-Seraphiel POV-
I was still gathering my excitement from the battle and the chaotic end and had yet to fully process Calux's words.
"Seems like it's your lucky day Seraphiel."
I looked at Calux in surprise and couldn't curb my excitement.
Did the skill book that drop be a good for me?
Am I getting a new skill?
She still couldn't believe how easy going Calux was.
Other nobles in a situation like this would perhaps try to profit before giving something like a drop to her, after all if she was being honest, although she landed a good hit, most of the damage was done by Calux himself, so it was fine if he kept the skill for himself, she was already getting the boss core to improve her core and body rank.
But Calux wasn't like that, although it wasn't long since she had met him, her instinct said he was honest when he didn't expect anything from her, and this was his own kindness in a way, it was natural for him.
I saw Calux walk up to me, and I was bubbling with excitement to see what skill was dropped.
I picked it up, and the Apex Network screen popped up and I couldn't help but gasp.
--
Apex Network
Item: Skill book
Skill Name: Armament Rain
Rank: Scales with Rank
Required Affinity: Origin
Description:
Depending on how much mana you decide to sacrifice for the use of the skill, multiple armaments of those you have proficient understanding of their origin with may be chosen to be rained upon an enemy.
*The minimum is 25% of your total mana pool*
Current Understood Armaments: Common Sword, Common Spear
--
I read the information once, twice, and each of my minds were on full overdrive analyzing what I was reading.
I honestly couldn't believe it.
And in my excitement, my composure broke...
"Holy shit Calux!"
"This is insane, it's a highly offensive spell finally!"
In my excitement I couldn't contain myself and I instinctively hugged Calux who was a few feet away from me.
As soon as I hugged him, I was suddenly aware of what I was doing, I was about to separate and apologize, after all I barely know this man, but suddenly I felt something on my head.
A simple gesture, a head pat, his simple caress suddenly removed all fatigue I had, but of course I could feel the heat going to my cheeks and quickly separated.
"I. I. Sorry!"
"I got to excited!"
Suddenly, I saw him laugh.
Laughing at me can you believe this?!
"Hahahah!"
"It's fine Seraphiel, I knew you would be excited, hell I wish I would have gotten something as cool as that skill!"
I felt my cheeks warm even more with his light laughter, as if my embarrassment was not of his concern!
Ugh, this hateful man, I let my guard down too easily around him.
-Normal Pov-
"Alright, alright, let's get out of here."
Calux pointed to the portal that had appeared at the center of the cavern, and started walking towards it.
Seraphiel looked around, and followed him, still so full of excitement.
..
Stepping out of the portal, they arrived at where they had originally entered and were greeted by the same two guards.
The surprise in the guards was evident, since the rift behind them closed just after they got out meaning they cleared the rift.
One had to understand, that if you returned through a return portal that was either at the start of where you enter the rift, or sometimes in secret spaces through the middle of the rift, the rift would not close, since it was not cleared.
That was not the case this time around, these two kids entered the rift alone two and a half hours ago and already cleared it.
None of them had visible damage on them, although they could of used healing potions, but healing potions didn't fix major damage on the body quickly, which meant at most they had suffered scuffs or minor damage to their bodies.
Snapping out of their thoughts, both of them actually said the same thing at the same time.
"Congratulations on your first rift clear my lord!"
"Congratulations on your first rift clear my lord!"
Calux and Seraphiel looked at each other and shared a look of amusement, they were aware of the thoughts the guards had, it was unprecedented that two awakeners, one of them being below the rank of the rift would actually clear it.
"Thank you for your praise, now you are relieved of your posts, since the rift has been cleared."
"We're going home now."
They were around a mile away from the closest city and they could take the portal to Astralis, which was the main city of the Dukedom, and where Calux lived, therefore they decided to just walk to the city and enjoy the scenery.
There weren't many beasts on these open roads, and the few that were around were F rank beasts that would never dare get close to neither of them.
..
Around a half hour later, they were finally at the city, and got transported back to Astralis.
Walking out of the portal, there was already a carriage waiting for them both, so they could relax and talk while they got home.
"You know Calux, although we were never in real danger thanks to our skills, I have to say this experience is an eye opener, even you as strong as you area couldn't kill the beast easily."
Calux nodded approvingly, but he knew he hadn't gone all out because of caution.
"Well, I could have perhaps ended it quickly, but then we wouldn't of learned anything."
Seraphiel looked at him questioningly.
"Well, say I spammed spatial banishment until my mana got drained, maybe we would have killed the boss in seconds right?"
Seraphiel nodded, understanding his train of thought, but waited for him to continue.
"But what would we have learned?"
"What if the beast had a special regeneration ability that we didn't know of and my mana had gotten drained easily?"
"Raw power isn't everything, we need to predict the unpredictable."
"Although I had Nyra, I acted as if I didn't that way we never got comfortable."
Seraphiel finally understood.
This mentality, it wasn't about analyzing, it was about predicting.
Using the worst outcomes as predictions, and have your actions be wary because of it, because you never know what can truly happen in a rift.
"You know Calux, it surprises me how much instinct you have, I have multiple minds thinking at once, but this instinct, I still have to develop it way further."
Calux nodded slowly, but in his mind, he went back to all that training he did, all those nights he spent training himself to the bone even if his mother wanted him to rest.
He wanted to be the best, he wanted to awaken, and he had sharpened everything he could as a normal human to help get him an edge.
"As you can imagine, I was always under a lot of stress for not awakening early, and I felt that every day I didn't awaken, I was another step behind someone that had."
"Therefore, I trained my self more than I should have, and thankfully gained an edge that has helped me, also after awakening to be honest those constructs I fight are very nasty and my wounds are very real, I didn't tell mom to avoid her worrying it, but I learned to try and not get hit."
Seraphiel opened her eyes wide at the realization, Calux had been training himself to the bone since he was a kid, and even after he awakened, he ignored pain and getting hurt just for the sake of getting stronger.
I can't be left behind, I need to be just as strong as him.
Indirectly, looking at Calux's determination, a new fire was lit under Seraphiel that would help her improve by leaps and bounds.