Chapter 193 - Ten Guardians

As everyone sat down around the table, they looked towards Shiro.

"Mn, where shall we start?" She asked with a calm smile.

Even though everyone was level 100 and some were even 110, Shiro's presence wasn't any smaller than theirs. Her aura even made them feel a little pressured despite the fact that she was only level 50.

"How about the plan?" One of them suggested.

"Mn, right the plan. You see, the plan is for us to invade the demon king's castle and kill him there. Lisandra here has a weapon that's blessed by the goddess which can weaken him by 90% so this is the best chance we have at killing him. However, I get that you have to worry about your territories. I can say for certain that once you give a few cores to your soldiers, they'll be able to hold off for a while and keep the place safe." Shiro smiled.

"Most of our soldiers are level 50 or above. How can you say that you can give them a boost when you, yourself, is only level 50 as well?" One of them asked sceptically.

"Mn I can see where your doubts come from. But here's the thing about the class up. It wouldn't get rid of their level. Think of it as an augment. While they might not be able to use some of their old skills, they'll get new skills that can help them fend off the tide. I'll make sure to write a manual on how to use the class for them, how's that?" Shiro smiled as the nine of them started to discuss amongst themselves. The king didn't join since he trusts Shiro.

"Are you able to prove that the class is really that strong? While we understand that you personally may be strong, but our worry is that the soldiers wouldn't be as strong as we had hoped. Everyone knows that if something is mass produced, the quality is bound to drop." One of them reminded.

"Hmm… Indeed. The king here has been converted so you can spar with him a little to double check." Shiro smiled.

The nine looked at each other before nodding.

"I'll limit myself to the peak of level 50." One of the younger looking guardians said as he stood up.

"Old Tar, doesn't this remind you of our younger days? Haha." The king laughed as he too stood up.

"Oh please, if this was the younger days we would need to f*ck off to a mountain range or else the damage caused would be too big." He replied with a laugh.

As the duo talked, they made their way to a training room or sorts while the rest followed.

The king took a deep breath as his face was serious.

Powerful mana started to revolve around him as nanotech armour appeared.

Looking at the armour, the nine couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"The technology is nothing like what we have seen. What is it?" One of them muttered curiously.

"Nanotech." Shiro smiled.

"Nanotech?"

"Think of it as an element. The class that I want to give to your soldiers is called Nanotech gunner and the main element would be this." Shiro said, pointing at the king who flexed his fingers and summoned two battle axes.

Twirling it around to familiarise himself, the king waited for his friend to prepare as well.

*BOOM!

Stomping down with his foot, an orange aura exploded around the one the king called Old Tar.

An illusionary dragon appeared behind Old Tar as it wrapped around his body.

"Ready?" He asked with a smile.

"Ready." The king nodded as the two dashed towards one another.

*TZZZ!!!!

The systems on the nanotech armour lit up as the king shot towards Old Tar like a bullet.

Looking at the king who demonstrated speed beyond that of which a normal level 50 could produce, the nine started to reevaluate the class in a positive light.

Twisting his body, the king swung his axe towards Old Tar as a trail of lightning appeared behind the axe.

*DANG!

Smashing his fist against the axe, Old Tar widened his eyes in shock.

'How could a simple axe swing be this strong?' He thought to himself. While he wasn't blown back, he understood that it was due to his physique as a level 100. If he was a genuine level 50, he would have been suppressed easily.

"Old Tar, seems like the strength you just used them was more than what a level 50 should have." The king grinned.

"Perhaps." Old Tar smiled as they started to trade more blows.

"So? How is it?" Shiro asked with a confident smile.

"Seems like we have underestimated you. If the entire army is made up of this class then I can say for sure that their power will increase. But that being said, what are you going to do about the long ranged options?" One of them asked.

"You see, there are multiple variations to the class. Nanotech Rail Berserker is one of the more powerful close ranged variants. There's also nanotech gunner and warrior. Of course, I won't deny the fact that the more you spread out the class, the weaker it gets. Hence why I want to suggest that those over level 50 can keep their class and those under level 50 will change." Shiro smiled.

"After all, you guys should know that those who upgrade from level 50 aren't weak to the point where they need a class from me to help them out." She shrugged as they nodded in understanding.

While they were talking, the duo continued to spar.

*BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Every time the king swung his axe, Old Tar would parry it with some difficulty since he was restraining himself.

An idea popped into the king's mind as he grinned slightly.

"Old bastard, looking at your grin you're up to something aren't you?" Old Tar laughed.

"Heh, this old man is so pure and kind. As if I'll be up to something." The king joked while swinging his axe once more.

However, this time, just before impact, the ice disassembled his axe and grabbed Old Tar's wrist. Pulling himself closer to Old Tar, the king kicked Old Tar in the chest and sent him flying towards the walls.

*BOOM!!!!

"I f*cking knew it! Old bastard! You haven't changed at all!" Old Tar laughed as he climbed out of the wall.

Patting the dust off his body, Old Tar charged at the king once more.

As the spar between the two continued, the eight who were watching, started to get a better understanding of the class while Shiro explained to them some extra information.

While it is limited to blueprints that they have in their mind, Shiro had already modified it so that several decently powerful weapon blueprints were already within 'database'. An example would be the king's dual battle axes.

Giving Shiro a rough count of how many soldiers there were, Shiro started to create cores that will 'infect' the soldiers and upgrade them. She even did the mental math to make sure that the last ones to get infected wouldn't have a class that was only 1% after all.

Retrieving some of the storage bracelets that they had in the kingdom treasury, Shiro stored the cores and gave to each of the nine.

"This should be enough for the army." Shiro smiled as the nine thanked her sincerely.

"Is there anything we can give in return?" One of them asked.

"Hmm… do you have any more rebirth pills? Also, I need as many C classed mana stones as you can spare. Around 900 if possible." Shiro asked in anticipation. Right now, her rebirth percentage was at 3%, a far cry from 100%. Since this world has rebirth pills, she may as well get as much as she could. Not only that, she also needed an astronomical amount of C classed mana stones.

'Holy f*ck! Why do you want 900 C classed mana stones!?' They thought in their mind.

Looking at each other awkwardly for a moment, one of them sighed and took out a pill from his storage.

"This pill is precious. Last time the old bastard over there asked us for one and gave it to you. Now we only have one left and this is the last one." He smiled apologetically.

"But since you need it and you've already done so much for us, here you go." He said while handing her the pill.

"Thank you. However, as long as we kill the demon king, this shouldn't be needed any more." Shiro nodded.

"Indeed. As for C classed mana stones, we'll store them into a bracelet and give it to you the next time we meet. For now though, we'll head back to our territories and convert the army. Wait at the old bastard's kingdom and we'll come find you once we're ready."

"Alright."

Watching the nine leave, Shiro turned to the king.

"Why do they call you old bastard." She asked curiously.

"I lost a bet and the punishment was that they have to call me old bastard." The king replied as the corner of his lips twitched a little.

"That was when we were 'young'. But they got used to it and wouldn't call me anything else." He continued as Lisandra giggled a little at the story.

Rolling his eyes, the four of them also made their way back to the kingdom.

Shiro decided to consume the pill since there was travel time.

The scene of an ice block on Yin's back while she flew was rather funny since Yin had to control her heat. She couldn't' melt the ice after all.

Once they arrived back at the kingdom, Shiro had finished her 'rebirth' and her mana links were repaired by 2%, increasing her percentage repaired to 5%.

For the next several days, Shiro spend the time invading the demon continent with Lisandra and Yin to kill demons since she wanted to see if she could get the corrupted demon core. Unfortunately, she was only able to get regular demon cores.

However, she still managed to get a decent amount of mana stones to help her class up. It would have been more if Yin didn't each a few of them. In this time, both Lisandra and Yin had managed to level up a few times. Lisandra increased her level to 78 while Yin was level 53.

Checking her class up requirements, Shiro couldn't help but shake her head slightly.

[Corrupted Elemental Sylph]

Class Up Requirements:

[ 5/4 ] Tier 3 Attunement in 4 elements

[ 181/1,000 ] C class mana stones

[ 0/1 ] C ranked raid completion with more than 30% contribution

[ 1/1 ] Fairy Element Core

[ 0/1 ] Corrupted Demon Core

So far, she was almost a third of the way through for getting C ranked mana stones. While she was still lacking quite a bit of mana stones, she was making decent progress.

Just as she was going to take Lisandra and Yin to hunt more demons, she felt a vibration in her pocket.

Pulling out the crystal, she heard the king's voice.

"They're here. We're waiting for you three at the kingdom now."

"Got it." Shiro replied as she looked towards the two who were eating happily.

"You two, we're heading back." Shiro called out. Before she could even say anything, Yin stood up and sighed.

"Mum's been abusing this baby as a mount. I want a reward." She said, peeking at Shiro to check her reaction.

Smiling wearily, Shiro understood that Yin was doing this since the nine were coming with as any C class mana stones as they could spare.

"Fine fine. Baby is obedient. Here you go." Shiro patted Yin's head and gave her a few mana stones for snacks.

"Thanks mum." Yin smiled happily and hugged Shiro.

Meanwhile, Lisandra looked at the duo with a sense of longing.

Her mother turned out to be a fake while her brother is in the demon continent. As for her father… let's not think about that.

Shiro could clearly feel Lisandra's gaze filled with longing as her heart softened a little.

"Lisa, come here." Shiro gestured to Lisandra.

"Mn? What is it teach?"

Without saying anything, Shiro also hugged Lisandra.

"Have you ever heard of a saying; Teacher for a day, family for life? You can treat me as your family too." She said while stroking her hair. She remembered seeing this when she was browsing the net and thought that this fit the situation quite well. However, the quote was teacher for a day and father for life. She wasn't a guy so she changed father to family.

Hearing what she said, Lisandra widened her eyes before smiling and nodded her head.

"Un."

Meanwhile, Yin who saw this also widened her eyes.

'F*ck! This baby's got competition!'

###

Arriving back at the kingdom, they walked towards the war council room and saw all ten of the guardians armoured up and ready.

"Little miss, here's your C ranked mana stones. We weren't able to get 900 but 500 should be decent right?" One of them smiled.

Taking the bracelet, Shiro smiled and thanked the man.

"Is everyone ready to raid?" Shiro asked.

"Yes!"

[Hidden Raid Activated – Demon King's Castle]