Ajax P.O.V.

It had been a good while since I had ever felt so vulnerable. From the looks of it there was no real danger as the panther beastkin in front of us was the very champion that everyone was expecting to show up so in theory there was nothing to fear. Not only that but the information he had gathered wasn’t all that valuable since I was more than willing to show what I was capable of in the upcoming dungeons and the tournament, I had thought I was strong enough to handle it.

I couldn’t follow the pleasantries between the two kingdom level fighters as the prince and the beastkin were still having a casual conversation. While I had told both Lexi and Anna what happened to me I left out a few things.

First thing I left out was the process. Sure his identification skill only managed to get my name, age, level and stat distribution. What I left out was that he got that on a casual use of his skill, [Enigma] was good enough to give me feedback on how any battle with a skill targeting me went. If this person inspected me again and focused on getting my skills I knew he would get them.

This meant a lot of things but the clearest one of them all was that he had a Legendary Inspection skill. No doubt about it, a casual use left [Enigma] in the same state a rock leaves a window with a gaping hole and cracks throughout. Despite that crushing defeat I could feel that [Enigma] also finally broke through the bottleneck, soon I will have to make a decision on its advancement.

The second big thing that happened was that I instinctively used [Inspector’s Eye] on him the moment he appeared. While he might have a Legendary inspection skill his own privacy skill was clearly not in the same league.

One of the most valuable things we had been taught as part of the Academy, one that was still strictly kept away from commoners, was the difference in skill quality. The gaps between qualities were very different.

The difference in power between a Common skill and an Uncommon one was big, this came at the price of breadth, most easily exemplified with the weapon variations [Swords] were common [Short Swords], [Long Swords], [Great Swords] were all Uncommon. It could also be seen in the regular mana applications [Farming] was Common and [Mana Farming] was Uncommon, this despite the latter being included in the former. This meant that the difference in grade accounted for about thirty skill levels.

The difference in power between an Uncommon skill and a Rare one was medium. The change being that with that jump in power the skills recovered their wide breadth [Swords Master] and other such variations. The difference between such skills was about twenty skill levels.

Between a Rare and an Epic skill the difference in power was small. What made the difference here was complexity. While Rare skills had breadth they were simple in their execution usually only including one action, Epic skills weren’t that much stronger but each was more of a combination of actions. The difference in power here was only about ten skill levels.

Between Epic and Legendary however the gap was massive. Legendary skills got nothing except power over Epic ones, but that power was overwhelming. It equated to about forty-five skill levels. Now obviously when skipping more than one grade it wasn’t a simple process of adding the average difference in power, for every grade you jumped past the first we were taught to decrease the gap by about five levels. That still meant that a Common skill like [Swords] would need to be ninety skill levels above [Sword Legend] in order to equal it. This didn’t take into account the bottleneck bonuses but it drove the point home.

Name : Whisker ‘Shadow’ Blackclaw

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Level : 209

Age : 679

Difficulty : Lethal

Traits : blocked

Resources : blocked

Stats : blocked

Skills : blocked

Whatever the champion's privacy skill was, I had managed to get some information on him. I wasn’t sure what surprised me most, that such a deadly figure was called Whisker, that it was the first time I was seeing a situation where the system added a nickname to a person as a middle name of sorts. Or most likely the most important part, I finally laid eyes on a humanoid above level two hundred.

“You can also lay off me.” The beastkin’s words brought me back to the present. “The kid might not have gotten as much as I did but he also inspected me, color me surprised that he broke through.”

Being called a kid frustrated me a little, there were very few people who still called me that to my face. The only people who still used it were the king and the librarian. Then again I suppose I couldn’t get all too upset about it seeing as the person was close to thirty times my own age.

“Sorry about being so impatient.” the beastkin was now addressing me directly. “I just wanted to see you for myself, there is a wave of people who are starting to believe and depend on you so I wanted to make my own opinion.”

“People who would depend on me for what?” I ask.

“To become my successor of course.” the beastkin smirked, showing off a long sharp canine. “ Right now it’s just a bit of hope but based on your track record there is some legitimacy to it. Who knows in a couple of centuries when I’m truly past my prime you mind end up being the war deterrent. And like any good successor you’re on track to be a much better version of the original. ”

“How so?” I ask.

“If I were to ask you, out of all the prodigies who are seen to be on the rise, which gets targeted for elimination the most?” Shadow asked.

“Area caster.” My answer was instant, it had been drilled into us in every single class on war strategy, if the enemy has a talented area of effect caster you don’t let him grow even if you have to lose the battle, because he might cost you the war.

“Hmph” he chuckled slightly. “That’s certainly the ‘correct’ answer.”

“Stealth prodigies, assassins.” Anna answered right after me.

“Point for the lady.” Shadow nods to her. “ In times of war they have an equal ranking as both can swing the tide one way or the other. Area casters are openly touted as the priority because the nobles want the populace to look on them favorably.”

“The reality is if an assassin prodigy ever springs up any kingdom will do their absolute best to keep them under wraps.” The prince decided to explain it to all of us after activating one of his items to create a privacy bubble around us. “Because if one manages to reach their prime like Shadow here it all but forces mutual assured destruction for their enemies.”

“A good mage might kill half your army but you can just send your ten best people after him and know you will kill him. If he is very strong you make an alliance and have two or three kingdoms do the same.” Shadow explained. “Someone like me, however, if any kingdom managed to win the war against the Republic. My first move will be to sneak into their main dungeon and get as far as I can before going one floor higher and unleashing it all in the heart of their kingdom. We get hunted and killed off even in times of peace.”

“It also doesn’t help that the people in charge are sometimes selfish enough that they are willing to let a threat to the people live since they are safe but an assassin could be a threat especially to them.” Lexi chimed in.

“You’re not wrong there.” Shadow acknowledged. “Which brings us back to you, some people think that you have the potential to grow so powerful that you might be able to enforce the same peace I do without having to unleash a dungeon on a kingdom.”

“I already know I need to watch my back.” I answered.

“That was pretty obvious from your reaction to me.” Shadow said. “You seem to have your guard pretty high up, it’s also not what I wanted to imply, I already know you know to look out for yourself.”

“Then what are you implying?” I asked.

“That there are people who are looking to examine you more closely than a person with one thousand Perception.” he said. “But half of them, if not more, are looking at your character and personality. So long as you prove to them that you are peaceful and want to keep the peace they would be more than happy to help you get that power because they want to keep the peace.”

This wasn’t something I had considered before. I knew that more than one noble in the kingdom was getting behind me as I will be a good war deterrent or asset. I had never considered however, that there might be nobles from other kingdoms who would be willing to help me just as long as they are assured I will be looking to keep the peace and not head to war.