The sparring ended in Arthur's loss, but it was only to be expected. However, he got to witness firsthand how much strength he could summon. With this, his goal has been fulfilled. Li ran to his side as soon as it was over to take care of him, but the caring attitude he had assumed made Arthur apprehensive.
His Release rune didn't evolve, but the backlash he got from it was a lot less. Unless he went to the bitter end, most of it would be some damage to his mana paths. With his newfound stamina, he didn't need to rest for extended periods every time he needed it.
Arthur left Li and returned to his room. He wanted to check his legacy so that he would have an accurate estimate of how much he 'at least' grew.
Sitting inside his giant room, Arthur never felt like home as he did now. He opened his legacy for the first time after he had broken through with a cool head.
[Scholar Guardian's Legacy]
[Level: 25 (94%)]
[Legacy Points: 13]
[Stats Points: 6]
[Strength: 150]
[Agility: 150]
[Stamina: 150]
[Perception: 150]
[Mana: 200/200]
[Abilities: Beginner Runes Wordsmith (50%), Useable Runes: 19]
[Skills: Lesser-Mana Breathing Skill (F), Poison Strike (F), Camouflage (F), Earth Manipulation (E), Bladeless Wind Slash (E), Shadow Swap (E), Monster Claws (D), Iron Skin (D), Goblin's Bond (Unique)]
[Arts: The Art of Creation – Part One]
His stats have risen from their previous limit to 150, greatly boosting Arthur's body. The higher they were, the more difference they made. With a 50-points head start, Arthur wasn't that different from the average rei-ranker.
As for his mana, it has seen the most growth in all of them. With this, he could use his runes easier than before and have greater mana to wield. Despite his earlier fight, he was already recovering.
If it was in the past, Arthur would have no way of pushing Li back. This could show how much he had grown after his breakthrough. Nonetheless, he planned on resuming his leveling up efforts.
After his stats, he opened his runes-tree. It shone brighter than before as it stood in front of him, carrying endless possibilities. Arthur saw how every rune with the suffix I or II had evolved.
First came the three amplification runes of Strength, Agility, and Stamina. Previously, he could boost himself by 10 points by using this rune but now it had increased to 20 points in each.
Then came his Protection-II rune who created a barrier that was equal to his strength before. This time, it created a barrier that was 120% of his strength for the equivalent of 8% of his strength stat in mana point.
This means he could create a barrier deflecting 180 points of strength for 12 mana units. These numbers made Arthur's jaws drop. The Protection-III was truly powerful on its own. If he created proper armor from this…
Then came his Detection-II rune. It became Detection-III and it now showed him the general outline of the scenery as well as the creature's lifeforce.
As for his new Force-III, it now applied force in a three meters radius on a specific target. This radius wasn't for the limit of use, but the limit of effect. For example, if Arthur could create a one-meter circular path through water using his Force rune, it now became two-meters. Furthermore, the rune now had a specific number for how much force is applied.
[Force-III: Applies a strength equaling the mana points invested in a two-meters radius on a specific target.]
'So, if I use 100 points of mana, I could create something similar to the trial of the holy crown's willpower test.' Arthur thought to himself as he thought about how this could be used.
Then, he examined his Heal-III rune. The Heal-II was able to counter certain poisons as long as Arthur had them. As for the Heal-III rune, it used mana to heal the body to its epitome possible state.
Previously, his heal rune doubled the natural healing of the body and fought certain foreign materials if ingested. Now, it used mana to 'heal' the living tissue to its epitome state.
His Restore-II rune now had a cooldown of 18 hours instead of 24. As for his Compress-II, Arthur could now make the metal compressed for up to 10 minutes. He didn't know how useful this was, but it was better than nothing.
Vegetation-II still accelerated the growth of mana, but at a much lower cost. Previously, it was for 'great' costs of mana. Arthur had seen such enhancement runes for plants in their clubroom, but he never got to make use of it.
He had previously thought he could have his goblins create a farm, but he never knew what to plant exactly. That's why he had another idea in mind. That was to use this rune on water and sell it to farms.
If he could also get his hand on rare seeds, he could try to accelerate their growth to sell them as well. However, these plans would have to wait until later.
Telekinesis-I had its radius of use increased to 15 meters. His most used rune in fights as of late, Weaken, now lowered the stats of the target by 15. As for Reinforce-I, it now increased the sturdiness by 15 instead of 10 percent.
Dispel-II now clears the mind of complex illusions and their barriers. Eavesdrop-II had a 5-kilometers range now. As for the last one, Teleport, it now had a 3-kilometers range.
The last one was Arthur's favorite. This means he could travel thrice as fast as before. He always wasted so much time because he had to use it repeatedly, but this could make things easier.
The reason he had always used Teleport is that he felt it was less likely to be identified and monitored. Furthermore, it was a lot more exciting to witness the change in the scenery first hand.
Before Arthur closed his runes-tree, he inspected it closely. As he had thought, the runes he had just gained were brighter than they should. This could probably mean the progress he made with their previous versions hasn't been lost.
Each time Arthur used a rune, he would feel his understanding of the rune would increase. That's why he hoped to evolve some of them through repeated use, but never got the time for it.
Now that he had evolved, sleep was an option unless it was necessary. He would spend his time practicing his art to gain better control of mana and try to evolve his runes.
After he was well-rested, he decided to head back to Kera. He had an upcoming competition to prepare for and he also wanted to fight against the undead in Mountain Range Rovero. There was also the matter of Amelia that he had left pending until now.
He felt conflicted regarding her, but he knew she wasn't a bad person. If he could help her breakthrough and make her his ally, he didn't care if she was snobby or self-centered. He needed to gather allies around him.
He left his room, dressed in his armor, before heading toward the lower layers. Estimating them roughly, Arthur saw that the second layer could fit his goblins. However, there was also the matter of Mistletoe and how he would explain it for them. Nonetheless, it was a good plan to move them here close to him.
'Maybe I should move the fortress to Kera…' Arthur thought as he looked at the runes lined the walls. 'However, that would be difficult with the Union so close by.'
He had only managed to flee because the union was preoccupied with the war. This time, he was sure they would spot him if he moved the fortress. After all, the illusion runes only worked when it was stationary.
Arthur went to the training hall that had fixed itself overnight and found Li, training. Before the man could bow down, Arthur hurried to ask him not to.
"Treat me like before. The other members would be suspicious." Li paused at his words and nodded. "And I'm leaving. You can leave if you want to, the fortress wouldn't open to anyone but me."
"I'll be coming with you."
"No."
"My Lord."
"Bye." Arthur teleported away. He knew that Li already knew about his ability, so he didn't hold himself back and ran away.
The journey back to Kera was a lot shorter this time. Even though he still had to rest when his mana was near-empty, it happened less than before. He headed directly toward the goblin's village instead of going back home.
His brother and mother were at Master Ronin's villa to avoid reporters and anyone that could make it inconvenient to them, so Arthur had no worries.
As he appeared inside his goblin's village, his followers all paused what they did and kneeled. Arthur had no mind to stop them as he got tired of it.
"Make a line and bring in all of the cores we have gathered."
Arthur then proceeded to strengthen them all. He wanted to make them evolve as fast they could so they could be of use to him. Mero was the happiest of receiving the Protection-III ability.
The level of Protection-I was so low that it could only be a skill if created permanently. It seems this rune was too advanced for Arthur to create its reality-gate that easily. That's why it was only now that he could gift this ability.
Leaving his goblins do their bidding, Arthur teleported deeper into the mountain range. He returned to the place he stopped at to get that 6% of experience he needed to level up. This time, he was different.
"It's time for mindless hunting."
