13 Chapter 13 : Blessing (1)

Everyone looked at that direction.

A beautiful elf, donning a dull brown cape, was walking towards them

"Sapphine!" Lexia ran to her and gave a warm hug.

"It's been a while." Sapphine returned the hug.

"Looking sharp now Glidal I see." She inspected Glidals wear.

"I need to. Come on up! Roth got some skills on the grill." Glidal munched a chunk of steak.

Lexia helped Sapphine to get her seated. Sapphine greeted everyone in the table.

She took off her cape and everyone was amazed on how beautiful she looked.

She was wore a sleeveless leather armor that seamlessly bonded with her figure. Her hands were fitted with fingerless gauntlets scratching to her elbows acting like sleeves. She had a skirt down to her knees, and the black leggings she wore sticks to her middle thigh that the people can see as she crossed her legs.

"Like what you see?" She teased the onlookers and started to eat as well.

The people that were looking immediately averted their gaze and continued eating.

Lilian wanted to slap Glidal's head.

"Rafael still didn't come?" Sapphine asked as she took a sip of wine.

"Not yet, he seems very busy. Never even came by once." Glidal put on a downcast look.

"I see, he is probably still in Gathia." She took another swing.

"What about you kids? Ready?" She inquired as she looked at the three people to be blessed.

Sapphine comes occasionally to the manor once every two years. She met Lilian and Roth at these times and watched them train. Sappine was impressed at Lilian and Roth and she wanted to take them under her wing, since they were both the agile type like her.

"Yes, Sapphine." Lilian said excitedly.

"100 percent." Followed Raymond.

Roth just nodded from the grill.

"So, Lilian. Want to be a treasure hunter?" She enticed her while summoning her bow. It was made from a branch of the world tree – it was an extremely rare weapon.

Lilian ogled the bow and sensed that it was a very high grade one.

"I want the bow but... I'm not that into treasure hunting that much." She scratched her head.

Sapphine sighed and retracted the bow.

"You'll be an archer class anyway. If you have any change of thoughts, just tell." Then Sapphine faced Roth.

"Roth?" Sapphine was more interested in Roth because of his fighting style.

"It depends on the class Ray will get." He answered while flipping the meat.

"Come on Roth, your fighting style will greatly benefit being a treasure hunter. Since you use most weapons, you'll be able to use the equipment you discovered! With these high caliber gear, you'll be on par against somebody who has the class using similar weapons!" She tried to convince Roth.

"It seems Lady Sapphine has his eye on the boy." A man's voice was suddenly heard coming from the training ground.

"Mr. Coachman!" Raymond blurted.

Mr. Coachman waved to Raymond, and bowed to the people present.

"Hoo…" Sapphine made an interesting expression as she walked towards the man.

"So you go by Mr. Coachman now?" She asked in an insulting tone.

"It is so." He tipped his hat.

Mr. Coachman also had his eyes on Roth. During the times he needed to deliver information to the Viscount, he passed by the training grounds and was astonished at Roth's fighting style. He used different weapons in an unconventional and creative ways. He wanted him under his command, as adaptability is the key point of his profession.

"And it would be best if the boy chooses any dagger class." Mr. Coachman smiled as his eyes gleamed in a dangerous glint.

As usual, the beautiful elf's temper flared and she spat a needle Mr. Coachman. He dodged the needle by leaping backwards and replied with a dagger of his own. As the dagger flew towards her. She easily caught its grip and rushed forward to swing at his head, and he crouched to avoid.

She followed by a low kick and a dagger throw. He blocked the kick and bit the dagger while using the momentum of the kick and he spun and spat the dagger in return.

She side-stepped and summoned a whip with a red shine. She lashed at him, and a whip of fire started to assault Mr. Coachman.

This was Sapphine getting warmed up.

He steadily dodged, and as he was about to avoid the last one, a whip of ice hit him and was staggered. He was bound by both whips, and Sapphine gripped pulled it as much as she can. The figure of Mr. Coachman was convulsing, then suddenly he burst into a dark fume.

"Come out, I knew it was your clone." She said as she kept her weapons.

Mr. Coachman came out hiding behind a tree.

"Impressive, how did you know it was not me? I have no accounts that you have the capabilities of discerning such skill." He inquired.

Sapphine touched her eye with her middle finger and a transparent thing that was shaped for the eye was removed. "Got it a few years back. Decent relic that can see illusions and clones at your level." She said while holding up her middle finger showing the item.

"Decent?" Mr. Coachman scoffed at this appraisal.

The fight was a sight to see for the audience. They were at the edge of their seats as they saw to high class individuals test each other. But they knew they were just playing around since, Sapphine didn't use a bow, and Mr. Coachman sent his clone.

Mr. Coachman was directed to a seat and started to join the feast.

They shared stories with each other, Sapphine was telling tales of her journeys while Mr. Coachman details the news in the capital.

It was a wholesome gathering.

A whistling noise could be heard from the town, an arrow coated in bright yellow light was shot straight to the sky. The noise stopped and the arrow dimmed, then fire balls started to shoot upwards and bust into smaller piece, as those smaller burst into smaller – a chain reaction until the magic power imbued on the spell was gone. Even Ice spells were being thrown and shattered making it look like glass rain. There was a rare thunder mage that cracked the sky open with caricatures of beasts and powerful figures that danced across the night. It was an amazing sight.

The show signified that the New Year has begun.

Lexia stood up and gathered the three.

"Are you ready?"

The three of them nodded.

She summoned three scrolls that were instilled by the Goddess' blessing.

"Remember during the blessing you are at the place of the goddess. You are alone, you can't see or hear anybody but a room full of light and your class. Don't panic."

She gave them each a scroll.

The three looked at each other and smiled.

Lilian went to the center of the training field and kneeled. She opened the scroll and she was enveloped in light.

She opened her eyes in a bright plane with nothing.

A screen popped in front of her showing three choices: Archer (White), Tracker (White), and Scout (White).

She knew all these classes as she studied her probable paths. Archer was an attack unit specialized using a bow, tracker was specialized in tracking and hunting for clues and beasts. Scout is good a reconnaissance and observation. It was an obvious choice, she chose archer.

After a few minutes, she stood and faced the crowd, and showed her class.

Class : Archer (White)

Rank : I

Skills: Aiming accuracy - Bow (Increased accuracy using bows), Peek (Can see an individuals class.) Bow handler (Bow's durability hardly diminishes.), Spatial quiver (Arrows are stored in a sub-space) Arrow maintenance. (Arrows are automatically maintained using magic power.), ...

Carlin was shocked and happy that her daughter got these skills. He got Arrow maintenance skill when he was a hunter, and Spatial quiver? He didn't even know how to get that.

"Spatial quiver at this age, you're a genius!" Sapphine commended her.

Lilian joined them and was shy from the constant praises.

As the three discussed, Raymond was next.

Raymond saw the same bright and empty plane.

There were six classes that appeared: Swordsman (White), Knight (Green), Fencer (Green), Duelist (Blue), Sword breaker (Blue), Hero (Purple).

He was ecstatic at these choices since all of them were viable picks for him, aside from Hero. There was only the mention of Hero, but no skills were recorded. He was curious.

Roth stood up with a smile and showed his Class.

Once it was revealed, everyone was shocked. Sapphine immediately used a one-time use prized relic to scan for spies that were camouflaged or invisible. This item also detects and disrupts any observation skills that peeks at the territory, luckily there were none. Sapphine sighed in relief.

"Do you have a coordinate tool?" Mr. Coachman asked Sapphine seriously.

He was ashamed as he didn't prepare one, this was a huge blunder for his position.

"Take it." She passed a dark purple gem cut in a hexagon.

Mr. Coachman activated the gem and it glowed in an eerie purple light that quickly disappeared.

"I'll be back in an hour. And Roth, pick any dagger class." He vanished into thin air.

"What is going on?" Lexia wanted answers.

Sapphine looked at them and explained.

"A Hero is an excellent class, it's an epic rarity, and is good for the kingdom the individual is born in. But… it is very dangerous for the person."

She paused as she went to the table and grabbed her wine glass and drank to calm herself down.

"Once a kingdoms hero is nurtured, the kingdom is now viable to start invading other countries. That's how strong a hero is. You can count the number of kingdoms that has a hero with one hand in this continent. So if it was announced that there was a budding hero, our neighboring kingdoms will be greatly alerted. You are going to deal with assassins until you have fully grown your potential." She stared at Raymond.

"Anyways, it seems there are no trouble. I've checked the perimeter, even extending outside the territories boundaries. Let's continue." She assured as she decided to leave the problem for later.

The families present nodded.

Raymond was looking at the floor thinking if he chose the wrong class. His friends comforted him and assured him that what he chose was the best, it was an epic class!

"Any class in mind for me?" Roth asked what he needs.

"Anything that you want." Raymond smiled, still thinking about his prior decision.

Roth went to the middle of the training field and thought to himself.

'Hero, a class that probably excels in offensive and defensive capabilities. I should just get a support class.' He opened the scroll.

He was summoned to a pitch black room.

'What is this?!' He was shocked, but words wouldn't come out of his mouth.

'Isn't it supposed to be a bright lit room?' He was confused.

A screen popped up.

It was only one class that showed, a white rarity skill.

Class : Netori (White)