Chapter 119: Festive Mood

The city of Crestal was more active than usual. Travelers of all kinds made their way to the capital of the kingdom for one thing: the knight selection. Some were adventurers trying to make a name for themselves or obtain a more stable job. Some were merchants who came to capitalize on the influx of people to sell their rare wares at a higher price. Some were just ordinary people who came to watch the selection for their first time or as a family tradition. Regardless of why, the city was reaching peak capacity from the massive influx of travelers.

The residents were prepared, as this happened every year. The streets were decorated with flyers and banners featuring the knight's emblem and portraits of famous and popular knights.

In an attempt to be as prepared as they could be, adventurers, mercenaries, and other combat professionals looked for better gear and hopefully tips on what the second round of the event could be. While they all failed in finding any hints, a lot of money was spent on items, weapons, and armor to give them a leg up in the competition. While they didn't know if they would fight together, against, or alone in the second round, it didn't hurt to be as prepared as they could.

On the roof of a building located near the Adventurers Guild sat a man with fiery red hair, looking at all the new people shuttling in and out of the building.

"Weak, weak, super weak, wait, does he even qualify as C-Rank?"

The one estimating the power of his soon to be competitors was Victor. He didn't have to do this, but he was bored spending his time indulging in luxuries or training at the mansion.

"I was hoping someone here would at least stand out, could all the strong people be in the dungeon now- Oh! Her!"

Victor looked at a tall brown haired young woman with a spear on her back. With no skill that allowed him to view other people's status page, Victor learned how to judge the strength of others by pure instinct. From the way their body moves and the aura they carried themselves with gave Victor the feeling that she was brimming with power. He could easily tell that the woman was above B-Rank, which meant she could actually pose a problem for him. But when he looked at her, there was something that felt unsettling.

'Why does she give such an odd feeling?'

Victor couldn't explain it, but there was something different about that woman. He decided to watch over her for a while longer to make sure she didn't pose a real threat to the city. While he was planning to incite a revolution, that didn't mean he didn't care about the residents of the kingdom.

He spied on the woman for two hours, following her silently as she went about her day. She booked a room in an inn, browsed a few stores, and eventually registered for the knight selection. Nothing she did was odd and out of place, yet Victor still had a bad feeling.

While watching the woman, Victor saw as she passed by a poor girl and gave her some food she bought nearby. She said something to the girl, but Victor was too far to hear anything. Even so, the act of kindness threw him off further.

'Am I overthinking it? Do I feel this way because I might lose to her?'

The woman began to move once more and made some distance. Victor was going to hop to another roof to continue following her, but just as he was about to do so, he felt something coming his way fast.

Victor quickly reacted and conjured a small barrier of fire in front of him; the next moment, something smashed the shield. It wasn't strong enough to break through it, but Victor got the message.

"I'm not allowed to watch anymore, huh."

Having only a weird feeling and nothing concrete, Victor decided to let it go. While he could continue stalking her, it would be a waste of time if she already knew he was following her, and if it devolved into a fight, it would be even worse. He considered informing Sigurd, but it wouldn't have mattered if he did. If she could detect him, then any B-Ranker, even if they have stealth talents that he didn't have, would also be easily detected.

Victor looked towards the sky with a large grin on his face.

'Guess we'll just have to settle it in the arena.'

…

Two days later, Sol and Amber arrived at a large door at the end of the 19th floor. They didn't encounter any difficulties on the way and were lucky enough to stumble into two more Shadow Amalgamations, though much weaker than the first one they encountered.

"Let's take a 10 minute rest before we go in."

"Okay."

Sol made some simple furniture with earth magic and sat down while looking at his status page.

Name: Sol

Race: Human 

Talents: [Siphoner], [Transformer]

Level: 80

Exp: 79,612,100/81,377,000

HP: 1450

MP: 1650

Str: 80 (+70)

Vit: 80 (+70)

Agi: 80 (+70)

Int: 80 (+70)

Wis: 80 (+90)

Talent Skills:

[Siphon] Lv 4, [Analysis] Lv 7, [Aggregate] Lv EX, [Reinterpret] Lv EX

Passive Skills:

[Muffled Movements] Lv EX, [Counter] Lv 6, [Precise Coordination] Lv 6, [Basic Psychic Mastery] Lv 3, [Intermediate Weapon Mastery] Lv 7, [Wild Hunt] Lv 2, [Invincible Body] Lv 8, [Perfect Balance] Lv 2, [Death Absorption] Lv 6, [True Sight] Lv 6, [Superior Mana Control] Lv 1, [Fortified Soul] Lv 2

Active Skills:

[Cross Slash] Lv 3, [Ground Shrink] Lv 3, [Snap Punch] Lv 8, [Invisibility] Lv 7, [Terra Spikes] Lv 5, [Rock Throw] Lv 4, [Burrow] Lv MAX, [Fell Cleave] Lv 8, [Debilitating Strike] Lv 1, [Telepathy] Lv 1, [Unpassable Bulwark] Lv 1, [Intermediate Elemental Magic] Lv 5, [Overpower] Lv 4, [Create Undead] Lv 6, [Weapon Enhancement (Variant)] Lv 8, [Disarm] Lv 9, [Backstab] Lv 6, [Bombardment] Lv 1, [Storm Blitz] Lv 8, [Piercing Lunge] Lv 5, [Seeking Shot] Lv 6, [Mana Slash] Lv 2, [Intermediate Light Magic] Lv 7, [Shadow Hands] Lv 7, [Shadow Form] Lv 5, [Empowered Strike] Lv 4

'Not many skills leveled up, and only [Crippling Strike] evolved to [Debilitating Strike] because of [Reinterpret]. Though I did gain a few new ones.'

[Fortified Soul] Lv 2: Your soul has become stronger, increasing slightly in size and capacity. Minor resistance against attacks against your soul. Wisdom +20.

[Shadow Form] Lv 5: Turn yourself and others into shadows and travel through them. Mana cost varies.

[Empowered Strike] Lv 4: Empower your next attack making it 40% stronger. Cooldown: 15 minutes.

'I'm surprised [Collective of Souls] became [Fortified Soul], but it makes sense as I only have one soul. Glad it didn't do something crazy and split my soul in pieces or developed multiple personalities…'

Sol took a gamble on siphoning [Collective of Souls] as he had no idea what would come from it; luckily, it changed to his benefit and even increased his mana capacity. Another benefit not mentioned in the description was that his mind felt clearer, less clouded. Though he wasn't completely sure that was from the skill.

The other two skills were great additions with [Shadow Form] functioning similarly to [Burrow] or Amber's [Sand Incarnate]. The only downside was that it didn't work in the presence of light which was why the Shadow Amalgamation never used it during the fight. Sol continued casting light spells which made the Shadow Amalgamation unable to run or negate attacks by turning parts of its body into shadows.

[Empowered Strike] was the simplest to understand of the new skills, but it worked in odd ways. Sol couldn't understand how it truly worked even though he siphoned the technique from the undead. It appeared even the Shadow Amalgamation didn't know much of the technique and used it with the limited knowledge it had. It could empower physical and magical attacks without any additional cost to a rather large degree. It simply just worked.

'I'll have to dedicate some time later with [Reinterpret] on [Empowered Strike]; maybe I'll find out more in there.'

A few minutes later, Sol and Amber were ready and opened the door to the boss floor, transporting the two to the boss most B-Rankers didn't dare to fight.