Chapter 394

Chapter 394

Ajax’s [Pain Resistance] was getting the best workout it had ever gotten as his arm sent a spike of pain every time he moved the massive cast that encased the entire right side of his torso.

‘Two damn levels off’. Even though the attack had happened four whole days ago Ajax couldn’t help but still curse the assassin, not for the attempt on his life so much as for being only two levels off from increasing Ajax’s achievement of killing something triple his level without assistance.

“Just let it go already.” Lexi broke Ajax out of his musing as she carefully wrapped him in a hug without jostling his injured side.

“What?” Ajax was surprised by her words.

“You were daming that assassin again for not being two levels higher weren’t you?” Lexi could calmly state that since they were alone in a worded carriage. “Don’t deny it, I can see it from the look on your face. Just be grateful about the skills you did gain and focus on getting better before we make it to the next dungeon. I want to get out of this country as quickly as possible.”

Ajax wanted to put up at least a token of resistance but couldn’t help but agree with her. Her latter point about getting out of this country was a solid one as with a second application of the Mark on him the assassin would feel the side effects stronger quicker and would be more motivated to kill him.

More than that however Ajax was also severely inconvenienced by the wound that still lingered. The poison the assassin had used was of a very high grade as well as magical in nature. Not only would it have killed him in seconds had he not doused the area in magma but even the small amount of time it had to work on his wound before he could burn it out was enough to make the area very resistant to healing magic. It wasn’t to the point where it could repel his Life mana but it was still taking him time and care as he carefully worked his Life mana to remove all traces of the poison as well as any of the scarring on the wound. Once all of that was done the rest could be healed in one go with the usual healing magic.

Going back to her first point Ajax could accept that despite not improving his achievement he was happy enough with the results of his victory. The system had seen fit to give him five skills as reward for his accomplishment.

[Focused Mind] was an Uncommon skill he had gained most likely from the concentration he pulled off in quickly reacting to his own wound and for not only maintaining consciousness but accurately and effectively working towards his own treatment despite the pain, exhaustion and blood loss he was faced with.

The Rare skill [Assassinate] was just as easy to see the reason for. He had essentially killed his target with a single well placed strike, one that sacrificed his weapon for, to simply inject the poison into the assassin.

Both of these skills were well documented by the kingdom of Gryndor, while the first was mostly prevalent among crafters instead of soldier combat healers were also known for getting it. [Assassinate] was a skill everyone was aware of and while gaining it was objectively a good thing it would best be kept under wraps that the head of a future ducal family had it so as to not influence the nobility's perception of them as the royal family’s personal hit men.

“How did you do it?” Lioriel’s voice was ice cold as she entered behind Ajax and Lexi.

“Do what?” the prince asked.

“Are you sure you want me to say that aloud?” Lioriel asked but her gaze didn’t leave Ajax's surprised face as he took his seat to look at the elf.

“I’m not sure what you are implying.” Ajax took a moment to gather himself before he presented a united front with the prince.

“Fine, have it your way.” Lioriel shrugged, her posture turning a little aggressive as she interpreted their confusion for a cover story. “It took the royal alchemists and medics three days to figure out what happened but you used an antidote to kill the assassin. So again I ask, how did you come up with that?”

More than a few people gasped at the implication while Ajax’s mind was already running at a hundred miles an hour after he seemingly received the missing piece of the puzzle. This was why his ‘poison’ had felt different to his skills compared to the weaker first iteration, this was also why he had gained the skill [Creative Application] that he hadn’t disclosed to anyone else. Most importantly however this was also why almost every person in the carriage was looking at him with a slightly worried expression.

Coming from Earth Ajax was already aware that a lot of medicines could end up being poison if taken in too large a dose or when taken in absence of the sickness or poison they were supposed to counteract. This was not the case in this new life. Creating an antidote that could function as a poison was groundbreaking not because of the new application but because the system recognised the concoction as an antidote certain skills wouldn’t work on it. Skills like [Detect Poison] or [Poison Resistance].

The way most antidotes work in this world was that they targeted the ‘bad’ agent affecting the body and removed it. Ajax’s clotting ‘poison’ worked by forcing the blood to clot despite any other interference, this making it act like an antidote for a powerful hemorrhagic poison that would dissolve in the blood of the victim.

“You made a deadly antidote?” Aranor found himself shocked at the possibility, despite all his powerful and highly leveled social skill his jaw was hanging low in acknowledgement of the achievement.

As Ajax processed all of this he turned to look at the prince, silently asking what their response to this would be. Ajax knew for sure that this wasn’t something that he could cover under the guise of House secret, more than that it wasn’t even something he would be able to keep hidden from the other two kingdoms, the only question was what could they get in return for the sensitive information.