The fool with the divine-ranked skill shard seemed to be relishing the greedy, envious gazes of those around him as he nonchalantly scoffed at them.
"Dare to point weapons at me? Do you know who I am?"
Noah nearly lunged forward to punch his smug face.
What an idiot!
Even if he were a prince, there would always be someone who wouldn't care. For a Divine ranked broken shard it's all worth.
Because, all those with divine-ranked items had become renowned Rift Walkers and left this dimension for higher planes.
They were existences the world never forgets. Even if people here offended some strong family or guild because of this divine shard, the result awaited them worth that risk.
Noah scanned the crowd, seeing others sharing his sentiment, some even plotting to strike the fool in the next instant.
"The name's Dracious, son of Leo Dicapre," the fool, named Dracious, declared arrogantly.
Leo Dicapre was the city lord. Noah noticed a few people retreating, albeit reluctantly. They were mostly Tier 1 Runners from this city with families here.
They didn't want to face the wrath of the city lord for a skill, even a divine-ranked one.
They were bound by families for them to escape alone.
However not all of them shared the same sentiment.
Dracious raised the skill shard above his head and activated a detection spell.
[Skill Shard: Divine Rank]
The crowd's breaths quickened, their eyes glowing with greed. Dracious smirked, summoning the Star Network AI to grade the skill shard.
Not only humans, but the Star Network graded every item. One simply had to summon it with a spell only Tier 2 and above Runners could learn.
[Grade: Impossible]
Dracious's smug grin froze on his face. He rubbed his eyes, disbelieving what he saw. "It's impossible..." he roared in disbelief.
He quickly asked the AI to display the skill's effects.
[200% increase in all attributes with a price of 100% mana in the mana pool.
NB: Applicable only for Reverse Mana]
The atmosphere shifted multiple times before settling into a pin-drop silence.
Then, someone began to laugh, and like a contagious spell, it reverberated through the restaurant, with more and more people laughing out loud, clutching their stomachs.
Even when they saw the 'Impossible' grade, they still harbored hope that the skill might not be useless, given its divine rank.
But now, after learning its effects, they could only feel ridicule.
Dracious stood rooted to the spot, his strength seemingly drained. His face was pale, his eyes wide with desperation and anger.
"No... no... it can't be..." he muttered, repeatedly checking the skill's details, only to be met with the bitter truth.
"Tsk, I don't want the 'little city lord's' skill shard. Oh my dungeon gods realy blessed him with this chance." mocked a man with a shield.
His companions erupted in laughter, prompting Dracious to turn on them angrily.
"What did you say?"
"I said, I don't want a 'Impossible' divine shard. You take it like it's impossible for you to become smart."
Boom!
Dracious never wasted time as he pounced at the shield man, his sword directly aimed at the neck.
The shield man was not a pushover as his shield shined with a green light and deflected the sword slash, forcing Dracious to take a few steps back.
His companions wasted no time as they all dived into the fight with Dracious's companions.
Sounds of clashing weapons and breaking furniture echoed throughout the restaurant, and those who hadn't wanted to get pulled into an unwanted fight quickly moved away. Those who had been greedy for the broken shard before now had become uninterested in it.
"A skill that uses reverse mana? What kind of bullshit was that? And that too, 100% of reverse mana!" It would literally kill one instantly in one use.
No one wanted to die, so they all labeled the skill as useless as their interest quickly shifted to the fight between the two teams.
However, a pair of amber eyes shone, looking at the skill shard in Dracious's hands with a look of crazed infatuation.
An intense desire rose in Noah's heart; his mind screamed for this skill shard.
Everything in the skill shard matched his talent; he wondered if it was a god-given chance.
Anyways, he was sure that he must obtain this skill by any means. He looked around, searching for a way to steal it from Dracious's hands without alarming anyone.
The fight was so intense, both teams going overboard as they activated skills to kill.
Most of the restaurant's customers scrambled out to escape the aftermath of the fight.
Boom!
One part of the restaurant's roof crumbled down, submerging some unlucky ones under. Noah noticed the building shaking, ready to collapse any moment.
'Damn it...' he cursed internally, anxious to find a way to obtain the skill shard from the man before the restaurant collapses.
His gaze swept to the fainted figure of Master Evlin, then towards the bleeding Uncle Chen. 'What to do?' Noah screamed in his mind, turning to look at Dracious and the skill shard in his hand.
He wanted to sneak Dracious but his heart never allowed him to leave the two old man in this condition.
"See, Noah, what a fool he is... exposing talent and crying when enemies exploited it..."
Noah heard Evlin mumbling in his sleep. He could only shake his head and remember the hidden meaning in those words.
'Be like mana, silent but always here...'
Dracious seemed to be on the verge of losing, as half of his men were either dead or injured.
The shield man grunted in disdain, making the little city lord lose his composure again. "You dared to laugh at me..." Dracious shouted, fuming in anger.
Then he did something no one expected. He clenched the broken shard in his hand and threw it at the shield man, infusing it with enough mana to shatter it.
Noah's heart leaped into his throat as he watched the shard leaping towards the shield man, only to be deflected in one direction. "Noooo..." Noah turned to look in the direction the skill shard had fallen, ready to rush towards it.
But then, with a loud cracking sound, the entire roof of the restaurant came down.