Chapter 82 - Wanting to move in the shadows

Chapter 82 - Wanting to move in the shadows

"No."

It was a simple small word that carried a lot of meaning. I observed the surprise of the princess in front of me as her lips formed a round o and I further clarified.

"I’ve learnt a few things these past weeks that made me realize being on the spot light isn’t necessarily a good thing. Our cooperation can definitely be established, but I’ll be supporting you behind the shadows."

Calmness returned on her face as she heard this, and I thought about all the things we discussed today. There were many ways I could go about this new development.

"Well, you may be right. I was going to see if you would join the competition that decides who will be replacing a retiring guard, but to create an identity for you covertly would be even easier."

I recalled the veiled in black woman that called herself Night as the ideas I had came into place. I asked her about the positions of all her different forces and found out that she had a secret division of people protecting her called Shadow Guards.

Instead of publicly joining her and becoming her guard captain, I chose to act as one of the figures of her hidden department. I heard her cold voice that held a tinge of allure in it ring out after deciding this.

As for skills rank B or lower, there were too many to count, and I would only choose a few that I saw were compatible with rank B skills like [Eagle Eyes] and a few others that I still actively used so that I could raise their ranks later.

I was setting my sights on higher places as my rank S skills continued to increase and deserved even more attention with how destructive they were. Currently, I was sitting alone in the room absorbing the rank S cores so that I could max my attributes to 350. With how many cores I currently had in hand, reaching it should not be a problem.

Testing [Skill Combination], I was able to produce a few more rank B+ skills that didn’t need mentioning the way they currently were, and would only show some effectiveness after I combine them later to produce some decent rank A hiding, defensive, and support skills. This process would only repeat itself and produce bulks of rank A+ skills that I will be able to make into rank S as time passed.

Since I had some time and didn’t want to play with death testing the EPIC ranked beast that I wasn’t sure if it had gone back to the inner parts of Skypeak Nest or still patrolling in the perimeter, I can use the time I have waiting for the skill proficiency to rise while getting to know this Frozen Kingdom I had plans for.

I’ll start with the Princess whose face always seemed cold, but the voice betrayed the expectation and excitement when she talked to me. The night passed with me monitoring the many skills I was activating, while also spamming skills like [Saint’s Phantom] that didn’t shine with outragous effects to continuously increase proficiency.

It would be a sleepless night, but my body that continued to grow stronger through absorbing essence and the multitude of skills would not be burdened in any way.

When morning came, the princess showed herself in a new veil that was light blue. The black clothed Night was besides her as she told me today would be the day of the competition amongst a few rank S mercenaries and adventures to decide who would be joining as one of her new guards.

We stepped out of the building called the White Courtyard as the figures of Night and I became transparent. Night was one of the few Shadow Guards that would keep close proximity with the Princess, with a few other ones similar to her stationed all over the Snowy Peak ready to reinforce the guards that escorted her around if anything were to happen.

I wasn’t sure if this could be considered paranoia on the Princess’s side as she was being this careful even on her own peak that she controlled, but maybe I could learn a thing or two about going to extremes to stay safe. I would observe the ways of this kingdom and its people before I cement myself into an unshakable position to lead them against the demons that were on their way.