Hearing a scream, I ran through the door. Looking in front of me, there was Sasha fallen in the hallway. On her back was a huge backpack.

Gareth: COME ON, YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT!

Coming out of the dining room into the hallway, was Gareth. Following behind him were Nicholas and tony, each carrying equally massive backpacks.

Solomon: argh, you worried me there.

Walking over, I helped Sasha to her feet. Misunderstanding my words she lowered her head.

Sasha: I'm sorry for the trouble.

Solomon: its okay, I'm not upset. It just worried me.

Petting her head, I tried to calm her nerves. Not being overly familiar with us, she was probably constantly uncomfortable around us.

Solomon: Here, keep this a secret from Gareth.

Kneeling down, I whispered to Sasha. At the same time, I subtly cast my buff on her. Feeling the weight on her shoulders reduce, she looked confused.

Solomon: take care you don't overwork them.

Gareth: I won't

Walking past Tony and Nicholas, I subtly cast my buff on them as well.

Feeling the same thing as Sasha, they looked at me amazed.

Placing my finger before my lips, they understood my intention. Walking off, I checked up on Alice, as well as Pluvia. Both of them were engrossed in training. As I was fast increasing my qi, Pluvia was always able to train as well. Moving on I continued training. Before I knew it, it was time for us to use the time-slowing array.

From the floor plan, we knew that the array was the backmost room upstairs. Walking into the room with the array. We were surprised to find it was empty.

Gareth: isn't it supposed to be here?

Confused Gareth entered the room. As his foot touched the floor inside, the room lit up. On the floor was a magical formation made of purple light. In the centre of which there was a button.

Solomon: seems like we have to be inside for it to work.

Walking in I stood beside the button.

Solomon: Is everyone ready?

Gareth: were good to go.

Gareth spoke for both himself and the newbies

Alice: I'm ready.

Pluvia simply nodded.

With everyone's agreement, I started up the array. to our surprise, a shockwave spread out from the array. As we already knew, it was supposed to encompass the whole mansion and garden.

Nicholas: did it work?

Looking around the room, nothing seemed different.

Solomon: I guess so, let's go have a look.

Leaving the room, we walked to the nearest window.

Tony: whoa, that's some freaky shit.

Looking outside, we saw that we were isolated from the outside world. A bubble around the mansion kept us inside. Looking at the bubble, it sent eerie chills up your spine. It was made into a mosaic pattern. If you looked at the distorted blocks, you could see the outside world. Though we didn't understand the reason, looking at this bubble made us feel out of place. Like changing the passing of time had angered some ultimate being.

Solomon: all right everyone, it's worked. For the next 16 hours make the most of this time.

Walking away to Alice and I's bedroom, I left everyone to their own devices. I had an idea when I heard about the array that I wanted to test. Sitting on my bed I pulled out dragon's fire.

Being that dragon's fire affected time itself, I wondered if being in an array that slowed time to half the usual would effect it. Teleporting into the training room, everything seemed the same. Well, the absence of Pluvia since I summoned her is weird. But I was used to it by now.

Slightly disappointed, I got on with my usual training. To my surprise though. When the 8 hours were up I wasn't ejected out. The time just kept ticking on. Not willing to let this bonus go, I kept training. It was a full four hours later that I was ejected out.

Arriving back in my body, I was certain this was the effect of the array. It had amplified my time by 1.5X the usual. It was a colossal improvement.

Solomon: maybe I can just make it.

For a while now I had wanted to dedicate some time to reaching the limit of my qi. According to Pluvia, the strongest I could become with my G rank enhancement was the limit of 3rd stage qi cultivation. Since breaking through to 3rd stage, I had made it halfway to the limit. I was at 150% of the stage with 200% as the limit.

The training for the skills, while still somewhat useful, was a lot slower when it came to improving my qi. So I had been improving very slowly. However, now that I had these surplus four hours. I could dedicate them to improving my qi. At that rate, I would make it to 175% by the start of the next mission. With that level of qi and my arsenal of skills, I was confident in getting an F rank token.

And so, in the same fashion, the last few days before the mission flew by. On the night of the 6th day, I gathered everyone in the garden to test each other's abilities.

Solomon: so everyone, I'd like for all of us to familiarise ourselves with our strengths.

I thought it would be best for the newbies so that they understood our strengths and specialities. Though, we would obviously keep risky and personal information private.

Solomon: so to start, I'll demonstrate my abilities.

having spent the last few days training rigorously, both my overall strength, and the strength of my skills had improved.

Solomon: I have two enhancements, qi energy and raceless genetics.

Nicholas: qi like in the novels?

It seemed like he had already heard of it.

Solomon: yeah, mine's specifically from I shall seal the heavens.

As he learned that my enhancement was from Issth, his face filled with awe.

Solomon: so you've heard of it?

Nicholas: heard of it, I used to read it religiously.

Compared to my level of knowledge, Nicholas seemed to have read a great deal more than me.

Solomon: so then you should know about it already. I'm at the 3rd level of qi condensation.

Nicholas: huh, is that it? But from what I've seen, your much stronger than that.

At this point, tony jumped in.

Tony: it's great that you know about his enhancement, but I'm still clueless. Can you explain what it is?

Nicholas: ah, sorry. I got carried away.

Looking back at the other two newbies, Nicholas apologised while rubbing the back of his head.

Solomon: I'll explain then. Qi is a natural energy that exists everywhere. By absorbing it I can bring it under my control. Then I can use it for lots of things. Though it is specialised in ranged combat, that's not all it can do.

Giving them a brief explanation, I moved onto a demonstration.

Solomon: for example, if I do this I can create a tentacle of qi outside my body. Directing some qi into my feet, I made two tentacle platforms underneath me. Standing a meter from the floor, I clearly demonstrated one application of qi.

Tony: is that not a skill?

Seeing me do something so complex, he probably was confused about how I did it.

Solomon: no, it's not a skill. While I was learning a skill, the practice for it involved creating these tentacles. That training taught me how to use my qi in this way.

Nicholas: so it's like how people can enhance their physical strength with their energy, just on a more complex scale.

Solomon: exactly.

It seemed that I had explained enough for them to understand.

Solomon: anyway, let's move on.

Forming hand seals, I used a skill.

Solomon: wind release: verdant mountain gale

Having trained over the week, I could now perform the skill in 8 seconds. Using the newly created hand I drew out my sword. Using the air as my target, I deftly fitted the sword at an imaginary target, showing the skills prowess. At the moment I could extend the range out to 20 meters, while also increasing the size of the hand.

Tony: so this is the skill that you were on about before?

Solomon: that's right. Other than this you already know about my buff.

Gareth: huh, SO IT WAS YOU!

Realising they already knew, he pieced to gather the rest. He had no doubt noted that they would occasionally grow stronger.

Solomon: haha, it was only a joke. I was a little worried you were overworking them.

Gareth: aarrgh, do you know how difficult it was to find the perfect weight for their training. Then having to change it back and forth because of that stupid buff.

It seems my prank had an annoying effect on Gareth's training.

Solomon: sorry about that.

Trying to avoid Gareth's anger, I moved on.

Solomon: the buff improves your strength by 15 % and lasts for 5 hours.

It was a considerable improvement since then.

Solomon: other than those I have five remaining skills.

Tony: five! how have you learnt so many. Most people at G rank can only get one.

Solomon: I've just gotten very lucky.

Of course, I didn't mention that it only took two missions to get these seven skills.

Solomon: anyway, I have this afterimage technique. It lets me teleport anywhere within 10 meters, leaving behind an afterimage.

To demonstrate, I flickered from where I stood to behind them.

Turning around, I saw the surprise on their face's. However, it wasn't as good as it seemed. The cost per teleport was a 15th of my qi.

Nicholas: isn't that really op, you could kill anyone easily with that.

Solomon: hahahaha, you've never fought against targets in missions, have you?

Any G rank would understand the mistake in his words. Though it was true I could teleport behind other, it was not an instant kill. For example, if I used this skill on the chieftain from last mission, then his defences would have easily held against my attacks. As had been seen, it took a long time for me to gather enough qi to even injure him. This was the major flaw with that skill.

Solomon: you'll learn as you go. So, I also have this defensive skill. Holding out my hand, I summoned a holy light mantle on the back of my hand. As I had not tried to improve it, the cost remained the same. But with the increase in my qi, the relative cost was less.

Tony: isn't this holy energy? How can you use it?

Looking at the golden sheen on the panel, it was obvious how it could be confused with holy energy.

Solomon: it's not holy energy. As the skill originally had holy like properties, that carries over when I use it.

As with any skill, it still followed most of its original properties.

Solomon: moving on, I have this transformation skill from one of my race's. Fur of the eternal moonlight.

As the usual growth of my body happened, the newbies looked on in awe.

Tony: so, this is, one of your races.

Solomon: sort of. It's a skill I got from one of my races.

Hearing the demonic and warped tone of my voice, the newbies were uncomfortable.

Solomon: I'm still the same as always. There's no need to worry.

Seeing their unease with my form, I hoped they would get used to it over time.

Solomon: anyways, I also have this sword skill.

Drawing my sword. I sent a sword slash at a nearby tree, bisecting it.

Nicholas: wow, it's got some kick, huh.

Compared to the original, this attack now was 7 meters long and could reach up to 25 meters away. And the cost was still minute.

Solomon: yeah, it does. It's a good skill if I need some quick power.

As it only required a slash, it was very easy to use quickly.

Solomon: lastly I have the flame serpent art.

Nicholas: whoa, you mean THAT flame serpent art?

As a reader of Issth, he obviously knew what skill I was referring to.

Solomon: that's right.

Holding up my hand, I pumped a fifth of my qi into the arcane orb. With the qi inside, it continued on to form a lizard's head, shoulder and body. stopping just short of the rear legs.

Then using the barrier around the mansion as a target, I launched the lizard up. As it zoomed away and hit the barrier, a rumbling echoed through the floor. Other than that, the flames exploded outwards, covering a 25-meter area in the sky. Being up in the sky, it looked like a bizarre red firework.

Looking at the dazed faces of the newbies I asked them a question.

Solomon: how's that?