Drops of water splashed over his body clearing the dirt and stains stuck all over him. The feeling of warm water brushing over him soothed his inner soul.
It felt alive and refreshing.
While soaking himself, Lucas noted down the improvements displayed on his statutes screen.
===============
[Status][Shop][Locked]
Name: Lucas Bright
Species: Human
Bloodline Grade: Golden
Realm: 3-Star+
Combat Ability: D
Strength: 4-Star-
Agility: 4-Star
Stamina: 4-Star
Perception: 4-Star-
Magic Power: 3-Star+
Stat points: 2
Exp: 1,378,500
[Professions]
Swordsmanship level: Intermediate
Marksmanship level:Beginner
Dagger Throw:Beginner
[Skills]
<Rank G>
Fireball, Flash Step
<Rank F>
Ice Spikes, Shadow Steps
[ Arts]
<Grade 2>
Drifting Sword Art
<Grade ???>
Abyssal Asura Sword Art
[Bloodline Ability]: Telekinesis
=======================
"This Abyssal Asura Art doesn't have a rank or is too high a grade for the system to evaluate. Moreover, hunting those 4-Star beasts surely loaded me with exp."
"My magical energy is a bit low compared to others. Let's add one to magical energy and one to strength."
During the training period of 48 days, his combat ability had reached mid-D rank and he was at the peak of 3-Star. The training should have taken place for 35 days but Harris didn't let him until he was satisfied and his ruthless had pushed his stamina stat to mid of 4-Star.
His breakthrough till here was heaven-defying. With the blessing, he had enough to break through to mid-3-Star but Harris beat the shit out of him while pushing him to the brink of death many times, pushing him to make another breakthrough.
Lucas would still shiver thinking about the brutal days. He would train and pass out on the top of the mountain while fighting with Harris but every time he woke up, he would find himself in the forest surrounded by beasts.
"That guy is a menace."
"I think it's not that he hasn't accepted a disciple, but rather that no one was able to come out alive from his training. However, he might have lowered the difficulty because I am a student of Horizon."
Lucas didn't know the location of the dungeon and Harris kept this secret from him so when he exited, he was taken by shock.
The B-rank dungeon was maintained in the Horizon and there were several more. Originally, it was a D-rank dungeon, but due to being maintained for more than a hundred years, the place inside had grown to that of a B-rank one.
And him getting a leave to train in the dungeon with a time difference was a reward for getting first place provided by Horizon but Lucas knew this wasn't the reason, rather it was because of Harris bargaining his way.
"Let's first take a look at the shop."
[Shop]
<Rank ???>
Mana Devour:1,000,000
Helps the user to devour mana from the surroundings and condensed it to enhance the power of an attack.
Note:This is a growth-type skill that grows with user rank. Currently, it's a D-rank skill
Lucas's jaw dropped wide and his eyes widened with shock.
"A million experience points."
Lucas had thought of buying a platinum bloodline but he stopped seeing this skill. A skill that helps devour mana from the surroundings and a growth skill on top of that. This was magical.
Moreover, his rank cap at golden bloodline is at 7-star and platinum will only make it 8-star so for now it didn't matter.
"Growth skills are quite rare and this is heaven-defying. I can attack my enemy even if I run out of mana."
"Let's buy this skill first."
Lucas clicked on the buy button and a mystical feeling enveloped him. His body twitched and his head throbbed with a familiar pain but Lucas was quite used to it now.
Lucas then clicked on the items tab and his eyes lit up.
[Item]
[Power up pill]:200,000
Increase your realm by a major realm for an hour.
Side effect: The user would im a weakened state for two days and unable to use mana during those two days.
"Oh my god!A realm increase pill without any consequence."Lucas exclaimed in joy.
There are pills, medicines and techniques for the sudden increase in strength but all of them have fatal side effects and people became weakened permanently but this one doesn't have that effect.
"Buy it, I have to buy it."
"I haven't seen those idiots for too long. Who knows what kind of mess they might have
caused?" Lucas sighed and took a towel.
"I hope Parth hadn't created any trouble for me.''
......
Searching around, Lucas first looked for Roan to get a gist of what had happened during his absence.
Asking around, Lucas found Roan in the Magic Lab researching his new spell or something.
Without knocking on the door, Lucas opened it.
A subtle clink echoed that was followed by a loud blast.
SCREECH!
A white light flashed before Lucas's eye, whitening his vision along with a sharp noise of scratching a metal that hurt his ears.
"What is this?''
Lucas stumbled as his balance faltered due to his vision becoming white.
"Lucas, what are you doing here?!" Roan's panicked voice echoed.
"Don't move. Just stay still. Its effect will wear out after a moment."
True to Roan's words, his blurry and fuzzy vision resided after a few seconds allowing Lucas to gasp in relief.
Lucas supported himself by leaning against the table.
"Did your experiment go wrong? What was this explosion?"
Seeing Lucas' piercing gaze, Roan averted his eyes while murmuring.
"I am working on a new project. It's the creation of a sound barrier. A magic circle would be drawn on a piece of paper. Once the user pours mana and tears the paper, a sound barrier could be created in a specific area."
Lucas's eyes gleamed hearing Roman expressions.
'This thing has great uses.'
"Have you succeeded?"
"Nah!" Roan clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"It's quite tricky to draw it on paper. I was on the verge of completing it but I was startled by your entrance and made a mistake resulting in this explosion." Roan grumbled, shaking his redhead.
Lucas' lips twitched seeing him pouting.
His appearance and eyes were a sharp contrast to Sir Harris' bloody eyes.
"Don't pin your incompetence on me."
"Hmph!" Roan snorted and then gazed at Lucas.
"By the way, where the hell did you go? Oh, now that I see it, you look different."
"Different? How do I look different?"Lucas asked with a hint of excitement.
Roan rubbed his chin pondering for a moment.
"You looked a bit sharp and you have also become strong. All in all, I think you look wild like those who live in the jungle."
Lucas choked and coughed violently hearing Roan words.
'Bastard!'
Suppressing his desire to resort to violence, Lucas gave a benevolent smile.
"Roan, we haven't trained for so long. Why don't we have a spar."
Roan's back was drenched in cold sweat seeing Lucas' smile.
Wiping the beads of sweat on his forehead, Roan ran his mind thinking of a countermeasure.
"Oh, Lucas. I forgot to tell you. The results have come out."
"Results?!"
Lucas's heart stirred upon hearing the word 'results'.
"Did I pass?" Lucas' voice cracked.
Instead of answering, Roan casts a mysterious smile.
......
[Lucas Bright]
Theory Rank:1342
Mission Grade:S
Lucas then looked at Roan's result.
[Roan Weasel]
Theory Rank:398
Mission Grade:S
[Parth Simmons]
Theory Rank:1657
Mission Grade:S
[Charles Warren]
Theory Rank:2
Mission Grade S
[Frederick Frost]
Theory Rank:3
Mission Grade:S
[Rose Seyfried]
Theory Rank:1
Mission Grade:A
As in the original, Rose took the first rank in the Theory exam.
Lucas then stared at the board looking at their mission and rubbed his eyes.
"Hey, Roan, am I dreaming? Isn't the highest grade for the mission A+? Why am I seeing S?"
"I don't know. We aren't the only ones. Ezekiel and Charles had also got S."
Lucas didn't care about them, he was just worried about him.
'I had made sure to hide the tracks and we didn't report the abnormality to the school authority.'
"That's because our mission wasn't graded by the school."
Lucas and Roan turned around to see Frederick walking toward them.
"Did something happen?" Lucas asked Fredeick who was also seizing Lucas.
'Damn, did this guy take an elixir? How did he jump to this stage?!' Frederick screamed inwardly feeling a suffocation from Lucas but he kept his calm.
"Yes, a large-scale attack on the Dark Church has taken place. And though we have erased the tracks, The Imperial Guards could've guessed the things happening behind the scenes."
Lucas frowned upon hearing this.
Seeing Lucas's expression has turned ugly, Frederick whispered. "Don't worry, my father intervened in this matter and change the contents of our mission. He has also made sure to erase everything related to Dark Forces in Hubris. Additionally, the Vice-Principal decided to promote a few tough mission grades to S rank so we don't attract too much attention."
Lucas breathed in relief.
'This guy surely knows a lot. Though this event happened early, I am sure this guy must have taken part in the hunting of these dogs.'
'Damn, now that I think about it, it should have happened after the tournament but it was shifted quite early. Frederick might have gained some things in the hunt.'
"Hasn't the school sent the result to your smartphone?"Frederick asked curiously.
"I was trapped. Someone kidnapped me and tortured me."Lucas answered.
""I see, you were training with Sir Harris. It seems you've gone through hell." Frederick and Roan concluded at the same time.
"Worse than you can imagine," Lucas answered with dead desolate eyes that had given up on living.
Frederick and Roan were startled by those gazes.
Smiling bitterly, Frederick patted Lucas acting as a motivational speaker and praised him for keeping up.
"Lucas, actually I looked for you because there is something urgent. This for you." Frederick spoke, handing a letter to Lucas.
Lucas took the envelope indifferently but as soon as he read the contents, his body screamed.
"What....?"
"What's in there?" Roan asked curiously, and taking a look screamed in shock.
"An official invitation from Duke Frost."
Lucas looked at Frederick with a pleading gaze.
"Sorry, Lucas it seems my Father wants to discuss some things with you.''
'Why.... Why is my life so miserable?'
Lucas shook his head trying to control his tears from leaking out.
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