Originally, Rio already had 'true immunity' to defend against charm attacks, illusions, and other things.
But he wasn't immune to poisons and other physical de-buffs like curses, infections, etc.
Now that he has the 'Imperfect Sword Heart', he doesn't need to worry about all that; he can drink the most lethal poisons of this world like normal juices.
But this also has a side effect.
Rio will never be able to get drunk, even if he wanted to, because alcohol will have no effect on him.
'Not like I ever want to get drunk… I like tea more than alcohol anyway..'
While Rio was busy thinking about his newfound powers, Ryul came back, and a look of surprise hung over his face as he asked,
"D*mn boy, what did you do? How did you create such a strong spatial fluctuation just now?"
At Ryul's words, Rio tilted his head in confusion.
"Spatial fluctuation?"
Seeing that Rio was confused, Ryul concluded that he likely didn't know about it.
"Well, it's mon to lose consciousness for a while when improving, so you might not have noticed it, but it seems that you awakened a strong power that created the spatial fluctuation…"
Rio nodded his head at Ryul's words but didn't say what kind of power he had awakened.
He has read the novel, and he knows how rare 'Divinity' is; even Fade needed to go through a lot of troubles to get his own 'Divinity' before he could ascend to rank SSS.
'Divinity' is the final doorway to the realm above demi-gods; every SS-ranker in the world would want such an amazing thing for themselves.
Currently, very few people know about what 'Divinity' actually is, but Rio still doesn't want to take any risks.
SS-rankers might have an open-minded personality, and they might like to support the younger generation, but if the treasure you possess in your hand is just too great, then even they will be swayed by it.
Any peak SS-ranker would like to break the shackles and reach a higher realm; it is their lifelong goal after all.
So even they will be tempted if they know that Rio possesses what they desperately need.
Although divinity, once awakened by someone, can't be extracted, it's possible to prehend it if they have strong prehension.
And to do that, they will need to kill Rio and dug his heart out to prehend the law of 'Sword' that has manifested in his heart.
In other words, if someone finds out about this power, Rio's life may be in danger.
Thus, he didn't tell Ryul about the power he awakened; he just said that his sword intent has improved, which was not entirely wrong as the 'Sword Heart' enhanced his sword intent by a lot.
'Although this sword heart is still imperfect, it's already so powerful... I wonder what it will look like in its perfect state...'
'But, I guess I need to reach the peak of rank SS for that…'
Rio stopped thinking too much about the peak of rank SS because it was just too far away for him at the moment.
He needs to do things slowly and steadily; there's no point in dwelling on a goal that is still extremely far away.
'Next, I should aim for rank S… I think in the next year or so, I should be able to reach it…'
It has taken Rio one and a half years to reach rank A, but he's quite sure that he would need a longer time to reach rank S.
Rio's improvement speed is already very fast; it won't be wrong to say that he can reach the peak of rank SS in the next five or so years if he keeps training like normal and raids more dungeons along the way.
At that moment, Ryul noticed that Rio was already done thinking everything through, so he decided to go back.
"Let's go back now..."
Rio nodded his head at Ryul's words, and the two of them flew back to the banquet area.
…
Rio and Ryul both landed on the stage.
Ryul glanced at the audience and said in a calm voice,
"Everyone! Now that all the candidates have received their rewards, I declare that the tournament is officially over now… We will wait for future generations to e and take part in the next tournament ten years later!"
With that said, the cameramen finally stopped filming, and the online broadcasting finally ended.
The whole world finally went back to their usual working habits after seeing that the special tournament had ended.
Ryul waved his hand, and all the knights who had e to salute Rio left in an orderly manner. All the cameramen also left with them.
Only the candidates and representatives of the various races remained at the banquet.
Ryul nodded his head and said,
"Now that all the distractions are gone, everyone shall enjoy themselves to their hearts content…"
After Ryul said those words, the maids and other servants immediately started serving delicious food and drinks.
The amazing smell of the luxurious food filled the air and attracted everyone's attention.
Now that the cameramen were gone and the tournament was already concluded, everyone had nothing to worry about anymore; they could eat plenty of food and enjoy the party to their hearts's content.
Rio also got down from the stage and walked over to his friend group without hesitation.
He sat down on the empty chair beside Lia, which was purposely left open by others just for him, and he grabbed the juice glass to take a sip.
Link grinned at him and said,
"You are finally back, Prince; your amazing grace has honored us by ing here…"
Rio rolled his eyes at those words.
"Forget it, man; it sounds so weird ing from you. I think Liam can do better acting than you…"
Seeing that Rio was unbothered by those cheesy lines, Link was disappointed.
"Tch! You are just as stone-faced as ever; I thought you might be in a good mood after getting a power-up or something…"
Rio sipped the juice and replied in his usual emotionless voice,
"I am feeling quite happy, actually; you just don't see it..."
Link just shook his head at those words and didn't say anything, and others did the same, but they could feel that something was amiss with Rio.
Link grabbed the juice glass, thinking to himself,
'Is it just me, or does he seem more…. distant than he was before…'
Link was not the only one who felt that; everyone else could feel it, including Lia, of course.
Lia glanced at Rio with a gaze of concern and asked in a quiet voice.
"Did something bad happen? You seem tensed…"
Usually Lia could read Rio's emotions much easier, but today, even she was having difficulty doing so, which means something did happen.
But Rio just shook his head at Lia's words and didn't say anything.
"Nothing; it's just that I got a strong ability, and I am feeling quite excited…"
Hearing Rio's words, Liam sighed and thought to himself.
'Excited? Bruh, your face looks like you are half dead from inside, as if you have gone through some really horrible sh*t…'
Seeing that Rio wasn't going to tell, Lia had no choice but to stop asking; she knew that if Rio wanted to tell about it, he would do so the very first time she asked.
This is Rio's old habit; if he doesn't want to tell you something, no matter what you do, it's very difficult for you to get to talk to him about that matter.
So, Lia sighed and stopped asking, and everyone else also just went back to eating like normal.
Link noticed the pile of green vegetables on his plate, frowned slightly, and glanced to the side where Riya's plate was.
And sure enough, she had sneakily thrown all of the vegetables from her plate to his; she was only interested in eating the tasty stuff, not the veggies.
But Link was not going to get outdone by her; he immediately grabbed her plate and ate everything on it in an instant.
Before Riya could even say anything, he was already done stuffing all of her favorite food in his mouth.
"W-what are you doing!?"
Link ignored the bewildered look on her face and smirked at her to purposely annoy her.
"Those who don't eat their veggies end up encountering bad people who grab all of their food…"
Hearing Link's words, Riya pouted her cheeks and punched Link on the shoulder, but he dodged it immediately.
"Oi, young lady, don't hit me; that's a crime~ Also, I am strong; if you hit me, you will injure your hand~"
Riya disregarded his words, puffed up her cheeks even more, and exclaimed,
"Hmph, I will tell your father that you were bullying me…"
Hearing that threat, Link felt a chill run down his spine.
"Er, t-that's going a bit too far, right? Father will beat the sh*t out of me for that, you know…"
Riya ignored the nervous expression on Link's face and said,
"Humph, I don't care… You bullied me, so I will tell him, of course…"
Link was totally speechless about that.
'Er… It seems I went a bit too far in annoying her with this… sigh~ maybe I should buy some rare candies to make up for it…'
Just as Link was contemplating how to avoid his father's beating, he noticed Liam grinning at him.
'D*mn bro, you are dead meat now…'
Link could almost see the guy laughing at his situation, which made him angry.
'Tch! Annoying b*stard….'
…
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