Chapter 16 - Test Of Banishment: Conquered!

He began to look around for a lever which he had found. To his dismay, he couldn't find any levers. "There are only thirty minutes till the test ends. I can't afford to fail", he thought. He went up to the steel door, and he understood how to open the door. "Of course, another riddle", he thought.

"What devours all and can kill a king? Destroy a town and crushes mountains down?", he read. "It's a good thing there is no time limit like the last one, but I am on a tight schedule. Let me follow the same Simplicity rule here", he thought.

"What devours all and can kill a king? What can kill a king? There are many external causes, but two internal factors will be sickness or old age. 'Destroy a town and crushes mountains down?'. If I take old age as a factor, how does a person get old? They live long enough for them to get old", he thought.

"So, time is a factor for a person to get old. And if a town is left to time, it can either be destroyed or gain prosperity. The same can be said for mountains. So the answer must be time", he thought. "This person is a genius. My admiration has increased in this small time that I spent here", he smiled.

He used his blood and wrote the answer. The riddle glowed gold, and the door creaked open. "Open sesame!", he thought and did a small bow. "Congratulations to myself, for completing this ridiculous challenge", he said to himself. He then disappeared, becoming one with darkness.

He moved quickly towards the castle and stood underneath the window to his father's room. "I need momentum", he thought as he stepped back. He activated [Dash] on his boots, and activated [Surreal] on his dagger, giving him a boost in agility.

[Agility: 40+18]

He then ran towards the wall and ran vertically. He used the built momentum and ran towards the first ledge, which was almost fifteen feet from the ground! He pulled himself off the ledge, took a short break, and began to run in a zig-zag motion, using the ledges to swing and increase his momentum.

After he reached thirty feet, there were no more ledges for him to grab and use as an advantage. "Only twenty minutes left", he thought. He crouched as low as he could and began to channel his aura into his legs. "It's still painful, but not as much as before", he thought. After he felt an increase, he shot up towards the ledge.

It was twenty feet above him, and he held onto the ledge with one hand, dangling. He placed his other hand first and gained a foothold quickly. "Next time, please think things carefully", he said to himself. He then climbed over the ledge and sneaked into the room.

His father's back was facing him. He sneaked behind him, and he pulled out his dagger. He concealed himself in the darkness and tiptoed towards him. He then silently placed the dagger on Ben's neck, startling him. "I have completed the test", said Lucas.

Ben was startled. He quickly twisted Lucas's arm and took the dagger from him. He was about to slash his neck when Lucas removed the mask. Ben stopped midway, and let out his breath. "You didn't have to do that?", he asked in an angry tone. "Well, I do get additional EXP for completing it without getting detected", he said cheekily. "You brat! Haha! Indeed!", laughed Ben.

Lucas smiled and gave him the scroll, and waited for Ben to issue the rewards. "You've done well, my son. I didn't expect this part though", he said as he placed his hand on his neck. "Even with my increase in Perception, I can't detect him. He's worthy of the title indeed", he smiled as he thought about it.

Ben took the crystal and whispered a spell. The crystal shone brightly, and then it crumbled into dust. The system pinged him with a notification.

[Test Of Banishment: Final Stage]

[Infiltrate the Northern Sealed Palace and Steal the Ancestral Scroll]

[Quest issued by Benjamin Heart]

[Quest Completed]

[Rewards - EXP +2000, Intermediate HP Limit Breaker Potion, Intermediate MP Limit Breaker Potion]

[Additional Quest: Complete the test without getting detected]

[Quest Completed]

[Rewards - EXP +1500, Title - Master Of Stealth]

[Do you want to claim the rewards? Yes/No]

Lucas smiled. "Of course I want to claim the rewards", he thought.

[Rewards - EXP +2000]

[You have Levelled Up!]

[Intermediate HP Limit Breaker Potion has been added to your Inventory]

[Intermediate MP Limit Breaker Potion has been added to your Inventory]

[Additional Quest Completed]

[Rewards - EXP +1500]

[You have Levelled Up!]

[New Title has been Gained!]

[Master Of Stealth - When the title is equipped, Agility is increased by forty-five percent. Any movements will not make any sound. Speed of Weapon Mastery will be increased by fifty percent. Agility during the night is increased by seventy-five percent]

[New skill gained - Inspect Lvl 1]

[Inspect - Reveal information of any object or see the stats of any person]

"That's a cool title! It's going to be very useful for me in my endeavors", he thought. He then left the room and went towards his. He jumped into the bed and was relaxing. After a few minutes, he took a shower and changed into a melange grey tee and a pair of black sweatpants. "Let's look at this limit breaker potion", he thought.

He took it out of his inventory and used the [Inspect] skill on it. He was curious as to how the skill worked. He was astonished when he saw the uniqueness of the skill.

[Intermediate HP Limit Breaker - Increase your HP permanently. Consuming this will give you a boost of 100-150 HP points]

[Intermediate MP Limit Breaker - Increase your MP permanently. Consuming this will give you a boost of 100-150 MP points]

"Why is this not a standard number? Is there some special method to make the maximum gains from this potion?", he thought. He was confused, so he wanted to ask his Master. He left towards his Master's room. "I almost forgot, let me see my stats", he thought and pulled up his Stats window.

[Status]

[Name: Lucas Heart]

[HP: 100/100]

[MP: 100/100]

[Level: 6]

[Job: None]

[Title: Defying The Odds, Master Of Stealth]

[EXP: 400/2500]

[System Level: 1/10]

[Strength: 40]

[Stamina: 31]

[Agility: 40+18]

[Perception: 34]

[Magic: 27]

[Stat points to be used: 6]

"Alright, now that I'm level six, I won't be able to store the points that I've gained anymore. So, let me put it all into Magic since that is the lowest right now", he thought. he then placed all his stat points into Magic, increasing it to thirty-three. Another notification popped up and left him shocked.

[Host is now capable of learning additional Magic spells. Displaying compatible spells]

[Ice Shield, Fire Armor]

[Mastery of both spells will increase MP limit and Magic]

Lucas wanted to try them out immediately. But he was confused about something. "Let's look at my available skills first", he thought. He then called up his skills list and was shocked.

[Skills List]

[Aura: F Class]

[Capabilities: SSS Class]

[Aura Slash - Lvl 1][Mastery - 15%]

[Aura Jump - Lvl 1][Mastery - 20%]

[Increase Mastery to Level Up the Skills faster]

[Magic]

[Flowing-Ice]

[Icicle - Lvl 1][Mastery - 25%]

[Ice Shield - Lvl 1][Mastery - 0%]

[Azure Flame]

[Fireball - Lvl 1][Mastery - 50%]

[Fire Armor - Lvl 1][Mastery - 0%]

[Increase Mastery to Level Up the Skills faster]

"So that's what Mastery means. It means to master a spell. And if I reach one hundred percent mastery, that means I can level up my skills faster. The higher the level, the higher the output", he thought. He then began to look down even further down the screen, and he was astonished at what he saw. "So this is what Master meant when he said he had taught me everything", he thought.

[Combat]

[Hand-to-Hand Combat]

[Muay Thai][Mastery - 100%]

[Taekwondo][Mastery - 100%]

[Self Created Art][Mastery - 25%]

[The Art of Stealth][Mastery - 95%]

"My combat skills are higher than everyone I know. Even Sam and Kate might not have mastered 'The Art of Stealth' to my level", he thought. He was proud of his achievement. "Don't let pride get to your head", he thought as he remembered the people who had fallen in the past, due to their arrogance and pride. "Let's see the weapons section", he thought.

[Weapons]

[Close Range Weapons]

[Dagger Arts][Mastery - 85%]

[Knife Arts][Mastery - 85%]

[Handguns][Mastery - 80%]

[Mid Range Weapons]

[Sword Arts][Mastery - 80%]

[Spear Arts][Mastery - 80%]

[Assault Rifles][Mastery - 75%]

[Long Range Weapons]

[Bow Arts][Mastery - 65%]

[Throwing Knife/Kunai Arts][Mastery - 65%]

[Sniper Rifle][Mastery - 70%]

"That's a good level of Mastery.. But how do I increase them? I guess I have to ask Master to give me some tips on how to increase Mastery now", he thought as he knocked on the door, waiting for his Master to call him in.