The first thing on December 5th Morning, Lily and Natalia ate the items that increased their stats and processed them.
Almond also gave his fruit set to Lily, but it wouldn’t work on her since she had already eaten the same rank of fruit set. As such, it went to Natalia, who benefitted from a big boost in stats, gaining a total of 133 stat points by eating six fruits and two pills.
[Natalia Lorzach]
-Adventurer rank: Silver.
-Level: 10
-Class: Mirage Witch (B).
-Sp.Class: Chaosbound Serenador (SS).
-Vitality: [100%/100%].
-Mana: [1300/1300].
-Stats:
-Physical:
↳[Strength: 49 | Health: 45 | Stamina: 41]
-Mental
↳[Mana: 68 (+68) | Focus: 42 | Perception: 41]
“The status is looking good now with better numbers,” Almond smiled.
He turned to Lily and said, “You both are close in stats now.”
[Lily]
-Adventurer rank: Silver.
-Level: 10
-Class: Phantom Thief (S)
-Sp.Class: Dreadspire Warlock (SSS)
-[Vitality: 100%]
-[Mana: 650/650]
-Stats:
↳[Strength: 65 | Health: 40 | Stamina: 39]
↳[Mana: 69 | Focus: 40 | Perception: 43]
“Let’s finish eating and watching Julian’s match now. I want to train after that,” Natalia said as she went to the kitchen to bring the food.
Almond and Lily went to sit at the table and turned on the TV. Your journey continues on empire
The matches had just begun, and the second battle was ongoing.
The trio soon finished eating and watched as Julian made his way into the top 50.
Julian was training the whole day yesterday, improving his combat style and modifying it based on the massive improvement he had.
He had gotten insight into using his heavy sword in a new way thanks to Almond and, even more so, synergizing it better with his evolved class.
Julian’s overall combat power improved drastically.
The trio stopped watching after Julian lost. They didn’t watch his ranking battles and began training.
Meanwhile, Julian’s journey ended in the top 50 as he achieved 44th rank after fighting his ranking battles.
But Julian did beat that arrogant Doman who used to win against him in the GAA training field.
As for the final result, the top 10 were the prodigious ones who were in their early twenties and awakened in the last three years.
Up until one year and eight months ago, the strongest powerhouse was at the peak of the Gold rank. The front liners had just defeated Floor 8’s boss and unlocked the 9th floor, opening doors to the Platinum-rank advancement. Naturally, this increased the number of Platinum-rank drastically, and they were still increasing as Gold-rank Adventurers were increasing in numbers as the door to Gold-rank had been opened 5 years ago.
By now, the number of Platinum-rank Adventurers had reached around five hundred thousand, even if not all of them were focused in combat.
As such, the current highest number of Gold-rank were young adults in their twenties and more talented on average due to the world shifting its focus on combat, opening dojos and academies to prepare a new generation for the Labyrinth and the age of Adventurers.
…
The following days passed by in peace and anticipation.
The Rising Star Tournament was completely finished on the 10th of December, creating a new ranking for the Silver, Gold, and Platinum rank Adventurers under certain age limits: 25 for Silver, 30 for Gold, and 30 for Platinum.
Of course, the Global Adventurer Leaderboard was still separate as it offered no rewards and only fame, while the Rising Star Leaderboard was to support a new generation of Adventurers.
The age limit was wider this time, but the next tournament 3 months later would have a narrower age limit, with 30 for Platinum, 25 for Gold, and 20 for Silver because there were already many young Adventurers who awakened in the past two years reaching Platinum rank, especially the talented with high-rank classes.
And a new wave of the more prodigious batch was rapidly in development, led by none other than Almond.
He didn’t pay much attention to the tournament after the 5th day, in fact, almost no one on the silver leaderboard of Rising Stars did.
Almond, Lily, and Natalia only trained, improving various aspects of their combat style and arsenal.
Marcus and Maya joined them on 6th December and continued training with them daily.
Kira had also been in touch since the tournament, as everyone had exchanged contact. She wanted to join them, but her family strictly prohibited her from doing that for a special training of her own.
Julian had disappeared on the 7th as he had gotten Rudra’s favor in light of his budding talent and the burning resolve he showed to get strong. He was sent to the Duncan Family Estate.
But he didn’t know it was Almond’s idea the first time. Julian could benefit a lot more and gain more knowledge on the sword if he trained at Duncans, who had a heritage and proper knowledge of the sword.
Almond knew he was good at the sword and maybe a god at the sword if he was bold, but it wasn’t something he could teach to others. The way he improved wasn’t systematic or step-by-step. He was on a journey to explore his sword constantly, and he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. As such, while in this state, he couldn’t afford to teach others to improve them beneficially.
But his presence in practice and a few critical words made with his observation still guided those around him as everyone trained daily.
Almond had put his entire focus on improving his Mana techniques first. He wanted to reach stage 2 in all techniques because he could, given his crazy high stats.
It was a clear untapped potential that he could tap fast and gain a big boost in power.
Lily, Natalia, Maya, and Marcus also sparred against Spirit Wraiths, who had higher stats and more skills.
In group battles of 4 vs 4, the four of them lost more than they won, but both sides were getting better and better each day.
On the 10th of December, Almond finally reached the second stage in Strength Boost, Fortification, Focus Field, and Aura Enfold, which almost made him twice as strong in a sense and more in an overall sense.
Although this made everyone’s jaw drop, including Rudra’s, Almond knew it was given. His Mana control was high naturally as if he was very attuned to it, and this was even more prevalent with his 200 points in Perception and Focus.
The boost these stage 2 of Mana techniques provided could make someone significantly powerful, but that significance was more significant for Almond than it was for average adventurers.