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Lucian was shocked by Ahri's announcent because it seed he was mistaken about his earlier assumption.
'Did I assu the wrong person to be the leader? It would seem this lady is the team's decision-maker.'
Nevertheless, Lucian agreed with her. Since he made up his mind to remain in the Fractured Monolith instead of returning ho, he needed to make the most of his current situation.
However, Lucian also wanted to make as many preparations as possible to deal with the upcoming floor and any of its unntioned mysteries. So he entertained an idea previously pushed to the back of his mind.
'Perhaps I should finally browse that area now that I have the chance.'
With a thought, Lucian opened up the screen linked to the Fractured Monolith shop. Ignoring the equipnt section, Lucian's attention landed directly upon the Knowledge category. He wasn't able to browse through the collection last ti due to Overseer's Vohr abrupt interference.
Fortunately, that was no longer the case. After clearing the first floor, he now had full control over his decision to enter and exit the Echelon Lounge. Even the team leader didn't retain the right to enter the floor without the entire team's agreent.
After all, everyone was given a separate confirmation window. If soone denied it to go, there were two choices. Either the entire team stayed idle until the person in ntion was ready to go, or they entered without them.
However, the latter was a rather extre condition as it created a unique situation in the event of the floor being cleared without the presence of the missing mber. The situation could only arise at the ti of clearance because the current floors didn't allow progress to be saved, so failure ant starting over from the beginning.
But if the team cleared it while down a mber, the one left would either have to clear the floor alone to catch up to their teammates, virtually soloing the floor. Now, this option was dreaded because solo clearing a floor ant their attributes needed to far surpass their current floor.
Except for a few exceptions, that rarely happened.
The other option was to sacrifice a large portion of rge Tokens to bypass their current floor. Although so would see this as a wastage, it could be seen differently when viewing it from another angle. After all, bypassing the floor didn't an giving up the rewards.
It was just reminiscent of using the pay-to-win thod in so ga. Of course, thods were put in place to deter abuse and loopholing. A Guardian was only allowed to use this thod three tis, and its price was exorbitant, usually 4 tis as much as the floor clearance's token reward.
Furthermore, this option couldn't be applied to determining floors.
In other words, it couldn't be used on floors such as the 5th, 10th, 20th, so on and so forth. Since they involved an essential experience, the Monolith couldn't allow this loophole to exist.
Thus, unless in agreent, most teams wouldn't go near the lounge's doorway.
anwhile, Lucian continued to browse through the collection of knowledge. The organization of the interface was pristine because it allowed Lucian to filter knowledge he didn't have the authority to view, as well as the knowledge unrelated to what he needed.
Soon enough, the categories before him were two: Techniques and Passive Skills. Although they sounded similar, there was a faint difference between the two.
Passive skills were in a sense the foundation of a technique. It birthed the ability to derive thods of unique usage. Whereas techniques were those results and limited to a singular application.
For example, Analyzation only gave Lucian the ability to analyze things. But, if he developed different thods of applying the passive ability in various ways, those would register as techniques.
Ultimately, Lucian narrowed down his search to Passive Abilities. Since his abilities relied on his ability to create his own thods, he didn't see the benefit of limiting himself by settling for re techniques.
Surely, he could up with his own, tailored to his unique needs.
After a while, two sets of information resonated with Lucian. Both of them were useful in his current situation.
One was nad Basic Combat Mastery (lee) while the other was Basic Combat Mastery (Archery). Of course, for their cheap price tag of 500 rge Tokens, each of them was only basic in the eyes of the Fracture Monolith operators.
'I...should get both of them,' Lucian nodded before using his knowledge voucher on the archery mastery and 500 tokens on the combat mastery.
An influx of information appeared within his mind in re monts. Afterward, his fingertips and muscles fibers tingled as the thods related to the two masteries burrowed into the depths of his body. The information appeared to assimilate with his instincts progressively.
Although the Fractured Monolith viewed this information as basic, Lucian was shocked to find a few secrets related to this information. The techniques were all compiled from this planet's strongest users. While they weren't the strongest in terms of martial power, it was a different story for their skill; they were unmatched on their planets.
"Just like our authority, the low classification must have sothing to do with our identity as a minor world. Nevertheless, this knowledge received will be put to good use. I no longer have to worry about sub-optimal usage of strength," Lucian murmured to himself.
This almost made him wonder if anyone in the team picked up these vital types of information. Even if they received proper training, Lucian found it hard to believe that their own skills rivaled ancient masters in the field.
"Ahri, I have a question, how experienced with the sword are you?"
"Not very experienced. Why do you ask?" Ahri responded with an odd expression.
The way Lucian looked at her changed many tis prior to giving a small nod, "If you have enough rge Tokens, I would recomnd purchasing the sword mastery."
"Ah. Unfortunately, I don't. This Tier 2 weapon cost most of the tokens I gained from the first floor. But, I'll look into it when I get the chance," Ahri said.
From her response, Lucian noticed two things. "I don't think they've ever cleared a bonus task nor have they properly managed their equipnt."
If they failed the 2nd floor with the presence of Tier 2 weapons, then the issue didn't lie in the gear but most likely in their operations. Perhaps they made unnecessary movents which led to unexpected expenditure, Or, their actions just weren't trained enough.
Either way, Lucian wouldn't understand the issue until he experienced it firsthand.
All of a sudden, Lucian noticed sothing as he glanced to his side.
Matthias as well as the others were seen passing by as they advanced towards the gate. However, their expressions seed rather obscure as they moved forward.
While unsure if it was intentional or not, Lucian's eyes t theirs every ti they passed by him. However, the gaze he gave Priscilla differed from the rest. His faint grin caused Priscilla to freeze.
Noticing her odd behavior, Elaine turned back. "Priscilla, what's wrong?"
Wordlessly, Priscilla pointed at Lucian with a trembling finger. But, by the ti Elaine turned towards Lucian, the glow radiating grueso intentions disappeared from his eyes to be replaced by indifference.
"Stop being so frightened. I've never seen you co to regret sothing so much. Just relax and focus on completing the task at hand," Elaine comnted. She then leaned closer and whispered underneath her breath, "You don't wish to be found useless by Matthias, do you?"
Priscilla's eyes widened at the question, leaving her to shake her head instinctively. After all, this was quite the possibility if the situation ever appeared.
Eventually, Priscilla managed to move her focus away from Lucian and enter alongside Elaine.
"Know them?" Ahri asked while stepping next to Lucian. The way his gaze lingered on their positions drew Ahri to believe there was history. Especially so from the girl's reaction.
"Just sothing of the past, don't worry about it," Lucian answered. Since they originated from different batches, this current party wasn't aware of those Elite-class Guardians nor would Lucian clue them in.
Vengeance was his and his alone to inflict.
"Give so information on your chosen floor. What should I expect on the second floor?" Lucian asked. The earlier matter was no longer important to him. Now, he sought to understand the difficulties the team struggled with.
"The floor is large and we're expected to complete it within a certain ti fra. However, the foes are...hard to deal with. Both fast and strong," Ahri answered with a faint frown.
"Type?"
"Wolves, but not just any wolf. Co and see what I an," Olov interjected. Concurrently, he also rose to his feet.
In response, Lucian spared Ahri a certain look. Understanding the look, Ahri initiated the process of the floor teleportation.
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