NOVEL NEXT Chapter 52: Two Groups
'Mortal-rank's maximum stats were 50. Awakened-rank's maximum stats were 100. So the Adept rank has 150, right?'
'It's 200, which is also the maximum level of Adept-rank. The difference in power between each rank gets wider and wider. But it gets even wider depending on the talents and skills of individuals. Your peak S-rank Fire Manipulation gives you such a high realm in arcane that your skills related to Fire can derive much more power. Now that you also got Sand Manipulation at A-rank, you should realize the chasm between A-rank and S-rank.'
Ainen nodded, his eyes glinting with anticipation. 'Yeah. If I get the chance to break through to S-rank in Sand Manipulation, I would be able to create crazy strong glasses, crystals, and other stuff.'
If he had to compare A-rank and S-rank, it would be like every spark of flame and every mote of fire contained Ainen's senses, and they acted on his will.
This wasn't the case with the grains of Sand he creates from Mana.
Ainen could fundamentally change his Fire's structures and make it do stuff like vibrating and such with ease, but this wasn't the case with Sands.
This was the reason Ainen wanted S-rank. Once he delved into the depths of the Sand element like the Fire element, he would have a great arsenal of combat skills.
He could imagine, but couldn't cook them yet.
'Alright, now that I distributed the stats, it's time to open the Mystery Boxes.'
But just as Ainen took out the level 60 Mystery Box, Fraisea's voice rang in Ainen's ears.
'Master, people are here!'
Ainen's eyes glinted as he stood up and flew up.
The peak area of the mountain was wide with a sharp protrusion fifty meters upward in a cone, which was the true peak, but it was just a sharp point.
So this ground at the top was the peak of the mountain. It was approximately 70 meters in radius, with trees and grass surrounding the perimeter, and an empty area in the middle where Ainen camped, right next to the challenge trigger—the mystical, glowing tree.
The Interdimensional Restaurant's Barrier was activated. Its size was 50 meters in radius.
From the south, four people arrived.
Dezir Mollun—Adept-rank, level 200. An Adventurer from the Mistbound Magic Tower.
Synthia Krozes—Adept-rank, level 123. Junion of the Dezil Mollun, belonging to the same party.
Kenozu Tael—Awakened-rank, level 100. A member of the River Tales party, which belonged to Duke Habort Elipen's son, Varont Elipen.
Maurin Belrik—Adept-rank, level 172.
These four arrived at the peak and started walking towards the center.
Walking for a bit, Dezir stopped, his brows furrowed.
"Why is there a barrier here?"
"Barrier?" Synthia blinked and narrowed her eyes. "Whoa, it's so stable I didn't even notice its magic readings."
Kenozu walked a bit ahead with his hand stretched and soon touched it.
"Does this mean someone is already at the center and put up this barrier?" Prince Maurin raised his eyebrows.
"This is not a natural part of this Labyrinth, so that should be the case." Dezir nodded and started taking steps back.
"Back off, I am going to break it."
Ainen, who was watching them, rubbed his chin. 'Let's see if he can break it.'
Saffa, Clovelle, and Fraisea were floating beside him.
'Master, should we attack and kill them?'
'No.'
He turned his head to the other side and saw the second party that had just arrived.
Ainen was surprised.
It was Hammer, Naresh, and three Awakened-rank Adventurers from different parties, not from Belrik or Torion Kingdom, but from other towns under the jurisdiction of Magic Towers rather than Kingdoms.
Naturally, there were many Magic Towers, but not all were stones. Some Lord and King-rank Adventurers create a Magic Tower to gather people to work together to progress and recruit young generations to increase their foundation.
The top Magic Towers in the current age also started from small.
'Should I let them in?' Ainen rubbed his chin.
He could trust Hammer and Naresh. Those three Awakened-rank adventurers were not a threat to him, so it didn't matter if he trusted them or not.
The problem was the other group.
BOOM!
Ainen looked at them as Dezir just launched an attack.
Naturally, the barrier was unscathed, and Dezir's expression was the opposite of unscathed.
'W-What?!' Dezir couldn't believe his eyes. "How can such a tough barrier exist? I mean…there shouldn't be anyone capable of conjuring such a large and tough barrier among those who entered."
"Could it be an artifact?"
"Artifact…" Dezir muttered. "It is possible, but to bring an Artifact inside this Labyrinth…could it be people from Sacred Aurlian?"
"Aren't Artifacts hard to acquire and very valuable? Losing one in a Labyrinth wouldn't be a joke." Maurin raised his eyebrows.
"That depends on the Artifact's tier, but if this barrier is from an Artifact, it's at least Tier-4," Dezil stated. "My attack didn't even budge its energy readings. It could be Tier-5 or higher."
"How long will they be able to keep up this barrier, Senior Dezir?" Synthia curiously asked.
"Depends on the Artifact. If it's made to last long by adding more energy reserve, it can last for hours to days. Of course, attacking the barrier will reduce the time it can stay enacted."
"Tsk, we climbed this mountain and got nothing in the end." Kenozu clicked his tongue in disappointment.
"Since we are here, let's camp for a bit. This mountain is big, and we haven't explored all of it since we just came straight to the peak," Dezir said. "There should be one or two challenges hidden somewhere in this mountain, not just at the peak."
Ainen watched as the group took out tents from their storage spaces to set up a camp.
On the other hand, Hammer and Naresh were also perplexed by the barrier.
Ainen smiled.
'Let's go greet them.'
…
"Am I seeing things, or did Ainen really break through to Adept rank?" Raashik spoke speechlessly.
Ainen's rank on the leaderboard was 27th, and he was the only Awakened-ranked in the top 50.
But now, his detail shifted, changing from Awakened-rank to Adept-rank.
"That was fast." Yelvina smiled. "But expected."
"Indeed. He shouldn't have had any problem refining his Magic Core given his aptitude." Lilian nodded. "As for getting stats to maximum…"
Raashik wryly smiled. "The thing that is hardest for others is easy for him. His class is truly powerful to be able to cook food that gives permanent stats like that."
Yelvina looked up, her eyes narrowing.
Lilian noticed that and asked, "What's the matter, Senior Yelvina?"
"Nothing that I am certain of. I just felt a prick on my skin, but I might be imagining things."
Lilian blinked. "Did the arcane stir?"
"Maybe."
Lilian frowned. At their level, dismissing bad feelings could result in bad things.
Yelvina was a King-rank, one step below Emperor-rank, and had considerable command over Arcane and was more attuned to the atmosphere.
A hunch, which could also be a signal that their arcane-empowered subconsciousness, which had learned magic, could perceive from others through the atmosphere, in which other people's thoughts stirred arcane.
Thoughts could stir arcane. It was common, but not commonly perceivable. However, people at Yelvina's level and above could feel that, especially if someone's thoughts targeted them. It was hard to perceive, but sometimes, it could come as a hunch, a feeling, a foreboding.
"This Labyrinth has a 30-day activation, so we have to secure this anyway. I'm calling my people to hurry up." Yelvina said and took out a crystal.
"I'll do the same." Lilian nodded. "They were planning to come and secure this place tomorrow, but no harm in doing it early."