Chapter 38: Plans

[Profile]

Name: Cedric Stormrider

Age: 21

Race: Human

Class: Tier 1 - Swordsman

Level: 2

Titles: Jr.Undead Slayer, Scholar, Sword Child

Aptitude:

Body: S

Energy: S

Spirit: (S) - Locked. Tier 2 req.

Final rating: S+

Skills:

Actives: Sword Ki Lv.7, Kickboxing (M)

Passives: Vision (M), Learning (M), Ki Mastery Lv.7, Smell (M), Multitasking (M), Taste (M), Touch (M), Listening (M), Intuition (M), Footwork (M), Recovery (M), Tolerance (M), Tactics (M), Deception Lv.3, Willpower Lv.3

[Mandatory Task:]

: Hell Dive - Survive the Endless Undead Horde for 3 hours.

: Rewards - 100% Demon Soul gain, Clearance Streak +1

: Punishment for Failure - Failure Streak +1.

: Record: Clear Streak - 3, Failure Streak - 0

***

Honestly, in the grand scheme of things, this isn't surprising. It shouldn't be. After all, it happened multiple times already.

Demons are always watching. Consistently collecting information about notable humans that could pose a threat to their nefarious plans. With the Cult's appearance, their source of information grew even more and honestly, it's terrifying.

Once the Demons assessed the threat level of a person, they would make plans for them. If possible, they will eliminate the budding talents to lower the chances of Humanity's morale. They will stoop low, that's for certain, they're demons after all and they're at way so it's all fair.

Sometimes, it's very easy to forget that Humans and Demons are still at war because of the peaceful environment around them. If it weren't for the Hell Dives, Cedric wouldn't have guessed that they were at odds at all.

And that's precisely why he's trying to be cautious. Cedric was training to survive. If he had already registered himself under their radar, then that's the complete opposite of what he's trying to do.

The mask he was given wasn't a solution, only a temporary stopgap. Hell, it's already questionable whether it would work or not.

This mask would only cover his facial features, not his entire body. It wouldn't conceal or transform his physique into something else. It wouldn't hide the way how he moved or conceal his skills. Depending on how much the demons knew about him, this mask may or may not already be useless.

That's why he's searching for another way to divert the demons' attention away from him.

He planned on putting up a show, something he learned from the art of Deception. If he's already being monitored, then there's not much he could do about that. What he can do, however, is to control how much he will show to them.

Cedric planned on slowly tapering off. Like, he will show his face in Hell Dives, continue clearing it and, as time passes, slowly show that he couldn't keep up. Showcasing just enough strength to barely clear the task with so much difficulty. If they see that, then they will slowly but surely conclude their judgment of him, eventually diminishing his real threat and leaving him alone completely.

That being said, there are a lot of flaws in this plan. Mainly the fact that he'd be purposefully failing his Hell Dives.

If he goes through with this, he will also be slowing down his progress a lot. And that's something that he's very reluctant to do.

He couldn't accept that he would have to tone down his personal growth just to escape the Demons' scrutiny, mainly because it had to be convincing, and the Demons aren't dumb. One slip up and they will realize that he's hiding his strength, and while Cedric is confident about his skills, who knows what other methods the Demon has to discover his secrets?

Yes, he knows that that's probably for the best since it's only a small sacrifice to ensure that he lives, but he just didn't like that idea.

Remember, Cedric had grown this much in just a few months. It hasn't even been half a year since he had received these blessings yet he already possesses this level of strength! If he went through with this plan, he'd be delaying his growth so much that, he just knew, he'd regret it.

Knowing this, he could only think of other ways to do this, but so far, he didn't have any idea where to start. That's the dilemma he's facing right now.

Thankfully though, he still has some time left. On the next Hell Dive, he will show himself still. He would showcase as much strength as before. He would still be under observation and he wouldn't be able to prevent it, but at the very least, the Demons wouldn't move on him just yet.

That would buy him enough time to search for other options. So that's to say that he would be using the plan he made for now at least, right until he finds a more pleasing solution for this problem.

Suffice it to say, for now at least, nothing has changed. He has a lot in mind but he had time as well.

Of course, he wouldn't stop training even while searching for a possible way to solve his problem. He still has some room to grow and the sooner he reaches his limit, the earlier he could start leveling up.

He just hoped that he could find a solution soon because his anxiety wouldn't let him be a peace with this problem at hand.