Chapter 32 – Floor 1 – Guest Services

One week had passed since Ziphe's sub-party entered Floor 1. For the most part, everyone was getting along. The only exception was the poor council members with the guest services department on the Labyrinthian.

High Priest of Void Vladimir was an obnoxious guest who time and time again made a fuss over the littlest things.

"White, get over here! This tea is too cold. I don't even know why there is magic in the world if you can't even use it to warm up tea!"

"White, go cook up a grand dinner. If possible, bring Ziphe and Tyermsy to our banquet as well."

"What do you mean they're busy navigating the ship? Can't they just put it on autopilot?"

White usually took the brunt of the grunt work. Vladimir was nicer to Duchess because she was stronger. As the saying goes, the strong acknowledge the strong. White personally thought that the Priest was harsh on him because he wanted him to be the best trainee he could be. Duchess thought this was wishful thinking.

"You three are so weak. How can I feel safe when you're all so incompetent?" Vladimir mocked Vice-Councilman Zacchaeus.

"High Priest sir, I do believe that is rather inappropriate…" Zacchaeus had to hold his tongue. Taking a verbal beating day in and out by the High Priest was too much to handle. Truly, the Guest Services Department of Ziphe's subgroup was the hardest position in these three council members' eyes.

"Well, what would you recommend us do? How can we train here?" Duchess inquired logically. The three usually hung out in the Priest's luxurious room, and Duchess tried to lead Vladimir on to incite him into breaking his boring routine.

"Ah, I know, let us go to the training room. I wish to see what kind of subordinates Ziphe has put in charge of my care." Vladimir smiled with his mouth but shot daggers with his eyes. He was very clearly trying to find fault within the weak council trainees. Because White and Duchess were amongst the weakest members of the 100, Vladimir could openly critique their poor performance in the training facility. Duchess however, was glad her ploy had worked.

"Are you sure Lord Priest?" Zacchaeus tried to get out of it.

"Yes, I am sure." Vladimir countered with a frown. Together, the two trainees, Vice-Councilman, and High Priest went to the Labyrinthian Training Room. Equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, runes, and noise cancelling walls, everyone under the Royalty Realm could go all out without any damages to the interior of the ship.

"Everyone with half a brain used the training room religiously, and there were sure to be other people to witness this farce," thought Vladimir.

Entering the training room, Clico and Omira were practicing in one corner while Kiln was showing Council Trainee Goln a tanking technique for fun in another corner. Seeing the High Priest enter, all four people training were put on edge.

"Now, Vice-Councilman, firstly, I would like to see the trainees use their strongest moves. Then, you should do the same."

"But sir, showing our trump cards is taboo." White protested and instantly regretted it.

"Trainee, how dare you? Are you in any place to be arguing with me, the High Priest of Void?"

"No sir…" White took the full brunt of the lecture. Sure, it was impolite for Vladimir to be asking these things from the trainees, but the fact was that they were both mid-Mortal Realm combatants. Even if they showed their trump cards, it wouldn't really impact them in the grand scheme of things. If it were someone like Ziphe or Tyermsy however, Vlad would have never dared to be so brazen.

"Fine. I will go first." Duchess declared. Moving out a target dummy, White gave the thumbs up. Zacchaeus stood behind Vladimir with his arms crossed. He didn't like where this was going.

"Skill: Dragon's Claws!" Duchess roared. Her fiery red hair glistened in the light, and fire flared from her arms and formed long claws at her fingertips. Fire bounced off of the dummy as she clawed at it ferociously. For someone as reserved and cold as Duchess, she was really venting her frustrations on the dummy.

Vladimir laughed. "Hahaha, look at her go!"

"Good job Duchess!" White cheered her on. Soon, she ran out of aura.

"Enough." Vladimir did a cutoff with his fingers, and his voice echoed throughout the room. Everyone, including the other miscellaneous party members not involved stopped what they were doing.

"Is that really all you have trainee? How pitiful!" Vladimir mocked.

"You, White haired boy. It's your turn." The Priest snarled at White.

Panicked, White used his strongest ability.

"Skill: Elemental Flare!" White squeaked out. A burst of a rainbow-colored aura shattered against the dummy and evaporated into vapor. It looked beautiful, but it was obvious there was no substantial power in White's trump card. Compared to Duchess's Rank A ability, the Rank C skill looked pathetic. The room lay eerily silent.

"Really? That's it? I can't believe the Grand Councilman let such rejects into the final party." Vladimir finally sighed out. White's attack was so bad, Vladimir felt bad for picking on him.

"Okay then. Vice-Councilman, it's your turn." The Priest turned with a sinister smile.

"Fine." Zacchaeus gritted his teeth. As a Prince Realm expert, he hated to share his secrets. If he continued his current trajectory, he would soon reach the Royalty Realm, where it would be more inappropriate for the High Priest to ask about his strongest skills. Regardless, Zacchaeus took Duchess's approach and was about to let off some steam, literally.

"Skill: Ventilation," Zacchaeus's hands let of vapor that clouded the room.

"Skill: Mist Body," Fading into the mist, Zacchaeus became one with the vapor.

"Summoner Skill: Dagger Field." Conjured around the room, daggers of vapor outlined transparently inside the smoke. All at once, the daggers swarmed the dummy. The combination was impressive. As the smoke cleared, Clico, Omira, Kiln, Goln, White, and Duchess clapped.

"Hmm, you put a lot of thought into that. Good job Vice-Councilman." Vladimir slowly clapped his hands together with his black gloves.

"Thank you High Priest." Zacchaeus bowed cordially.

"Would you like some advice? I'm sure everyone here would like to hear an expert's advice?" And there it was. Vladimir was about to critique the impressive performance in front of the small crowd.

"Alright." Zacchaeus grinded his teeth together in anger, prepared for a harsh critique.

"As everyone here is below the Deity Realm, and the Royalty Realm for that matter, let me give a quick overview of how to improve your skills to the next level!

The problem with the Realms below the Royalty Realm is that the skills are too disjointed. You used many consecutive skills in combination to achieve a greater effect, but at the Royalty Realm, combining those skills into one overarching skill is the best way to boost it to the next level.

Sure, using a whole bunch of skills in a row is impressive, but to create skills at the Royalty Realm and above, you need to have one or two core skills that can be solely worked on. Look at ex-King Job in the Selection Tournament for example. His Heaven's Peak and subsequent King of Heaven are advanced skills that were created by merging multiple skills into a stronger and more complex one. Do you understand?" Vladimir asked Zacchaeus. Surprisingly, it was actually good advice. Everyone in the room was prepared for Vladimir to mock him, but instead, some started taking notes.

"Yes.. Yes sir!" Zacchaeus answered back.

"Good. Now, complexity isn't always the end goal. A simple skill and aura pathway is normally more reliable to advance to the next level than complex ones. You two trainees had pathetic abilities, but as you grow in experience, you will start doing more skill combos like the Vice-Councilman here. And one day, you can combine those skills and advance to the Royalty Realm. The Deity Realm on the other hand is a whole other story." Vladimir lectured the weak council trainees.

"What's different about the Deity Realm?" Omira asked from the other side of the room. Everyone looked at Omira with big eyes. They weren't sure if the Priest would finally snap and go back to his annoying self. To their surprise, Vladimir answered Omira.

"Well Shade, the Deity Realm relies on condensing your Authority into one core skill through the Authority Path or another corresponding Aura Path. For example, as a Shade, you can advance your bloodline Shade skill further by growing your Shade core to the maximum to become a Deity. You would be known as a Shade Lord instead of a Goddess, but you would be at the Deity Realm regardless."

"Thanks!" Omira eagerly thanked the Priest.

"No problem at all!" Vladimir smiled at Omira in response. Duchess and White exchanged a look. Where had their mean Priest gone, and who replaced him with this nice teacher?

"You're a great teacher sir." White complimented.

"Don't talk quite yet trainee. Your incompetence in particular is truly egregious. I recommend you train in your spare time as much as physically possible. Your 'trump card' was nothing more than a light show."

White sighed hearing the harsh critique. The Priest they knew was back.

"Can you show us a cool skill?" Omira asked, unaware of how hard the Priest was to deal with.

"Hmm, sure, but we can't do it here. Let's go up on the deck, and I'll show you a demonstration." Ushering everyone away, the Priest guided the crowd up to the deck. Hovering in the air, Vladimir announced his skill to the audience. A few others found their way up to the deck as well after feeling the aura of the Priest.

"Skill: Oceanus Twelve, Number Seven!" Swirling around him, the water from the Ocean of Souls grew into a large ball. Exploding out into the ocean, the water ball violently tore into the currents and into the horizon. It was an exceptional skill with flashy prowess.

"Hey! That's the same kind of skill as the other Dungeon Shades!" Omira called out to Vladimir from the ship's railing.

"Ah, yes, I have a rare physique that some of the Arch Priests in our party diagnosed me with as a child. I believe it's called the Oceanus Physique. I have a strong affinity for spirit magic as well as water magic, but I hit a bottleneck at the mid-King level and found my love for the Void at that time."

"Wow mister Priest! You know so much. The Guest Service Department is so lucky to have you!" She complimented honestly.

"You sure are right Shade." Vladimir laughed and stared down the trainees with a sneaky smile on his face. They would surely hear about Omira's remarks later on. With a deep sigh, Zacchaeus prepared for today to be the topic of discussion for the next week, at least, in the Priest's room.