V2 Chapter 131

This might be late to mention but, Skills span across an enormous variety of fighting techniques, magical powers, or crafts. Though, most call it; {Arts}.

Each {Art} has established rankings among warriors. There’s the 6th Rank/Class, to 1st Rank/Class, and then above that was the 1st Tier/Grade to 9th Tier/Grade. There’s also a special skill that bestowed incredible abilities or effects that exists called the {Title}.

However, these are special and only a few chosen ones can obtain this kind of thing. Though most {Titles} are bestowed by the Gods, there are also those achieved through special means or actions. If someone achieved something no other people had, or if the individual was the first to discover something, or if the person accomplished a monumental feat, he was given titles. They had a simple function – to permanently raise the individual’s abilities.

Of course, there are also {Titles} that are unique in nature and can be obtained by other people as well. However, these {Title} are much weaker compared to the Unique {Titles}.

Cian also has some titles he possessed; {Night’s Champion} giving him abilities bestowed by Night, and power growth comparable to Heroes. {The Plunderer} the Title he obtained the moment he had devoured the Chimaera, receiving the abilities {Plunder} and {Chimera}. These two Titles gave him an edge among every demon or monster in the world.

There are several known ways of acquiring skills. One was the so-called inheritance, whether it was innate through the bloodline, or it was inherited from parents. Second, was skill books, but these skill books are extremely rare and most of them can only be found in ruins and dungeons. Some of them are even treated as lost magic and were considered relic of the ancient civilization. Furthermore, the ability to create skill books is known to be already lost since ancient times.

The third condition was that one must train it or practice for a long time until the Gods had deemed you worth it that you will be able to get the corresponding skill you wanted. There are also special ways, which is yet to be known to man—most of them required specific conditions. For example Cian’s {The Plunderer} Title, obtained after devouring the heart of the Chimaera!

He obtained Abilities, and even Titles and Divine Blessings just by eating those who possess them. It was a Heaven-Defying ability that is already not known by the current generation.

There are many kinds of skills not just the {Swordsmanship} Art, or {Archery Arts} but also ones like {Spearmanship}, {Unarmed Combat}, {Shieldmanship} and many more. One of the special ones is the {Sorcery Art}. Regarding {Sorcery}, there are four main elements; Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. There was a variant, but they are considered rare and special; such as Ice, Light, Dark, Death, Lightning and such.

There are also special skills/abilities called {Monster Skills}.

These types of skills were only possessed by the Monster Race—though sometimes it was passed through special means and obtained by humans or warriors from different races.

They are known to be special abilities that are very much alike to sorcery and magic skills but can be used easily like combat arts. Strong and powerful…each Monster Skills are classified as 1st Tier to 9th Tier the moment one obtained it.

As an example of this was Cian’s Monster Skill: {Herculean Strength}. One of the skills he obtained through plundering.

He obtained it from an A-rank monster; {Titan Four-Armed Ape]. It was similar to a Warrior’s Skills such as {Body Strengthening} or {Strength Boost} buffs. But {Herculean Strength} is much superior skill than most strengthening type skills used by humans or demons and can easily be used, or invoked immediately.

It’s a Cheat-type skill indeed.

With this ability, Cian didn’t even lose out in strength competition against the Barbarian Bear; Bramble who prided himself as a powerful warrior, and even able to defeat him with ease. Not to mention, the others didn't notice any activation of the skill {Body Strengthening} so they can only attribute it as Heaven Gifted Talent of his.

An innate unique ability—a man born with strength.

… …

“How do we split the watch duty?”

“I didn’t fight that much today, so the first should be me. I can do the watch duty alone, and you guys should take this time to rest. The next would be Aerean, Laran, and Paryel. Dave, Bramble, and Cian would be the last shift. The burden will be greater on the second and the third, who have to split their sleep time. Hence, I can take two hours, while you should rest while you can. Any complains?” Levelia said with a faint smile.

“Got it!”

“Let’s go with that,”

“That seemed to be better. Then I’m off to bed—”

Within the ink-like dark of night, only a couple of stars could be seen in the entire Winter Mountain. It was quite a lonely sight. Much less, the constantly chilling cold wind that brushed past. Even if the snow had already stopped falling from the sky, the coldness within the wind never left.

Inside the ancient forest, various roars resounded out from time to time. These roars were laced with rage and madness. Apparently, since several adventurer groups had started their expeditions aside from Cian’s group, a few Magical Beasts had been disturbed by the groups.

The vast region that had previously been calm and quiet was suddenly being occupied by numerous adventurers that rushed in like a flood in every direction.

The Magical Beast inhabitants were clearly unhappy being disturbed by them. Therefore, battles would continue to break out even when it was late at night.

The Winter Mountain was full of caves as well. That first night they took shelter in one of them, to get out of the wet and chilling temperature. When scouting, Cian had found this cave which was quite hidden perfectly amidst the plants and bushes. It's quite a good place for a camp.

In the depths of one of the secretly hidden cave, a bonfire rose. Levelia was sitting cross-legged underneath a large boulder. She stared at the rising bonfire and entered a trance. She was already used to this night, staying out in the wilderness.

Ever since she had become an adventurer, staying in this kind of cold night, where the moon was just a memory, was a norm. Of course, she can bring her mother in the safer region, like the Central Region Continent, completely safe unlike here, in one of the Forbidden Areas. However, she didn’t. She was aware of how hard and difficult it is to live in the so-called safe regions.

There, everything might look safe and sound due to the existence of the laws, but behind this so-called bright land was actually a hidden dark. The place was littered with arrogant nobles and aristocrats who think nothing but themselves.

You might be strong and powerful, but in front of a thousand people, can you stand on your own?

Influence and Wealth is a scary thing…

Levelia feels like a lawless land like this, where fist speaks more than words is better than those so-called bright safe regions. At least here, she can protect herself with her own hands and can live freely without any restriction. As long as she stays strong, she would be untouchable!

Nights in the Winter Mountain were immeasurably dead. As one walked along its mountainous roads, a certain sense of chilliness, carried along by the mountain breeze, would bombard the body, even more so as one continued down this rocky path.

With just one foot into this gigantic mountain range, the atmosphere changed drastically.

That narrow mountain path, strewn full of leaves, seemed to reek of a rather unique stench; sour, almost reminiscent of wine brewing with its signature mellow and thick aroma. Amidst the deafening silence, the soft cries of the insects became that much more moving as the symphony of bzzz and brrrs harmonized together into a song.

At this dead of night…

Feathers made a fire and cooked a brace of hares that Levelia had taken with some wild onions and mushrooms they had found along the road. She turned a stick and some dry moss into a torch, then suddenly—

“Are you sure you want to eat that…?”

A discordant voice suddenly caused Levelia wake from the trance. Then, as if being bewitched by the voice, she stared at a piece of dark, roasted meat that was slowly being rotated in the fire by her hand. At this moment, she could not help but let out a sigh. In her eyes, a hint of depression appeared. She was not much of a cook.

“Let me,” the voice once again rang out.

This time with a hint of amusement.

Levelia didn’t need to turn to see who it was. She was already familiar with the man’s aura and voice, that it even hunted her in her dreams last night.

“Didn’t I tell you to rest?” She muttered, a bit displeased.

“I don’t need rest.” Cian smiled faintly. “I was used to overnight work. Sometimes I would not even sleep for a few nights…” he muttered amusedly.

This was actually not just bullshit.

Back in his assassination days, just to gather data and information, Cian would not sleep for a few days and stalk the target. At least, in his hay days, he can last up to three to four nights at most, just by using energy drugs developed by his family. Then, when he was reborn in this world, he became a Demon with stamina and endurance much stronger than normal humans. Not sleeping for an entire night is nothing to him.

Cian sat beside Levelia and then suddenly began taking a few things out of his Storage Ring.

First was a clean cloth which he spread out on the slightly wet floor. Soon after, a few cleaned and plucked chicken wings appeared on the cloth, followed by bottles and jars of different condiments.

The chicken wings were from the specially bred chickens by the Royal Chefs of the Demon Empire, which he stored some for his own consumption. They are not normal chicken livestock, and completely different and above that of human chickens.

These chickens are bred with magic energy—one can even say that this can be said to be, livestock only for the royal mouth. Its quality was much greater than the most expensive chicken on Earth.

After having cooked for himself so many times, Cian already good culinary skills improved by leaps and bounds in the past two years. Although he was not really that good back in Earth, compared to average joes in the Culinary World, he can still be considered better due to him having a hobby of eating only what he makes. He cooks for himself since childhood. It was only one of his ordinary peaceful entertainments.

Watching him, Levelia was utterly confused. However, she didn’t say anything anymore as she watched Cian busied himself with that still handsome faint smile. Her heart unknowingly throbbed, and before she knew it she was already staring at Cian without blinking.

At once, Cian suddenly took a metal bowl out of his Storage Ring and threw the chicken wings in. He then added in various seasonings and began to marinate the meat. When he was done, he took out a few slender wooden branches from his Ring and then skewered the chicken wings with the tree branches of an unknown genus and roasted above the fire.

As the temperature rose, the tree branches would release an enticing aroma.

The aroma was unlike the smell of meat. It was similar to the captivating fragrance of fresh fruit.

An alluring rosiness gradually appeared on the meat as it was being roasted by the flames. Oil soon permeated from the meat, while a faint amount of electricity continuously jumped about on the surface.

Cian skillfully rotated the meat to ensure that every spot was evenly heated. This was a test of the chef's control over the heat. Rotisserie looked simple at a glance but there were many small techniques involved in the process.

“You’re actually quite good…” Levelia muttered in a daze the moment she caught a rich fragrance of meat wafting out from the grill and drifting within the dark cave.

She couldn’t help but swallowed her saliva, and her eyes involuntarily drifted toward the meat. That extremely rosy meat roasted by Cian was glittering with oil and exuding tremendous charm.

"It smells really aromatic!" She could not restrain herself as she exclaimed.

The smell of the meat was mellow but not greasy and was even mixed with a faint fruity fragrance. It gave her an inescapable feeling of euphoria.

“Really? It makes me happy you say that” Cian grinned.

Levelia’s cheeks flushed. She stared at Cian and her eyes unknowingly turned soft.

For her, the expression Cian had when he was busying himself, focusing on cooking the roasted chicken wings was even more attractive to her than his usual cheeky appearance. For women, serious men were always especially attractive. At the same time, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when she watched Cian’s sincere actions.

Looking at him, she couldn’t help but reassess her understanding of him again. From his shiny black clear eyes, it seemed like it was easy to see through him. However, as for what he was truly thinking in his heart, perhaps, even the person closest to him would be unable to understand.

Sometimes, he appeared very complicated, sometimes, he appeared very simple. When he was cruel, he would enrage both men and gods with his viciousness. When he was gentle and soft, he could also make people feel as if he was a gentle spring breeze.

In fact…

Just like now, Levelia can’t help but think; “He is actually a gentle person…"

Levelia felt Cian’s manly aura and feels safe and relaxed.

She watched Cian work and couldn’t help but become mesmerized.

Cian felt Levelia’s gaze but he didn’t say anything as he slowly rotated the meat. Moments like this, a man should know when to ignore things and continued as to not destroy the romantic moment.

As the oil started to drip from the roast meat, he would sprinkle some seasonings on it and the aroma of the meat would immediately become even more rich and diverse. Finally, after a while, Cian took down one of the skewers and gave it to Levelia and beckoned her to start tasing.

"Jekyll’s Clan's Secret Recipe Roast Meat, please enjoy," Cian said with a playful smile.

Looking at the chicken wings, Levelia was almost drooling. As she smelled the aroma of the roast meat from a close distance, her appetite was whetted and she was eager to have a taste.

"Thank you very much," Levelia was still quite self-disciplined. She thanked Cian before she took a bite out of the roast meat.

She took her first bite of the roast meat. During the instant her teeth made contact with the meat, a rich flavor burrowed into her mouth. The meat was surprisingly tender and was missing the dryness and hardness that roast meat should possess. As she bit down, the oil seeped out and smeared her lips. When seen from afar, it was like a layer of lipstick was applied.

Delicious… truly delicious…!!

Her eyes gleamed brightly.

As she chewed the roast meat within her mouth, the succulent meat was covering her tongue and a numbing sensation was secreting from the meat. It was stimulating her mouth and causing goosebumps to appear all over her body. After swallowing the roast meat, the numbing sensation traveled down her esophagus and into her stomach. It felt as if her entire body was being cleaned and it was so comfortable that she wanted to moan out loud.

‘How could such a delicious taste exist in this world! I didn't know that the meat of a mere chicken could be this delicious!’

Levelia suddenly felt an impulse to shed tears. After living for so long, it was the first time she had eaten food that emotionally moved her. In fact, she had already reached a point where she could not stop eating. Her eyes were red.

She was evidently emotionally moved by the delicious taste as well.