Small Talk - II
"Do you know who I am..?" the boy wanted to say something, but Arthur interrupted him, stopping him from saying anything further. Arthur then took Cassandra's hand and led her out of the hall without giving the boy a chance to finish his sentence.
As they exited the hall, they encountered the man whom Cassandra had offered the seat to. He smiled at them gratefully and said, "Thanks for your goodwill. I will remember it. If you ever need any assistance, I'll be more than willing to help."
Cassandra returned the smile and replied, "It's nothing as we were about to leave anyway. And happy birthday to you, miss," she said, turning her attention to the woman. The woman smiled in return and said, "Thank you."
The man then extended his hand towards Arthur and said with a smile, "Well, I am Evans Storhoff."
Arthur shook his hand and said, "I am Arthur."
Evan then extended an invitation for them to join in celebrating his wife's birthday. However, Arthur and Cassandra tactfully declined, expressing that they had to go somewhere else for some important matters.
Evan nodded in understanding. Just as Arthur and Cassandra were about to leave the cafe, they heard a voice they found annoying. They looked back and saw the boy coming out of the hall, with his butler following closely behind. He pointed at Arthur and instructed his butler, "Sebestian, Reprimand him, now!"
Despite the unexpected turn of events, Arthur maintained his composure, and Cassandra stood beside him with a steady gaze, prepared for whatever may come next.
Sebastian then suddenly appeared in front of Arthur, his hand coming towards him threateningly. However, before Sebastian could act, Evan swiftly appeared beside Arthur, intervening to stop him.
The boy, who had ordered Sebastian to reprimand Arthur, shouted, "Hey, don't meddle in our affair!" But before he could say anything more, a hand suddenly grabbed his throat from behind. A cold voice resounded from behind him, "Nowadays, kids are becoming more and more arrogant."
The situation took an unexpected turn as a mysterious figure stepped in, and the boy found himself held in a firm grip. His arrogance was quickly subdued by the presence of this new arrival.
The mysterious man who intervened and grabbed the boy's throat from behind was none other than Arthur himself. With a stern expression, he held the boy firmly, making it clear that he wouldn't tolerate any further aggression.
The boy's eyes widened in surprise and fear, realizing that he had underestimated the person he was dealing with. In Arthur's eyes, there was a glint of disappointment at the boy's behavior.
Cassandra stood beside Arthur, her presence lending support and strength to his actions. The boy's butler, Sebastian, who had been ordered to act earlier, stood frozen, uncertain of what to do next.
.
.
As Sebestian attacked Arthur, a notification suddenly popped in line of his vision.
[ {Slayer} title activated ]
[ Detected two ranks higher rank opponent ]
[ Added 50% of opponent's stats ]
When Arthur saw this notification, he was about to stop Sebestian, but he then saw Evans coming near him, Arthur then shifted his gaze towards the boy who ordered the butler.
With his increased he appeared behind the boy and grabbed his neck form behind, before the boy could react he was under Arthur's mercy.
He then used his devour skill on they boy.
[ +5 Strength ]
[ +5 Strength ]
..
..
[ You gained ...
Arthur stopped this in between as he thought that it was enough.
Arthur's cold and commanding voice echoed once more, "You should learn to show respect to others and control your temper. Unnecessary confrontations won't lead you anywhere."
The boy who was in Arthur's grip started to feel weak, he thought that since his neck was being grabbed the blood circulation is decreasing, he didn't think that Arthur had devoured his energy.
Sebastian said anxiously, "Please put him down. He is Prince Alex Stormbringer of Midgard Kingdom."
Hearing this, Cassandra remarked, "Oh, so he is a prince, but aren't you forgetting that this is not Midgard Kingdom, but rather Zelenoria Kingdom."
Sebastian became even more anxious upon hearing Cassandra's words, but he knew he couldn't do much because of Evan's presence. Both Sebastian and Evan were B-rank Awakeners, and this meant that Sebastian couldn't act rashly due to Evan's interference. If it weren't for Evan's intervention, Sebastian would have used his life to protect Prince Alex.
Arthur looked at Alex and said, "So this is the arrogant prince who is said to have S-rank talent, but he doesn't look like one."
He then pushed Alex back forcefully, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground with a thud. Alex was seething with anger because he wasn't able to do anything when Arthur insulted him, but he knew there was little he could do against someone much stronger. He took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and decided to leave the cafe.
A carriage with intricate designs was waiting for them outside, protected by a contingent of guards. As Alex looked to the side, he saw Arthur and Cassandra entering an outstanding carriage with several guards providing protection. The sight further fueled his frustration and envy, witnessing the grandeur and respect they commanded.
He instructed Sebastian to drive the carriage back to Midgard Kingdom and then settled into the carriage. While sitting, he pondered over the recent events. It was evident that both Arthur and Cassandra belonged to a royal family or had high status, considering how fearlessly they treated him, a prince.
Initially, Alex had assumed that they might come from a noble family and be afraid of his identity as a prince. However, the outcome proved to be quite the opposite. Their lack of fear and the way they carried themselves indicated that they were likely from an even more powerful and prestigious background.
Suddenly, a black window appeared in front of him, with sentences written in white text. When Alex first encountered the window at the age of fourteen, he believed that its appearance was a sign of newfound power and invincibility. The mysterious nature of the window filled him with wonder and hope, imagining the possibilities it could bring to his life.
After the window appeared, Alex's perception expanded, granting him the ability to see ethereal light balls dropping from people as they practiced their skills or trained. These luminous orbs represented the accumulation of stats and expertise gained through their efforts.
Each time someone perfected a technique or achieved a breakthrough, a brilliant light ball would materialize and float gently downwards. If picks them up he will also get some stats or proficiency of skills the individual was practicing.
At first, the window displayed information about various martial arts techniques and normal stats, such as strength, agility, stamina and skills, but the previous window changed on the day of assassination. After the assassin disappeared, the window went on an upgrade, which took two whole years to complete, during which he was unable to pick any light orbs.
While the window was undergoing the upgrade, he learned many things like awakeners, skills, beasts, demons, etc. he also came to know about the so-called status window, which an awakener gets after completing the trial. It was different from the black window he saw at first, as it only showed his three stats, skills including something like martial rank.
After one year, when he turned fifteen the upgrade was complete. When Alex checked the window after upgrade, he was shocked to see the changes, because the upgraded black window was just like the status window, he was told about, but it was not completely like those status window, and he was still able to pick up the light orbs.
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{Name} : Alex Stormbringer
{Title} : None
{Rank} : E1
{MP} : 1500
{Strength} : 35 (D)
{Agility} : 10 (D)
{Stamina} : 20 (D)
{Luck} : 50
{Charisma} : 50
{Intelligence} : 25
{Spirit} : 50 (D)
{Talent} : Thunderheart (Rank A)
{Equipments} : None
{Enhancements} : None
{Stat points} : 0
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Talent :
Thunderheart (Rank A) - Your control over thunder is increased, every move will contain some thunder element in it.
Skills related to thunder will do increased damage.
Thunder related skills will consume less mana.
Skills :
Stormbringer's Blunt weapon mastery [1/1000] (Rank A), Sword mastery [290/400] (Rank C), Spearmanship [107/400] (Rank C), Archery [30/400] (Rank C)...
Spells:
Fireball [90/300] (Rank D), Water jet [10/400] (Rank C), Earth spikes [100/300] (Rank C) ...
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When Alex looked at his stats, he was shocked to see that his stats seem to have decreased.
"What happened? Why have my stats decreased?"
Alex was feeling weakened from the moment Arthur clutched his neck, he first thought that it was just the result of insufficient air, but now looking at the status window he was confused.
"Did he do something with me? Or it his skill or some kind of curse or what?"
"Or does he any skill or talent that can take other's stats." as he was pondering over this, he shouted, "What!!!"
He noticed that even his own talent, once esteemed at an S-rank level, had now diminished to an A-rank. This revelation left him feeling perplexed.
Doubts began to creep into his mind as he questioned the cause of this unexpected decline.
"He is very dangerous with just a single grab he took my stats and talent."
Alex worked hard every day to collect those orbs sneakily without anyone noticing, but now half of his work was taken by others, he became angrier. But again, what can he do he was many times stronger than him. He can only try harder to collect orbs later on to regain his strength back.
.
Arthur and Cassandra were both sitting together, they have already forgotten about Alex and were now talking about the Dungeon raid.
"Arthur, which rank dungeon are you entering? Will you enter the dungeon together with me?" Cassandra asked.
Arthur sighed and said while looking outside the window, "I will decide later on which dungeon to enter."
Upon hearing this, Cassandra refrained from posing any additional questions and instead leaned her head gently onto Arthur's shoulder. Throughout the journey, her presence remained by his side, finding comfort and solace in their shared silence.
After returning back to the hotel, both of them went separate ways. Returning back to his room, Arthur sat on the couch and started to read all those notifications that came when he was devouring Alex's energy.
[ +5 Strength ]
[ +5 Strength ]
[ +5 Stamina ]
[ +5 Agility ]
..
..
[ +5 Strength ]
[ A part of Power system has been taken. ]
After reading this notification Arthur was somewhat confused, 'What is this power system?' he thought. As he was thinking of the word "Power System" he suddenly heard a mechanical voice in his head voice in his head.
[ Congratulation on getting Power System Host. ]
[ Do you want to bind with the system Host? ]
"Host? Is it talking about me?"
"Are you some kind of parasite or what?"
[ Host. I am a system who was created to help the Host to ascend to godhood. ]
"Oh... I see. Then who is the one who created you?"
[ Host doesn't have enough authority to know about the system's creator. ]
"Then how can I get this authority thing?"
[ You have to become a high-ranking awakener to have that much of authority. ]
"Then how much of a high ranker do I have to become?"
[ You don't have enough authority. ]
"Ohhh...."
[ Do you want to bind with the system Host? ]
"Nope."
[ The binding will now begin. ]
"Did you not hear my answer."
[1%]
[2%]
[3%]
[4%]
..
..
..
As Arthur looked at the binding process, slowly the aloofness in his face flew away. He then said coldly, "Do you take me as a fool?"
He then took out his shirt and put his right hand on his chest, after that he laid back on the couch. After some time, golden strands started to come out of his body, then he extended his hand forward and those golden strands started to condense on his palm forming a golden sphere.
Now there was no notification, Arthur took a quick look at the golden ball and then threw the ball in his storage space.
"Ah well I have to rest now, tomorrow I have to enter New World."