“Arthur? Arthur! Wake up!” Arthur groaned, rolling off his bed and onto the floor in a heap with his blanket, hearing his mother sighing from the door.

“Come on Arthur, breakfast is ready for you, didn’t you say you were going to be busy today?” Arthur sat up with a sigh from the floor, nodding, getting his mother to leave the room while closing the door behind her.

“It’s another day…” Arthur stood, getting dressed and looking at his phone for any notifications.

Yeah, today was a busy day, Arthur was being told, in no uncertain terms, to talk to Adventurer teams along with Einherjar, by the president of the United States himself, Clayton Andrews.

Arthur would be getting paid for his time, thankfully, along with each member of Einherjar, for what was basically a ‘convention’ of Adventurers.

The hosts, the Guild, were providing venue, namely the Javits Center in a surprising turn of events…

Arthur questioned the safety of putting a huge amount of super-humans in a building primarily made of glass, but figured that the Guild would be paying for everything, it wasn’t his business.

The biggest thing that would be happening at this Adventurer Expo was the free conversation between Adventurers of different tiers, and the sharing of combat tactics…

Matt was especially happy about the combat tactics part, as it would be done through actual fighting.

Healers like John were on call to heal people after a fight, and a fight didn’t always have to happen, but it was likely.

Adventurers didn’t have to be calm, rational people, as proven by how Matt was one, and if Matt ever met someone like himself there would probably be a fight right there.

Arthur refused to wear his combat outfit because that would imply that he planned to fight someone or accept fights.

Subtly denying the possibility of a fight, Arthur instead wore the suit he used for the U.N meeting, still wanting an armoured suit like the one agent Shaun wore to the same meeting.

Arthur really liked Armani.

He’d see about buying a suit when he felt like it, Shaun’s one cost about thirty thousand dollars but Arthur was starting to earn about a thousand a day with his Dungeon dives.

It was extravagant and wasteful, but Arthur liked suits, he didn’t care about the latest fashion most of the time, instead he just liked comfort, and suits.

He could look homeless, if he was comfortable he was happy. But if he wanted to be taken seriously, he’d dress the part.

Arthur remembered the many arguments he had with his parents over his clothes when they’d want him to wear one thing, but he’d wear something else instead.

His clothes reflected how he felt about himself. If he wore professional clothes, he started to feel serious, if he wore shorts and a sweater he’d start feeling lazy.

It’s just how he was.

“Ah, a suit again? You look nice.” Julia said, placing the plate of sandwiches in front of Arthur, his coffee placed next to the plate as he sat down at the dining room table.

His siblings were thankfully at school today, he didn’t think he could handle them after play fighting with them for most of the night before.

Dennis and Angelica were hyper little children, Dennis being more loud, and Angelica being more physical, the little tomboy she was.

“Yeah, I’m wearing the suit so no one thinks about fighting me there… I don’t like fighting other people.” Arthur said, looking into his coffee for a moment, searching for his own reflection before taking a sip.

His moment of introspection had him miss the concerned glance from his mother before she looked back to the stove with her own breakfast on.

“I heard that the last Demon Lord was a human…” Arthur paused mid-chew, before continuing, wondering why his mother was stating that in such a blunt manner.

“Yes, yes he was… Gerard Sky-wing the Wyvern Slayer. He was the Demon Lord we defeated to get into the Lost Temple.” The eighth Area, the aforementioned Lost Temple, was interesting… but they were talking about Gerard now.

“Did… did that disturb you?” Arthur realized at this point that he was going to be a bit emotionally drained even before he got to the expo.

“Yes? No… not really, but… I don’t want to hurt other people. On the other hand, he wasn’t really human anymore, he was now a Demon Lord, even if he was human before.” Arthur said, looking up from his plate and seeing his mother staring at him.

“Arthur… you…” his mother bit her lip while looking away for a moment before sighing.

So that’s where he got it from.

“Arthur, you know that you… have issues. Issues which you don’t really mention to others?” Julia asked, and Arthur took a sip of his coffee, his expression carefully neutral.

“Mom, are you talking about my reactive attachment disorder?” Arthur asked, giving a pointed look to his mother who paled a bit before taking a deep breath.

“Yes, to some extent. You know the symptoms. You grew up showing the inhibited signs…” Arthur sighed, not liking to have his issues shoved in his face like this…

But after long periods of talking to people, and reading about other people’s experiences, he started to accept that there would be people trying to help him by doing things like this.

“Emotional detachment to most situations. Withdrawn. Resistant to comforting, hyperaware of surroundings but refusing to show reactions to said surroundings.” Arthur recalled the inhibited signs before looking to his mother.

“Then there’s the dislike of touch and physical affection… most of the time I hate it.” Arthur said, thinking to times where he was even brushed against and his annoyance.

“The control issues… is it any wonder that you micromanage everything, and that your friends eventually gave you command of your team?” Julia added, and Arthur breathed in deeply, thinking about what he had done when Adventurers started to appear.

Research. Confirm. Advise… though his advice was actually orders, weren’t they? His friends allowed him to command because his commands were correct, but if he was wrong and they refused, would he accept it so easily... probably not.

“I have anger issues that pop up from time to time. I remember attacking someone because they insulted you… I get unnecessarily violent against Dungeon monsters from time to time…” Arthur added, knowing what his mother was moving towards already.

“You struggle to show genuine care and affection.” Arthur’s mother didn’t even need to give an example there, as Arthur thought of mistakes he made regarding that part of his life… even knowing that Emilia liked him, he hadn’t known how to react to that until he eventually just gave up and asked her out… and that was a tame example of this issue.

“And an underdeveloped conscience. That’s what you were building towards, weren’t you?” Julia felt like crying as she looked at the bland face of Arthur as he said that last bit.

“Arthur…” Julia looked at her son with worry, the whole story playing out in her mind.

“Mom. I don’t blame you or dad for my issues. Others might, but I don’t. I’m messed up, but you try and correct those mistakes.” Julia held in a sob at the mention of ‘others’ knowing exactly who Arthur was talking about.

“But… but if it weren’t for us…” Arthur finished his breakfast, taking his plate and cup to the sink, putting his dishes inside before walking over to his mother and giving her a hug.

It was awkward, stilted and Arthur moved away much too quickly, but it calmed Julia down enough for her to smile even as her eyes felt ready to cry.

“That’s behind us. I’m working on my issues. I don’t want to fight people because you taught me that it was wrong, that I shouldn’t hurt others because I wouldn’t want to be hurt like that.” Julia nodded as Arthur looked at her face, a small smile on his face before he walked away.

“Don’t worry mom. It might be false, but at least I care.” That was an odd sentence, and it wasn’t truly helpful, but it was better than nothing.

Arthur had killed Gerard without even noticing that he had just killed a human being, up until the part where Gerard’s body faded away.

Looking at his motorbike, Arthur had his helmet summoned into his hand as he thought.

Killing another human being… felt dull. It didn’t excite Arthur. It didn’t make him worried. He just acted like it did. Acting was something Arthur was very good at doing when people expected him to care.

It was difficult to get Arthur to care. Once he did, he would stay caring, but it was a long journey to that point.

Emilia took a year of small conversations before Arthur really considered her as anything more than that person he sat with in class.

Arthur… felt like he cared. He thought he cared. But anyone he saw on the street? Why should he care?

Arthur drove down to Hell’s Kitchen trying to recall the location of the centre…

And then realized what a pun it was that the Adventurer Expo took place in Hell’s Kitchen.

Regardless, Arthur found the parking space for the venue, parking his bike and leaving his keys with a wide eyed security guard as he walked towards the building.

Some people were already standing around, many wearing Adventurer clothes, armour, cloaks, some even had weapons out until someone would tap them and said weapons would vanish, either into inventories, or being dismissed Animae.

Yeah, weapons weren’t to be shown off here, everyone was still civilized.

Some who were near Arthur noticed him and seemed confused, others knew he was immediately apparently, and went wide eyed as they stepped out of the way.

The people who did the latter were quite rare, and Arthur actually recognized most of them as Adventurers who went to the same Guild that he did.

Some of them, who interested Arthur, found themselves surprised when he’d actually talk to them at the Guild, asking them questions and giving information in return for answers, sometimes just to satisfy his curiosity.

But here and now, Arthur politely moved through the crowd of people who seemed confused on why this guy in a suit was moving through their midst, eventually most caught on that they had to step out of the way.

Maybe because he was the strongest Adventurer, maybe because he was a member of the Guild who were notorious for looking like members of the M.I.B.

Arthur fit both looks right now.

“Ah, there you are, where are the rest of your team?” Dante asked as Arthur walked up, reaching out with a hand to shake leaving Arthur looking at the hand for a moment before accepting the greeting.

“No idea, they know when they’re supposed to get here. By the way, it costs like a couple hundred thousand dollars to rent this place out… does Clayton really have so much money to throw into his hobby?” Dante and Arthur both had a bit of a laugh, knowing that Clayton probably wanted the expo to happen just because he liked Adventurer things.

“Point, you don’t need to know where your team is. We’re getting ready to open the doors, but we’d like you to just check things before we do so.” Dante said, opening the doors and letting Arthur walk in.

Arthur spared one last glance at the crowd outside, many confused on who he was but many more were starting to realize who Arthur had to be based on that conversation.

Looking around, Arthur checked the stands, seeing clothing, weapons, armour, shields, all sorts of things on sale, map booklets as well, reminding Arthur that Emilia was getting quite a bit more money than the other members of Einherjar thanks to her selling her maps.

There were many people running the stands, other than the Adventurer unique items there were also the usual things, food stands, places to buy drinks, a bar or two, and looking at the back, through the glass of the building, Arthur could see an area set up for a fight.

There were then places that Arthur knew about, strong and well known Adventurer teams would each be given a place to talk, Einherjar being given the biggest area by virtue of being the most popular team.

The second most popular team was Jotun thanks to their affiliation to Einherjar, but Jotun wasn’t actually the second strongest team, they weren’t even the fifth.

Jotun politely refused to be at the expo though, stating that they wished to have strength befitting their connections and popularity, taking the day to go into the Dungeon instead of being at the expo.

Other teams also denied going to the expo that were invited actually…

“Ah, so you are the great Arthur Clive… I thought you’d be taller.” Arthur carefully did not grind his teeth at the insult to his height, turning to see a man decked out in Adventurer armour.

“I’m sorry but you have me at a disadvantage, you know my name, but I don’t know yours?” Arthur noted, trying his best to sound polite instead of annoyed, getting a chuckle from the vaguely Mexican man.

“Ah sorry, Pablo, leader of the Seis Espada, the second strongest team in America… though I guess we’re far behind you huh?” The man, Pablo, raised his left hand, letting Arthur see the number eighty three under the word ‘LEV’ on the man’s wrist.

Arthur honestly wasn’t surprised by Pablo’s strength. Arthur currently stood at level ninety, politely showing his own wrist in response, leaving Pablo to look begrudgingly impressed.

“Not that far. I take it you’re moving through Area seven? Once you’re in Area eight you’ll likely be around level eighty six, maybe seven?” Pablo looked at Arthur, looking confused by the presence Arthur exuded.

Arthur understood, most people meeting him for the first time since his rise to fame found him disturbing to meet as well.

There was little to no arrogance, Arthur held back his aggression and tried to be civil.

It made the one posturing, such as Pablo, feel like no matter what they did, Arthur would just calmly look past it.

It was a lie of course, Arthur was a very aggressive person, be that passively or physically, but he kept quiet about that, keeping that part of himself for the monsters in the Dungeon.

“You don’t act like I thought you would either… the strong really are different eh?” Pablo said, stretching out his right hand for a handshake.

Arthur really didn’t want to touch someone he didn’t know, but it was polite, and so he stretched out his hand, taking the hand of Pablo.

“I’d like to think that I fit in when I need to.” Arthur said, narrowing his eyes and smiling slightly, activating Soul Sight and flashing his eyes an eerie purple.

Pablo’s hand subconsciously tensed, the handshake over before he realized, looking to see Arthur’s eyes being normal, that predatory feeling missing…

“By the way, I like the name of your group, Six Swords? Though I guess you aren’t all swordsmen, it sounds good.” Even the way he talked changed after the handshake was over.

“Uh… yeah… I’m a warrior, and since I’m the leader we named ourselves like that.” Pablo said, feeling a cold sweat at the back of his neck as he looked at the shorter man in a suit.

“Fascinating. I hope we can talk after this expo, though I doubt I’ll have time… maybe another time?” Pablo still felt cold shivers, keeping as still as he could.

“I live in San Fran though, I’m only in the area for this expo before we head back.” Pablo said, unable to keep the relief he felt out of his voice.

Yes, he’d be gone in a few days… gone from this city, the realm of this monster in front of him.

“Such a shame, well, I need to look around a bit before my team gets here, I hope to hear good things from your team, Pablo.” Arthur then walked away, hiding his left sleeve as he walked.

Pablo stayed rooted to his spot for almost a solid minute before someone shook him and asked him to move as he was blocking the path.

“Fuck that… I was trying to compete with that? Ah, I’m stupid…” Pablo scratched the back of his head as he walked back to the area given to his team…

They knew he had left to look for Arthur Clive. He’d let them know that Arthur Clive was to be left alone.

Just because the monster was sleeping didn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous. Rather let it sleep.

“Wonder why that guy looked so worried?” Arthur hadn’t even realized what he did, activating Soul Sight the way he had just to check Pablo’s strength.

Pablo’s soul was interesting, he apparently had quite a few points in Strength and Dexterity, Arthur doubted that the man used a shield, though it was a possibility, his Endurance value wasn’t high enough to take advantage of a shield.

As for his Anima, Pablo seemed to have a sword based Anima, hence the use of a sword… as for his top skill, he was a swordsman, and his Anima was a sword, three guesses and the first two don’t count, it was swordsmanship.

Much lower in strength than Arthur’s own Sword Sage, but Pablo’s Skill level felt like either a low five or a high four… either way, Pablo was pretty strong, though…

He’d never be able to compete with the top six Chosen.

Arthur, Ichiro, Albert, Sheikh, Loyiso and Jade. Arthur was level ninety, the others were all level eighty eight at minimum and Arthur was pretty sure Ichiro and Albert were probably also level ninety, maybe eighty nine.

Pablo’s eighty three was respectable, and after a few days of extending his time he might be able to equalize with these Chosen…

But Arthur recalled the way his Soul seemed fluid… up until he looked at it. Then it froze, and Pablo started to look nervous.

If just being looked at by someone stronger did that to him, then Pablo wouldn’t be able to fight true Demon Lords.

Such a shame too.

Arthur was unaware that, with his Dagger of Hunger being a large part of his soul, and his recent acquisition of the Hunter Skill, he had a… predatory aspect to himself.

Arthur would eventually get that under control, but right now people he looked at with Soul Sight would instinctively flinch under the vision of a predator.

“So this is all satisfactory sir?” one of the people working at the expo asked him as Arthur looked at the stage provided to his team with an awkward look.

It was way too large to just have six people standing and talking… but apparently they thought Arthur’s ego was big enough that it had to be contained on such a stage.

The sarcasm didn’t care for who the target was, even the user of the sarcasm was a victim.

“Sure, we didn’t need that large of a stage, but it works.” Arthur said, feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket while the woman walked away.

“Let’s see… oh, status update from the others, useful information for the expo… should we post these?” Arthur considered, knowing that there was someone out there who would probably fight Arthur, that serial killer…

And knowing Arthur’s stats would be a benefit for that serial killer… but only if Arthur’s stats remained the same.

He’d be getting stronger, and so would that serial killer, so it currently didn’t matter.

So yes, Einherjar could be showing off their status pages for all to see… except for Soul Sight.

That’s something that he refused to share with anyone but a select few.

Within the next half an hour Arthur basically just lingered around until the expo opened, his team appearing bit by bit until the expo opened.

“Man this is going to be annoying… Arthur, you sure I can’t…” Matt looked over the crowd, only for Arthur to narrow his eyes at Matt.

“No, you can’t go pick fights. And if you’re going to fight, you’re our tank, just block a few hits, show you’re invulnerable, and leave.” Arthur warned, knowing that if Matt actually fought…

Sheesh, it wouldn’t be pretty. Much in the same sense that Arthur refused to fight seriously because he knew it wouldn’t be nice if he fought either.

“Damn it. I’m going to go look around the shields and laugh at them.” As if any shield could be better than Matt’s, his grew more durable as he levelled up.

“I’m going to check if there are any weapons I don’t have in my collection.” Alice also walked off, Michael following behind her as he didn’t really have anything else to do.

“Hey Arthur, let’s go check out the magic section.” Emilia said, Arthur sighing as he followed her.

John had vanished before Matt did by the way, that Sneak Skill was surprisingly overpowered in the hands of a Mind mage.

It was the only reason John was so good at hiding, being able to make an illusion of his absence, along with Sneak, and the only way one could find John would be to use a Skill, such as Matt’s Spatial Recognition Skill or Arthur’s Soul Sight.

The Einherjar actually enjoyed the expo, though Arthur felt that it was just a resting period between situations…

“Life does not consist wholly of good experiences or bad, it is a strange mixture of the two.” Arthur mumbled to himself as he prepared to walk onto the stage a few hours later, his friends walking out before him as he focused, taking a deep breath.

“Welcome, I, am Arthur Clive, Chosen Adventurer of the United States, and these five are my teammates, and together we are Einherjar!” Arthur greeted with the microphone, getting claps, a cheer or two.

Arthur looked quite different from his teammates, they all wore their Adventurer clothes while he stayed in his suit, refusing to leave it for the day.

Regardless, everyone saw Arthur, and he was pretty sure everyone would know his face after this.

The U.N meeting was televised, yes, but it wasn’t like Arthur spoke for long there, and only people who watched that would have any idea of what he looked like.

“Today, like many of the other teams invited here, we of Einherjar will be answering just about any questions you ask us to the best of our ability. Personal questions may be answered but more likely than not we’d rather you keep the questions restricted to the Dungeon and Adventurer topics.” Arthur added, Michael raising his own microphone with a nod from Arthur.

“Okay, to start this off, everyone will get a chance to ask questions, if not, everyone has been given pieces of paper to write questions on and drop in a question box later. Please write a contact method on the question, otherwise your question will be answered anonymously on one of our forums.” Michael added and Emilia added the final bit.

“So, raise your hand, and a question can be answered, each of us members of Einherjar will be answering so we can only help six people at a time, please be understanding in that regard.” And immediately hands were raised.

Arthur sighed, getting to work as he pointed at someone whose hand was raised.

“Hi there, I’m a spear user, I’d just like to ask if that’s a good weapon, I don’t really hear of top tier Adventurers using spears and…” the ginger asking the question had Arthur feeling a flashback to Gerard’s bright red hair for a moment before he blinked.

“Each weapon has their own benefits, your weapon should be good at piercing damage, not so great against smaller enemies but if the enemy has a weak-point, spears are usually good for picking them off. Just last week my team and I fought the seventh Demon Lord, and piercing attacks are really important there.” Arthur’s answer drew a smile from the man as he sat back down…

And then Arthur had to point at another person, answering more questions.

This was going to go on for a while.

There were quite a few people asking personal questions like ‘are you dating one of the girls in your team’ and ‘how do you feel about religion’ and things like that, most of which Arthur denied answering, though he had heard Emilia confirm her relation to Arthur to someone else…

Well, her prerogative, he didn’t feel like saying it.

Other than that, they eventually got to the point where people asked for the status page of Einherjar members, and to save the trouble, the massive screen on the stage showed all six status pages in table form after that question was asked.

Arthur had some time before the questions were asked after all.

Some reactions were funny, others seemed impressed or sad, either or.

Michael Grave

Level: 89 (C-Rank)

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.

Nimble Fingers- Double Dexterity for one shot, seven minute cool down

Skill Steal- enemies hit with your arrows lose 5 Dexterity for a minute; stacks for a max of five stacks, stacks renew duration, Dexterity removed from enemies get added to yours.

Primary Element: Fire

Other Element(s): Light

Personal Skills

Hawk Eye V (62/250) – Enhanced vision, drains stamina

Archery V (24/250) – increases accuracy with ranged weapons

Hero’s Strength IV (172/200) – Increases Strength by 25%

Quick Reflexes IV (139/200) – Increases Dexterity by 25%

Sharp Eyes II (178/200)- critical hits deal 20% more damage

Stats

Strength: 163 (203)

Dexterity: 163 (203)

Intelligence: 80

Wisdom: 80

Endurance: 80

Vitality: 80

Michael’s status page got quite a few stares, as he had only one Rare Skill… there were many people who had no Rare Skill, but many more who had none.

And Michael used to be part of their number, getting a laugh from the Einherjar.

“See, so Michael’s status page shows that Rare Skills aren’t a necessity to be strong, up until level seventy Michael didn’t even have one.” Arthur told someone who asked him about the importance of Skill differences.

“On the other hand, Skills are important, and Ranks between Skills and rarity differences are also important… but not the end all, be all of fighting.” Arthur admitted.

Most wouldn’t believe him due to his own ‘slightly censored’ status page behind him showing that he had at least one Unique Skill, a few Rare Skills and like two normal Skills.

But using Michael’s status page, Michael who was his known second in command, Arthur managed to alleviate the worries of some of the Adventurers in the crowd.

“Emilia, Emilia, is the Regenerator Skill difficult to get?” Emilia made an exaggerated wince at the question of a girl in the crowd…

Girls gravitated towards Emilia and Alice most of the time… with some of the others going towards Michael and Matt.

They were both tall and good looking so it was kind of obvious what was going on there…

“It’s… not easy. It’s very painful. I got hit the most while learning to dodge after all.” Emilia said, pointing to her own status page.

Emilia Vasilievna

Level: 88 (C-Rank)

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.

Bloody Mary- life steal effect granted against living creatures, at 10% of damage dealt converted to health.

Cutback- as long as one Dagger is held, you can throw the other and summon it to your free hand, range is limited to 13 metres.

Primary Element: Water

Other Element(s): Mind, Wind

Personal Skills

Quick Reflexes V (37/250)- increases Dexterity by 30%

Dagger Arts V (46/250)- Increases Dagger-type weapon damage

Tracking III (98/150)- Allows tracking of wounded enemies, can be used to map areas, but is not designed to do so.

Martial Arts V (29/250)- increases damage dealt without a weapon.

Regenerator IV (4/200)- increases Vitality by 25%

Aquatic Defence III (6/300)- Grants Water based defensive spells

Stats

Strength: 120

Dexterity: 165 (214)

Intelligence: 110

Wisdom: 90

Endurance: 77

Vitality: 77 (96)

She was still scary, her Dexterity was really high… not as much as Ichiro though, Arthur recalled his was around two fifty?

John Collins

Level: 89 (C-Rank)

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 eight times damage on their next attack

Tempo Accel- Increases movement and attack speed by 40%.

Protected- Increases physical defence by 35%

Grounded- Reduces knockback effect of enemy attacks by 20%

Primary Element: Mind

Other Element(s): Metal, Water, Earth

Personal Skills

Sneak VI (231/300)- grants the ability to erase ones presence

Light Scripture VI (6/300)- Grants Healing Spells, lowers Mana cost

Computation V (31/250) – Increases Intelligence by 30%

Staff Arts IV (53/200)- increases spell effects by 40%

Mind Over Matter III (16/300)- eases the use of Telekinesis using the Mind Element.

Tactician II (94/100) - increases Wisdom by 15%

Stats

Strength: 91

Dexterity: 85

Intelligence: 150 (195)

Wisdom: 150 (172)

Endurance: 85

Vitality: 85

John’s status had quite a few people staring in confusion, realizing that their healer was more of a ninja than a healer… also, some hadn’t realized there were six people on the stage.

Alice Grave

Level: 88 (C-Rank)

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 IV skill of that weapon type

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

World of Magic- Lessens Mana cost of elemental manipulation by a small amount

Primary Element: Darkness

Other Element: Wind

Personal Skills

Hero’s Strength V (233/250)- increases Strength by 30%

Pain is Gain IV (187/200)- The more damaged, the more powerful the user becomes, causes intense anger

Calm Mind III (201/300)- Keeps the user calm and collected

Quick Reflexes V (2/250)- Increases Dexterity by 30%

Dark Juggernaut III (174/300)- Grants Darkness based Supplementary Spells

Stats

Strength: 142 (184)

Dexterity: 141 (183)

Intelligence: 89

Wisdom: 89

Endurance: 89

Vitality: 89

Alice, the calm berserker she was, had people look between her status page and her and fear for their souls.

A large portion of men suddenly paled, and Arthur had the vague feeling that they had been considering Alice until they noticed her status page.

Alice was left giving a narrowed glare at said men knowingly.

Matt Jacobson

Level: 89 (C-Rank)

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

Unstoppable Wall- Shield bashes are more effective and cause bleeding.

Immovable- when blocking, knockback effect is reduced by 25%

Primary Element: Metal

Other Element: Earth

Personal Skills

Stand Strong V (248/250)- increases Endurance by 3%

Shield Arts V (162/250)- decreases Damage taken when blocking

Spatial Recognition IV (28/400) - Allows tracking of all things within a twenty metre radius, causes headaches with long use

Lightened Load V (218/250)- Weight of carried items lowered by 25%

Quick Response III (274/300)- The more enemies you face, the better your reaction speed becomes.

Steel Guardian II (198/200)- Grants use of defensive Metal Element Spells.

Stats

Strength: 93

Dexterity: 93

Intelligence: 93

Wisdom: 93

Endurance: 181 (235)

Vitality: 93

And the second strongest member of Einherjar was definitely Matt, regardless of what others thought, the members of Einherjar knew it to be the truth.

Matt’s Endurance made him nigh impossible to damage unless you had a Strength stat of about one fifty above, and that was before his shield got involved.

Arthur could defeat Matt in a fight because their Elements made it that Arthur could bypass Matt’s defence slightly, and Alice could damage and dodge Matt’s attacks but she’d tire out before he’d stop.

Arthur also noted that there were whispers from the women in near Matt about how ‘he looked dangerous, and he could protect you, and he was part of the strongest Adventurer team so he had money’…

Poor girls. Matt was a person who was just as likely to take advantage of them as they were to take advantage of him.

If you were honest with Matt, he’d be honest with you. if you tried to take advantage of him? Ooh… shame.

Arthur knew his status page drew the most stares though.

Why wouldn’t it? He was the ‘strongest man’ and they’d like to know how they measured up compared to the top.

Many found themselves confused though, and Arthur didn’t blame them, finding a non-healer with a Wisdom stat that high was an impossibility.

Actually, even healers didn’t have Wisdom stats as high as his was.

Arthur Clive

Level: 90 (C-Rank)

Class: Linked Swordsman- Grants one stat point to Strength and Wisdom per level

Gives ---- -----(Unique) Skill

Anima

Dagger of Hunger

Cloak of Will

Anima Skills

Dagger- Devour- Increase Soul Gain by 30%

Dagger- Rend- Damage to living beings increases by 5%

Dagger- Void- can create a minor gravitational pull, 3 Wisdom per use a day.

Dagger- Feed- Absorb a magic attack from an enemy to be used against them, limited to Elements you possess.

Cloak- Defence- lowers damage taken by 5.5%

Cloak- Wise One- Increases Wisdom by 45% (total 175%)

Cloak- Rags to Riches- 10% of enemies drop two times the loot.

Cloak- Blink- teleport up to five metres away from your current position, costs 6 Wisdom per use a day.

Primary Element: Lightning

Other Element(s): Darkness, Mind

Personal Skills

Tactician V (63/250) - increases Wisdom by 30% (total 175%)

Sword Sage III (60/500)- Any bladed weapon deals 40% extra damage

---- ----- III (134/500) - ------ ------- ------ ---------

Dual Wielding V (31/250) - Greater use of two weapons

Lightning Elemental IV (51/400) - Use supplementary lightning spells

Quick Reflexes V (17/250)- Increases Dexterity by 30%

Hunter I (19/100)- Increases damage against previously killed enemies.

Stats

Strength: 123

Dexterity: 132 (171)

Intelligence: 66

Wisdom: 143 (250)

Endurance: 66

Vitality: 123

Obviously the Soul Sight was censored, and some asked about it, but Arthur maintained that it was a personal thing.

And then the expo started going towards its end, surprisingly no fights breaking out between Einherjar and other people…

And then someone in the crowd raised their hand. And Arthur pointed at them.

“Sorry to ask this, but I figure you’d know more than most… but is it true that the Dungeon is a singular thing, and that the Soul is quantifiable?” Arthur blinked looking at the person with tired eyes.

Should he? Arthur was well aware that there was no reason to keep this a secret… he also felt it shouldn’t be known.

Then Arthur realized that he just didn’t care.

“…Yes. The Dungeon is in fact the biblical Tower of Babel, moved to Hell and reconverted into a gateway between Earth and Hell. Going down into the Dungeon is actually going closer to Hell. The Soul is quantifiable in your status page. By increasing your level, you increase your Soul’s strength, and your Soul starts to affect physical reality.” There was a sudden quiet.

A pin-drop could be heard in this kind of atmosphere.

Silence. The loudest sound.

And then chaos.

Arthur smiled.