The world turned to black and white.
Jericho's body tensed up, but he remained calm and kept his guard up.
There was no way for the man to know whether he could still be attacked whilst Levian was invisible.
The answer was no. Levian could tell.
However, the skill had a specific trait. One that guaranteed his first strike upon reappearing would be critical.
Nyx's attack power was 321, and its critical hit multiplier was 5x. That totalled 1605.
There was no way to calculate exactly of how much damage such a strike would do to Jericho, as you had to factor in strike location, strike velocity, a boss's defence, elemental resistances and much more.
But Levian had to rely on his mythical weapon, and his 12 strength points to deal enough damage to destroy the man.
And if it couldn't, then the 2 seconds of fear that is applied after the first strike would grant him another window to strike and finish the job.
Jericho remained unmoving. His guard was raised for the entire six seconds. A translucent shield of body armour even began to form around his entire body like a shell.
He expected an attack and planned to defend against it.
Levian gave him what he expected.
---
The world returned to normal, and Levian had positioned himself behind the boss.
He swung the sword with all of his might. The black flames roared through the air as his blade travelled.
The blade bit into Jericho's neck, and the blood sprayed like a fountain. It struggled to cut the man's head off, but it was lodged in there.
The large man let out a cry of pain, but he was not dead... yet.
The flames of Nyx began to eat at his body, and due to fear of the skill, Jericho's body tensed, and his shield dropped.
He no longer had his protection.
The sword cut deeper into the wound, until finally, it burned away at the man's spine.
The darkness began to envelop his giant body, setting him alight.
Levian watched as the boss's health dwindled away at rapid speed. There was no time for Nyx's talent, Nightbloom Reap to even activate.
Then, after only a few seconds...
[Jericho Defeated]
[Platinum Dungeon Cleared]
[Ephelem saved: side request completed]
At the same time, the man's crumpled body fell to the ground, and a platinum chest suddenly appeared too.
Levian stood there, panting and dribbling blood.
Yet a wide smile etched onto his face, as his body filled with pure joy.
Once again he had done it.
He had cleared a dungeon much stronger than he should have been able to handle.
He looked down at Nyx, his mythical longsword.
And then, he let out a war cry for the entire dungeon to hear.
"I DID IT!"
---
The quest rewards had miraculously ended up inside the large platinum chest. This time, it was something worth Levian's attention.
Inside, he found a skill book, followed by an epic weapon.
He checked out the skill book first, as it was his first time acquiring one.
So far, Levian had only used skills linked to his weapon, Nyx. He had not received any personal skills upon awakening, which he guessed was due to being unclassed.
Being unclassed wasn't as bad as it sounded. Oftentimes, it was something that awakened naturally after gaining access to the system.
Most awakened of the bladeblessed clan ended up with classes similar to 'knight', due to their history with the blade.
Levian opened the skill book, and even though these books contained no words, the basic knowledge for the skill appeared within his system.
[Skill Acquired: Rain of Jericho]
[Rank: A]
[Mana usage: 25]
[Cooldown: 30s]
[Summon a barrage of arrows that rain from the sky. If an arrow hits someone of rank mid-gold or lower, the target takes +50% more damage for the next ten seconds.]
Levian closed the book and placed it back in its chest.
It was a powerful skill, especially useful for those ranked below mid-gold.
But Malachi was high-gold, so the unique effect would not work against him.
I'll have to upgrade it first if I plan on using it...
After acquiring the skill, Levian took the epic weapon out of the chest. It was a simple mace, with decent stats; however, he had no intention of ever using the weapon as it was.
He placed it straight into his soulspace and would withdraw it once he returned to his world.
The weapon would become legendary grade in an instant.
The chest was insignificant, but that was never the reason why an awakened entered the portals.
In truth, it was all to reap the benefits of their system. The stat and rank increases were great, but even better were the natural skill awakenings that could be acquired as well.
So with hurried steps, Levian made his way towards the exit portal and returned home.
---
[Rank Increase! Low Silver >> Mid silver]
[Rank Increase! Mid Silver >> High Silver]
[Stats Increased!]
Health ~ 12 >> 15(Silvers gain 15 life force points for each stat increase)
Stamina ~ 10 >> 11
Strength ~ 12 >> 14
Agility ~ 8 >> 9
Magic ~ 10 >> 10 (Silvers gain 15 Mana for each stat increase)
Defence ~ 5 >> 6
[Life Force: 210]
[Mana: 150]
[Rank: High-Silver]
[Skill awakened: Sovereign Draw]
[Rank: SSS]
Mana Usage: 500]
[Cooldown: 86400s]
[Summon a weapon from your soulspace and attack instantly. This strike has 5x increased speed, and if it lands, it instantly brings the opponent down to 10% of their life force. If the original strike would reduce their life force below that threshold, the target is killed instead.]
[Every head must bow to the sovereign]
Once again, as Levian emerged from the portal, his body felt like it was being made anew.
He fell to the ground panting for air, though it struggled to enter his lungs.
Like before, he heard the sounds of heavy footsteps approaching him and the rough voice of his father.
"You... you actually did it?"
His words were filled with absolute disbelief.
In just a few days, his child, who was believed to be the most useless, had now somehow cleared a platinum rank dungeon, and at only low-Silver.
Levian, still suffering from his low-life force, managed to look up and stare at his father triumphantly.
"I did."
And it seems I've managed to awaken another broken skill...
---
Don't forget to gift power stones if you're enjoying the story!