Cid walked back from the cavern, deep in thought.
What he had just seen was the descent of an incarnation of a deity into the mortal realm. They were immensely powerful beings, capable of destroying entire realms within a few minutes. He knew that only Elder Gods were powerful enough to destroy a realm without facing any supression, and that deities ordinarily could not ignore the realm supression and so, had to come up with fair terms to obtain souls and followers. This was just one of the methods they used.
The incarnation was just a clone of the actual deity, and barely came under the limit of the world's supression. There were tens of thousands of these incarnations across the void across many mortal realms.
And the deity that just descended was a minor deity, the deity of Heat and Weapons. However, even he wasn't anything to scoff at. And it happened in his last life that this deity was one among those owed him a tremendous favour, but then turned around entirely on him.
One day, I will cut off his soul from his flesh and feed it to the Underworld.
Cid thought, with neither rage, nor happiness, but a cold, unfeeling logic.
And I will take back everything denied to me.
Cid ceased this line of thought as he walked back in silence, unimpeded throughout the cavern passages.
"Status."
[Name: Cid Sidle
Age: 18 Years, 9 Months, 13 Days Old
Gender: Male
Step: The First Step - Entry Realm.
Ascension status: Ready to challenge Trial.
Attributes:
1. STR - 18
2. AGI - 19
3. INT - 12
4. CON - 12
5. LUK - 8
Talents: Unique Talent - Steal.
Class: Legendary Class: Bandit.]
Cid noticed, with the corner of his eye, and additional piece of information. He was ready to face the ascension trial now, since he had met his class' minimum stat requirement to attempt the trials. For an ordinary class, this was around 60-70% of the maximum of the class stat, depending on the class.
Since the cap for a legendary class was 30, Cid could attempt it since his AGI was more than 18. However, he would wait. Stats for him at this point was just a waiting game.
For Cid, his journey was different. Normal people would have to train and go through months of preparation to increase their stats, take different medicine and special items, but for Cid, a few more plunders were all he needed. What he needed to do at this time was finish his preparations to ascend as quick as possible.
Only the upper realms had what he needed at this point, and there was no point lingering here for too much longer. Less than a year, he hoped.
---
Lina sat on the wooden bench crafted from the finest wood, up on the platforms above.
She'd just recieved news that the forging was a success, and the new artifact would be brought to the stage within 20 minutes, where it would be given to its new owner. Although she was somewhat sad about not being allowed to help her grandfather, she sucked it up and put on a smile for the sake of the event.
Next to her, a charming and innocent looking lady sat, fanning her paper fan, looking around the mountains in awe. She had the fairest skin, and no blemishes marred her unbroken beauty. Her hair was the shade of a deep, green emerald, and her eyes seemed to look beyond the ordinary.
"Are you enjoying the event, Mia?", Lina asked, turning her face towards the lady.
"Oh, sister Lina. You know I always do.", she spoke with a sweet smile, encouraging in her ways.
"Mmhm. Don't worry, the main event will start soon. After that, we can go and eat with grandfather together."
"I'm looking forward to it.", she smiled, her dimples showing.
Mia was the number one target for all aristocrats in the kingdom of Greater Narid. Not only was she strong and beautiful beyond belief, but she was also the only daughter of the Imperial Scholar. With both status and beauty, there were no end to her suitors.
This slightly irked her, but she had to endure it.
She could see the eyes of the lecherous Prince Andrew veer towards her position from the platform next to her, and she simply positioned her fan to avoid his gaze.
"Ugh. These people are so annoying.", Mia eyerolled as she spoke, looking at Lina.
Lina chuckled as she said, "Watch you mouth, Mia. It might get you in trouble someday."
Mia simply eyerolled again, her expression changing from pleasant to annoyed. Now, she simply wanted to go back to her mansion where she could study runes in detail. She was a Unique Class by birth, but was masked by her father as an Epic Class. Her real passion laid in studying the various runes that made up the fabric of the world. She enjoyed it beyond any other activity, but studying runes cost a lot of money.
That is why she had to endure socialising with these unsavoury characters. If she ignored everyone, her funds for research would also dry up, very quickly. That was because her father was her primary funder, and he would remind her to socialize, socialise, socialise every waking moment. And the gifts from her admirers? Well, they could be sold.
Mia looked around, thinking about how to connect a second sequence rune character with a conduit without breaking the loop. To Lina, it only seemed like she was thinking about the Prince getting on her nerves.
Below the platforms, a shadow figure moved in haste, placing down certain devices, one after the other.
At this point, Cid had completed 90% of his preparations, and only had a few more of these devices to place. He was planning a solo heist on the artifact, and needed to cause a distraction, and also give the illusion of it being a planned attack.
These cheap devices were perfect. Cid tampered with them to produce a yelling sound preloaded with effects, and would even project some pictures. Some of the other devices would release smoke, to complete the illusion of an attack. The target? Why, there was one sitting right above Cid. There were no better targets than Prince Andrew here.
The distraction was only one part of the plan. He had other measures in place, that he had put down for the last few hours. Nobody in the Entry Realm could sense his presence, and nobody in the Adept Realm was out to look for him. Therefore, it provided a perfect backdrop for the Bandit named Cid to perform his heist.
There was still elements of errors, though. You could make backup plans upon backup plans, but the execution could still be flawed. Cid had to be very careful in how he approached this.
As the moment approached, Cid got into position, sneaking right under the main platform.
Sounds of applause and cheer resounded throughout the mountains as Kaunga stepped up from the side of the platform, wielding a shortword which was placed beneath a beautiful scabbard.
He placed the sword on a wooden holder, displaying it before the world.
Kaunga put his fingers across the shaft of the blade, and the sword responded by letting out a loud, metallic hum.
Almost immediately, the people around broke out into discussion. This was indeed, a true artifact. The Prince looked at the artifact with greed, as if it were already his.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you: Rifter!"