"We've round them up, all of them. About sixty four trained, thirty eight untrained. I'd checked and only twelve of them have recorded talents." Melissa whispered in his left ear.
Augustus stood with his grasped tight on the rails aligned across the top floors, gazing upon the crowd beneath him, "Five? That's a lot. I'd need a list of them for assessment."
Melissa took out a piece of paper from her back pocket, handing it over to Jacob. As he unfolded the piece and read its contents, his brows furrowed tight, "I'd expected worse."
Augustus narrowed his eyes, turning to Melissa, "How much of the five do you trust to take care of the boost that I will give them? Trust me, power corrupts the soul very fast."
"Enough to put them in positions of power." Melissa replied honestly, taking the piece of paper from Augustus and lowering her glance to the crowd beneath them, "That good?"
"Meh." Augustus frowned, narrowing his eyes. There were three skills which he was most interested in evolving: the [Resource Multiplier], [Breeze Tide] and [Earth Rift].
The other two, [Level Reorganisation] and [Arachnid Communication] were the most useless until their highest stages, "I will enhance the weaker skills of regulars here first."
Every villager under his gaze had a branch of the [Flame]-type Skills. He calculated a majority must have earned it from birth or through the village treasury— each quite easy.
Until they were forced to cultivate that skill the rest of their lives. A surface level scan across the entire group showed no one had cultivated their flame skill past its third stage.
'That was merely a surface level scan, though.' Augustus acknowledged mentally, his gaze icy, 'I will have no idea if someone hides in the group with a unique skill cultivated above the third stage until I perform a deep probe. After all…'
He reached out his hand, his brow lifting as majority of the crowd's gaze sharpened, then a current of aura surged from within him to pressure them. The aura blasted down, carrying a probing reach disguised under its oppressiveness.
'Trust no one, isn't it?' Augustus withdrew his hand, spinning around and reaching for Melissa's face. She darted back, and his fingers merely scratched her chin, "So you took me for a fool? You must be very crazy to think about that."
"Are you mad?" Melissa rubbed her chin, glaring at Augustus, "I did nothing wrong. It is not funny attacking someone out of the blue like that. Speak first if you have an issue."
"Speak first?" Augustus narrowed his eyes, then snapped a finger, dashing forward at that instant as he pulled his blade, slashing at Melissa, "After you hid someone in there?"
Sparks flew as Melissa blocked his cleaving blade with her hidden short-sword, a cold gleam flashing in her eyes. She narrowed her eyes, then furrowed her brows, "Uh, What?"
"How dare you act stupid!" Augustus shouted, a crafty gleam in his eyes as he sported a furious expression, dashing back and swinging his blade, "You think I am foolish, huh?"
"Calm down. This is all some—" Melissa lifted her hands, trying to alleviate the quite sudden turn of events. She darted to the side, blocking Augustus's vain charging thrust.
"—dumb trap? How dare you! Insulting me in my face!" He dashed forward, and he swung the blade furiously, forcing Melissa to back away with an awkward expression.
A militia member took the chance — their battling deeper into the corridor — to run away! The others turned stunned, but the fierce pressure locked them in their positions.
Seeing this out of the corner of his eyes, a cold smirk formed on Augustus's face as he turned around and pointed at the fast escaping man, "Hey! Catch that foolish intruder!"
Three more men charged out of the crowd, chasing the intruder. Augustus watched in amusement as the trio ran around the field before approaching the gates, his brow raised.
He waved his hand, and arrows were fired out of the windows of neighbouring houses, striking the men's legs as they ran. Augustus watched this calmly, "It's the absolute rule."
"I don't know those guys, I swear!" Melissa's eyes nearly popped out of their skulls as she saw the men tumble over from the arrows piercing their feet, "How did you— Who—"
Augustus walked to the rail, leaning forward and resting his forearms, "Have you ever imagined a beast that eats itself up from the inside? For what purpose would such exist?"
Melissa was gobsmacked, "How the fuck does this relate to what you just did? Why did you shoot down those men? Why'd you attack me? Who are they? How did you see them?"
"Only those who've cultivated their skills past the third stage can break my authority as prince." Augustus explained, lifting a finger, "Our squabble was nothing but initiation."
Once they noticed that they were unaffected by the pressure, and the fool had not only outed them but gotten himself distracted, they had to take the chance— dumb intelligence.
Not knowing how the pressure worked, one of them had escaped first, while the other two waited to see the outcome. He acted oblivious, and they all took the bait even harder.
"Who were those archers in the houses? We double checked, and those buildings were empty!" Melissa shouted, stunned as she came to the realisation, "You didn't. Fuck, why?"
"Of course, it is to be expected that they'd have some access to information." Augustus scoffed, straightening his spine and turning to Melissa, "Why not use that against them?"
Augustus cleared his throat, "Well, you didn't really think I had Ylil lock up Delusion? You've got to remember the spiritual beings can't be bound to our world by normal ways."
"Why are you bringing that no— Is that what this is about?" Melissa frowned, then an icy gleam flashed past her eyes, "I'm gonna guess the same applies to the moon princess?"
"We never planned to keep her here." Augustus chuckled, a fiery gleam in his eyes as he gazed upon the crowd, numerous thoughts running through his mind, "It's all part of our grand plan."