Chapter 9

After a quiet rest, Caleb began to check the items that had dropped from the [Owl Guard]. He was expecting some decent items because it was an Elite Monster, and it truly didn't fail him.

There were six drops in total. The first two items were Uncommon pieces of equipment. Leggings with an effect of additional movement speed by 10 and a gauntlet that can give him 10 attack speed.

There were good pieces of equipment considering all the common ones can only give a maximum of 5 movement speed and 5 attack speed.

Caleb then equipped the two. He checked the next item drops and found out a cloak. It was not a common one, it was a Rare grade!

"Finally a Rare item. Though my luck is not good for the past hours, this is quite a comeback." He muttered softly while checking the attributes of the cloak.

——

[Cloak of Obliquity] (Rare)

Requirement(s): None

Effect(s): A cloak weave from dusk, having the power of the night. Wearer obtained 10 Dexterity. Skill obtained, [Night Veiled].

Class Limitation: None

——

Caleb rejoiced at this result. An item that has a skill on it, it was truly rare! Aside from the bonus 10 Dexterity attribute, the [Night Veiled] was a great skill.

This skill allows him to transform into a smoke shadow. Attacks cannot harm him at that time. This ability would be useful if he were in a dangerous situation and would allow him to escape. And even though it has a 6-hour cooldown, he was not discouraged by it considering what he could do with the skill.

Excited about this cloak, he immediately puts it on. He also equipped the [Bleed] sword he obtained from the noble Witch, as he had reached level 5.

His appearance has changed significantly since the last time. He wore Uncommon items from boots and leggings to armor and gauntlets. With the addition of a black cloak and a sword with a slight red tint, his appearance resembled that of a guild leader of a large guild. In fact, he didn't know if those guild leaders could compare with him right now.

After that, he went on to check the remaining three items. They were all the same size, about the size of a palm, with a bluish color essence emanating from them. A piece with an irregular shape and carvings.

It was a Shard.

——

[Blue Shards] (Unique)

Effect(s): Collect 10 shards and a weapon will be born.

——

He knows these items! Collecting 10 of these would result in Unique or Epic grade weapons depending on the rating of the shard. Also, the weapon was always according to the class who completed it.

Shards were sometimes Unique or Epic ranks. It was also divided into three categories. Equipment, Weapon, and Skills.

Blue for Weapons, yellow for Equipment, and red for Skills.

In his previous life, he also collected some of these shards. He went to trade his shards to the others for him to complete one. Since the price of this single item was high, others were willing to trade the different shards that they didn't need instead of buying one.

He quickly stores them all in his inventory. He decided to check his current status after equipping and storing the necessary items. A blink and a panel appeared in front of him.

He chooses to graduate from Novice Category and become a full pledge Swordsman. After graduating, he gained 3 Attribute Points in each of his attributes causing his stats to massively change.

———

[BASIC STATUS]

Name: Azrael

Title: Competitor

Class: Swordsman

Sub-Class: None

Level: 5

HP: 175/175

MP: 175/175

Stamina: 250/250

Physical Attack: 40

Magical Attack: 20

Physical Defense: 16

Magical Defense: 16

Attack speed: 34

Movement speed: 35

Awareness: 18

Critical Chance: 4.5%

Accuracy: 11.5%

HP regeneration: 2.5 health/s

MP regeneration: 2.5 mana/s

Stamina regeneration: 2.5 stamina/s

[ATTRIBUTES]

Strength: 10

Magic: 5

Dexterity: 23

Constitution: 5

Vitality: 8

Perception: 9

AP: 5

———

Though his status panel become more complex, it was the same as before. The system only shows these stats because he was no longer in Novice Category. It was a reminder to be mindful of what stats are the priority and what kind of items were appropriate and more helpful.

It was because items beyond level 5 most likely give bonuses specifically to every stat, not only to attribute points.

If a player obtained two armor with one having a bonus Constitution of 5, and the other having a bonus Physical Defense of 25. The player will decide what he will use between the two, in that time, the player capability and wits of the game would be tested.

The real game begins after graduation!

Thus Caleb has a pretty advantage when it comes to this. He was already knowledgeable of his class so it was easy to decide what path he would take.

After checking it, he added all the 5 AP points he obtained to Dexterity. He then shifted his attention to his newly acquired title "Competitor".

——

[Competitor]

Effect(s): Upon wearing it, your Attribute will raise to 30% if you are facing an enemy with 2 or more levels higher than yours.

——

This was his first objective after coming in this Rift. To be able to reach Level 5 in a short time. He knows that being the first to graduate, he can gain this title.

This title can give him an advantage especially since his leveling method was not normal. It involves fighting difficult monsters so this will be helpful to him.

Caleb only takes a glance at the system notification about the "Hidden Quest" he has triggered. For now, he has two remaining objectives in this place so he will mind it later.

After that, he also checks his skills. Since he was now a Swordsman, three new skills were added to his arsenal. All of them are passive skills.

One of the passive skills was [Dual Weilding], an ability to wield two swords at the same time. The second passive was [Swordsmanship], a skill that can give additional damage to the enemy if he makes five consecutive attack combos in a short time. Chaining attacks with accuracy and speed can trigger this passive skill.

The last passive skill was [Guard], a passive skill that allows him to block 70% of the damage if he were to successfully block the weapon of his enemy.

Though the [Parried] skill is more incredible because it can block almost 95% of the physical damages.

Shifting his attention to his Active Skills, it has now [Skill Proficiency] added besides it. This feature can help the player to level up their skill by using their skill frequently on the enemy. It needs 50 Proficiency Points (PP) to level up a level 1 skills, 100 to level up a level 2 skills, 200 to level up a level 3 skills, and so on.

However, [Skill Proficiency] could not be increased just by simply using the skill. When using a skill on a monster of the same level as the player, there was a 10% chance to increase it by one point. For monsters of a higher level, there was a 20% chance if it was two levels higher, 30% for three levels, 40% for four levels, 50% for five levels, and 100% for six levels. The maximum limit was 100%.

Caleb smiles because of this since the Skill Proficiency feature would be a big help to him especially since his plans involve fighting high-level monsters.

Finished with all his checking, he then stood up and gazed into the castle. He decided to enter and walks for around five minutes. The castle was not too hard to reach as there was no monster inside.

He arrived at the big front door and pushed it to open. Beyond it was a throned room. One figure was sitting on the chair, like a king waiting for his audience.

Caleb intently stared at the figure, it didn't wear a cover, it was just wearing armor with a gray and black color design.

One cannot see its face because it was wearing a black mask but Caleb already knows what is behind that mask.

[System: Player arrived on the fifth floor!]

Soon after the system notified Caleb, a deep voice resounded from his front. The figure stood up and started speaking in lament.

"I, who loves sword with all my heart,

got a curse invaded my whole part.

I, who swing my sword to protect,

now wield it to deliver death.

Drawing blood only for peace.

But I... killed her instead.

Do you know how painful was it?

Being cursed for eternal rest.

Oh, a warrior who stepped my domain.

You never challenge me, only my sin.

In the name of my sword, Samira my beloved.

I will curse you for your greed!"

Black magical energy suddenly broke out from the entity on the throne. It reached the whole place as if searching all life signs in the area.

[System: The "Proud Sword" curse had been activated. All Attribute will reduce to half.]

However, it never touched Caleb and only swirled around him.

[System: Swordsman Class detected. Cannot be affected by "Proud Sword"]

The only thing that is unique to this curse was it affects all classes except the Swordsman Class.

The figure in his front was very proud of his mastery of the sword. He loves his sword as if it was his own life and because of this, he created a bias description to other class.

And one day a curse sprang into life inside his body until it burst out and affects the people around him including his beloved woman. Their strength slowly withered until they died.

He had full of regrets because of this and his sanity slowly drifted to darkness. Afraid he will do something evil again if he lose his mind, he gathered his strength to travel and secluded his self in this place. Time passed and this place was filled in his curse.

It was the reason why the monster that Caleb encountered until now was using a sword instead of their usual weapon. He challenges this Rift because the normal Difficulty C will become easier if his class was a Swordsman.

Every floor had a certain degree of the curse and it will gradually rise until the player will reach this throne room. This was the reason why in his previous life, even the Lancer who was the first one to discover this Rift was already level 6, still failed.

Caleb in the meantime checked the stats of his enemy.

——

Swordsman Zaine (Crown Monster)

Level: 1

HP: 1000/1000

MP: 400/400

——

Although it was level 1, it was still a Crown Monster.

Monsters in Legacy were ranked in Normal, Elite, Crown, Calamity, and Mythical. This time it was a Crown, which sometimes refers to the boss.

Caleb wasn't surprised by this and eagerly stepped forward, ready to face this fellow Swordsman.