D Rank and Sleight of Hand (2)

Tartarus, Night.

Elias curled his lips into a wide smile as he looked at his own hand. He could feel a soft, invisible energy cover his hand and fingers.

At that moment, a transparent blue screen appeared in front of his sight.

[Sleight of Hand — A legendary thief among thieves. A magician among magicians. Nothing can escape from your grasp. Attention and stealth is your forte, none can notice your thievery.]

[Requirements: 1,000/1,000 Steals (Complete!)]

[(Passive: In Effect) In any attempt of thievery, the target won't notice your actions. Your hand is nimble, swift, accurate and precise, like a legendary thief. Misdirection is your domain.

(Thievery Skills), (Trickery Skills), (Agility C+ when stealing), (Hand Mastery), (Finger Flexibility), (Misdirection).]

[(Note: The chances of stealing unnoticed is lowered if the enemy is stronger.) (If mana is not used, the effect is considerably lower.)]

At the same time, Elias found new information and knowledge about thievery and trickery suddenly appearing in his mind.

Furthermore, his control of his own hands were raised to an astounding degree. He could now freely move each of his fingers with flexibility and dexterity like an expert thief.

He even has some hidden sixth sense on how to use them properly and efficiently.

Examining the changes brought by the skill, Elias sighed in genuine admiration.

It was truly magical and wonderous.

With the thievery and trickery skills in his mind along with his newfound extraordinary mastery misdirection, Elias felt like he was some sort of fictional magician that could steal anything and conjure strange magic tricks.

Overjoyed and excited, he wanted to use it at once to test its effects, however his rationality told him there was a CCTV camera in the room watching his movements.

"I'll have a chance later…"

Elias sighed in regret as he calmed his feelings down. It was strange. Although he was thinking of leaving this world, he was also genuinely attracted to its wonders.

After calming his feelings down, he started to think about where the skill came from—the will of the world.

In the world of Aegis, there exists some kind of "will of the world", a mysterious formless will that allows people to gain skills easily and power up in advancements.

Very little was known about it and its existence was still in question. However people hypothesised that such a will truly exists, otherwise where did the skills that were gained through requirements come from?

As an author, Elias also knew little of it. Of course, his knowledge was still far vaster than the people in this world.

According to him,

'The World Will was awakened when mana and dungeons arrived. Upon its awakening, sensing the danger and extinction of its inhabitants, it helped all beings—whether human or animal—in the dark and gave them skills and advancements.

When Rankers advance to a new rank, the World Will silently give them help and evolve their bodies and mana to a whole new level.

When Rankers achieve a hidden requirement, the World Will would give them a new skill to reward them for their efforts.'

Elias had experienced both; when he advanced to low D-Rank and now when he accomplished the requirements for the Sleight of Hand skill.

"Speaking of advancements, it's time..."

Elias muttered to himself in slight excitement. After working hard for weeks straight and engaging in intense training without break, his efforts finally paid off and bore fruit.

Although hewas still short of reaching middle D Rank, but he had something to solve that and make him advance at the moment.

Elias muttered "system" underneath his breath.

[Hero Creator System]

[Name: Elias Vito Castellano (Elias Roan)

Race: Human

Talent: Indomitable Spirit

Rank: D-

Level: 23

Unused status points: 500

STR: D- (77/200)

AGI: D- (77/200)

STA: D- (81/200)

CONST: D- (80/200)

INT: E (51/100)

MAG: E- (43/100)

GROWTH: D+ (0/200)

SKILLS: [Way of Castellano], [Ferocious Underdog], [Gaze of Intimidation]....]

Looking at his stats, Elias smiled widely for a moment beforee allocated his unused status points to strength, agility, stamina and constitution at the same time.

"Allocate."

[Unused status points: 500 -> 15

STR: D- (200/200) -> D (0/200)

AGI: D- (200/200) -> D (0/200)

STA: D- (200/200) -> D (0/200)

CONST: D- (200/200) -> D (0/200)]

At that moment, Elias felt a qualitative change occur within his body.

[Rank: (D-) -> (D)!]

Similar to when he advanced to low D-Rank, his body experienced great changes and upgrades. His strength, agility, stamina and constitution considerably increased!

Additionally, his mana shone brightly as its quality improved and increased in volume making him more powerful and stronger.

His long, intense hard work finally paid off!

Elias now advanced to middle D-Rank and acquired [Sleight of Hand] skill at the same time, completing his original goals.

'Although the change isn't as drastic when I advanced from high E-Rank to low D-Rank… this is still quite an increase.'

Elias thought as he examined his own body and tried out the changes himself. He estimated that if he fought Taurus now, he could now deal some additional damage and even block an attack.

Of course, that was only if Taurus was not using mana and letting himself get hit.

But regardless that was already wonderful enough!

Taurus was a veteran C+ Ranker, a strong and valuable force of nature in any organisation. In the Castellano Family, he was one of his father's best subordinates.

'Finally…'

Elias sighed quietly. His two goals were now achieved, now the only thing left is to plan for his escape and execute it…

Crack!

At that moment, a sudden crack snapped him out of his thinking. He snapped his head to the corner, spotting a hole suddenly appearing in space, leading to a void.

A hole in space appeared in the corner, and walking across the space hole was a small, dwarven-like figure with a ruddy face.

"I've finished your task, boss."

Goblin said slowly as he entered the cell. He let out a tiresome sigh that made people have an impression he was being overworked.

In his chest pocket, there was a large paper scroll.

Perfect timing! Elias smiled widely as he approached the half-dwarven. When he was close enough, he waved his hand slightly.

Feeling somewhat strange, Goblin was wary of his boss' approach. However, his eyes suddenly widened in surprise.

In front of him, Elias was holding the large scroll he kept in his chest pocket.

Feeling disbelieving, Goblin hurriedly checked his chest pocket and found that the large scroll had indeed disappeared.

"You have a space related skill..?"

Goblin asked, slightly curious and largely alarmed.

However, Elias ignored him and opened up the large scroll instead. On the large scroll, a well drawn illustration of the entire facility was displayed.

There were all kinds of detailed observations and notes, pointing out which one was more dangerous and had more security and conversely which one had less security.

As Elias studied the illustration, his lips curled into a smile that kept getting wider and wider until it reached its limit.

'With these, It's time to escape this hell hole of a prison.'