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Sol shook his head, even though she couldn’t see him, and said, "Nah, you’re underestimating them just because they’re C-Rankers fighting B-Rank enemies. Sure, they’re a few levels behind, but Aron and Nataly can easily defeat the average B-Ranker. And while I don’t know Lazuli as well, her status page shows she isn’t a pushover either. Plus, the rest of my squad is with them in case anything happens."

He was confident they would be fine, even if they stumbled into a monster house. He wouldn’t have let them go if he wasn’t sure. Though the chance of stumbling into one was extremely rare, it was something he deeply considered before deciding.

Sol pivoted to a new topic, "By the way, aren’t you level 17? Won’t you get your second talent soon?"

"Mhm! I’ve been using most of my time off to level up. Hearing all your stories has made me want to unlock my second talent even more than before!"

From his time as an adventurer to his missions as a knight, Sol was living the life she always wanted. Hearing his stories only made her yearn for it more, and it didn’t help that he only recounted the good parts.

Sol chuckled at her eagerness to explore, travel, and become an expert with the bow. "You know, if you take two weeks off work and come by the capital, I can take you through the dungeon and help you unlock your second talent, maybe even the third if you want." He already knew her answer.

"No thanks! I don’t take handouts. It’s already too much with my dad watching over me when I go leveling," she immediately said with a matter of fact tone. Sol could easily imagine the kind of face she was making when she said that.

"Welp, I tried. Why don’t you put up a quest and have some adventurer level you up instead? Then it wouldn’t be a handout since you paid them."

It was extremely common for people with non-combat talents to hire others to level them up. After all, how would someone with a [Wood Carver] talent kill level 20 enemies to get their second talent? The other most common reason people paid others to level them was to increase their vitality, which slightly increased their life expectancy.

This wasn’t cheap, however. The cost of using this method was expensive and increased drastically depending on the client’s target level. If one couldn’t afford it, they could either give up or take the risk, like Sol did, and fight enemies that were stronger than them, thanks to their skills. But most chose to simply stay at their level, either accepting their fate or slowly saving money to eventually hire others to carry them.

"If you could reach level 20 with what little you had, I can do the same. I even have rare equipment." Annabel was adamant in her decision. It seemed his stubbornness had rubbed off on her, or maybe it was because they were both stubborn that they got along in the first place.

"Hmm, alright. Be careful and review the local ecology reports from Ivern; sometimes new monsters enter the woods, and he’s usually the first to know about it."

He knew there was little he could do to convince her otherwise, so he could only ask her to be careful.

The two talked for a while longer about drama back home and other mundane topics until Amber walked in to inform him she was done.

"Food’s ready."

"Oh really? That was fast."

Amber simply nodded and was about to leave until Annabel’s voice rang out from the orb.

"Is that Amber? Her voice sounds so soft and gentle!" Though Sol had long told the girls about each other, it was the first time they met each other—or at least heard each other. "Nice to meet you!"

"Hello," Amber said to the orb.

Sol laughed and translated her words. "That’s Amber for: ’Nice to meet you too! Can’t wait to see you in person!’"

It elicited a chuckle from Annabel. While the two laughed, from the corner of his eye, Sol saw Amber silently retrieving her dagger from her spatial ring. Her intent was clear.

"Wow! I’m starving. I’ll talk to you later, Anna. Bye!"

"Huh? Okay, bye—"

Sol cut the connection just in time as he leaped backward to dodge the invisible slash that destroyed the wall of the stone hut. He used the opening to escape the hut and raised his hands in the air.

"H-Hey, we can talk about this."

He knew not to tease her, but he simply couldn’t hold back this time. Now he had to pay for his actions.

"No." She said it with a blank expression before summoning an army of sand soldiers that completely filled the stone room and rushed out to attack him.

...

A few minutes after their impromptu sparring session, the two were sitting peacefully, eating the meal Amber had prepared. Sol was fortunate their clash didn’t take too long or destroy the food, as they both were cautious to avoid it.

Sol took a bite of the crescent shaped dumplings that melted in his mouth. The savory meat and vegetables hidden beneath the dough exploded in a combination of amazing flavors.

"Whoa. You made this? It’s amazing." He found it unbelievable; as far as he knew, she didn’t even know how to cook. This dish was objectively better than anything he could ever make.

This was also considering that he had [Novice Craftsman], which included cooking. But it was important to distinguish that cooking didn’t have much to do with the flavor of the dish, but simply the ability to imbue dishes with mana and bring out the potential of the ingredients to empower the consumer. In the flavor department, he was completely defeated.

She nodded at his praise and passed him a small dish of black liquid.

"Better with sauce."

Sol did as she suggested and was hit by a completely different flavor that enhanced the already existing one.

"This is delicious, but when did you learn all of this?"

Sol thought Amber spent most of her time either training her skills or investigating in the black market; he simply couldn’t comprehend when she found the time to learn cooking from scratch.

"Practice."

He was slightly flabbergasted by her vague response. ’That doesn’t really explain much, does it?’ But Sol didn’t continue asking, as he knew that was all he was going to get out of her, at least for now. It was unlikely he would ever find out how many hours she spent learning from multiple chefs throughout the city while he was off on his missions.

After the two finished their meal, Sol went through his status page and looked over his new skills.

[[Spectral Claw] Lv 9: Create a pair of claws formed from the user’s soul. Claws deal 280% damage against spirit bodies and souls. Consumes soul energy over time. Extended usage is ill advised for those with corporeal bodies.]

It was a talent skill that could deal critical damage against ghost and spectral enemies. And with them being in Necropolis, a dungeon with plenty of spectral type enemies, it was especially useful. He would be a fool not to grab it.

[[Phantasmal Rip and Tear] Lv 4: Use one’s claws to viciously tear apart everything before you. Unleash 16 consecutive attacks, each dealing 160% damage. Cooldown: 3 minutes.]

The next skill was a combination of [Rip and Tear] and [Ghostly Swipes], allowing him to unleash an extremely fast flurry of attacks in an instant with his newly obtained claws.

[[Nether Body] Lv 6: The body has been attuned to the forces of the nether, allowing one to sense the essence of death. Death magic and other related death abilities are 30% more effective.]

[Nether Body] directly increased his affinity with death skills, and while he didn’t have many of those yet, that would change, as most of the undead on these upcoming floors have at least one death type skill. It also complemented his last new skill.

[[Death Sentence] Lv 1: Sever the target’s life force and send their soul directly to the underworld to face judgment. Higher chance of failure the further the target is from death. Mana cost: 500. Cooldown: 7 days.]

The last skill he obtained was undoubtedly the strongest but also the least likely to work. After siphoning the skill, Sol knew he realistically only had a 10% chance even when the target was inches away from death, at which point he could finish them off himself. But something about sending them straight to the underworld to face judgment intrigued him, though the knowledge he absorbed from the Nether Wraiths didn’t explain much about the process afterward.

After rereading the description, Sol thought, ’It seems to not really be meant for combat, but something to do once the fight is over. Also, while the new skills are good, we were really unlucky today.’

As they ran through the 21st floor, they only encountered Nether Wraiths. While they were the most common of the undead on these floors, it was incredible that they did not find any of the other three undead types. They could have stayed on the floor to find them, but with the time limit to get through ten floors in under a week, they had to book it straight to the stairs.

’Hopefully we get to see the other ones on the next floor.’