The Author's POV

Waiting by the door of the treasury, Randur turned his head toward me, sensing my gaze.

"Have you selected your skill?" He asked, squinting.

"Yeah."

"Which one is it?"

"I choose this skill."

I handed Randur the skill book that I had chosen.

Lowering his head and staring at the book, a surprised look flashed on Randur's face.

"Eye of Chronos?"

"Yes."

After thinking things through, I decided that this was the most optimal skill for me at the moment.

Quick burst was nice since I could activate it immediately unlike the third movement of the Keiki style, but the five minute cool down at the end was what made me turn away from it.

In the end, after thinking things properly, the Eye of Chronos was the only option for me.

"Hmm… If I'm not wrong, you're still <C+> rank. That means you won't be able to learn this skill until you breakthrough to <B> rank. Are you sure about your decision?" Randur questioned, looking at the description of the skill book in his hands.

Raising my head and meeting Randur's eyes, I nodded.

"Yes, I'll go with this."

Although I couldn't learn the skill immediately, I was not in need of any skills at the present moment.

Since I was going to stay in Henolur until things outside calmed down and also wait for Malvil to finish forging my sword, I was not pressed for time.

"Well, okay, as long as you're fine with that decision. Gervis did say that you could pick whatever you want. Now that you've chosen, let's go back." Randur said, shrugging his shoulders.

Taking a step out of the treasury, he looked at me right in the eyes and asked once again.

"Once we leave, you won't be able to change your mind, so I'll repeat it one more time: are you sure about your decision? Do you really want to pick that skill?"

"I'm sure," I replied without an ounce of hesitation.

This was the ideal skill that I needed, and I wasn't going to let it slip away just because of some short-term gains.

Gazing in my direction for a brief moment, Randur lowered his head and placed his palm by the side of the door.

"Alright."

Motioning me to get out, he tapped the emblem that he had previously attached to the wall.

"I've already recorded your choice. I'll now be closing the treasury."

As soon as his words faded, Randur retrieved the emblem stuck on the wall and the ground once again started to shake with a low rumble.

Rumble—

Moving out of the portal with his hands behind his back, Randur stared at the treasury doors slowly closing away.

'I wish I could've taken more.'

I thought to myself as I stared at the treasury from behind Randur.

It was just a wish, but I also knew that it was impossible. Well, that was unless I made any more contributions.

'I should just be happy with what I have.'

The skill was obviously not the only reward I had gotten from the whole ordeal, but it was the most precious of them all.

Now that I had taken the skill I wanted, it was time for me to go back up and start planning about my future.

"Shall we go?"

Startling me out of my thoughts was Randur's voice. Lifting my head up, I gently pressed onto the ground with my foot and followed him from behind.

Like that, I had finally gotten myself a new skill.

***

"You chose an <A> ranked skill?" Smallsnake's surprised voice sounded in my room.

"Yeah, I think it was the best choice," I replied back, staring at the book on the table opposite me.

"Although it might take a while for me to reach <B> rank, given our current circumstances, I doubt we would be able to get out of here any time soon."

Pressing my palm on the table and standing up, I looked at everyone seated close to me.

They were Angelica, Leopold, Ava, Hein, Smallsnake, and Ryan. All the members of my mercenary group.

'Looks like this war has truly helped them grow.'

I thought as my eyes paused on everyone.

Compared to when they first entered the city a couple of months back, everyone had matured quite a bit as their auras possessed faint traces of bloodlust, something only an experienced fighter would have.

If they fought their previous selves, they would without a doubt be able to beat them without shedding a single drop of sweat.

I felt a little proud as I stared at them. Of course, that didn't last for long as I remembered what I called them here for.

Raising my fist over my mouth, I coughed lightly.

"Keumm… Anyways, as I was saying, since we're most likely not going to be leaving this place anytime soon, I've decided that we should spend all of our time training."

"Training?"

"What are you saying?"

As everyone processed my words, all I was met with was confused looks.

Knowing full well that they were going to react that way, I pressed my palm down and continued.

"Yes, training. After talking with Douglas and Waylan, they agreed to train you."

Pausing, I turned to look in Ryan and Smallsnake's direction.

"Well, almost all of you. In the case of Smallsnake and Ryan, you guys will be trained by Jomnuk."

"Jomnuk? You don't mean…?"

"Yup, the best engineer of this city. He owed me one, so I asked him to train you two."

Crossing my arms together, my brows knit.

"He did say yes, but he also said that if you guys are not on par with what he's teaching, he'll stop."

"…"

Once my words faded, Smallsnake and Ryan stared at each other for a brief moment before they looked back at me.

The one to speak was obviously Smallsnake, who frowned.

"I'm grateful for the offer, but what about the chip in your head? Are you not going to get that removed?"

"The chip?"

Raising my brow, I suddenly recalled that I did indeed have the chip still stuck inside of my head.

'Now that I think about it, Douglas did say that they've caught the people from the Monolith and have locked them up in prison… I should definitely visit the place when I have time.'

There were still a couple of things that I needed to get done.

Scratching my chin, I sat back down and leaned on my chair.

Then, after a brief moment of silence, I looked at Ryan who was seated opposite of me.

"…About the chip, I want you to get it removed for me."

"What!?"

Pressing both of his hands on the table, Smallsnake stood up.

"So you're not going to get your chip removed now?... And you're trying to get Ryan to do it? A fourteen years old kid?"

"Yeah, pretty much." I nonchalantly replied back.

The reason why I wanted to remove the chip in the first place was because of the threat of the Monolith. But, now that I was in a safe place where the Monolith wouldn't dare to step in after what had just happened, the removal of the chip was no longer one of my main priorities.

Might as well just have Ryan do it. It could serve as great motivation for him.

Casually glancing in Ryan's direction, I asked, "You can do it in a year's time, right? You previously told me that you could've done it in about this much time. Now that you'll have Jomnuk teaching you, you should be able to finish at a much faster time, no?"

Propping my elbow on the table and supporting the side of my cheek with my hand, I lazily said, "Just treat the chip removal as a graduation test."

"This..."

A complicated look flashed on Smallsnake's face as he looked at Ryan.

From the concern that I could see in his eyes as he looked at Ryan, I could tell that Smallsnake had gotten quite attached to him in the past month.

It made me quite happy.

But contrary to Smallsnake's concern, with a resolute look on his face, Ryan stared back at me, his eyes unwavering.

"Let me do it."

His previous childish demeanor was completely gone, replaced by a mature-like seriousness that I had never seen from him before.

His sudden change in demeanor caught everyone off-guard as they all looked at Ryan with surprised looks.

Especially Smallsnake, who couldn't find the right words to say.

Not minding the stares he was receiving from the others, Ryan spoke up, "I can do it. Since you've put so much trust in me, I will try my best to help you remove the chip in your head."

Staring at him for no longer than a couple of seconds, the edges of my lips pulled upwards.

"If that's what you wish, then it's settled."

I then glanced upwards, towards the standing Smallsnake.

"Do you have any problems with what Ryan said?"

With a complicated look on his face, Smallsnake looked at Ryan, who stared back at him, his eyes filled with burning desire.

"Haaa…"

Smallsnake then let out a long sigh.

"What am I gonna do with you guys?" He complained before nodding his head softly, "Fine, I'll join as well. I want to see how well he is going to progress."

"That's great." A large smile appeared on my face.

Then, turning my attention towards Ava, I asked, "How about you? How is the situation with the flute?"

"Malvil is handling it. I'm not exactly sure, to be honest," Ava replied back with clear eyes devoid of any of its previous shyness. The war seemed to have changed her.

"I see, I'll have to talk to him later then."

Since he was also taking care of my sword, I could use the time when I was checking on it to see how he was progressing with Ava's flute.

The only problem I saw with the flute was that it was an <S> ranked item or even higher. So, when it does get fixed, Ava would no longer be able to use it.

I had to find a way to solve that problem.

"About you two."

I then turned to face Leopold and Hein.

"Since you guys contributed quite a lot too, you should be able to get yourselves some good swords and guns. You should probably do that when you have time."

"Will do."

Both of them replied at the same time.

"That's good."

I wasn't the only one that got rewarded. The others did too. But compared to me, their rewards were a lot smaller.

Even then, getting a good artifact should not be a problem for them.

"Lastly, Angelica…"

Turning in Angelica's direction, who was quietly sitting on a chair without speaking, an odd look flashed across my face.

"Well, she's already sorted her stuff, so there isn't much I can say about her."

Unlike us, she didn't need to train as much. Though not many knew, she had also gotten rewarded quite well.

Since the dwarves had looted the Inferno headquarters, there were a few devil fruits around. Because they had no use for it, they just decided to reward Angelica with them.

Therefore, she was all set for the future already.

"Well, I guess that's it for now."

Standing up, I looked at the others.

"Let's not waste any more time with this meeting and start training. It's rare for us to have a moment like this, so let's make full use of what we have."

Finished with what I wanted to say, I dismissed everyone from the meeting.

Watching everybody leave my room, taking a deep breath, a resolute look flashed across my eyes as I swore to myself.

'I'm going to make full use of this time that I have to become as strong as possible.'

With threats appearing one after another, I had to make full use of this moment to become as strong as possible.

Since I now had the opportunity to do so, I was planning on using it as best as I could.