“So… do you realize what you did?” Shaun’s words only got silence in return, leaving the man to sigh as he palmed his forehead…

He blamed the Cardinal, he blamed that insane seer for everything that caused him headaches.

And if it weren’t for the fact that he got an e-mail moments ago saying: ‘it’s not my fault you have talent’ he would have called the man to complain.

Asshole.

“Right, you’re lost on the matter. Let me explain. Firstly, you killed the Demon Lord right?” Shaun asked, just to clarify as he got a slow nod from Arthur.

“Yes, we did… I got the final blow, but yes.” He said making Shaun sigh, reaching to his pocket before he frowned… right… he stopped smoking a while back, it was just drinking now.

So much change, and not all of it because of the Dungeon and its nonsense.

“Right, right… we kind of expected that to happen, but we were hoping it wouldn’t.” Shaun’s words got a look of worry sent between the members of Einherjar.

“What’s wrong with killing a Demon Lord? Isn’t that a good thing?” John asked, thinking to his own contribution.

Granted, he would never be doing such nonsense again he felt. He was a healer, even if his actions saved the lives of both Emilia and Arthur; he refused to be attacking anything.

“It is… kind of? I mean, nothing is immediately wrong with what you did; it’s just that what you did isn’t something that won’t get noticed. Case in point.” Shaun said, pointing to a TV he had in his office as he got a remote and turned it on.

Everyone’s blood ran cold upon seeing the figure on the screen.

It sat upon a simple throne, no embellishments and only barely comfortable enough for the being to lounge upon it slightly.

It wore armour, beautiful, ornate armour with a cape hung over its left arm, the right shown and tapping the armrest of the throne and its helmet possessing horns flowing backwards as if slicked back hair, its eyes an eerie violet through the holes of its helmet, and while arguably thin, the being radiated power.

There could only be one being that appeared like this.

“Greetings humans, it is I, the Devil, better known as Chronos. I’m hijacking every signal in the world to inform you that I am interested.” The being’s voice was different from Red Sky Day.

For one, instead of grating inside the skulls of every human at once, it now spoke from the speakers of whatever device it was attached to, and its voice was… powerful, with a playful lilt at times.

“You see, what I had planned, for my invasion, was that once a month every entrance to Hell would spew enemies. I was actually planning on doing so in a few days, but then, to my surprise… my vanguard died.” Chronos said, sitting upright.

“I possess ninety nine generals of immense power I dubbed Demon Lords. One was to appear every month to attack the human world, and then return to Hell after the day was through. This was a hidden caveat of my war against you all.” Shaun looked at Einherjar, and they realized what happened.

“I now possess ninety eight such Demon Lords. One, my vanguard for the first month of the new year, was slain before he could lead his forces into Earth, barely a half hour ago.” Chronos’ words both worried and made Einherjar feel good.

“So be happy humans, you possess some strong enough to force back my Armies before I could even attack. Don’t think that it will always be so easy however. While powerful, the first Demon Lord is the weakest of them all. But that’s fine.” Chronos chuckled, leaning back into his Throne as he raised his right arm to the air.

“This war is for my amusement after all. So please, keep fighting, keep getting stronger, so that you may become a challenge…” And then the jolly nature disappeared as Chronos slammed his fist upon the throne of hell, leaning forward with a snarl.

“At which point I will grind the collective dust of humanity beneath my feet. So, hurry along humans. I’m getting bored here.” Chronos’ snapped his gauntleted fingers, and the broadcast vanished, flickering back to whatever channel was on before.

Arthur and the others barely saw a hint of a person wearing orange powering up until his hair turned blue before the TV was switched off, Einherjar turning to Shaun who gave them a blank stare.

“I was just catching up to the Tournament of Power arc, sue me. So yeah, everyone knows that someone killed a general of Chronos. No one knows who it is, and social media is booming with speculation and people who are claiming their team did it.” Shaun said as he frowned at the glass of water on his desk, before shrugging and drinking it.

“Isn’t that a good thing, other people can guess and lie while we go anonymous? Or is being anonymous bad?” Alice asked as Shaun swirled the water.

“It’s finger pointing. The problem is that somewhere, there is some random Ted saying he did it. And somewhere there is some random Bob believing Ted and swearing loyalty to Ted. And then there’s Harry, who doesn’t quite believe Ted and tries to fight Ted to prove Ted wrong… basically, it’s causing conflict because there isn’t an answer.” Shaun said, downing the water before he gave a sad smile.

“Think about it, some of humanities worst wars were over whose answer was right, from the Third Crusade to World War two. It isn’t to that point, obviously, but the United Nations would rather give the answer to everyone before fighting can occur.” Shaun said, getting a gulp as Arthur spoke up.

“So… we have to publically announce we did it… and then what?” Arthur asked as Shaun sighed.

“Then… well, we, as in the American government, want to cut your team a deal involving this. Basically, you will go into the Dungeon, and fight to kill Chronos as our poster team. Should you six kill him, one of you would become the Devil.” The six members of Einherjar looked amongst them with worry.

“In that case, what America wants is a favoured status. Hell has resources for all of humanity sure, but America basically wants first dibs on some of the stuff.” Shaun’s words got a look of annoyance from Einherjar as he poured himself some more water… Dante still had his alcohol.

“Understandably everything would belong to you, including the armies of Hell so even if we make the deal you could refuse and continue Chronos’ war. There’s nothing we could do at that point, but we’re hoping that we can provide money and assistance, and you don’t kill all of humanity.” Every member of Einherjar looked disgusted as Michael spoke out.

“You can’t seriously believe that one of us would do something like that? We’re human too.” Michael said, but Shaun’s response cut their argument cold.

“Are you? Or rather, would you be human at that point? It’s a question of whether or not we’re even human at this point, considering we can control elements and break bricks with our fists.” Shaun gave a nod to Alice who looked sheepish at the last statement.

They knew she could, and Shaun who had access to their files knew she could.

Sure, their exact statistics and such were private information, but Shaun had his ways to find out more than he should, such as their Animae and what they did.

It was bluntly an intimidation tactic, Arthur felt. Shaun knew their abilities and possibly their elements, he had so much as told Arthur a few weeks ago…

His Anima, whatever it was, made his eyes shine green and let him get information in a more concrete manner than Arthur’s Soul Sight worked.

He hadn’t used it since updating his status actually… when his eyes flashed purple, Shaun just looked back with his own flashing green eyes.

It was terrifying, for Arthur at least, looking at his friends souls he could see more detail, like how the soul, which he at first considered spherical, was only slightly like that, with bumps and grooves that created patterns in the shape.

The terrifying part wasn’t his friend’s souls; it was when he accidentally looked at Shaun’s and flinched away from the massive eye staring back at him.

Look into the abyss and the abyss will stare back

It was a common thought, and Arthur felt it made sense here.

Shaun looked away at the same time, undergoing something similar, except for Shaun it was somehow hearing the screams associated with Arthur’s soul grinding itself.

Both looked at each other and just nodded slightly… they would never look at each other with those abilities again.

It also let Arthur know that Shaun’s ability was stronger than it was a few weeks ago, given that Shaun had looked at Arthur back then and hadn’t reacted so badly.

“Right… let’s… let’s never do that again. Suffice to say that everyone in this room should be level twenty or nineteen?” Shaun asked as they all nodded.

Everyone else in Arthur’s team had reached level nineteen, Arthur alone reached level twenty, as a side effect of his ability to gain extra Soul for levelling up.

“Well, I’m level twenty, so I can say with surety that you all are amongst the highest levelled people in the world. It’s a very exclusive club, considering there were only six people including me at level twenty.” Shaun admitted, making their eyes widen as suddenly the telephone rang.

Picking it up, Shaun waited, knowing his was a private number, very few people would know it.

He then scowled upon hearing the words on the other end as he handed the phone to Arthur.

“It’s for you. Pay attention to what the man says, he sounds insane, but he doesn’t lie.” Shaun admitted, confusing Arthur as he raised the phone to his ear.

“Uh, hello, this is Arthur?” Arthur was confused, knowing that the man apparently asked for Arthur despite Arthur not knowing who it was that asked for him.

“Oh I know who you are, Arthur Clive. You’re an interesting one. My name is George Clements, I am one of the six that monster sitting in front of you just mentioned.” Arthur’s eyes widened as he looked to Shaun, who was scowling.

“He probably said something he has no right knowing, didn’t he?” Shaun’s words were ignored in favour of listening to George’s words.

“Ignore the monster, he’s not important in this scene right now. Suffice to say that there are six people of our level, seven now with your inclusion Arthur.” George’s words rang out.

“Now Arthur, I, in all my cardinal red glory, am to inform you of two things, and only you. You are not to share the second, but feel free to share the first with your Einherjar and Shaun.” Arthur was still feeling a bit of worry, considering he had never met this George person, who somehow knew Arthur apparently…

Arthur would consider Shaun, but as mentioned by Shaun, George said things he shouldn’t know.

“First and foremost, the Dungeon, by now you know that there are ninety nine areas with ninety nine Demon Lords. What you don’t know, is that the Dungeon has a name, one found in myth. You recall the legend of the Tower of Babel?” Arthur didn’t even get a chance to talk, as this was a one-sided explanation by the man on the other end of the phone.

“The Dungeon is in fact the tower, repurposed to become a dimensional gateway of immense proportions. Due to the fact that the Dungeon, aka Babel, is where you fight, translation occurs automatically. If you wish to confirm my words, ask your friend Emilia what language she hears when you enter the Dungeon.” Again, George said something he should not know as Arthur looked over to Emilia.

“Emilia… what language do we speak in the Dungeon?” Arthur’s words were confusing, but Shaun listened in intently, knowing the man on the other end of the phone, he would not mention something that wasn’t important.

“Uh… Russian… right?” she asked, making Shaun look to Arthur who calmly turned to face forward, focusing on the phone against his ear.

“Right, I’m sure my statement was confirmed just now. This is an important thing to know Arthur, remember it. As for the second thing, keep this to yourself. The being that grants you power is something that only those with two Animae possess. That is hint enough for you to eventually discover its identity.” The man said, and Arthur considered his words before laughter was heard.

“Well, I’ve done my role for now, I can’t wait for my appearance in the final chapter! And remember Arthur, remember well… praise the marshmallow, and remain beholden to the glory of good steak!” with that shout, the phone clicked off and Arthur just blinked in confusion as Shaun reached over for the phone.

“He’s an asshole, isn’t he? He says a whole lot of serious stuff that he knows for some unknown reason, and then always leaves with some insane greeting.” Shaun said, wishing more than ever that he had his whiskey on hand.

A knock on the door and Shaun sighed walking to it, and opening it to find a delivery man. He signed and took the rectangular package and sat down, opening it to reveal a bottle of Bell’s whiskey.

Without a word, Shaun opened the bottle, and poured himself some. Then, just as silently, Shaun downed the whiskey, then closed the bottle and placed it under his desk.

“…” the Einherjar were all quiet as they stared at the man in confusion as he just waved their concerns off.

“To explain everything as simply as possible, that man, George, has a rare class. Seer. He can literally see the future, though he can’t control what he sees.” That got wide eyes from the group as a whole each asking questions, though luckily no one shouted anything.

“There are lots of ‘rare’ classes you know? I have one, and from what Arthur claimed, he has one too.” Arthur blinked in confusion as he raised an eyebrow.

“A rare class is denoted by what Skill they grant you. All our classes provide two bonus stat points, but depending on the rank of the Skill, the class is considered either normal, rare or unique. We normally don’t give a distinction between the last two.” Shaun explained, pointing at Arthur, and then at Matt.

“The two of you possess classes like this. Matt, yours is a rare class because it gives a rare Skill. As for Arthur’s, his is unique because it gives a unique Skill, even if he only got one Skill from the deal.” Shaun then pointed to Alice who blinked at the focus.

“And despite possessing a rare Skill, your class is still considered a normal one because it only gave normal skills. Get the picture?” they all nodded, understanding the difference in class rankings.

“As for Seers and their female versions, Oracles, they are really fucking rare. As in we only know of two, and both work for the English Government. One of them was George, and the other is his… I don’t know.” Shaun said, making the group look at him in confusion.

“The man himself isn’t sure on their relationship, but she will at some point marry him apparently. So fiancé would be a good term.” The Einherjar just nodded while waiting.

“Anyway, where was I… oh yes, the level twenties. There are six of us in the world not counting Arthur here. I am one of them, another is George, the guy who just called. The other four live in Russia, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.” Michael frowned at this.

“Isn’t that false? I mean, only seven people at that level seems farfetched, it’s more likely there are people of that level that are in hiding isn’t it?” Michael asked and Shaun nodded.

“You’d be right, but remember, before today no one reached the tenth floor, and I’ve been in the Dungeon for almost a month longer than you all. Trust me, it isn’t feasible for someone to reach higher than level sixteen or seventeen without killing a Demon Lord.” Shaun explained and that answered their worries.

“Anyway, these six countries I just mentioned are hosting a United Nation’s meeting in two weeks. During that meeting, six people will be introduced to the world at large as Champions.” The capitalization was practically audible.

“These Champions are to be brought forward as the strongest non-government affiliated adventurers in the world. Or at least originally, but the Russians are trying to pull a fast one on us. We’ll let them, just to prove we’re accepting of their tricks.” Shaun said with a sigh, wanting to pull out his whiskey, but recalling what happened the last time he tried to drink more than one glass.

“Why bring up these Champions? Why not just have you Guild Leaders be the representatives?” Alice asked, and Shaun chuckled at the question.

“That’s exactly what Russia is doing, they’re sending their Guild Leader as their Champion. Anyway, the reason for the separation is duty. Quite frankly it’s an unbearable workload to be both Guild Leader and vanguard of the human race.” Shaun said as he drew a quick squiggle of two circles, one in front, and one in the back…

He sucked at drawing given there were stick figures in the circles.

“The vanguard would be led by these Champions who would each have their own teams, charging into battle. The Guild Leaders would be HQ, sending down information and assistance to the vanguard. Being both would require cycling between the positions and that would be tiring.” Seeing the example, Emilia spoke up.

“Then what Russia plans on doing is having an acting Champion or Guild Leader while the real one is away? If he’s in the Dungeon, they have another person as Guild Leader. If he’s at the Guild, have someone else lead his team?” she asked as Shaun nodded.

“That’s the plan. Normally, this replacement of his would be the Champion, but they trust him more than they trust this this other person. Every other country could do this, but I refused the offer.” Shaun said, looking to Arthur.

“…” Arthur remained silent, not quite getting why everyone was suddenly staring at him… and then it hit.

“Wait, so I’m going to be this Champion? Why not Michael, he’s our team leader?” Arthur asked as Michael and the rest of Einherjar chuckled, looking at each other.

“Hear that, he’s the highest levelled in our team and he wants me to be the Champion of America. Funny guy, isn’t he?” Michael asked aloud, making Arthur’s jaw hang slightly as he listened to his friends joking about it.

“Wait, but I’m not suited to leading…” he said as John poked him in the chest.

“Are you sure man? Weren’t you the one who led us against the Demon Lord? Michael didn’t say a word during that fight, you did, you led us and we won man.” Arthur tried to argue against this until Emilia spoke up.

“Arthur, we’ve been wanting you to be our leader for a while. You just didn’t get the hint and we weren’t willing to force it. And besides, don’t we work on merit?” Emilia asked as Matt piped in.

“Yeah Arthur, working efficiently. You draw a map just as good as Emilia, but she does it faster than you so we let her do it. Alice can block a hit like I can with a shield, but I do it better so that’s my job.” Matt’s words got Michael to pat Arthur’s shoulder as Arthur glanced towards his friend.

“Arthur, I can lead… but so can you. And when we fought Blade, you did so without hesitation. I’m comfortable just being a scout.” Michael joked, referencing his ability to see far distances…

He had a point, Michael was usually the first person in their team to find a monster, inform the team, and then attack…

He was their opening attacker and scout, despite standing at the back of the team he saw more than all of them.

In the close range, that position swapped to Matt, who used his Spatial Recognition Skill to know everything within a certain radius, but Arthur got the idea.

“…Fine, be that way. I’ll lead the team, but I won’t like it.” No one in the room took Arthur’s declaration seriously and they just continued as if he said nothing.

“Anyway, you five are considered accessories to Arthur honestly, sorry but it’s how the others will see you. Until the UN meeting, you should continue going into the Dungeon, get stronger and all that shit.” Shaun’s words got a nod from everyone but Arthur, who was looking a bit lost for words.

“Also, I have to say we of the Adventurer’s Guild have researchers who look out for monsters, weaknesses, paths in the Dungeon, that kind of things. We’ll pay you for information, as we always have, but considering that you all are the furthest along in the Dungeon, we’ll give extra.” Shaun explained making their group happier…

They got paid for just talking about what they would see in the Dungeon? That sounded wonderful.

“Now please, leave for a bit. I have a few calls to make and things to document. I’ll expect you all to explain the Demon Lord tomorrow.” Shaun said, getting the group to leave as he thought about his situation.

After the door closed, Shaun got his package of Bells and poured himself another glass, seeing something attached to the package he hadn’t before.

It was a card, with one line of print.

Give that man a Bells. He needs it.

Einherjar, walking away from Shaun’s office, just barely managed to hear about twenty six curses in seven different languages, some repeated in other languages rather than be repeated in the same language.

They decided it was just something that pissed off Shaun and that they should have nothing to do with it if they wanted to maintain their sanity.

“Oh yeah, as leader of the team, I really have to ask this… but can I check your statuses?” Arthur’s words, if they were to some random Adventurer, would have been insensitive.

An Adventurer’s stats and skills were their own, and telling someone else was the equivalent of showing everything you are to someone.

Of course, they were a team, so they had long since ignored such things amongst themselves.

“Sure, give us a sec.” Michael said as he activated his inventory to let a piece of paper land in front of him, everyone else doing a similar action as they handed their papers to Arthur.

Arthur still remembered seeing their statuses when they were all level one, so he had a rough idea on starting skills, and with Matt he could even plainly say he knew exactly where Matt’s stat points were.

He leafed through the information easily, connecting what he saw to his teammates as well as some things he had seen.

Michael Grave

Level: 19

Class: Bowman Surveyor- Grants one stat point to Strength and Dexterity per level

Grants Archery Skill and Hawk Eye Skill

Anima

Longbow of Skill

Anima Skills

Elemental Shift- Grant your arrows magic damage based on element

Focus- perception of time slows down with bow string drawn back.

Primary Element: Fire

Personal Skills

Hawk Eye II (14/100) – Enhanced vision, drains stamina

Archery II (21/100) – increases accuracy with ranged weapons

Hero’s Strength I (43/50) – Increases Strength by 10% (110%)

Stats

Strength: 29 (31)

Dexterity: 29

Intelligence: 24

Wisdom: 24

Endurance: 24

Vitality: 24

Michael’s status explained how he was capable of so accurately attacking an enemy just as they attacked, to disturb their rhythm he had to have the Focus skill.

His level ten skill was apparently Hero’s Strength, which was a good thing for an archer. The only thing more important than Dexterity was Strength, and that was because they only needed enough Dexterity to aim at something nearby in most cases.

Arthur felt that Michael would most certainly be getting the Quick Reflexes Skill when he reached level twenty though.

Emilia Vasilievna

Level: 19

Class: Hunter Thief- Grants one stat point to Dexterity and Intelligence per level

Gives Tracking Skill and Dagger Arts Skill

Anima

Bloodletting Daggers

Anima Skills

Shred- increases damage dealt to animal-type enemies, occasionally causes Bleeding

Armour Piercing- chance to bypass armour, weakens blows to flesh after bypassing armour though

Primary Element: Water

Personal Skills

Quick Reflexes II (14/100)- increases Dexterity by 15%

Dagger Arts II (28/100)- Increases Dagger-type weapon damage

Tracking I (36/50) - Allows tracking of wounded enemies, can be used to map areas, but is not designed to do so.

Martial Arts II (2/100) – increases damage dealt without a weapon.

Stats

Strength: 30

Dexterity: 30 (34)

Intelligence: 24

Wisdom: 23

Endurance: 25

Vitality: 23

Oddly enough, Emilia had a skill still at rank one after a month, but that also made sense. Tracking wasn’t a skill that was feasible in the beginning floors of the Dungeon.

In the next Area’s though, they might encounter enemies that would retreat, and Emilia’s skill would be put to use then.

She also claimed that her Endurance was 20 at level 17, so she tossed an entire levels worth of points into the stat… made sense after she nearly died from a kick and not a slash.

John Collins

Level: 19

Class: Shade Healer- Grants one stat point to Wisdom and Intelligence per level

Gives Sneak Skill and Light Scripture Skill

Anima

Enhancing Arts

Anima Skills

Hard Hitting- lets someone deal double damage on their next attack

Tempo Accel- Increases movement and attack speed by 5%.

Primary Element: Mind

Personal Skills

Sneak II (42/100)- grants the ability to erase ones presence

Light Scripture II (15/100)- Grants Healing Spells, lowers Mana cost

Computation I (41/50) – Increases Intelligence by 10%

Stats

Strength: 22

Dexterity: 22

Intelligence: 34 (37)

Wisdom: 34

Endurance: 22

Vitality: 22

The MVP of the Demon Lord fight arguably. John saved Emilia and Arthur during the fight, and landed two blows on the Demon Lord without getting detected up until the end, even after the Demon Lord figured out what was going on.

He was frankly a better assassin than Emilia, at least until she got the Sneak Skill herself…

His stat layout also proved that every stat needed a minimum of twenty before balance was achieved, however overspecialization would lead to the soul issue from before.

He’d need to raise everything overtime basically.

Matt Jacobson

Level: 19

Class: Wall of Steel- Grants two stat points to Endurance per level

Gives Spatial Recognition (Rare) Skill and Shield Arts Skill

Anima

Shield of Immunity

Anima Skills

Bulwark- ranged attacks against team are redirected towards the shield

Spikes- Parrying a weapon might result in its destruction

Primary Element: Metal

Personal Skills

Stand Strong II (24/100)- increases Endurance by 15%

Shield Arts II (14/100)- decreases Damage taken when blocking

Spatial Recognition II (11/150) - Allows tracking of all things within a ten metre radius, causes headaches with long use

Lightened Load I (27/50)- Weight of carried items lowered by 5%

Stats

Strength: 23

Dexterity: 23

Intelligence: 23

Wisdom: 23

Endurance: 41 (47)

Vitality: 23

Matt’s stat arrangement, for a tank, was unfairly simple.

He placed no points in Endurance, and his five points per level were equally placed between every other stat for simplicity.

The result was that he was going to eventually be capable of fighting at a really high level.

At, say, level ninety nine, he’d have about seven hundred and fifty stat points, with two hundred and thirty in Endurance.

Bulletproof monk, if they could shave his head without dying…

Alice Grave

Level: 19

Class: Martial Berserker- Grants one stat point to Strength and Dexterity per level

Gives Pain is Gain Skill and Hero’s Strength Skill

Anima (Skill)

The World is a Weapon- grants use of any weapon as if holding a rank I skill of that weapon type

The World is a Shield- grants use of all defensive skills to the point of rank I

Primary Element: Darkness

Personal Skills

Hero’s Strength II (21/100)- increases Strength by 15%

Pain is Gain II (3/100)- The more damaged, the more powerful the user becomes, causes intense anger

Calm Mind I (96/100)- Keeps a person calm and collected

Quick Reflexes I (47/50)- Increases Dexterity by 10%

Stats

Strength: 29 (33)

Dexterity: 29 (31)

Intelligence: 26

Wisdom: 26

Endurance: 26

Vitality: 26

Alice, the berserker/warrior of the group, had the most balanced stats in Arthur’s opinion. Seriously, check it out.

She fought in the front line as a damage dealer, so her Strength and Dexterity were slightly higher than the rest of her stats, not counting the stat booster skills.

She needed the Endurance and Vitality to have staying power in a fight, because at the front line she’s more likely to get hit and she moves around a lot, getting tired.

Then for Intelligence and Wisdom, that was because her element cost quite a bit of Mana in comparison to most others, the only equal being Light and Mind.

And John had a skill that lowered Mana costs, so he could use his element much more easily compared to Alice.

Knowing that his friends would be curious, he removed the piece of paper he had his own stats written on, and handed it to Michael who showed it to everyone else.

“Bullshit.” All five stated looking at his status as Arthur raised his eyebrows.

“Me? What about all of you? John’s a practical assassin, Michael can slow down time for himself, Alice is a calm berserker, Matt’s a walking tank and Emilia has Daggers that either deal more damage or ignore your defences… what makes me so amazing?” Arthur asked as all the members of Einherjar looked at each other.

“You have a Rare Skill, two Unique Skills, a rarer stat boosting Skill and a Skill that lets you fight as if you were ambidextrous, and that’s not even counting your Anima Skills.” Emilia stated as Matt nodded.

“Yeah, looking at the Dagger Skills, an experience booster so you level up faster, you deal more damage to anything that constitutes as a living being, and can create a small black hole from your knife.” Matt said, finally having John complain.

“And for your Cloak you get another boost to the same stat already boosted by your skill, increased defence and you have a chance to get twice as much money from your enemies… that last one must be Batman’s super power.”

Everyone drew a blank at what Batman’s super power could be before John answered it for them.

“White Privilege, damn you all.” The laughter flowed naturally as they walked away from the Guild, and Arthur considered their words…

Yeah… his advantages, in his eyes, weren’t as blatant as the others were, but having them pointed out he could see what they were saying.

Tactician, as a skill, was rare, despite being listed as common. Not a lot of people focused on Wisdom as a stat, instead focusing on other tangible stats like Intelligence.

There were very few who thought like Arthur did when it came to ‘recovery rates’.

Namely that, if he regained faster than he lost, wouldn’t he never run out?

He applied the thought in many games he played, he figured he would try it out in real life, and it was coming out wonderfully in his opinion…

Matt gained six stat points from his stat booster skill, with a base value of forty one.

Arthur gained eight stat points from a base value of thirty two. Clearly Arthur’s was actually better… he had more stat points than Matt did, despite not focusing as much on the stat.

And after seeing John’s stats, he figured… focusing, might be something worthwhile…

He wouldn’t know this, but this thought would save his life.