impossible to perfectly avoid getting hit by the leaves in this enclosed space, and the two infiltrators who backed away were no exception. **Chapter 893**
* To add insult to injury, the body was cut apart by a storm of fractal leaves as Zac unleashed his area attack of **[Nature's Edge]** that covered a good portion of the basin. **Chapter 903**
* A barrage of fractal leaves shot toward the man, but the shallow cuts they left on the fleshy armor healed almost instantly. **Chapter 903**
* A torrential burst of Dao-empowered fractal leaves drenched the area in blood, except for the three masked warriors. A secondary barrier had sprung up to protect them, though it was severely battered by the dozens of strikes coming from the ultimate form of **[Nature's Edge]**. **Chapter 914**
* ... he appeared just at the edge of the Kan'Tanu army, where he unleashed another series of Dao-Empowered of Fractal Leaves to take out another Hegemon. **Chapter 914**
* A huge fractal blade shuddering with barely contained Dao appeared on the edge of his axe, and **[Verun's Bite]** keened with fighting spirit as he swung the weapon at an upward angle. The blade tore into the beam, splitting its front in two. However, a lone leaf was not enough to completely bisect this beam of unfettered fire. Of course, the fractal leaves of **[Nature's Edge]** rarely traveled alone. A storm followed in the first fractal blade's wake, and they ripped the beam part like a swarm of piranhas. **Chapter 958**
* A storm of fractal leaves erupted from his body, each one two meters long and imbued with both War Axe and Kalpataru. **Chapter 993**
* It was Vivi who had wound herself around a nearby tree, and Zac entered its trunk after shooting out a burst of Void-generated fractal leaves. **Chapter 1,028**
* The gleaming leaf reached one hundred meters in no time, yet it kept growing with extreme speed as Zac poured more and more energy into the skill. Soon, it dwarfed even the enormous sphere, and a piercing scream echoed through the battlefield as it descended in a murderous vertical arc. **Chapter 1,070**
* Each individual blade only held a fraction of Zac's strength, but they were still equivalent to a Late Stage E-grade cultivator's attack. **Chapter 1,070**