Jason moved on from that and took a closer look at the two. Yep, not much difference between how they were attacking his body. Jason did understand that normally a poison and venom would be acting differently from one another. Besides that, there are a ton of different poisons and venoms out there that act differently from others. If you dig deeper, it can be seen that the System isn’t removing those distinctions for ease of gameplay either.
Sure, there are antidote potions and spells out there. Those don’t work on the physical nature of the stuff, though. From how Jason understands it, the more general antidotes work instead on a more intent based level. Poison is poison and so they don’t have to go much further. This isn’t all powerful, but your average viper isn’t going to be packing a venom that subverts expectations enough to escape.
The more Jason watches though the more confused he gets. The differences between the two have more to do with the specific effect and not the nature of the substance. There is no reason that the skill should be splitting the two and as far as he was concerned, that left one option.
The skill wasn’t at fault, the System wasn’t at fault, and his body wasn’t at fault. Rather, the skill was working as it was designed. In the end, the problem was it wasn’t designed for him. Sure, it had evolved and now had “Energetic” in the name, but that wasn’t a complete redo of the skill.
Jason nods to himself. This didn’t necessarily make things harder. It was just a different puzzle to solve. Though knowing what you’re trying to solve was generally a good first step to any problem. A mental step back and he decides to pull up the skills description.
{Energetic Poison and Venom Resistance
One of the rare active skill based resistances. While still able to passively provide benefits, this skill really shines when directly used. As there are many types of poison and venom, the System has decided it is best like this rather than a stat as this allows more variety without littering the stat line with entries like ‘elven paralysis poison resistance’. Uses the best percentage.
Initiate Level 6 - 31.51%
Rarity: Exquisite Beginner
Type: Passive/Active, Energy, Adaptive
Effects:
- Willful Purge - Able to send charges of Energy through the body to break down poison and venom in the body
- Poison Resistances -
- Trash rank pain and paralysis poisons - Immunity
- Trash rank non-damaging poison resistance - 72%
- Trash rank poison resistance - 36%
- Low Normal rank poison resistance - 15%
- Normal rank paralysis poison resistance - 33%
- Normal rank poison resistance - 11%
- Venom Resistances -
- Trash rank paralysis venom resistance - Immunity
- Trash rank non-damaging venom resistance - 65%
- Trash rank venom resistance - 32%
- Low Normal rank venom resistance - 6%
- Normal rank paralysis venom resistance - 21%
- Normal rank venom resistance - 1%
- Alcohol resistance -
- Normal rank monster alcohol resistance - 5%
- Normal rank alcohol resistance - 5%}
Alcohol was a separate resistance. Jason had known this, but only now did it hit him. Maybe the skill wasn’t completely wrong for him. Whoever had created the basis for the skill had allowed for certain categories to be treated separately. Sure, it likely was only so they could get drunk on the cheap, but he wasn’t going to complain.
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In fact, as he considers the various points about the skill, whoever created it was likely a soldier or mercenary of some sort. Not to say that others wouldn’t want to get drunk and subsequently purge it at a moment’s notice if needed. The dual nature of the skill and selective resistances, however, paint a different story.
This skill was created by someone who wouldn’t have easy access to the higher class booze needed to get through resistances. On the other hand, they also would regularly need to be ready for action at a moment’s notice.
Jason couldn’t be 100% certain, but his mind was painting a picture of a soldier who was regularly sent into wilder areas of the world. The only source of booze would be the rations and that was going to be more mortal drink than anything else. Beyond that, the area was dangerous enough that someone strong enough to not be affected by the alcohol rations would also need to be alert at all times. Probably not the leader of the unit, but one of the squad leaders a rank or two down from that.
That all adds up to a skill that likely got passed around a lot and likely stayed flexible. The fact the System could just slap the label “Energetic” on it and have the skill work, points towards the flexible part being much truer than not. This means the door is open to him switching things up, he just needs to figure out how to step through.
As luck would have it, Jason has about the best seat in the house to observe and figure out the solution. Right now, even if the active part of the skill isn’t being used, the passive part is at work and he can see it working. Those who came before would have likely had to do this by feel and here he was with a visual guide.