Duke Rahad's palace, Luxadia City
His elite team that reached the Falran Capital returned after an hour. The middle-aged black-haired team leader went into the office room where Duke Rahad and Roxen were talking about some matter.
Looking at the injuries on the team leader and his weakened aura, Duke Rahad frowned, "Terez, those injuries? Why haven't you recovered yet?"
"It's harder to heal due to their death-attributed attacks that weakened our recovery," Terez said with a grave expression. "Vampires and Werewolves, but slightly different from the ones we've heard about."
"Against our team, only two guards fought, one vampire and one werewolf. They defeated our entire team while the other ten guards just watched, enjoying it like a show."
Roxen raised her eyebrows.
"Their power?" Duke Rahad asked.
"All of them were at Epic-rank," Terez said before he took a deep breath and added with a grim expression, "The city had a lot of Epic-rank powerhouses according to the Aura Detection Artifact."
"And multiple Legendary-ranks."
"Multiple Legendaries?" Duke Rahad frowned and turned to Roxen, who also frowned.
"How many specifically?" Roxen asked.
"This Artifact can't detect the aura of legendary-rank if they want to keep it hidden, but…we still sensed over five Legendary-rank aura," Tereze answered with fear in his eyes. "Moreover, we were only at the entry gate."
Duke Rahad stood up, his face sweating bullets while his eyes filled with fear, "They have such a big force? What if they decided to take over this city and the rest of Falran Kingdom's cities and towns? We won't stand a chance."
"This invasion is not your problem alone, Duke. Calm down."
Roxen stood up and placidly continued, "We will inform Longinus Empire about this and have those invaders vanquished before they grow anymore."
Duke Rahad composed himself and turned to Terez, "Go and recover. Rest until all of you have returned to your prime condition."
Terez bowed and left the office room.
"If they had only one or two Legendary-rank powerhouses, our group could do something about them, but…" Roxen shook her head. "Headbutting against that many Epic-ranks and five Legendary-ranks is courting death."
"Are you going to leave or still stay for two days as you said?"
"We'll stay," Roxen replied with a smile. "The other matter we came here for was fortunately finished."
"Lady Rias found a candidate?" Duke Rahad was pleasantly surprised. "Who is that lucky one?"
Roxen narrowed her eyes, and her smile turned slightly sharp, "Please do not speak about this matter, nor ask us anything about it."
Internally, Roxen sighed. 'Well, it is up to him if he wants to become the candidate.'
"I-I apologize," Duke Rahad said before he sighed. "It slipped my mind that this is a sensitive matter."
"You've attached yourself to this land and people, right?" Roxen asked with a chuckle as she slapped Duke Rahad's back, causing him to cough.
"It's fine, Rahad. After all, you got a wife and kids now, but don't forget your real duties towards the Empire."
"I understand," Duke Rahad nodded with a serious expression.
Roxen nodded, "Good. Now, send the best scouts to Falran Capital and establish a communication link. Keep a live observation there so we can see if they are making any moves."
"Understood."
…
Aleron's Mortal-rank lifeform progress reached 99% after he killed those monsters with his self-created sword skill—Sword Strings.
With a swing of his sword, its blade would release string-like flexible beams that would shoot straight into Aleron's shadow before emerging from the shadows of his targets and piercing them.
This attack was shadow-attributed, with condensed shadow energy inheriting the sword's attack power.
Grimbolt Spear's knowledge came in handy. Of course, It was not as powerful as the Grimbolt Spear and was basically a watered-down effect with a new way of execution since Sword Strings could also kill multiple targets precisely and swiftly without causing damage or destruction to their surroundings.
After killing those monsters and winning the Gamble Quest, Aleron was short of one monster as his progress was stuck at 99% of Mortal rank.
Darzax went to grab one more monster that Aleron swiftly killed by using a Sword String.
The moment his progress reached 100%, Aleron's aura rose before he felt a surge in power within that streamed throughout his body!
Aleron successfully ranked up to the Adept-rank lifeform, increasing the ceiling of his foundation.
Afterward, they returned to the palace. Aleron ate a few pills and potions to make his stats increase again and soon reached the peak of Adept rank, just like Odar.
-Physical Status:
— [Strength: C ( 500/500 ) ]
— [Agility: C ( 500/500 ) ]
— [Stamina: C ( 500/500 ) ]
— [Health: C ( 500/500 ) ]
-Arcane Status:
— [Magic Potency: C ( 500/500) ]
— [Mana Pool: C ( 500/500) ]
Odar was shadow-fighting while executing skills, spending Mana and Stamina to get used to his newfound power and solidify his foundation since he got a vast boost in stats.
After Aleron also reached the peak in Adept rank, they started sparring against each other to solidify their foundations.
As for ranking up from Adept rank to Exceptional rank, it was not as easy as ranking up from Mortal rank.
To evolve further and reach the Exceptional-rank lifeform, one needed to awaken an Innate Talent.
Awakening an innate talent required hard work and focused willpower directed at a purpose.
Usually, people would train hard in an area they feel they are best at to awaken an Innate Talent related to that area of expertise.
After sparring with Aleron for two hours with a few breaks in between, Odar, Aleron, Darzax, and Riki ate some food at the open pavilion in the garden.
Aleron was especially hungry after all the sparring.
But while eating and talking, Odar's body suddenly shone golden while a dumbfounded expression appeared on his face. "B-Boss..."
"What happened?" Aleron was surprised
"I-I just awakened my Innate Talent."
"Ohh…"
"What's the Innate Talent?" Riki asked before putting a meatball in his mouth.
"It's called Aide Rush," Odar said with a smile and looked at Aleron, "Boss, this is good. Wherever I am, I can teleport to you by using this Innate Talent."
"What do you mean?" Aleron curiously asked.
"Here," Odar waved his hand as he created a rectangle panel with Mana with words on it.
[Aide Rush]
_Effect: You can put a person as your Master. The moment they think about calling you, no matter how far you are, you will manifest a chain. You can either ignore the chain or choose to pull it to appear beside your Master instantly. You can also manifest the chain on your own if you think about your Master.
_Cost: 10% of Mana.
_Restriction: 1 use per day.
"Interesting. I didn't think Innate Talent would have this kind of mystical effects," Aleron was surprised.
"That's the power of one's mind, my lord," Darzax smiled. "If you imagine something reality-breaking, then it means it is possible to break the reality, therefore reality is far-reaching and shaped by not itself, but by others. I read this sentence in some ancient ruins in my previous life."
"Tsk," Riki clicked his tongue. "If reality breaks, it's not reality-breaking, but fantasy-breaking."
"hahaha," Odar laughed.
"True," Aleron grinned. He then rubbed his chin and chugged the juice glass before leaning back on the chair, "I also want to awaken an Innate Talent, but I have to focus on a particular thing and practice…or…"
Aleron looked in the Gacha Room.
[Gacha Roulette]
-Gacha Points: 720
-Spin cost: 100 Gacha Points.
'I can buy one ticket, and do two Roulette spins….let's see what I get from this first.'
Aleron spun the roulette.
He stopped it after a few seconds and the needle pointed in the Items-Consumables.
[Congratulations! You have gained a Rage Mist Potion.]
[Rage Mist Potion]
_Rank: C
_Effect: Increase Strength and Agility by 300 for 1 minute.
_Note: After the effect wears out, the user will feel sluggish for half an hour.
'Oof, what a waste,' Aleron smacked his lips. 'First that sword skill, and now this? Will this give me anything good or not?'
"My lord, the formation is ready," Darzax suddenly said with a smile. "We can transport the city to the secret realm right now if you want to."
"Yeah, do it," Aleron nodded while looking at the roulette and did another spin. 'Please give me something good…'
In the next second, everyone felt a slight tremor for two seconds.
The entire city shook while its borders were shining with a curtain of shadowy light, sparkling with black motes.
After a second, the entire city was covered in a shadowy dome before it instantly vanished, leaving a crater that stretched over 50 kilometers square.
Meanwhile, the scouts who were observing the city were shocked.
"The city disappeared. What the fuck?"
"I'm not dreaming, right?"
"No. the city is not there anymore."
"Holy shit."
...
On the other hand, Aleron's roulette stopped and the needle pointed into the…
[Congratulations, you have acquired a Mystery Box.]