9 An unpleasant Meeting (2)

[You've gained 60 exp by killing a Slime!]

[Due to the effect of [Studying] you'll gain another 60 exp!]

[Level up!]

And again, the talent window appeared in front of my eyes. This time, however, I didn't need to actively think about what I chose, as the talent [Intuitive Reasoning] just did that for me.

"[Warrior's Respite] it is then."

Even though I always complain about Irene's strength, I had to admit that my own gifts weren't fair too.

A system and two broken skills that help me level up faster than I should?

No matter how you look at it, there was no way that something like that could be considered fair.

In only four years, I have reached a level that most of mankind could probably not even hope to achieve.

"Status."

================

[Weiss Azelio]

Age: 12

Level: 42

Attribute: Ice

Mana: 6157/6500

Exp: 2/42.000

——Stats——

Strength: 42

Agility: 42

Stamina: 42

Durability: 42

Mana: 65

Intelligence: 86

——Arts——

[Imperial Sword art (Mastered) {Rare}]

A Sword Art, that is taught by the knights of the imperial army. It is widely known as one of the most effective sword arts due to its simplicity.

Progression: 79%

——Skills——

[Reading (active) {Legendary}]

Allows the user to read, memorize and understand anything they've read.

[Studying (passive) {Unique}]

User significantly learns faster than the average person.

[Blizzard slash (active) {Unique}]

(Evolution of the skill [Hunter's claw])

Deliver an overhead slash, driven by the maddening force of a blizzard, that could freeze the earth to its core.

[Rising Winter (active) [Unique]]

A slash from below that freezes anything in its path. Even the heat of a burning inferno isn't enough to stop the ice from freezing it.

[Freezing Flourish (active) {Rare++}]

(Evolution of the skill [Flourish])

Spin around and do a powerful slash that will ignore blocking to some extent and freeze anything it hits.

[Show more...]

——Characteristics——

[Female lead]

[Beautiful]

[Ice Queen]

[Graceful Aura]

[Kind]

[Devoted]

[Genius]

[In love with protagonist]

[Hardworking]

[Talented]

================

Not only the growth of my stats was insane but also my skills were incomprehensible.

Due to [Reading], I possessed an overwhelming amount of knowledge and understanding of the magic system and mana itself, which helped me immensely with the creation of new skills.

Though, there still were some limits to that, as I still didn't possess the required mana to fully understand the mana system and such to such an extent that I could create [Hero] skills or above.

Well, that was fine, though. I am still stronger than Weiss would've been at this point.

I couldn't recall up to which chapter I read anymore, but I think I dropped the novel at about chapter 160 or so.

And to that point, I am sure that the previous Weiss didn't reach the level that I was on right now yet.

Hell, the only attack that she used, which made use of her ice attribute, were little Ice needles she used for distraction. And to no one's surprise, Ice needles weren't really effective against powerful enemies.

However, while I was sure that I was stronger than Weiss, I wasn't so sure about that when it comes to the protagonist.

Even though he was the main character of the novel, barely anything was revealed about his power or his thoughts, as he usually could've just ended everything with basic attacks.

In addition to that, the novel was written from an outsider's perspective, so the protagonist thoughts were never explained, which frustrated me, especially in the later chapters.

I could just not understand what he was thinking.

Well, he acted like a goofball most of the time, and everything still worked out somehow, but I was just really curious about the thought process of the protagonist.

Looking back at it now, it really wasn't a bad novel, and the only reason I dropped it was because of the harem, which just really annoyed me.

I hated all the female characters, including Weiss.

"Let's stop thinking about such useless things now..:"

Shaking my head, I put my sword back into its sheath before my eyes wandered to the [Quest] window on the side of my view.

===============

[Quest: Destroy the monster camp near the Fukuhagi Village!]

Destroyed monster camps: 0/1

Rewards: 2500 Gold

===============

While there wasn't a literal Quest mechanic by the system itself, the system provided me with a display that at least showcased to me the current quests I had accepted.

Sort of like in actual games, when you accept a mission from an npc or such, I guess.

The mission that Irene picked out for me was a pretty high-ranking mission that would've required me to at least be a B-rank adventurer.

However, the difficulty of the mission wasn't all that high- It was probably at a difficulty that every B-rank or even some C-rank adventurers could've solved the mission without any difficulties, which was the reason why the reward was so shit.

"Well, at least I didn't have to start with delivery missions. That would've been very troublesome..."

Not because it was difficult, but because such missions were a pain in the ass and a literal waste of time.

In that regard, I was grateful to Irene.

Still, that didn't mean that I didn't want to beat the living shit out of her someday for always doing things without my permission.

And my brother too. They both deserved that.

"The monster camp should be somewhere nearby..."

I muttered as I kept walking through the deserted forest outskirts of the empire.

As I had already reached level 42, I had also gotten 42 talents, which gave me very slight buffs. Although all of those buffs or perks weren't useful if used alone, combining all of them also created an enormous disadvantage for me.

Right now, for the scouting of the monster camp, the Talents [Intuitive Reasoning] and [Trackdown] were coming quite in clutch.

These two talents, combined with [Reading], helped me to locate the monster camp without breaking a single sweat, as I didn't even have to actively think about it.

The information just popped into my mind.

And with the help of those skills, I found the cave, which almost certainly led to the monster camp in mere minutes.

"I should probably proceed quietly right now."

I whispered, while crouching, making use of the talent [Stealthy cat] as I did so.

And with silent steps, I slowly sneaked into the cave, trying to hide in the shadows so as to not get detected.

Even though I had confidence that I could take the monster camp head-on, I didn't want to take any chances.

Arrogance leads to one's downfall, after all.

"Strange..."

Drop— Drop— Drop—

The cave was quiet. Except for the occasional water drops that fell from the spikes on the top of the cave, there was not a single other sound in here, which was quite surprising, as I expected a monster camp to be louder.

In fact, I expected there to be random screaming or fighting every 2 seconds and sounds that would reveal their location almost instantly.

Maybe they were just far in the cave?

While I couldn't hear any monsters, I could certainly smell the scent of blood lingering around here, which confirmed that there should've been a monster camp nearby.

However, even after almost 5 minutes of sneaking into the cave, I couldn't find a single monster.

No, I couldn't even hear any sound of a monster, let alone spot any of them. It was completely quiet inside the cave..

Way too quiet for my taste.

And as if speaking of the devil, almost simultaneously, as I thought that, the Quest display on the side of my view had changed.

Ding—!

[Quest completed!]

===============

[Quest: Destroy the monster camp near the Fukuhagi Village!]

Destroyed monster camps: 1/1

Rewards: 2500 Gold -> You can get the reward now!

===============

What the—?

But I hadn't even done anything yet?

So how come the Quest was completed, when it wasn't me who completed it?

Furrowing my eyebrows, I took a step back, silently trying to get away as fast as possible.

Although I didn't know what was happening, I surely didn't want to stay in this cave any longer.

Whatever completed the quest for me was at least on the level of a high C to B-rank adventurer, so avoiding conflict was the best choice.

Not only that, but [Intuitive Reasoning] also told me that it wasn't safe to stay here any longer, so with silent steps, I tried to get away from there as fast as possible.

Tap— Tap— Tap—

Hearing the sound of incoming steps, I froze up, holding my breath so as to not get noticed by whoever was coming.

Fear.

That's what I felt at the moment.

Normally, I could've sensed it when a person was approaching me, as my talents had increased my senses exponentially. However, it didn't work this time.

The person, who was leisurely walking around the cave as if they were taking a stroll in the park, didn't have any presence.

At least not one that I could feel with my current abilities, which confirmed a possibility that I didn't even want to think about until now.

The person was around my level, at least.

While I could sense weaker opponents with ease, even if they are trying to hide their presence, it gets harder the closer they are to my own level.

Closing my eyes, I used mana to heighten my senses to try to detect the person while also hiding my own presence.

...It seemed like I was right.

As I increased my concentration on sensing, I slowly started to feel the other person.

He was not standing very far from me, maybe 20 or 25 meters away at most. His height seemed to reach around 172 cm and he seemed to be male.

On his hip, he wore a sheathed sword, so the possibility that he was a swordsman was pretty high.

Besides that, he also had some strange item in his left arm, although I couldn't exactly determine what it was.

Calming down my racing heart, I tried to take a deep breath, without letting that man notice me.

Fortunately, he didn't seem to, as he just walked straight past the rock that I'd been hiding behind, not even suspecting that anyone else could've been there.

As the man walked even further in the distance, I took a peek at what he looked like.

I could only see his back from that perspective, which didn't give me very much insight into what or who he could've been.

Almost about to just give up, an interesting thought came into my mind.

...well..would it work?

When I determined that he was far enough away, I squeezed my eyes together as I used [Reading].

However, what happened after was something I certainly did not expect.

[Due to the Skill [Liar's Mind] the target's status can't be read.]

"Huh?"

Involuntarily, I let out a sound of surprise but didn't have the time to further think about it, as my senses were screaming at me to raise my sword.

CLING—!

Like a thunderbolt, the man turned around and lunged at me at a speed that surpassed even my own, slashing his sword at me.

Just in time, I could have raised my sword and blocked that sudden attack.

Seeing that, the man stepped back, glaring at me through his blonde hair. His crimson-red eyes scanned me, watching for any sudden movement I could've made.

In an aggregated voice, the man — no, the boy spoke, his eyes still fixated on me.

"Who the hell are you?"