Admiral Rudra could see what Almond was thinking.
‘You are smart enough to choose wisely, Almond. Your senses have given you enough information to form a solid intuition regarding me,’ Rudra’s eyes were smiling.
“I have a suggestion regarding Draven,” Almond said, his eyes firm. “You can also call it an experiment.”
“Oh?” Admiral Rudra raised his eyebrows before he nodded, “I’m ears.”
“You must have felt the power that struck Draven, right? The way I cut off his cautiousness by half.”
“I did feel something, but it was subtle enough that only a few would be able to sense that,” Admiral Rudra nodded. “It should be a fairly advanced power. I assume it should be from an SSS-rank class or higher.”
Almond was surprised, “You know about the class rank above SSS rank?”
“I am certain it exists, though I don’t know the name of the rank,” Admiral Rudra smiled. “I myself have upgraded my primary class to SSS-rank just recently.”
‘Damn!’
“So, what’s your suggestion?” Admiral Rudra asked.
“I want to use my skill on Draven,” Almond said, his expression serious. “I want to use him as an experiment subject. I can study my skills because my Perception and Focus are high enough. I want to see if I can cut off more things from him to make him an obedient dog of GAA.”
“After all, it would be better to use someone like him instead of killing him or imprison him. Using him for a good cause is better, in my opinion.”
Admiral Rudra was mildly surprised, “I don’t necessarily disagree with you on that. But we have annoying people in Earth Union who take issues with human rights and other bull shit even though people like Draven treat other people like animals. It won’t be about Draven, but just to make issues for GAA.”
“However,” Admiral Rudra’s eyes glinted coldly. “We can still proceed with that plan. I will pass the verdict of imprisoning Draven and have Earth Union approve. As for whatever happens to him here, we have to keep a tight lid on it.”
Almond’s eyes sparkled, and he nodded. “Sounds good. Thank you.”
He wanted to explore the power of his Legendary class and experiment on someone. However, he couldn’t do that just on anyone, so it would be better if he did that on a piece of trash like Draven.
“Then I suppose you will join GAA?” Admiral Rudra smiled.
“Yes, but I have some more desires to express,” Almond grinned. ‘Joining GAA will be better if I want to form my trustworthy group, especially now that I have Riftveil Eyes which can allow me to see a person’s everything, quite literally.’
“Shoot.”
“I would like to be appointed at Firefly City’s GAA branch.”
“Allowed,” Admiral Rudra nodded. “Next?”
“I want absolute secrecy regarding my classes and their powers,” Almond soberly said. “I can trust you, but not others.”
“That’s a must. I won’t let your information get spread anywhere,” Admiral Rudra nodded, a flicker of worry in his eyes. “There are some hidden forces. Something in the dark. This is why we can’t divulge some important information to the public.”
Almond blinked in surprise and asked, “What is that?”
“I have no idea. But I felt their presence during the 9th Floor’s Floor Boss battle,” Admiral Rudra’s eyes were intense. “I don’t doubt my intuition after I saw the unnatural death of a promising Adventurer.”
“We can discuss this when I find more information. Anything else you want?”
“Nope. This is all for now because I feel like you’ll take care of other things for me on your own,” Almond chuckled.
“Well, I am certainly not hiding my willingness to nurture you,” Admiral Rudra smiled. “You are a gem that I want to unearth, but I won’t interfere in your life too much. Someone like you needs to grow in your own way so your potential can properly bloom.”
As he finished speaking, his eyes suddenly flickered with Mana as a precise string shaped of mana released from his fingers and went inside the floor.
A second later, a five-meter crystal cube of deep blue color emerged from the floor.
“Then let’s start your evaluation. Show me your status first.”
Almond nodded.
[Almond]
-Adventurer rank: Silver.
-Level: 10 [99%]
-Class: Spirit Dealer (SS)
-Specialized Class: Riftveil Grimblade (L)
-[Vitality: 100%]
-[Mana: 2250/2250]
-Stats: 10 unassigned points
—Physical:
↳[Strength: 88 | Health: 84 | Stamina: 83]
—Mental:
↳[Mana: 90 (+135) | Focus: 89 (+89) | Perception: 91 (+91) ]
—Will: 100.
“Huh?” Admiral Rudra blinked not once but twice as he looked at the status screen. He knew Almond had higher than usual stats. It was clear from his aura, but what the hell…
“You are close to reaching the limit on Silver-rank, what’s going on?” Admiral Rudra asked, dumbfounded. “It appears that the rank after SSS is L…as in Legendary? interesting.”
“Limit? There’s a limit on stats in each rank?” Almond was also dumbfounded hearing that.
“Bonus stats stemming from class perks and items do not count towards this limit, but yeah, there is a limit,” Admiral Rudra nodded. “Bronze-rank can have 50 foundational points in all stats. Silver-rank can have 100, Gold-rank can have 200, Platinum-rank can have 400.”
“But of course, it’s impossible to maximize these limits,” Admiral Rudra narrowed his eyes as he added with a faint smile, “Though you might be an exception.”
“I see,” Almond mumbled. “I better save the unassigned stat points then.”
‘Since I can gain stats from monsters of each rank as I level and rank up, it’s better to save stat points gained from leveling.’
“So, what’s the secret? I assume it’s related to your primary class,” Admiral Rudra asked.
“Yeah, it is related to my primary class,” Almond smiled and revealed it. “Basically, I can gain stat points after killing monsters, but not from all monsters.”
He explained the working of the skill briefly.
“I see. That’s powerful, alright. Other high-ranking classes might have buffing skills that elevate their powers, but your class directly gives you a foundational boost. Anyway, now that I’ve seen your stats, it’s time to see your mastery of Physical Enchantment,” Admiral Rudra pointed at the cube to their left.
“Punch it with your full power.”
“Alright.”
Almond faced the crystal cube and took a deep breath before putting up a punching stance.
Mana infused into his chakra points as he aligned his body to a perfect condition to exert all of his power for a single punch and…boom.
*Smash!*
The cube glowed as it absorbed the power, measuring it in numerical value that was soon displayed inside the crystal cube.
The number displayed was 226.
“Do you know what this number means?” Admiral Rudra had a wry smile hanging on his face as he asked. Find more to read at мѵʟ
“No idea,” Almond shook his head.
“Let me tell you how the power works first. Your Strength is 88. Using mana for Physical Enchantment can, at most, double your strength, making it 176. But you can still generate more power, and this power is based on how you execute your punch. You made it reach 226 with your execution. Not bad.”
Admiral Rudra smiled as he added, “In short, this punch of yours was equivalent to a punch with 226 stat points in Strength.”
Almond rubbed his nose with a hint of smugness as he smiled. Curious about Admiral Rudra’s power, he asked, “I am curious, how high is your punch power?”