"Ethan? Yeah, he is different... And, I think he doesn’t rember us." Carl said, his voice dropping to a murmur. His had cataloged every micro-expression and unnatural twitch in Ethan’s movents. He was lost in thought, piecing together the unsettling puzzle.
"He is just like Jessica," he added, a cold realization settling over him. The Sword Academy wasn’t just training students; they were altering them at a fundantal, psychological level.
Mirabella slowly nodded her head, her expression unreadable. She turned her gaze away from the gateway and looked towards the entrance.
"Those two should be there by now," she added, her voice carrying a quiet certainty.
"Huh? Who?" Carl blinked, the sudden shift in subject montarily throwing off his "sharp" focus.
"Cupcake and Adira," Mirabella answered.
Almost in imdiate response, a telepathic link flared to life within her consciousness. The next mont, Cupcake’s cheerful yet lethal voice sounded directly in her mind.
’We are here, Master... But, Jessica is also here.’
Mirabella smiled softly, a calculated curve of her lips that didn’t quite reach her eyes. "I knew she will be there." She turned her head back to the shimring gateway, the pulsating light casting long, ethereal shadows across the obsidian floor.
"There aren’t any eyes in the tower, aning the audience can’t see or hear anything... This is also one of the reasons I willingly revealed so many things to you guys," she said, backing Carl.
"Carl, after this Competition, I am taking you and Grace into a very dangerous dungeon... Both of you must beco Lv300 before the first level is done."
As she spoke, she opened her palm. A spatial distortion rippled the air, and a Legendary class skill scroll materialized. It hovered above her hand, radiating a dense, ancient aura that made the ambient energy in the room tremble.
"This is my last skill scroll, try and use it," she said, as the scroll floated towards Carl.
’If Carl is an ordinary assassin, there is absolutely no way he can activate this scroll—’ she reasoned internally. The rigid laws of Galaxy Fall dictated that class-specific restrictions were absolute.
Mirabella’s and her thoughts froze completely as Carl reached out, grasped the golden parchnt, and effortlessly activated the scroll before her. The legendary item dissolved into motes of pure energy that imdiately rushed into his chest, integrating with his soul-print. He had gained a new skill, bypassing the System’s foundational code.
"Huh?" Mirabella was stunned. She was prepared for anomalies, but seeing the impossible happening right before her eyes was still profoundly shocking. The foundations of her world-building knowledge had just been cracked.
"What... What skill did you gain?" she asked, her voice tight with disbelief.
"Hmm..." Carl closed his eyes, navigating his new interface, activating his new skill.
BOOOOM!!!!
The ambient air pressure in the enclosed hall snapped. The wind violently picked up around him, howling like a trapped beast, and before Mirabella’s eyes, semi-translucent wind daggers ford. They materialized from thin air, spinning around them with vicious velocity, placing the two of them in the direct center of a cyclone of blades.
"Destroy!"
Carl yelled the command word, and the next mont, the chaotic storm collapsed. All the wind daggers vanished into thin air, leaving an eerie silence in their wake.
Mirabella blinked, moving her gaze all over the place. The obsidian walls of the hall were still standing, entirely unbreached.
"Huh? Seems this skill is too weak," Carl said, scratching his head with a genuinely confused expression. He looked at his hands, expecting devastation, but finding nothing.
Mirabella, however, possessed a much higher perception stat. She walked towards the heavy leather couch, staring closely at the surface. There were microscopic, razor-thin deep cuts all over the surface, with stuffing and feathers spilling out, hovering in the air all over the place.
She lowered her gaze to the ground, tracing the intersecting lines. She was seeing blade marks all over the place. The cuts weren’t visibly deep, but she knew the chanics of armor penetration; it was enough to leave devastating internal injuries on both humans and heavily scaled monsters.
"It’s not the skill," she said, staring intently at the geotric precision of the cuts.
"You are just too weak, and your Mastery of it is still too low." She exhaled, the tension leaving her shoulders.
’Yeah. He needs to master it and try to upgrade it too...’ she reasoned. ’Maybe because of my cheat ability to max skills and instantly master them, my perception of normal progression is warped. I thought he would be like that.’ She exhaled again, adjusting her expectations to the reality of ordinary leveling.
’If this Area of Effect skill is maxed, Carl will be able to take down anything with these wind blades... But...’ She turned back to Carl, curiosity overriding her shock.
"Can I see the description of this skill?" she asked.
"Okay."
Carl tapped his Galaxy bracelet. The device humd, and a holographic blue screen projected outward, illuminating the dim space between them with the raw data of his new power:
[Active Skill: Soul-Wind Daggers Annihilation (Stage 1)]
[Use the wind to form 1,000 daggers, which deals 100% of Caster’s physical attacks to all enemies caught, and 50% magic attacks to all enemies’ souls. 10 minutes cool down.]
[Active Skill: Soul-Wind Daggers Annihilation (Stage 10: MAXED)]
[Use the wind to form unlimited daggers, which deals 200% of the Caster’s physical attacks to all enemies caught, and 100% magic attacks to all enemies’ souls. Skill is unavoidable, and can move with the Caster. No cool down.]
’What an overpowered skill...’ Mirabella thought, her mind already calculating the horrific damage output if Carl layered this with his assassin stealth skill.
’If I had this skill, I could max it in one second, but...’ She nodded at Carl, acknowledging the long road ahead of him.
"I will help you master it. Put it away," she said. She turned and began walking towards the entrance of the gateway, her mind shifting from Carl’s potential to the imdiate mission, but she stopped right at the edge of the light.
She closed her eyes, re-establishing the secure link to her invisible vanguard.
’Cupcake, Deal with her if you have to, but don’t kill her... Just take what I need and return to my soul sea,’ Mirabella instructed, her ntal tone brokering no argunt. Jessica was a victim of the Sword Academy’s machinations, but she was still an obstacle.
’Uh... There is trouble here...’ Cupcake’s voice sounded in her head, tinged with a little dark amusent that set Mirabella on edge. ’The thing you asked for, it’s still alive, and it has gone crazy.’
Mirabella frowned. The item she needed was supposed to be dead.
’Ok, stop joking around and deal with it,’ Mirabella commanded strictly. She crossed her arms behind her back, staring straight ahead into the swirling vortex of the gateway, her posture rigid with absolute authority.
’Don’t fail , Both of you.’
Through the void, the synchronized, unwavering loyalty of her Subordinates echoed back.
’We won’t, Master!!’
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