Chapter 459: Path to Promotion

I had promised to go to Keld to sort out my promotion after I had resolved my rift business, and I fully intended to, but I still had one last thing I simply had to check on. I returned to the room I had previously constructed with quadruple-compressed space and gave it a scrutinizing gaze.

In theory, now that I had gained [Dimensional Praxis], my limitations were gone, at the cost of losing some system handholding, but I'd never let that stop me before, so it was a moot point. I'd also filled my cores with far too much knowledge from all the skills I had deconstructed, and as I gazed at the compressed space, I sifted through the relevant information. I must have stood there for at least an hour or so, then left feeling extremely optimistic and refreshed.

I think I'm more than capable of doing it now. Maybe not at the snow globe level right off the bat, but considerably better than just the quad-compressed space. Who would have thought that [Personal Rift] would have had so much relevant information on this topic?

I'd barely dipped my tendrils into that subject as it was still too much to handle, and my current method was to take occasional peeks at it when it was relevant. Studying everything [Skill Deconstruct] provided was certainly one way to go about it, but I found the information easier to digest when it was pertinent. The fact that it seemed to come with some kind of vague search function also corroborated my feelings on that, as was just proven by actively pondering on the subject right in front of me.

I wonder if that's from [Skill Deconstruct] or from my [Sub-Cores]? It feels like the latter makes more sense; they've certainly proven themselves capable of doing similar tasks for me.

I vaguely recalled asking one or more of my [Sub-Cores] to filter through all the raw information [Skill Deconstruct] provided, which might have been represented by this "search function," but I wasn't sure. Usually, I was confident in my memory, but I knew how I could be when something new and exciting distracted me.

But enough of all that, I better do some "work" before I get called lazy.

As soon as I decided to head to Keld, Vee showed up; she clearly wanted to go there too. Last time she'd gone on a massive shopping spree, and I sensed she wanted to do it again, or maybe she wanted to get some golem workers for her farms. Either way, I let her tag along, since I figured we might as well ask Keldenar for another favor while he was promoting me to diamond-rank.

We took our usual detour through Glimmerock before teleporting to the outskirts of Keld, then rapidly traveling to our destination. Vee was using her [Veil Step], which I was paying extremely close attention to, while I was using a combination of [Blinks] and folding via my [Coordicore]. I was especially thankful that I had put [Folded Geometry] into it beforehand, as otherwise I'd need to buy the skill again.

The "spells" I was casting didn't have official names, but I still made full use of [Dimensional Praxis] and [Mana Dominion] to make it happen. The main reason they weren't registering was that I was mostly using [Mana Shaping] principles to get a better feel for the different types of dimensional Mana. Yes, I still fully believed that they existed even though I hadn't managed to make an engine that could create "Rift Mana" instead.

Wait… Why am I calling it an engine again? I thought I settled on calling it a magic core? Silly Syl.

Anyway, I hadn't made a rift magic core yet, only a dimensional one, but I was reluctant to let my first few failures write it off as impossible. I didn't need this much effort with my elemental spells, but they were much simpler, as shown by my barely reaching level five in [Dimensional Praxis].

I have to admit [Mana Shaping] is a little addictive. I like being able to kind of force magic ideas to happen, especially since it seems to be resonating with my removed limits.

Unfortunately, we reached Keld in no time at all despite taking the scenic route. Upon our arrival, we were quickly greeted by golem guards and led into the castle, where we then met up with Sylvester and Syltheryn. The two didn't have really much to say, other than complaining that I almost sent them out of commission with my recent shenanigans. Apparently, when I passed out during my information overload, I had nearly taken them out as well, and they were only barely able to maintain their consciousness.

Was Sylbera too polite to tell me what I did?

I wanted to ask her, but she wasn't here. I had offered to bring her along, but she'd opted to stay on the island to keep things running smoothly. It felt like an excuse to me, considering that was supposed to be Sylvain's job, but I let her do what she wanted.

After a brief catch-up and a happy reunion, we headed to the throne room to continue the official business. Keldenar was lazing on his throne as usual, although I noted he looked a bit more tired and unkempt than usual.

"I would've said you were back sooner than I expected, but then you decided to take a vacation," Keldenar joked. "How's our friendly neighborhood slime monster doing?"

"Pretty good. I got my second class slot like you said I would, though I'm not sure I picked the right one. Also got plenty of trinkets along the way, and saved what I assume was a high-ranking dwarf."

"Yes, I read a report that you helped Urist defeat the medusa; good job, that sort of thing is great for your public image. As for your class… I have never heard of a Spellseeker before, so I have no idea. Is it really a profession?"

"It's all about crafting spells, so I'd say it counts. It seemed the most interesting of my options."

"And here I was hoping you'd join me in enchanting…"

I pointed to Sylvester. "That's what he's for. Besides, I didn't say I wasn't going to do enchanting as well, but I feel like I can do so much more without the handicap."

Keldenar chuckled. "Handicap, huh…"

"Uh, sorry, was that offensive?"

"Probably a little," Vee answered.

"If you can still get me some convenient teleportation pads or gateways or anything similar, I really don't care," Keldenar outright admitted. "I don't know if it's your new 'profession' or something else you've done, but you seem a lot more threatening than the last time we met. Ever since you entered the room, it feels like you've somehow taken control of it."

Oops, did I leave [Spatial Erosion] on?

I quickly turned the skill off. "Better?"

"Honestly, I do feel a little better. Although you've still risen several threat ranks, according to my ability evaluation. Did you evolve again? It's hard to tell after you've partially blinded my [Eyes of Truth]."

"I didn't evolve, but I did make a recent magical breakthrough. I'm kind of surprised your ability can detect that."

"It's not foolproof, but it's been more right than wrong, so I generally trust it. I'm just glad we managed to mend the rocky start from our first meeting, or I'd be sweating in my boots right now."

I wasn't sure how honest he was about my threat level, but at the very least I could tell he was earnest about our current partnership. It benefited both of us, and if we inevitably went to war with the Outeatus Kingdom, I was glad to have him watching my back.

"So, can I get promoted to diamond rank now?"

"You can, although to finalize it we will need to take a little road trip to the capital. I hope you don't mind?"

"The famous capital I've heard so much about?" Vee asked, her eyes practically sparkling with excitement.

"I'd say my city is better and more famous, but it's certainly bigger…"

"I don't mind going to the capital if that's what it takes. If you can give me a map or something, I could possibly even teleport us there."

"Now that sounds exciting," Keldenar admitted, his eyes now also sparkling with anticipation.

You'd think he'd be a bit more worried about accepting teleportation from someone he previously fought against. I guess he really has buried the hatchet.

"But before that. I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" I asked.

"How big of a favor are we talking about?"

"I want to have Vee registered in some capacity to the guild. Previously she was registered as my [Bonded Companion], and while that's still true, I think it would only cause complications with her current appearance."

"I almost forgot about that…" Vee replied. "You'd look like a bit of a weirdo naming your companion after your apprentice, or vice versa."

Keldenar stroked his chin. "It should be doable… And the guild would probably welcome her with open arms since she's another asset with a dimensional affinity. Plus, as a diamond rank, they'd give your apprentice special treatment, of course. Adrith was outright given a provisional silver rank, and he hasn't even touched much on combat golems."

"Does that mean I could get a provisional gold rank? I have beaten a labyrinth after all," Vee said, proudly puffing out her chest.

Keldenar winced. "I wonder if we can use the excuse that it's a cultural difference between elves… It would be bad PR for you to be dragging your young apprentice into something as dangerous as a labyrinth."

"Honestly, giving her anything less than gold is insulting. She's way stronger than I was when I got to gold."

I watched as Vee wore the smuggest grin plastered across her face.

Keldenar sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll see what I can do. At the very least, I'll need to secretly remove her bonded companion registration, or that will cause all sorts of confusion. Do you happen to have her original tag?"

"Yup!" Vee said, pulling out the tag and removing the [Rift Thread] string she was using as a necklace.

Keldenar accepted it, then made a motion in the air, probably accessing some kind of system interface related to the Adventurers Guild. All of us were watching him work his magic, occasionally poking Vee's tag, his own, and a third item I could only assume was somehow related to his kingdom.

"I'll need your tag too, and I might as well keep it till you get your new diamond one," Keldenar said, holding out his hand expectantly.

"I hope it's just as fancy," I joked, pulled off my own tag, and threw it to him.

Keldenar caught it and immediately went back to work. We tried our best to stay silent so we wouldn't disturb him; this was for our benefit, and with nothing better to do, I had the strange idea of observing him. I had thought it a silly idea, but as I focused on where he was interacting with, I somehow saw the vague outline of what must have been a system window.

Ouch!

I winced as I felt a stinging pain stab through my core. I immediately suspected Keldenar of doing something, but he hadn't changed at all from his previous actions. My personas were innocent, and so was Vee, who was silently snacking on some kind of frozen treat Sylvester had handed her.

Was that really a system interface? I wondered and stared again.

A few moments went by, and I swore I saw the box again. The stinging pain came back, but I persisted, and very slowly I began to see more of a box taking shape. Judging by his actions, Keldenar was interacting with more than one window, but I could only partially see the shape of one, although I wasn't sure why that was the case. Unfortunately, the pain was becoming a bit too much even for me, the one who shrugged off Manaburn like it was nothing more than a bad rash, and I was forced to stop.

As I recovered from the now-constant ringing in my core, I couldn't help but wonder what had changed. I'd tinkered with system magic and even had spells of my own, but I'd never seen someone else's interface before. This wasn't just a case of "I'd never tried before," which I was almost positive of, and that could only mean I'd somehow gained a new ability.

Is this because of Spellseeker? Or is it that unknown Emblem I recently acquired…

I still had no answer for what [Novice ???] was, and even now, when I tried to decipher it, it gave no explanation. However, my musings came to a halt as Keldenar clapped his hands and let out an exaggerated sigh as he leaned back in his chair.

"Okay! That's done. As far as the guild is concerned, you never had a [Bonded Companion]. I had to abuse quite a bit of my privilege as a ruler, but it's much safer this way for all of us."

"Couldn't you have just changed my old name or something?" Vee asked.

"I was going to… Until I saw what you were originally registered as. I'll admit I have more insight into the truth of you two thanks to our current partnership, but I'm sure smarter people than me can put two and two together. There's no getting around the fact that there's something fishy about your apprentice and [Bonded Companion], who both have [Dimension Magic]. Granted, I don't think many would suspect a Riftweaver spider, whatever that is, of somehow turning into a little girl, but the point stands."

"Well, thanks for the clean-up!" I said.

Vee smiled. "Yeah, thanks. I guess it's a good thing it wasn't shown too much outside of Dhoggurum."

"Oh, trust me, there was more than you realize. I think you two underestimate how much fuss registering a tier five monster kicked up, elf [Bonded Companion] or not. But it should be fine now…"

"I guess I'm not going to be sitting on your shoulder in cities anytime soon," Vee joked.

"Good, you've got more than enough legs to walk around yourself," I teased back.