[Skill Count: 18] +3

  For some reason, the skill count increased. Julius, waking up, has no idea what he has learned through the short duel. The problem was that he didn't know what skills were counted. There was no way to access them other than by a general number. That thought roamed as he was lying on the ground.

  When he got up, his eyes were flashed by the explosion. The vision was distorted for a minute. He exerted his aura, thinking it would clear the blindness. Not fully effective, but got most of the effect away. From what he could see, he was still in his residence's backyard. However, his feet felt flat. The carpet-like feeling touching his feet was gone. Julius looked down, and it was plain, dried dirt.

  His vision recovered, and he found himself to be torn. Steam was emitted from multiple places on his body. The gold and black robe was torn. His upper robe was wiped, leaving only his bottom and strapped belt. Boots were gone too.

  Like Hilde, Mizuhana's head was blown off on the right side. Half of the skull was depleted, along with half of the brain. Julius saw it like a visual diagram of an organ. Dr. Annia was outside and stood a few feet away, watching steam coming out of Mizuhana's half-void. Her fellow doctors would retire immediately if they saw it.

  Julius asked her: "Do I still have a head?"

  "Oh, you're fine. Your head is good, but not your body."

  "Ok…"

  He went right up to Mizuhana. One breather and summoned two water bottles. He offered one to Mizuhana as he chugged one.

  Mizuhana accepted, taking the bottle. She, too, chugged the bottle. "Tastes like home. Earth is really like Raal."

  "Except we are tiny and corrupt," Julius said.

  "Did we do anything destructive?" Mizuhana asked Lian.

  Lian nodded, pointing out into the distance. "Yeah, if we didn't put the barrier."

  The barrier dissipated. A trail of trenches was added in the neighborhood. The area's land value definitely went down. It might be a good time to buy now. Alan was inside with Rebecca. They probably didn't even care what happened outside, as they were still doing their thing. Julius headed to the edge of the sliding doors. "Hey," he called to Alan. "I might have brought down the land value, so draft an offer. I'm sending it to the neighbors after sunrise."

  Alan got up. "You got any more notebook paper?"

  "Rebecca, you know where my office is, right?"

  Rebecca nodded and led Alan the way upstairs. Of course, Julius knew she wanted something in return. He bet it was bonus money.

  King Valtoris walked right up to him. "So, this is your place?"

  "Yes, originally it didn't look like this. Cai and Daiyu renovated this place to feel like Raal."

  "I can see that. Mizuhana crashing into the building with little effect was pretty accurate. How are the buildings here?"

  "If you've been watching, not that good. One mistake, and it's gone. It can't absorb magic, and my neighborhood is only buying on luck."

  "Are you going to take over?"

  "Yes, of course," Julius said as Alan and Rebecca returned to the dining room. "Those two are drafting a deal I'm going to make in the morning."

  King Valtoris glanced at the door frame. He stepped inside without bending his head, complimenting the height. "How's the system?"

  "Do you want me to talk about it?"

  "Sure, Moon Mother would understand soon enough."

  "I don't know…You guys have a bad history with Maldoro, and I'm not going to instigate it further."

  King Valtoris took off his robe-like jacket, placing it on the couch. "Even so, it's better to know what is going on. You had it for a bit now. Anything?"

  [Class: A]

  [Overall Number: 19,112]

  [Skill Count: 21]

  [Path: King Julius Level 1]

  [Magic Multipliers: 0]

  [Qi: Rank 2]

  Julius headed to the kitchen while his body was still spitting smoke. He grabbed an empty glass. "It is very limited. So far, I only gotten general numbers about myself. For example, my total amount of skills and my class rank."

  "Class rank? How does it work?"

  "Class A is the lowest, and everything starts from there. The note said that. What comes after A, I can't tell."

  "Where's the note?"

  "I burned it…At its written request."

  "Damn…" King Valtoris muttered as he headed to an empty stool in the kitchen. He found the kitchen to be much open spaced compared to homes in Raal. In his opinion, it was related to restaurants or bars. Homes in Raal were more confined. Even the manor-like residences had closed kitchens.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Julius found that to be odd. While he was making a drink, he learned from Daiyu. He messed up the first step, spilling water on the counter. Another attempt and no miss this time. Afterward, he recalled the step by step with the grapes. By the two-minute mark, it was completed. He grabbed a different glass, poured a tiny amount, and took a sip. Julius coughed up condensation while King Valtoris watched.

  "Not bad. Decent, but not strong enough," Julius commented on his attempt.

  King Valtoris raised a finger. "May I have one shot?"

  Julius got another empty glass and poured half, giving it to him.

  "Wow, ok," King Valtoris muttered with a cough. "Seventy percent. You're almost there. Use more qi next time, it gives a stronger punch."

  "Damn…Alright, I'll note that down," Julius summoned his personal notebook and wrote the comment down on a new page.

  "How much can you carry?"

  "It depends. I have a hundred slots. Some items can be quantified up to a hundred in one, which is incredible…There has to be something more for you guys to have a bad history with Maldoro. Because how did he create this to begin with?"

  "Maldoro is a rebellious man…Originally, he was a human like you and became one of us," King Valtoris said as he took another sip of Raal native grape wine. "However, he was very rebellious and secretive. He's a builder; that was how we knew him in the first place. At least we thought he could share with us and work together."

  "Is it an argument or something?"

  King Valtoris sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I don't remember exactly because I wasn't there at the moment of the meeting. By the time I arrived, it was already a done deal. A fight broke out, and I missed it. Of course, I was told what happened, but my opinions are still in shambles. Moon Mother was there, so she witnessed everything."

  "Has she at least told you the details?"

  "Unfortunately, not."

  "Hmm…That's a shame. But that makes sense why she was more upset than you are."

  [Skill Count: 21] +1

  Julius paused, putting his drink down. "Oh, what now?"

  "What?"

  "Another skill has been counted."

  King Valtoris shrugged hard. "Huh? What did you do?"

  "I don't know!"

  Mizuhana entered Julius' residence. "I heard a commotion."

  The two dismissed it as it was nothing. King Valtoris then asked through telepathy if anyone else knew about the system. Julius replied that he and Hu were the only ones present that are aware of it. So, they kept it silent as Mizuhana joined in.

  And the conversation switched, where the latter was interested in knowing more about Julius' fighting skills. She was almost half-nude because she didn't regenerate her clothing. When Julius mentioned it to her, Mizuhana quickly regenerated her upper robe. She let her Haori rest on the couch.

  "You felt like a veteran wielder."

  "No, I'm not," Julius said, confidently shaking his head. "I just adapt quickly, and my experience is lacking compared to y'all."

  Mizuhana looked at King Valtoris in a brief exchange before returning to Julius. "Are you that hard to take compliments?"

  "Probably…It's hard. Do you want a drink?"

  "What drink is it?" Mizuhana glanced over the two glasses. "Wait, is that Shi grape wine?" She sniffed it, and her facial mood swung, revealing excitement through her widened eyes. "Yes. May I have one?"

  "Right away."

  Julius grabbed another batch of ingredients. A perfect opportunity for him to get past the seventy percent rating King Valtoris gave. This time, he went crafting two bottles worth of Shi grape wine. He also timed himself to see how fast he could perform.

  The head timer stopped once he started pouring into the glass. He counted a minute and fifty-six seconds. Four seconds ahead. It might not sound much, but Julius thought of it as an improvement, considering it was two bottles.

  Mizuhana requested a higher serving, so he poured the wine up to the edge of the glass. She took it and took a gulp. King Valtoris and Julius watched her, both waiting for the cough.

  Instead, she burped, shattering the two's anticipation.

  "Darn!" Julius exclaimed.

  Mizuhana drank a sip afterward; she wanted to break a smile. Julius knew she picked up what the two were doing.

  "Sorry to ruin the little party," Mizuhana jokingly muttered. "Maybe next time, if you're lucky."

  Julius then offered everyone a drink of the Shi grape wine after he gave himself another glass.

  For the rest of the early morning until dawn, the residence was back to being like a party. Foot traffic throughout the entire residence was nonstop. All the security magic wielders were guarding the place, so the driveway was packed, too.

  Before dawn, Julius got a lot of feedback for his Shi grape wine crafting performance. He left the noise and headed upstairs to his personal office. After closing the door, it was quiet. A little bit of peace being alone. It was a quarter before five.

  He sat down and opened his laptop. Connecting the port to a monitor, he logged in and opened his emails in one window on the laptop's screen while watching the news on the other.

  For thirty minutes, he gathered all the urgent and non-essential emails that caught his attention. Most were citizens sending support after the national news stated Congress and the government in Washington, D.C., were on the move. Suddenly, he received an email from Rebecca. It was a list of phone calls, and she let it all go to voicemail. The state of Texas was also called.

  Julius' heart was beating fast. He looked at the time and wondered if it was time to call back or listen to the voicemails. He took a minute and went for his office phone, picking up the handset. As he was clicking the dials on the keypad, there was a knock on the door.

  "Come in!" Julius put the handset back on the switch hook.

  The door opened. King Valtoris, Hu, and Lian were outside.

  Julius heard running footsteps as the three walked in. Of course, it was Rebecca.

  "Did you see my email?" she asked.

  "Yeah, I did. I was going to give a call."

  "Do you want me to record and transcribe it?"

  "If you can, that would be great."

  He leaned his back against his chair's cushions. There were two empty seats, so King Valtoris spawned one for Hu.

  "You're pretty busy," King Valtoris said, taking off his outer robe.

  "Reactions are getting tense. The public is voicing its opinion, but the state might not like it. I have a feeling it's going to be pretty bad."

  "How bad are we talking?"

  A message popped up from Rebecca, stating she was ready, so Julius picked up the handset. "We're about to find out." He pressed the dials on the keypad and put the call on speaker.

  Wait for it.

  Rang.

  "Hello?" A deep voice responded.

  "Here we go," Julius whispered as he leaned toward his desk. "Hello?"