----

Matthias raised a finger, drawing symbols in the air. A small change took place as bits of aura congregated into letters, which displayed Lucian's hidden stats one by one. However, it was only limited to the actual attributes themselves.

"Strength: F+"

"Agility… F+"

"Dexterity F+"

With each disclosure of his personal stats, Lucian's expression grew paler. It was already bad enough that he had to deal with occasional derision from the others, if his stats were thoroughly revealed, then it was bound to increase it to new heights.

The continued mocking of his attributes would become even more of a hindrance to his sanity. Be that as it may, Matthias continued to divulge Lucian's current stats.

"Endurance: F"

"Vitality: F"

"Perception: F"

"Spirit: F+"

"Wisdom: F"

"In short, he is a true F Rank across the board. To be honest, I'm surprised by the lack of negative stats. That alone should be praiseworthy," Matthias stated evenly, glancing at the others for their reaction.

A round of silence occurred as everyone stared at Lucian in awe.

However, it wasn't the awe originating from an amazing deed, but the opposite. They were amazed that someone failed to possess even one stat surpassing the E Rank. Although the Monolith System revealed that the vessel couldn't surpass the indicated Fractal Rating, that was only partly correct.

If the gathered Accumulated Destinies were enough, then the chance to liberate a single stat would appear. However, each successive use caused the required destinies to increase exponentially. This was alongside the preexisting cost of higher stats.

Hence, while some people possessed a Rank Lock, it was technically filled with clauses and could be bypassed. Still, the prerequisite was becoming a Guardian, as it was a special authority unique to a Guardian.

Nevertheless, Cezar still remained frozen in shock, although he knew Lucian's status was more or less underwhelming, he didn't expect it to be frighteningly so. An attribute in the F Rank meant he was only ~two times stronger than a normal human.

In response to the gazes, Lucian felt as if his body was submerged into a vat of murky waters. His body felt sluggish and he turned towards Matthias with cold hatred in his eyes.

Gradually, he could see sneers forming across all of the members save for Elaine and Matthias. Both of them seemed unaffected as if they were already privy to his current abilities, or unbothered by it.

While Matthias used one of his special abilities, Elaine relied upon an heirloom to glean general power levels in her surroundings. Of course, it was only effective up to a certain level and general in the most complete sense. It was seen as a gauge and not numbers or letters.

"You have no right! That's an intrusion of my privacy!" Lucian shouted with clenched fists as he continued to glare at Matthias. Regardless of whatever his reasoning may be, Lucian still felt wronged by his actions. He had already declined, yet his information was forcibly exposed.

Before this moment, Lucian possessed a favorable opinion of Matthias over the others. After all, he was the only one who reached out to him and offered effective guidance. But now, he felt that it was all his naivete in being too trusting of one's personality.

"The people within your circle are all the same," Lucian muttered while trembling with fury he struggled to contain. Afterward, he separated himself from the rest, moving far away. Only after their presences were barely noticeable did Lucian take shelter and scale a small tree.

Meanwhile, the other's finally recovered from their tracks.

"Wow, I mean, just wow. I wasn't expecting something that...terrible," Elliot said with a dubious expression, unsure how to express himself. Matthias's voice still rang fresh in his mind, echoing over and over.

"Matthias, you know that kid is going to hate you, right? You did take advantage of that ability after all," Cezar remarked with a slightly rueful expression. Soon after, his expression became one of glee.

'That ability of his has a rather long downtime. I don't know if the Fractal Pillar patched its shortcomings as it did with most of mine, but at the very least, it isn't spammable. He'll have to wait until he can use it again, which means he won't be able to steal the show for some time,' Cezar thought.

"If this much is enough to deter his spirit, then he isn't worthy of being a Guardian. He'll face much worse than just this. Not to mention, you act as if you care whether he's here or not. You all just needed to patch the last spot," Matthias answered with a shrug.

He then continued, "Besides, there's a number of people who hate me already. Another addition doesn't really matter. The way I see it, I'm actually helping him."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Enough with your philosophical bullshit. You sound just like that old man," Cezar groaned, adding a scoff at the end when he recalled his days in the trainee corps.

"By all means, I'll tell him you miss him," Matthias said with a faint smile.

"W-what?! You won't dare! I'll claw your ass to death if you even think about doing something as absurd as that!" Cezar snarled, his claws grinding against each other with an appearance of metallic sparks.

"Ahem, enough of that. Start absorbing Mana to refill yourselves. The interval between the waves is shortening little by little. It won't be long before the climax of the tutorial is upon us," Elaine voiced, breaking up the back and forth between the two.

It was only quiet for a little while before rowdy interactions began once again. Each of them possessed vibrant Spirit Attributes, so they absorbed Mana in torrents. Not to mention, the rounds continued to elapse, soon reaching 12 hours.

During that time, however, Lucian didn't sulk. He bided his time, absorbing Mana and exhausting it quickly, testing a few properties of his Reinforcing ability. Within his palm were a few of the stones purchased from the FM Shop.

One thing Lucian noticed about his ability was the fact that the reinforcement wasn't permanent. For now, he didn't know why the material reverted to its prior state, but he felt it had something to do with his insufficient MQ.

Repeatedly, he poured Mana into a stone, examining its properties to observe the time between its peak strength and its reversion. After multiple experiments, he compiled the results into an approximation. '3 seconds, give or take. It seems to depend on how deep the Mana penetrates its structure and the vibrancy of the Mana.'

Furthermore, Lucian also managed to tweak his output, increasing his maximum usages to nearly 50 attempts. Although it was the bare minimum as far as mana injection went, it still sufficed nonetheless.

By the time he finished his endeavors, he had already pushed the earlier matters to the back of his mind. As he saw it, these weren't people worthy of being called his teammates.

Additionally, he also accomplished another feat, sniping some of the incoming monsters. In the span of the elapsed 12 hours, he was able to gain a total of 7 additional Enhancement Points. 4 were used to max out the rest of his stats, changing them marginally, while 3.5 points remained.

'These surplus of points are just sitting there, completely unable to be used. What's the purpose of having a balance of points if I can't utilize them?' Lucian inwardly thought, frowning at the sight of his status screen.

----

Name: Lucas Salvatore

Title: N/A

Archetype: Augmentor

Fractal Rating: F (F+)

Authority: Nil

Health: 100%

MQ: 21/21 (1 MQ per min.)

[«Attributes»]-

»Strength: F+

»Agility: F+

»Endurance: F+

»Dexterity: F+

»Vitality: F+

»Perception: F+

»Spirit: F+

»Wisdom: F+

----

[«Enhancements»]

»Points: 3.5

----

[«Abilities»]-

»Reinforce [F+ Rank Ability]

…

Due to his thinking, Lucian continued to stay in place, inquiring about the intricacies of his ability out of boredom.

In the meantime, Elaine and the others racked up an ungodly amount of points, however, none of them actively increased their attributes. If they did, it would be foolish. After all, almost all of them were on the cusp of advancing to the next Rank.

In other words, if they increased their ranks, the number of points they received per kill would dwindle yet again. Since the monsters posed no difficulty, it made zero sense to make a change as of yet.

In this way, another 8 hours passed, reaching the final stretch of the tutorial; the final 2 hours of the tutorial. Yet, with their experiences from the tutorial, the entire party was on edge near the Guardian Stone.

'Hm? What's this tingling feeling?' Lucian wondered. He kept feeling a chill down his back until finally, the sensation became tangible. All of the trees trembled in response to the thunderous rumbling approaching in all directions.

Then, an earth-shattering roar accompanied by a fierce Mana ripple ravished the air, causing a crack in the barrier's structure.

This situation hastened Matthias' reaction, rising to his feet. "The incoming monster is not an E Rank."