[Reward Calculated] [Random Reward] Skill Book
[20 Percent Bonus Experience]
In Karl’s experience, those bonus experience rewards were the ones that made huge and unexpected changes to a person’s power level, as they appeared to be retroactive for some time, and didn’t just increase the bonus that you got for the trial.
Either that, or trials gave a massive influx of power to start with.
Karl checked his inventory for the Skill Book, which was sitting on top of a pile of supplies left over from the Elves on the other continent.
That seemed to be a prophetic placement, or perhaps it was a reminder of areas in which Karl was still lacking.
He had incredible defence for someone of his level, and his attacking skills were both powerful and well-rounded for use on nearly any target. Combat was not an area where he was lacking.
He even had [Silent Movement] for stealth operations. Plus, strength and stamina for long runs. So, the system had given him something that he hadn’t really focused on during his development.
Noncombat skills.
[Epic Grade Skill] Runecrafting
[Runecrafting] The fine art of inscribing magical power runes to supplement the abilities of a magical object.
Karl thought about that for a moment. He didn’t have any crafting skills, and he wasn’t sure that it would actually help to add runes to Remi’s potions. However, he knew someone with a skill that would go very well with Runecrafting. Morgana’s enhancement tattoos combined with Runecrafting would make for incredibly powerful buffs to the target.
Once they made it back home, he would have to find a way to get time to study her skills. Or even a library book that had more details about magical tattoos.
Karl used the book and an entire language began to flow into his mind, complete with syntax rules.
The language was far more complex than the common spoken and written languages, with over six thousand base runes which were compounded to make a form of single word sentence.
Then they were strung together in one of eight different ways to create a complex concept with an activation order for the magical effect you were trying to create.
Even with the skill book teaching him how it worked, Karl wasn’t certain that he could completely comprehend the skill.
While Karl was busy deciphering an entire new language, everyone around him was seeing their status change and in most cases, they were advancing. While Karl had left the Royal Rank behind him, with both Thor and Hawk advanced to the Monarch Rank alongside him, all of the ladies had reached the Royal Rank.
[How does this work? The boys all advanced, and we’re left behind.] Cara complained.
[You’ve got a Monarch Rank skill, though.] Remi reminded her.
[Still not caught up to them. I need to work harder. Once I’m a Monarch with an Overlord Rank skill, I can taste test all the dragons.]
Remi carefully considered the outcome of that.
[Yes. I think that should work. If it’s Disintegration that advances again, you can run away in a safety bubble.]
Hawk was rapidly expanding as he advanced again and took his place among the Monarchs of the Beast Kingdom. With a thirty-metre wingspan, the Ghostfire Thunderbird was as large as most adult dragons, and his innate abilities were far beyond what most beasts could claim.
His fire most likely challenged dragon fire for pure power, but the dragons wouldn’t take it well if Karl suggested that to them directly. They were proud creatures, and enjoyed the thought that they were better than other species.
As he finished his advancement, Karl realized that they had visitors. The portal was already closed, so he must have been distracted for a while, but Rae wasn’t concerned, and she wouldn’t miss a chance to tease Hawk about missing danger.
Karl turned to the new arrival and saw an unfamiliar Overlord, along with Colonel Valerie of the Bureau of Elite Development.
“Colonel Valerie, excellent timing. I have things to inform you about.” Karl greeted her, then turned to the other person.
“Overlord.”
“Monarch. Sorry, I don’t know who you are either? How does that even happen? Are there so many Overlords and Monarchs now that it’s even possible that we don’t know each other?” The man replied.
Karl checked him with the System interface and saw that he was a ranger, but his System wasn’t fully active, and it wasn’t giving Karl his name.
Then, he just had to go through the Overlords he knew about. But none of the Ranger types looked anything like this man. He must be one of the hidden assets of the nation, not one of the public facing idol type powerhouses.
“I am Karl, from last year’s intake at the Golden Divine Academy.” The Overlord nodded. “I am Joram, mostly stationed along the Mountain Giant border. The Colonel was visiting my station when we got the message that your group had been found.”
Karl nodded. “Did we forget to tell anyone where we were going? Sorry for the trouble.”
The Overlord chuckled. “You have all been missing for months. I don’t know what you’ve been up to, but it is possible that there is a time flow difference within this trial. I can sense it below us, but for some reason I can’t access it.”
Karl nodded. “You have to walk up all the steps. But none of us suspected that so much time had passed. I had thought it had only been a few days.”
Colonel Valerie looked him up and down, inspecting Karl’s enhanced physique against her memory of him as a new student. “Well, on the bright side, you missed winter. Most of it, anyhow. The end of semester exams at the Academy are coming up soon, and then spring break starts next month.” She explained.
Karl winked at Dana. “Should we request a ride back? We can see if my balcony survived, and maybe take the exams to graduate formally.”
Overlord Joram laughed. “What exam? The teachers are all Commanders, remember? A Royal Rank Mage would destroy the testing equipment, and it wouldn’t hold up any better to whatever you’ve done to yourself.” freeweɓnvel.com
Karl shrugged. “Skill based physical enhancement. The System calls it Iron Within Rank Three. But that isn’t a primary enhancement. It’s something that developed because I was accidentally injuring myself with physical skills.”