Chapter 3: SS-Rank Skill
After dealing with the veiled kindness and fake warmth from Madam Seles and her children, Lucian was ushered to rest in his room by the butler.
As the adopted son of the Valemont family, Lucian was treated equally in the eyes of the outsiders, and Lucian himself believes in that fact, but staring at the big room that looks no different from a hotel's suite, a wry smile of mockery lifted the corners of his lips.
He must have been really blind in his first life.
The new room given to him does not have any trace of the things that he had used as a child. After all, he stayed in this same villa for seven years. The toys and treasured trinkets that he liked when he was a child were probably thrown, or burned the moment he was sent out to live in the isolated island.
Lucian wanted to smack his past self, and looked inside his head to see what he was thinking at that time to really believe that the Valemont treated him as family.
He shook his head, settled his luggage next to the bed and sat down on the couch with the Highcrest admission envelope placed on the coffee table in front of him.
"Hmm…I better check on the system first."
Leaning on the back of the couch, Lucian raised his gaze and opened his status screen with a thought.
Host: Lucian Crownwald
Race: Evolved Human
Storage Type: Innate Storage (Usable)
Awakened Power: Mineral Flow (Currently not usable)
Main Mission Progress: 100%
Mission Ranking: SS
Mission Reward/s: Life Rewind Card 1x (Used), SS-rank skill 1x (Pick from the System Skill bank), 5,000,000 system coins (Buy Skills in the System Skill Bank and Items in the System Mall, or Convert to Blue Sphere's Currency)
Extra Reward: Mirror Portal to Doomsday Domain (Can only be used twice a month, and has to be recharged with energy)
After reading the additional words on his status screen, Lucian could only stare with his mouth agape from shock.
The life rewind card did not come as a surprise, but the chance to pick one SS-rank skill and the 5,000,000 system coins are too precious.
In the Doomsday domain, aside from the main mission that was given by the system the moment it went online, he could only earn a dozen or so system coins for a month after completing two or three side missions.
The system was so stingy with the system coins, but even those dozen or so coins can feed an army of one thousand for one month. The purchasing power of the system coins is amazing.
Lucian suffered a lot to save 1000 system coins for five months, so that he could build the foundation walls of the Crown Stronghold.
And now, the stingy system gave him 5,000,000 system coins.
Lucian slowly came out of the shock, and an overwhelming surge of excitement rattled through his nerves.
It took him a couple of minutes to calm down his crazily surging blood.
If he thought about it some more, then saving 500,000 humans in the Doomsday domain amounted to rewarding him with 10 system coins per person.
"Hoooo…calm down…I need to plan ahead to avoid the past from recurring."
Lucian stood up, and walked around the room while thinking of the subsequent events that happened in his first life after he entered the Highcrest University.
After entering Highcrest University, he stayed in the dormitory for a year as it was required for every freshman students. The Valemont was fanning the flames of the evilness and corruption of the Crownwald family every time he went home in the weekends, and the plan to uproot them was discussed by the time he started his second semester as a freshman.
He was tasked to deal with the two children of the Eldest master and next patriarch of the Crownwald, his father, Lucas Crownwald.
Lucian was hesitant at first, but the Valemont forged evidences of the cruel misdeeds of the Crownwald. Proof of the covert acts of the Crownwald targeting the business of the Valemont, and the smaller business owners that earned their ire was shown to his oblivious self, and he fell right into the trap, believing every single word his 'kind' foster parents and siblings says.
They even acted pitiful, crying out the domineering acts of the Crownwald at targeting them in various social banquets within the high society.
Thinking he is doing something for the betterment of society, and to repay the gratitude he owes to the Valemont, Lucian made use of the skills he learned in the isolated island, and managed to get close to the two Crownwald in Highcrest.
A scene of bloodshed, a half-crushed vehicle hanging on the side of a cliff, unbelieving looks of betrayal, and lifeless eyes flashed in Lucian's mind.
"C-Cien, call for help! H-Help my second brother out first! He's b-bleeding so much."
"C-Cien, w-what are y-you doing? Quickly call for help!"
Screams of despair was followed by the torturous rolling sound of the car falling down the cliff.
He froze in place as that memory surfaced in his mind.
That was the scene of his second brother and elder sister's death. It was a planned car crash accident that took both their lives.
The death of his second brother and elder sister crushed the spirits of the entire Crownwald family.
It was merely an accident, and no evidence was found that it was a result of foul play.
That was the cue that the Valemont needed to deal with the Crownwald family. They needed a weakness, and he was the one that served it to them on a silver platter.
Lucian's breath hitched, his hand clutched at his chest, as a piercing pain shot through it from the inside out.
His ragged, shivering breaths echoed in the room. Beads of cold sweat formed and flowed down his forehead, his tall figure swaying as his knees buckled down the carpeted floor.
"Hah…hah…hah…It'll be fine…I-It hasn't happened yet…Everything will be fine…I can rewrite it."
Lucian muttered with light slowly gathering in his pupils. He took three deep puffs of air to scatter the fog in his brain.
After slightly gathering his crumbling mental state, Lucian took a simple white tee, a boxer and a faded denim pants to the bathroom.
He came out with wet messy hair and a refreshed state of mind.
The return must have caused immense stress to his body without knowing. And that is alongside his first life memories that he is carrying like tons of regret on his shoulders.
But, as an evolved human with a system, Lucian would be a bigger fool, and a useless one at that, if he could not use such advantages to succeed in this life.
Lucian once again opened the status screen of the system and directed it to the SS-rank category of the skill bank.
SS-Rank Skills:
All-seeing eyes (Ability to see through objects, walls, and the distance of 500 meters, can be used for three times a day)
Invisibility (Ability to turn invisible for one hour in the span of one day)
Complete Recovery (Ability to completely recover at the hands of death, can be used for three times a month)
Lucian felt like bowing down to the system while intently looking at the first three skills on the SS-rank skills category.
"There might be a cooldown, but each skill is something out of this world."
Although the three skills looked tempting enough, Lucian kept calm and continued his task of scrolling down to look at each skill.
He only has one chance to pick an SS-rank skill, and he wants the best that could help him in the long run.