Axe Mastery

*Mastery is born through battle.*

## Summary

Axe Mastery is an F-Grade skill that Zac gained from one of his three level 25 skill quests for his Hatchetman class. It is one of many possible Mastery skills. The skill provided a Guidance system to train how to use an axe, and at higher proficiency how to incorporate appropriate Daos and Chop. Completing the quest for this skill also granted Zac a Dao Vision of the "Father of Axes" from which Zac gained the Seed of Heaviness, and set the foundation for his Seed of Sharpness.

Zac manually upgraded the skill to E-Grade during in his time in the Orom World and then to D-Grade shortly after returning from the Perennial Vastness.

## Skill Quest

Axe Mastery (Class): Mastery is born through battle. Fell 1,000 enemies. (0/1,000) **Book 1, Chapter 25**

* The Axe Mastery made no distinction of the strength of the enemies, and with his improved physique, he could grind it out in a week or two if he just focused on slaying barghest. **Book 1, Chapter 25**
* More importantly, Zac noticed that killing the barghest with the sword didn’t improve his quest for Axe Mastery. **Book 1, Chapter 29**
* Suddenly, as Zac slammed down his axe into the head of a barghest, a huge surge of Cosmic Energy entered his mind, causing him to almost black out. **Book 1, Chapter 36**
* As he sat down on the bedding of leaves, he could finally focus on the new things in his head. Just as he suspected, he had completed the quest for Axe Mastery with his last kill. His speed of killing had far surpassed his expectations. He had given himself a ten-day deadline but had finished it in just below a week’s time. **Book 1, Chapter 37**

## Skill Location

* *Ed. Note: Location changes without explanation.*
* He turned his eyes inward toward the axe fractal in his mind. **Book 1, Chapter 100**
* Completing the quest **[Axe Mastery]** had formed the axe fractal in his chest, but it was missing in his undead form just like the normal skills. **Book 3, Chapter 26**

## Skill Window

* Axe Mastery – Proficiency: Early. The seed of Dao is planted. Upgradeable **Book 1, Chapter 54**

## Dao Vision

When Zac first try to go over his new skill he received a vision. The vision first showed the aftermath of a fight of a dead world,

* He once again found himself standing on the desolate cliff. As he looked around, he found that the cliff was part of a seemingly endless canyon. ... The illusory world itself was a dull gray, as though all life had been sucked out of the area. **Book 1, Chapter 37**
* The most shocking sight wasn’t the canyon, however; it was the enormous axe ... It was at least fifty meters tall and gave off a pressure that almost made Zac collapse just from standing in the vicinity. The axe itself was simple and unadorned, with a straight wooden haft. It was a double axe made in seemingly ordinary steel with curved edges. Even though it looked simple, Zac felt that he was gazing at a supreme treasure just from the towering aura it exuded. **Book 1, Chapter 37**

and then showed the fight itself.

* The bleak dead world changed to one that could best be described as a paradise. **Book 1, Chapter 37**
* A sigh escaped his lips, making him realize he was not just an incorporeal being spectating, but inhabiting a body that was out of his control. **Book 1, Chapter 37**
* He simply lifted his axe and, with a grunt, swung it down in a vertical arc. It was as though the world turned white with that swing, and nothing existed except its almighty arc expanding outward. Nothing could withstand it. The celestial soldiers were dismembered without managing to even muster up a defense. **Book 1, Chapter 37**
* Zac’s vision started to blur, but the last thing he saw before everything faded was a hideous scar on the ground that stretched to the horizon. It looked like the world itself was maimed, and vast amounts of Cosmic Energy bled through the gash. **Book 1, Chapter 37**

This Axeman was later revealed to be the Heavenfall Autarch, "The Father of Axes", when Zac took the Big Axe Coliseum Entry Trial to get the Big Axe Gladiator Limited Title. **Book 7**, **Chapter 78.**

At the end of the vision he received the Axe Mastery skill fractal:

* As he was pondering what it all meant, the gigantic axe started emitting a blinding light. When he turned his eyes over to the weapon, the light intensified, and suddenly, the axe was gone. In its place was a large fractal that shared the same general outline as the axe. The fractal didn’t stay still for long, and suddenly started to shrink. ... it suddenly shot toward him like a bullet. ... and it slammed right into his forehead. ... The fractal hadn’t cut him but somehow entered his head instead. He could now sense its existence in his mind, and it hovered there now, seemingly inert. **Book 1, Chapter 37**
* He was shocked to notice that he was completely soaked in sweat and drained of Cosmic Energy. It also seemed that hours had passed rather than minutes as it had felt like, since the suns had moved quite a distance in the sky. **Book 1, Chapter 37**

The vision did not immediately grant a Dao Seed but needed some reflection:

* But after he performed the swing, he stopped. The attack just felt wrong. **Book 1, Chapter 38**
* His swing was missing something, and it was not form or technique, but something more intrinsic. **Book 1, Chapter 38**
* However, what had made the largest impression on Zac was the heaviness the swing had contained. **Book 1, Chapter 38**
* Zac tried to bring this sense of force and weight into his swing and started to bring more and more Cosmic Energy into it. His energy started to naturally flow along his pathways, and the whirling sounds from the axe sounded slightly deeper. **Book 1, Chapter 38**
* Just as he started to feel that he was grasping something, a blue box suddenly popped up by itself. **[Dao Seed gained – Heaviness] Book 1, Chapter 38**

The vision also set the groundwork for later gaining the Seed of Sharpness.

* He wished to both improve his current Seed of Heaviness, and get another seed, the Seed of Sharpness. These two forces were those he sensed to be strongest in the axe in his vision, and he felt that getting both of them was the first step on the path of true Axe Mastery. **Book 1, Chapter 49**
* He was diligently trying to improve the sense of sharpness of his strikes, cutting increasingly large gashes in the tunnel walls. **Book 1, Chapter 79**
* The edge was neither the pale blue as usual nor the darker shade from imbuing it with the Dao of Heaviness. It glistened with a silvery luster, and it looked like the very air itself was cut apart as Zac moved forward. ...It didn’t end there, though, as the strike slammed into the ground, tearing a fifty-meter gash into the ground with a thundering sound. It was like a miniature version of the huge canyon created by the axe-man in Zac’s first vision. **Book 1, Chapter 92** [*Ed. Note: This scene is where Zac gains the Seed of Shar*pness.]

## F-Grade

### Early Proficiency

* Now that the fractal felt active again, he once more tried to circulate Cosmic Energy through it. This time, it actually worked, and the fractal lit up. **Book 1, Chapter 39**
* Suddenly, his vision changed, and fractals started appearing. Some shone up like glowing footprints in the ground, and others were lights forming arcs and trajectories around him. **Book 1, Chapter 39**
* It felt like he was wearing augmented-reality goggles, giving him an extra layer of reality that only he could see. **Book 1, Chapter 39**
* After adjusting to his new vision, he tried stepping on the glowing footprints and moving his body according to the illuminated trajectories. He found himself swinging his axe in a slanted upwards motion. The movement felt smooth and natural, and it felt like he was able to bring the full force of almost his whole body into the swing. **Book 1, Chapter 39**
* There were not only normal swings, but every part of the axe was used. From the butt of the haft to the spike on the back side of the head, everything was used in an array of methods to maim and kill enemies. It even showed how to use the rest of his body, such as grabbing with his off-hand, footwork and tackles. **Book 1, Chapter 39**
* It couldn’t be said that the fractals in the air taught him actual skills, but rather basic guidance on how to properly move and handle an axe. **Book 1, Chapter 39**
* On the way from the camp, he tried using **[Axe Mastery]** in an actual battle with a barghest. He was disappointed to see that the trajectories wouldn’t actually assist him in battle and completely shut off right before the battle started. It seemed it was purely a training mechanism. **Book 1, Chapter 40**
* He was delighted to see that the **[Axe Mastery]** skill still worked while dual-wielding the axes. **Book 1, Chapter 54**
* This was the ninth day in the mines, and his speed of accruing crystals had progressed greatly as his mastery with his axes improved. **Book 1, Chapter 77**

### Middle Proficiency

* Two days ago, as he was swinging away at the tunnel wall, he actually evolved the skill. It seemed that the method to level up Axe Mastery was to learn and internalize everything the trajectories had to offer, and he had arduously kept trying to improve his form over the last two weeks. **Book 1, Chapter 79**
* The changes weren’t as obvious as with his other skill, though, only adding some techniques and strikes. It did, however, also incorporate both his Dao of Heaviness and his skill [Chop] into the mix. **Book 1, Chapter 79**

### Late Proficiency

* Both his **[Axe Mastery]** and **[Chop**] had improved once again, reaching Late Mastery. **Book 1, Chapter 87**
* It felt like the trajectories were slightly changed to accommodate his new weapon, making Zac once again marvel over the skill. It was also the first time he properly used the skill since it reached Late mastery, and as he expected, it better incorporated his Dao Seeds into the mix. **Book 1, Chapter 97**
* What surprised him was that it actually even incorporated the Dao of Trees. ... Every now and then, it told him to imbue his free hand with it as he used it for grabs or blocks. **Book 1, Chapter 97**

### Peak Proficiency

* It was the method provided by **[Axe Mastery]**, and he had been working on pushing that skill toward the peak in the past day. He was swapping between using the training fractals to guide him for an hour and then trying to apply those tactics in battle against his extremely willing sparring partners. **Book 4, Chapter 89**
* The skill had actually provided him with another vision, and Zac’s heart beat with excitement as he let the vision take him away. **Book 4, Chapter 89**
* However, Zac started to frown when he didn’t sense any insights coming from the barrage of visions. **Book 4, Chapter 90**
* “Dao Vision?” Galau repeated before he shook his head. “No, the mastery skill doesn’t provide that. The visions simply give various examples of how you can further your studies, but it’s not required to follow. If you have a Heritage, you’ll simply follow that instead.” **Book 4, Chapter 91**

## E-Grade

### Upgrading

* Therefore, the only step needed to upgrade the skills was to increase the detail of the pathways, and he already knew how to do that. **Chapter 814**
* Mastery skills had two empty sockets, where one was recommended to leave a pattern representing one's Daos. That meant, he could leave two marks of his Dao Branch in **[Axe Mastery]**, and the impartments would be slightly adjusted to suit his flavor of axe usage. **Chapter 814**
* Ultimately, Zac created two different patterns, each one looking like one of the two axes his avatar used as he swapped between forms. **Chapter 814**

### Early Proficiency

* The proposed trajectories were identical to when he used the Peak Mastery F-grade skill. There was nothing new that was shown. Zac thought it over before he infused the fractal with his Branch of the War Axe, and he nodded in satisfaction when they changed. Exactly how the strikes differed were a bit hard to pinpoint, but as he went through the motions, they felt extremely comfortable. **Chapter 814**
* The mastery skill showed a shadow of the Integration Stage, where pure technique had started getting influenced by heavenly truths. **Chapter 814**

### Middle Proficiency

* This time around, he occasionally swapped over to his human side to reference the teachings hidden inside the E-grade **[Axe Mastery]**. Unsurprisingly, it was also this skill that first reached middle proficiency after just two weeks. **Chapter 814**
* Since then, he had continued improving his axework on his own, and he had already discovered most of the lessons in the upgraded version of the mastery skill through battle. Some discoveries allowed him to advance his techniques, but reaching middle mastery was mostly about gaining a deeper understanding of many things he was already doing by instinct. **Chapter 814**
* After reaching Middle Mastery, the trajectories and strikes the skills showcased became even more sublime. They didn’t only exact extreme requirements on force and momentum, but there was something ethereal about them, something that defied being grasped easily. It was like every swing contained thousands of variations, and every time he performed the attacks Zac sensed something different. **Chapter 815**

### Late/Peak Proficiency

* Four months ago, Zac finally reached peak proficiency of his two Mastery Skills. The skills hadn’t provided any visions this time around, but rather taken his techniques even closer to the Dao, showing the way in a sense. **Chapter 817**

## D-Grade

### Upgrading

* The Mastery Skill Fractals were among the simpler ones between his two Classes, and the upgrade smoothly proceeded. The only issue came from his Arcane Pathways, which wasn't too happy about the unattuned skills. **Chapter 1,097**
* It was only a small issue since all mastery skills were quite flexible, but he was probably better off removing the fractals after reaching Peak D-grade and incorporating all their teachings. Technically, he could have infused the skill with the Branches of Pale Seal and War Axe to push them closer to his Inexorable path, but Zac had opted to keep the skills unattuned. **Chapter 1,097**

### Early Proficiency

* Upgrading his two mastery skills had been easy, but incorporating their teachings was another matter. There was no end to the variations hidden within the D-grade trajectories, and he'd only reached initial success after a month of effort. **Chapter 1,106**
* The E-grade skills had taken him a couple of months to push to Peak Mastery and incorporate into his technique, but Zac felt the D-grade versions would take at least ten times that long. **Chapter 1,106**

## Commentary

* The reality actually trumped his expectations, and the rewards were twofold. The first part was the vision, which Zac now was certain was shown to him so that he could plant his Dao Seed. The other part was this guidance system that could help him improve his form and fighting abilities. **Book 1, Chapter 39**
* Zac was simply lacking combat proficiency. He had learned some of it from battle, but battle with animals and **[Axe Mastery]** could only take him so far. **Book 2, Chapter 90**
* Pushing Axe Mastery to the peak was probably not something that would help him in the tower, but it was still something that needed to be done. It was proof of a basic grasp of his weapon, and something that would positively impact his class choices. How would he get a good axe class if he couldn’t even be bothered to max out his most basic axe skill first? **Book 4, Chapter 89**
* The skill **[Axe Mastery]** was essentially a basic training skill that would allow him to gain a fundamental understanding of his weapon, and reaching the peak meant that he had completed the basic training course. But that didn’t mean he had mastered the art of the axe. **Book 4, Chapter 90**
* “I thought so. Felt too talented for the basic courses, eh?” Pavina grinned. “I could sense that you have **[Axe Mastery]** at least, which probably is why your axework is far superior to the control of your chains. Go evolve your **[Axe Mastery]** and then buy **[Armament Mastery]** if you have an available slot. **Chapter 812**
* He had also used the Peak-Proficiency **[Axe Mastery]** a bit between fights to give himself a refresher course to see if he had missed something. ... he was both embarrassed and delighted to see how many insights were hidden in the seemingly simple swings. It wasn’t just about the Dao of the Axe, and neither were the ever-flowing set of attacks empty receptacles to be filled with his Daos to reach the Integration Stage. It was like every marked-out trajectory contained a lesson on everything from tactics to momentum, if you knew to listen. They were unsullied by outside concepts, unblemished by biases or the influence of classes or anything else. **Chapter 813**
* Revisiting the Mastery-skills made him realize that he was dreadfully inefficient in this manner. Some things did not need a fancy solution. **Chapter 813**
* This was intentional. Even if Zac could fight mostly unencumbered with almost any type of axe thanks to his mastery, there would be a sense of imbalance when he used his Inexorable Stance. **Chapter 904**
* But I didn't really sense the deadly intent of the axe, the ferocity and indomitability. Let me guess; you haven't fully comprehended **[Axe Mastery]** yet?" "I was busy working on other things," Emily coughed. **Chapter 970**
* She reached the final level of her E-grade **[Axe Mastery]** in just two weeks, and Zac could feel her daily progress. **Chapter 971**
* Zac was about to ask what Null meant, but a shimmering line suddenly appeared on the ground. It led out of the square and into an adjoining building. It reminded Zac of the guidance trajectories that his **[Axe Mastery]** created. **Chapter 981**