Chapter 390

After he didn’t receive an Achievement for pushing his dungeons stat bonus to +100 Ajax hadn’t expected to get one but there it was sitting right in front of his face.

Achievement : Truly Skilled

Gain 100 skills

Reward : Each skill grants +1 to the stat they rely on most.

Each skill grants an additional +1 to the stat they rely on most for each threshold passed.

Slight increase to obtain skills based on already earned skills.

Slight increased speed of skill increase. (Experience gained through skill application increased to compensate for faster leveling skill with less effort.)

“What is it?” the prince asked, slightly worried about Ajax’s reaction. 

“Nothing.” Ajax simply waved his question away. 

As much as Ajax trusted the royal family with some of his more sensitive secrets he wasn’t yet ready to give away the exact number of skills he had. Ajax was pretty sure they already knew about this achievement anyway, sure it would be extremely unusual for someone as young as him to have it but with hundreds of years people had plenty of time to gain skills.

“Was that something to do with Legendary skills?” the prince pushed a little but when Ajax didn’t answer he just let the topic drop. “Okay, wait here and drink another potion so you recover, there is no rush.” 

Ajax simply nodded as he took out another healing potion and put it on the ground near him. It was too soon since his last potion so he would have to wait a short while before it would be safe to take another.

To take his mind off the pain Ajax instead chose to focus on his newest affinity, Vibration. Unlike Life affinity there were so many different ways that Vibration affinity could be used in combat. Unlike regular mages he wasn’t so locked in to the casted spell aspect so he could use Vibration in many different ways. 

The main way Ajax planned to add Vibration to his fighting style had nothing to do with anything he had used to unlock the affinity. His plan was to make his sword and axe vibrate really quickly to increase their cutting power, this would require the sword and axe in question to be specifically built for it otherwise they would quickly end up just like his shield had. 

The next thing Ajax did once he thought of that was to check if the gauntlet he still had even could channel his Vibration mana, for the first time since he tried using Holy mana Ajax found a mana type that the dragon hadn’t added to the glove. After checking Vibration Ajax thought to also check Life mana, since there was no use in channeling Life mana through his items he hadn’t thought to check before but the glove was also missing a Life mana stone. Ajax was pretty sure now that no Legendary mana types would be there since a Life one would be one of the easier ones to get considering the number of stories he heard about Life based natural treasures. 

As soon as Ajax took his potion he also got up, he wasn’t fully healed yet but it was good enough for him to exit the dungeon. He placed his helmet back on his head to hide his ears and he took out a spare shield from his spacial ring. This shield was much weaker than the one he used previously but with the rate his strength was increasing he would need to update his items shortly anyway, especially so considering the increased stats from his Achievement.

As Ajax left the prince to clear the final floor of the dungeon he exited and found himself back in the center of the large containment area built around the dungeon. For once nobody paid him too much attention as he exited the dungeon, the guards simply approached him to get their statement.

Lioriel was quick to intercept them and then lead Ajax towards the rest of his group. As soon as Xavier caught sight of Ajax he started bouncing from foot to foot in excitement, Ajax took this to mean that the plan had worked and now Xavier was both excited and a little nervous about the upcoming duel and had nowhere to channel all the energy before he could confirm his suspicion however he felt [Enigma] activate. 

The identification attempt had come from multiple sources, Ajax usually ignored most of the Inspection attempts on himself but something was different about these ones. The most important part was that all of them broke through [Enigma] to certain success. 

The identification skills had all come from the group of elves that were around Aranor and while none of them had gotten access to his skill list or stats Ajax felt that two of them were close to getting access to the latter.

Naturally Ajax’s first response was to return the favor as he used his own identification skill [Inspector’s Eye]. For two of the elves Ajax hadn’t managed to get much more than their names, ages and levels. The last one however must have had a weaker privacy skill, more than that [Inspector’s Eye Lvl 25] had managed to pass its threshold after the first two identifications so on the third one Ajax was able to get his entire stat list.

Getting that was a welcome surprise that made the entire interaction much more pleasant so Ajax chose to ignore the elven Champions for now and went to talk to his friends instead, or at least that was his plan.

“What do you think you’re doing?” the last elf asked in a more controlled voice than Ajax would have expected, he guessed the man’s social skills must be working overtime since he hadn’t blown a gasket in anger yet.

“He’s doing the same thing we did to him.” one of the other champions surprisingly took Ajax’s side. “I do have to say his identification skill is stronger than I expected.” 

The brief look of embarrassment that passed over the angered elf’s face was all Ajax needed to put the situation together, the others hadn’t caught on that he had seen the man’s stats and was now torn between exposing that fact himself or letting Ajax off the hook. Ajax wasn’t the only one who put that together as both Anna and Benedict had their eyes open wide as their eyebrows made a break for their hairlines for a brief moment as the second elf’s words made them realized that Ajax had gotten access to something more before they also schooled their expressions. 

“Best keep to those on your level, kid.” The last elven champion addressed Ajax directly. “You may be an unmatched prodigy but right now any of us could crush you like a bug.” 

Ajax wisely chose to keep his mouth shut and simply nod in acknowledgement however all of the other elves surrounding them gasped as they looked between Ajax and the last champion. For them to hear someone of his status call Ajax an unmatched prodigy was shocking.

“How long do you think it will be until my uncle comes out?” Xavier who had barely reigned in his nervous and excited energy enough that he wasn’t hopping from one foot to the other hadn’t really caught the finer details of the exchange and was laser focused on something else.

“It should still be a couple of hours.” Ajax said but he wasn’t completely sure, that would all come down to what the floor boss would be, none of the floor bosses would pose a threat to the prince since they would only be level one hundred and thirty two but depending on what they were it could take him a while to take them down. “I take it from the excitement that the plan worked?” 

“It sure did.” Xavier bragged. 

While Harold, Arianwyn, Elara and Lioriel were surprised to hear Ajax expose that everything had been planned out, Benedict, Lexi, Anna and even Aranor had caught onto what Ajax was doing as both Lexi and Benedict activated a privacy field around the delving group. 

“Except for the small part where he put more on the line if he loses.” Anna quickly cut Xavier down. “What happened in there, you look pretty rough.” 

To accentuate Anna’s words Lexi was already giving Ajax a look over as she inspected every dent on his armor to make sure he was really okay. 

“I may have taken one or two direct hits from an earth elemental” Ajax waved it off. “Nothing that will kill me.” 

“What about the champion?” Elara asked. “What did you learn about him?” 

As someone who had felt quite vulnerable under Ajax’s identification skill she had managed to put everything together. The elf’s reaction, Ajax’s exposure of the plan as a misdirection and an excuse to put up a privacy shield all while playing into the stereotype that he was a commoner who didn’t know how to play the noble’s game by revealing the existence of the plan. 

“Got a look at his stats.” Ajax said as he didn’t think there was a need to keep that hidden now that Elara had all but called him out for looking. “In my defense they all tried to identify me first.”

The topic quickly changed from there to Xavier’s upcoming duel. Still while Elara simply listened to the conversation she couldn’t help but evaluate Ajax once more. He didn’t have the social skills of a noble and he definitely wasn’t used to the social aspect of nobility, when it came down to thinking like a noble however Ajax was one of the best among their peers.