"No."

It was a simple small word that carried a lot of meaning. I observed the surprise of the princess in front of me as her lips formed a round o and I further clarified.

"I’ve learnt a few things these past weeks that made me realize being on the spot light isn’t necessarily a good thing. Our cooperation can definitely be established, but I’ll be supporting you behind the shadows."

Calmness returned on her face as she heard this, and I thought about all the things we discussed today. There were many ways I could go about this new development.

"Well, you may be right. I was going to see if you would join the competition that decides who will be replacing a retiring guard, but to create an identity for you covertly would be even easier."

I recalled the veiled in black woman that called herself Night as the ideas I had came into place. I asked her about the positions of all her different forces and found out that she had a secret division of people protecting her called Shadow Guards.

Instead of publicly joining her and becoming her guard captain, I chose to act as one of the figures of her hidden department. I heard her cold voice that held a tinge of allure in it ring out after deciding this.

"Working as one of the Shadow Guards would mean you would be staying very close to me in the castle, perhaps just separated by a thin wall for you to act whenever the need arises"

My eyes shrunk into thin slits as I heard this, and the discussion continued. One of her golden rings shone again as a black material appeared on the table. I ended up receiving a black suit that tightly hugged my body, visibly showing the steeled muscles all over once I wore it.

The black suit was a rank S item that had the innate trait of blending into the shadows, being great for assassinations and the like. As soon as you filled it with energy, your figure would quickly disappear. With the addition of the few hiding skills I could activate at all times, I was skeptical whether someone of EPIC rank would be able to notice me if I didn’t want them to.

For the latter half of the Night, I told the Princess that I had to think about everything as she excused herself into another room of the White Courtyard, telling me to call out if I needed anything.

After talking in the presence of this person for so long, I let out a relaxing breath while going over the entire meeting. I was just met with one of the best possible scenarios by quickly getting in contact with someone of high standard, and it was an extremely high standard as things stood right now.

All she wanted and expected of me was my presence, that I would be the person to protect her against threats she is confident are approaching through the use of her unique skill. When I thought about the idea of Unique Skills and the demon’s Ultimate Skills she had mentioned, I couldn’t help but feel excited at the possibility of getting them for myself.

I would take it slow though, and focus on the immediate goals I have currently. Firstly, it was matching and taking down the EPIC ranked beast I ran from at the Skypeak Nest. To do this, I had to continue raising the proficiency of rank S skills, as well as carry out combinations of skills that have met the requirements.

On top of the few rank S skills I was able to obtain from my recent trip, I was able to take down even more rank A BOSSes that gave me many rank A items and skills. Putting together the rank A skills I received before leaving the Empire, I had a few additions that were already being used: [Healing Light],[Lion’s Roar],[Water Barrier],[Pierce],[Executor’s Speed],[Sense Heat Source], and [Silent Communication].

All the ones I learnt were active skills that would become passive through the use of my nearly endless mana. For the offensive skills, I was putting more focus in raising the ones that were currently at rank S, while still bringing up the remaining offensive rank A skills that neared 100 proficiency. It felt like I was already spreading my focus on too many things, and I had to be sure I was going in the right direction as time passed.

As for skills rank B or lower, there were too many to count, and I would only choose a few that I saw were compatible with rank B skills like [Eagle Eyes] and a few others that I still actively used so that I could raise their ranks later.

I was setting my sights on higher places as my rank S skills continued to increase and deserved even more attention with how destructive they were. Currently, I was sitting alone in the room absorbing the rank S cores so that I could max my attributes to 350. With how many cores I currently had in hand, reaching it should not be a problem.

Testing [Skill Combination], I was able to produce a few more rank B+ skills that didn’t need mentioning the way they currently were, and would only show some effectiveness after I combine them later to produce some decent rank A hiding, defensive, and support skills. This process would only repeat itself and produce bulks of rank A+ skills that I will be able to make into rank S as time passed.

Since I had some time and didn’t want to play with death testing the EPIC ranked beast that I wasn’t sure if it had gone back to the inner parts of Skypeak Nest or still patrolling in the perimeter, I can use the time I have waiting for the skill proficiency to rise while getting to know this Frozen Kingdom I had plans for.

I’ll start with the Princess whose face always seemed cold, but the voice betrayed the expectation and excitement when she talked to me. The night passed with me monitoring the many skills I was activating, while also spamming skills like [Saint’s Phantom] that didn’t shine with outragous effects to continuously increase proficiency.

It would be a sleepless night, but my body that continued to grow stronger through absorbing essence and the multitude of skills would not be burdened in any way.

When morning came, the princess showed herself in a new veil that was light blue. The black clothed Night was besides her as she told me today would be the day of the competition amongst a few rank S mercenaries and adventures to decide who would be joining as one of her new guards.

We stepped out of the building called the White Courtyard as the figures of Night and I became transparent. Night was one of the few Shadow Guards that would keep close proximity with the Princess, with a few other ones similar to her stationed all over the Snowy Peak ready to reinforce the guards that escorted her around if anything were to happen.

I wasn’t sure if this could be considered paranoia on the Princess’s side as she was being this careful even on her own peak that she controlled, but maybe I could learn a thing or two about going to extremes to stay safe. I would observe the ways of this kingdom and its people before I cement myself into an unshakable position to lead them against the demons that were on their way.