I parried his attack with my katana and pushed him backwards,he elegantly landed some distance away from me saying :
I guess that legendary item on you is really something else, is it why i'm not able to see your stats too, nevermind you don't have to tell me , i will loot it from your body myself after i kill you of course .
, i guess i was right after all, it was really strange that he was acting all politely and friendly like, it was all a set up , i have been in this city for almost 3 days now and up till now i hadn't met a single polite guard around here and when i thought that i met one, he was actually only acting that way so he can kill me lucky me, but what was he talking about, legendary item i have no such a thing in my position could he be talking about the misleading compass , i believe its rank was only Epic .
Normally, i would be a bit worried since someone was out here trying to kill me but the only feeling that i have right now was excitement and was only thinking about one thing 'FINALLY, SOMEONE TO VENT ALL MY ACCUMULATING FRUSTRATION FROM MY SPARR WITH REGARD ON .
I looked at where my attacker was and he shuddered when i looked at him .
( BLOON POV ) :
What was going on , just now did i shudder from him just glancing at my direction, when was the last time that i felt such a dread and from someone who was supposedly much weaker than me too, am i getting old or something, let's finish this quickly Smoke screen .
( MC POV ) :
What he is he doing now, a black smoke was erupting from his body and in just a few seconds it covered the whole area we were in and he be began saying : since you are apparently a lot stronger than what was mentioned in your reports, i will deal with you with my full strength, now that you are in my active skill range you will lose all your senses to my domain of darkness .
Puff, sorry for that but is that your catchphrase the domain of darkness , isn't this just a lot of smoke .
And i can tell that he was enraged at my comment as i began to feel some quick movements around me and he only left two words before the whole scene was swallowed by his domain of darkness and they were : Be prepared .
I was actually quite uncomfortable about being depraved of my sight and hearing but i was still able to stay calm as i don't know how exactly i was doing it but i was actually able to feel his presence and movements in this weird smoke without much of a problem .
He is attacking me with a dagger from behind, i unsheathed my katana and even though i could block his attack easily but i would have wasted my chance of getting the upper hand, i evaded and simultaneously attacked with a diagonally slash towards his chest directly but weirdly i felt as if my attack didn't do any damage to him then his voice came from behind my ear saying while gritting his teeth i could tell because he was directly on my back he said : you already costed me a precious teleportation scroll , die .
So that's what happened my attack failed because he teleported behind me and i get to know of another shortcoming of my ability to evade , i can't evade when the teleportation target of my enemy is me but maybe if i was in motion i could have missed being in this kind of situations from the start or that's what i was contemplating about in my mind in less than than a second .
Since you already accepted your fate, i will make it fast for you since the reward i would get would be able to cover my losses , he said and i immediately understood that my carefree expression was mistakingly interpreted by him as succumbing to my fate , but i was actually still contemplating if i should use my armor active skill or wait to see if the skill Physical Fortification works as its description said , Reduces damage taken from all physical attacks by 100 % ,can his attack with his dagger be considered a physical attack, i guess we will find out .
~Clang~ that was the only sound that the attacker heard before i began to attack with my katana and it didn't take much effort to turn the situation around as he was still stunned about what just happened a second before so i struck him with the tip of the katana without even turning to him and he was stunned for real right now .
A 5 seconds later the smoke began to dissipate on its own leaving the stunned attacker lying on the ground motionless and with a fear stricken expression all over his face, the attacker facial face features that was noticable under the helmet he was wearing , was that of an old man with pale skin tone wearing an eye patch with green menacing eye , still holding the dagger in hands, i was able to get him immobilized but what should i exactly do with him now could i keep attack him to keep the 200 decrease in agility for enough time for me to deliver him to the Adventurer's guild and there they probably would be able to know what to do with him but how can an E Rank like myself be able to caught someone who from the few moves that i was able to have with him i can tell that he is stronger than a C Rank Adventurer , so it wasn't possible to turn him in and even more so because the guard armor he is currently wearing , what a headache oh let's just do that then .
If the three stars assassin was able to hear the thoughts of his target for this time about his strength was being compared to the strength of C Rank Adventurers, he would have been coughing blood non-stop just from the embarrassment, he who with a good planning and strategy could be able to take down A Ranked Adventurers quite easily was actually only able to be just a bit stronger than a C Rank Adventurer .
A few minutes later .
Argghh, where am I, and why it's cold all of a sudden, helll , where is my clothes and why i'm tied with an anti magic rope, oh no he got my stortage ring and i was just getting ready to learn the unique skill that i patiently and painfully kept raising money for and only after those 150 coins that the prince sent my way, i was able to afford it arrrgggg, why did i accept this damn job, oh right i need to get out of Troland as soon as possible otherwise the guys that i took loans from for that skill book, will be my last concerns , damn you kid, my life which was quite good was now turning into hell and it's all because of because of you , curse you , and why is my head hurting me so much, curses .
Atchooo, who is badmouthing me now, it's most likely that damn assassin , he should have been found or maybe even captured by someone now but he really gave me some quite pleasant gifts , the first gift my very own stortage ring, i don't know how much it was able to hold but if i remembered correctly the one in Silver Wallace was 25 cubic meters of storage space but the one that i'm playing with now had 10 cubic meters and 10% increased resistance against the wind attribute .
And when i equipped it before i used appraisal and its stats appeared to be like this :
Name : Stortage Ring .
Type : Magical tool .
Rank : Uncommon .
Description :
A ring that was crafted by using a lot of expensive materials and got enhanced by using a space expanding spell on it which gave it the ability to store items and move around with them in a more comfortable way , the wind mana stone decorating the top of the ring isn't just for it's capable of increasing its user speed by increasing his resistance against wind which gave the wrong more practical uses .
Effects :
1- Storatge capacity up to 100 cubic meters
2- Increase its user resistance against wind by 100% .
... .
Another powerful item in my arsenal , i only used to search for some bindings that i could use to tie that guy after making him lose conscious, so their must be some valuable items in it that i didn't have the chance to discover , the second was the dagger he was using it was an epic Rank dagger with some ridiculous attributes but i was meant on giving it to Regard as a thank you for all that he did for me after i used appraisal on the dagger, the skill went up again and was now Level 3 .
The third gift was something that i didn't expect to happen so soon and my most important gain till now i leveled up when i hit that attacker with the back of my sword just enough so that he could lose consciousness i get a buzz in my brain and a you have leveled up massage, i looked at the unconscious man and the katana in my hand and tried to do the same thing again for a few times but sadly it didn't work , as for my status window it was like this while holding my katana as always :
.... .
Name : Sakurai Ryuu .
Age : 16 .
Level : 2 .
Job : undetermined !!
Attributes :
Strength : 390 . (+) (NEW)
Stamina : 600 . (+) (NEW)
Agility : 155 . (+) (NEW)
Mana : 6 . (+)
Spirit : 5 . (+)
Hidden attributes :
Constitution : 30 . (+) (New)
Will : 30 . (+)
Luck : 20 . (+)
Fate : 50 . (+)
Spirituality : 2 . (+)
Comprehension : 11 . (+)
Bonus attributes points : 5 .
Skills :
( Troll Force ) ( PASSIVE SKILL ) .
( Novice Swordsmanship Lvl1 ) ( PASSIVE SKILL ) .
( Physical Fortitude ) ( PASSIVE SKILL ) .
( Physical Fortitude ) ( PASSIVE SKILL ) .
( Appraisal Lvl3 ) ( ACTIVE SKILL ) .
.... .
My constitution had increased again by another 10 points, but when did this happen could it be because the more than three hours sparring with Regard which give me another boost in both my basic attributes and my overall strength simultaneously , another great surprise that i'm now comparable to B Rank Adventurers just by my attributes alone and even my stamina had already reached the Rank A attribute edge , in addition to my two new passive skills , i can gauge that i might be able to take anyone on , ~Sigh~ again i need to calm myself down but it is so difficult to do so when you realize that you are actually much stronger than most .
The level up , which i considered as my biggest gain from the previous fight why it was being considered as such, you see it's because of its impact , i'm now fully convinced that it's better for me to not have any jobs at all since i will have 5 free attributes points to allocate every time i level up, i believe there is no reason to limit myself to only a certain type of skills while being forced to leave the others as Regard said, and with my weird skills Augmentation i believe that to be the best course of action .
Now with that subject gone , i understand why Regard said that those who are able to see the hidden attributes can become stronger than others and it's at least a guess of mine, they can increase their hidden attributes by using skill points and not only that if i understood correctly, the increase in a hidden attribute like constitution for example will be reflected on Strength, stamina, agility too , and will give those who are able to do so substantial increase in their overall strength , and Regard also said that leaning spells from spell books or from a tutor , was very demanding on the learner own comprehension attributes , so that should be the benefit of increasing the comprehension attribute points , as for Fate , Will , Luck , till now i have no idea how much they contributed to their holder strength , as for spirituality, i have some guesses that i will first need to confirm before i can make an acute judgment .
And no time better than the meantime to make sure of some of those guesses of mine , so should i just distribute those free bonus points of mine all in my constitution hidden attribute as a fault proof plan which would without any scruples give me another increase in my strength or should i try to use them to make sure if my guesses were right .
I will use them to do some testing and if it didn't work as intended then so be it but if it did , i would have to set a new direction for myself from now on .
I will allocate 3 points in Spirituality and the last 2 points remaining in comprehension and there was no confirm window popping the moment i thought about allocating those 5 points they vanished from the status window and were added to the designed two attributes , my status window now looked like this :
Name : Sakurai Ryuu .
Age : 16 .
Level : 2 .
Job : undetermined !!
Attributes :
Strength : 390 .
Stamina : 600 .
Agility : 155 .
Mana : 25 . ( NEW )
Spirit : 5 .
Hidden attributes :
Constitution : 30 .
Will : 30 .
Luck : 20 .
Fate : 50 .
Spirituality : 5 . ( NEW )
Comprehension : 13 . ( NEW )
Skills :
( Troll Force ) ( PASSIVE SKILL ) .
( Novice Swordsmanship Lvl1 ) ( PASSIVE SKILL ) .
( Physical Fortitude ) ( PASSIVE SKILL ) .
( Pain Resilience ) ( PASSIVE SKILL ) .
( Appraisal Lvl3 ) ( ACTIVE SKILL ) .
...….....…...….... .
I felt it directly as if my head got a bit clearer now but by how much did that increased my strength exactly , i don't know , but what i did know is that i was now able to feel and move the mana in my body more clearly than before, and i can already tell that my original mana pool was now more expanded , i guess i can say that this little experiment of mine was a success , mana was really related to the spirit and spirituality of human beings .
Now all i need to do was to keep increasing my Spirituality attribute or my Spirit attribute with the bonus attribute bonus and learn a few spells and my dream about being the strongest mage out there will be coming true , but now that i think about goals and dreams i find myself in a bit of struggle, before i already decided that i will leave this kingdom and go to Elohim the kingdom of the elves to fix my mana pool, but now i was able to fix my mana pool and even found a way to keep increasing my mana points, was there any reason for me to go to there .
And the second problem was that i was beginning to have some doubts about my dream to become the strongest mage , i decided on that dream because i thought it to be my only way of getting stronger but now, my situation had completely changed, so what was the final goal that i want to achieve in this world , what am i currently aspiring to be .
Only those who are stronger than everyone else can stand straight in front of whatever or whoever that was trying to force them to bend the knees .
Regard voice came to my mind as a reminder to the most fundamental law that this world was working with which was: Strength Will Always Prevail , so before i set a new goal for myself , i should ask it , am i strong enough to prevail everything and everyone in this world, if they decided to come between me and achieving my dreams .
Currently, absolutely not but i already said it before and i will say it again, i already decided to overcome every obstacles that will come my way and that when i still pitifully weak but now...,now...… if anyone saw my eyes right now they would certainly think that i was possessed or something, my eyes were so much brightening that with the addition of its color being blue , my eyes was now flashing with blue light , something that you won't be normally see a human do, but the conditions were all set for this weird situation to happened .
I know what my goal is now , my goal is to become the strongest and always the strongest , i felt as if my aura was taking the form of a sword and was continuasly clashing with the world around me and with every clash i was the one getting stronger the bustling in the air in front of me kept going for a few seconds then the scene calmed down and i was greated by a familiar voice in my head saying :
Notice : Special Skill: Aura of the Strong was claimed by the individual Sakurai Ryuu .
3 skills was gained in one day with this one being a special skill like the one Hana had too, but wait a minute is it related to the weird scene that i thought i was imagining before about my aura taking the form of a sword, doesn't matter what really matters now is what is its effect on my strength .
I used appraisal on it and what appeared in front of me could be considered the longest skill description that i have ever seen, the description went like this :
Special Skill: Aura of the Strong :
By harnessing their overwhelming presence, the character can activate a powerful aura that combines physical strength and intimidation ,when activated, the character glows with a golden aura that could be turned on or off at well .
Effects when activated :
1- Strength Boost : Temporarily increases the character's strength by 8 times for the duration of 1000 minutes .
2- Intimidation Effect : Enemies within the radius of 10 meters become stricken with fear, those who are frightened by the user aura will have a 100% reduction in their attack and defense capabilities resulting in their inability to engage in combat, weaker enemies may also be paralyzed by terror for the duration of the skill .
The range of the skill can be increased at the cost of the duration , every 10bmeters increase can cost a decrease of the duration of the skill by one minute .
Cooldown : 5 minutes .
Aura of Strength had an additional passive effects that can be turned off , the character constantly projects an aura that commands awe and fear from others and boosts those that are designed by the holder of the skills allies and demoralize those that are declared enemies by the holder of the skill those effects are :
Effects :
1- Nearby allies gain a one time boost in their attack power .
2 - Enemies within the radius of the aura have a 100% reduced chance to successfully hit the user of skill .
Skill cost per use : 20 mana , 100 stamina .
,,...,, i kept blinking thinking that i was hallucinating or something what's with this crazily strong active skill, even if we forget about the crazy boost it gave to strength, the effect of completely disabling the enemies fighting capabilities rendering the enemies completely useless, not to mention that it have a passive effects that could help those who are declared as allies by me, and the 100% chance miss that will struck the enemies when they try to attack by magical projectiles or with anything from long range for all that matters and as long as they are affected by my aura or in the radius of it, so it works somehow as a double edged sword .
I know just the right place to see how would this skill work in an actual fighting scenario, i will go to the Wicked Forest and finish my hunting task while testing how effective this skill was .