71 The New Rule Unedited

"Yo Louis! I didn't see you here earlier, where you were?"

Upon logging back into the game together with everyone, Nex saw Louis giving Roland his morning training and quickly called to him as he didn't see him before when he returned from the meeting with Joseph and Frank and Roland was left with Dafne, the Head Priestess of the city church and Frank's wife.

"Don't make me think about it!" Louis seemed quite haggard as if he been through a quite tough time and when he heard Nex words he seemed to shiver for a moment before sighing and sending Roland to be with the rest of the group.

"Dafne mentioned that you went to an emergency meeting for the Saints and high-ranked fighters and personal of the kingdom," Nex seemed to remember before smirking, "Did the other boys ganged on you and beat you up because you were the least popular one among them?"

"As if! They didn't have balls to even let a wrong squeak as long as they were in that damn place!" Louis snorted as if he heard something stupid.

"Then who harassed you?" Nex became curious, what was that place that even Saints are too afraid to make a wrong sound there and make Louis look like he been through a very stressful time.

"The most frightening person in the kingdom," Louis sighed as a bit of fear appeared on his face, "My boss."

"If I remember correctly, then it's the Kingdom Protector right?" Nex confirmed, "Is it him the one that called the emergency meeting? What was it about?"

"She wanted to warn us not to try any tricks during the upcoming tournament," Louis smiled bitterly and then stared at Nex with pleading eyes that the latter didn't see before, "I know that you will have a tough time there and there is a good chance that even you won't be able to handle what you will be up against there. But please win this tournament! Or else the Guild Masters, Joseph and especially I will have a hell to pay."

"Before I ask about what that prize is, there is something else I want to address to first," Nex smiled before his expression turned strange, "Didn't you said to Joseph and Frank that I have a good chance to win? Why did you just say that there is a good chance I lose instead?"

"Because in this tournament, the Kingdom Protector added a new rule," Louis became very depressed, "Accumulators are allowed to join."

"Accumulators?" Nex became serious, although he could guess what are those he still asked.

"You probably know them by another name," Louis shook his head, "Anyway they are those guys who continue to train for a long time in early and middle stages before they breakthrough in order to advance at a fast pace later on while being invincible in their level."

"Those huh?" Nex frowned, this new rule complicated things quite a bit, "I guess that there are those who had their base power at the early stage Second Awakening while retaining their rank right?"

"At the very least," Louis smiled bitterly, "At least that's the kind of level our city has because we are the ones that are the least specialize in this kind of training among the major factions in the kingdom, other places probably have those who reached the middle stage in addition to having sickening abilities and bloodlines."

"Damn that's bad," Nex whistled, "And I guess that using an artifact that raise your stage will not be seen lightly right?"

"If anyone would be seen with anything like that, all of the faction behind him will suffer for quite some time," Louis muttered as if he was trained to say that sentence, "That scary woman made it quite clear."

"Bummer," Nex sighed before asking what bothered for quite a while, "What is that reward that all of you guys so eager to get? To see not only Joseph and Frank but also you acting like that and saying that you will be saved if you get it, what is it exactly?"

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"Something I hoped for a very long time," Louis eyes filled with hope, "The winning faction will be allowed not to come for the annual seminar of that damn woman."

"..." Nex became quite stumped, who the hell was this Kingdom Protector that made the Saint so scared and eager to win?

"I guess it will be better not to meet her until I will have the ability to escape right?"

"Once you are able to do it, then teach me as well," Louis nodded somberly.

♦♦♦

"So because of the tournament I need to go and do some preparations until it starts," Nex explained to the group, "Since Sapphire will be asleep for a while in order to adapt for the Prime Force, I'll need to gather a few more cards up my sleeve in order to have a proper chance to win."

"But we just started to hunt together!" Eddie called in disappointment.

"We both know that until you become strong enough, I can't truly hunt together with you," Nex smiled and patted his head, "So grow stronger until I come back so that together we will be able to take on the strongest bosses like it was nothing okay?"

"Okay," Eddie's mood became a bit better and he nodded.

"But Teacher I don't understand," Elise showed a confused face, "What are those Accumulators that because of them you have to go prepare so much? Aren't they just at First Awakening as well?"

"It's not that simple," Nex shook his head, "There are three main ways to advance in strength here from what Louis told me."

"Advancers, they progress the fastest and grow their rank along the way, this is the way that most of the people train in."

"Rankers, that put an emphasis on training their rank as they grow, so although they do not advance very fast they are very strong in their level because of their high rank. Usually, you need some talent in order to train this way at a good pace."

"And finally, Accumulators, when they reach the peak of an early stage such First or Second Awakening they don't break through and continue to train even when their rank reaches the limit of the stage, they do it for a long time until they transform and naturally breakthrough to the next stage."

"You can never think of those people as normal, not power-wise and not talent-wise," Nex expression became serious and made the other tense, "During their training, they not only reach the limit of the current stage but also able to grasp the power of the next stage while retaining their rank power and not breaking through at all. In other words, while they are still at First Awakening they can have the power of a Second Awakening Boss, and not necessarily an early stage one."

"What!?" everyone became shocked, having such high capability at a stage while they are just at the stage below, just how ridiculous those people to be able to do it!?

"That's just a side bonus and not the real reason why people walk this path," Nex shook his head, "To be able to gain power like that once you reach a stage limit is something only a very few people can do, but once they breakthrough, not only does their power is far stronger at the same level but their advancement speed skyrocket and the time that take them to reach the peak of their current stage is substantially shorter than others. And if they manage to gain again the power of the next stage again while still being in the peak of the current one their power and advancement speed will increase greatly again once they breakthrough."

"Although I will face in the tournament only those in their First Awakening, if I didn't make a contact with Sapphire and got Prime Force, my chances to win would have been almost zero. In fact, my power right now is not enough if I want to win a fight without using almost all of my powers at an early stage of the tournament."

Those words landed on the group like a bomb, the people there will be at the same level and stage as Nex, and yet the odds for him to win are against at him to such degree. They couldn't comprehend at all what kind of horrifying existence were those Acculumators.

"Do you really have to participate in that tournament?" although she was still fuming at him because of the "disciplining treatment" he did to her this morning, Jane couldn't help but ask at worry upon hearing the details of what he will be up against.

"I have no choice," Nex shook his head with a somber expression before pulling out a broken pan that had a big hole in its middle that seemed to be made by a brutal acid, "Just look at this! All I wanted was to add a bit of snake venom for the taste and this happened! This won't do! I need to get the best tools I could if I want to properly cook in this game!"

'It is a steel pan! Who the hell add to his cooking a venom that could do such things to a freaking steel pan!?' this thought was on everyone's head as they looked at Nex's righteous expression as if they hoping for him to say it was a joke.

Only Celes put her palm on her face and shook her head, "How could I not expect such moronic thing to happen."

♦♦♦

"So I got to Paragon rank just because I defeated that Devil?" Nex asked as he examined his new Adventure Guild Badge that adorned a golden star instead of the previous silver one. Upon arriving at the Adventure Guild, he was immediately led to Frank's office where he was suddenly told that he got a rank-up.

"And also because you massacred thousands of demons right before that," Frank added with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you earlier it's just that there were more pressing subjects in the other times we met."

"Nah it's fine," Nex shrugged and put the badge on, "Its actually came at good timing. I came here to get places outside of the city that may have a monster or something along that line that is at least a Lord Boss in the rank and Early Second Awakening in the Awakening stage. I also need locations that have a very high concentration of elements, it doesn't matter what kind of element it is I just need its concentration and spiritually as high as possible. I heard about the new rule of the tournament and I need to make preparations and some training by myself if I want to have a proper ability to contend there."

"I see," Frank nodded seriously and signaled to the receptionist that led Nex to his office, "Led him to the archive and give him what he wants and check if there are any active missions or warnings about those places."

"Right away," the receptionist nodded respectfully before turning to Nex with courtesy, "Please follow after me, Sir."

"Sure no problem," Nex was about to follow her before suddenly turning back to Frank, "I almost forgot the most important thing! I heard that the Adventure Guild has a special paint that can stay on Travelers' body even after they resurrect, is that right?"

"Yes," Frank nodded while feeling confused, "We have two types, one for creating crests or seals, and one for simple marking that doesn't have any effect."

"Just what I need!" Nex eyes brightened, this made things a bit easier.

"Give me both types! From the first type give me enough for a few crests."

"Okay," Frank nodded, although that type was expensive, this small amount was more than manageable, "And from the second type?"

"I think about enough for…" Nex remembered the several hostile gazes that followed him on his way here before smirking.

"Around a guild of Travelers?"