Chapter 4: Unlimited Potential.

Every strong guild owned a few Dimensional Portals that could only be accessed by their own guild members unless they rented it out, just like the one from earlier. Elenoir always brought him to the Dimensional Portals that belonged to the Entity Guild.

They both entered a Dimensional Portal that was overflowing with monsters. It was always the same portal, and there were at least two hundred kobolds and a dozen kobold chiefs inside.

The same vast plain field with tall wild grass surrounded the area and dark woods surrounded the field. Alseace was never bored when he saw her in action, especially when she started to swing her lightning sword around.

Each one of the Guild masters had a title that the people gave them. Elenoir was given the title of Stormbringer, and there was a reason why.

Elenoir Blaid's original skill was [Affinity: Lightning] which allowed her to have unlimited potential. At that moment, Elenoir Blaid could be called the strongest in West Dasmein. The only one that could match her was an S-Rank with a skill [Affinity: Ice], and his name was Mihangel Pryde from East Dasmein.

Unlike Nero, Elenoir didn't have a magic affinity, but even so, she could use lightning because of her skill. She could use her skill as long as she had the spare stamina to use it, unlike magic that used Mana from the nature of their surroundings.

The sky was slowly being covered by dark clouds and thunder started rumbling loudly. Elenoir stabbed her sword to the ground and almost instantly lightning bolts struck her surrounding. It was one of her skills called [Summon Lightning].

The energy those lightning bolts transferred to the ground was sucked and charged into the sword. Elenoir then pulled the sword and it glowed bright blue with sparks that would zap anything around it. It was a special skill that belonged to the Sky-shredder Sword called [Overloads].

Her lightning sword was a reward for clearing an S-Rank vortex that happened three years ago. The sword was a legendary-grade weapon that possessed a powerful skill and incredible attack power.

Legendary weapons were special that they could only be used by Candidates that met the requirements. It required a certain level to hold it and a certain status point to activate the skill that the weapon possessed.

Elenoir met both the level and status points requirements to wield it, and she was the only one who could wield it. That sword seemed like it belonged to her and it was her fate to get that sword after clearing the vortex. She was the only one who possessed a Legendary-grade weapon from West Dasmein.

The kobolds that were hiding in the tall wild grass started to run away, but Elenoir used [Lightning's Trail] to move as fast as lightning. She zapped from left to right and burned the tall grass as she slaughtered and burned the kobolds into crisps.

[0.000002% EXP gained]

...

Alseace looked at the notification like a waterfall as he walked to the middle of the field since the radius of his [Leftover] skill was 100 meters. He looked at the trail moving randomly and heard the screams of kobolds like barking dogs and turned into whimpers before they died.

"Stay there," Elenoir's vibrated voice could be heard from Alseace's surroundings.

Elenoir struck the sky with a bolt of lightning from her Sky-shredder Sword and used [Lightning Current] where she was allowed to enter the lightning's current and reached the sky almost instantly. She then floated in the sky for a few seconds and finally used one of her ultimate skills [Lightning's Wrath] where hundreds of bolts of lightning struck living beings in a Kilometer (0.6 Mile) radius.

With that, Elenoir defeated all the kobolds, and Alseace walked around the area to get his EXPs.

[0.000009% EXP gained]

"Kobold chief?" Alseace was surprised when one of the EXP notifications showed 0.000009.

[0.000002% EXP gained]

...

While Alseace ran around the field, a bright light beamed at him from the sky. Both him and Elenoir were surprised by it, and that beam of light was an indication that a Candidate was getting a blessing from God. An [Achievement] that contains a unique skill or a boost on status.

[You have proven yourself an amazing feat!]

[God has bestowed you an Achievement!]

[Achievement]

[-The One Who Did Nothing-]

"Is it really an amazing feat? Is this sarcasm or are you guys mocking me?" Alseace was annoyed as he looked at the sky.

[Be grateful...]

"What did you get?" Elenoir raised her eyebrows as she approached Alseace with the sword in her right hand.

[The One Who Did Nothing: An Achievement for gaining EXP 200,000 times consecutively without taking a single life. This Achievement is attached with a unique skill called [Leech] for the Achievement Holder]

[Leech (Unique): A passive skill that gives twice the amount of EXP that is gained from not killing. The skill will not be activated if the Candidate kills a living being]

"It fits you very well. Maybe with that you can at least reach one percent EXP," Elenoir looked at Alseace with a pitiful smile.

"Yes, I might be able to do it this time," Alseace sighed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make fun of you. We should go back, I feel a bit better now," Elenoir stabbed her lightning sword on the ground and then put on her black coat.

"Yes, I'll hurry up and collect the rest of the EXPs," Alseace nodded with understanding and started running, but then he stopped and turned around. "Miss Elenoir, can I train swordsmanship with you?" Alseace knew Elenoir was the strongest mage, but she was also the strongest swordsman in West Dasmein.

"Aren't you have been training with Miss Sierra since you came here?" Elenoir raised her right eyebrow.

"Yes, but your swordsmanship is the best, and I want to learn it from you," Alseace answered.

"What are you on about? Sierra is stronger than me in all aspects. She defeated me dozens of times and I have never won against her," Elenoir answered as she pulled her sword from the ground. "You already have the best teacher," Elenoir looked at Alseace with her lazy eyes.

"What? You couldn't win against her?" Alseace raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"I couldn't. She moved faster than me, and her reflexes were terrifyingly perfect that I couldn't land a single hit even with the ultimate skills that I have. The scariest part was that she had never taken me seriously," Elena answered as she stared at her sword that sparked flashes of lightning.

Alseace knew that Sierra was strong, but to think that the strongest S-Rank Candidates couldn't land a single hit on her was unbelievable. If that was really the case, then Sierra should be the strongest and nothing could beat her, both humans or monsters.

Alseace wandered into the field and went into the forest to collect the remaining EXPs. It took him half an hour to collect all of them, and then they both left the portal. Elenoir left a few kobold camps since she didn't want to clear it so the new Candidates could use it.

"You must have heard about what happened this afternoon. Ando and Nero believed that the D-Rank portal is now an A-Rank or even an S-Rank portal," Alseace said as he walked to the car with Elenoir.

"I heard... I lost five members there, and they had the potential to become the best Candidates," Elenoir answered and she looked a bit pissed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to remind you what happened," Alseace looked at Elenoir entering the car. He was right that she was pissed because of the incident. He then entered the car and went quiet since he didn't want to make things worse.

Elenoir was so pissed that she ignored his apology and started to drive the car.

On their way back, Elenoir treated him to dinner in a fast food restaurant since she loved eating burgers and drinking a milkshake. She was rich and yet she preferred junk food over Michelin-star restaurants, the reason was that more calories gave her more stamina.

"Alseace, I'm planning on clearing a B-Rank vortex. Do you want to join me? You must be curious about what kind of challenge is inside the vortex," Elenoir asked as she ate her burger and leaned against her car.

"I'm fine, Miss Elenoir. I really don't have any urge to go inside a vortex. I'm just a level 1 Candidate that can't even get 1% of EXP. I'll just patiently wait and follow Miss Sierra's instructions," Alseace answered as he looked at his half-eaten burger.

Elenoir slurped her milkshake and stared at Alseace, "You just became 20 a few days ago. You have been going into portals every day for 5 years, and I can't see you like this. At least if we go into a vortex, maybe in a year, you can level up." "I'll deal with Miss Sierra," Elenoir said as she put her milkshake on top of the car.

Elenoir was the closest to Sierra compared to the others, and that might be because Sierra knew Elenoir had unlimited potential. But even so, Alseace knew that Sierra wouldn't be happy about it and maybe she would be mad at Elenoir.

"Let's meet with the others. They should be waiting for us at Sierra's house," Elenor crumpled the paper and tossed it into the trash can.

They both went home and it was as Elenoir said, everyone had gathered in the pub.

"You guys are finally back. Everyone is here already," Sierra looked at Alseace and Elenoir who had just entered the pub as she cleaned the glass in her left hand. "Go clean yourself, Al," Sierra put down the glass and stacked it on top of the glasses.

Alseace nodded as he looked at Ando smoking his cigarette at his favorite table on the corner. He then looked at Nero reading a book and enjoying a glass of whiskey with his cane resting on his lap. Gratya and Katya were talking quietly at the table next to the pillar so they could have a private conversation.

Alseace went upstairs as he watched Elenoir sit at the pub counter and ordered a glass of gin.

Once a month, everyone gathered in the pub. Honestly, it wasn't actually a pub, but Sierra's house that she turned into a pub. It wasn't for the public and only a place for those people to hang out where they could be at peace and be themselves for once in a while. The outside didn't look like a pub at all. It was like a small two-story apartment that belonged to Sierra.

After five years of living with Sierra, Alseace only knew the truth a year ago that those S-Rankers were someone that had been personally picked by Sierra before they became strong and famous. He wondered how she could find them, and the eeriest part about Sierra was that she found them 10 years ago when those people were still teenagers, and yet she looked younger than them. Not to mention that she came to Dasmein 30 years ago.

"Forever twenty-three..." Alseace sighed as he dipped in the warm bath. That was the answer that Sierra gave him whenever he asked her age.

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