Chapter 48

When Keith eventually teleported home with Markus, Ska’dur landed next to his daughter and asked, “How do you feel?”

Rhea pursed her lips. “Like crap.”

“Oh,” Ska’dur replied simply. There was a pause.

“Ahh.” Rhea suddenly kicked the ground. “It’s so frustrating to see him catch up to me so quickly. It makes me feel like I haven’t improved at all.”

Ska’dur immediately thought of Markus’s previous suggestion when he heard Rhea voice her feelings. It gave him a glimpse of what she would experience in the Grandsky Realm. Sighing, Ska’dur explained, “This is the power of civilization. Keith didn’t need to spend hundreds of hours crafting equipment or caring for his basic needs. Other people specialize in that, allowing him to focus all his attention on improving his power. You weren’t facing one person just now, but a collective society.”

Rhea placed a hand on her hip and glared at her Dad. “I know all that. Can’t I vent a little?”

Ska’dur looked up at the stars and asked, “Do you find this world peaceful?”

“Huh? Yeah, I guess?” Rhea was taken aback by the sudden change in topic.

Ska’dur looked down at his daughter with a smile. “Then, if the world was full of danger, do you think you could still live as you do?”

Rhea frowned. “You’re talking about the Grandsky Realm. I thought we weren’t going to involve ourselves.”

“I wish we could.” Ska’dur sighed with a shake of his head. “Do you remember when I taught you about the tribal wars? Back then, a tribe of considerable strength decided to stay out of the conflict, only for the top two tribes to join hands and wipe them out. Do you know why?”

“Weren’t the top two tribes mortal enemies? Why would they team up?” Rhea couldn’t figure it out.

Ska’dur thought for a moment before continuing, “Think about it like this. Imagine a lion, bear, and deer fighting over a treasure. Before the critical moment, the deer drops out of the competition and decides to watch from the side. Do you think the lion and bear will feel comfortable fighting to the death with the deer watching?”

Rhea furrowed her brows. “I understand. We are the deer in this scenario. So long as we possess a certain amount of strength, we influence the situation even if we do nothing. The other factions wouldn’t care about us if we were nobodies.”

Ska’dur clasped his hands behind his back and locked eyes with his daughter. “Unfortunately, I, Ska’dur, am an unparalleled genius. It is my destiny to stand at the top.”

Rhea rolled her eyes. “How can you say that with a straight face? I’m cringing over here.”

“Haha,” Ska’dur smiled at his daughter. “I’ve decided. Over the next few months, I will fully devote myself to giving you the best treatment. I will craft you and your pets a full set of Mythic equipment and cook you the best food to raise your stats. This is not the time to restrict your development. You do not have the luxury.”

Rhea opened her mouth to protest but said nothing when Ska’dur glared at her. He wasn’t taking no for an answer. Sighing, she could only hold in her grievances and reluctantly accept her father’s arrangements.

****

Keith collapsed onto his bed when he returned home. Although he lost the duel, he couldn’t hide the smile on his face. The gap between Rhea and him was smaller than he expected. That realization validated all his hard work over the past three years and renewed his motivation.

Keith spent a few minutes reviewing the fight and how he could have acted differently. His stats and skill levels weren’t the issue. Rather, whenever someone fought in Keith’s face, he struggled to defend and cast spells simultaneously. He thought too much and reacted too little.

Markus said this problem would eventually solve itself as Keith gained experience, but Keith didn’t want to wait that long, considering the gateway to the Grandsky Realm would open in a few months.

Reviewing the fight again, Keith understood his instant cast spells were practically harmless. It was one of the System’s rules that a person could only cast one spell at a time, and a single Fireball or Mana Bolt was no threat to Rhea. Thinking for a moment, Keith remembered that Yara once said there was a multi-cast passive skill in the Grandsky Realm. He could overwhelm Rhea’s reaction speed with numbers if he had that. Unfortunately, there was no similar skill in the Innate Dimension.

Another possible solution in the Grandsky Realm was a skill called Entangling Roots, allowing the caster to summon and control multiple roots. That skill would synergize greatly with Keith’s Mind Division and Mind Enhancement.

Wait a second.

Keith abruptly sat up with a surprised expression. Did Mind Division allow him to circumvent the System’s rule? The thought was so intriguing he immediately tested it out.

One mind became two, and right before Keith’s eyes, two Mana Bolts hovered above his head. Keith was ecstatic. He promptly divided his mind as many times as he could, and soon enough, twenty-nine Mana Bolts circled his body. Before Keith could get too excited, he felt a significant strain on his mind, though it wasn’t too bad.

Keith recalled that the multi-cast passive skill needed to reach a super high level to cast over ten times, yet here he was casting twenty-nine spells at once. Unable to calm down, Keith paced around his room as he thought about the implications. In the past, Yara mentioned that each Dimension possessed a few pinnacle skills. Keith guessed that Mind Enhancement and Mind Division belonged to this category.

However, Keith found something strange. He was a mage, so why hadn’t anyone told him Mind Division and Mind Enhancement allowed for multi-casting? Keith tried to deduce the reason when he suddenly started shaking.

Maybe he was the first to discover this?

Keith’s Aunt Serilla said that the military farmed Mind Division and Mind Enhancement skill gems for scientists. If that was the case, it made sense. There was no need for scientists to cast spells while researching.

“Slimeballs,” Keith muttered when his thinking reached this point. If his guesses were right, he’d just made a massive discovery. Keith thought about it for less than a second before deciding to inform his Dad as soon as possible. He wasn’t so selfish as to keep this a secret.