As Kai stepped out of the carriage he gazed toward the sky.
The setting sun caused the sky to become red giving off an ominous feeling. It was as if the sky itself was bleeding.
Kai was currently standing on a snow-covered dirt path dressed in nothing but his black trousers. Even though it was quite late and chilly, Kai didn't feel cold in the slightest.
He couldn't tell if it was because he was used to the year-round cold weather of the Rose duchy or if it was a result of his class.
The place he and Leah were currently travelling through was an impoverished county.
The citizens were starving and overworked. Many of them turned to the life of crime, becoming highwaymen among other things.
Organized crime in these lands was slowly growing out of control as gangs rose in power.
Their rise in power could be considered a meteoric rise. Many gangs popped up seemingly out of nowhere. The fact was that the count was more than corrupt. In truth, he funded some of these gangs.
His goal was quite simple. Get his population addicted to substances while making some money. He wanted the entire population of his county to be dependent on what these gangs sold. For what porpoise only those involved knew.
Kai knew nothing of this or the count's true goals. But one day in the future the count would make the mistake of provoking the young future duke.
Kai started to walk towards the front of the carriage to task the tigers with protecting Leah. Who Kai believed was currently sleeping away her fatigue.
If he knew that the girl was currently distressed that something bad was going to happen. Then he most likely would have sent the tigers to do the job for him.
While he did reassure her that everything was fine. The fact that he dressed in a rush, only putting on trousers and grabbing his sword was all the evidence she needed.
As he was walking he decided to quickly check out his status screen in preparation for likely combat.
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[Status]
[Name: Kai Rose]
[HP: 475]
[Mana: 900/900]
[Stamina: 200/200]
[Age: 18]
[Sex: Male]
[Class: Absolute Zero Mage]
[Level: 1]
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[Vigor: 40]
[Mind: 50]
[Endurance: 35]
[Strength: 55]
[Dexterity: 45]
[Intelligence: 75]
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[Unique Passive Skill: Seed of Adam] (Skill Description: Your seed was blessed by the divine empowering stats of those who ingest it with a 25% Stat boost for 24 hours)
[Unique Passive Skill: Right of Conquest] (Skill Description: After sleeping for the first time with an individual, the user will copy a random skill from them permanently]
[Unique Skill: Eye of Judgement] (Skill Description: Your eye was blessed by the divine allowing you to peer into the veil and see the status screen of others. Some information may be hidden if the difference in level is too high]
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[Skills]
[Absolute Zero: Icicle] (Skill Description: You can materialize icicle's from the palms of your hands. They can be sent flying up to 5 meters (range increases with level) or they can be grabbed as a makeshift weapon)
[Absolute Zero: Mist] (Skill Description: You can conjure a mist of absolute zero ice. The skill becomes less effective the larger the range. Can cause a frozen status effect, chance of status effect depends on opponent resistances and distance from caster.)
[Erebus: Void Step] (Skill Description: You can channel the powers of the void, allowing you to transport yourself through space. The distance that can be travelled increases with level. Current maximum distance: 100cm)
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[Weapon Mastery]
[Swordsmanship: Epic]
[Knives/Daggers: Rare]
[Bow: Common]
[Polearms: Common]
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Kai was quite pleased with his status currently. In his eyes, he was well-rounded in terms of skills. While they may seem underwhelming in an actual RPG, they might have been. Here he has the freedom to use his skills as he wished.
He had 2 skills that he had gained with his class. [Absolute Zero: Icicle] & [Absolute Zero: Mist]. In his eyes, if those two skills were utilised properly then his opponents would not be able to defend themselves.
While [AZ: Icicle] was a DPS skill, it wasn't a very effective one from what his mother told him and [AZ: Mist] was in a similar boat. The biggest advantage of [AZ: Mist] was the fact that it blocked the line of sight due to the thickness of the mist.
With that in mind, Kai could use the mist to block his opponent's line of sight while being able to pelt them with a barrage of icicles. The mist would allow him to reposition without being noticed easily.
The biggest problem was that he would still make noise while trying to switch positions. Luckily for him, the system came in clutch or more specifically his unique skill [Right of Conquest]
When he first read the skill description he was upset. While he didn't know for sure if Leah had a class. It didn't change the fact that he possibly missed out on another potentially useful skill.
While he and Leah were fooling around Kai received an unexpected notification.
[By Right of Conquest you take the skill: [Erebus: Void Step]]
Kai's jaw almost hit the floor at that moment. He had asked the system what was going on and the system explained to him.
[Host can think of it as a delayed reward for his actions. While not the first time the host and his partner were together it counted due to the system being inactive.]
Kai quickly understood that this meant that he wasn't cheated from a free skill. But this also confirmed Kai's suspicion that there is more to Leah than he knows.
Thanks to Leah's skill, he had a way to quietly move around the battlefield. While 1 meter might not be a large distance, in CQC the skill could prove to be valuable despite the short distance.
Despite that, he had an idea on how to efficiently use his skills. It didn't change the fact that he was only level 1. While he had the stats of a level 8 class holder he didn't have their skills or real combat experience.
He had never killed anyone and only got his class earlier in the day. While stats are important, good skills are equally as important. The higher level one is, the more skills one will have.
The more skills one had the more choices they had for what would be best used in a specific situation. This gave higher levels an advantage over lower levels in the way of adaptability.
Kai's noble peers will most likely be much higher level at the academy. Most likely ranging from level 15-20, Kai was still confident he could swiftly catch up.
And as luck would have it he was about to enter a fight that would have been suicide even for an actual level 8 class holder.
Roughly 250 meters away from where the carriage stopped were 10 armed highwaymen. A carriage was toppled over to the side of the path and in shambles.
Kai used [Eye of Judgement] on the highwaymen only paying attention to their level. He loved any form of conflict in his previous life and being an avid fan of the souls' games. Kai had decided to avoid spoiling his opponent's skills for himself.
Looking at them they ranged from the ages of 22-35 while their levels were all at 16.
He'd be fighting enemies twice as powerful as him in terms of stats but the mere thought got Kai excited instead.
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A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did then please make sure to add this novel to your collection and vote for it with your power stones.
Your support is what keeps me going so I thank each and everyone of you for reading this story. I hope in the future we would have made something wonderful together that we all love.