Everyone in the audience was stunned by the warrior's action as he rushed towards Ryu slashing towards his leg, Ryu jumped reflexively back seeing killing intent in the warrior's eyes, but his speed was not enough the warrior was still rushing toward Ryu,

The sound of swords banging in one another resounded there, in front of Ryu who was scared as hell of incoming slash, stood Geld with his sword stopping that of the Warrior's, but what was more surprising was what Ryu saw after coming to his sense properly,

"Dare you to take a step ahead!!" said Kit, whose sword was at the neck of warrior's

But that was not all there was warrior's lower half of the body was frozen in ice and Ryu could already guess who did it, when Snow came and hugged Ryu from behind and as Ryu was being comforted a voice as cold as primal frost came out of Geld's mouth

"Are you Phoenix's Gate party all like that…" as he stared into the eyes of the warrior being the leader of the Phoenix's Gate party, there had not been a single moment like this before for the warrior in this Zerah Village he thought

'Why… for this small kid, even Snow!!'

Snow used to do many quests with his party as a guest he never expected her to attack him, and no matter how much he tries he could feel the snake coiling around his body the choice was his to make whether he will apologize or fall unconscious, referring to himself as the strongest Adventurer in village both options were heavily despised by him,

the snake was about to bite his head,

"I apologize!! Not like I was going to attack him!! Stop" Phoenix's Gate party leader apologizes to Geld,

But it was too late. The snake had already bitten his head, Geld couldn't hold back [The Cold Fanged Snake] title's full effect.

Everyone was silent. The Ice from the fallen warrior's body is melting. Kit was still vigilant, and Ryu wanted to shout.

'What is wrong with this world people… who run at a kid less than half their age with a sword damnit!!'

Even though he wanted to shout this, he was confused. With the sudden appearance of Kit on the stage, he thought

'Is he a tsundere… never mind, I don't want a 16-year-old guy as a tsundere'

He sure shared a brotherly bond with Kit from a younger age practicing swords with him and pranking on him, the actions of Kit could be defined as the action of that of an older brother who might make fun of their siblings but won't let a stranger do the same, and also the swing of a warrior's sword doesn't look like a harmless feint to him,

"Jack!!" a girl member of Phoenix's Gate party came rushing to the stage, followed by others from in between the contestants

But before they could touch fallen jack, they too felt the snake coiling on them.

"I am fine, big brother Geld," Ryu said with a lowered voice knowing what was happening,

"Fine really?" Snow asked Ryu with a concerned voice, and he nodded. Finally, Geld started walking away not looking toward those of Phoenix's party as he announced

"The sword will be left behind. Take him away and bring him to Adventurer's Guild. Guild master's house, I will be there,"

He left the venue after saying that, one of the Phoenix's Gate party members, the muscular guy who was barehanded snatching the headbands picked it up none of them spoke anything to Ryu and Snow but as they reached near Kit, the girl spoke in a lower voice

"We will see you!" and they left.

Village Chief announced the end of the event,

"Winner will accompany me for his prize!!" the village chief said and with this, the event finally ended,

Lina, Aiena, Hina, and Lana checked on Ryu

"Are you hurt somewhere Ryu… that is why I was against you taking part in this event," Lina said as she checked up on Ryu,

"O power of healing heal the small wound," Aiena chanted 3 times just to make sure Ryu wasn't hurt, and Lana spoke

"Do not worry Ryu, I will talk to parents of children who visit church school. This kind of behavior will be repulsed by them too…"

She was planning to get Jack kicked out of the town itself, everyone noticed that Ryu's eyes were teary now before he realizes it himself tears were pouring out of his eyes,

"Why are you crying Ryu!?" Aiena asked,

"Don't cry," Snow said as she patted his head,

"No, it is just I am so happy!!" Ryu said as he thought

'Someone is there no one to care for me, why was my family was taken away… all these questions I won't need to ask them in this life it seems, this is the best… Naho big brother's got a family as you described'

While this family bonding was going on in the middle of the stage, a voice came from behind

"didn't want to interrupt, but Ryu, don't you want to come now for the Bestowal Ritual?" Village chief asked

"No, Grandpa chief let's go!!" Ryu answered back wiping his eyes off of tears, as he thought

'I will complete my first goal!'

Ryu and Village Chief left separate from the others, as the site for ritual is selected by the village chief, after getting in the carriage Village Chief said

"I am going to have a nap, Ryu. Wake me up when we reach,"

Ryu nodded, as he can relate to today being exhausted. The carriage entered the Zerah forest. This is the second time he is entering the Zerah forest in the literal sense, the path taken by carriage was off-road going through heavy greenery,

'That night it wasn't this bright' Ryu thought as he waited for his destination, deep in Zerah forest in a place where nearby trees were different from others as they were arranged systematically with equal gaps in between,

"We have reached," the driver said to Ryu. Ryu put his hands on the Village chief's and spoke while shaking him a bit

"Wake up, Grandpa Chief we have reached" the Village chief woke up, and without saying anything he peeked outside face full of nostalgic feeling, getting outside of the carriage with Ryu Village chief told the carriage driver to go back to town and come back in 3 hours from now,

After he and Ryu were the only ones left in this peaceful forest environment,

"Are you ready for the Ritual Ryu, or I must say foreign darkness?" The village chief said with a smirk,

"I don't know what are you talking about!?" Ryu answered back in a childish voice, still pretending to be oblivious to it everything he knew that Lina told the village chief and Geld about what happened.

"Ryu, you asked why Geld could not get this bestowal skill?" The village chief said with an air of seriousness,

"Yes, Grandpa chief!!" Ryu replied with curiosity, even though he knows that the village chief was biased towards him many things but a [criminal detection] skill would be best for future town lord then why didn't the Village chief give it to Geld,

"The Ritual requires telling once the deepest and treasured secret to the Bestower of the skill, but that son of mine doesn't have any secrets from me… such an open book, but on the other hand you have some amazing secrets I doubt,"

'Ahh… now it makes sense, he said he doubts but am sure he knows I got secrets' Ryu thought,

"So Ryu, tell me do you want this skill. Can you impart your deepest secret to me??"

Ryu thought deeply about it many things.

'He already knew about our Holy Knight, knows about Demon God's blessing, he is helping me gain strength and also gave me a lot of information about this world… I believe him and I am sure this skill is more than it shows on the surface to have the ritual requiring this'

"I believe in you Grandpa chief completely so please don't break it," Ryu said.

"I swear on the name of the Pernelle family, every secret you tell me will be safe with me," the Village chief said. Ryu moved towards the tree Village Chief was standing near and sat down in shade. He spoke with a heavy voice

"The tale is a bit bigger. You might want to sit down Chief grandpa," Ryu said clearly clearer than he ever had in front of the Village chief,

Village Chief sat in front of Ryu as he revealed his secrets about the past life, he got the memory of, the past life he doesn't get any memory of, the meeting with Goddess how he doesn't know the purpose of his reincarnation, and how he ends up making killing Holy knight his first goal when Village chief heard about Ryu's past life, he can't stop his tears even though he didn't understand half of the mentioned modern world things,

As the explanation of his secrets came to an end, Ryu's crimson eyes started gaining a shine of similar crimson color, and he could see a message floating in the air in front of him.

[Hide and seek] skill acquired.

"Grandpa chief, I got it!!" Ryu exclaimed, but the Village chief was too lost in his thoughts after listening to Ryu's past. He didn't react till Ryu tapped on his lap,

"Oh congratulations Ryu, now you know it is no normal skill right," the Village chief said,

"Yes, Village chief, it looks like it is opening status in the air," Ryu answered back excited as he saw his status,

"Ahh, it used to place information in my brain straight. I guess the boss was right. It customizes according to the bearer," the Village chief said with a thoughtful look,

After that, there was a bit of silence where both of them were quite figuring out what they need to speak about when Ryu asked straight

"Who are you Grandpa chief?"

To this Village chief, said with a smirk

"Look at me with seeking part of skill Ryu and you will know. "

Ryu did as he was told and when the Village chief's status window opened, he was shaken to the core because this was what he saw

(Level-50

Title- [The shadow slasher], [Stellar Assassin], [The map changer], [Dagger master of the night], and 5 more titles

Blessing- [the mark of tribal Assassin deity]

Skills- [Silent stepping], [Vertical walk], [Dagger dance], [Instant decapitation], [camouflage], [poison mancer], [Vitals sense] and 20 more skills,

Bestowed skill- [Hide and seek] limited use left

Salvaged skill- [Lord of dark's Aura], [Fake death], and 10 more skills)

The answer he wanted was as clear as day now Village chief was a very dangerous person, an assassin, not a normal one for sure because of the number of titles he got and the details of those titles.

The status window doesn't contain any states as Ryu expected, there was an old tale in this world of Pefrion that tell of a time when Prime Goddess allowed people to see bonuses provided by the system to one as stats but that made people consider those with higher stats supreme even though those stats just boosted to their original strength,

In this world having a higher level doesn't mean clear supremacy and guarantee of victory as there is magic separate to the system, there are also martial arts and various other things determining the strength of a person even the stats boost system gives on level up depends on person's potential which one can increase through hard working in exercising or doing stuff related to the status they expect a boost in,

In this world, someone with level 5 with higher potential could defeat someone with a level 10, for example, a level 5 person who knows magic or martial arts won't lose to a level 10 person, or in many cases, someone with a lower level can have received more system boost just because of high potential,

Also, as Ralph used to say, there is no benefit if the physical body can't follow the boost,

"There are many things we need to discuss now Ryu," the Village chief said with a serious look

-To be continued

[Author's note- Hope you guys enjoyed it, gimme a comment it boost my motivation and updating speed]