《The Road Of A Myth》 Prologue In one of the many countries on earth, in an ordinary low-class school, one class of students had stayed after school to clean up the halls Why would they be doing the janitor¡¯s job? Well off course because it was their punishment for sneaking out during lunch break to buy some games, at least a few of them did anyway ¡°I hate this all for one mentality the teachers have, two guys sneak out and the whole class gets punished this is just unfair¡± One particular big man said to the rest of the students, he seemed to be out of place when placed around these teenagers who were 18 to 19 years old, probably because he had failed two years in a row ¡°C¡¯mon jack you can¡¯t blame us for that when you requested a game yourself, if it wasn¡¯t for us you wouldn¡¯t have gotten a copy of the New Halo series¡± A punk looking fellow talked back to the big boy named jack, but before the situation heated up one of the girls in the corner berated the both of them with her sharp tone ¡°You two be quite, almost all the boys sent for those copies, if anything it is us girls who got the short end of the stick, we got nothing and now were stuck with you guys for a whole hour after school¡± More and more people started giving their opinions on the matter, some chipped in a little and some remained quite withholding their comments to themselves, or totally didn¡¯t listen at all ¡®I guess those ice cream cones that you were eating weren¡¯t the ones that bust us out?¡¯ Shun was one of the few that withheld his comment as he knew it would only fan the fire, the last thing he wanted was to drive them into a more heated conversation causing even more delay in the cleaningThis tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°If you girls don¡¯t like spending time with us that much just leave we can clean this ourselves¡± One particular slim guy with glasses on retorted to the girl at the helm of the girls, his comment though received cold and annoyed gazes from the girls while the buy outright told him to shut up, the last thing they wanted was to clean the mess themselves when it was the girls fault they were exposed ¡®Haaah these guys are really just big children¡¯ Shun thought to himself as he mopped away, he was a mature person for his age group, and he was on the quiet and rational side, so he saw their childish behavior beneath him, but he also knew that he must endure it and help them clean as he had actually been one of them boys that ordered a copy of them game, his pastime was reading books and gaming so he couldn¡¯t help but request one for himself Rumble~ ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Huh? What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Where is that noise coming from?¡± Everyone stopped mopping and turned their attention to the surroundings trying to make out where the weird sudden vibration sound came from, they looked at each other but no one had an answer ¡°The ground!¡± One boy with red hair named Rekka pointed out, and true enough the ground started shaking, ensuing screams from the students ¡°An earthquake!¡± ¡°Hurry to the classroom! Use the tables for cover!¡± Rekka lead the students to the classroom, his calm voice guided the students out of their initial panic, and soon all of them were under the tables in their classroom But before anyone could heave a sigh of relief another weird phenomenon popped up Wennnnn~ Lines of light emerged from the ground, they were connected weirdly forming a weird structure that floated up and started expanding, once it encompassed the entire room another structure made of light emerged and the two hastily closed toward each other, disappearing with all the screaming students within ¡­.. Moments after their disappearance a figure appeared in the sky above the school, its sharp gaze pierced through the walls in search of clues, but after finding no trace of the students it shrugged and waved its hand, collapsing the school into ruins before disappearing To Spin or Not to Spin Within a white space that seemed to have no end nor beginning a structure of light came into being, the structure split apart, as it did a few beings fell out into the white space breaking the silence with their screams and cries. ¡°Ahhhh!¡± ¡°Mommyyy!¡± ¡°Hic!¡± ¡°Uwaaaa¡± The scattered students soon noticed where they were, except for some frail ones that kept bawling most of them started to calm down and get up ¡®Hmm? Where are we? Did we die?¡¯ Shun thought to himself as he got up, he had calmed down pretty quickly and started looking around, he saw that Rekka and two girls next to him were already calmly assessing the situation like him, aside from them everyone else was pretty much still flustered [Welcome guests form another world] ¡°Huh? W-who¡¯s there!¡± ¡°Where is the sound coming from?¡± Jack and the punk from before, Sid, were looking around in fluster [I am the being that summoned you to this world] The voice continued unhurriedly, as it talked the students could see light specs forming together into a humanoid figure, once the sparkles faded they saw the most beautiful women they had ever seen their entire life. She had white hair longer than her own body that swayed about while she levitated in front of them, her eyes shifted in color with each passing second, her body looked as if it had been shaped to the limits of humanity¡¯s beauty. [My name is Levia, and I am the governor of the world you are about to be sent to] As her melodious voice tickled their ears everyone gulped a few mouthfuls, even Shun couldn¡¯t help but stare at her beauty, it was almost hypnotizing to look at [Now then I will grant you my blessings before I send you off to the world] Her statement snapped some of them out of their trance, one of which was Rekka who soon voiced out his concerns ¡°What is the world we are being sent to and why? Why did you summon us?¡± Levia smiled at the question putting sending everyone into another trance as they admired the beauty of the smile [That is for you to figure out, I will now bestow upon you my blessings] The students suddenly felt their body being lifted...because it was, and they were separated from each other, forming a circle around Levia, then the white ground beneath them cracked and a peculiar object came out, the object looked square-ish and had a lever with a sphere on its end, it almost looked like¡­ ¡°A slot machine?¡± Shun unconsciously said out loud, he really couldn¡¯t link this thing to anything else than a slot machine [Indeed, you shall gain my blessing by using the slot machine, in the world where you are being sent everyone gains three skills once they are of age, most of them gain common or uncommon skills while a rare minority could get rare or epic skills, and only a few chosen ones could get a legendary skill] Levia let the few of them process her words a bit before continuing [Each of you have one legendary coin in your slot machines, you could spin the slot machine to get a single skill of the legend rank, or you could exchange the coin for two coins of a lower rank, the choice is up to you] Once she was finished Shun didn¡¯t hear the retorts and questioning he expected from his fellow students, in fact he didn¡¯t hear anything as only the sound of his breathing could be heard Shun waited a bit but still didn¡¯t hear anything, so he turned his attention toward the slot machine in front of him He noticed that other than the lever on the side of the machine there were two buttons next to the screen, one pointed up while the other pointed down, between them was a small screen showing a coin glowing with a golden hue with the number one next to it ¡®This is the legendary skill coin?¡¯ He inspected the machine a bit more but couldn¡¯t find anything else, after looking around he decided to go around the machine to try and see if the others already pulled the slot machine But when he looked behind the slot machine all he could see was white mist that gave zero visibility ¡®Trying to isolate us eh?¡¯ He turned back to the screen and started recalling what the women Levia had said ¡®There are five ranks to skills based on what she said, they follow the same order that games do, but their drop chance in the world is really low, which means anyone who gets a legendary rank skill would be able to pull his weight about¡¯ Going by that logic it would most definitely be a wise choice to choose to spin for a legendary ¡®On the other hand, she said the people there only got three skills when they became of age¡¯ Though most people would let this detail go and focus on the bigger and longer explanation about ranks Shun paid more attention to it instead ¡®Did that mean they could gain more skills later? Or is it they are stuck with what they get from that moment onward, hmm she didn¡¯t say anything about that so I can¡¯t make any assumptions¡¯ He stared at the coin for a while in debate, after hesitating a bit he pushed the down button, that caused the coin glow purple instead while the number next to it rose to two, Shun then pressed the up button and that caused the coin to go back to the single legendary coin againStolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡®So I can switch back, okay let¡¯s see how many coins I can exchange if I keep going down¡¯ Shun pressed the down button a few times more, after the two purple colored coins which should be epic, he got four blue glowing coins which should be rare, then eight green uncommon coins, and finally sixteen white common coins ¡®Just as she had said, for each coin you can get two of a lower rank, though she didn¡¯t deliberate on that too much¡¯ Shun still didn¡¯t make the spin as he thought about it some more ¡®If I could get a legendry rank skill that could put me together with the few most powerful people in that world, and my path should become smooth from then onward, but¡­¡¯ His eyes wandered toward the many question marks that filled the screen, it was unknown what skill they held within ¡®If I choose to get a legendry rank that would mean I would have one single skill, and it is unknown if I could ever gain anymore skills, which could mean that the skill from then on would define who I am for the rest of my life in that world, and if that skill happened to be one that is useless or mediocre then¡­¡¯ He could easily imagine a few bad scenarios that could happen to him if that was indeed the case ¡®On the other hand I could get two epic or four rare skills, which could give me a larger chance at gaining a useful skill¡¯ He kept bouncing the ideas within his mind for a while, but no matter how much he debated he really couldn¡¯t see one being absolutely better than the other, with the limited information he had there was no way to figure out a definite answer ¡®There really isn¡¯t a best choice here, but I¡¯m not going to go for a single legendry skill and bet my life on this one chance¡¯ Shun thought what type of coin he should exchange for as he looked at the slot machine, it really would have been great if there a reward list that he could review before he made the spin¡­ ¡®Wait, she never said the coins lower than legendry would only give use skills of that rank, this is a slot machine after all, there might be a chance to get higher level skills with lower value coins¡¯ Thinking about it from this perspective Shun made up his mind, he exchanged for sixteen common coins before pulling the lever with a heavy heart A single box appeared on the screen while the question marks started to spin, finally they stopped after a few seconds with a sound Dun! There was a white glow around the question mark in the box, Shun looked at it and then pressed his hand on the question mark, what followed was a sudden wave of power that ended pretty quickly, but Shun knew that he had gained the skill within as new information now existed within his mind >Cooking [Common]: The ability to cook all that is edible on the earth ¡®Cooking? And it¡¯s a common skill, hmm well it never hurts to be self-sufficient¡¯ Thinking that it was still the first pull and he shouldn¡¯t expect too much he pulled the lever again The slots spun and landed on another question mark, which he touched, this time though the power surge was even less than the one before it >Long Nails [Common]: Instantly protract your nails ¡°W-wha? This can also be called a skill?¡± Shun muttered to himself in wonder, he never thought having long nails could also be called a skill, but thinking about it again it might be sharp nails like the claws of a cat so he tried to use the skill [You cannot use skills in this space, only when you are sent to the world would the skills start taking effect] The melodies voice tickled his ears, he raised his head but he still only saw white fog, it appears Levia was still watching ¡®Well off course shed be watching, she¡¯s probably waiting for us to finish then send us back¡¯ He pulled the lever again and repeated his previous actions > Quick Step [Common]: An instant step that utilizes the bodies maximum speed He pulled again >Lesser Demon Summon [Common]: Summons a Lesser Demon to be bound to the summoner Again >Water Element Mastery [Common]: Mastery over Water Dammit Again! >Unnerving Aura [Common]: Those around you will feel unnerved by your presence ¡°Did I mess up by choosing this?¡± Shun started panicking at this point, he was down to ten pulls and he hadn¡¯t gotten a single uncommon skill, if the slot machine really gave skills that were of the coins rank then he had failed big time ¡°I will spin twice more and if I don¡¯t get anything other than common I¡¯ll exchange the last eight back into a single epic coin¡± He extended his hands to the lever as he thought about his failed theory, he might end up with a trash epic skill rather than a trash legend skill which was even worse, and most of the skills he got didn¡¯t look too helpful ¡®Do I have to spin them manually like this? Usually there is a ten spin button¡­¡¯ His hand that was about to pull the lever froze a bit, then he hurriedly let go of it and started looking as the machine instead ¡®Yes how could I forget, usually there is a 10 spin that could raise the odds of a higher drop, though it may be that there are only common skills for common coins but it won¡¯t hurt to look around¡¯ As he looked around the machine and to its side he couldn¡¯t find a single other button ¡®Do I really have to spin twice before spinning for an epic¡­¡¯ Not resigned to his fate he went to the back of the machine to look more, and to his surprise he found a single glowing light at the back ¡®What is this?¡¯ Thinking it couldn¡¯t go worse he pressed the light, what followed was a loud sound of cogs shifting about, but other than that there were no changed to the machine ¡°Sigh¡± He disappointedly walked back to the front of the machine and prepared to spin¡­ ¡°Huh?¡± On the screen there were now ten boxes lined up, five on the top and five on the bottom, between them was a single diamond shaped box with a plus on its top right, many smaller question marks filled the new screen but looked the same to the previous question marks other than size ¡°There truly was a ten times spin, and it seems it¡¯s one of those spin ten get one free, finally my luck is looking brighter now¡± He took a deep breath, held it in, and pulled the lever firmly Dun Dun Din Den! Dun Dun Den! Dun Din Dim! Din With each skill settling in the box a sound popped up, when it was a white one it was quite dull and it became higher as the rarity of the skill increased Finally, there were eleven skills on the screen, five of which were shining white while three were green one of which was the one in the plus box, two others were blue and one was purple ¡°C¡¯mon c¡¯mon be something good!¡± Shun rubbed his hands before pressing on the epic skill first, he wanted to get the load off his chest so he went in for the big prize A huge amount of power that sent a rumble through his body surged forth, it made Shun¡¯s face wrap up in discomfort for a few seconds before it started to settle down, giving him some room to breath ¡°Haah, that was suffocating, what the hell would I feel if I had to get a legendary?¡± He gathered his breath for a bit as he brought forth the new skills information >Soul Rend [Epic]: Rends the targets Soul apart ¡°Woo, sounds nice, guess I got something good¡± With a lighter heart Shun continues to absorb the other skills from the screen >Eagle Eye [Common]: Eyes as sharp as an eagle >Alchemist [Common]: Mix Potions using common ingredients >Spiritual Blood Pool [Uncommon]: Condenses a Spiritual Blood Pool within the Soul >Lucid Search [Rare]: Meditate to use the mind to search the surroundings >Polearm Master [Common]: The ability to wield all Polearms >Smash [Common]: Smash the enemy >Stealth [Rare]: Enter a hardly detectible state >Therianthrope-Crow [Common]: Turn into a crow >Night Vision [Uncommon]: Can see in the night >Limit-Release [Uncommon+]: Release your limits! ¡®Uncommon plus? Is it special or something? Hmm I¡¯ll have to check on that when I get to the world¡¯ Seconds after he had absorbed the last ability from the plus box white light started shining around him, and he heard his classmate¡¯s sounds, some of them complaining, while others sighed in relief, but they all became quite as Levia spoke to them for the final time before sending them to the world [Before I send you I must warn you to not speak of this place to any occupant of the world, else you would suffer punishment, lastly I hope all of you can strive to achieve your dreams in your new world, Best of Luck] As her words feel down the light finally shifted out of existence, sending the students to the new world, with it a sigh could be heard in the now almost empty space, followed by a melodies muttering [I tried to hide it but alas they found it¡­] Then the white space went back to its original silence Welcome Feast ¡®Argh!¡¯ Shun could feel pain all over his body while the world around him kept moving haphazardly like he was in some sort of weird tunnel, he wanted to concentrate on the surroundings but the weird phenomenon¡¯s occurring all over his body prevented him from doing so His head felt like someone was pummeling it with a heavy rod, except the rod was made out of information that was stuffed inside his brain to the point he couldn¡¯t forget it even if he wanted to, his body also pulsed with power and emptied again, over and over, it only lessened when a feeling of power arose from his heart which now seemed a lot stronger, his mind seemed to be struggling as well, not only with the information, but something else as well, but that sensation was soon overcome as whatever was tugging at his mind was vanquished quite fast when he exerted his will toward it Finally, after what seemed like days his body and mind calmed down, but before he could even catch his breath he felt gravity pulling him down and then he beautifully met the ground with a loud thud ¡°Uhhh¡± ¡°Agh! What the hell!¡± ¡°Uwww I nee..bleergh¡± ¡°That¡­ Was Sick! Better than any roller coaster I¡¯ve been to in my life¡± Various concerning sounds came from the students, especially the last one, very concerning, it seemed everyone had experienced something similar to what Shun had been through, though some of them seemed to be a lot more well off than him ¡°Welcome! Heroes from another world¡± That was what everyone heard as soon as they got together their bearings, looking around they saw weirdly dressed people who looked to be from the medieval ages, around them were many guards equipped with swords and spears which further confirmed their view about the situation ¡°I, the king of Avihal, the land of the heroes, welcome you to our world heroes!¡± Turning their eyes, the students looked at the man in the very middle of the formation, the man who addressed himself as the king was a fat bellied man who was dressed extra extravagant, he had so many jewelries on you could go blind ¡°Come my heroes, let us guide you to the banquet we are holding in your welcome, please this way¡± The person who stepped up was an elegantly dressed girl, seeing her the word princess came to mind, she guided the dazed students toward a large hall where many people they guessed to be nobles were cheering and laughing, seats were presents to the students before the entire hall quieted down as the king prepared his speech ¡°Young heroes from afar, we have invited you here to our world to ask of your help, but first we shall present you with our hospitality, enjoy the banquet to your hearts content, worry not, for tonight is all about you, tomorrow we shall inform you of our request, now I will leave you to your deeds¡± After the king spoke he drank his glass in one swing, everyone else in the room followed suite, even some students were encouraged by the scene that they also did the same, though most of them ended up choking on the wine or spitting it out After that the king got of the main seat and headed toward the exit while many nobles, princes and princesses surrounded the students ¡°WAIT one moment¡± A loud sound reverberated through the hall, all of the chatter and laughs ceased with it, the sound came from none other than Rekka who looked sternly toward the leaving king ¡°I would like to know the reason you called us to another world right now, rather than participate in your little party¡± His words were rather overbearing for a student talking to a king, but that was just his personality, he never really put standing and the sort in his eyes ¡°Why must you be in haste young hero, what can wait till tomorrow can wait¡± The king answered with a smile and a frown, the two contradictory expression on his face spoke volumes of his thoughts ¡°Being dragged into another world on the spur of the moment is enough reason for wanting to know soon as possible the reason were here¡± Rekka¡¯s words resonated with the students as most of them snapped out of the jovial attitude they had been quickly wrapped up in and nodded at his logic ¡°Hmm, as you wish then, I shall explain the reason you are here¡± Seeing all of the students nod the king resumed his normal smile but waved his hands causing the nobles to back off the students and look at them from a distance with serious faces, this created a tense atmosphere among the students ¡°Our world, Orbis, is in a great turmoil recently, many human kingdoms have started to fall down to the hands of the wretched beasts and the wicked wastes of other kingdoms, thus in this great time of need we have called upon the keeper of the world, her ladyship Levia, to bless us with heroes from another world to help us defend our people and strike down those evil doers¡± ¡°So you want us to fight for you? What makes you think we are even strong enough t do so¡± ¡°Surly her ladyship has bestowed upon you her blessings as she did with all the hroes she had called forth for us, please do tell what has she granted you of skills¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Suddenly all the eyes on them turned uncomfortable, no matter how much the nobles tried to hide their greed many students who were perceptive caught on to their desire ¡°First tell us more about this world and its stricter, Levia had not explained much to us¡± Rekka said to the king cautiously, him calling Levia directly by her name seemed to make the king wince but other than that the king normally explained to them ¡°In this world all humans gain skills when they come of age, they would gain three skills randomly given to them by her ladyship, these skills are divided into five ranks, from highest to lowest they would be, Legendary, Epic, Rare, Uncommon, and lastly Common, once they are granted these skills they would be able to use them as if it was a part of themselves, these skills are further categorized into three categories, they would be, Occupations, Abilities, and other. Each skill in the ability and occupation categories have a Grade which portrays the mastery of the skill the wielder possesses¡± The king Then falls silent so as to let the students process the information, then he asks yet again ¡°Now could you tell us what your skills are¡± It didn¡¯t sound like a request at this point but more of an order, this compelled a few of the weak ones to finally give in under the pressuring eyes ¡°Uu I, I have the, le-legendary blade master skill¡± The first to speak was the punk Sid who spoke of his skill in an unsure tone, but when the eyes around him looked at him approvingly he started feeling relived, and when he heard some of the nobles praise him lightly he suddenly turned smug about it ¡°I, I too have a legendary skill! Its Calamity of Earth!¡± Jack followed ensuing more praise from the nobles then the other students joined in speaking out their skills, one after the other weird and super sounding skills came out like falling dominoes ¡°Oh Ocular Master, what a wonderful skill¡± ¡°Indeed it would be of tremendous help¡± ¡°What do you know, that girl¡¯s Starry Sky Sword is exactly what we need¡± One after the other praises rained down on the students, some of them though were not given any attention after saying their ability, especially one of the students told of his two epic abilities, the nobles practically ignored him, only a six of the twenty something students remained mum, among them was Rekka and the two sisters who were around him, Shun and the guy with the glasses who retorted about not needing any help with the cleaning ¡°What a wonderful blessing we had been bestowed by her ladyship, all of you are indeed heroes, but what of you young man, how come you haven¡¯t stated your skill?¡± The king turned his sharp eyes toward Rekka, it was clear that he harbored ill intentions, the king didn¡¯t take likely to his earlier behavior To his credit Rekka remained calm under all the watchful eyes, and with an uncaring tone he stated his skill ¡°Master of Arms, Legendary Rank¡± His words issued gasps from the surrounding nobles, even the king widened his eyes like saucers ¡®Sadly there aren¡¯t any noodles to go along with the show¡¯ By the side the quite Shun was looking at the scene like it¡¯s some movie, and it was truly playing out like one, the main character smacking the face of the arrogant aristocrat, dazzling him with his cheat like ability, etc. As for the noodles? He didn¡¯t like popcorn so he used noodles instead Somehow while he was lost in thought he felt everyone looking at him suggestively, he then noticed that everyone seemed to have already stated their skills and they were waiting for him ¡®That¡¯s weird I didn¡¯t hear him talk¡¯ By him he meant Mamoru, the boy in glasses, but when he looked toward the boy in question he saw a weird grin plastered on his face, it made Shun inch slightly away from the boy before looking back at the crowed, then he stated his skills in a light tone ¡°Epic rank Soul Rend, Rare rank Stealth, Rare rank Cooking¡± As soon as he said so he noticed the glimmer in the king¡¯s eyes quickly dim, some of the surrounding nobles even showed slight scorn, but a sudden noise saved him from trying to awkwardly extract himself from the attention ¡°Guhe Guhahaha, You call that skills? All of you don¡¯t know what real skills are, now behold me who has four skills! I have the Legendary Fire Element Mastery, Rare Telekinesis, Rare Fire Rain, and lastly Rare Rank-Break!¡± Those words were spat by Mamoru who was crazily laughing next to Shun, his stupid grin made Shun very uncomfortable as he started to inch away from the weirdo, but contrary to his expectation the nobles in the hall didn¡¯t seem to be disgusted instead they were clearly astonished, some of them even looked gob smacked ¡°What great heroes we have been blessed with, now pleas please continue with your banquet, mister how about you accompany me for a walk?¡± The king hurried the students to get back to the banquet while he personally invited Mamoru out, the boy had a smug grin as he walked out with the king, a women Shun presumed to be the even queen took the chance to walk side by side with Mamoru clearly pushing her body toward him ¡®Was it the four skills or one of the skills that caught their attention? No they had a surprised expression the second he said that he had four skills, hmm it¡¯s as I guessed then¡¯ Shun contemplated a bit before he shrugged and started to eat to his heart¡¯s content, one or two nobles came to try and talk to him but he got out of the conversation pretty quickly by pointing at his stuffed mouth, other than that nobody came to presumably because he had bad skills, he didn¡¯t mind though since the good food was better than any vain praise a noble could dish out ¡°You¡¯re gonna get fat if you eat too much you know¡± One of his classmates looked at him worriedly, if he recalled correctly she was the one with the Ocular Mastery skill, but he couldn¡¯t really recall her name ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I never get fat no matter how much I eat¡± He spoke whilst food filled his mouth, the girl wanted to remark on that but was soon pulled away by a few princes The banquet continued for hours into the night but Shun excused himself after only a few half an hour, he told them he was gonna head out for a walk, which he did, a walk to the library is a walk After asking the maids and guards around he found where the library was, once he told them that he was one of the summoned heroes they let him in pretty easily Once he was inside he saw rows upon rows of books, it was so large that not even the largest library on earth could compare to it ¡®Rule number one in games: Read the manual¡¯ Taking a deep breath, he asked the receptionist to fetch him various books, the classification of skills, list of occupations, list of abilities, list of other, explaining grade, know your country¡­. Once he sat down with his new books he focused hard, he knew that he might not get the chance to get things as easily done as now tomorrow, for one they would probably give him tasks that he couldn¡¯t refuse barring him any free time, for two he knew that once his skills were exposed everyone might start to treat him with contempt, no he was pretty sure they would, so he decided that it was best to strike while the iron was hot So for the rest of the night and until slightly over seven in the mourning Shun was immersed in books, so much so that his eyes looked to be blood shot at this point ¡°Erm, young man the king calls for you and the heroes to gather in the conference hall, please hurry about¡± A displeased voice came from behind him, he turned around to see a guard looking at him disapprovingly, with none of the respect from yesterday to be seen ¡°Alright lead the way¡± A hoarse voice came out of Shun¡¯s mouth when he responded, then he followed the annoyed guard to the conference room while organizing the information he had gotten over night What Are Skills Skills were divided into three categories: Occupation, Ability, Other Occupations and abilities both had Grades, which indicated the person mastery over the skill, the mastery is gained through use and practice which means even if two people have the same skill of the same rank one of them might be far stronger than the other if he had a higher grade Occupation referred to a skill that would increase a person¡¯s master over a certain field, for example someone with a Cooking skill would become a cook thus it would become and occupation, while someone who had Sword Mastery skill would become a swordsman also an occupation An occupation doesn¡¯t change with its rank increase, but the speed at which one might be able to learn the occupation is what changes, the higher the rank the faster you can learn, there are also some unique techniques you can only learn when you have a high rank skill Furthermore, occupations were divided into two branches: None-Combat and Combat None-Combat Occupations are divided into five Grades mainly: Novice > Apprentice > Journeyman > Master > Grandmaster Combat Occupations are also divided into five Grades: Soldier > Knight > Elite Knight > General > Warlord Abilities, unlike occupations, refer to a single action one could perform, for example if your ability is Fireball then you can only cast a fireball, you can¡¯t edit your fireball in anyway, you won¡¯t learn how to use fire if you have it and you can¡¯t make it rain fireballs, well not early on at least But whereas occupations would have you learn how to wield a weapon or cast a spell, abilities would give you that power directly, without the need for any effort on your part, only their Grade would affect the abilities casting time, power etc. Abilities are divided into five Grades as well: First Step > Gate > Thought > Instinct > Will Then there are Other, that¡¯s when skills beyond the norm pop up, an example of this are abilities which have no grade and depend on their own requirements to be advanced, summoning abilities are among those as they have only the rank of the skill and the rank of the summoned being, there is no mastery whatsoever ¡®Now let¡¯s list my abilities and into what categories they fall under¡¯ As Shun had stayed up all night he naturally found out what his abilities do, granted he had to look at many many abilities so if anyone was watching, which he was pretty sure of, they would think he was just curious Occupations: Cooking, Alchemy, Polearm Mastery, Water Element Mastery Abilities: Long Nails, Eagle Eye, Quick Step, Smash, Unnerving Aura, Stealth, Lucid Search, Soul Rend Other: Lesser Demon Summon, Therianthrope-Crow, Night Vision, Spiritual Blood Pool ¡®Still couldn¡¯t find anything about the Limit-Release, though I did find a skill called Limit-Break which is a one time off skill that makes the user overcome his limits, maybe because it¡¯s a plus that it¡¯s not recorded? I didn¡¯t see anything about plus skills mentioned there and was afraid to ask about them so as to not expose anything¡¯ While he was lost in thought and before he could delve into more info dumps Shun finally arrived at the hall, where he could clearly see many displeased eyes looking at him the second he entered among them were his fellow classmates ¡°Why are you so late! Your wasting our time not to mention the kings time as well!¡± Jack yelled at Shun but instead of ignoring him like he usually does in class Shun actually answered while scratching his head ¡°Ahh my bad, the books in the library were really so interesting I lost track of time¡± He said that to both pull off a ¡°weak¡± appearance and to properly convey his whereabouts, who knew what the nobles would defame him for after he ignored him yesterday? Might as well already give an alibi ¡°No matter, I¡¯m sure you all want to explore your new home, but first I must prepare you all sufficiently for any dangers you might encounter¡± As the king spoke all the students adopted a serious face while straightening their back, it was unknown what gibberish the king had fed them yesterday that they seemed to have taken the world¡¯s future on their shoulder but Shun couldn¡¯t be bothered to think about it ¡°I shall send those of you who have an occupation skill to the masters of your field, and those who have abilities will learn from those who wield them, I promise you that Avihal will put all its resources into raising you to be the best heroes this world has ever seen, be on your way, and her ladyship be on your side¡± After his speech most students were escorted by groups at a time into their own respective masters, shun on the other hand received a paper slip from a guard indicating where to go ¡®How convenient, they understood my requirement of freedom and gave to me so magnanimously¡¯ Thinking sarcastically to himself Shun chucked the paper into his pockets and headed toward the bathroom insteadStolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Once he was inside the cubical he leaned on the wall making sure he wouldn¡¯t fall, the next second he seemed to enter a half asleep state as hi body gradually became stiff He wasn¡¯t sleeping in the bathroom because of his lack of sleep, he was in fact using his skill Lucid Search, right now Shun was amazingly floating outside his body as he looked down at himself ¡®Amazing, so this is what they meant by being able to use skills without practice, it really feels like I¡¯ve done this a thousand times even though it¡¯s my first time¡¯ Feeling that he was slowly getting more tired with each passing second he hurriedly went through the wall and into the outside, as he did the world started becoming blurry, but he could still make out the surroundings ¡®Probably because I¡¯m getting further from my body, plus I am looking through a wall right now, I should hurry and find the dude before I pass out from exhaustion¡¯ Soon he located a man with black hair yawning while he stood next to the bathroom door, the man seemed to be muttering something but Shun couldn¡¯t hear nor understand as he was in lucid form But confirming the man existed was enough for him as he quickly went back to his body, then he came out, washed his hands for at least twenty seconds, and exited the bathroom ¡°I really thought you would also follow me inside you know, I¡¯m really glad you don¡¯t swing that way though¡± Shun said to the air while he was looking to the right, to others he would seem to be talking to himself, and it was a fact that he didn¡¯t even know where the man was right now, but he knew he existed, and since he had been yawning it would probably be the same man that h thought followed him to the library, now all this could be Shun overthinking things but he wanted to bet on it, he wanted to bet that this was the same man that had been with him since yesterday, if there was anyone there ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re quite the perspective one, ah just so you know I also don¡¯t swing that way¡± The man he saw moments ago appeared before him, now that Shun looked closer he could see the man had dark eyes that matched well with his dark hair, dark cloths, dark¡­ well it fit the bill pretty well for a stealthy character ¡°But even though you have Stealth you shouldn¡¯t have sensed me, tell me boy is your skill really just stealth¡± The man narrowed his eyes as he looked at Shun, he seemed to have figured out something, but Shun merely laughed ¡°Haha, with the way everyone is treating me right now I wish it wasn¡¯t, if only it was one of those higher rank skills like Ghostly Steps¡± ¡°Heh don¡¯t we all boy, but your skills aint all that bad, Stealth and Soul Rend are pretty good when combined together, they make great sneak attacks when someone is preoccupied ith battle¡± ¡°Yah? Can I hit them with a pan while I¡¯m at it?¡± ¡°Hahaha! Boy your something aint cha, hahaha id really love to see that, someone sneaking on another with a pan¡± The man¡¯s vigilance seemed to fade away with Shun¡¯s joke, for one it was funny and secondly it really came from Shuns heart as he knew that was the only way he could sneak attack someone in stealth, he couldn¡¯t possibly use stealth with a polearm now could he? ¡°Tell ya what kid, since you got so much talent in stealth that you even sensed me how about I teach ya right away? You were supposed to go to that old hag to learn about souls but let me tell ya she can¡¯t even muster up a Soul Shock let alone teach ya about Soul Rend. Anyway you were supposed to come to me after she throws ya aside after seeing ye skill¡± ¡°Oh? I am to learn Stealth before mastering my attack ability?¡± ¡°Off course, what use are you if you can¡¯t stay hidden until the last crucial moment, Soul Rend is a mid to close range skill, if you wanna make use of it in battle when you can¡¯t wield any weapon you gotta first be able to make your way to ye enemy only then can you make use of the fleeting moments of carelessness to provide an opportunity for your teammate to rip them apart, who knows maybe you¡¯d shred their soul to pieces before your partner shreds their body¡± ¡°Alright, I don¡¯t want to be an experiment to that women either, you make her sound like some mad scientist¡± ¡°Hah! ya haven¡¯t heard the half of it, come with me and I¡¯ll tell ya all about her on the way¡± The two chatted about while they headed to w residence far north of the castle, this place seemed to host a lot of soldiers and maids, once they arrived in front of a room in one of the buildings in the wall of the castles borders the man stopped ¡°Aight here is yer room, now ya don¡¯t get any of those fancy rooms like the others but ¡®ey at least ya don¡¯t have to mingle with ¡®em stinky nobles ai? Well anyway I will come fetch ya tomorrow morning at five, till then have some sleep and I¡¯ll get someone to fetch some food¡± Finished with his words he turned around and started heading out, as he did he said something to Shun before vanishing from sight ¡°The names Vince by the way, just Vince¡± ¡®What a nice outro¡¯ Shun thought to himself, but turning to the big door he could only sigh to himself, he could already guess that there would only be a dormitory like room inside And sure enough he was greeted by a double bunker bed when he entred the room, there was also a chair and a nightstand, that¡¯s all there was to this little room ¡°Haah¡± Sighing again he complained to himself ¡®It¡¯s not like I don¡¯t want a classy room with maids waiting on me as well but I would rather be poor rather than being a war asset¡¯ As he thought about the fate that he had escaped by being ¡°useless¡± he smirked to himself and all his worries were dashed away, so what if he had no fancy clothes or money? If you wanna enjoy those you gotta live! After reading through the books depicting the various surroundings of the country he chanced upon a few interesting records In those it was mentioned that the Avihal Kingdome, which was in the center of the Serpent Continent, was surrounded by five different areas, three of which were kingdoms, on desert, and one beast land, all of which were hostile toward itself! How did it survive all this you might wonder? Well that was by summoning heroes off course. Each five decades the kingdom would summon heroes with the blessing of lady Levia, then they would wage war using the trained heroes and strike the kingdoms down, as long as they keep repeating this process the other kingdoms would not be able to muster up any force to mount a decent resistance As for the heroes? They sure were heroes, the valiant heroes that ¡°sacrificed¡± themselves for the country, they gave their life to protect the country, all the books were full of endless praise for their deeds, but Shun never read once about the heroes returning after winning the war, that was because, the war couldn¡¯t be won at all to begin with, the heroes were just tools that would be exhausted until the last drop, all the way till the maximum amount of forces they could take out from the enemies before they too would be ¡°sacrificed¡± ¡®Well, to each their own path, no use thinking about the fate they chose for themselves¡¯ To Shun his classmates had indeed chosen this path themselves, after all nobody stopped them from asking about the war they would be fighting, it was their choice to live in the delusion built for them Seeing the bed at the side he yawns loudly, and even though it was still quite early he chose to sleep now, who knew what terrible training awaited him tomorrow? He never thought for a second he was going to get off easy either Training Wiish, Bang! A sudden impact was the first thing that he felt as he awoke from his sleep, his instant reaction was to kick toward the person he felt close to him, but his leg was caught quite easly ¡°Easy boy, ya don¡¯t wanna start the training in this tight room do ya¡± The sound of Vince brought down the urge to retaliate further, once his blurry eyes adjusted to the dim light he found out he was still inside the room allocated to him, this made all his sudden tension go away ¡°C¡¯mon don¡¯t dally about let¡¯s get going¡¯ Shun followed behind Vince, they passed by the guard¡¯s and headed outside the castle, they kept walking for a long time, long enough for the sun to peek out, before finally reaching a forest filled with trees, it was dense enough that barely any light was capable of passing through ¡°Alright here is a good spot, let¡¯s start your training¡± Vince turned around toward Shun and smiled Shun waited for Vince to explain what the training was but he only saw Vince go behind a tree ¡°??¡± Bam! A hit to the head knocked him down to the ground ¡°Oh? I thought ya were perceptive mate? Are ya still groggy from the morning wake up or are ya a masochist ai?¡± ¡®This dude¡­ is he doing it on purpose or is this really his training¡¯ Getting up Shun looks toward the now further away Vince who once again goes behind a tree, but this time Shun didn¡¯t let his mind wander, he focused on the slightest of- Bam! ¡°Boy why are ya still sleeping? Next time ya won¡¯t be getting up if yer this sloppy¡± ¡®Sloppy? I didn¡¯t even have the time to squint my eyes, there is no way I will spot him like this¡¯ Shun started taking this very seriously, especially since Vince¡¯s tone about him not getting up had no hint of joking in it The sound of Vince was getting further away as he headed toward another tree, Shun who was about to get up stalled his movement a bit ¡®C¡¯mon a lil more¡¯ Vince was getting closer to the tree while Shun tried hard not to make his stalling obvious, and at the moment Vince went behind the tree ¡®Now!¡¯ Shun instantly activated quick step toward the nearest tree followed by a barrel roll and the activation of stealth, he didn¡¯t worry that Vince had seen his quick step as he had made sure it was the exact moment that Vince had his visibility blocked by the tree ¡®He will find me in seconds if I stand still, I have to find him first¡¯ With that line of thought he activated Lucid Search, hoping to make a surprise attack, but the second he existed his body he saw a hand chopping straight at his head from the right ¡®Fu-¡® Thud! He barely had any time to enter his body and jerk away his head in the opposite direction, but with how little time he had there was no way to fully evade the hit, which landed painfully on his shoulder blade ¡°Sss¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Shun took a sharp breath as the pain vibrated through his body, shoulder blades were quite sensitive to attacks and Vince didn¡¯t hold back on that chop ¡°Hoooh ya avoided a knock out, and ya had the decency to try and hide from me, I give ya two out of ten, keep trying to dodge fella¡± Vince walked behind another tree a bit further from Shun, this time Shun scrambled to his feet before Vince even reached the tree and moved around the tree behind him so that Vince could not see him use quick step, he made use of the tree to bar Vince¡¯s sight and entered stealth, and this time he weaved through the trees fast and found a bush, which he used to camouflage himself while entering Lucid Search ¡®Come on!¡¯ Again he saw a chop heading toward his head, which he only had the time to avoid barely resulting in his other shoulder blade getting hurt ¡°Mmf¡± He muffled his urge to groan, and rolled away, he didn¡¯t give Vince the chance to say anything before he darted toward the next set of trees preparing for the next attack Vince looked a little surprised at the boy before smirking to himself as he muttered under his breath ¡°Interesting boy, let¡¯s see how long ya can hold out¡± Thus the game of cat and mouse began, muffled groans and rustling continued on for a long time into the day ¡­¡­.. Seven hours later back in the castle walls Plop ¡°I wanna die¡­.¡± ¡°C¡¯mon it wasn¡¯t all that bad, ya were pretty okay for a nooby¡± Hearing Vince talking as if it was nothing Shun gave him the stink eye, only god knows how many hits he took today, shoulder blades, elbows, back knee, you name it, where ever it hurts the most he was hit there ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure yer out for the day, so night training will have to wait until you have better stamina¡± After saying so Vince closed the door and left Shun to recuperate his strength ¡®If was just not bad how bad would it have been if I hadn¡¯t had those two skills¡¯ The two skills Shun meant was the Spiritual Blood Pool and the Therianthrope-Crow Yes, it was these two skills that made Shun go beyond what any normal teenager could do, it wasn¡¯t his will nor his personality, though they may have had a good part to play as well ¡®From what I understood from the books the first one could store the blood element so that it could be used to cast more abilities than one would normally be able to, but since it¡¯s the blood element rather than other it could actually be used to replenish stamina¡¯ That¡¯s how he had been able to go for a whole seven hours, and how he could withstand all those injuries since they soon faded with the help of blood elements ¡®Then there is the Crow¡¯s affinity with darkness and stealth, it really helped me out and not just with getting better at stealth but also with the instincts that guided me on what to do¡¯ The Therianthrope-Crow of the Other category actually belonged to a sub category of the Therianthrope-Skills, which had four grades of its own: Instincts > Heart > Soul > Shift Right now Shun was on the instincts grade whereas his instincts were that of a crow, that included his reaction speed, perception, and thought process, and while it didn¡¯t overcome his own thoughts it had become a part of him just like muscle memory ¡®I can see these skills being of great use to me, but I wonder how the others are faring with their legendary rank skills, their comprehension must be off the charts¡¯ When those thoughts came to mind he quickly shook them off and adjusted his seating to lean on the wall, then he entered his Lucid Search Lucid Search had helped him greatly in the forest as it was his only way of spotting Vince, since the spiritual world was different from the physical one Vince¡¯s stealth became obsolete, but Shun wasn¡¯t sure how effective it would be against higher rank or grade of stealth ¡®I feel it¡¯s much easier to move around now, hmm let¡¯s see how far can I go from my body¡¯ Thinking so he started hovering around, going through the walls, roof and ground ¡®Wooohooo, heh this is sorta fun¡¯ While he was going up he suddenly felt a pull on his mind ¡®This must mean I shouldn¡¯t go further, hmm how far is this? Feels like its teen meters¡¯ Just to check it was ten meters in all directions Shun started darting through the surrounding rooms and halls which were mostly deserted as guards were usually at their shift at this hour ¡®Hmm the light is on in here?¡¯ When he was going through one of the rooms above him he saw light as he went through the ground ¡®Hmm a bath? Ahh right I need to bath, I should ask Vince about it tomorrow, I can¡¯t really move too much right now¡¯ As he contemplated he started looking around, but when he turned behind him he caught the sight of a guard¡­ess? Catching sight of the soaking women he froze in panic, but when he remembered that she couldn¡¯t see him he gave off a sigh of relief ¡®Thankfully she¡¯s fully soaked in foam else I¡¯d feel guilty if I saw anything untoward of her¡¯ Still he didn¡¯t leave as he felt the need to try out how insensible he is so he started to wave his hands in front of her face ¡®No reaction at all, this skill is just great for reckoning and spying, now I just need to read lips and id be the best spy ever¡¯ Suddenly the women opened her eyes and looked around, her eyes wandered trying to find anything suspicious but after spotting nothing she shrugged and closed her eyes again to soak As for Shun he was practically swallowing his words, he could feel his physical body soaked in sweat right now ¡®I hope that was just a women¡¯s intuition¡¯ He got back to his body and then tucked himself to sleep, he had enough messing around for now ¡®I also¡­want a¡­bath¡­¡¯ His thoughts started wandering off into the darkness A Glimpse Wiish, Bang! Another rude awaking came the next warning, but while he had still retaliate the same instant he was woken he calmed down without needing Vince¡¯s voice to bring him back ¡°Ya gotta be more vigilant in yer sleep, I could have killed ya a thousand times over and ya wouldn¡¯t even know how ya died¡± ¡°Right now about anyone could kill me even when I¡¯m awake, no need to be needlessly on guard¡± ¡°Haha always looking at the bright side ain¡¯t ya? Well since yer so full of spirit today you might as well hold on for eight hours, if ya don¡¯t we won¡¯t be skipping night training¡± Shun nodded his head and followed Vince toward the forest again, this time on the way he saw the female guard he had spied on¡­met yesterday, she was followed by many guards and was not wearing a helmet like the rest of them, Shun guessed that she wasn¡¯t a mere guard but could be a squad captain of sort Once Shun and Vince were at the forest Vince turned around, and launched a strike at Shun¡¯s head!! But the strike met empty air, because before Vince turned around Shun had already started darting toward a nearby tree Vince just stood there awkwardly holding his hands in the air, he never thought Shun would begin before he even had the chance to turn around ¡®I wanted to teach him about being vigilant to surprise attacks even in plain sight but the boy¡¯s way ahead of me¡¯ Still a grin found its way to his mouth instead of a frown ¡°Hehe boy you better hide quickly, I won¡¯t be going easy on you¡± Vince entered his own stealth before heading in Shun¡¯s direction, he looked at the ground for footprints, the branches for movement and focused his eyes to spot Shun¡¯s figure ¡®Stealth is like wearing a black coat in the dark night, it blurs you into the surrounding but anyone with enough experience can discern you, it doesn¡¯t need any detection skills but merely the training of the eyes and ears ¡°Found ya¡± He whispered as he spotted Shuns figure leaning on a tree with eyes closed ¡®Why does he always close his eyes? He can¡¯t be afraid can he?¡¯ Those thoughts passed through his mind for a second as he approached Shun, the momentary distraction would never have occurred to him during combat but to him this was just a game of tag, nothing to take more seriously than taking out the trash Puff! That¡¯s why he almost received a kick to the face, thankfully his year of honing his combat skills made him instinctively block with his armguard ¡®He noticed me?! How?¡¯ Before he had the time to make sense of the situation he saw Shun head toward another area populated with shrubs and trees ¡®Luck? No that kick was too precise, maybe I let down my guard for a second so he noticed me¡¯ He tried to find and approach Shun again, but this time he approached much more carefully and cleared his mind of any wandering thoughts ¡®Can you still find me boy¡¯ Puff! The answer was yes if the kick to the head was any indicator ¡®Its not luck nor my neglect, he¡¯s actually able to perceive me, but how? He had his eyes closed all this time, no even if he had them open he shouldn¡¯t be able to spot me¡¯ Trying again he went after Shun speedily and approached him again and the result was Thud! ¡°Mmmf¡± A solid hit on the shoulder blades ¡®What the hell is going on?¡¯ The more Vince tried to understand the more he got confused which led to a long chase that lasted for hours and hours¡­. ¡°Haaah haah haaah¡± Shun was taking labored breaths as he laid on the grass but his curled up lips told of his good mood ¡®Haha I like that look of confusion on Vince¡¯s face, if only he knew that the longer time he gave me to hide the better I would be able to use Lucid Search then he would never have been so carful in his approach¡¯This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Still even with his confusion Vince let Shun suffer hella lot of pain, plus those hits Shun had to let in intentionally so as to not give out his skills information and to confuse Vince more ¡°Boy tell me honestly how did you sense my approach¡± ¡°Haah, well, haah you make a lot of noise when you move, my eyes aren¡¯t that good, so I have to focus a lot on my hearing just to hear the slightest sound¡± Shun tried to bluff his way out but he only received silence from Vince, still he insisted on his explanation by remaining silent and looking Vince in the eyes, a few minutes passed before Vince gave a sigh through his nose and turned around ¡°Go back to your room, you made it further than eight hours so we will skip night training, get some rest and be ready for tomorrow because it¡¯s gonna be much harsher than today¡± With those words he vanished into the forest ¡°Ahh I forgot to ask him about the bath, sigh, I will have to ask those guards for it¡± After he got enough energy to move about he went back to the walls, then he asked around for a place to bath, but he was surprised by the welcoming tone of the guards, it was nothing like that of the ones in the castle ¡®Maybe because they man the walls so they would still look up to those who hold epic skills? No maybe they don¡¯t even know what skills I have, well whatever it may be I¡¯m glad things are like this¡¯ Once he took a super scrubby bath that melted the fatigue right out of him he went to bed to sleep again ¡®I can feel the blood pool getting larger, is that normal? It should be because im using it till its emptied, well it can only be a good thing if I have more space to store some blood element¡¯ While he reviewed todays training he drifted on to another sleep¡­ Whiish, Thud! The same routine from the previous two mornings occurred, this time there was no word exchange between the two as they headed to the forest again This time before they got in too far Vince threw a black cloth toward Shun ¡°??¡± ¡°Blind fold yer self with that¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t ya say ya can hear pretty good? Well then let¡¯s see it¡± Shun suddenly had a bad premonition about this ¡®Oh boy me and my big mouth¡¯ With no other choice he blind folded himself, then he turned around and ran to the nearest tree he recalled from memory, but only after a few steps Trip! He fell down, not being able to see in a forest full of shrubs trees and vines it could only lead to fall after fall and that¡¯s exactly what happened, he didn¡¯t even get far enough from his first fall and he hit a tree right in the face ¡°Hooh where is yer mighty hearing fella ey? Seems like it ain¡¯t working for ya too well¡± Vince¡¯s words were followed by a hard kick to the gut, his boots sunk into Shun¡¯s sides and left them blue from bruises ¡°Tell ya what, how about ya tell me how ya sensed me and I¡¯ll let ya off this onetime¡± Instead of answering Vince Shun grit his teeth and scrambled to get up, but he was met with another kick that sent him back down ¡°Don¡¯t make this too hard lad, we need to start our training again too, just spit it out, it ain¡¯t like I¡¯m here to rob ya¡± ¡®This isn¡¯t working, if I have to avoid him I have to see but he¡¯s not giving me enough time to enter Lucid Search¡­.¡¯ His thoughts were interrupted by another kick while Vince tried to persuade him again but his words didn¡¯t reach Shun at all ¡®I have to make an opportunity to use it, if only I could see a glimpse through these blinds¡­. Glimpse?¡¯ Suddenly an idea appeared in his head, a very stupid but feasible idea ¡°Ai I won¡¯t say this again sp-¡° Vince was talking as he swung another kick toward Shun but both his words and kick were stopped half way as a fist went straight for his leg, which he retracted hastily, next he saw Shun running toward an area with dense trees This time he didn¡¯t dare assume anything so he followed after him and went in for another kick while Shun was trying to avoid the trees Whiish Unexpectedly Shun actually jumped up to avoid his kick, then he landed and rolled his way behind a tree ¡°Tricky kid¡± Vince muttered as he entered stealth and went from the other side of the tree, he was going to see how much this farce- Puff Before he got around the tree a kick too close for comfort almost hit his head, thankfully he guarded against it, the rock that was thrown at his gut on the other hand he had no way to deflect The rock his him straight in the stomach but it was really so weak, especially for a combatant like him, that he hardly felt it at all, but that wasn¡¯t the main point, it was the fact that the boy he assumed to be no threat actually hit him ¡®Just how the hell is he doing this¡¯ Vince could only think so to himself as he saw Shun maneuver around the trees like he wasn¡¯t wearing a blind fold at all. Which he checked that he was wearing What he didn¡¯t know was that Shun was madly laughing in his mind right now, he never expected his skill could be used in such a genius way Still he tried to focus on the matter at hand instead of feeling joy as this technique required split second focus ¡®Alright let¡¯s see where he¡¯s at¡¯ While he ran his body turned rigid for but a second, that second was when he applied Lucid Search but he didn¡¯t get out of his body, he only peeked his eyes out before going back to deactivate the skill, this gave him a single look around him but just a glimpse was sufficient if he kept doing this every ten or so seconds Vince pursued at a normal speed behind him, he would sneak at Shun from different angles each time, but to Shun who could spot him like a sore thumb when he used the Lucid form no angle was too tricky, all he needed to do was strike at Vince who would cease to attack once he saw that Shun had found him Off course, if this was a real battle, Shun would be dead a hundred times over, but as it was only training all Vince did was try to strike him, which he could not do for the entire first three hours, only in the next two hours after that could he hit Shun occasionally, by the time it was six hours into training Shun finally raised the white flag, he just couldn¡¯t endure the mental fatigue of using the skill even though he still had some spiritual blood to spare ¡°Haaah haaaaah haaaaah I¡­surrender¡­can¡¯t¡­ move¡­¡± ¡°Well I guess that would do for the mourning, but since its only twelve now you should catch some rest in the noon, I¡¯ll come pick you up after sundown, you won¡¯t be needing this anymore¡± Vince took the blind fold off the unmoving Shun, then he proceeded to walk away without another word ¡®Did I convince him? Well if I didn¡¯t then screw it, this is my limit, if he truly insists that im not using my hearing I¡¯ll just have to bring forward my plans to get out of this place¡¯ Shun never planned to stay in this country to become a tool for the corrupt and greedy, he just wanted to make use of whatever training and guiding he could get before he escaped, they had summoned him to this world without his permission to use as a weapon, he owed them nothing While thinking so his tired mind started to drift off on its own, unknowingly he slipped into sleep in the dense forest as he laid on the grass¡­¡­ Villainously Handsome ¡°¡­hey¡­. up¡­. up¡­...wake up!¡± The sudden scream shook him out of his blissful sleep, he opened his eyes and looked around in the now dark forest, in front of him he spotted a women leaning down as she looked at him with fierce eyes ¡°Finely done with your happy nap? Get up NOW!¡± Identifying the women to be the one he had seen in the bath before Shun avoided eye contact for a second, he got up and stretched his body ¡°Hooh, don¡¯t mind me will you, just continue doing things at your leisure¡± ¡°I plan to¡± Shun replied with a clam tone, he didn¡¯t know who she was and was not going to let her trample on him even if she was his ¡°superior¡±. After all he was supposed to be a ¡°Hero¡± and although he liked to keep a low profile that didn¡¯t mean any passerby could trample over him, give them an inch they take a mile, if he listened to her orders now who knew how far she would push it later on? ¡°Don¡¯t get smart with me kid, if you think you¡¯re all that just because you¡¯re a hero then think again, I¡¯m not like the guards under me, I know you only hold a useless epic skill, so don¡¯t get all cocky¡± Shun didn¡¯t dine to argue with her, he just started walking ahead Suddenly an arm gripped his shoulder tight, he found that he couldn¡¯t move anymore, looking back he saw the women glare at him menacingly but as if she realized something she suddenly smiled, then Crack! The sick sound of bones cracking could be heard from his griped shoulder, he muffled a shout while he channeled the blood element to his shoulder, but he still couldn¡¯t move ¡°Hmm you can take a beating can you? Well that¡¯s even better, now follow me if you don¡¯t want to get more of that, I have a job for you¡± Saying that she patted his shoulders and proceeded to the front, leading the way to the castle ¡°Hmm? Why aren¡¯t you following¡± When she didn¡¯t hear his footsteps she barked out, and looked behind, but to her surprise Shun was nowhere to be seen A puzzled look floated to her face before she laughed brazenly ¡°Hahaha, you think you can sneak attack me kid? I thought you were brave but turns out your just stupid¡± As she laughed she started looking around, looking for any detail to give away Shun¡¯s location But unknown to her Shun wasn¡¯t even going near her, in fact he was distancing himself from her ¡®This should far enough¡¯ Once he made a distance of less than ten meters he leaned on a tree and entered Lucid Search ¡®It¡¯s about time I try out that move¡¯ In his Lucid form he started hovering about as he looked for any observers, when he saw no one in the vicinity he headed toward the woman ¡®Useless? Let¡¯s see about that¡¯ He focused his mind on the women, gathered his power to its maximum, and struck with his most powerful ability! ¡®SOUL REND!¡¯ A silent sonic wave headed toward the woman who knew nothing of the coming danger, the wave hit her square in the chest and expanded outward, ravaging her soul as it attempted to split it to pieces ¡°Ah! Uck! Geh gurgle¡­¡± She sounded like she was choking while she fell and convulsed on the ground, a few seconds later she wasn¡¯t moving anymore Moments later Shun could be seen stepping toward her with his physical body, he bended down and check her pulse ¡°Knocked out but not dead, well I already knew that or I wouldn¡¯t have hit her with my strongest power, just as the books said when one¡¯s soul is weaker than the other it is almost impossible to kill without a sneak attack, though that could be half a sneak attack¡± He wasn¡¯t planning on ending it here though, he didn¡¯t just hit a squad leader for petty revenge ¡°I was looking for a puppet, thanks for delivering yourself to me¡± He dragged her body away deep into the forest, once he thought he was pretty far in he let her lay on the grass, stripped her combat gear away and let her only keep her normal cloths on then he dropped some water from her satchel onto her face ¡°Gah, cough cough!¡± She started looking around groggily trying to see where she was, only after a few seconds did she finely adjust to the surroundings, when she saw Shun she looked shocked but her shock turned into anger and she was about to lash out ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that if I were you¡± Shun¡¯s voice rang in her ears, it sounded much more intimidating, her words got stuck in her throat and she looked at his face, when she saw his glowing yellow eyes that seemed to resemble that of a beast fear crept into her heart, she tried to talk but it was unknown what she was trying to say, maybe due to fear, or maybe because her soul was still in cracked and in disorder ¡°I¡¯ll do the talking so keep your mouth shut and listen well, I won¡¯t be repeating myself twice¡± The women shut her mouth and looked at his face silently ¡°Who I am and why I am here is none of your concern, what you need to know is that I am here on a mission, and should you not cooperate with me fully then you shall face a fate far worse than death, where even your very soul won¡¯t be left intact, you will be begging for death by the time I¡¯m finished with you¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Then he adopted a sneer on his face as he looked at her ¡°Thinking about asking for help? Well you might get a few ¡°rewards¡± and pats on the back for doing a dog¡¯s job but you will end up the same, if not at my hands then at the hands of another, we both know those good for nothing Avihals aren¡¯t gonna give you another second of their time once they got what they wanted from you, just like what they will do to those young ¡°heroes¡± ¡° The women¡¯s face contorted deeper into fear, she seemed genuinely out of her wits end now, another push would certainly drive her into insanity At this point Shun¡¯s sneer turned into an enchanting smile ¡°But if you serve me well, hmm well I do need a good dog like you in my mansion, who knows maybe I will even reward you for saving me the trouble of having to crack that nut head Vince¡¯s soul¡± The women¡¯s face alternated many expression, pale, expectations, fear, so Shun gave her another push down the line, one final reminder of realities cruelty He bended down and lifted her chin, with his long, beast like, nails, then he sent a small subtle Soul Rend toward her, well subtle to him but it practically started cracking her soul into half as her current mentality couldn¡¯t afford her any defense Once she felt a jolt of pain she instantly nodded her head vigorously, he was afraid it might fall of from her speed of doing so ¡°Good girl, now wear your armor back properly, and go back after you¡¯ve calmed down, I will call you when I see fit¡± Saying so he patted her head and turned around, as he did he sent another even smaller Soul Rend toward her, the momentary lapse it caused her gave him enough time to enter stealth, practically vanishing from her sight ¡®That was a great outro if I have to say so myself¡¯ Shun smirked to himself as he went back into the wall, he had already canceled all the skills he was using to scare her, still he couldn¡¯t help but marvel at how effective of a villain those abilities made him out to be ¡®Unnerving aura to start the fire of fear into their heart, the eagle eye combined with the Night vision actually make my eyes glow in the dark, long nails to supplement the beast like appearance, I was villainously enchanting if I can say so myself hehe¡¯ When he entered the corridor in which his room was located he saw Vince leaning against the door, Vince seemed to be contemplating something when his eyes showed surprise at his arrival ¡°Sorry I fell asleep in the forest¡± ¡°I know but ya were supposed to be with that vicious women Catherin¡± ¡°Hmm what does she look like?¡± ¡°Red hair, sharp chin, brown eyes, slim but with a bit of abs, ya know the beautiful captain of the guards in this walls¡± ¡°Ahh so that¡¯s her, the one we saw yesterday morning right? We must have missed each other¡± ¡°Well I guess, well saves me the trouble to haul ya back from the arena anyway, let¡¯s start training before she gets here¡± ¡°Arena?¡± ¡°Yah, ya were supposed to be in the arena fighting some chick by the name of Fiola, well more like getting beat up by her rather than fighting¡± ¡°And why would I do that?¡± ¡°Ahh too many question boy, let¡¯s just get right into it, follow me¡± Vince motioned for Shun to follow as he hastily walked away ¡®Hmm¡¯ Shun followed without saying another word and soon the two of them found themselves in one of the training facilities of the guards ¡°Right here will do, now pick yer weapon of choice among those rackets over there and let¡¯s start¡± ¡°? But I thought I¡¯m supposed to train in sneaking in to deliver a solid blow and then escape, wouldn¡¯t this hinder my time to master Stealth?¡± Shun knew they were trying to make him a disposable tool so training him in something like weapons didn¡¯t seem quite efficient from someone with his skill set, after all they didn¡¯t need him to survive after delivering the hit ¡°That was the plan, and it still is, this is something I¡¯m doing on my own, boy let me tell ya somthin¡¯, ya got potential, I have seen many people with Stealth in my life, I¡¯ve seen them train, become famous assassins, leaders, and thieves even, I had even seen someone with Ghost skill before, but just having the skill doesn¡¯t make ya any different from the rest of us, after all Stealth is something one can train, and there are geniuses in this world that can top some of the strongest Stealth users in the world, having a skill means ya have both a head start and an easier time in the comprehension of it, but there are geniuses who can match our speed in learning yer own skill even when they don¡¯t have it. Boy ya have both the skill and the talent to become one of the strongest Stealth users in the world, and your Soul Rend skill has great synergy with Stealth, so as a proud Stealth user myself I have to make sure I teach you everything I can before I let you go into the battlefield¡± Shun had never heard Vince talk so much in a single breath that it left him speechless, but seeing the serious look on Vince¡¯s face he also got serious himself, grabbing his weapon of choice from the racket he took a stance in preparation for Vince¡¯s attack ¡°¡­..¡± ¡°¡­..¡± ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°A spear¡± ¡°No I know what a spear is, im asking why ya took a spear¡± ¡°Because that was the only Polearm here¡± ¡°NO! I¡¯m asking why the hell did ya pick something so big and obvious when you¡¯re a STEALTH user! ¡°Oh, well I¡¯m good with mid-range weapons like this one, so I chose this¡± ¡°And how would you know if yer good with them?¡± ¡°I trained in martial arts and weapons in my world when I was a kid, I was pretty good with spears and halberds, glaives even, though I might need some time to catch up on them¡± ¡°What about other weapons? How good are you with daggers and swords?¡± ¡°Trash¡± ¡°¡­.¡± ¡°¡­.¡± Vince sighed and took a stance himself, then he rushed towards Shun and¡­. beat him up with his bear fists¡­ Two hours later Shun returned to his room with a face all swollen like a pig¡¯s head, he closed the door and dived head in into the bed and screamed his injustice out ¡°Training he said, it will make your reaction speed better he said! He was obviously just taking out his frustration on me! What am I to do when he talked all that nonsense about being the strongest stealth user, lie and say I¡¯m good at daggers when I have Polearm-Mastery? Bah!¡± After screaming into the pillow for a while he sat on the bed and leaned on the wall, he touched his face to check on his injuries and sighed, as he had exhausted his blood pool several times today he couldn¡¯t heal his face unless he waited for the blood element to replenish after some good rest ¡®Hmm I¡¯m not sleepy, but I¡¯m too tired to move, what should I do? gosh if only I had a mobile to play something and waste time¡¯ Suddenly he remembered the captain he scared today, Vince had mentioned her a few times while he was beating¡­ while they were sparring, it was about how unexpected of her to not have come as she practically forced Vince¡¯s hand out of the matter when she decided on the match ¡®I wonder what she is doing, hmm I should check up on her¡¯ He entered Lucid Search and went into her room, well bathroom, seeing no one there he went through the door and checked the room connected to the bathroom, sure enough he saw the captain pacing threw the room in anxiousness ¡®Catherin was it? Hmm she looks like she contemplating something, maybe I should keep an eye on her, who knows what stupid idea she might come up with¡¯ With nothing better to do he just watch her pace about the room, sometimes she seemed to make up her mind and bring out a parchment of some sort before standing up again without writing anything, some other times she put her hands on the door knob before backing away slowly A few hours passed like that and Shun was about to go back to his body to sleepy, but before his sleepiness took over him he suddenly saw Catherin take out a the parchment she kept putting back and start writing on it ¡®Hmm? Finely something new, what could she be doing¡¯ He peeked over her shoulder to take a look, to which she seemed to shiver unknowingly, but he ignored it and stared at the words ¡®This isn¡¯t one of earths languages, wait have I not been talking in a new language all this time? I¡¯m surprised that I only just noticed now, hmm it must be Levia¡¯s doing, she must have made it as familiar as our own language, that¡¯s why we didn¡¯t notice up till now¡¯ Taking a look at the writing he noticed he could read it with a bit of focus, after reading a bit he could pretty much tell what she was trying to do ¡®It seems I must take drastic measures with her¡¯ He smiled to himself evilly as he thought about his new act Cracked Soul As Shun looked toward Catherin he started to amass his power, he didn¡¯t go all out like before but the wave was still quite lethal ¡®I need just the right amount of power to half shatter her soul, having her body enter a half shell mode would be enough, but if I kill her it would be pretty obvious who did it, hmm maybe I should go lower for this hit¡¯ He lowered the power of the hit before he shot out a Soul Rend at the unsuspecting Catherin, unsurprisingly she got knocked out instantly, no resistance, no sound ¡®Haah, damn I¡¯m almost out of juice, these Soul Rends make quite the drain on the mind and soul¡¯ He returned to his body and made his way up to her room a bit wobbly, his mind seemed to be quite tired from all the exertion ¡®I can still hold on for a while¡¯ Once he was at her door he extended his nails and started picking the door ¡­Well he tried but couldn¡¯t do it, it seems it wasn¡¯t as easy as he thought ¡®Liars! All those movies and games make it out to be as easy as picking your teeth, dammit I blame Skyrim for this!¡¯ With no other option he went into the other room which seemed to be an office, he climbed through the window and inched his way on the wall toward Catherin¡¯s window, she had left it open to get some fresh air after she built up all that heat from pacing about Once he got in, he grumbled about the risk of falling and made his way to Catherin, he lifted her up and put her on the couch while he sat on the chair next to her ¡®Alright let¡¯s see how good is her soul right now¡¯ Going into Lucid search he saw only some faint cracks on her body, indicating that not much damage was made to her soul, thus he exited the search and splashed some water onto her face, right after he activated all his scary skills ¡°Cough Cough, Cough!¡± Catherin coughed a bunch and looked around confused, seeing as she was still in her own room she calmed down considerable, but was still a bit panicky, her panic only rose as she heard a voice next to her ear ¡°Finely done with your happy nap? Shall we begin now?¡± Turning around she saw Shun¡¯s face just how it was in the forest, while said something similar to what she told him, but his smile with glowing yellow eyes had a much worse impact than her own ¡°I told you not to mess around and see what you have done, using your connection with the nobles to inform that old hag about me, what did you expect to gain out of this deal?¡± He was referring to her letter, which she had addressed to some noble claiming to have found an infiltrator from the beast tribes, requesting an audience with some witch he presumed was the same one he was supposed to learn from Catherin seemed to want to say something but she was hit with a fairly strong Soul Rend, almost fainting her again, Shun took a glimpse through his Lucid Search and saw her body was half filled with cracks after that wave, other than that it was still not broken ¡°Alright it seems its about time for your fate worse than death, I wonder what expression you will make as I eat both your flesh and soul at the same time¡± He stood up saying that and flashed her a toothy grin, sending shivers down her spine ¡°N..No no¡­p-p-plea plea-please I-I-I-I will do what-t-t-tver you wa-want, please..¡± She broke down into tears as she said this, her now pale face almost resembled that of a corps almost causing Shun to wince, he thought that he was going too far but soon pushed that line of thought away, he was here to be used as a war tool and she had almost sent him to the arena today, she didn¡¯t treat him like she should a human and he wouldn¡¯t give her that courtesy either ¡°I don¡¯t need a traitor under my wing, I¡¯d rather have a full stomach than a worried mind¡± He approached her slowly, with each step weighing on her heart, with each step a subtle but effective Soul Rend further widening her soul¡¯s cracks, then he leaned down ready to ¡°bite¡± her ¡°No! no no no please please, I will do whatever, whatever you want I will be a loyal dog, yes I will be a dog that knows its master, I will never bite the hand that feeds me, please please let me be a dog under your feet, I, I¡­ woof woof!¡± Catherin pulled energy from god knows where and started groveling on the ground for mercy, she begged for her life, at the end of her words she even barked like a dog and licked Shun¡¯s boots, no grace or honor could be spotted from the ¡°viscous captain¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Her actions left him stunned, enough for it to show on his face, thankfully she didn¡¯t seem to dare look up at this point, so he had enough time to compose himself ¡®How shattered is her soul?¡¯ He entered Lucid Search to take a peek ¡®What¡­ is this¡­.¡¯ It was a sight to behold, her body no longer looked normal as cracks filled its entirety, they seemed to be connected forming a weird structure, one that threatened to be toppled down with the slightest touch, but this mesmerizing sight seemed to awaken something inside Shun, something that slept deep within, he instinctively stretched out his hands toward the cracked soul, slowly, and once his hands touched the delicate structure ¡°!!!!!!!!¡± Catherin¡¯s body bent forward as she issued a silent scream, one that came from the very depth of her soul, her hands tightly gripped around Shun¡¯s own outstretched hands, which had unknowingly mimicked his Lucid forms movements, her body vibrated with both extreme pain and extreme pleasure, while her eyes seem to have been lost staring into Shun¡¯s own deep eyes ¡°??¡± Shun woke up from the trance in his physical body, he was surprised to see Catherin holding his hand delicately, while her eyes seem to give off a lounging look ¡®What the hell is wrong with her¡¯ He couldn¡¯t make heads or tails out of the situation, but he wasn¡¯t given a chance as he saw Catherin kneel on one leg, she then brought his hand closer, and kissed the back of it respectfully, then she lowered her head and said to him ¡°Catherin Titeron Swears on her very soul that she would serve master for all eternity, striving to realize all his orders without fail¡± She proceeded to just kneel there with her head lowered, waiting for his orders without making a sound ¡®????¡¯ Questions kept popping up all over the place but he forcibly calmed himself down, then he went into Lucid search again¡­. ¡®Wait how is this possible?¡¯ He noticed that he couldn¡¯t enter Lucid Search, because he was already in it, or more precisely he was seeing the spiritual world in his physical body, without having to consciously do so This made even more question marks fill his crowded brain, but again he forcibly brought these thoughts down while he looked at Catherin ¡®The cracks disappeared and she doesn¡¯t seem to be suffering from any residual side effects whatsoever but¡­¡¯ ¡°Straighten up¡± She immediately complied and lifted her upper body a bit, but still remained in a servile stance where she had her back slightly bent, that was enough though as Shun could see the red glowing crack by her heart, the crack resembled a flower that was about to bloom, but it was incomplete so he couldn¡¯t tell what flower it was ¡®This is definitely something she gained just now when I touched her, it must be the reason she became like this, further more¡¯ He stretched out his hands to grab the flower¡­ ¡°Mmmh master do you want me to serve you now? Please let me shower first I would not want to soil your perfect body¡± Catherin¡¯s moan reminded him that while the flower was near her heart what he would actually touch would be¡­ He hastily retracted his hand and coughed ¡°No that would not be necessary, I was just checking something, now get a new set of cloths on, we need to talk after that¡± He had checked what he wanted when he touched her, for he felt that the flower was calling to him, and was delighted by his touch, spiritually and physically speaking, but he also knew that with one thought he could have the flower wilt, and with it Catherin¡¯s life ¡°Yes master¡± Catherin got up to take her clothes off- ¡°In the bath room!¡± ¡°Yes¡± ¡°Sigh, really how could someone change so much in but a few moments¡± He sat down and poured himself some juice while he waited for her, organizing his thoughts as he did ¡®First things first, Catherin is one hundred percent within my grasp now, I can feel it, this is no act, nor is it some impulse that would fade, she and I are connected now and her words about eternity were sincere, I could feel that her soul would follow me wherever I go when I sensed the flower, this is a big plus for me¡¯ He looked toward the bathroom and saw right through the wall, then he shut his ¡°eyes¡± instantly ¡®Secondly it seems my skill have entered a peculiar state where I can use it without having to enter a semi sleep state, but I can¡¯t seem to turn it off either, so while this is great it can also be quite¡­ embarrassing, still if I use refrain I should be able to make great use of it¡¯ Then he looked in the nearby mirror, in it he saw faint dark circles under his eyes, one could mistake them for lack of sleep but Shun instinctively knew it was the manifestation of his Therianthrope-Crow skill, heart grade ¡®No there is something more to it, but I just can¡¯t pin point it, man I wish I had something like a status screen right now¡¯ ¡°Master you look ravishing you need not look into the mirror¡± He turned around to see Catherin with a new set of cloth, one that didn¡¯t stick to her body from cold sweat like the last one, he told her to sit down so that they would talk He sat on the chair while Catherin sat on the ground beside his feet ¡°¡­Sigh¡± ¡°What displeases you master¡± ¡°Nothing, now tell me Catherin, is there a way to check on your skills in this world?¡± ¡°Yes master a skill stone¡± ¡°Oh I see how regrettable, then how¡­ wait there is?¡± ¡°Indeed master, would you like me to get one for your esteemed self¡± ¡°That would be great¡± Catherin stood up and started gearing herself with armor and weapons ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°I¡¯m preparing for combat, the only skill stone in this country is with the grand wizard of the court, I will steal it from him¡± ¡°Catherin¡± ¡°Yes master¡± ¡°Kneel down and apologies¡± ¡°I ask of your forgiveness master!¡± Catherin kneeled in haste and looked anxious, she resembled a puppy who had pooped in the house and was pleading for mercy with its eyes ¡®This is surprisingly fun, but I shouldn¡¯t mess round too much, this is taking quite some time and I must head back to get some rest before Vince comes by¡¯ ¡°Don¡¯t try to get the skill stone, for now I want you to pretend that you never met me, only when I allow it shall you speak to me as my slave, assume the personality you would to other when you meet me, furthermore I want you to provide me with a map of the city tomorrow, get it discreetly, oh and one more thing, I am going to take some of your sweets with me¡± Shun got up and picked some sweets of the night stand, then after some thought he took the whole plate and went out, during the whole thing Catherin only nodded once and stayed on the ground all the way till he left ¡°Sigh man that was pretty tiring, pretending to be a master is some pretty hard work yo¡± He laid on his bed and munched on some sweets he didn¡¯t know, but they tasted much better than the plain food he was given the past few days, his mood was uplifted by that and he smiled as he drifted, into nice, happy dreams¡­. Only If The next week went by rather quickly, it was mainly training in the morning with Vince, then he would rest till night came after which he would train with the new instructor that Vince appointed for him, the man acted as if he was doing a favor to Vince by training Shun even though he was supposedly a ¡°Hero¡± ¡®More and more people are thinking that I¡¯m useless, even the guards at the walls are treating me badly the past couple of days, news that I only hold an epic and a rare must have spread, the time to leave is coming closer than I thought¡¯ Thud! ¡°Stop having yer thoughts wander and focus! If ya so much as give yer enemy an instant of opportunity ya can kiss yer life bye bye¡± Vince¡¯s chop hit him on the elbow where it hurts the most, but he was already dulled to such pain, furthermore he let the chop go in as even Vince doing his absolute best in remaining hidden could be detected by Shun, he only lost out to combat proficiency, which he was closing on pretty quickly ¡®If only I had a good explanation to improving my sensory skills, I would not have to keep doing this every morning¡¯ Even so it was indeed good practice for him, his normal teenager body already showed lines of abs along his abdomen and biceps though his figure was still on the lean side, this was all the blood pool¡¯s doing ¡°Haah let¡¯s stop here, ya seem out of it today anyway, I bet ya in a few weeks I¡¯d run out of things to teach ya, now be off to the walls, I have something to do anyway¡± Vince headed out of the forest in the direction of the city, he made it sound as if it was a shopping trip but Shun knew what was really going on ¡®If Catherin didn¡¯t tell me about the intruders I would have thought he really was just shopping with how casual his attitude is¡¯ Two days ago some spies made their way into the capital of Avihal, and it wasn¡¯t just a normal infiltration, if that was all then it would be fine to send out the guards to surround the castle until they were rooted out, but it was an insider job so now they had to make a city wide search while they watched their backs ¡°Meh, ain¡¯t my business¡± Shrugging he leaned on one of trees to take a small nap, the wind blowing in the forest made quite the pleasant sensation resulting in him fast falling asleep ¡­.. Shake shake, shake shake Minutes after him falling asleep the bushes around started shaking, dull footsteps sounded while two hushed voices were heard ¡°Do we have to be so careful with a mere kid?¡± ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking, he¡¯s a stupid kid that only just gained an epic rank skill, you would be totally right if this was anyone else but this kid¡¯s skill is Soul Rend¡± ¡°Sss, Soul Rend? If that¡¯s the skill then even I don¡¯t want to mess with him, the soul is not something anyone can mess with¡± ¡°I know right? Those Avihal¡¯s don¡¯t know what they¡¯re doing at all, not only is this skill powerful early on, it only gets more powerful in the later stages!¡± ¡°Shh brother we might wake him up¡± ¡°Ah right I¡¯m just so excited, if we are able to recruited him into our ranks we might have a good chance at winning the upcoming war, well let¡¯s just abduct him and get done with it, sticking too close to the castle makes me edgy¡± ¡°Oh before you two start can I ask one thing?¡± ¡°What is it¡± ¡°What brother?¡± ¡°Can you tell me which kingdom you¡¯re from?¡± The two finely noticed the person behind turning in haste to meet him, only one of them was afforded the opportunity as the older looking one was hit with an invisible wall, almost falling to the ground ¡°You! How? When!?¡± The younger brother took swift action by jumping away and asked those questions ¡°Oh don¡¯t mind me, I¡¯m was just curios where you came from, after all if you¡¯re here to invite me into another kingdom I should at least know what I¡¯m in for¡± ¡°Heh, if you really only intended to talk you wouldn¡¯t have hit me with that Soul Rend¡± Shun smirked at the older brother¡¯s comment while he looked them over once again The big man that had jumped away was seemingly the younger brother, he had two sabers at his hips, his jump just now covered quite the distance meaning he either had a really strong physic or a skill related to jumpingDid you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. The other brother was quite the lean figure, he had nothing like a weapon on him nor did he wear any armor, he was practically defenseless if not for the neckless he was wearing, which Shun was quite sure was what blocked his attack as he saw it shine brightly when the wave had hit him ¡°It was just a small test; it¡¯s not like I hit you with full force now did I? plus I could have killed you if I wanted to anyway¡± ¡°You!¡± ¡°Be quite little bro, let me handle this¡± The big brother stared at Shun for a while before he carefully phrased his words ¡°It is true that you could have killed us with a sneak attack, so I shall give you the benefit of doubt, now tell me what are you after?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s speak honestly here shall we? The kingdom wants to use me as a war asset and then dispose of me, I¡¯m not one to remain on the chopping board so I want to get out,¡± ¡°Perfect than all you have to do is come with us-¡° ¡°I said shut it little bro!¡± After shutting his little brother up again he glared toward Shun ¡°But?¡± ¡°Ahh yes, But! How do I know your kingdom wont treat me any differently? So I need a guarantee¡± ¡°No¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I said no, you¡¯re coming with us whether you like it or not, so be obedient or else¡± The lean figure of the older brother shined with a bronze hue then he launched himself toward Shun, clawing at his head Shun dogged the sudden attack easily and avoided the follow up kick, then he jumped up barely scrapping by the saber¡¯s edge that came from behind ¡®Some sort of animal claw, and a body strengthening technique, plus some saber arts from the little brother, that¡¯s two by one skills, let¡¯s see if I can force them to use the rest¡¯ His improved skill allowed him to sense everything around him so no sneak attack was doable, and his training with the Vince brought him to a decent level of dodging Thus the two brothers could only helplessly try to hit Shun, but try as they might the only thing they could do was hit empty air ¡°Raaaagh¡± The lean older brother irrupted with a sudden roar that froze Shun in his tracks, all his blood cells seemed to stop for a second, allowing the younger brother to directly aim at his feet ¡°Huu!¡± ¡°Ugh¡± Two groans rang out within the forest, one belonged to Shun who now had a deep cut that rang to the bones on both his legs, while the younger brother suffered a mild stun when he was hit with Shun¡¯s full force Soul Rend which barely broke a ring the younger brother was wearing and slightly injured his soul The younger brother didn¡¯t relent though and breathed out some sort of liquid that made Shun¡¯s wounds feel as if their on fire, the pain he was barely holding off assaulted him viscously ensuing a scream from him ¡°Arghh! Mother ****¡± Shun couldn¡¯t tolerate the extreme level of pain he was in and cursed at the man, but he only received a sneer in return ¡°Heh, you should have run while you could kid, this aint a playground for children who pretend to be heroes, this is real war¡± ¡°That¡¯s enough I¡¯ll knock him out for now¡± The older brother came forward and tried to get behind the immobile Shun, he then reached in to grab him- Click ¡°Ga!¡± The older brother didn¡¯t even have the time to gasp after he was hit with a wave of Soul Rend without his neckless, Shun had put his all into that Quick Step and pulled it off before attacking ¡°Brother!¡± The younger brother came running toward Shun but he was sent rolling with another wave of Soul Rend, but he seemed like he would get up soon as the wave barely had any effect with how small it was this time ¡®Dammit four sizable Soul Rends is my limit; I have to make a run for it¡¯ He urged his feet, if they could be called feet at the moment, to run toward the wall, his blood pool was already doing its best to heal him but there was no way it could cover it back within such a short amount of time, and the corroding liquid wasn¡¯t helping either ¡®Dammit, Dammit! I was too arrogant, if only I had hit the with full strength from the beginning, no, if only I had run away when I sensed them nearby¡­¡¯ Sadly, there were no if¡¯s in this world, he could already hear the sorrowful scream echoing in the distance, he knew he didn¡¯t have much time left ¡®Think Shun think, the guy has three skills, Saber Mastery, some liquid skill, and probably a jumping skill, what would be the best method to counter him?¡¯ His thoughts were in a mess and the footsteps that were nearing didn¡¯t help him calm down either, he didn¡¯t have the calm in the storm type of mentality where he could calm down at any given moment, he had no great combat sense either, he was just a boy with too many skills ¡®Skills! Yes, if I use my skills¡­there is a pond near the side road up ahead, if I can get to it and use it to slip him I could reverse this situation!¡¯ He turned to the right and headed to the pond¡¯s direction ¡°Come here you little bastard! I will rip you flesh apart!¡± ¡®How did he catch up so fast, dammit I won¡¯t make it like this, I have to do something, anything¡¯ His mind swirled while the man got closer and closer, they kept going on until they were already at the edge of the clearing behind the lake but he was already right behind him ¡°Die!¡± The man swung his two sabers at him with the intent to cut him in two At the same time Shun turned around and aimed both his fists toward the sabers, while his feet magically stepped closer making the two only inches apart ¡°Double SMASH!¡± Flesh and metal collided, but instead of metal cutting through flesh the sabers bent ever so slightly while Shun was sent flying into the side of the pond, the man on the other hand was only knocked to the ground ¡®I made it!¡¯ While Shun was flushed with happiness the man hastily got up and ran toward him, craziness apparent on his face ¡®I can¡¯t move my legs anymore, that last Quick Step pushed it too far, my fists aren¡¯t useful after that impact, I can only try to deflect his own attack onto himself, if not with my fists then with my arms¡¯ Shun got ready for the upcoming deciding moment, he started focusing in the water close to him, he didn¡¯t know what to do but he would try his darned best regardless The man got closer and closer, he was just twenty meters apart after a few seconds ¡®Come on, just a little more¡¯ Ten meters apart the man swung his sabers up in preparation while he took a large stride and- Zoom! ¡°!?¡± The man was instantly in front of Shun¡¯s face, it was no jump, nor a charge, but more like a zap, a zap that gave Shun no hope of retaliation, taking away all his plans, struggle, and hope ¡®Ahh I miscalculated, if only I could redo this all again¡­¡¯ That was his final thought as the edge of the saber got closer Swish Blood bloomed, and a head rolled onto the ground, with regrets splashed all over it¡­. I Know You Know I Know A halberd larger than his own body, large enough to cut him in half if swung at him, is what he saw in front of his eyes, filled with blood cascading down its edge, normally seeing its bloody edge this close would make him uncomfortable, but right now he couldn¡¯t be any happier with its appearance The halberd had cut the man¡¯s head straight off, and its shaft interrupted the saber¡¯s trajectory, saving his life at the most crucial moment Turning around to his knight in shining armor he saw¡­. a knight with no armor, no to be more precise it was a knight with absolutely nothing on ¡°Master! Are you fine?! We must get you to the medical ward immediately¡± Catherin approached Shun with a worried tone, she hoisted the halberd with one arm over her shoulder then bent down and hugged Shun to her body with the other, after that she hastily ran toward the wall ¡°Catherin¡­. slowdown¡­¡± ¡°No master we must reach the medical ward quickly¡± ¡°I know but your speed is too fast, run more steadily¡± Her jogging rattled his exposed bones, while her chest jiggled up and down hitting his face, the pain and the pleasure contradicted each other and made Shun put a contorted face even as his little brother gave her a salute ¡°Oh alright master¡± She slowed down to a bearable pace, though it didn¡¯t help with the jiggling ¡°How come your naked?¡± ¡°Oh I was taking a shower after training when I felt your pain, that¡¯s when I rushed here as fast as possible¡± ¡°Felt?..ahh I see, but didn¡¯t you have the time to at least put a towel on¡­ no forget it if you did I would already be dead by now, even an instant would have made the difference¡± Shun sighed at the situation but at the same time he felt lucky that their soul was connected, at the same time he regretted not thinking about this sooner, maybe he wouldn¡¯t have been in such a desperate situation back there ¡°By the way did anyone see you naked when you came here?¡± ¡°No I jumped from the windows, no one saw me come in¡± ¡°Jumped?? That¡¯s the third floor!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry master I didn¡¯t get a scratch¡± ¡°¡­Alright, well then let¡¯s take a detour, leave me near the window and climb up to get dressed, then come down and pick me up, we don¡¯t want the others to suspect anything¡± ¡°Yes master¡± Catherin did as she told, and Shun got to witness the mesmerizing sight of a lady climbing a wall with her bare body, and the horrifying sight of an armored lady jumping from three floors up, then he was carried to the medical ward by her, where she ¡°dropped him¡± on the bed and told the doctors to heal him Two days later Shun was in Catherin¡¯s room where he was supposed to be ¡°Interrogated¡± ¡°What are your orders master¡± On the bed laid Shun, he was shirtless laying on his stomach, on him was sitting Catherin with only a bath towel, giving him a massage ¡°Well those of the castle would definitely not care about my injury in the least, but I suspect they are going to find a way to blow the whole situation up, maybe into an all-out war, I can tell by the fact that they didn¡¯t heal me even when they could easily do that, they let me remain slightly impaired, though these open wounds are already healing thanks to my own body¡± ¡°Shall we disrupt their plan? I can get in touch with a few physicians discreetly, or procure some herbs¡± ¡°No that would not be necessary, if they want to make use of me I will demand something in return, that¡¯s when I will make my plans to escape¡± ¡°Master, may I come with you?¡± ¡°No I¡¯m going to need my eyes and ears in the castle, for when the time comes to cross swords with these bastards, I¡¯m not going to let their toying go unpunished¡± ¡°As you wish my master¡± Catherin leaned down and pushed her chest onto his back ¡°Master~ We still have some time before I¡¯m done Interrogating you, may I interrogate your little brother~¡± Shun turned his head and looked at the enticing body, his urges started to bubble up, but he forcefully pushed down the feeling, and even though he was reluctant he refused Catherin ¡°No, I¡¯m in no shape or mind to do such a thing, I can¡¯t even move now let alone practice sport¡± ¡°I will move for you master~¡± ¡°No, leave it be Catherin¡± She didn¡¯t insist anymore and just messaged his body until it was about time to call it a day ¡®I can¡¯t possibly tell her that I¡¯m a virgin and don¡¯t want to be half disabled on my first time right?¡¯ He had such thoughts while he was being wheeled out of the walls ¡°Where are we going, this is not my room¡± ¡°His highness asked for your presence¡± The guard replied with a dull toneThis tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡®It has already begun? I thought I would have some time to heal¡­my plans must still move on¡¯ The guard wheeled him all the way to the conference hall, even before they entered he could see some nobles putting on a face of sympathy as they went inside, their faces gave him a hint of what was to come Sure enough when they went through the doors he could see his classmates standing next to their respective masters alongside a large table which was headed by the king, only Rekka and the two sisters by his side didn¡¯t stand next to their masters, Mamoru on the other hand was nowhere to be seen As soon as he entered the king stood up from his seat then he looked at Shun quite deeply before turning to look at the surrounding students, then back at him ¡°Young hero Shun, I have called you, and all the young heroes here today to discuss the horrible attempt at the assassination of your brave self, while you had been saved by our captain of the guards Catherin, your injury was life threatening, in fact you may never walk again¡± ¡®I¡¯ll walk on your dead body that¡¯s what I¡¯ll do¡¯ Only now did Shun figure out they actually meant to impair him, and that his blood pool was what saved his legs from being crippled at the hands of these old schemers ¡°I, as the king of Avihal, and as the one who called for your help, swear that the aggressors shall pay for their crimes! We will strike back at the ones who harmed you, and take vengeance for your injury, we will put our all into bringing justice!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± All the guards and some of the nobles shouted with the king, but rather than being happy he put on a remorseful face ¡°Sadly, we have not the greatest power as we are surrounded by enemies, if we take any troops from the field we might give our enemies a chance to plunder and burn our cities¡± Then he turned to the students, his eyes ignited as if he found hope ¡°You-¡° ¡°Now hold it one moment¡± The king¡¯s words were sharply interrupted by a sudden voice, once everyone got passed the shock that someone actually interrupted the king they all turned to the speaker with blazing eyes, but when they saw that it was Shun they didn¡¯t know what expression to make ¡°As the victim I would first like to say a few words¡± The king calmed down his irritation and motioned for Shun to speak, after all if he didn¡¯t even let the victim speak how could he continue his act? Who knows maybe Shun might even fan the flames of vengeance of these students Thinking so the king chuckled in his heart but Shun¡¯s words poured cold water over his ambitions ¡°To begin with these wounds weren¡¯t meant to kill they were only slightly harmful as the infiltrators, not assassins mind you, had only aimed to capture me alive¡± Shun¡¯s words surprised the students as they never thought he would stand up for them, even subtly ¡°Secondly, the only reason the wounds almost deteriorated into what they are right now is because your doctors intentionally didn¡¯t treat them and actually tried to disable me by keeping them in a broken state¡± ¡°Watch what you¡¯re saying Shun! This is no way to speak to your host!¡± The one who interjected was Jack with his usual brutish voice ¡°Shut it pig I¡¯m not speaking to you, my words are for my friends who have brains¡± Shun replied with a cold tone while he sent a spine inducing glare toward Jack, after going through horrendous pain and edging on deaths door his personality had changed, so did his presence, so that one glare froze Jack in shock, enough to miss the opportunity to retort With his gaze back at the king Shun continued ¡°Third, those infiltrators were from the Ezicht kingdom, their intention was to abduct me so I could join them which I naturally refused, gaining a gash on my legs¡± He scanned the room for any Jack wannabes and then looked at the guard behind him ¡°Fourth of all, I managed to overhear your guards mention that the infiltrators were let in by an insider, just before I got injured in the forest¡± ¡°What evidence do you have to support such claims?¡± The one who spoke was the minister of defense, which Shun know of as he had Catherin coach him on all their names and how they looked like ¡°Well that¡¯s where the fifth point comes in, the infiltrators themselves confirmed it when they were bragging about how one of Avihal¡¯s ministers was bribed by Ezicht, now who do you think has the best chance of letting such lousy infiltrators into the castles surroundings, minister of defense?¡± His words struck at the heart of the matter without leaving any loopholes, it was logical, fear inducing, and most importantly no one can testify against it as all the witnesses was him, him, and lastly him. With zero grounds to talk back on they could not retort one point at all Any of the students with a discerning eye could tell his wounds hadn¡¯t hit any dangerous point but they still hadn¡¯t healed with all the kingdoms wealth of medical knowledge, as for the insider information, it made sense, and denying meant they had something to hide, plus they were inclined to believe in their own classmate as it had only been a week since they had been here ¡®Now for bonus damage¡¯ ¡°And last but not least, how did the infiltrators know that I was the weakest link? Because of an insider. But WHY did they go for me? Because that is the only way to instigate a wa-¡° ¡°Enough! Young hero I see that you are tired and need rest, I will ask the guard to send you back¡± Shun felt the hand of the guard on his shoulder squeezing it painfully but he just smiled ¡°Oh? Trying to silence me? Next thing I know I¡¯m dead due to ¡°sever injury¡±, also have your guard remove his grip on my shoulder or I¡¯ll rip his arm off¡± The students sent a glare at the guard who flinched, but didn¡¯t remove his hands, this irritated them even more as one of them beat the king to talking and told the guard to take his hands off or they would take action At this Shun smiled within, his plans at railing them up against each other was working greatly ¡®Hehe, now they must be thinking, what¡¯s if that was me? What if I¡¯m useless like him? Would I also be thrown as a bait as well?¡¯ Indeed, that was what went through the student¡¯s mind, and since they were originally together their sense of unity started bubbling up, with it the mob effect started to take over, turning them angry with each passing second The tension in the room started to rise exceptionally, everyone was glaring at each other with turbid eyes, none the wiser on who is with who ¡°Young hero Shun¡± Suddenly the kings voice burst the rising bubble, this caused all the eyes to be directed at him, not with as much friendliness as before ¡°I promise you that I will seek who had planned this scheme from within our ranks, I will not rest until every nook and cranny has been searched for the traitors, furthermore I would like to personally apologies to you for your injury, if it is us who caused it then I apologies from the deepest part of my heart¡± With that the king actually bowed to Shun, astonishing both the students and the nobles, the students more so as they thought the king was genuine with his plea ¡®Heheh, well played sir, well played, but I¡¯ve went through many games that had similar settings, the king sets the trap by ¡°lowering¡± himself, then the character on the other side incriminates himself by acting all reluctant about accepting the apology, thus leading to the others doubting him, sadly you stand before a master schemer¡¯ ¡°That would set my heart at ease, please bring those ministers to justice¡± He said those words with the sincerest smile he could muster, surprising the king and the onlookers yet again ¡°I shall also ask the best physicians to heal your leg, I shall not rest until the kingdoms vault is emptied fixing it¡± All eyes went back to staring at the king when he spoke, but after finishing they looked at Shun again, this time with a gaze that practically says ¡°you owe him one¡± ¡®Ahh using wealth? Trap card! I use self-heal!¡¯ Shun stood up from the wheel chair silently, his actions made the onlooker¡¯s eyes bulge out as if they had seen a ghost in broad day light ¡°No need to empty them, thankfully I have a great body thus no matter what your doctors tried I was still able to keep my legs intact, a few herbs would be enough to fully heal, if that is possible¡± The onlookers didn¡¯t even know where to look at anymore, they just kept staring between the king and Shun, their eyes darted back and forth as if saying ¡°go on, go on, just say I am your father and end this will you?¡± But sadly, or rather thankfully, none of them said that, instead they just silently nodded toward each other before Shun turned around and left on his own ¡®Act one, finished¡¯ An evil smile graced his face as he left the hall, like a hero who won his first battle in war I Want to Be That Paper While everyone was busy discussing things and the hall and trying to diffuse the awkward atmosphere, Shun and another figure following behind were casually making their way out ¡°Ya totally messed everything up back there¡± ¡°Oh yah? I did great then¡± ¡°Ya know if yer salty about all that ya could have just requested something in return¡± ¡°Yah that was the plan at the beginning¡± ¡°At the beginning?¡± ¡°Yes, but after I saw their faces I just had the urge to smack ¡®em hard you know¡± ¡°Smack yer butt, now I have to receive harsh lectures cause of yer stupid stunts¡± ¡°Well at least you get to keep your legs right?¡± ¡°Sigh, whatever there¡¯s no use crying over spoiled milk, tell me now what did ya hope to accomplish after all this¡± ¡°I smacked faces¡± ¡°What else¡± ¡°Smacked a bit more faces¡± ¡°¡­...If ya weren¡¯t half disabled now I would have beat yer ass into one piece¡± ¡°Haha!¡± Shun walked forward without paying too much heed to Vince¡¯s concern, he didn¡¯t care to explain why he did it for it would spoil his plans off course ¡®Okay, now I need to fix my legs and start on part two, I wonder what a pig¡¯s swollen faces would look like, a boar? Well I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll find out when I¡¯m done with them¡¯ He went back to the walls, this time he didn¡¯t wait till night to go to Catherin¡¯s room but directly sneaked into it instead, after that showdown with the king he didn¡¯t need to keep appearances and have them keep tabs on his location Before he even knocked on her door Catherin opened it and welcomed him in ¡°Master, have you changed your mind¡± ¡°No, I may have stirred the nest early though¡± ¡°Ahh that¡¯s why you were so happy a moment ago!¡± ¡®Ugh I keep forgetting were connected¡¯ ¡°Lets get down to business, are you proficient in the halberd?¡± ¡°Yes master, I have the Halberd Mastery¡± ¡°Then from now on after dark I need you to teach me in secret, make use of the window to jump down and train me, I will sneak away from the room once I make sure there is no one there¡± ¡°As you wish¡± ¡°Don¡¯t interact with me other than that since they might keep an eye on me from now on, I had messed their plans after all¡± Catherin nodded, they discussed the precise time and place before Shun went out and headed toward the training area where he spared with the instructor Along the way he received many hostile stares, some even emit killing intent, everywhere he went all eyes were on him ¡®News sure spreads fast, well this makes my plans run smoother¡¯ Once he was at the facility he went straight toward the big man at the center, then he called out for him ¡°Grant, may I have a moment of your time¡± The man turned a deaf ear and continued to train his soldiers ¡°Thrust your wait with your arms, you must achieve balance with each swing, do not¡­.¡± He continued to bark out his orders without turning to face Shun ¡®Hmm I can¡¯t outright enrage him since I don¡¯t want to look like I had intentionally dropped my teacher, after all I want them to think that they cornered me not me giving up on the benefits on my own¡¯The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. He continued to think about it for a while, while Grant continued to ignore him, incidentally at that time one of the soldiers came in while talking to his friend in a normal but audible tone ¡°Did you hear about what that rascal that trained under Grant did? It seemed he actually talked back to the king!¡± ¡°Who hasn¡¯t heard about it? He dared do something like that after captain Catherin just saved his life, that ungrateful bastard¡± ¡°She didn¡¯t just save his life, I heard the medics say she even carried him all the way to the medical ward! Ahh why couldn¡¯t it have been me that she carried, if only I could be smothered in her large bosom, I would die of happiness¡± ¡°Bah I dare you look at her chest for a second and not have your head stamped into the mud, stop day dreaming you can¡¯t get within an inch of her¡± At this point Grants temples pulsed with anger, he turned to the back and gave a hateful stare toward Shun, who was none the wiser about what¡¯s happening, he had been too focused on the task at hand he didn¡¯t seem to hear the two young soldiers talk ¡°Rascal what the hell do you want!¡± Shun had a puzzled face, but he soon rolled with it, he thought to find an opportunity to get kicked out during training ¡°I¡¯m here to train as usual¡± ¡°With that bum leg of yours? Hah you probably couldn¡¯t even run a lap much less fight!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to fight I¡¯m here to train, it¡¯s enough to practice basic swings as I stand¡± ¡°Little rascal you listen to me, don¡¯t think that your all hot just because you got your ass saved by the captain, she wouldn¡¯t even spare you another glance if it wasn¡¯t for the infiltrators that made it in, so keep your distance from her and stop acting all smug in front of me¡± Only now did Shun get the general gist of it, he smiled in his mind as he prepared to fan the flames a bit ¡°Sir Grant you should indeed continue to train the young ¡°hero¡± after all we don¡¯t want him to blame it all on you when we have our fight¡± Suddenly a sweet voice rang from the side, both men turned to the source and saw a blond haired girl that looked no older than eighteen swaggering her way toward them ¡°Lady Fiola! What brings your esteemed self here¡± ¡°Oh I¡¯m just here to issue this man right here a challenge to duel¡± ¡°Th-this rascal here!? But why would you dirty your shoes with him, if you so much as wish it I will wipe the ground with him!¡± Suddenly Grant took out his halberd and jumped toward the defenseless Shun, giving him no time to prepare Shun was surprised at the development, but instead of acting in haste he looked toward the girl by the side, when he saw her smiling with no intention to intervene he knew it was a trap of sort ¡®He¡¯s not stupid to want to attack just like that, they must have had a plan from the beginning, this was the same girl that Vince talked about before, it seems they either want to humiliate me here or at the very least injure me¡¯ He looked back at the airborne Grant, his mind instantly thought of three possibilities ¡®Take the hit, dodge and injure your legs further, or...¡¯ Thud! With a dull sound Grant fell on the ground in pain, gasping for air like a fish out of water, he looked at Shun in slight fear and trepidation for he never thought the boys Soul Rend would be so powerful after only a few days ¡°Only cowards sneak attack¡± ¡°Like yourself?¡± Shun tried to humiliate Grant but received a brutal refute in return, then he remembered he was a Stealth user which made his cheeks flush for a second ¡°Heh if that is all you have then please surrender before you humiliate yourself in the arena¡± ¡°You keep barbering about the arena this, the fight that, wanna tell me when I agreed to have a duel with a blabber mouth such as yourself?¡± The girl¡¯s eyes suddenly turned sharp, killing intent harbored within, she had never been talked to in such a manner before that her cold fury was ignited without restrain ¡°You would do well to remember not to talk to me in such a manner again peasant, I¡¯ll have you know I am lady Fiola of house Fernasko, nothing the likes of you can even look up to¡± ¡°Whoever you may be it doesn¡¯t matter, in the end you¡¯re just a noble and I¡¯m, as you had generously pointed out when you came, a ¡°hero¡± so you would be the one minding your manners miss fiasco¡± ¡°Fernasko!¡± The girl huffed and puffed for a bit as her rather moderate chest heaved up and down, but she soon reigned in her anger and spoke in a cold aloof tone ¡°I do not argue with foolish men like yourselves, believe whatever you may believe, in the end you shall see the truth of your inferior existence in the arena¡± ¡°Like I said what are you going on about?¡± The girl suddenly smirked and shoved a paper in his face, on it were a few lines explaining a challenge, and at the bottom were two stamps ¡°I issued to you a challenge and it was agreed upon by the master of the arena himself! You are obligated to attend, off course if you kneel and beg me right now I might let it go¡± The girl smirked at him with playful eyes ¡°So what if he accepted? I heard nothing of it¡± ¡°Haha, who cares, any duel agreed upon by master Galluis must be attended, it¡¯s only natural¡± ¡°Oh? And would you fight an injured man such as myself? Where did the face of nobility go?¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you the one that said it would heal with but a few herbs? Oh ¡°hero¡± how could you forget your own words¡± The girls face almost read ¡°You dug your own grave¡± ¡°Hmm fine so be it, but I shall not study under this person, he is an abomination of a teacher¡± Shun pointed at Grant in displeasure ¡°But off course~ I will personally arrange a teacher for you~¡± After the girl spoke she wrapped the paper in put it back in her bosom, then went away with a swaggering hip ¡°See you in two weeks~~¡± ¡®No wonder it smelled so sweet, so that¡¯s where it was¡¯ Instead of being worried Shun thought about the pleasant smell that came from the paper, then he shrugged and went back to his room As for worrying about the duel? He could end her in a second with Soul Rend, he had purposely gone easy on Grant so as not to cause a huge stir and to make them underestimate him ¡®That was surprisingly helpful in my plans, now I just need to beat her up and I would be done with my second act, this is actually pretty easy isn¡¯t it¡¯ He hummed to himself on the way back, he was going to rest in his room but he saw Vince leaning on his door Vince looked at him deeply before sighing for what felt like the hundredth time today ¡°I cannot teach ya anymore, yer on your own¡± Those were his only words, along with a pat on the shoulders before he left She Swings That Way? Shun looked at his back before entering the room ¡°Ahh this is the best! Now I got rid of both of them, I appreciate Vince¡¯s help but lately there hasn¡¯t been any improvement in my Stealth, I¡¯m glad I freed up even more time¡± Shun relaxed his body while leaning on the wall ¡®Hmm?¡¯ He felt a familiar presence entering Catherin¡¯s room, as she was his only helper here he paid quite the attention to her whereabouts and her guests, and so far this was the first guest she welcomed into her room ¡®I wonder who it is?¡¯ He didn¡¯t know many people so the familiar presence was only limited to a few people He didn¡¯t dally about guessing and instead checked directly, he was surprised to find the girl from earlier, Fiola, talking amiably with Catherin ¡®Let¡¯s see here, she is saying¡­¡¯ He focused his eyes on their lips so as to read them, he had been practicing in his free time latly so he was quite okay with it, though he still missed some words After listening for quite a while he made out most of their conversation which seemed to be about politics this and troubles that ¡®Nothing to see here¡¯ He was about to leave when suddenly Fiola moved her hand toward Catherin¡­.. ¡°So little Cathy~ wanna have some fun~¡± Fiola said seductively as she brushed her hand over Catherin¡¯s thigh Catherin instantly moved her leg away and tried to remain as respectful as possible ¡°Sorry miss Fiola, I happen to have been training previously and I am quite sweaty right now¡± ¡°That¡¯s even better~ you know I like it when you give off that string smell of yours~~¡± Catherin could only smile awkwardly at Fiola, previously the two of them were in a physical relationship, they were both bona fide man haters who took shelter with one another, but now that she had her master she dared not play around, or rather, she didn¡¯t want to play around ¡°I¡¯m sorry miss Fiola right now I¡¯m¡­ quite not in the mood¡­¡± Fiola frowned and ceased her attempts, then she asked with a cold tone ¡°Is it because of that peasant that caused you trouble? I heard you actually had to carry that filth all the way to the medical ward, it must have been tough on you¡± By the end of her words her eyes seem to have softened, and her hands reached out again for Catherin¡¯s thigh, this time for a comforting touch ¡®How annoying¡¯ Catherin thought, but just as she was about to dodge and evade further she felt a tremor next to her heart, then her eyes seamed to understand something before she stopped her earlier action ¡°Hmm yes it was that kid that caused my mood to dim, He¡¯s quite the annoying one that one¡± ¡°Tell me about it, he is indeed one hateful being, but worry not for I will make him pay dearly, I will shred his dignity to pieces until there is nothing left¡± Fiola¡¯s frown then transitioned into a playful smile as she maneuvered her hands further into Catherin¡¯s inner thighs ¡°Enough about that, how about we continue were we left off last month? While I was away I missed your touch dearly¡± Instead of dodging Catherin thrust her hip forward with a seductive smile of her own Fiola¡¯s hands playfully made their way between Catherin¡¯s plump thigh¡¯s, and finally reached their destination, they started moving about with haste Catherin smiled seductively while she thrust her hips even more toward Fiola, allowing her even more access At this point both the women and the girl were breathing heavily, Fiola seemed to have entered into heat as she moved forward to start the real match Knock Knock!Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! That¡¯s when a knock interrupted both beauties, Fiola instinctively retracted her hands in fear as she gazed at the door, if she was to be caught in the act with another woman her reputation would go down the drain as a noble and pure woman Catherin didn¡¯t seem to have taken that into mind though as she yelled for the person to enter ¡°What are you doing!¡± Fiola whispered ¡°Shit! force of habit¡± Catherin grunted in response but it was too late, the door fully opened to reveal the innocent face of¡­ Shun ¡°You! Why are you here!¡± ¡°Hmm? You are?... Ah that miss fiasco, well that should be my line, I am here to thank miss Catherin for her help the other day¡± ¡°You! You! You animal! Its Fernasko, and no one needs your apology now leave!¡± ¡°Is this your room or the Catherin¡¯s? Just step to the side and be quite¡± Shun turned to Catherin who seemed to be holding her anger in ¡°Thank you miss Catherin¡± Shun bowed slightly to Catherin saying so, now it was Catherin¡¯s turn to talk but she seemed to be struggling with herself quite a lot, this received weird looks form both Shun and Fiola, as both of the urged her with their own intentions ¡°Ye¡­s are you done¡­now? Please¡­ leave¡± Catherin gritted her teeth and said unwillingly, she seemed to have said those words with her blood boiling, in turn Fiola took it as extreme anger and embarrassment so she turned hastily toward Shun ¡°You hear her right? No one wants a maggot like you here now get out¡± She yelled while pointing at the door, to this Shun just shrugged and left, not before giving Catherin a weird look as he went out ¡°Ugh that animal! If I didn¡¯t have to duel him, I would have buried him right here right now! Wouldn¡¯t you Cathy?¡± Turning around she was surprised by Catherin¡¯s appearance, for she looked as if she was enduring some unbearable pain ¡°Hey are you okay? Did you get too stressed? Maybe we should go beat him right now¡± ¡°No¡­ miss Fiola, that would¡­ tarnish your¡­image¡­if only I had a way¡­ to beat him¡­rightfully¡­¡± Catherin said with labored breaths, her words seemed to be just her venting some anger but it hit Fiola with a great idea ¡°Hey I have an idea how about I assign you as a trainer! That way you can beat him to your heart¡¯s content and no one would think you are assaulting him!¡± Fiola smiled at her ¡°own¡± genius idea, but looking at Catherin again she lost her enthusiasm ¡°Maybe... you shouldn¡¯t go near him too much, forget it I¡¯ll assign him someone else¡± ¡°No!....I will do it¡­. Thank¡­you¡­.Can you¡­leave please¡­ I¡¯m at my limit¡­¡± Fiola didn¡¯t know what to say to being kicked out, but after thinking about the injustice Catherin just suffered she attributed it to the vermin she hated and chocked it up as more grievances to pay back later, she then hugged the frozen still Catherin as she said goodbye before leaving ¡­.A Minute after Fiola went away Shun went back into Catherin¡¯s room, when he entered he was all smiles, just as he was about to praise Catherin he suddenly heard a dong Looking toward Catherin he saw her kowtowing to him with her head smashed into the floor ¡°Catherin! What¡¯s wrong with you? Get up¡± ¡°Please forgive me master, how could the lowly I accept your bow, please forgive me I would never, please spare my soul I repent, I repent!¡± Shun held a puzzled look on his face, he nonetheless tried to pull Catherin up from the floor but was unsuccessful, she on the other hand kept repeating her words about repenting and apologizing ¡°Okay okay I get it; I forgive you now can you please get up¡± Upon hearing the words forgive Catherin finally calmed down and loosned her muscles, but when he said get up she stood ram rod straight, then bent her back in a bow ¡°Umm, can you..sit down?¡± Catherin Kneeled on the floor, with her back still bent ¡°¡­Catherin?¡± ¡°Yes Master¡± ¡°Explain to me why you¡¯re doing this?¡± ¡°Master, when you had¡­bowed to me, pain filled my entire body, I felt that if, and only if, I perhaps accepted that bow, my soul would have¡­self-destructed¡± ¡°Self-destructed? Catherin I merely bowed!¡± ¡°I am your slave master, I could never accept you belittle yourself in front of myself, not when I am the target of comparison¡± ¡°¡­sigh, fine I will keep that in mind, anyway thank you for playing along, I hope you didn¡¯t mind what Fiola did, well I did give you a choice to not do so though¡± ¡°Master, me and her had went way further down the line than that, this is nothing to me, plus, I kind of enjoy teasing her a little¡± ¡°Alright, well I¡¯m happy I didn¡¯t force you into anything¡± At this point Catherin looked up with a naughty grin on her face, but she didn¡¯t look toward Shun¡¯s face, instead she looked at another part of him that was much more noticeable now ¡°No master, I am happy to have given you a good show, your little brother seemed to have enjoyed our little show~¡± Shun could only smile awkwardly as he turned around whilst coughing ¡°Never mind that, once you have calmed down and changed go arrange the time of practice with Fiola, that way we will train both at morning and night¡± ¡°Yes my master¡± Catherin answered enthusiastically before going to the bathroom to change, Shun on the other hand looked through the wall and locked onto the angry Fiola¡¯s location ¡®Your words, I will make you swallow¡¯ He was able to keep his calm but that didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t want to bash her face in, in fact he was going to do just that, but instead of alone he would do it in front of the whole crowed at the arena He then went to his room to rest, but, just like with Vince, he saw a figure standing at the door, he had seen its presence though when he was coming ¡®That reminds me, why had I not sensed Vince at that time?¡¯ Although he was curious he put it at the back of his mind and focused on the figure in front of him, for this figure demanded his full attention or he might screw up big ¡°What brings you here, Rekka¡± The red headed figure was indeed the one with the Arm¡¯s Mastery, Rekka, who was currently acting as a prominent figure in the group Rekka turned to Shun slowly, letting his eyes pierce through him for a moment, trying to discern his intentions, after looking quite satisfied with what he found he nodded his head and spoke ¡°As long as you¡¯re not in the wrong, I will help you¡± With only those words he turned around and left, never giving a glance back or letting Shun speak ¡°Whew what a handful this fellow is; from one glance I can tell I can¡¯t beat him no matter what method I use¡± Something told Shun that there was more to this boy Rekka, he couldn¡¯t quite put his hand on it but he just knew there was something off about him ¡°Well whatever, as long as he¡¯s not my enemy, he¡¯s not a threat¡± Shrugging he entered the room and rested till the next day Know Thy Enemy The next two weeks passed by rather quickly, Shun had been training both in the open and secretly with Catherin, while they were under everyone¡¯s watching eyes Shun would only receive beatings under the hands of Catherin, but it was in fact to strengthen his reaction speed and improve his movement¡¯s fluidity while giving him an experience with live combat At night they would train in the forms of stances and the various abilities of combat, just like Stealth being a learnable skill, abilities like Smash and Quick Step could also be learned by people who didn¡¯t possess them, after all they only employed muscles, nothing magical was needed to smash someone, though the proficiency of using your muscles to exert maximum strength is a challenge on its own By the end of the two weeks Shun was practically as proficient as someone from the Soldier grade could be ¡°Say Catherin, what are my chances in winning the duel with Fiola if we use no abilities?¡± ¡°None master¡± ¡°Haah, as I thought two weeks of training won¡¯t cut it¡± ¡°Master, that girl has an epic grade Rapier Mastery, it is only natural that you would take some time to catch up¡± ¡°Really? An epic grade? She didn¡¯t strike me as a strong warrior at all¡± ¡°That¡¯s because she never participated in any real battles, she only trained under her master for the past two years¡± ¡°Oh I see, a sheltered flower, still two years? When is the coming of age for you in this world?¡± ¡°Master, that would be at the age of sixteen¡± ¡°Hmm, so how long have you been training?¡± ¡°Seven years master, I have recently hit the age of twenty-six, but I had received my skills ten years ago, only after three years did I start training since I was raised in a rural village before my grandma who was a palace maid picked us up¡± ¡°Seven years huh¡­ that reminds me, can you tell me what your skills are?¡± Shun never got around to ask this question, but now that the topic was raised he was suddenly curios ¡°Yes master, this one¡¯s skills are Halberd Mastery of the epic rank, Gold Body of the epic rank, Blood Rage of the epic rank, and lastly Dominatrix Aura of the epic rank, off course there is the Soul Slave of the uncommon plus rank¡± ¡°¡­..¡± Shun was plain gob smacked, his head only drew blanks for a while standing with his mouth opening and closing like a fish ¡°Th-that¡¯s ridicules! How the hell are you just the captain of the guard?! This is impossible your better than some of the heroes even¡± ¡°Haha this is all thanks to master, how could I have four skills otherwise, its master¡¯s blessings that gave me strength¡± While Catherin said that she had a loving look on her face ¡®My blessing? Wait could it be?¡¯ ¡°Catherin¡­ what were your skills before you became my slave?¡± ¡°I had Halberd Mastery of the uncommon rank, Silver Body of the rare rank, and Blood Ire¡± ¡°And how did you know of the new skills you gained after?¡± ¡°Master this is the work of the Soul Slave, when my soul is lower than yours, which it will forever be from that moment onward, I am allowed to view my soul fully, that includes all the skills I own. Master, you are also able to view my soul as you wish¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Well, I have no idea, but I believe it has something to do with my heart?¡± ¡°Heart¡­¡± Shun gulped as he looked at Catherin¡¯s chest, he didn¡¯t want to do anything weird but he had to check on this new information, getting all shy and jittery could wait for another time ¡°Forget it, it doesn¡¯t matter even if I check, right now we need to brain storm a bit¡± ¡°For what Master?¡± ¡°A way to beat her without my skills¡± ¡°Is it to make it a more brutal defeat? I think making her beg using Soul Rend is showy enough¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not the point, do you remember the pendant and ring I told you the two infiltrators wore?¡± ¡°Yes, they had soul guarding accessories, I even retrieved the neckless as per your instructions, I was surprised to have seen them carry such expensive items¡± ¡°It is because you had told me they were expensive that I recalled something, back then when you had wanted to rat me out to the witch you wanted to contact Fiola¡¯s family to get to her correct?¡± Catherin had a despondent remembering her betrayal, she nodded her head with a guilty look ¡°You had also wanted me to duel Fiola at the arena before that as well, what was your plan for the after fight¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Yes Master, your subject is indeed guilty of all those crimes, this one had even planned to send you to the witch to be healed up as an excuse to¡­oh I get it Master!¡± Catherin¡¯s tone shifted from guilt to enlightenment as she finally understood what he was hinting at ¡°The one who orchestrated all three events including two arena battles and the kidnapping, was the witch of the spirit tower! That explains why they had soul guarding amulet and ring, it also explains why Fiola would want to duel you so badly! It seems the witch is hunting after Master!¡± Shun nodded, that was indeed his guess ¡°I first suspected something when those two talked about how Avihal was wasting a precious solider who had great strength both early on and late into the war, the items had also caught my attention, but it was only when I met Fiola that I finally connected everything by remembering your letter¡± ¡°So now Fiola may also be given such an item to ward off your attacks, how will you defeat her without your Soul Rend?¡± ¡°I can break those guarding items with a full power attack, but if she brings out a more powerful one then I won¡¯t be able to win, not without bringing out all my hidden cards which I can¡¯t show to the public¡± The two fell silent as they thought way to solve the dilemma, brain storming through the night while they bounced ideas off of each other Knock! Knock! A knock interrupted the duo¡¯s conversation and before Catherin even responded the other party opened the door on their own ¡°Hello Cathy~ Are you having a nice night~¡± Fiola entered wearing casual clothing, when she went in she saw Catherin drinking tea calmly ¡°Miss Fiola, what brings you here at this time?¡± ¡°What else other than my lovely red kitty~¡± She said seductively while approaching ¡®The implications are strong with this one¡¯ Shun thought to the side, he had entered Stealth the second the door was opened, thus Fiola who entered in a very relaxed sate couldn¡¯t sense him one bit in the dim room ¡®This isn¡¯t the time to play around with her, I need to figure out a way to beat her and I really need someone to pitch in their thoughts¡¯ ¡°Is that so? What about your duel?¡± ¡°Hah! What about it? That peasant can¡¯t even tussle with a few bandits how can he ever pose a challenge toward me?¡± ¡°Still you have to watch out for his Soul Rend¡± ¡°Humph not you too Cathy, I have already heard enough of people telling me to watch out for his attacks but so what? I am sure his full force can¡¯t even make me feel an itch! Still the madam of the spirit tower blessed me with a soul guard bracer, that way all his attacks would be usless, even though I don¡¯t really need it¡± Fiola puffed her chest out in pride ¡®Ohhh, goading her into spilling her plans are we? I have taught you well Catherin¡¯ Shun smiled at the two who now started to exchange thought about the duel, Catherin kept on asking questions as she dogged Fiola¡¯s attempts at sparing a scene while Fiola kept on blabbering about how she would do this and that, giving Shun all the information he needed to formulate a plan By morning Catherin managed to keep the happenings pg 13, and Fiola finely relented and decided that it was time to go prepare for the duel, but not before brining Catherin along with her When the two left Shun exited his Stealth state smiling devilishly ¡®Know thy enemy and know thy self and fear not the result of a hundred battles, only with absolute power can this rule be crushed and you Fiola do not have such power¡± He walked to the forest to set his new plan up, wicked laughs escaping his mouth every now and then¡­... A little way from the castle was a massive structure, one that looked like a massive colosseum, but it had its own differences, instead of having many pillars supporting it, it only had two massive pillars that held it together, the pillars were shining with a red hue, giving the weak hearted onlookers a fright just by seeing it The colosseum with its massive size usually looked empty, but today even with its rows of seats people had to stand at the back, that¡¯s how full it was On the viewing platform set for the nobility various figures could be seen amiably talking about, only a few figures were a little anxious as they nervously asked their friends ¡°What do you think will happen to Shun? He doesn¡¯t know how to fight and his skills aren¡¯t meant for a head on clash either¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, what was he thinking? To accept such an unfair duel is just arrogance¡± The two girls talking were two of his classmates, the one with the glasses was named Clement she was the one that had the Ocular Mastery skill, as for the girl next to her, her name was Nazz, she was the girl who usually stood proudly at the helm of the girls at school, but after arriving to this world and gaining her legendary rank Cooking Mastery skill she became a little timid with all the scorn she received, even though it wasn¡¯t too obvious like Shun¡¯s case ¡°Don¡¯t worry girls, I think it is miss Fiola we are supposed to be concerned about, after all she has to withstand Shun¡¯s skill head on, it is totally unfair to her¡± ¡°Indeed, I find Fiola¡¯s circumstances rather pitiful, to have to face a hero with such an unfair skill¡± Jack came from the side and pitched in, his words didn¡¯t help the girls at all though, especially when the princess who was holding his hands agreed with him, it pretty much proved he didn¡¯t care about his classmate and was rooting for the other side instead At this time Fiola made it to the platform, gathering the attentions of all the nobles and students toward her, she noticed everyone looking at her and puffed her chest out in pride and walked with large strides toward the king who sat in his high chair ¡°Fiola Fernasko reports her presence to his highness¡± She said bowing, this was just formality that must be done before the king allows the duel to start when it involved a party of rather high class The king looked at the entrance to the platform but didn¡¯t see Shun coming in, this was a cue for the nobles to start their bashing ¡°Why is that kid not here yet? Did he run away?¡± ¡°No how could he even dare to run? He¡¯s probably hiding under his bed sheets shaking¡± ¡°Haha! No you guys are giving him too much credit, I think he already peed his bed, that guy is all talk after all¡± ¡°Indeed, hahaha¡± Jeering and laughter resounded ¡°Boo!¡± ¡°Ah!¡± ¡°Hii!¡± ¡°Hicc!¡± Scared yelps intrupted the laughter as everone looked at the group who had just spoken, before their surprised eyes they saw Shun standing behind the nobles, smiling slyly An unpleasant waft spread in the place and everyone turned to look at one of the nobles, only to see his pants turning dark at the front, this was the same man who had said Shun would wet his bed ¡°Oh? I guess you were speaking from experience¡± Shun gave the guy a jeer, then he ignored these busy bodies and looked at Fiola ¡°Stop dilly dallying, let¡¯s start the duel¡± With that short sentence he turned his back to the king and walked down, clearly expressing his full disrespect to the rules ¡°You! Come here now!¡± Fiola yelled but Shun was already going down the stairs, so she turned to look at the king, but he was not giving her the time of day as he only stared at Shun with sharp eyes, she saw all the ministers and guards also stare at him with such eyes and did not understand what was going on, in the end she just credit it to them being angry and grit her teeth before heading down as well to teach him a lesson on their behalf What her arrogant mind didn¡¯t understand was that none of them paid any mind to his disrespect, the only thing on it was one fact, Shun had the ability to get into their midst without anyone noticing his existence, the very same Shun who had the Soul Rend skill, that meant that other than the king who had soul guarding accessories, every minister on the platform could have died without even knowing how it happened All the ministers swore to themselves to get a soul guarding tool even if it meant they had to beg that old witch