I stayed near the balcony I had used to slip in as the castle rocked for a moment. It made it easier to get caught, but the ability to jump out felt more important as the castle shook at the moment of disaster. At the same time, I was also observing the people running around, checking their level of panic.

I only relaxed once I noticed the officers weren't panicking. They were tense and stressed, but they weren't panicking, which was all that I needed to confirm the truth of the matter.

As the explosion subsided outside, I could see two changes, despite the dust cloud that followed the explosion. First, there was a huge pit where the breach had been earlier, radiating a small amount of ordinary mana.

Second, there was no red mana to be seen. The explosion had been magnificent, but clearly, it hadn't been cheap.

Even as I communicated with Zolast to inform him about what had just happened, I tried to make a decision. Leaving the castle was an option, and if I wanted to do that, right now was the best option. However, that meant I still needed to pass through the wall.

And, when I looked at that side, I saw another blue glow, much thicker than what had been there while I was sneaking in. It was probably raised to an emergency stage due to the explosion … but I didn't know whether it would be reduced once the aftershocks were completely over.

Maybe they would maintain it to make sure nothing would escape.

Particularly, the hero that they had been looking for with the intent to kill.

I decided to rely on my second option, to stay in the castle. They had no reason to search for me in their castles … and even if they did, a castle had certain advantages to the outside, where they could just attack. It would be a far more suitable environment to face their challenges.

And, what better way to stay in a castle while undetected than disguising as a servant?

I walked down the stairs until I arrived at the lower floors of the castle, ready to rely on my Concealment and Charisma as needed. Amusingly, neither was required. People were running around, each with their emergency task to repair the castle or reinforce the wards, some carrying mana stones, others carrying bricks and metal plates.

All I had to do was walk with a purpose, and not a single person questioned my presence until I arrived at the storage room.

And, there, I changed out of the armor and put on a robe that the servants had been wearing, giving me an excuse to be in the storage room. Then, I went toward where the food crates were wiggled in between and started waiting.

Soon, I learned that my decision to stay in the castle was the correct one. The sound of constant explosions reached my ear … and, the scraps of discussion I had been hearing confirmed that they weren't fighting against an enemy.

No, they were bombing the entire area … arguably to make sure that no cultist was captured, but I had a feeling that the real aim was to make sure 'the hero' was dead.

I shuffled in place, trying to settle. It was good … and it was bad. With my sole skill destroyed, my connection with the God of Destruction was finally gone. And, with it, I had hoped that he believed me to be dead.

It was slightly more than blind hope. Despite months of staying away, no one had searched for me behind the wall, which implied that they had never suspected my ability to bypass the wall. And, since my abilities were not enough to bypass the wall from their perspective, it also wasn't enough to survive the explosion.

However, the military was still doing their best to scour the area completely, implying that whatever was going on with Authority was an even bigger deal than I had first presumed.

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I wanted to experiment further in order to see exactly what was going on with it, but that was not possible. Whatever phenomenon it was that had allowed me to reach the Astral world easily seemed to be limited to the nature of the breach. And, after the explosion, I had lost that ability, likely due to whatever magic trick was keeping that access blocked reasserting itself.

However, I wasn't sure whether such experimentation would have been wise even if it were possible.

No need to risk getting caught.

As I was hidden behind a bunch of food crates, I decided to take a long, twelve-hour sleep, which I more than deserved, trusting my Perception to wake me up if anyone walked near. Luckily, emergency food stores were not the thing that was needed most during an emergency repair.

After my well-earned nap, I suddenly found myself with nothing to do. I wanted to annoy Zolast, but he was too busy to deal with my entertainment. I asked him about it, but he just said my Ability came at a very inconvenient time. He also mentioned something about a little political mess waiting for me once I returned but didn't give any other details.

Likely just to annoy me.

Still, he was also able to confirm that the military was going to go through with their cleansing for three days, meaning I had a lot of time to kill. I needed something to fill that time.

Experimenting with mana was certainly out of the question, as a flare would have been enough to reveal my presence. So, I decided to limit myself to some controlled physical exercises.

I took a deep breath as I pressed my foot down on the polished floor, going through the exact patterns Artmiss had been using during the battle, my Memory stat high enough to perfectly copy them. I didn't try to replicate the mana stat, but I started going through the patterns, my imaginary sword flashing as my left foot swept around to shift my balance.

The movement felt unnatural even with the System. I had to repeat it several times before I started to understand the trick behind it. It required me to use Agility to shift my center of balance in a way that wasn't supposed to be physically possible, just like how Strength allowed me to easily lift several thousand pounds without regard for the rules of physics

. It was an interesting concept, making me realize that for all my Stats, I hadn't delved into the potential hidden in them, limiting myself to surface-level understanding.

I shifted my weight back and forth, doing my best to break down the patterns of movement behind the skill. Maybe, if I could get a better understanding of the movements, I could design a better exercise for me to truly develop my Stats, maybe one that could even help the kids Awaken their stats, making our organization —

[Stat Potential Awakened: Intelligence

Accept / Reject]

I couldn't help but chuckle at the sudden burst. All those annoying meditation sessions, trying to awaken that stat … and that was the way it was Awakened. I couldn't help but wonder about the sudden sense of familiarity. It was almost like I had copied the fleeting sensation that I felt when Zolast Awakened it.

[+1 Intelligence]

[-1 Stat Point]

The difference was fascinating … but underwhelming at the same time. Despite its name, I didn't feel like I got smarter. But maybe that was my mistake in the first place as I tried to Awaken it. I was trying to get something that would make me think differently.

A better way to define it was to say my thoughts moved faster … I started repeating the earlier trick, and I could sense myself making connections far more rapidly.

[+9 Intelligence]

[-9 Stat Point]

And, just like that, my thoughts gained even more speed. Now, not only could I deconstruct the moves I remembered from Artmiss' duel, but I could also think about designing a better smuggling ring at the same time without sacrificing quality and play a game of mental chess, all at the same time — not that I was a good chess player even with Intelligence boosting me.

Soon, I shifted my full attention back to deconstructing what I remembered from the fight and continued to build those exercises that would help me get a better sense of my Stats. I first focused on my Agility, feeling like a gust of smoke, untouchable and flexible. As I worked on it, I could feel my stat responding almost in kind.

As I played around, I shifted from Agility to Strength, my movements sharp and domineering. I wasn't basing it on Artmiss' skill, but Baron Maell instead. He had his faults, many of them, but the way he fought was an amazing display of the potential of the Stats, allowing me to base a training pattern on it successfully.

Too successfully, I realized as I brought my fist against one of the crates, not expecting anything to happen. After all, I was just trying to create a movement, my arm moving slowly, like a teacher showing the details of a punch to his student.

So, I certainly didn't expect the crate to crack loudly the moment my fingers touched … a sense of … Strength radiating from my fingers.

"Lucky that those mana cannons are loud enough to be deafening," I said with a sigh even as I cleaned the mess as much as possible.

Still, despite the close call, I was glad for the discovery.

Maybe the purists that Zolast mentioned when we first met were onto something.