Chapter 782: Skill clash
President Zodiac and Cradle were observing the skill stone and the sword closely right now.
One was trying to get the sword for herself while the other had glimmering eyes while looking at the attractive skill stone before him.
"Yes… but before that, headmaster. Why not give any of it to them?"
I had my questions about his choices, and they were genuine as well so even the rest of them were attracted when I brought it up.
"The two of them did just as much as the two of us, at least from a comparative perspective.
They were more efficient and even though the two might have made some mistakes, they did well-."
"No they did not."
He shook his head with that stern reply and looked at the two of them with a look that made both of them look down at the floor.
"One forgot his position in the war and ended up losing his sanity while the other broke off the chain of command and acted on her own.
I\'m angry at them, if anything.
They didn\'t do as well as they should have and thanks to them, a lot of other people had to face difficulties."
He looked upset and the look he was giving the two of them was that of disappointment.
\'It was like looking at a strict parent looking at a child that did not perform as well as they were supposed to.\'
I knew how president had a mental breakdown in the middle of the battle with those demonic cultists and how he was scolded by the Empress.
And though I did not see it myself, according to the report, Cradle had shut down her communications when the second demon appeared as well.
\'It was said that she went to the side where the other demon noble had appeared without informing anyone else.\'
She was scolded by Master Maverick and lady Carolina for that as well, however, since she handled her role as a spell deployer well, she got away with only a scolding.
\'They both made mistakes, yes, but they weren\'t so terrible that he couldn\'t overlook them.\'
They could have done much better… that was what his eyes said at that moment.
It was a dire situation where they had many chances to show their hidden abilities, but they did not do it.
Both of them kept their trump cards hidden even though Rein and I had revealed a significant degree of our strengths.
Perhaps, that was also the reason he was giving these things to us and not to the two of them.
"You two did exceptionally well. The others were praising you and not only did you almost sacrifice your lives, you did what someone representing me would have in situations that actually mattered."
The world knew about our existence now, at least the powers that had taken part in the battle at the headmaster\'s request knew about us.
\'They knew there was someone that can cast grand spells even at a lower level and use runes better than most other rune translators of this world.\'
They knew there was a warrior, a special scythe wilder strong enough to be compared to the Reaper of the battlefield.
A ruthless warrior knight that slashed down even the reality with an attack so powerful it seemed like it could cut everything that exists.
"And besides, these two already have what suits them the best. Giving them something they won\'t even be able to use doesn\'t really make any sense."
Rein and I still had many things we had not shown to them but they knew it already.
\'They had their eyes on us now.\'
And it wasn\'t going to be the best thing if this confidential information got out.
So increasing the number of cards we have was the best thing in our current position.
"Alright, Let us stop with this. And you two, try them."
The headmaster handed her the holy sword that looked as light as any sword one could find in the market, but in actuality, it was a weapon with a high ego of its own… at least, that\'s what we had heard.
"Hmmm? Isn\'t this thing supposed to-… oh. Oh, I feel something. Oh… damn, this feels good."
-Oooooooooooong!
An ego weapon wasn\'t something just anyone could use. One had to be chosen by that ego for them to use that artifact and in some certain cases, if the artifact in question is a famous artifact with a good reputation of its own, it\'s commonly very difficult to get chosen by those things.
\'However, when she held the sword for the first time, she did not receive any kind of penalty.\'
The sword did not do anything to her like any holy sword with a high ego might have done to someone unworthy.
The sword did not even retaliate when she was holding her as it did when Cradle and president were holding it.
It was not as bad tempered sword as the rest of the ego artifacts I have come across, and considering how the ego this particular sword possessed was one of the higher ones, it should have been more nasty to those it found inferior or incompatible.
"Wow… that\'s surprising."
Even the headmaster was surprised how the weapon accepted her the moment she held it in her hands… actually, it was more like the sword surrendered to her willingly.
"Is it because of your special EFMW? What was its name… ah, Neptune."
"How would I know?"
She caressed the blade of the sword with her fingers, looked at the rose gold metallic blade with mesmerised eyes, and for some reason, though the others failed to notice it, the special ring she was wearing was shining.
"That ring…"
The purple jewel ring that we obtained a while back from that certain poor student… it was another ego artifact that had been a pain in the ass for her.
\'It was something that had not reacted ever since our meeting with Wali.\'
And though she had recognised this ring and told us it was something we will enjoy finding out more about in the future.
\'It was an artifact with the ability to affect gravity. However, Rein had never been able to use its power until now.\'
But that same ring, that artifact that even a divine individual called special, was glowing ever so subtly that it was pretty easy to miss.
"Hmmm? The thing?"
"It was glowing… now it isn\'t but I\'m sure it was glowing, right headmaster?"
I saw it with my own two eyes so I\'m certain of it.
That ring was definitely glowing even though it was only for a moment.
"I\'m not sure either, Eon. I was so surprised all my attention was focused on her instead."
Even the headmaster did not know anything about that strange glow, but I know what I saw so the chances that the ring had something to do with this sudden submission was also a possibility.
"Well, damn… this is pretty fun as well."
She took a few steps back and swung the sword around like she would with a scythe in her hand.
She was pretty good at handling the sword since she had prior experience with the weapon, as well as many other kinds of weapons.
"Should I start using this sword as well?"
"Nope you can\'t do that, Miss. You will have to find a way to conceal the looks of this sword first. Anyone can recognise this sword and a holy weapon like that is easily distinguishable if you are familiar with them.
That\'s why I proposed that you find a way for your Neptune to absorb this sword."
"But I like this one…"
After becoming the master of a holy sword, it world only be an insane idea to feed that kind of weapon to a different weapon that was already strong enough to be better than most weapons that existed in this world.
"Well, it\'s yours now. You can do whatever you want with it. My words mean little anyway… I know how you are cursing me in your head."
"Bastard. Tsk."
She mocked him with her tongue out and walked to the other corner of his office to test out her pretty sword with Cradle and President, leaving the two of us by ourselves.
"Your turn."
The headmaster looked at me with an excited smile and moved behind his desk, leaving the unique dragon claw to me alone.
"Haaa…"
It was a special skill and even my eyes were telling me to get it myself, but I was still uncertain.
"Don\'t worry. If anything happens, I\'m right here."
The skill before me was a unique skill that an origin beast of (Purple) rank possessed at its death.
It was a draconic creature, so it also contained many of the abilities of the dragon kind, one of the nine creatures of mythos.
\'However, this skill contained not the dragon\'s power, but the other power it had.\'
The power of light, something unique that I did not understand yet.
"Haaa. Then, here goes nothing…"
I had this strange feeling even till the point I placed my hand on the skill stone, but, I did not think the outcome of wanting to simply obtain a skill would be so…
-Ooooooooooooooooong!
"Hey! What\'s happening!"
"Headmaster! What is happening with him?!"
"The hell?! How can you mess everything here so much in just three fucking second, you moron!"
A storm had covered the entire room, my body was glowing, the skill stone had vanished from the table and strange patterns had appeared all over my body.
"Fascinating…"
The skill stone was absorbed safely on my body and just like any other skill, this one was also being imprinted on my physical body.
However, there was a little problem.
"Headmaster? What\'s happening with him…?"
I wasn\'t in pain or anything, I was just covered in pretty looking patterns that glowed with their own unique lights. Something actually attractive to look at.
"His skills… they are clashing with the one he just obtained."
"Skills… are clashing?"
Rein didn\'t understand what was happening with me but since I was not in any pain, she wasn\'t worried.
Rather, she was confused by what she must be seeing with her eyes that saw the truth of this world.
"A skill clash."
It was a rare phenomenon and not much was known about it, but, it wasn\'t something the headmaster was unfamiliar with.
That much was clear from his calm reaction.
"How… long has it been since I saw this."
He was astonished at this moment. And as I could tell, this astonishment of his was going to be a great learning experience for the rest of us.