He looked at the Delete Card. This was quite the hard choice.
He had a hundred points saved, and he was also interested in the Class Card. If he added dark elemental damage to Assassinate, it would become extremely overpowered. And with the dark element, which was related to hiding, he might be able to become undetected in front of enemies, guaranteeing the Assassinate crit.
But if he didn't take Delete now, he didn't know when it would return once again.
The monsters the Heavenly Demon was facing kept getting stronger and stronger. Although she could contain her mana, she couldn't do so for other monsters. This meant that at some point, he had to separate with her as the monsters got stronger and stronger.
After some thought, he decided to take the Delete Card.
He selected the Mana Sense skill and deleted it.
Now he was back to zero Cheat Points again. Well, at least he didn't have to deal with that Overload thing anymore.
He then turned around. The Heavenly Demon was just about finishing up.
He decided to use Appraisal to see her level.
[Name: Heavenly Demon]
[Rank: Mahayana (Perfect Being)]
[Level: 5000]
[Species: Asura]
[Health: 1,000,000/1,000,000]
[Mana: 100,000/100,000]
[Strength: 10,000]
[Stamina: 10,000]
[Agility: 10,000]
[Intelligence: 10,000]
[Skills: Heavenly Demonic Sword Art (Unique), Sword Domain (Absolute), First Sword (Locked)]
"What the hell are those stats?" Cipher wondered.
Suddenly, the Heavenly Demon appeared before him, looking straight into his eyes.
"What did you do just now?" she asked.
She actually managed to detect him?
"I used a technique to see your abilities," he said.
"What did you see?" she asked.
"Everything, I guess," he said.
"You're strange," she said.
She wondered what type of ability that was. It made her feel so exposed and uncomfortable.
"Don't use such strange abilities on me anymore," she said.
"Yes. My apologies." He bowed.
She looked at him with a smile. "I was thinking of taking you back since you can't handle the divine sense of those monsters, but it seems you've solved that problem," she said, observing him and nodding.
Cipher looked at himself. She could even feel when he deleted the Mana Sense? Well, it made sense. Since Mana Sense was like broadcasting his signal everywhere, once it was deleted, she felt it disappear.
Deleting that ability was definitely the right choice. It seemed like an ability to detect on the surface, but in reality, it could also serve as a beacon to lead high-level monsters toward you.
"Wait, you wanted to take me back?" he asked.
"That's right. But after seeing that ability of yours to see through things, I think I might have a use for you," she said.
"How were you going to send me back?" he asked.
"With my men, of course. I have some stationed around this area," she said. "Do you want to go back?" she asked.
"No, I still haven't asked you everything I want to know about," he said.
"Then why are you asking this?" she asked.
"I'm wondering if I can send a message to my teammates through your men. I've been gone for almost half a day now. It would be good if I told them that I was alright so they could stop searching for me," he explained.
"I see. Alright," she said.
…
Ryker looked at his teammates. They were all tired, but they still wanted to continue looking for Cipher.
To be honest, even he was beginning to lose hope.
He had realized it when Cipher left the party earlier, but he hadn't told the others. When someone left the party, they had either left the range of the party, or they had died. He really hoped it wasn't the latter.
He was about to get up so they could continue, but he heard someone approaching. He turned around, wondering who it was. The other teammates also turned, recognizing the person.
It was a native, dressed in dark robes.
He walked over to them without speaking.
Ryker reached for his sword, wondering if he was about to fight. But the man simply handed him something and turned around, leaving.
"What is that?" Maya asked.
"A letter?" he wondered as he unrolled the paper.
"A letter? Who could send us a letter in this place?" Dante asked.
The three paused as they realized.
"Cipher. Is it from Cipher?" Maya asked, rushing to Ryker.
The three of them opened the letter together.
To my teammates,
I apologize for leaving without saying anything. I know you must be worried.
I've discovered something quite important - something that might even change the state of awakeners as a whole. I can't explain everything right now, but I promise I'm safe.
Please don't worry about me. Focus on leveling up and getting stronger. I'll return when we leave in ten days.
Until then, stay safe.
- Cipher
"Brother Cipher discovered something this important?" Maya asked, her eyes wide.
"As expected of him!" Dante said before laughing aloud.
Ryker remained silent.
If Cipher really had discovered something as deep as he made it out to be, then change was definitely coming to the awakeners. But what could it be? What had he found in this apocalypse world that was so significant?
"Vice Captain?" Maya questioned, noticing his expression.
"Ah, I was just lost in thought for a second." Ryker folded the letter carefully and tucked it into his pocket. "Anyway, now that we've confirmed that Cipher is okay, let's go back to base and rest before we start leveling up again. You don't want Cipher to return stronger than us, right?"
"No way! If Brother Cipher is out there getting stronger, then we need to catch up!" Maya spoke in excitement.
Dante grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Let's show him what we've got!"
The two of them started walking back toward base, forgetting about their prior exhaustion.
…
A/N: Heavenly Demon is like if Ryker gained 2 points in every stat per level up instead of one.