CHAPTER 206: CHAPTER 206: UPGRADED SKILLS

Somewhere deep within the rift, where the air was thick with the scent of wet earth and something faintly metallic, three people sat around a stone table—each more bizarre than the last.

Behind them loomed a massive pink flower, its petals tightly clenched like a fist. It stood as tall as a grown man, pulsing faintly, as if breathing.

Thump.

A sound like a slow, monstrous heartbeat echoed through the chamber. Above the flower, suspended by writhing vines, hung a gigantic corrupted heart. Its surface was veined with black tendrils, each one squirming against the walls like serpents trapped in stone. Black veins pulsed under its translucent membrane, like parasites swimming in oil.

"Hmm... It still hasn’t bloomed."

The voice belonged to the first hunter—an old man with hair as white as bone. A jagged scar ran down his face, cutting through his missing eye. For a brief moment, the scar glowed a deep, eerie blue before fading back into pale flesh.

He turned his remaining eye toward his companions.

Across the table, a woman in a tattered jester’s outfit giggled to herself, her mask split between weeping and laughter. She dangled a puppet from strings, making it dance in erratic jerks.

"Hm~ lala!~" she sang, her voice lilting like a child’s nursery rhyme turned wrong. The puppet’s head spun in a full circle before she snapped it back into place.

Beside her sat a mountain of a man, bald and bandaged, his eyes completely shrouded in cloth. He didn’t speak. Didn’t move. But the way his head tilted ever so slightly toward the old man suggested he was listening.

Unfazed by their indifference, the old man continued. "We’ll need to use the fertilizers at this point."

A beat of silence. Then—

"Harlequin."

The jester’s puppet froze mid-twirl.

"Take the remaining members and go collect the fertilizers."

"Yippee!" Harlequin sprang to her feet, her voice a shrill chirp. "Follow me, boys! The fun’s just beginning!"

From the shadows, five cloaked figures emerged. They moved without sound, their faces hidden beneath deep hoods. Harlequin skipped up the tunnel, her laughter bouncing off the walls as the figures trailed behind her like ghosts.

And then, there were two.

The old man and the blind giant sat in silence, the only sound the steady, rhythmic pulse of the heart above them.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The blind man’s head tilted again—just slightly—as if he could see the flower better than anyone.

The old man’s lips curled into something that wasn’t quite a smile.

"Soon," he murmured as the flower petals pulse ever so slightly, as if responding to his words.

***

Whoosh!

The wind howled as the group of hunters barely managed to reach the top of the ridge. A few collapsed immediately, their exhaustion from the recent battle finally overwhelming them.

Lake stood apart from the others at the cliff’s edge, his breathing steady despite the climb. Below him, the forest stretched endlessly, its canopy rustling with the wind.

....

[Status]

Host: Lake Egoven

Age: 18

Primary Roles: Master of Fate, Master Assassin

Secondary Roles: None

[Stats]

Strength: 20.00 (Cost to upgrade 0.01 = 100 RP)

Agility: 16.00 (Cost to upgrade 0.01 = 100 RP)

Stamina: 18.00 (Cost to upgrade 0.01 = 100 RP)

Mana Density: 1.20 (Cost to upgrade 0.01 = 100 RP)

[Skills]

Observer of Fate Lv3 (1,000,000 RP to upgrade)

Writer of Fate Lv1 (10,000 RP to upgrade)

Master of Stealth Lv2 (3,000 RP to upgrade) → Master of Stealth Lv3 (8,000 RP to upgrade)

Parkour Master Lv2 (2,000 RP to upgrade) → Parkour Master Lv3 (5,000 RP to upgrade)

Assassinate Lv2 (5,000 RP to upgrade) → Assassinate Lv3 (maxed)

Weapon Master Lv2 (3,000 RP to upgrade)

Sixth Sense Lv2 (5,000 RP to upgrade) → Seventh Sense Lv3 (15,000 RP to upgrade)

[Maxed Skills]

Steel Body Martial Arts

Demeanor of a King

Howling Roar

Kinship

[RP Points: 46,382.111 → 31,383.235]

....

Lake briefly checked his status screen before focusing on the description of his newly maxed skill.

[Assassinate Lv. 3 (maxed) - To assassinate is an art, and as a Master Assassin, you are a master of it. You can kill your targets without them noticing, precisely calculate time of death, predict the optimal moment, and assassinate multiple targets simultaneously.]

Remembering how he’d killed over a hundred ents in a single heartbeat, Lake was more than pleased with this time’s upgrade.

He’d spent more than a day in the rift without finding any sign of Prestige. His Observer of Fate was predictably malfunctioning due to the disruption their presence caused in the Web of Fate, forcing him to rely on his other senses.

After searching two mountain ranges, half a forest, and an abandoned Elven village with no results, he’d decided to upgrade his skills to improve his chances.

He’d enhanced Parkour Master to level three and Sixth Sense, which had evolved into Seventh Sense after the upgrade. Combining the two allowed him to cover more ground while simultaneously surveying a wider area.

[Parkour Master Lv. 3 - Sometimes assassination requires reaching inaccessible places or overcoming impossible barriers. As a Master Assassin, you can traverse any terrain or obstacle. At this level, you can scale any structure effortlessly. The wind aids your movements, boosting your speed and providing midair control. You can walk on vertical surfaces and ceilings as if they were solid ground.]

[Seventh Sense Lv. 3 - Experienced assassins develop a sixth sense. Yours, combined with your heightened five senses, grants acute awareness of your surroundings within a 1-kilometer radius. Through natural development, you’ve unlocked the Seventh Sense, granting perfect internal awareness of your bodily functions and the ability to detect even the slightest changes.]

Additionally, to boost his chance of successfully assassinating them when he enviably do run into them, he’d also upgraded Master of Stealth to complement Assassinate.

[Master of Stealth Lv. 3 - As a Master Assassin, you’ve perfected the art of stealth. At this level, you can completely erase your presence, becoming untraceable from all sources.]

As Lake reviewed his skills and felt their power flowing through him, a deep satisfaction settled over him. His gaze traveled pass the forest’s seemingly endless canopy to the rift’s distant edges.

At that moment, he sensed an strange yet familiar presence approaching from behind. He didn’t turn - the presence was faint but unmistakable now that his senses had sharpened. Liam approached with that eerie silence of his, coming to stand shoulder-to-shoulder at the cliff’s edge.

Normally, Liam’s presence would be too faint to detect, but with his upgraded Sixth Sense, Lake could now perceive it dimly.

For a long moment, neither spoke. The wind whipped between them, carrying the distant sounds of the recovering hunters. Then Liam’s voice cut through the quiet, his voice unusually quiet.

"Any progress?"

"No. I haven’t found any trace of them yet."

A thoughtful expression crossed Liam’s face. "Hm... Something strange is happening in this rift. I think you should stop searching alone and stay with the group from now on." His voice carried unusual seriousness.

"...Understood."

Lake nodded slowly, also agreeing with Liam’s statement. After running around so much, he had seen his fare share of bizarre and unsettling horrors the forest hid beneath its green exterior.

Paired with the high level of intelligences the vines and ents showcased in the village, Lake knew that this rift was anything but simple—which only made him question more why Prestige would come here.

At that moment, a familiar voice announced the presences of a third visitor.

"Sir! Reporting the raid party’s status!"

Gwen announced, her eyes briefly flicking to Lake. "One casualty and thirteen injured. A third of our hunters are combat-exhausted, and half have depleted over 50% of their mana reserves. I recommend retreating to base to recover."

Gwen’s report was short and precise, having already made the rounds to check on the other hunters while no one was paying attention.

"Mhm. Very well. Let the hunters rest here for now. We’ll return to base camp in thirty minutes."

"Yes, sir!"

Despite being Liam’s sister, Gwen maintained strict military discipline in her responses.

However, Lake barely registered any of her words as his mind was currently slightly overwhelmed by the sudden assault on his newly enhanced senses. He could feel multiple hunters staring at him—some openly, others more subtly. The most intense gaze came from Gwen herself which felt like someone brought an open flame to his face. Though she faced Liam as she spoke, her full attention remained fixed on Lake.

With his newly enhanced senses, he could even detect something as intangible as focused attention—and Gwen’s focus was anything but subtle.

Fortunately, Gwen soon left to relay Liam’s orders and check on her team. Still, Lake occasionally sensed her gaze scanning him from a distance.

Doing his best to ignore her, he continued surveying the surroundings from the ridge while passively replenishing the mana he’d expended in battle.

....

After a short break, the group made the long walk back to base camp. This time they took an additional hour to traverse the cleared path, mostly because some of the hunters were too injured to move at their usual pace.

Paranoia plagued the hunters. After the events of the village, they didn’t even trust the path they had cleared anymore. Luckily, nothing seemed to happen, and they safely made it back to base.

However, what awaited them at base was not what they expected.

"Where the hell is everyone?"

The leader of Group 4 walked forward, a nasty expression on his face.

They had just faced a life-and-death battle, and now they came back to find the base empty?

"Search around," Liam ordered, retaining his calm as he made his way to the command tent. He had a feeling about what might have happened and gave the order to confirm his suspicion.

Lake stayed still, a frown etched deeply into his face. A few kilometers back, he had picked up a scent that was both familiar yet strangely out of place in this desolate forest—blood.

Looking around the camp however, he couldn’t find even a spec of it remaining, just the faint lingering scent that even a dog would struggle to pick up.

The other hunters spread out, overturning crates, checking tents, scouring every inch of the camp. Their search grew increasingly frantic as realization set in—no bodies, no signs of struggle, or even tracks to follow—just the absence of space where a dozen of their comrades should have been.

When the group leaders reconvened in the command tent, their reports were identical: nothing. Liam dismissed them with a wave, leaving only Lake and Gwen in the lantern-lit interior. He frowned as he stared down at the map before him, a big red mark over the space where the village had been found.

The silence stretched until Liam finally looked up. "What do you two think?"

Gwen was the first to break the quiet. "It’s too strange," she said, her arms folded behind her. "Over a dozen experienced hunters don’t just vanish into thin air. We were gone less than eight hours." She gestured toward the undisturbed camp outside. "No signs of attack. No evidence anyone fled in panic. If they weren’t taken and didn’t run..."

Her pause spoke volumes.

"If they didn’t run, then what?"

"...Then they left willingly." The words tasted wrong even as she said them.

Even she didn’t fully believe that the hunters left to guard the camp would suddenly abandon it, much less hide their tracks.

Liam nodded as his gaze shifted to Lake, who had been silent until now. Gwen also followed as the two of them awaited his response.

"What do you think?" Liam asked.

After a moment of contemplation, Lake’s finally spoke. "There are some traces suggesting that they moved east."

Gwen was surprised at his response. If he had noticed traces, why didn’t he report it during the meeting when everyone was here?

"Can you trace it?"

Liam asked, having already caught onto the reason behind Lake’s delayed report but felt no need to mention it before Gwen.

"They’re faint, but trackable."

"Good." Liam didn’t waste words. "Follow them and find out what happened. Return to report immediately if it seems dangerous."

Lake nodded briefly before immediately making a move, the tent flaps swaying in his wake.

Gwen watched him go, then turned to her brother the moment Lake was out of earshot.

"Who is he?" The question burst from her like a dam breaking, no longer able to restrain her curiosity.

Liam’s chuckle did nothing to soften her glare. "Why? Are you interested now?"

"Don’t play dumb." Gwen’s fingers clenched at her sides as she recalled the impossible scene—hundreds of ents collapsing simultaneously, like a grotesque puppet show with its strings cut. "What he did back there... its impossible for a normal martial artist. Only someone like you could possibly pull that off."

Liam studied her for a long moment before rolling his eyes and answering. "If you’re so curious, why not ask him yourself?" He smirked as an interesting idea popped into his mind. "It might be enlightening."

Gwen’s eyes narrowed. "Is he your disciple?"

"What makes you think that?" Liam was somewhat surprised by her sudden question.

"Call it a hunch."

Liam released a sigh seeing his younger sister’s resolute gaze.

"He’s not." Liam’s tone was final. "You know I don’t take apprentices."

"Then who is he?"

"Enough." Liam shook his head, having grown tired of Gwen’s persistent nagging. He turned back to the map, effectively ending the conversation. "Just talk to him if you really want to know so much. If you have nothing else to do, go join the other hunters in setting up patrol."

Gwen held her ground for a moment, her gaze lingering on Liam as a rare irritated expression appeared on her face. Seeing that he fully intends to ignore her, she waited no longer before spinning on her heel.

’Fine. If he doesn’t want to give answers, I’ll just find them myself.’

Liam’s gaze which was glued to the map briefly looked up upon seeing his sister exit. He clicked his tongue in response as he spoke in a tone mixed both with admiration and defeat, "I’d expect no less from a Silverveil."