Edward's instincts were screaming for him to drop everything and run, but before he could process what he felt, the boy closed the distance between them.

Riwall was experiencing a rush like never before. His movements were perfect in every sense of the word, but he immediately felt they could still improve if his level were higher. He was finally feeling what capping a skill meant, his attributes became the only limiting factor to some actions he knew that could be theoretically pulled out, but he would need to increase his level for that.

The hunter infused all his skills right on time. Riwall's blade was closing in on his face, and he had no time to block. He dodged to the left and escaped by a hair length.

He spun his body counter-clockwise to use the spin's force to hit Riwall with the s.h.i.+eld on his left forearm, but before completing the movement, a wooden sword exploded after hitting his left knee. If not for his armor, he would have got very hurt by this attack.

Edward's mind was still trying to understand how Riwall moved fast enough to strike him with such strength on his left knee when a wooden s.h.i.+eld hit his face and exploded.

Friday quickly channeled mana from

and

to

.

The spectators all had dumb looks on their faces, even Eleanor. The boy was tras.h.i.+ng his Master with the same intensity that they pushed him during training.

Edward let the battle run its course for a few minutes before deciding to make full use of his level advantage to overwhelm Riwall. There was no way around his low level and diminished body, so his master quickly took the lead and immobilized Riwall to bring an end to the fight.

Anna and Greg cheered for Riwall throughout the fight and kept on doing so even after he got immobilized. They too had a few grudges about their combat master's harshness and felt elated seeing their friend avenging them, even if he ended up losing anyway.

Despite his masterful display, the boy was barely able to hurt his master thanks to his armor and high level. But it was undeniable the former's superiority on close combat skills. Edward may be good enough to teach close combat, but his specialty was on ranged combat. Should they be fighting from a distance, not even Riwall's infused Legend rank skills would be of help.

All masters were doing their best to not laugh at their colleague, but two of them made no such effort. Hobbs and Lila were laughing their a.s.ses off.

It took a few minutes for the laughs to die off. Eleanor tried to speed things up by giving them a stern look to no avail. As soon as they calmed down a little, she addressed the trio.

"You did an excellent job Riwall, but the only reason I'm not reprimanding you for disrespecting your master is that he gave you an explicit order to go all out. Remember that when no such order is given, you fight to improve, not hurt."

He just nodded. There was no much room for arguing, and he indeed went overboard.

"The act of infusing a skill with mana is what we call 'The Fourth Step', although the name implies otherwise, it's meant to be used before any other action."

Theodas then added a few words of his own.

"Don't think this is limited to physical combat, the act of pus.h.i.+ng a skill to its limits using mana applies to all branches, including crafting."

Hector, who had been silently watching everything, had somethings to tell too.

"From here onwards, you are officially in your last year of tutoring."

That announcement made the three kids wide their eyes in surprise, a complex mix of emotions rising in their chests. Hector continued.

"This year, your training will be different. My cla.s.ses will now take place every day, there will be a rotation between advanced concepts cla.s.ses, which includes light/dark and entropy/negentropy lessons, and other methods of spellcasting, like chanting and grimoire casting."

Lila was the next.

"As for what I'm about to say, this only applies to Riwall and Greg. You will both move away from working as a.s.sistants, and the roles will be reversed. We will be the ones a.s.sisting you on your crafting."

Eleanor spoke in hers and Edward's names.

"Your combat cla.s.ses will go through a significant overhaul too. First of all, to accommodate the changes in the other courses, we will meet for fewer hours every day. Except for Anna, as she does not partake in any crafting. Secondly, Edward will now teach you survival techniques and a few other useful skills, like basic tailoring, cooking, tracking, and a few others."

The three just nodded. There were too many changes happening all at once, so they were still processing it all.

Eleanor brought this meeting to an end with a few parting words.

"That's all for now. You are all dismissed. Except for you, Riwall."

He gulped while Anna just chuckled and gave a few encouraging pats on his back.

"Good luck." Greg just whispered in his ear.

The crafting teachers also took their leaves. Edward, Eleanor, Hector, and Riwall were the last ones. As usual, the Commander was the first to speak.

"As the de facto leader of your group, there are things you must be aware of."

Eleanor produced a map from one of her pockets. She put it on a table that was set by the side of the training court and waited for everyone to position themselves.

"This point here is Marsastor, as you can see, the only things left of us are the Yelling Hills and the Yelling Mountain Range. The Lord has issued a mission for your group. You and your friends are tasked with being the Marsastor's representative in a tournament that will happen in one year and a half."

"A tournament? Then why not send someone stronger? We are only level 01, after all." He voiced his doubts about this odd order.

"If that was possible, we would do it. The tournament has an age restriction of 15 years old. The Lord thinks the journey to there will temper the skills you built with your training and make you strong enough to have a shot at winning it."

"And what is so important about this tournament?"

"The dwarves from the mountain praises strength above all. By showing that the Marsastor's future is as strong as its present, future trade deals will be more beneficial, and there is a chance they will help us when the fourth wave comes."

Hector saw how Riwall was still doubtful and decided to reinforce the importance of this mission.

"Riwall, these people have a culture that orbits around strength. They know we are strong today, so they trade with us occasionally. But they would never step out of the mountain to fight side by side with people who had a weak future. What we need right now is to show them that our future is worth saving. I know it sounds like they are primitives, but once you get to know them, you will understand how they came to be like that. It's imperative we can count on them when the Fourth Wave hits us, if not to fight by our side, at least to provide shelter if we need to abandon this place."

"I understand, Master Hector. I will hold my preconceptions at bay and experience their point of view before judging."

Hector felt proud every time one of his pupils showed understanding above their age.

Edward coughed to get his attention.

"You have your mission and the deadline, that means you and your party will have one year to train and six months for the journey. I suggest you keep that in mind and make full use of your crafting cla.s.ses to prepare suitably."

"I understand, sir."

"No, you don't. This is far more serious and hard than you think. This tournament caught us unprepared, and it will not be possible to hide you from the other n.o.bles for much longer."

"Are we in danger, sir?"

"Not yet, but this can change without much of a warning. Keep that in mind."

"I will. Thank you for the heads up, sir." Riwall felt truly thankful.

Eleanor was not graced with much patience, so she quickly dismissed them after relaying the mission to Riwall.

------------------------------------------------------

Back in Greg's room, where he and Anna were waiting for him, he told them about their first mission. Anna was ecstatic, she was anxious to test the fourth step and jump into action as soon as possible.

Greg had a more tame reaction, he did not panic as Riwall expected.

"Do you think we can do it, Mad?"

"Honestly, I don't see why not. For now, we know nothing about anything. But as soon as Hector provides me with books about these things, I will dive into them and make detailed plans for us. Then, every night, we will study it together. I am confident we will be more than ready by the time of our journey."

Greg had read almost all the books Riwall had written. He knew that their leader would not treat things lightly.

"I trust you, Mad. If you say we can do it, then I have no doubts." Greg had a determined expression. Riwall had already noticed how Greg and Anna looked up to him as their leader both in and out of battles. It made Riwall feel good, but also apprehensive, as he was responsible for keeping his friends alive.

"Thank You, Greg. I will go to my room, I need to process everything we learned today."

The three said their farewells and Anna and Riwall went to their respective rooms.

------------------------------------------------------

{What a day!}

[Tell me about it, I have so many things I want to test! This fourth step thing is a gamechanger.]

{I'm just glad we finally got around the skill conundrum. Being weaker than the others while having many skills capped was bugging me. But tell me, what do you want to test first?}

[Something simple at first, what about a drawing?]

{It's been a while since I last drew for fun, let's do it!}

He quickly made way for his desk and prepared the parchment and ink.

{Hmm... What do we draw?}

[What about the three of you? You can gift it to Eleanor later, I think she would appreciate it.]

{Good idea! For intent, what do you think about 'hope'? She is always talking about how we are Marsastor's future and all.}

[I think it would work! Ok, prepare yourself!]

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His mana reserves had already recovered, so Friday did not hesitate to push

to its limits.

Riwall's mind went into a trance. Friday had created a mental visualization of what he wanted to draw to work as the 'information' step, but in his stupor, he found ways of better fusing the drawing with the intent.

The changes were starking, from the positions of the trio to their facial expressions, lighting, and scenario. Everything changed to better suit the desire to convey the feeling of 'hope for the future' that Riwall set as his intent.

He ended up working on it for almost four hours despite his machine-like proficiency. As soon as he left his trance and looked at the drawing, a fanfare sounded in his head.

---------------------------

---CONGRATULATIONS!---

---Temelth's Bless Effect Unlocked---

-Languages - MASTERED

-Limitless Potential - MASTERED

-Unknown (locked)

-Unknown (locked)

-Unknown (locked)

---CONGRATULATIONS!---

--Skill Branch Upgraded--

--Arts Branch - Level 10--

IS NOW:

--Transcendent Arts Branch - Level 1--

--Skills Upgraded--

- Level 50 -

IS NOW:

- Level 1 -

- Level 50 -

IS NOW:

- Level 1-

---------------------------

He did not even read the messages, his entire focus was on the drawing in front of him. Three kids with bright faces were standing side by side, looking at something behind the viewer. Behind them, the Marsastor Village had many signs of going through an expansion process, with new houses being built, new lands being prepared and some trees being cut. Dozens of wagons could be seen moving toward the village from the east.

His drawing really made him feel like the future was good, and on its way, it was a very comforting feeling.

He forced himself to look away from his new masterpiece and finally read what the System was telling him.

{By Lila's b.r.e.a.s.t.s!}