The Author's POV

184  The one [2]

-Fwaaaa!

As the door opened revealing what lay behind it, I knew that all of the struggles that I had gone through this past month were finally going to pay off. ...in a very lucrative way at that. -Clank!  Once the doors fully opened up revealing what was behind the large door, my footsteps halted for a second as my mouth opened up slightly. "This is more than I expected..." A vermilion rug ran down from the door all the way to the end of the room. Banners with golden embroideries swung gently from the side of the walls that were coated in a golden lustre. Between each banner stood a large candlestick, almost all of them lit and in turn illuminating the room below them. Around the room were rows upon rows of glass-protected cabinets with all sorts of weapons and artifacts hidden behind them. Artifacts, natural treasures, weapons, and many other miscellaneous items were all stored inside the cabinets. "Oh wow.." Entering the room and taking a look at the place, Kevin exclaimed in disbelief. "This is a lot more than I expected" The number of treasures present was beyond what Kevin had ever expected. Although he expected there to be something, he did not expect there to be so many items here. All of the stuff here could probably fetch him a hefty sum of money. ...just the weapons alone were enough for anyone to drool over. "Let's go, Silug you wait outside" Entering the treasury, the first thing I did was tell Silug to wait outside. There were a couple of reasons as to why I kept him outside, one to guard the entrance in case demons found out we broke in, and two because there was a chance that something that detected the presence of orcs was installed in this place. Just like the living quarters of Marquess Azeroth. ...I couldn't afford to take any chances therefore I just asked him to stay outside. Glancing at me who was similarly looking at the treasury with shining eyes, Kevin asked. "How are we going to take the stuff, should we just break all of the cabinets?" Hearing Kevin's suggestion, I shook my head in disappointment. "If only that was possible..." The cabinets before us were made of special materials that were extremely durable. So, even if we forcefully tried to break them open, it would probably take a long time to open each and every single cabinet present. I honestly wanted to take everything with me, but given the time left we had, I could only select a few of them to take. Unaware of my thoughts, Kevin asked. "So if we can't break them, what are we going to do?" Glancing at Kevin, I reassured him. "Don't worry, I've already thought it through, although we can't take everything, I pretty much know which stuff is the most useful for us" In the novel, Kevin pretty much took every single item in the treasury, so I already knew what items there were and which ones were the most valuable. Therefore, without hesitation, I instantly made my way towards one of the cabinets closest to us. "Alright, this should be the first one" Following me, halting his steps as he suddenly thought of something, Kevin suggested

"Wait, what if we put everything in our dimensional space and bring them back to earth?" Hearing Kevin's suggestion, I shook my head. "I don't think we can do that" "Why?" Brushing my hair to the side, I pointed towards the bottom part of the cabinets. "Look, the cabinets are attached to the ground. We could've probably done that if we had more time, but we don't so we can only break a select few cabinets" "Ah, fair enough" Staring at the cabinets, Kevin indeed noticed that they were directly attached to the ground making it impossible to just put them in the dimensional space. Even if they did cut the bottom part, it would take way longer than just breaking the windows, therefore, Kevin knew that he could only give up on the idea of bringing everything. Though disappointing, Kevin knew that he was partly responsible for this as he took too much time counting the castle. Pointing and moving before one of the cabinets in the distance, I urged Kevin to follow me.

08:58

"Yeah, let's not waste any more time, and let's start our thieving spree!" Speechless by my comments, Kevin wanted to refute but realizing what I said wasn't wrong, he could only silently follow my lead. "...Alright" Arriving before a certain cabinet and standing next to me, Kevin curiously asked. "This one?" Nodding my head, I placed my hand on the glass of the cabinet as I moved my face closer to get a closer look at what was behind. "Yeah, this is the first cabinet we should be opening" Glancing at the cabinet before him that had many different things on display ranging from fruits, herbs, and many other things that seemed to be naturally made, Kevin curiously asked

"Are those natural treasures?" Nodding my head, I affirmed. "Yup, natural treasures" Hearing my response, Kevin's brows knit together. Glancing at me he asked. "Natural treasure? But will they work on us?" Since this world was a plant inhibited by orcs, most of the natural treasures before us could only be consumed by the orcs thus making them useless to us. Kevin's question was appropriate, however, just because most of them were items that were only useful for orcs, that didn't mean that there were only items that only orcs could consume. In fact, some herbs could in fact be ingested by humans. ...and I knew this because right in the corner of a cabinet were three stalks of grass that had a tint of blue. 'Sky grass' A natural treasure that could also be found on earth and that both Kevin and I could consume.

Upon consumption, it would in turn allow for both of us to rank up. Kevin to <D> rank, and me to possibly <E+> rank.

The reason why I directly jumped to <E+> rank when I was only <E-> rank was because I was already close to reaching <E> rank. With four months passing since my last rank increase, I knew that it was only a matter of time before I reached <E> rank, therefore, with the aid of the sky grass, reaching <E+> wasn't impossible. ...and so, staring at Kevin, I pointed towards the grass at the corner of the cabinet.

over there you can see the stalks of sky grass" Spotting the sky grass in the corner of the cabinet, Kevin's eyes lit up. "Oh, I see them, what grade are they?" "Enough to help us rank up once, so I think they are fairly good, plus those two treasures are not my main goal, but it's the other stuff" "I see..." Nodding his head and turning his attention away from the sky grass, Kevin glanced at the other natural treasures. Turning his head around and looking at me, he curiously asked. "What about the rest, is it for Silug" Nodding my head, I didn't deny it. "Yeah, I did promise him that I'll help him get stronger. This was the condition for helping us" "That makes sense" Silug was indeed very helpful. Without his help entering the castle would've been a lot harder than originally planned, plus with him, an element of safety was added to their trip so it was only appropriate that he got rewarded for it. Turning his attention back towards the cabinet, Kevin asked. "So how are we supposed to break this open?" Pointing towards the sheath of his sword, I casually said. "Just use your sword" "Just that?" Shrugging my shoulders, I nodded my head. "Yeah, although the glass is durable, your strength should be enough to cut it. Although it may take some time, it should work"

Taken aback, Kevin had a weird look on his face as he unsheathed his sword and channelled his mana into it.

As the red hue around his sword was becoming stronger, turning his attention back to me, he asked. "Alright, whilst I do that, what will you do?"

Glancing around the room, my eyes soon paused on a couple of cabinets as I responded. "I'll open the other stuff" Looking in the direction that I was looking at, Kevin nodded his head.

"Okay, you do your thing, I'll call you when I'm done" "Yup, that would be ideal. Once you're done with the cabinet you're on just take whatever you want"

"mhm, will do" "Aight, good luck" Separating from Kevin and arriving before another cabinet, my attention was instantly drawn towards a pale green flute that sat in the middle of the cabinet.

A white hue shrouded the flute making it look really impressive. "I've finally found you..." The flute of Artemis, a <S> ranked artifact. ...and the item that would propel Ava to a whole new level. The item was probably something that Marquess Azeroth took back when he was not on this planet. Perhaps from the dwarves, elves, or even humans. I wasn't too sure. ...but considering his status as a Marquess ranked demon, it wouldn't be strange if he had been to all of these places.

Although the flute was a <S> ranked artifact, it could only be used by beast tamers and thus was not very coveted hence why it was stuck in this place to collect dust. Moreover, looking at the cracks on the side of the flute, I knew that it was currently damaged and hence why it only had the aura of a <D> ranked artifact. ...but that was fine. I knew of a way to fix it, and the fact that it was damaged was also not a bad thing.

With the rank of the item being low, Ava could safely use it without being too overwhelmed by it as high-ranked artifacts were not something low ranking people could use. The reason was simple. The mana needed to activate a <S> ranked artifact was not something a <F> ranked as Ava could use, so this was perfect for her. "Alright, enough time-wasting" Without wasting time, shrouding my sword with mana, I quickly tried to break the cabinet open. ...and oh boy it was tedious. For the next twenty minutes or so, tracing my sword around the glass of the cabinet, I patiently channeled my mana through my sword as I tried to break it open. -Crack!  It was a long and laborious task but finally, after hearing a slight cracking sound coming from the glass, I knew that I was almost there. -Crash!

Not long after the first crack appeared, came the second one and then the third one. Finally, after a couple of minutes, the whole glass shattered as a loud sound resounded across the place. Without hesitation, as soon as the glass shattered I quickly grabbed the flute. "Finally!" Grabbing the flute and staring at it, I knew that I had finally accomplished one of my main goals in coming here. "Is there anything else?" Checking the cabinet, I soon found a couple of other things which I took without hesitation. Although I wasn't too sure of what they did, I still took them with me and put them in my dimensional space. '...I'll check them later'

After I made sure that there was nothing else left, clapping my hands together I softly mumbled.

"Alright, now that I have the flute it's time I go get what I came here for..."

Turning around, my eyes soon paused towards a certain cabinet in the distance where a certain black book was being displayed. Without hesitation, I instantly arrived before the cabinet and repeated the same glass-breaking process. -Crash!  In a similar fashion to before, twenty minutes after I started breaking the glass, the sound of glass shattering rang across the place.

Ignoring it, I quickly grabbed the black book from behind the glass. "Yes..."

Staring at the book in my hand, my heart beat intensely as I flipped it around and read the skill description through my status window. ===

[{D} The one]

A skill that enables the user to instil fear into the opponents' minds resulting in them feeling like they were standing before a sovereign that overlooked everything. The skill may work on individuals who are one rank higher than them, however, if the difference between the two parties is greater than two ranks, the skill effect diminishes. ===

08:59

"This is the skill..." Reading the skill description before my eyes, a large smile appeared on my face. Although it may not look like it, this skill was extremely strong. Even though it was only <D> ranked, the effects of the skill were something that made anyone want to drool over them. By instilling fear into the opponents, you were essentially gaining the upper hand in both battle and negotiations. Like I've said before, battles were 90% mentality and 10% skill. If I could have the upper hand mentally, the chances of me winning were far higher. Moreover, this skill added with my other skill, monarch's indifference...

Smiling to myself, I couldn't help but mutter. "Oh, the possibilities..." Just the thought of using those two skills together sent chills down my body. ...they perfectly complemented each other. One skill that erases all emotions, and another that instilled fear into the opponent. The possibilities were endless. -Shua!

Without a second thought, placing my hand on the book, I softly muttered. "Sorry, Jin, but I'll be taking this from you..." ...yeah, the skill should've originally belonged to Jin, however, given that the plotline had pretty much derailed from the original and that I was now practically destroying it with me starting a war and being in Immorra, I honestly didn't care anymore. Although me taking the skill would cause Jin's future self to be weaker, given his current mindset and change, perhaps he might actually be stronger. Who knows. Either way, the future that I knew was no longer there.

...it was about time I started becoming a bit greedier for the sake of myself. After all, I've pretty much have come to terms with the fact that I now was just as part of this world as everybody else. There was no use denying it. I was now also responsible for defeating the demon king just as much as Kevin was. Therefore, I knew that I had to be greedier.

With the plotline no longer being the same as before, it was also about time I started taking things into my own hands. -Fwuap!  Shortly after placing my hand on the book, the book mysteriously glowed as it soon disappeared from my hand as black particles flew in the air. Opening my eyes slightly, a satisfied smile appeared on my lips. ...I had finally learned a new skill.