SSS Awakening: I Can Create Skills By Will

Chapter 145: After the Storm

The atmosphere around the group felt strange.

Awkward.

Everyone knew who had actually cleared the dungeon.

The captain walked forward after a moment. His boots crunched against the cracked stone as he approached Arthur.

He scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"Well... this is embarrassing."

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"How so?"

The captain shrugged.

"You’re part of the bronze squad. We were supposed to be the ones keeping you safe."

He glanced at the fallen boss and then back at Arthur.

"Instead you saved all of us."

A few of the explorers nodded behind him.

One of them cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Yeah... thanks for that."

Another added quickly, "Seriously. We’d be dead if you weren’t here."

Even Ryn walked closer and gave Arthur a tired smile.

"You’re ridiculous, you know that?"

Arthur chuckled.

"I get that a lot."

He could see they were nervous.

Part of it came from what had just happened.

The other part came from him.

He was technically just a bronze squad member. Someone with no official class and no reputation yet.

But after what they had witnessed today, that label didn’t mean much anymore.

They looked at him differently now.

Not with suspicion like before.

With respect.

Some even looked a little intimidated.

Arthur noticed the way they kept glancing at him in wonder.

He waved a hand lightly.

"Relax. You guys fought well too."

The captain snorted.

"Don’t try to be humble now. We all saw that fight."

Arthur laughed.

"Alright, fair enough."

He clapped his hands once.

"Anyway, we’re not done here yet."

The explorers straightened slightly.

Arthur pointed toward the back of the chamber where the broken throne still stood.

"There are still things to check. I noticed some strange markings earlier."

The captain frowned slightly.

"Strange markings?"

Arthur nodded.

"Yeah. I’m going to take a look at the throne area again. There might be something we missed."

The captain didn’t question it.

After everything that had happened, arguing with Arthur about dungeon investigation felt pointless.

He nodded once.

"Got it."

Then he turned back toward the squad.

"Alright, everyone listen up!"

The explorers immediately snapped into attention.

"The boss is down but the job’s not finished. Split up and collect the spoils. Check the surroundings as well. Make sure nothing else is hiding in this dungeon."

A few voices answered quickly.

"Yes, captain!"

"On it!"

The group quickly got to work.

Some explorers moved toward the boss’s corpse while others spread out along the routes of the dungeon to inspect it for any thing strange.

Meanwhile Arthur walked toward the broken seal.

The cracked stone circle still lay beneath the ruined throne, though most of its glow had already faded.

Arthur crouched beside it and ran his fingers lightly across the markings.

The lines looked familiar.

Too familiar.

"...same pattern," he murmured.

The ritual formulas carved into the stone were nearly identical to the ones he had seen before.

The same strange symbols.

The same circular formation.

The only difference now was that the tainted mana had already been used up.

Arthur leaned back slightly and crossed his arms.

"So the source really was here."

He thought quietly for a moment.

The pattern was beginning to make more sense now.

The tainted mana didn’t just appear randomly.

It was being used.

Used to cause mutations inside the dungeon.

Arthur looked around the cavern while piecing his thoughts together.

The amount of mutation seemed tied to the dungeon’s rank.

If the same amount of tainted energy was released in different places, the results wouldn’t be the same.

A C rank dungeon like this one produced strong monsters already.

So the extra energy only pushed them a little further.

But in a weaker dungeon...

That same energy could completely twist the creatures inside.

Arthur rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Something like... one gram of poison in a big river compared to one gram in a glass of water."

The effect would obviously be different.

He nodded slowly.

"That explains a lot."

Then another memory came back to him.

The ritual guardian.

Back in the previous dungeon, the mutation had started right in front of them. The vine monsters had twisted into something new and the guardian had appeared while the ritual was still active.

That meant there was still plenty of tainted mana circulating at the time.

The guardian had drawn power from it.

Here though...

Arthur tapped the cracked seal lightly.

"...it was almost used up."

Which meant the mutation process had probably started much earlier.

Slow.

Gradual.

And obviously, dangerous if left alone for too long.

Arthur sighed.

"I’ll need more information."

This wasn’t something he could fully conclude yet.

But at least he had a direction.

His gaze moved along the edge of the broken formation.

And then he saw it.

Right where the center of the ritual had been.

A small object lay among the cracks.

Arthur smiled faintly.

"There you are."

He reached down and picked it up.

A dark core rested in his palm.

It looked almost identical to the one he had found in the previous ritual formation.

"So you’re involved again, huh."

He turned the core slowly between his fingers.

Elena’s words came back to him.

She had told him to come back once she finished analyzing the first one he gave her.

Arthur slipped the new core into a small pouch.

"I guess I’ll be visiting her again."

He stood up and brushed the dust off his coat.

The investigation could wait for now.

But before he rejoined the others...

There was one more thing.

Arthur’s smile returned as he opened his system interface.

A familiar window appeared in front of him.

✦══════════════════════════════════════✦

❂ SOVEREIGN INTENT SYSTEM ❂

✦══════════════════════════════════════✦

Target Eliminated: C Rank Boss – Ogre Warlord

Base Reward: 40 Intent Points

Modifiers Applied:

• Boss Rank Bonus: +10 IP

• Solo Combat Contribution: +5 IP

• Combat Dominance Modifier: +5 IP

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Total Intent Points Gained: 60 IP

✦ Intent Points Successfully Added ✦

✦══════════════════════════════════════✦

A/N:

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