In the next morning, there was still half a day before Prason would go out. Lucien decided to practice his skills in secret.

Yep, in secret, there was a skill he wanted to try before. With several ‘lab rats’ around him, He could finally try his Paralysis-

“Ah I can’t get up, my whole body is feeling numb! I think I got on a wrong pose while sleeping.”

Bang~

“Ah my right arm suddenly feels numbed, when I was propping up my chin. My forehead hurts!”

Bang~

“How is my leg turned numbed suddenly! Ah, I broke my nose!”

Splash~

“You are lucky, I fell into the toilet! My ass is wet with sh*t!”

-and many more.

‘Haha, what a fun spell!’ Lucien really liked this spell of his. Even just to prank, it’s enough to him. Maybe this was why he didn’t have any friends. He was very naughty and couldn’t help but played pranks on his classmates.

Anymore would be too suspicious, Lucien chose to stop using paralysis and also pretended to lay down still with a flustered face, saying,

“W-what is going on? I-I can’t feel my ass and my little brother!”

Everyone in the room gave Lucien a pitying look, especially the boys. Some of them even paled imagining the pain, both physical and mental.

One of the girl brushed and whispered, “Maybe I can help you with my massage.”

“...” (Lucien)

“...” (Everyone)

bang!

That girl then ran into the bathroom and shut the door from embarrassment.

From this small incident, his acting, paralysis, sneak leveled up a bit.

Looking at his path, there were two new ones unlocked, Apprentice Path 0/50, which was probably in line with Trainee Path, and Acting Path 0/50, by reaching lv30 in acting skill.

He carefully thought about which path he to choose. Abyss Traveler was first to be ruled out. Surpasser required too many points which will take too much time.

Apprentice might give him stats but it was too all round. He wanted to sneak out of the town today so he wanted something that could help him more straightforwardly.

Coming down to Luck path and Acting path, he thought both of them would be useful. In the end, he chose Acting path as it might give him some skills in concealing or escaping.

He got 4 PP from Acting and Paralysis, 2 from Sneak, adding up with the leftover 6, a total of 16 PP.

Congratulations! You have earned 1 stat point.

Congratulations! You have earned 10 mana points.

Congratulations! You have earned 1 intelligence.

He got reward every 5 PP, no skills so far.

With several hours left, Lucien spent his time training, enduring many kids’ staring. He mostly trained physical skill and some magics that were not visible.

Clank~

By the time the half ass priest Prason left, he got 2 PP from Heavy Blow and Appraisal, 3 from Magic Barrier, 4 from Physical Fitness and Gale Manipulation, 3 from Wind Reinforcement, 5 from Empower and 2 from painstakingly Meditation, a total of 25 PP. He poured them in the path.

Congratulations! You have gained 10 stamina points.

Congratulations! You have gained 2 mental stats.

Congratulations! You have encountered a branching path! Should you act to deceive others or to veil your secrets.

The branching occured when he put his 25th PP. They were both too good to abandon one.

“In novels, when there were choices for protagonists to choose, they would act cool and chose both of them or making their own new choice, right?” Lucien mumbled curiously, “In my situation, I could be considered one too, right?”

Even Lucien himself felt his thinking was non sense, however there was no reason not to try.

‘I choose both!!’, said Lucien inwardly. He tried to sound as heroic as possible.

You have requested for both paths…

Ding! Your personal skill is being checked…

Ding! Your actual acting skill is qualified and your body is compatible enough to take both paths! There is enough fuel in your body, do you wish to continue?

‘That easy? Yes, system-chan!’ Lucien said excitedly. Haha, it actually works!

Suddenly, Lucien had a feeling that something rushing to his heart. It was similar to mana flowing when he wielded magic, but it was not comfortable at all. Actually, very painful.

‘What… is going on!’ Lucien gritted his teeth as he began to sweat profusely. His face turned red. The feeling was so suffocated and painful. He felt that if he didn’t do anything, his body might explode into piece.

He tried his best to control whatever was flowing inside his body like controlling mana when using wind reinforcement, forcefully contracting ‘something’ that was creaking to break apart.

“A-are you okay?” Douche who was sitting beside him saw his painful face. Douche didn’t know what happened as his face was filled with worry.

“I-I’m fine.” It pained him so much just to speak. He endured the painful feeling for 5 minutes which was like eternity to him, only then the pain subsided. And a series of notifications greeted his eyes.

‘Phew~ At least give me warning next time, system!’

Congratulations! You have successfully combined two branching paths! You are now taking the true path of acting! +50 mana points, +50 stamina points +6 mental stats. You have got 2 skills, Misleading ® lv1 and Hoodwink ® lv1.

Misleading ® lv1 : Summon an illusion of yourself for 5 seconds while your true body will become invisible. Cost : 75 mana

Hoodwink ® lv1 : You can hide your status from other people whose observation skill is lower than Rare rating. If their observation skill is of Rare rating, its level needs to be higher than this skill. Cost : None

‘Wow! Two Rare rating skills! I have three now counting Grace of the Wind I got last night. Although I don’t know about skill rating, at least I know the higher rating, the better!’ Lucien smiled happily.

“A-are you really okay?” Douche seeing the changes of Lucien, looked at him in anxiety.

“Ahem,” Lucien was embarrassed. “I-I’m fin-”

Congratulations! You have created a new path by yourself for the first time! You are rewarded with +2 all stats! +10 health, mana and stamina regens.

“-fine As Hell!” He exclaimed.

“I-I don’t think so…” Douche sweated.

Lucien put the leftover 16 PP to the path. He still got the rewards for every 5 PP but the stats he received was almost much more than before the branching.

Congratulations! You have earned 3 stat points.

Congratulations! You have earned 25 mana points.

Congratulations! You have earned 4 agilities.

His mana pool was so unimaginable right now. Checking his status, he then put his free stats into control, believing it can bring out the potential of his skills, and all his 8 mental stats into perception, which boosted all his five senses including, vision, sound, smell, taste and touch.

(The mental stats could only be allocated to perception, reaction, dexterity and indomitable.)

Lucien turned serious as he said solemnly, “I have already wasted almost 10 minutes. I have to go now or it might be too late.”

He looked into Douche’s eyes. From the time spending with him, he really felt the bond between them as they were both forcefully summoned here. He didn’t want Douche to get sold to ‘Dark Hand’ organization.

“Are you really… not going?”

“I-I’m fine here. Staying here might not be as bad as you think.”

“Ok, fine, I respect your decision. I’m going then.” Lucien gave Douche a guilty gaze. He still felt guilty not helping him after all.

“Good luck.”

“Good luck.”

At this moment, both of them had no idea at all what storm they would cause in the future and how much of a regret Lucien would feel leaving Douche here…

---------------------------------------------------

In the bar somewhere in the city

Two men sat on the same table facing each other. One was a middle aged man with blond hair and blue eyes. He looked kind and pure with his priest robe. He was none other than the one Lucien called a fake priest, Prason.

Another person had a black cloak covering entire body, looking mysterious. One could still see he was a man from his stature and voice.

“What does the well known underage children slave merchant want to talk to me about?” said the mysterious man.

“What’s with that title! I’m a kind hearted person running an orphanage.” Prason’s brows twitched a bit. “It’s about the thing you wanted.”

“You found one?”

“Two, actually. I don’t need the reward your organization put up, but I want to know the reason.” Prason said calmly. He didn’t look like someone who want money.

“What reason?” said the man with a deep voice.

“Don’t act innocent. You aren’t cute at all. You know what I want to know. It shouldn’t be too difficult for your organization to invade the planet outside Legas and takes millions of slave. Although it will get chased by the whole Legas, your organization wouldn’t break a sweat. Why does it need to summon one?”

Prason continued, “Although I don’t know exactly the cost for summoning people outside Legas, it should cost incalculable amount of spatial artifacts. What’s so special about them?”

“...” The cloaked man stayed silence for a moment ,then said in low voice. “I don’t know.”

“Unfortunately, huh, our deal is canceled then.”

Before Prason got up, the cloaked man quickly said, “Boss was the one who did all the summoning. He wouldn’t tell his objective to an insignificant subordinate like me. If you want to know that much, get your brother, the head of The Wailing Light, to ask my boss himself then. However, I don’t recommend meddling about this matter.”

Prason’s face turned dark, thinking about the boss of Dark Hand. That man was very notorious throughout higher worlds. A man who could be said to be the most insane man in the whole universe. A man who was pursued by all 4 factions and was still being alive and free.

“Fine, come to my orphanage and pick them up. I will tell my brother later.”

“You are a smart person, Prason. With your background, I really have no idea why you are playing stupid underaged children slave merchant. What a weird fetish.”

“Hey, hey, old friend Tamma, what about you? Since you’ve entered Dark Hand, you keep acting cool and mysterious. What’s wrong with you? A chuuni?”

The two quarreled as they walked to the orphanage.

3 hours had passed since Prason went out.

“Hello, kids! I have delicious food for you! Eh? Where is our new brother Lucien?” Prason was astonished not seeing Lucien.

“I don’t know?” (Kid A)

“I haven’t seen him too!” (Kid B)

“Maybe in the bathroom?” (Kid C)

“No! He isn’t here!” (Kid D)

“What!?”

“What happened?” The mysterious man asked.

“I don’t know how but one might have escape. Damn it! I didn’t expect this to happen. That kid looks so poor and innocent. Most importantly, he should be thankful because I saved his life!” Prason said with a deep frown.

“Give me the other one first and tell me what that kid appearance. He should still be in the town.”

“Alright, given his level and age, he wouldn’t go into the wilderness by himself.”

Meanwhile, Douche was hugging his legs, trembling, feeling uncomfortable from the mysterious man’s gaze.

=============================

Status!

Lucien Santosa

Class: N/A

Level: 0

Title: ‘Will of Survivor’, ‘One Who Surpass’

Legacy: N/A

Health(/r per hour): 217(109)

Mana(/r per hour): 419(88)

Stamina(/r per min): 220(51)

Strength: 24

Agility: 39

Endurance: 28

Vitality: 28

Perception: 28

Reaction: 22

Dexterity: 21

Intelligent: 29

Wisdom: 27

Control: 36

Indomitable: 21

Skill: Acting lv32, Magic Arrow lv7, Heavy Blow lv35, Running lv16, Pain Resistant lv13, Dagger Mastery lv26, Climbing lv3, Appraisal lv5, Light Orb lv6, Mana Shield lv6, Paralysis lv6, Meditation lv3, Physical Fitness lv22, Air Burst lv3, Wind Reinforcement lv33, Gale Manipulation lv12, Empower lv21, Sprinting lv12, Leap lv9, Sneak lv17, Grace of the Wind ® lv1, Bliss Severing lv1, Misleading ® lv1, Hoodwinking ® lv1

PP: 0

Completed Path: Newbie 5/5, Trainee 20/20, Wind Magic 30/30, Basic Physical Fitness 20/20, Heavy Blow Path 30/30, Wanderer Path 20/20, Wind Reinforcement Path 100/100

Current Path: True Acting Path 41/50

Available Path: Abyss Traveler 0/50, Luck Path 0/60, Surpasser Path 0/250, Apprentice Path 0/50