Skill Creation in the Fantasy World

While Felix was pondering about taking advantage of the monster's fight with the Six Guild alliance's scouting team, the rest of the group was looking at the boy with weird looks.

"You... You're evil...", Barry widened his eyes with fear and muttered with a gulp as he imagined his old teammates getting killed by the swarm of monsters.

Evan and Victor shared a glance, sighing as they didn't interject.

Elsa stood before Felix who was about to reply and interrupted him.

"Stop it! Felix did that to protect us! You don't understand how troubled he must've been with the responsibility of guiding us and keeping us safe.", Elsa argued as everyone looked at the boy who just tilted his head.

'Huh? Oh right! I forgot about that. Luring the monsters away was for saving us, of course....', Felix nodded innocently, pretending that he was just thinking for themselves.

'But I really wanted to rack those skill points back there....'

He sighed and moved forward, not caring about other's opinions as he looked at the map to hurry up and find their way back to the base.

"Okay, guys. I think we'll have to go in that direction to reach the base."

He stepped forward, the group naturally following behind him as even if they had objections about his methods, he was still their only guide to the base.

Trellur moved beside Victor, smirking as he glanced at Felix's back.

"He's decisive for a boy of his age, I quite like that. He's also kind of similar to the guild leader, don't you think so?"

Victor turned to stare at Felix who was calmly leading the group, and felt his figure overlapping with the man whom he respected the most.

"I can't deny that. But still, he's just a kid. We, as the adults, have to look after him and the others."

Trellur shrugged off as he stepped forward, while Victor took a last glance behind him as he started walking at the rear of the group, intending to stop any monsters from interrupting on their way back again.

The rest of the journey was uneventful, with a few monsters crossing their paths who were quickly dealt with as the group kept on moving according to Felix's directions.

*****

"There.... We're back at the base!"

Felix smiled when they reached the end of the tunnel, where they could see a large area and the members of the two guilds working together at the base.

"Yes! We finally arrived at the base!"

"Woah... this place is huge. They've even placed so many tents!"

"Sigh~ At last, now we can take some rest."

The group was excited and happy to have reached their destination after the tiring journey, and their commotion was noticed by the people doing their work at the base.

"Look! It's the last group of our guilds! They're finally back!"

"The rescue team is back too. They've brought back the last group!"

"That's the receptionist, Elsa! Victor and Evan have brought them all back!"

As the group entered the base, they were welcomed by their comrades and guildmates, who were relieved to see that they were safe and sound.

The two guild leaders, Dante and Rhodes, walked out from a tent along with several others as they smiled at the return of the last group.

Dante took a keen glance at the group and smiled when he noticed that every one of them had returned alive, including the two new faces.

"Well done, guys. Victor, Evan and the rescue team. You've successfully brought back the last group, thank you for your efforts.", Rhodes praised them as he checked their conditions.

"Have something to eat and take a small rest for now. We'll discuss your matters later.", Dante said as the group nodded and dispersed, leaving behind a few who looked at the two guild leaders seriously.

Victor, Elsa, Evan, Truller and the two captives, Barry and Owen were left of the group, who were led towards the biggest tent in the area for some serious talk.

Meanwhile, Felix was quickly surrounded by the three of his teammates, who asked him questions nonstop.

"Felix! Thank god you're safe! What happened back there?!", Steve jumped in front of the boy.

"Hey, stop it! Let him take it easy... Felix must've been tired from the rescue mission.", Roven stopped Steve from disturbing Felix.

"Did you guys encounter the enemy guilds? Was there.... a battle?", Eric asked uneasily.

Felix took a deep breath and sat down on a nearby chair, smiling as he slowly told the boys what had happened as if he was reading a fairytale.

"Well, it went like this...."

He told them of what they did, omitting a few details as the three boys listened quietly with their eyes sparking in amazement.

They were surprised at how fast Felix had found the exact location of the last group, shocked when they heard the two sides fight each other as every one of them survived.

And then they became horrified at how a swarm of monsters chased them till they escaped and reached the base.

"No way! To think I missed such an exciting adventure! Ughhh!!!", Steve made a face full of regret as he cried crocodile tears.

Roven and Eric shook their heads at him as the former asked back to Felix.

"What happened with the enemy guild members? Did any of them escape?"

"Hmm, two of them did...", Felix remembered the drama back at the scene as he continued, "And apparently, one of them was someone close to Sir Victor. Like a brother but not blood-related."

The three boys shared a curious glance as they became intrigued to hear that Victor had a brother.

"Really?! What was he like? Did the two of them hug each other? But wait- Doesn't that make them enemies now!?", Eric seemed to be the most curious as he asked questions one after the other, Steve and Roven turning to him too.

"I don't know, man.", Felix shrugged, "You have to ask Sir Victor those questions if you want to know about him, but I can just say this for sure...."

There was a playful glint in his eyes as Felix muttered in a wondering tone.

"....They'll be at each other's throats the next time they meet."

The three boys gulped in shock before throwing a bunch of more questions at him which he quickly stopped them.

"Alright, guys. That's enough interrogation. I'm hungry and tired now, let me go replenish my energy.", saying so, he ran away from them to find the tent where they were distributing food.

Felix filled his stomach to the brim there, then hopped into one of the tents where there were some comfy beds which he took a deep nap on.

Time passed, and even without a concept of day or night in the cavern dungeon, both guilds rested according to the night schedule of the outside world with a few men keeping watch at several points.

A tranquil atmosphere was present in the base area, where everyone was sleeping while tightly cuddling to their blankets to warm themselves from the cold and dark dungeon.

Amidst the silence, a pair of crystal red eyes opened up, which held within it a glint of eagerness and excitement.

'Time to farm skill points!'

Felix sneakily rolled down from the bed and lay on the ground, before his body submerged into the earth as if it was sinking into water.

As Felix disappeared from the tent and swam away from the base, he paused for a moment as he turned on the Map skill.

'There. Now I'll be able to get back more easily.', he clicked on the base depicted on the map, where a mark appeared to pinpoint its location.

Previously, he was too focused on the thought of rescuing Miss Elsa and the others and finding the way towards them that he had forgotten to mark the base's location, which he regretted before.

After marking it, he studied the map and recalled the path they had traversed earlier to find his way back to the swarm of monsters.

Grinning at the thought of the huge amount of skill points from killing all those monsters, Felix started swimming away.

'Daddy's coming, babies. Wait right there for me...'

****

Edenmont Underworld.

The building that served as Mr. Dealer's base saw a growing crowd as more people kept arriving one after the other.

A burly man wielding a Warhammer quietly opened the door of the building and entered in, his figure gaining some attention as a man walked towards him with a smile.

"Hey Bellard, haven't seen you in quite some time. How have you been?", the man asked familiarly.

"I've been good. How about you, Falcon?", Bellard nodded and asked back as he gave a small smile.

The two of them found a corner and started some small talk, waiting for the man of the house to address them as they glanced around at the people coming in like them.

A few minutes later, a woman wearing a mask which only showed her green eyes entered the building.

The two standing in the corner saw her and gave her a friendly nod, and to their surprise, they saw the woman walking towards them naturally.

"O-Oh. Hey there, Crystal. Didn't expect you'd come here too....", Falcon stuttered, finding it always a bit strange to talk with this quiet woman.

"Yeah. It looked kind of interesting, so I joined in too.", she replied as her gaze moved around the place as if she was looking for someone.

The trio became a bit awkward, but then Falcon found something they could talk about.

"Hey, it feels like we're back in a team like when we did that task for Mr.Delaer before, right?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm. It does feel like that."

Bellard and Crystal nodded, not knowing what to say further as the conversation became awkward again.

"There's still that guy Phantom left. I wonder where he's at.", Falcon mentioned the fourth member of their temporary team as he recalled.

"Right! That guy had gone off somewhere with Sir Graham previously! I never heard from him then. Wonder what happened with him to get involved with the strongest man in the underworld."

His words brought a surprised look in Crystal's eyes, who quickly asked him in back.

"That's unusual. Do you know how he gained the attention of that man?"

Seeing her getting curious and letting the conversation go on, Falcon felt happy as he replied.

"Oh, I'm not so sure about their history but it seemed like they were on good terms with each other. Well, Sir Graham even forgave us for beating up a few men of his because of Phantom.", Falcon awkwardly scratched his head.

"Hmm. Then can you tell me more about what happened?", Crystal inquired further as Falcon was delighted to share a talk.

"Yeah, of course. Then after the fight, they sat at a table and talked about going to the-"

Creak~

Falcon paused his words as he felt the temperature of the room decrease, as everyone in the hall turned their heads to look above the stairs where a door slowly opened.

From within the door walked out five figures, whose presence made all the people in the hall hold their breaths.

"Thanks for joining this meeting, everyone.", Mr. Dealer gave a polite smile as he stood in the middle of the five.

"We're going to take some of your time now, but don't worry you'll be greatly rewarded."

The people gathered in the hall were in disbelief; they never imagined they would meet five members of the Underworld Council, let alone all at once.

"Th- That's... ", Falcon was too shocked to say any words, but he still couldn't help but let out.

"What the fuck is going to happen here....."

On the other hand, Crystal had a strange look in her eyes as she stared right at the man wearing the one-eye patch.

'Graham... So that's him.'

With everyone's attention on him, Mr.Dealer gave a glance to the four beside him as he smiled at the crowd.

"Then, shall we begin?"