Skill Creation in the Fantasy World

Felix exited the underground path and found Steve leaning against the wall, waiting for him there.

There was a proud smile on his face like a teacher looking at his favorite student.

He pushed himself away from the wall and spoke.

"Nice battle out ther-"

"I want to do it again!"

Just when he was about to congratulate him, Felix interrupted.

Steve tilted his head in confusion and asked back.

"Hmm? What do you want to do again?"

Felix licked his slightly dry lips and told with a hungry look in his eyes.

"I want to battle again..."

Staring at the boy's eyes, Steve felt hopeless. He sighed and reminded him.

"Felix, are you forgetting we have to go back somewhere now?"

Knotting his brows, Felix thought for a few seconds and remembered.

"Oh, it's time to return to the guild already? I couldn't even realize," he exclaimed in surprise.

Nodding in understanding, Steve replied.

"In the underground, the people don't care about the time. They sleep when they want, eat when they want, and fight when they want."

There was a wry smile on his face as he continued,

"The matter of time is irrelevant here, mostly because the sun and moon are basically not visible here at all,"

"And the most important reason of all is because many of the people don't want to go back to the world above the ground which is completely opposite of the lawless world here making them not give any care of the time."

Felix had a thoughtful expression on his face as he understood what Steve tried to convey.

It must be understood that the people who were part of the underworld and roamed around in this lawless place were the notorious of the humans.

The very reason they walked into the various manholes and entered here was to escape from whatever they had done in the surface world.

While some may have different intentions and motives for coming here, the most basic thing they all have in common is that they had realized the consequences they had to face in the unfair treatment of the underworld where the strong preyed over the weak.

Turning around, Steve called out to Felix.

"Come on, we can go back for today. From what I've seen in your fight there's still so many things you've yet to learn."

He sounded unimpressed but was actually a bit angry when the boy had interrupted him earlier.

"Huh what do you mean? Did I make a mistake in the battle?", Felix was really curious to know what he had done wrong.

Steve began to walk away, waving his hand to signal for him to follow.

"Let's return first. We can discuss everything later in the guild."

Turning around, Felix took a last look at the arena where he had fought and muttered.

"It seems I'm still not strong enough....I'll have to come back tomorrow and battle again....."

He clenched his fists in determination and went back, following behind Steve as they started to leave the Arena Hall.

While walking, he could feel some people glancing at him from time to time remembering the boy who had just battled and won against a person much stronger than himself.

Gossip and rumors about a person named Phantom who defeated an opponent three times bigger than him began to spread around, making the people in the underground excited to witness a newcomer in the upcoming battles.

Steve and Felix were unaware of the talks going on as they walked out.

They exited the entrance of the Arena and walked in the Black Market streets for a few minutes before arriving at the entry and exit point.

Steve led the way to the same door they had come from and knocked on it.

Sometime later, there came a clicking sound from the door as it slowly opened from the inside.

Felix could see the room where the two guards were sitting by peeking inside the door.

The guard who opened the door glanced at them briefly and motioned them to come in.

Steve and Felix swiftly entered the room, with the guard closing the door and chanting an incantation at it to make it disappear.

The other guard checked them for a few seconds for security purposes and let them go.

Both of them then exited the room and traversed the sewage passageway to the manhole from where they had come from.

Climbing the steel bars, Steve went first and rotated the cover before putting it aside.

After Steve went out of the manhole, Felix climbed up and surfaced to the ground.

The bright sunlight of the afternoon shined on the surroundings making him raise his hand and block his eyes.

"See? We went there in the morning after we had our breakfast and now it's noon already. Make sure you don't forget that there's no meaning of time in the underworld or else you'll be coming out the next day."

Felix nodded as he gradually adjusted to the blazing sunlight.

Closing the manhole with its cover, Steve looked around before removing his mask and hiding it in his robe. Felix saw it and did the same.

Searching around they checked the way before walking into the alley they had come here from.

As they were walking through the alleyway, Felix remembered something and asked Steve.

"Hey, about that guy with the name Mr. Dealer something. Do you think I should approach him? He told me that I would surely go find him after my first battle but I still don't have any idea why I would do that."

Steve stopped all of a sudden almost tripping down but he held himself and turned around with a flabbergasted face.

"You can't be serious dude. That man was just bullshitting whatever came to his mind, so you don't have to mind what he says."

He shook his head and sighed in exasperation.

"I'll be honest, if you ever start believing in him then that will be when you'll start losing your everything. I was almost tricked by that guy but the smart me somehow...."

Felix nodded and then looked strangely at the boy who had started his nonstop rambling.

'Sigh, here we go again.'

Anyway, it was boring to walk in silence, so he didn't actually care if the boy talked a lot right now.

But Steve's words were flying above his head because his mind was on something else entirely.

'About 13 days left till the guild war, until then I'll have to get as much as strong as I can.....'

With a strong sense of resoluteness, Felix decided to meditate, train, and battle for the coming days until he grew a lot stronger and advanced to the first rank before the guild war.

Because, only then will he be allowed to participate in the war.