[Congratulations, you have acquired the passive skill—Whispering Knowledge.]
[This Advanced Skill Scroll containing Whispering Knowledge is bound to you. No one else but you can open, see, and access its content.]
[To unbind, let the scroll absorb a drop of your blood.]
Almond looked at the scroll, but he couldn’t find out the effect of the skill. Infusing the Mana, Almond’s mind arrived in a mysterious place.
He was on top of a serene mountain peak, a pond nearby with a patch of verdant greenery to its left, and a hard ground to its right.
[Do you wish to start the Training Session for the skill—Whispering Knowledge? Note that once you begin, you will not be able to leave for 24 hours. The tailored training will only happen once and not again.]
‘No,’ Almond rejected right away.
He didn’t want to start it right now since the training’s result determined the initial ranking of this Passive skill.
But this place was indeed good. Almond’s mind was feeling refreshed. He decided to stick around for a while before he finally left.
‘Advanced Skill Scroll. What a good item,’ Almond smiled. ‘It gives growth-type skills that are learnable in a unique way. I’ll learn this after getting out of the Labyrinth.’
He put away the scroll into his storage ring and took out the last reward chest.
Party ranking chest!
‘We took the first rank on the leaderboard, so this should give some good rewards,’ Almond rubbed his hand in anticipation and opened the chest.
He believed it wouldn’t change the content of the chest no matter who opened it, so he didn’t bother inviting others for Dice rolling.
The moment he opened the chest by pressing the button, it gave out the same type of notification as it did when the last party chest was opened.
[Congratulations. All party members are given an Advanced Skill Scroll each.]
‘The fuck?’ Almond was dumbfounded. But then he felt that it was well deserved. After all, they placed Rank 1 in the leaderboard!
Lily, Natalia, Maya, and Marcus also got the notification as they were startled outside.
A few seconds later, they entered the Magic Tent one by one and gathered with excitement as they read the scroll’s effects on the way.
Although everyone opened the scrolls, they couldn’t learn the skills right away, so Almond kept their scrolls in his storage ring.
The storage pouch might get lost since it just hung at the waist, but the Storage Ring was on his finger and wouldn’t get lost easily.
“By the way, do you all want to eat the X-Factory fruit now or later? Eating one will allow you to add 20 points to any one stat and give you the Potential Codex. In my opinion, it’s not wise to eat the fruit carelessly.”
“Why?” Marcus asked, curious about Almond’s reasoning.
“The main benefit of the fruit is Potential Codex,” Almond smiled. “It can let us achieve a breakthrough in anything, but we can’t control how this Potential Codex is used. You might also use it up on a less important breakthrough.”
“That’s true,” Maya blinked.
Lily nodded and said, “Yeah, then we should save the fruit. We can eat it when we want to break through for an important power-up.”
“Like reaching S-rank mastery in an element!” Natalia grinned. “I’ve decided. I’ll use mine after I reach A-rank Sound Elemental Mastery.”
“Yeah, that’s honestly a good idea,” Marcus grinned. “Alright, we save it for now.”
“Good. Now, putting this aside, let’s distribute the Epic-rank items,” Almond smiled and waved his hand as he displayed the list he had created of Epic-rank items they had gotten so far.
“I’ve sacrificed 10 Epic-rank items, all the ones we got from the Second Floor’s rewards except for the one-time use item and the low-tier Epic-rank Set that Marcus was wearing to unlock the Epic Forge option. The remaining Epic-rank items we have are displayed in the list.”
[Contribution Rewards]
Lily:
— 2 x Epic Item Boxes (From the 3rd Floor)
Natalia:
— 2 x Epic Item Boxes (From the 3rd Floor)
Maya:
— 1 x Epic Item Box (From the 3rd Floor)
Marcus:
— 1 x Epic Item Box (From the 3rd Floor)
[MVP chest]
Second MVP Chest (the 3rd Floor):
—1 x Epic-rank Gear Set (Mid-tier)
[Floor Boss Chest (2nd Floor)]:
— 1 x Epic-rank Equipment Set (Low-tier).
— 1 x Epic-rank One-Time Use Item
[Floor Boss Chest (the 3rd Floor)]:
— 1 x Epic-rank Equipment Set (Mid-tier)
— 2 x Epic-rank One-Time Use Items
“So it’s finally time to open these boxes,” Natalia grinned.
“Yeah, but no need to roll dice for these. Those 3rd Floor Epic Item boxes will give us Mid-tier Epic items anyway, so just open them.”
Everyone opened the boxes, and everything before Almond made a list.
— Moonstrider Greaves (Mid-tier Epic)
— Starblossom Circlet (Mid-tier Epic)
— Verdantwind Cloak (Mid-tier Epic)
— Ironspine Pauldrons (Mid-tier Epic)
— Silken Ember Tunic (Mid-tier Epic)
— Oathbound Gauntlets (Mid-tier Epic)
— Eclipsed Horizon Set (Mid-tier Epic)
— Ashen Earthcaller Set (Low-tier Epic)
— Frostheart Bastion Set (Mid-tier Epic)
— One-time Use: Elixir of Skyborne Reflexes (Mid-tier Epic)
— One-time Use: Crystal of Arcane Storm (Mid-tier Epic)
— One-time Use: Sigil of the Guardian Flame (Low-tier Epic).
“Including my Radiant Grimlord Set, we have a total of four sets,” Almond smiled. “Four people will be fully equipped.”
“Let’s just go out and decide who will get which things based on attributes and stuff,” Lily said.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Almond nodded.
…
Everyone stood around in a circle with the bunch of Epic items neatly placed in the center.
Amir gulped. “What a trove of treasure.”
“You are getting to use these items temporarily only. You can buy them if you want to since I’m planning to sell them anyway.”
“Now,” Almond continued, “Marcus, you’ll continue to use Ashen Earthcaller Set. Only you have Earth elemental mastery among us, so you can utilize this set better. You will use Sigil of Guardian Flame right away. According to that one-time use item’s effect, it can supercharge the user who used it with flame element and also summon a flame guardian for protection for 1 minute. You can work with the guardian for better defenses since you’re the only defender with the backliners.”
“You don’t want to save one-time use items and only use them for emergencies?” Noah raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah, I thought we could use them only when required,” Talia nodded.
“Nope,” Almond shook his head, his golden eyes narrowing to a fierce gleam. “We are not saving anything. I want this raid to be successful and swift. I want to focus on attacking only, and you all need to focus on your roles. I want to finish this boss as soon as possible to get the first rank in the Grimworld leaderboard.”
Lily also sharply smiled as she added, “That’s right. You all better give your all.”
“Of course,” Kira grinned. “So what am I getting?”
“Let’s distribute based on elemental mastery first, starting with-” Almond suddenly paused as he got the notification of the Grimlord Apocalypse Set.
Taking it out, he showed it to everyone, “And here’s the new and best Epic rank set. Grimlord Apocalypse Set. And six more Epic full-body armor pieces are coming soon.”
“A long sword?” Maya raised her eyebrows. “Didn’t you say you were going to make the set for Lily?”
“Of course, it’s mine,” Lily smiled, “But the long sword is better against the Heroic Bosses, so I told him to use the long sword slab. It’s not like I have to get pure technical with the boss, and I can play with long swords just as good as my daggers.”
“Oh…”
“That’s awesome then,” Marcus nodded.
Almond chuckled and said, “I’ve checked the Mid-tier Epic rank Eclipsed Horizon Set and it’s actually perfect for me. It’s not a lightning attribute, but its effects are suitable for my style.”
“Anyway, moving on, let’s distribute the remaining sets first,” Almond continued as he waved his hand and used Mana to pick up the Frostheart Bastion Set. “This set is ice and metal attributed, and we don’t have anyone who has both in person, so Noah will use them since he has a Metal element and he is joining the frontline as an off-tank with Eliara.”
Noah nodded, his expression serious. A brief hesitation flashed before he said, “I’ll make it worth your trust in my abilities.”
“Good,” Almond faintly smiled and turned to the Radiant Grimlord Set. “This set is stronger than other Epic-rank sets aside from the Grimlord Apocalypse set in terms of effects. The only other who uses the sword proficiently is Kira, so you’ll use it.”
“Woah, that’s awesome,” Kira was thrilled and grinned. “Well, I get to use the set you wore before. I wonder if it smells like you.”
“Woah, woah, calm down.” Natalia’s eyebrows shot up as her reaction was the fastest.
“I will because I feel a pair of predator’s eyes on myself,” Kira mischievously snickered as she winked at Lily.
Lily wryly smiled.
Amir, Eliara, Kayla, Jemma, Xavier, and Talia glanced at each other as they exchanged some words with Magic Whisper.
[Amir: You think Kira has hots for Almond?]
[Talia: You bet your ass she does.]
[Kayla: Poor Kira…]
[Jemma: She knows herself, which is why she is not doing anything. But to be honest, I can’t blame her.]
[Eliara: Noah, what do you think?]
[Noah: I think I need a new sword.]
[Amira: Bro dodging a su-]
“Amir, you’ll take this Verdantwind Cloak. You better utilize it well since it has a good wind-attribute passive effect. Make the backliners flying and in the move, every one of them,” Almond said as he handed the cloak to Amir.
Amir read the item and blinked, “So I’m kind of like a driver who buffs and supports, eh? Fine by me. I got some good class skills in store for this role.”
“Kayla, the Silken Ember Tunic is yours. Read the effects and you’ll know.”
“Okie, thank you,” Kayla smiled, her cheeks slightly puffing.
“Hmm, we got a pair of Oathbound Gauntlets, but none of them is a hand-to-hand combatant,” Almond rubbed his chin, but then he got an idea as his eyes shone.