Chapter 117: The Rewards, A Special Skill?
Chapter 117: The Rewards, A Special Skill?
The commotion had already died down as many of the senior members went along to handle their various affairs as they chatted about the Devil's Game. A few of them had sour looks on their faces as if they were the ones who lost, while others showed looks of excitement.
Jack and Bera were about to escort Nero and Ryo from the Blood Steel Arena, each having now returned to normal states after canceling their Digitize Bits.
Soon though, their eyes shifted towards the figure of two persons that were walking towards their direction. In moments, the duo had arrived, causing Jack and Bera to smirk while greeting.
"Miss Yullia, so you were in the base, I didn't think that you were here, I have to say, you sure have an eye for recruitment, haha, these brats made a legend," Jack said with a light laugh as he stared at Yullia.
"Hehe, it was quite fun, though we ended up underestimating them," Bera added with a smile.
Felick gave the duo a look while in thought, 'To think that the famous Wind Cutter Jack and Bewitching Charmer Bera would have been the one to lose the age-old custom, it makes me wonder how these brats would have fared against regular members.'
While Felick thought to himself, Yullia stared at both Jack and Bera. She gave Nero a quick look before fixing onto Ryo for a moment as she looked at Jack and replied, "So it would seem, I'll need to chat with them a bit after you've finished handing out their prizes, so carry on, I shall return to my quarters."
Jack and Bera made curious looks before they replied, "Sure."
Not wasting any more time, Jack and Bera then started to escort Nero and Ryo towards a different location. Nero glanced at Yullia while he was leaving and nodded.
Yullia then glanced at Ryo, showing a sharp look in her eyes, but as if the latter didn't care, he merely played games on his phone while moving behind Nero like a tail.
Yullia frowned at him as she thought, 'What's this brat up to? Hmph! He's lucky that I don't want others to learn of this mistake, I'll get my answers as soon as they're finished.'
After saying this, Yullia glanced at Felick, who shivered a bit due to her cold stare as she spoke, "Bring them to my residence, I will be returning right now."
Not even waiting for Felick's reply, Yullia waved her finger like she was using a wand as her body glowed in dark lights before bursting apart into multiple fragments of black lights that swooped towards a deeper part of the space.
Felick looked at this for a while before his look of fear vanished, showing an unusual look as if he was annoyed; he clicked his teeth while speaking under his breath.
"It doesn't look like she'll buy into his identity so easily, especially after I fizzled with the system; how troubling that I have to do all this work for that man... it seems I'll need to tinker a bit."
After saying those words, Felick then left the arena as he went towards a different area, fading from all sight in but only a flash as the arena turned into a field of silence.
***
Much further into the Blood Steel Space, one would see a series of large ancient buildings of peculiar designs; Nero's eyes flashed as he saw that one of the buildings even had a large sculpture of a book over its roof.
Jack seemed to have noticed Nero's stare; he glanced at the building and spoke, "That is the Book Repository of our Blood Steel Temple, there you can learn many different techniques, but of course, you'll naturally need to enter the World of Promise to master it truly. I shall be taking you both there for your rewards; simply choose any of the listed skills at random for your prize."
Following those words, Jack and Bera brought Nero and Ryo into the building. The moment they entered; they saw a vast room with many books inside of various shelves. A single book rested on top of a podium, positioned at the center of the entire room.
Nero looked around in curiosity as he thought to himself, 'Hmm, so large, it would take an era to sort through all of these books.'
Ryo had similar thoughts, but his eyes soon fixed onto the book at the center as he seemed to have come to a realization.
Bera looked at the duo and spoke, "Go on, use that book at the center to choose a skill, don't worry, we've already sent the request to the upper command, so you won't need to worry about authorization."
Nero nodded as he looked at Ryo before the two went ahead; after a short while, they had both arrived before the book, looking at the ancient-looking pages Nero then went and placed his palms on top of it.
As if it sensed his touch, the book instantly glowed in bright lights. In moments, Nero's mind went to a different place; there, he saw many collections of manuals hovering before him with their names listed on a virtual screen following a notification.
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[Welcome to the Blood Steel Repository!]
[Choose from the skills below:]
[Blood Field Sword Art]
[Killing Pulse Palm]
[Murdering Edge]
[Four Point Unity Movement]
....
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Nero looked at all of the skills with curiosity and surprise, even more so when he saw Four Point Unity Movements, he inwardly asked, 'Hey, so you had gotten this skill from here?'
'Correct, it had taken me quite a long time to get this chance, so choose wisely,' Adult Nero replied.
Nero nodded at those words, as he once more focused on the lists, his eyes soon came onto a peculiar technique.
___
[Blood Reaper's Dance - Special High Grade]
[Description - A skill that requires one to have mastered the second level of the Reaper Stances. It is a combat skill most suitable for scythe users meant to not only disorient one's foes but also overwhelm them with a myriad of baleful scythe attacks.]
____
Nero's eyes shone when he saw this skill; Adult Nero chuckled as he spoke, "As expected, it seems we were truly destined for this skill."
Nero made a curious look as he inwardly questioned, 'Oh, what makes you say that?'
Adult Nero made a far-off look as he replied, "I didn't get this skill until a few months later; I had to complete quite a difficult task to attain it, but it's also one of the skills that have made me who I am."
Nero thought for a bit before he inwardly asked again, 'I see, it says that it's a Special High-Grade skill, what does that mean?'
Adult Nero's eyes had a strange glint as he answered, "A Special Skill is different from others as unlike many common grade skills, they can evolve into higher grades based on the users level and current mastery."
'What? Amazing, I didn't think such a thing could happen, how strong is a skill that's beyond the rank of high class?' Nero asked in his mind.
Adult Nero chuckled as he replied, "After advancing into the stage beyond high-class, battle power will be judged much differently. These can either perform unusual feats or boost power through amplification methods. It is in this way that one can jump multiple levels and attain absurd amounts of combat power, but it is the only way we humans and weaker races can even hope to compare against the likes of Class 3 and Class 4 alien talents."
Nero's eyes flashed with interest as he heard this; they boiled even more as he looked at the skill before him; Adult Nero chuckled as he spoke, "Enough wasting time, quickly learn it, after you leave here I have something to tell you."
'Something to tell me. I wonder what it is?' Nero thought to himself as he no longer dallied, he looked at the skill and spoke, "I choose the Blood Reaper's Dance."
Following his words, a bright red light shone that formed into a red manual which then bolted towards Nero's mind, looking very much similar to the method's Adult Nero used to transfer his memories.
Soon, Nero felt different, as if he learned a series of unusual techniques, but the only way to gain actual mastery would be to try it out in the World of Promise.
Nero smiled as he looked at this while thinking, 'Perfect, with this, I've made up for one of my greatest weaknesses.'
Moments after, the images around Nero faded as he found himself back in his previous posture with his hand on top of the book; Ryo, Jack, and Bera were looking at him with patient looks.
Nero smiled and then made way for Ryo, who walked up and tapped the book, but only a minute later, Ryo had removed his hand with an utterly indifferent look, his attention once more returned to his phone's mobile game.
Jack and Bera gave Nero and Ryo a good look, they originally thought they would have looks of joy on their faces, but they couldn't help but think to themselves upon seeing their calmness.
'These brats, did they even choose anything?'
Unable to figure them out, the duo sighed as they stared at them; Jack then spoke, "Good, with this you can say that our initiation is over, haha, kids, I hope that we can see you both on the battlefield in the future, take care now."
Following those words, both Jack and Bera blurred and vanished, leaving no traces; Nero clicked his teeth at this as he muttered, "Hmph! They only wanted to make a cool exit to try and make up for their embarrassment; this uncle and aunty are amusing."
Pff! Ryo snickered at this, as he didn't Nero would say something like that out of the blue, but he soon shook his head and returned to normal.
Nero looked at him and said nothing as the two then left the building, but right as they went outside, they saw Felick was standing nearby, waiting on them.
'Jeez, what is it now?' Nero complained as he wanted to hurry and see his mother, but his time at the Blood Steel Society isn't quite finished.
"Follow me," Felick said, not explaining anything.
Ryo's eyes flashed as he was the first to move ahead, Nero looked at this in surprise, but he soon shook his head and followed behind them, making their way towards an even deeper location within the Blood Steel Space.