Assimilate All Talents

The one who stood opposite Sol was a mature black haired man with a thin sword hanging off his waist. Sol assumed he was an agility based fighter and used [Analysis] to get a better understanding of what he was up against.

Name: Axel

Race: Human

Talents: [Ghost Blade], [Nimble], [Phantom]

Level: 79

HP: 820

MP: 900

Str: 91

Vit: 82

Agi: 110 (+30)

Int: 27

Wis: 90

Talent Skills:

[Ghost Form] Lv MAX, [Phantom Dance] Lv 6

Passive Skills:

[Intermediate Swordsmanship] Lv 7, [Muffled Movements] Lv EX, [Counter] Lv 4, [Agility Up] Lv 6, [Tracking] Lv 5, [Basic Trapmaking] Lv 3, [6th Sense] Lv 2

Active Skills:

[Blurry Steps] Lv 6, [Puncture] Lv 8, [Backstab] Lv 7, [Phantom Image] Lv 5, [Debilitating Strike] Lv 4, [Quick Draw] Lv 3, [Invisibility] Lv 3

‘A true B-Ranker…’

This was going to be Sol’s first fight with a true B-Ranker. While it could be said that both Amber and Weaver were B-Rankers in their own right, they were just barely at that rank. If not for the fact that there was no B-Rank dungeon in Kerman, those two would have been much stronger.

Axel’s level was over ten levels higher and specialized in speed that surpassed Sol’s even with the help of [Perfect Balance]. But that didn’t discourage him. Sol believed he could easily win against the man if he went all out, but there was no point in doing so. From the fights Sol had seen, he didn’t even need to win; he just had to show he had the strength of a B-Ranker.

“You ready?” Axel didn’t even bother introducing himself.

Sol focused up and responded, “Yes.”

With both fighters ready, they immediately ran at each other. Axel didn’t use any skills as he first needed to assess if Sol was qualified to withstand them, or he could accidentally end up killing the test taker. Sol noticed this as well and responded in kind with just his sword and nothing else.

The two blades clashed, and Sol even managed to push Axel back, but before he could capitalize on the advantage, the man slipped to the side and let the force of Sol’s sword slam into the ground.

Now understanding that Sol had the minimum strength to survive his attacks, Axel disappeared into thin air.

‘Just like Amber’s skill. Probably the same one.’

“You have the strength, but are your skills up to par?”

Sol turned around to the man holding his thin sword, waiting for Sol’s approach. This confused Sol as he didn’t understand why Axel went invisible just to appear a few feet away. Out of instinct that something was off, Sol activated [Mana Perception].

‘It’s not real!’

The man standing before Sol was a clump of pure mana; it was not a person but a mirage created by [Phantom Image]. The real examiner was off to the right in a perfect position to flank Sol if he approached the fake.

Sol knew it was a fake and could run directly at the examiner, but Sol wanted to keep to himself the fact he could see mana. It was incredibly useful for moments like these, and with a stand of spectators, he decided to attack the dummy.

“[Scorching Ray]!”

A narrow beam of concentrated fire erupted from Sol’s hand and flew towards the fake. The moment the fire made contact with the fake examiner, it phased right through. The image fluctuated from the mana colliding with each other, and Sol put on the best surprised face he could.

The examiner didn’t expect Sol to have ranged capabilities and had to move towards Sol before he caught on to the trick. Unfortunately for Axel, Sol had already figured it all out.

Waiting for the examiner to get a bit closer, Sol gripped his sword and used [Death Cyclone] to attack in every direction. Sol made it so he perfectly timed his attack to just scrape the examiner, which took him out of his invisibility.

One thing he learned from exploring the dungeon with Amber was that her invisibility skill stopped working the moment she took the slightest bit of damage. It almost never happened, but sometimes a Skeleton Mage would cast a large area spell which would just slightly graze her.

Being taken out of his invisibility, Axel was taken aback at the incredible timing. He didn’t know if it was luck or instinct, but being perfectly countered really annoyed him. Axel was technically supposed to end the fight now as he could tell Sol was more than qualified to be a B-Ranker, but he wanted to kick him down a peg.

Axel used [Blurry Steps] to absolutely trump Sol in speed and launched multiple skills towards Sol. He didn’t aim for any vitals but places where it would definitely hurt if hit. Even if Axel went too far, he wasn’t worried as they had healers stationed nearby in case of any accident.

Being on the receiving end of all these attacks, Sol responded with one of his new skills, [Weapon Enhancement].

[Weapon Enhancement] Lv 7: Enhance two aspects of your weapon: Sharpness, weight, speed, etc. Mana cost varies depending on the strength and type of enhancement.

Sol enhanced his sword's speed so he could keep up with the multitude of attacks and its durability to survive the incoming onslaught. With every attack he countered, another came right after. This went on for 10 full seconds, and while the casual spectators loved the intense fight they were watching, a few were confused as to why the fight hadn’t ended yet. A few more battle-hardened employees knew that this was no longer a normal test and were considering whether to interfere or not.

Before they could enact any actions to stop the fight, one of the attacks slipped through Sol’s near perfect defense, and a wide slash hit his waist. The attack produced a pained expression on Sol’s face, and before he could recover, the examiner used [Blurry Steps] increased speed to kick Sol with full force. Sol was sent a few feet back as he fell on his butt.

Axel, who finally managed to knock Sol to the ground, sheathed his sword as if it was light work. Little did the spectators know that his hands and feet were slightly trembling from the overexertion of skills within a short period.

“You passed. You did well for a rookie.”

Keeping a neutral face, Sol nodded. “Thank you.”

Axel walked away as a healer nearby came to check on Sol.

Sol declined the healer's help, “No, it’s okay, it’s just a flesh wound.”

“Are you sure? I can heal the cut.”

“It’s fine, thank you.”

The healer was unsure why Sol was being so stubborn over it but decided to let him be.

Sol stood up and walked to the bleacher next to Amber.

Uncharacteristically of Amber, she asked a question.

“Why lose?”

Amber knew Sol was never going to go all out, but even without doing so, he could win against that fight. When Sol was a much lower level, he was able to defeat her with less, and the instructor and her had a lot of similar skills.

With a wry smile, he looked at his health.

Health: 1299/1300

The next second, Sol’s health maxed out, and the small cut was already gone. Sol purposely allowed the attack to go through and pretended to get knocked down just to end the fight. Sol didn’t know why the examiner was going all out, but if he compared it to others who took the exam, he was already more than qualified.

Sol could see that Axel was annoyed during the latter half of the fight, and he guessed it was because of the way he countered his sneak attack. It was better to just let the examiner believe he had won and go about their day rather than make an enemy of a guild employee who could make his life much harder.

Sol used [Telepathy] as he didn’t want anyone to hear his reason.

It’s better not to make unnecessary enemies by bruising someone's ego.