Chapter 41: A month later?
As time passed, Ace put on his clothes and looked at the sleeping Flare on the long chair, her body relaxed and her face serene. He gently covered her naked body with a quilt, ensuring her comfort, and placed a pillow beneath her head.
Ace opened the door, night had already fallen. He went out to meet Henry, intending to invite him to join the guild during the next recruitment event next month, for his promise.
Soon, a month had passed, filled with both pleasure and progress. During this month, except for indulging in intimate moments with the four women at night—Nerissa, Eureya, Lilia, and Flare—they dedicated themselves to practising their abilities and honing their combat experience at the Four Cloud Mountains.
In this month, together with the 40,000 system points he had initially possessed, another 130,000 system points were accumulated, bringing his total to an impressive 170,000 system points.
However, during this month, Ace also made purchases at the System Shop, to enhance the women's capabilities. He acquired the Golden Wings ability (High Grade, Earth Rank) for Lilia, for 10,000 system points. This ability greatly increased Lilia's speed, making her more agile and versatile, and could be used for defense, flight, and offense.
The Soft Bubble Art (Mid Grade Earth Rank), costing 5,000 system points, was also learned by Eureya, providing her with a powerful defensive ability that could also be used for flight. In addition, Eureya learned the Water Serpent ability (Mid Grade Earth Rank), also costing 5,000 system points.
As for Nerissa, since her innate abilities were already incredibly powerful, rendering her immune to both elemental and physical attacks unless her life energy was completely exhausted, she also has flight ability.
So Nerissa chose hundreds of mithril daggers, costing 10,000 system points, instead of abilities.
Ace also bought the ability Elemental Slash (Mid Grade Earth Rank), a technique suitable for both Lilia and Eureya due to their elemental affinities. He also acquired Crimson Slash (Mid Grade Earth Rank), a similar ability designed for those without elemental affinities. While Elemental Slash was superior in terms of power for those with elemental affinities, Crimson Slash was still a potent option for those without elemental affinity like Ace and Nerissa.
In addition, Ace bought the ability Acceleration (Mid Grade Earth Rank), a movement technique that had already been learned by Ace and the women in the past month.As for Flare, Ace had no choice but to buy her the Flame Butterfly Art (High Grade Earth Rank), a powerful ability for those who had flame affinity.
Ace also captured a large number of Magical Beasts at the Four Cloud Mountains, intending to use them as mounts . To accomplish this, he utilized Beast Collars (Fine Grade), which could be bought from the system for only 10 system points each. These collars could only be used on beasts lower than Earth Tier, but they were incredibly useful for Ace's purposes, purchasing 500 pieces.
The women also experienced their strength rapidly. Nerissa reached the early stage of the Eighth Tier. Lilia and Eureya both reached the early stage of the Seventh Tier. As for Flare, she had already reached the early stage of Fifth Tier.
Sil had reached the mid-stage of the Fourth Tier, while Rosalie, Flare's daughter, and Anna had both reached the early stage of the Fourth Tier.
Moreover, the other recruited subordinates had all reached the early stage of the Second Tier. Furthermore, Ace discovered that the blood crystals available in the system shop were high-level crystals. He realized this when they hunted and captured magical beasts at the Four Cloud Mountains, not all of which were used as mounts. Some of these beasts, such as the gigantic pythons and boars, had reached the Fourth Tier, yet the blood crystals found on their heads were only the size of beans. Based on Ace's estimations, the fingernail-sized blood crystals in the system shop were likely from beasts at Tier Seven to Nine.
At the periphery of the Four Cloud Mountains, two figures faced each other in an open space. Not far away, Ace, Eureya, Flare, and a group of people, the recruited underlings, watched in awe, fear, and disbelief.
Clang... clang... clang... Lilia and Nerissa exchanged a flurry of blows with their swords, the sound of metal clashing echoed. A ripple of air could be seen whenever their weapons collided, and sparks of metal occasionally flew.
The two of them were so fast that most of the onlookers could only see a vague shadow of their movements. "Acceleration," Lilia said, and used her movement ability. "Hmph... Acceleration," Nerissa retorted, also used her movement's ability, causing their speed to increase even further. Those onlookers who had only reached the Second Tier could no longer see even a shadow, their eyes struggling to keep up with the blur of motion. All they could perceive were the sparks of metal, the dust kicked up by their movements, and the ripples in the air caused by the sheer force of their attacks.
"They were so fast, this is unbelievable," Anna said, her mouth wide open in astonishment, the same expression as Rosalie, who was equally amazed by the display of speed and strength. Sil and Flare, despite being more experienced, could only see fleeting shadows, their eyes fixed on the battle with unwavering seriousness.
With a few more exchanges of blows, Nerissa and Lilia separated, their bodies calm and composed, showing no signs of fatigue. They stared at each other. Lilia's expression was filled with seriousness, while a faint smile appeared on Nerissa's lips, full of confidence.
"Elemental Slash," Lilia muttered, and slashed the golden sword in her hand, unleashing a golden slash that stretched about ten meters long, advancing through the air towards Nerissa at a fast speed.
Seeing the incoming attack, "Crimson Slash," Nerissa said, also slashed her mithril sword, unleashing a crimson arc of energy that met the golden arc head-on.
Boom! The two attacks collided with tremendous force, creating a deafening explosion that reverberated through the air. However, the crimson slash was shattered upon impact, disintegrating into red particles of light. Although both slashes were of the same ability rank, the elemental slash proved to be superior in power and effectiveness. The golden slash continued to advance towards Nerissa.
"Hmph..." Lilia snorted, as she prepared her next attack. A large number of golden daggers, more than thirty in total, hovered around her like a swarm of projectil's. With a flick of her wrist, the golden daggers surged forward in a blindingly fast speed towards Nerissa.
Nerissa simply smiled and raised her hand, unfazed by the incoming barrage. To everyone's surprise, the golden slash stopped mid-air, as if encountering an invisible barrier that prevented it from advancing any further.
"Although I don't have elemental affinity, it doesn't mean I'm inferior," Nerissa said with a provocative smile. Then, she clenched her fist, and the golden slash that was suspended in mid-air suddenly burst apart, disintegrating into golden particles that scattered in the air.
As expected, the more than thirty golden daggers met the same fate. They were unable to penetrate the invisible barrier created by Nerissa, stopping mid-air as if hitting an impenetrable wall.
Then, to everyone's surprise, the more than thirty gold daggers changed direction, reversing their course and targeting Lilia. Swoosh! Fortunately, Lilia's control over the golden daggers was far superior to Nerissa, allowing her to regain control of the projectiles before they could inflict any harm to her. The daggers stopped and trembled in mid-air, struggling against Nerissa's influence until they were once again under Lilia's command.
"Hmph... although your control of gold is superior, can you stop hundreds of blades?" Nerissa whispered . With a thought, a hundred of mithril daggers emerged from her space ring, materialized in the air and hovered around Nerissa's surroundings.
Despite the fact that Nerissa's ability was undeniably powerful, it had a limitation: a ten-meter domain. Within that surrounding area, everything was under her control, subject to her will. As for why she could control the daggers beyond that range, if someone had the ability to see life energy, they would be able to perceive a faint string connecting Nerissa to each of the hundred mithril daggers, allowing her to maintain control over them even from a distance.
Watching the hundreds of mithril daggers flew towards her, Lilia realized that even if she took to the skies, she would have no way to dodge the relentless barrage. With no other options available, she had no choice but to use her new ability, Golden Wing (High Grade Earth Rank). In an instant, golden wings, similar to the wings of a bat or a dragon, formed on her back and enveloped her entire body.
Clang... clang... clang... The mithril daggers relentlessly struck her golden wings, the sound of metal against metal echoing through the air. Although the daggers were unable to penetrate the wings, Lilia was pushed backward by the force of the impact, leaving a visible foot trail etched into the ground as she struggled to maintain her balance.
Lilia gritted her teeth, feeling the strain of the continuous assault. With a sigh of resignation, she shouted, "Alright, you win!" accepting her defeat. After all, with her current abilities and Nerissa's seemingly unfair control over her surroundings, she couldn't even touch her clothes, let alone defeat her.
Nerissa smiled, acknowledging Lilia's surrender. With a gesture of her hand, the mithril daggers stopped mid-air, hovering momentarily before being recalled back in front of her. With a wave of her hand, the hundred of mithril daggers were placed back inside her spatial ring, disappearing from sight as if they had never been there.