( Ten days later, Leo's POV )
*Pahh*
*Pahh*
Leo panted while looking towards the sky, his body had been pushed to his utmost limit, his mana capacity and stamina had depleted to below safe levels, inducing a state of debuff and yet, even after all his efforts, Ben stood above him, without a scratch on his face.
"Hahaha, you may win the grand tournament kid, but there's still a long way before you catch up to me-" Ben said in a happy voice as he reminded Leo that although he had grown strong, there was still a long road for him to cover.
" Damn geezer…. Today was the last day of training, could've let me get a shot in to boost morale-" Leo said, as Ben waved his demands off.
" I've already given you my knowledge, now I have to give you confidence too? What's next? Spoonfeeding?" Ben taunted, as he dismissed such absurd demands of helping boost morale.
Leo was completely exhausted, to the point he could not even talk back, as he simply closed his eyes and thought about the mistakes he made in their final spar before the tournament.
' I didn't do anything wrong….. he's just so much faster and more clinical than me.
My illusions don't work on him.
Every technique I can do, he does better.
He's the worst match-up for me' Leo thought, as he opened his eyes and tried to inspect Ben's level.
[ Ben Faulkner (Lv :???? ) - A mysterious assassin, and a legend amongst the people of the empire ]
' yep, still not even close enough to be able to inspect his level-' Leo thought as he accepted the fact that despite all his training in the past year, the gap between him and the living legend Ben Faulkner was still too large for him to actually be able to land a shot.
'I just hope my actual battles don't end so humiliatingly. My life rides on this-' Leo thought, as he got back to his feet and slowly walked towards their camp.
" Rare meat and herb stew. For successful completion of your training-" Ben said with a proud smile on his face as he passed Leo a bowl which had absolutely delicious aroma wafting out of it.
" Thanks" he said, accepting the meal, as immediately a system notification was triggered.
[ System Notification - Congratulations! You have completed a quest! ]
[ System Notification - You have completed a 12 month long quest in only 9 months! Adjusting rewards…. ]
[ QUEST NOTIFICATION - You have successfully completed the Quest, 'Learning the way'.
Quest Difficulty - S
Quest Description - Earnestly complete the training regiment suggested by your master and develop into the best Assassin that you can become.
Quest Rewards -
Weekly Completion Rewards :- +2 levels for training earnestly for the whole week. (Already Given)
Monthly Completion Rewards :- 1-5 extra levels shall be rewarded based on progress assessment. (Already Given)
Distributing final completion rewards :-
+1000MP
+25 levels ( Early Completion Bonus )
+20,000 Gold Coins.
+ 500MP ( Additional Completion Bonus ) ]
Leo received a tonne of rewards for completing his long-time system quest, propelling his level upto a massive 145! Putting him +17 levels clear of DarkEmperor at second spot.
*Hufffffff*
Leo exhaled deeply as he blew at the stew trying to cool it down as he ate it with a big smile on his face.
"Delicious-"
This was the first time, Ben had made a meal this special and Leo could see the care he put into it.
He not only used rare herbs for the stew, but he also dry aged premium lion meat for this, which he seasoned generously with herbs.
It was a one of a kind luxury dining experience, something much better than the mundane meals the duo shared everyday.
" Tomorrow, we leave for the capital city Stronghaven. It's going to be a two day journey on foot, but we should easily reach a couple days before the grand tournament starts.
Register for the open round and have a days rest before the preliminaries" Ben said, as Leo nodded his head in acknowledgement.
For the next 5 days, his leveling was about to come to a grinding halt, which was why this massive 25 levels boost was so important to him, as it gave him some breathing room and credibility as he headed into the tournament.
Not only that, with 25 levels also came a massive amount of undistributed stats, which when used would make him faster, stronger and better.
While at the start of the game, Leo felt like leveling up was everything as even a single level gained felt like a massive increase in strength, the stronger he grew, the lesser its significance seemed to become, as the importance of skills became more prevalent.
While an unskilled Leo at level 60 could perhaps never kill a level 130 mountain lion alone, a skilled Leo at level 60 could take on 3 level 130 mountain lions at once and still kill them effortlessly.
Skills played a more major role in this game, when compared to levels, however, having the physical prowess to enhance one's skills did help a lot as well.
Also, while uptil now Leo lived a secluded life where he had no need for gold or silver, now that he was going to return to civilization, the 20,000 gold coins given to him by the system for completing his training was going to undoubtedly play a big part in his future career as a player.
1,000 gold/annum was the salary of new professors starting in the royal academies and it was considered to be a healthy sum.
20,000 gold then, to put into context was a massive sum that could even buy one a mansion in the royal capital befitting the status of a noble, however, more importantly it could buy information, potions and influence.
But most importantly for Leo, even more than the money was the 1000 MP! The currency he required to call his mother to the arc ship, as the first thing that he wanted to do after reaching the royal capital was inquiring about how much MP it would take to bring their mother here.