Extra's Survival: Raising SSS-Rank Characters Is My Only Option

The reports began increasing.

Strange activity in the forest returned and the roamer attack started getting more and more frequent.

Roamers were appearing in places where they should not have been.

Nocturnal roamers were spotted active during the day. And most disturbingly, they were behaving in ways that did not match their normal instincts.

Encrid was reading all the reports.

He also watched the Wall slowly beginning to change under the pressure.

Leave was reduced.

The watched along the wall were doubled.

The works stopped most of its repairs and moved men onto the stakes and javelin positions.

Vess looked as though he had aged an entire year in a single month.

Through all of it, the drill ground behind the granary seemed to exist in its own little world.

Gus continued cultivating every evening with the determination of someone who believed he had very little time to waste.

The books said that opening each Vermilion channel usually took a cultivator months, and sometimes even years.

But Gus was opening them in weeks.

The glowing coal at the base of his spine became brighter and larger every night, and his progress had already reached a point where Encird had stopped trying to compare him with ordinary people.

And it wasn’t just the progress with cultivation.

Gus was currently sparring with a man that Encrid had somehow brought along - because he wanted Gus to gain some experience.

The man swung a wild and poorly controlled attack, but the man was twice Gus’s weight and strong enough to send most fifteen-year-olds sprawling.

Gus simply turned his body and raised one arm.

The attack slid away from him.

For a brief moment, actual steam rose from Gus’s skin with a sharp hiss.

Then Gus stepped forward and struck his opponent in the chest.

The larger man stumbled backward several steps before finally regaining his balance.

Encrid stared at Gus.

The system appeared in the corner of his vision.

[ Name: Gus ]

[ Realm: Initiate - Vermilian star ]

There weren’t any changes in the Appraisal but he could see a lot of difference between the Gus who just awakened and the Gus now.

It was something notable because Encrid realized something.

’I can’t always measure people based on the appraisal.’

There might be a big gap between two people who have the same appraisal results shown.

Gus’s progress was ridiculous.

But Jin was making progress of his own.

His cultivation was much slower, but that only made it more satisfying.

The Azure channels inside his body were gradually widening under the pressure of his nightly cultivation.

It was not dramatic.

There were no sudden breakthroughs or flashes of overwhelming power.

Instead, it happened little by little.

Night after night.

Thread by thread.

On a good night, the cool current from the Azure Star at his throat could now travel all the way to his shoulders before fading.

More importantly, his swordsmanship had begun to change.

The sword and the Azure Star were slowly beginning to work together.

Sir Gareth had said it would be a natural connection between cultivation and combat.

Encrid had not understood a word then but now, he had finally started to understand what they meant.

At least, some of it.

His movements had become less rigid, changing direction felt easier. He could shift his weight more naturally, and sometimes he could sense where his body wanted to move a fraction of a second before he consciously decided to move there.

It was not enough to make him a great swordsman.

But it was progress.

And Encrid was proud of it.

The system appeared again.

[ Gannon Family Swordsmanship: E (23%) ]

[ Realm: Initiate - Azure Star ]

[ Star Ability: None ]

He looked at the final line. He had once been annoyed by it.

Now he simply accepted it.

There was no point getting angry at something he could not control.

He would keep cultivating until the star finally answered.

The same way people in the north accepted the cold.

They could complain about it all they wanted.

But the weather would not care.

✧ ✧ ✧

Encrid was practicing the Second Form of Gannon swordsmanship alone late that night when he felt something amiss.

The drill ground was completely empty.

Gus had gone to sleep several hours earlier, and the blue lamps mounted around the training ground were the only source of light.

Encrid completed the final movement of the form.

He held his sword in the final guard position and slowly breathed out.

Then he stopped.

Something was wrong.

He did not know what had changed.

He simply knew that he was no longer alone.

Encrid turned around.

A man was standing four paces away from him.

He had no idea where the man had come from.

One moment the training ground had been empty.

Now there was a stranger standing in the middle of it.

He wore a simple grey cloak and had no hat or hood covering his head.

He looked to be somewhere in his middle age.

There was nothing remarkable about his appearance.

He looked like an ordinary man waiting for someone who was late.

His hands hung loosely at his sides.

He was not holding a weapon.

He was not threatening Encrid.

He was simply standing there.

And that somehow made it worse.

There had been no footsteps.

No movement.

No sound of someone entering the training ground.

And now there was no sound at all.

Even the wind seemed to have disappeared around them.

Every hair on Jin’s body stood up.

His heart slammed hard against his chest.

For one brief moment, the instinctive part of his mind screamed at him to run.

Encrid ignored it.

’Don’t.’

He forced himself to remain calm.

’Do not let your face show anything.’

He had no idea who this man was.

But he had a very good idea of who he could be.

Encrid slowly lowered his sword.

He made the movement as casual as possible, as though strange men appearing in the middle of his training ground was an ordinary occurrence.

Then he looked directly at the stranger.

”Good evening.”

His voice remained steady.

The man did not move.

Encrid tightened his grip on the sword for only a moment before relaxing it again.

He had already understood something important.

If this man was who Encird suspected, then attacking first would be the same as volunteering to die.

So he smiled faintly.

”You must be the Reaper.”

✦ ✦ ✦