Outside of Greed's Sanctum, Grace was staring at the thirty stones that formed the rune diagram which open the portal Jack had entered. She was studying them as she tried to remember what Jack had done.
Her mana sense, although had improved tremendously, was still not as good as Jack's. She was having trouble sensing the links between the power nodes within the diagram and where they should be moved.
She had made several tries all this time but without success. Luckily this diagram, as she found out the first time she failed, was not the type that caused a backlash upon failing.
She didn't give up despite the consistent failures. She still couldn't contact Jack. So, wherever Jack was, he was still inside where that portal had brought him. He might need help.
Furthermore, despite still not yielding results, she felt that she was one step closer with each attempt. Her mana sense was also improving with this practice.
So, she persevered. Jack needed her help. She repeated her attempt again, sensing the mana within the diagram as she tried to move the node points.
*
Aside from entering a new portal every different day, Jack entered the first portal that provided him with unending monster waves. From all the portals that he had entered, this was the one providing the most exp points. Most of the others didn't even provide any exp point at all.
Luckily, Greed kept his words. That God didn't block the exit while Jack was inside. Jack fight conservatively at first as he was afraid Greed was going to pull a nasty prank on him. But as he fought, the portal remained green. After fighting the wave with six rare elites, Jack still didn't use all his big guns. He went to the portal and tried to exit. He walked through without a problem.
Afterward, he entered again. The waves restarted to the first wave which consisted of only basic enemies.
From then, he fought without reservation until finishing the thirty-third wave with the nine rare elites. He then exited and repeated the process.
In his later entry into the portal, he even tried fighting the thirty-fourth waves with the twelve rare elites. The number of exp points these rare elites provided was massive. Half of the time, Jack failed to kill all twelve rare elites even after exhausting all his arsenals. If there were still more than five rare elites alive, he then ran to the exit to flee. Using only standard attacks and weak skills against that many rare elites were too risky.
In one day, he could grind that portal for four rounds. Fewer if Greed's compulsory portal took longer time to solve, like the one with the murder mystery case. He ended up taking more than half a day to complete that portal. As a result, he only had enough time to enter the endless waves portal for one round that day.
Jack thought that the usage of this endless wave portal was much more beneficial for leveling up compared to Training Cave. The reason was that the enemies scaled up following Jack's level and the enemies came to him en-masse, unlike the normal grinding method where he had to run around searching for spawned enemies. Additionally, there was no shortage of high-grade enemies in the later waves.
As a result, Each of his classes leveled up at a steady rate of around three days per level. By now, he had been inside Greed Sanctum for more than a week. His levels were now at levels 53, 53, and 52 for Blade Dancer, Time Sage, and Beastmaster respectively.
Due to this, Jack figured none of the other players had such an express leveling speed as he did. At this stage, players usually required around one or two weeks to gain one level.
The stats increase of his Blade Dance and Beastmaster were as usual, but when his Time Sage first increased a level, he was pleasantly surprised by the numbers.
*
HP +180
MP +250
Strength +5
Dexterity +6
Intelligence +25
Endurance +8
Reflex +8
Wisdom +25
3 free attribute points
3 free skill points
*
Most of the stats increased more than double compared to the increase of his Archmage's stats. However, he was disappointed that the free attribute and free skill points acquired for leveling up were the same.
Peniel confirmed to him that all special classes didn't provide more free points. Skill points would become scarcer as people level up and acquired more skills. They would have to be wise in choosing which skills to invest in.
Of course, Jack didn't have this problem due to his Container of Souls. All he needed to do was just diligently grind monsters or join wars where he could do mass killings, the souls would provide him with abundant skill points eventually. Too bad the endless waves here didn't give him any of those souls.
"Here!" Jack saw Greed throw something at him. He deftly caught the thing with his hands.
They were currently inside Greed's main hut. Starting from the second day, after Jack finished the mandatory portal, Greed had always asked Jack to join him in his hut. Of course, him being a God, Jack wasn't insane enough to say no. Jack followed him like a good puppy.
At first, Jack was not sure what Greed want with him inside there. He just sat quietly. Greed then started asking him questions about the outworlder world. Being himself, Jack immediately went chatty. He talked about his town, and his friends. Most of all, he talked about the cool games and movies that he enjoyed so much.
Jack was rather relieved. So, Greed just wanted to talk. He had no problem if it was only talking. Only after they talked for some time that Greed let him go to enter the endless wave portal to collect exp points.
Today almost had no difference, they came into the hut again after Jack completed the new portal with flying colors. The only difference was Greed had given him something.
Jack looked at the thing Greed had thrown at him. It was a roll of parchment. Jack opened the parchment. What was on it was a series of writings and drawings. He heard Peniel gasp beside him. Curious, he used his Inspect.
*
First-rate Training Ground Blueprint (Unique consumable)
Upgrade a guild headquarters' training ground into a First-rate Training Ground
Restriction: Guild level 4
*
"First-rate Training Ground?" Jack asked Peniel.
"You know commander Quintus' training ground gives three times the proficiency to combat skills and Village of Peace gives five times, right?"
Jack nodded.
"This First-rate Training Ground is not as good as the Village of Peace's effect but is better than commander Quintus' one."
"Four times?" Jack said with wide eyes.
"Yep," Peniel confirmed.
"Wow."
The Training Ground in their headquarters was still the basic one, providing only two times proficiency gain when members execute their skills inside. The Training Ground had a level that could be increased, but the level only increased the size of the Training Ground, which affected the number of members that could use the room at one time, not increasing the proficiency gain. Their training ground was currently at level 4, allowing a maximum of five hundred members to train inside.
Peniel continued her explanation, "There was also a blueprint that allow one as good as Commander Quintus' facility, called Superior Training Ground. You are fortunate to already get one better than that."
"This is a unique grade. Is there one with a Legendary grade?" Jack asked.
"Yes. The legendary grade gave the same effect as the Village of Peace, minus the effect to auxiliary skills," Peniel answered. "It's called Transcendent Training Ground. But you can forget about searching for it. It was one in a million chance."
"Don't be so pessimistic. I bet you also never think I will get this First-rate Training Ground, do you?" Jack said.
"I see you like it?" Greed asked. "That's a reward for entertaining me for so long."
"I thought you are going to reward me with the Eye of the Illios?" Jack asked back.
"Oh, if you don't want that, then give it back," Greed made a show to take the parchment.
"I NEVER say I don't want it!" Jack shielded the parchment away.
Greed laughed and sat back.
"Do you mind me asking you something, Mister Greed?" Jack asked.
During their first few chats, Jack had addressed Greed by God Greed, to which Greed asked him to drop the title. He then used Your Sacredness, which earned a displeased raised eyebrow. He then changed it to Your Excellency, to which Greed responded by saying, "Meh!"
They finally settled with Mister.
"What do you want to ask, lowly Storm Wind?" Greed asked. Lowly was the title Greed gave Jack. Jack didn't mind. He didn't dare to mind.
"You are not like the other one God that I met."
"Oh? Which one? Wait, are you talking about Serenity? Of course, I'm not like her. Do you got a screw lost in your brain or something?"
"No, not her," Jack said with exasperation. "I meant Fear."
"You met Fear?" Greed sat upright. "And you survived? Judging from your level, you are not one who had died before. He was not someone who usually let those who met him leave in one piece, outworlders or natives. Well, except for the people in his cult… And that one outworlder."
"Hm? An outworlder? Who?" Jack asked with interest.
Greed was quiet for a while. He then answered while laying back on his chair, "No one important."
"Hm… Then another question. Why do you live here by yourself? I thought a God like you will have at least some sort of a palace or a mountain. Heck, maybe a whole other world complete with a cult serving you."
"Not interested to share," Greed simply replied. "Till tomorrow." He then disappeared.
"Hm… weird," Jack commented.
"Amazing," Peniel said.
"Hm? I find it weird. Why do you find it amazing?"
"I'm saying that I'm amazed by you! You can just be comfortable with anyone given the chance, can't you? Do you forget already who is your conversation partner? If you strike a wrong chord and cause his bad mood, you can be a goner in a second."
"Hey, he asked me so many things about my world. It's only fair that I asked him back something. That's what is called conversation, lady."
Peniel just shook her head at Jack's remark.
