After leaving the dungeon, Almond, Nikki, and Anton returned to the GAA branch in Thunderbird City and then promptly departed in the private jet of GAA, returning to Firefly City in half an hour.
On the way to his beautiful and aesthetic courtyard, Almond stopped by a fancy restaurant to eat and made a task list of things he wanted to accomplish before the Rising Star Tournament started.
1—Master the Lightning Dragon skill set.
2—Come up with a good name and disposition for his 9th spirit wraith that was long ready to be summoned.
3—Combine 1st Floor Boss spirit with 19 Dungeon bosses’ spirits.
4—Unlock the Guaranteed Super-rank forge option.
The restaurant was a tree-house type, and he had a corner table with nice wind and weather, so he chilled there while thinking about some things and also talked to Admiral Rudra about everything that happened in the dungeon since he happened to pick up his call this time.
He called him on the way to Firefly City, but some kind of signal problem appeared instead, indicating that he was in a dungeon or some other area that blocked signals.
It was 7 p.m. in the evening when Almond finally returned to his courtyard as he spent a few hours at the restaurant eating slowly and making plans.
He let out all of his summons to chill and relax in the courtyard, giving them freedom with some rules like not breaking things.
He also took out Spirit Items that he forged. He got more rare-grade items this time because the monsters were high-level gold-rank ones. Alfred knew how to use the website and submit the items, so Almond put him on that work to let Silverbird Services know that he had a new batch of items for sale.
‘Since I am still freshly filled with lightning, I should at least try to finish creating the skill runes of Lightning Dragon skills today,’ Almond nodded to himself. ‘But before that, I need to bathe.’
Almond took a shower and wore a comfy white robe before he arrived outside and started training to learn the Lightning Dragon skills.
According to the book, he had gained Lightning Elemental Mastery and even reached S-rank, so he would be able to follow the steps and learn both skills rather quickly.
-Skill 1: Lightning Tailwhip (S)
—Effect: Conjures a lightning dragon tail anywhere within 10 meters of the user to deal devastating lightning-attribute damage. Causes shock and paralysis.
-Skill 2: Voltron Edge (S)
—Effect: Infuses a melee-type weapon with crackling lightning energy, increasing the weapon’s damage significantly and granting lightning-attribute to all attacks released through the weapon.
Almond planned to modify these skills a bit in his way since he had knowledge of skill rune structure by now and also Lightning element’s variant to play with!
…
Meanwhile, there was an emergency meeting being held in the Thunderbird guild.
Only the guild’s leader, vice-leader, and executives attended the meeting.
They watched Almond’s recording through Romez’s lenses—from when Zoren and the other two arrived on the giant’s tree middle-field and tried to provoke Almond. It didn’t show them everything that happened in a clear sense since the camera was on Romez’s center, but it was a great shock to them to see Romez and Thamus losing in 2v1 and Almond beating up Zoren while playing with them.
“Is he another freak of a super rookie like Lin Yuan?” Thunderbird leader Kalen frowned. He had blue spiky hair and was a handsome-looking man in his thirties, though it was ruined by his current frustrated expression. He also wanted a super rookie in his guild, but nobody had an S-rank class, while those known to possess one were snatched by top guilds.
“Lin Yuan is no longer a silver-rank Super rookie as he ascended to gold-rank this month. But this kid’s way of fighting indeed reminds me of Lin Yuan,” an executive woman with rose hair said.
“But Lin Yuan’s primary class is Martialist Ironfang, S-rank. This kid, on the other hand, has a summon-type class—presumably S-rank. I don’t think he’s got a good hand with that, to be honest. He has talent in fighting, so if he got a fighter-type class, that would’ve made him way stronger,” said the bulky, short-haired Executive.
*Thap!!*
A man looking in his forties suddenly slammed his hand on the table, causing everyone to look at him as he took a sharp breath and said, “Can we move onto the main topic now? My son has gone insane! He is totally different now because of this bastard! Skip to the last part!”
“Relax, vice-leader,” Thunderbird leader Kalen said as his expression turned slightly flat. “Let’s continue watching. We’ll reach the end soon.”
They soon reached the end of the video and saw how Almond threatened Zoren, who then screamed and fainted.
“Vice-leader Zolen, are you saying that this kid’s threat worked on Zoren?” Executive Leila raised her eyebrows.
Zolen’s teeth ground hard as he slowly nodded, anger erupting within him, “Zoren is completely different now. He behaves scared all the time and doesn’t even look at anyone in the eyes! Kalen, I want you to send this video footage to Earth Union and bring that bastard on trial!”
“That’s not a good idea,” Thunderbird leader Kalen frowned. “We have much more to lose if we do that. I’m sorry, but I won’t let you do that. Your son isn’t exactly a saint, and we all know that. His mistake was getting over his head because of you.”
“I agree with leader Kalen. That kid, Almond, was it? He has the backing of Admiral Rudra. If that old man comes here and decides to get all just and fair, our guild will suffer.”
Zolen slapped the table again, his voice hoarse, “Am I supposed to just take this and move on?! Am I supposed to watch my son rot like that from now on?! What if your children or someone you love is in his place?!”
“Look, vice-leader Zolen,” Kalen calmly said. “You’ve contributed to the guild, and the guild has also helped you. But this is a guild, not your house, which your son has been thinking it was your house. If you want to take action and involve Earth Union to bring Almond on trial, then do so, but do not involve Thunderbird Guild.”
Silence ensued as the Executives realized what Kalen meant.
Zolen looked at Kalen, his eyes trembling and anger bubbling within them.
“If you win,” Kalen continued as he sighed. “If you come out of this victorious, you’ll get your position back, but if not…well, you should know what will happen to you if you lose in the official trial. Admiral Rudra will have his eyes on you.”
Zolen didn’t say anything and stood up before leaving the meeting room.
…
Where the dark waters rule over the land and black winds whisper to each other,
“Rudra was sniffing around in our area at Flogeron City.”
“That bastard might find out our identities if he sniffs too much.”
“What did the Emissory of Hollowstar say regarding the next move?”
“The 5th day of the next month, right when the Rising Star Tournament has proceeded halfway. That’s the biggest spectacle since all adventurers will be watching and many participating in them. That is when we strike.”
“Who is going in then? I heard that entering the Labyrinth forcefully while it is closed will result in death.”
“What do people of our world know? We’ve never entered because we couldn’t, but Hollowstar Emissory knows. We will be able to enter using Void-breach stone. Putting it over a Labyrinth gate would forcefully keep it open for 2 days.”
“So we only have 2 days to prepare everything and trigger the Floor Boss? If so, most of us will have to enter together.”
“That’s right. I am not entering unless at least 20 of us enter.”
“Not twenty, but everyone. Every single platinum-rank adventurer affiliated with us will enter for this goal.”
“But what will be the result after this goal is accomplished? Did Emissory of Hollowstar say anything, Darius?”
“Just know that if we want to rule the world, then many people need to die. Let the hiding old monsters and top guilds sacrifice themselves to defeat the Floor Boss. Whether they succeed or not, we will be set.”
“And I hope nobody suddenly gets any funny ideas. All of us have received powers and benefits from the Hollowstar Emissory, so prevent any foolish ideas from popping into your head, or there won’t be any head left on your shoulders.”
…
Almond first learned the skill execution by following the steps in the book–how to control Mana and how to control lightning’s attributes in a way such that it would bring out the intended skill’s design and effects. Afterward, he moved to forming skill runes, in which he fiddled with them a bit.
By the time he was done with skill runes, it was midnight.
Almond was exhausted then because it was a long day. His mind needed rest, especially after the stunt pulled in the Labyrinth. When he hit the bed, his consciousness drifted into a deep sleep in mere seconds.
When he opened his eyes, it was ten in the morning. Feeling fully refreshed and raring to move his body, Almond went outside after washing his face and started some heavy and intense physical training while listening to the news via his wristwatch.
Julian and Roken arrived half an hour later as Almond had called them right after waking up.
Once they arrived, he also told them to join in the training.
“We aren’t doing normal training here. Use your Mana to make your body heavy, and then train. Once we are done, I’ll give you some important swordplay points, Julian. As for you,” Almond looked at Roken and grinned. “I’ll have you train in your side-class mastery.”
“With pleasure, young master Almond,” Roken broadly smiled.
***
The following text isn’t counted towards the chapter price because I published the chapter first and then added the text (as the price doesn’t change once the chapter is published). Please read below regarding the book’s first event 🙂
—[Event: 9th Spirit Wraith]—
-Basically, Almond has yet to decide the name, disposition, and personality of the 9th Spirit Wraith, as it is a sentient, humanoid one. Below are the “attributes” of the 9th Spirit Wraith, so I will allow one reader to give their desired suggestion regarding the disposition, personality, and name of this spirit wraith (and one skill also if they want to)
-This one reader will be the one who has the highest contribution among fans—current no.1 is Joseph_Akiyama. This event will last until the end of 22nd November. Whoever has the highest contribution by then will win.]
—[9th Spirit Wraith’s attributes]: Mainly Ice and Light as all boss monsters and smaller monsters in the creation of this Spirit Wraith were from the area that had Ice and light-attributed monsters.