Chương 77: The Ritual Point

Kyle idly walked around the underground cavern before walking back to Selene. She was completely engrossed in examining the magic circles beneath the pods and the one that filled the entire cavern. Seemingly noticing his gaze, Selene looked away from the magic circle and back at Kyle.

"Your task has long been completed. You can go back." She said without much thought. However, before Kyle could leave, Selene seemed to think of something; her gaze trailed across the bone mountain and blood pool.

"Wait." She suddenly said. The ring on her middle finger flashed, then a square metal construct appeared in her hand. She pressed a button on it before putting it away.

"Richard will shortly arrive. I'll tell him something, and he will escort you back." She paused for a moment before continuing.

"Try not to wander around in remote places in the near future. Although all cultists died, cults often have many prophetic abilities and items. It won't be difficult for them to divine our identities."

"You don't have to worry about them targeting you; they usually don't bother with those they consider worthless. As long as you don't run into their faces, you'll be fine, and besides, they might not even use such costly abilities in the first place." She concluded before looking back at the magic circles.

"I understand." Kyle nodded.

'Did she call me a worthless target offhandedly?' He raised his eyebrows. He walked towards a raised stone and sat down.

'She isn't wrong. The current me is indeed a worthless chess piece in the grand scheme.' He looked at the blood pool not far away, his eyes gradually filling with determination.

'But that won't always be the case.' ….. At the same time, inside an underground cave in the Silverbark forest, there was a large stone table with several seats. Two hooded figures sat at the table, talking about something. The torches hanging on the walls flickered, casting their shadows on the ground. One of the hooded figures suddenly frowned. He quickly pulled a crystal slate filled with dozens of green grids. Seven of those grids were slowly turning red.

The hooded man silently looked at the red grids; his golden eyes hidden in the shadows of his hood were filled with frost.

"What's the matter, Elliot?" The other hooded figure asked. She wasn't wearing her hood; thus, her face and long dark hair were exposed. Elliot put the crystal slate away and slowly stood up. He looked at the blood pool and the skeleton mound, filled with goblin and other monsters' bones, some as large as a house, with a frown on his face.

"One of the main ritual points in Mirevale was discovered," Elliot said with a scowl, his voice laced with disbelief.

"What? How is that possible? Didn't you use the precious 7th circle spell scroll, [Guidance of Fate], to guarantee that no issue shall arise before the start of the ritual?" the dark-haired woman exclaimed. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Elliot glanced at her and nodded.

"I did. With [Guidance of Fate], any being below rank 3 would encounter various coincidences stopping them from finding the ritual points. Moreover, anyone who could disrupt the ritual should have encountered bad luck." He tapped his finger on the stone table, his brows furrowed.

"Either a rank 3 or someone with a fate-type relic has acted. Either way, things have become troublesome. It's too late to set up another ritual point now." Elliot lowered his gaze. He was in a dilemma. Although this ritual in Mirevale wasn't one of the core objectives of the cult, it was still an important experiment.

"Executor Brian won't be happy." The dark-haired woman chuckled. She was sent here to assist Elliot in setting up the ritual, and it couldn't be said that she was happy about it. Elliot looked at her and snorted.

"Shut up, Mabel. I'll just set up another point. Although it would mean delaying the start of the ritual and weakening its effect, it won't change much. I don't expect that goblin lord to reach the level of a titled master anyway," Elliot expressionlessly said. Mabel chuckled but didn't say anything, apparently agreeing with him. Titled masters were beings that stood at the top of rank 3; each of them was an earth-shattering figure throughout the kingdom.

Neither of them thought that even such an elaborate ritual would push a peak-rank 2 goblin lord to that level. Nevertheless, it was a crucial experiment for their subsequent plans. Elliot stopped tapping the table and slowly stood up, walking towards the cavern's exit. As he passed by Mabel, he paused.

"Investigate who found the ritual point. If it was a rank 3 master, find out who they are and why they are in Mirevale. If not…" Elliot's eyes were filled with murderous intent.

"You know what to do." …. The next day, not long after dawn, Kyle washed his face and brushed his teeth before walking downstairs. He patted his money pouch and smiled as he heard the coins jingle.

'He's so generous.' Kyle exclaimed internally. He received the reward when President Richard escorted him back yesterday, a full 20 gold coins. He was thrilled to receive such a large amount of money even though he didn't do much. Of course, as always, he was required not to disclose anything he saw yesterday to anyone else. Kyle greeted Marielle and asked for breakfast before sitting at an empty table.

'Now that I informed the guild about the Bloody Hand's connection to the cult, I no longer need to get involved in this mess. It's time to think about my future goals.' Kyle leaned back on his chair, his gaze drifting to the people passing by on the street. He thought of the various encounters over the past few weeks and the feeling of powerlessness he felt when he had to leave a friend behind and escape.

'I need to train.' That was his primary goal. [Superspeed Slash] for attack. [Phantom Step] for movement. [Clairvoyant Eyes] for perception. Kyle thought of the combat skills he had and deliberated on his weaknesses. His perception was good, and his movement speed was exceptional for his level. However, his attack power was starting to fall behind. Finally, his defense was abysmal. Once he couldn't dodge or deflect an attack of the same level, it was basically game over.

To combat this, most swordsmen usually joined a party to compensate for their weakness early on, and after reaching rank 2, they gained the ability to cover the surface of their body with mana, greatly increasing their defense. Kyle wasn't content with that. He didn't want to leave any weakness behind for others to exploit. Especially after seeing what mages could do.

'The best way to do that is to buy a defense skill applicable to swordsmen.' Kyle felt his money pouch, his mouth curling into a grin.

'Now that I have the money, I'll buy a defense skill from the adventurers' guild and learn it.' Kyle thought as he ate breakfast.

'In the meantime, while learning the defense skill, I'll continue trying to combine [Phantom Step] and [Superspeed Slash]. Based on my current progress, it shouldn't take more than a month,' Kyle decided. Once he raised his defense and attack power to an exceptional degree for his level, he would focus again on stats.

By his estimation, it should take one month to combine [Phantom Step] and [Superspeed Slash] and one to two months to upgrade the defense skill to the required degree, then four to five months to reach rank 2. That would mean that in seven to eight months, he would become one of the strongest in Mirevale. Kyle gulped the last bit of soup and placed the wooden container down.

"Thanks for the meal." He said, then stood up and walked out of the inn, heading to the adventurers' guild.