Second World

He walked directly to the back of the room while talking, not waiting for Janusʼ answer. Same as the last time. the rectangular void appeared once he was nearby.

”See you on the other side,” Jack said and walked inside.

He came out at the huge plaza with the obelisks. He looked around and as expected, another Janus came and greet him.

”Come to continue the challenge?” This Janus asked.

”Yes, Iʼm going to rank up to novice today,” Jack declared. He then asked Janus with a hopeful feeling, ”Any chance for me to loan challenge points? I need 370 points to rank up to Apprentice.”

”Haha, you want to challenge stage 50 at your current level?” Janus asked.

”How about we make a bet? You loan me the points I need, if I managed to clear that stage today, I donʼt need to pay you back. If I fail, I will pay double the amount.”

”As interesting as your offer, Iʼm afraid I must decline. I am not allowed to gamble,” Janus said.

”You specifically? Or, all of you?” Jack tried to make sure.

”All of us,” Janus said.

”What about a loan? Is it possible?” Jack didnʼt give up.

”Iʼm sorry,” Janus shook his head. ”That complementary ten points I gave before will be the only gift. No more gift and no loan.”

Jack shrugged, ”Okay then. At least I tried.” He then walked over to the obelisk with number 24 floating above and activated the challenge.

Since the difficulty of the stages here was similar to the League of Champions, he had no problem on all stages below stage 50. He used up 627 of his challenge points and cleared stage 42. He was at Novice rank already by then. He had only 2 points left afterward. His knowledge points, on the other hand, were 903 points.

He asked Janus for the exchange list.

Same as the League of Champions, new items were added after he became Novice rank. Only basic and advanced spells though, no elite spells were available yet for this rank. He saw the fire, ice, and lightning enchantment in the list of spells. He heard in the previous guild battle, both Trinity and Selena used these spells. There were also fire, ice, and lightning resist spells. All of those were only learnable by elementalists though.

Seeing no elite spells, he planned to just save his current knowledge points for the elite spells when he increased to the next rank.

”Get that Float spell,” Peniel said.

”Float?” Jack was not paying attention to the spells, he only checked their grades. Now that Peniel mentioned it, he looked at the spell.

”Oh, this must be the spell Master used to float when he fought me?” Jack asked.

”Yes,” Peniel replied.

”No flying spell?”

”You will need another spell in addition to this Float spell for flying. Just grab this one first.”

ʼNeed another spell? Why do I need two spells for flying?ʼ Jack thought within, but he decided to not ask further since Peniel was ignoring his thought anyway. He paid the required six hundred knowledge points for the Float spell. It was one of the more expensive advanced spells on the list.

Jack received the technique book and learned the spell. The spell required three runes to cast. It only allowed him to float up and down vertically. The maximum height he could travel with this spell was twenty meters. The duration of this spell in its first level was thirty seconds.

He didnʼt see much use of this spell aside from avoiding melee contact or getting to a high elevation. Considering that he preferred melee combat, there was no point for him to use this spell to flee. So to him, this spell was only useful for traveling. Nevertheless, if having this skill allowed him the chance to fly, he gladly accepted it. After all, who didnʼt dream to fly?

Jack said goodbye to Janus and left.

There was one more place he wanted to visit before he called it a day. He went to Commander Quintusʼ tower. Arriving there, he asked the staff for the merit exchange list. Now that he was an Earl, there should also be more services he could use his merit points on.

The staff in charge displayed the list. There was a new section for Earl rank. Like before, there was a page for individual service and another for guild service.

*

Individual list:

-? ? ? ? Superior Training Ground = 50 merit / 3 hours

-? ? ? ? Use silver mining cave = 50 merit / 3 hours

-? ? ? ? Use training cave (level 30-40) = 100 merit / 5 hours

-? ? ? ? Use training cave (level 40-50) = 200 merit / 5 hours

*

Guild list: