Chapter 45 (1/2)

Underground City of the Ancient G.o.ds 4

They found an uninhabited house - granted, every house in this place was empty and even if it wasn't, undead monsters occupied it - where they could sleep for the night. Mana Detection indicated there were no monsters nearby.

Instinct sure is a pain in the neck, Hikaru thought.

Six points on Instinct was extremely rare, but he'd already met two people who had it - the captain of the knights and Aglaia a while ago.

Sarah of the Four Stars of the East had five on hers. Unken, the hero, had four. It was safe to a.s.sume that only very few had four and above. In fact, two or three points on it was uncommon as well.

Back in the Pond and in the royal capital, Hikaru had checked as many Soul Boards as possible. Only those aforementioned four people had at least four points on Instinct. The takeaway, though, was that they existed. There were individuals with high level Instincts.

Just like Strength and Mana, Instinct is a basic stat. Maybe that's why leveling it up is easy. It's maxed at 20. Will Stealth be completely useless against, say, ten points on Instinct? But then what would be the point of the Stealth skill?

Hikaru was deep in thought. Unlike Lawrence, Aglaia seemed like she knew where he was exactly.

It must have something to do with her cla.s.s. She probably has an Instinct-related cla.s.s that she had active.

He had to think of a countermeasure for this threat. Hikaru arrived at three options.

First was training and equipment. Hikaru was a novice when it came to Stealth and had no combat training. He lived in j.a.pan, after all, so it made sense. His foes were professionals. He could rely on his Soul Board and job cla.s.s, but Instinct might be enough to see through him.

Maybe I need some sort of a teacher to develop my skill… Is there even anyone who's a Stealth expert?

Unken popped up in his mind. Though since it looked like he didn't want to talk about his past, there was no way the man would teach him. In the first place, Hikaru had no plans of returning to Pond.

His second option was to completely rely on his Skills. He had three points on both his Life and Mana Obfuscation at the moment, and they maxed out at five. Another Skill might pop up once he maxed them out.

I have… three points left.

【Soul Board】Hikaru

Age: 15 Rank: 23

3

He got one level back in the forest by the lake and two today.

It's surprisingly easy to get your rank up…

That was a misconception on Hikaru's part. Levelling up was anything but easy. Usually you'd form a party with at least five people to hunt monsters. If someone got injured, they'd have to deal with it appropriately and even act more cautiously. Fighting nonstop with only two people was almost entirely impossible.

Incidentally, Lavia's rank had gone up to 18, with 11 available points.

I could add more points to Life Obfuscation.

Very few people had Mana Detection. It would then make sense to prioritize Life Obfuscation. Still, Hikaru was having second thoughts.

His third option could be more effective, which was for him to learn Instinct. He hadn't the slightest idea how Instinct worked at all - how one could find someone hiding with Stealth.

Okay, let's try one point on Instinct. If it turns out to be useless, I'll just max out Obfuscation or get new gear.

It might end up being a waste of points, but just one was okay. Hikaru needed to experience what Instinct was like for future reference as well.

Soul Board Hikaru

Age: 15 Rank:23

2

【Vitality】

【Magical Power】

【Physical Strength】

..【Strength】1

..【Weapon Mastery】

….【Throwing】2

【Agility】

..【Power Burst】2

..【Stealth】

….【Life Obfuscation】3

….【Mana Obfuscation】3

….【Imperceptibility】5 (MAX)

……【a.s.sa.s.sination】3 (MAX)

……..【Sniping】0

……【Group Obfuscation】3

【Intuition】

..【Instinct】1

..【Detection】

….【Life Detection】1

….【Mana Detection】3

……【Detection Expansion】1

「Hmm…」

「What's wrong, Hikaru?」