Chapter 32: Chap 31: Preparation

Jack moved. He himself could not stand the odor from the oily mess surrounding him.

Still, it was no time for him to think about that. He sat up and looked at everyone.

“You must’ve realized what just happened,” his voice croaked, “so please, be a little more patient.”

Then, he turned around, leaving behind the bewildered prisoners. Abraham, though, was unable to hide his excitement seeing Jack’s advancement. Still, like everyone else, it came with numerous questions and uneasiness, for nobody knew anything about what had just happened. The man looked around, seeing the mercenaries discussing the phenomenon, uncertain about what to do to help his son clean up the mess after this.

“And what could another Herald do?” Someone said. “There were at least five more of them, and here we are, relying on a snotty kid.”

“Yeah,” another continued. “Big talk. I thought he was hiding a stun grenade or something.”

“Shut your mouth up,” Abraham growled. “If none of you has any better idea, then keep your mouth shut.” 

Jack wasn’t bothered by the words behind his back. For now, his mind was running at maximum capacity to process all the information provided by the system.

Name: Jack Corvus

Race: Human (Enhanced)

Age: 10

Rank: Herald (Low), Level 1

Faction: Unknown

Strength: 4

Agility: 3

Spirit: 7

Remaining Stat Points: 9

Jack used a minute to feel the difference after the enhancement. He could feel the strength, the agility rising in every part of his body. The increase in his Spirit aspect, the stat of which was higher than the other two, helped him feel and absorb the environmental mana wider, stronger, and faster. Moreover, it now allowed him to both manipulate mana and process the status table simultaneously.

Jack skipped the stats point for now. He would return to them once he had finished with his skill points to give himself a better chance of escape.

Jack looked into his skill nodes. Each faction had about five skills to learn. Artificer was out of the question, for he wouldn’t waste the points there in this situation. Next up was Maester, but when he thought about his enemies, Jack reckoned he should save one or two points for this in case of emergency.

The other two, Nightblade and Warrior, were clear choices. He would need instruction from Martial art Mastery of Warrior in this weaponless situation. As for NIghtblade, it was undoubtedly the most crucial. Presence of the Night would help him sneak away and go scouting around without being detected, especially effective in this dark dungeon, even more so with the knowledge from the Legacy Orb. 

The system for skills, the Legacy Orb for experience.

Without the artifact, he wouldn’t have reached this level of making, initiating, and executing this plan. Though his previous life had been long, he had never been an assassin. This might just be the edge he needed.

Having made up his mind, Jack proceeded to distribute the points to Nightblade and Warrior.

Presence of the Night (Herald, Active, Physical Damage, Single Target – Self)

Level: 1 (Requirements for next level: Agility >= 6)

Mana cost: minimum per second.

Cooldown: 0s.

Effect:

Make yourself less visible, remove your presence in any dark area and become lighter and stronger. The effectiveness will decrease significantly if the requisite environment is not met.

Highly effective when being still. Moving will increase the mana cost.

+10% Agility. (13% in next level)

+10% Damage strike from shadow. (13% in next level)

*Less effective under the presence of any light source. The buff will still be applied but suffer a penalty of up to 90%.

Martial Art Mastery (Herald, Passive)

Level: 1 (Requirement for next level: Str >= 6)

Effect:

Grant a fraction of basic knowledge of utilizing the whole body as a weapon. (Grant more in the next level.)

A stream of information flooded not only his mind but every part of the body required to perform the skill. Images appeared in his head, repeating themself, creating muscle memory. Now, he knew the stances, the moves, and how to utilize his arms and legs to their potential. 

Jack tried Presence of the Night, and he could feel it taking place instantly as if he had practiced it a thousand times. The experience from the Legacy Orb knowledge point in his head combined with the skill information from the system to great effect. He slowly knew how to make the right decision, how to appear and disappear from the shadow at the right moment, and how to plan his attack and defense in response to the situation.

He harnessed both of them, wisdom and skills.

He vanished into the shadow.

Abraham was the first to notice Jack’s status. 

“Jack?” He asked weirdly.

The mercenaries gradually turned their eyes at the spot where Jack had been sitting, surprised to see he wasn’t there anymore.

Everyone looked around; those with aura tried to feel his presence. Abraham squinted his eyes. He was about to step forward as a small hand was laid on his elbow. 

“I’m here, father,” Jack said, disabling the skill.

Abraham looked at his son frightenedly.

“How did you,” he mumbled, “how the…?”

Jack put a finger on his lips, signaling his father to say no more, less the word Nightblade came out.

“How do I remove the cuff?” Jack asked Abraham.

“An Artificer would know, or you have to use the key that their leader is keeping.”

“The key in his personal inventory space?”

“Yes.”

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“Then how can someone infiltrate other’s inventory space?”

Abraham frowned at Jack. It was a piece of common knowledge. What had his son been studying a school?

“Well, inventory spaces are accessed through specific items,” Abraham said, raising the ring on his finger. “This is my personal inventory space item. They could come in many forms, such as chests, earrings, and necklaces. I reckoned the leader and his stronger subordinates all had one of those.”

“Why didn’t they take away your ring?” Jack questioned.

“They didn’t because they couldn’t force their way into it unless they killed me. But, they would rather keep me alive for the ransom. Trying to invade the space while I’m alive, and they will risk active its self-destruction. The items inside will either be destroyed or, in the case of a powerful item, scattered around the world, sometimes not in one piece. The Artificers had also designed this one to destroy itself if it’s too far from me for too long. Of course, I could also destroy it, but that would take energy and concentration; it wouldn’t take effect immediately too. I will need to channel some mana into it to fuel the destruction.”

“Is there any way to break this mechanism without taking your life?”

“Find an Artificer to remove it,” Abraham answered. “But I doubt these bandits could. A decent Artificer of the same rank would have to use ten times the amount of time it took for the ring to self-destruct. A Herald ring would require an Artificer Archon to unlock it, but even still, it wouldn’t be certain.”

“I see, a rather all-around item,” Jack concluded. “But, I still don’t understand the part where the ring could be taken if the wearer was dead.”

“Because if so, my mind, spirit, and unique mana wave would no longer be on this world. Those are the things that allow the ring to identify me. When I’m dead, the ring becomes masterless. It returns to its default setting.”

“Sound both like a feature and an intended bug,” Jack contemplated.

“Bug?”

“An error in the system, sort of,” Jack jokingly explained. “Seem to me that the Artificers were trying to encourage people to kill each other and steal their stuff.”

“You shouldn’t say something like that in front of one of them!” Abraham warned. “There’s a reason behind that for sure, something that’s not of our concern. Personal inventory space items are not simple things. Whatever, you get the hang of it now. Stealing stuff from the bandit leader’s inventory space is impossible unless you somehow manage to knock him out and take him to an Artificer, which is even more absurd. Your best choice now is to sneak us out and bring us back to Oxdale to inform the adventure guild and local authority.”

Jack contemplated the whole thing. Seeing this made Abraham even more confused.

“Don’t tell me you are going to attack him?” Abraham said.

Multiple sets of judgemental eyes followed his question. Jack’s insanity seemed to reach a new level, breaking all limits.

“Worth the try,” Jack answered. “But don’t worry, father. I will prioritize getting you out of here first.”

A few whispers could be heard. They wondered whether a newly awakened child could even be able to step out of this cell, left alone charging at the bandits.

Jack moved next to the iron bars, his hands touching them. He gathered all his strength, but the cold metal barely budged.

He took a step back and commanded the system to add two points to his Strength.

You have used 2 stat points.

Your Strength Attribute increased from 4 to 10.

Your remaining stat points: 7.

Your remaining skill points: 7.

Another flow of energy ran through Jack’s body. The improvement came with a sharp pain as his muscles grew visibly larger, but they quickly shrank in, fitting his small stature.

Each stat point had given him three attribute points. For a moment, he thought that was rather too generous of the system, but he quickly shifted his mind back to the situation.

Jack tried again, and this time, the bars bent under his newfound strength. He pushed them, creating a gap big enough for a grown man to move through.

The mercenaries were in shock before Jack’s transformation and moved toward the gap but were stopped by Abraham.

“Don’t go seek your own death! We wait for Jack.”

Jack nodded at his father and used Presence of the Night to blend into the shadow of the dungeon. Time was of the essence, and Jack didn’t want this nightmare to last any longer.

Before stepping on the stairs, he learned two other skills.

Shadow Eyes (Herald, Passive, Physical Damage, Supportive Skill – Presence of The Night)

Level: 1 (Requirement for next level: Agility >= 6; Spirit >=9)

Mana cost: None.

Cooldown: 0s.

Effects:

Become effective during Presence of The Night.

Grant clearer vision in the dark.

Grant the ability to detect weak points of the enemies. 

+15% Accuracy (+17% in the next level).

+10% Critical Hit Chance (12% in the next level).

*Decrease the possibility of detecting weak points when the target is of a higher level or rank.

 

Shadow Dance (Herald, Active, Single Target – Self)

Level: 1 (Requirement for next level: Agility >= 9)

Mana cost: Low mana per use.

Duration: 3s (4s in the next level).

Cooldown: 15s.

Effects:

Cover yourself in dark smoke and dash around with tremendous granted speed.

+100% speed.

 

Your remaining stat points: 7.

Your remaining skill points: 5.