Prestige Grinding : I Can Reset My Level

Frowning, Sora's thoughts raced. 'Don't tell me this is the group of players Hannah abducted in North Africa…' Connecting Salim's story to the scene in front of him, Sora felt his curiosity spark but decided against acting for now. 'I'll read all their files later.' Remembering the stack of players reports in his inventory, he postponed his investigation.

Once inside the city, they headed directly to a restaurant where Alius was waiting for them. Entering the private booth, they found him sitting with two small familiars—an [Undead Frost Fairy] perched on his lap, and a tiny [Divine Tiger] with cute stripes curled up on a couch.

'What the hell did this guy do?' Shocked at Alius' appearance who looked exactly like him when he was still Sora, Sora's mouth opened in disbelief.

When Alius saw the strange couple entering his private booth wearing masks and displaying low levels, he almost cursed at them. However, feeling a sense of familiarity with the man, he paused.

'Sora?' The word echoed directly into Sora's mind. Startled, Sora was impressed by Alius' level of mastery over Mental Power, realizing how far his alter ego had come.

"Yes, it's me. You can speak out loud, I've concealed our presence."

"You've changed identities?" Alius asked, puzzled. He couldn't understand how Sora could have prestiged and spent the mandatory month waiting for a new identity if he had been stuck inside the Tower for seven months.

Without answering directly, Sora retrieved an item from his inventory and handed it to Alius.

"Use this to cover your tracks. Unless someone uses a Supreme Skill to locate you, this should let you move around and hide your identity," Sora explained, satisfied to make use of the masks he'd purchased. Alius equipped it without hesitation.

Using the option to hide the mask, the three of them sat in silence for a moment, the air heavy with unspoken words.

"How's Hiyoko doing?" Alius finally asked, breaking the quiet. His voice was warm as he referred to his very first familiar.

Surprised by the question, Sora smiled faintly. He sent a quick mental message to Hiyoko and Netsu, instructing them to reduce their size and suppress their aura. Once they complied, he summoned them.

Seeing the two birds appear, Alius' smile widened. Nyx and Magnus, who had been quietly observing their Master's 'friends' with curiosity, were utterly stunned by the two magnificent creatures standing before them.

"So strong!" Magnus blurted, his voice filled with awe as he took in their presence.

Nyx, however, was entranced. Her gaze remained fixed on Netsu, her voice soft and reverent. "He's... beautiful."

Netsu and Hiyoko, equally curious, studied the small tiger and fairy in front of them. They tilted their heads slightly, silently wondering who these "babies" were.

Seeing her friend, Alius, Hiyoko jumped on his head to greet him.

As Nyx and Magnus were getting acquainted with the Phoenix, and Hiyoko was chewing on his hair, Alius turned to Sora.

"It seems that you've gotten stronger again," Alius said, his tone serious.

"So did you. These two are quite impressive... Their talent rivals Hiyoko and Netsu, despite all the incredible opportunities I've had," Sora replied. He then added, "I'm also unable to sense your Soul Power so I guess it is vastly superior to mine."

Alius smiled at the compliment. "I've chosen a different path," he admitted, almost amused at the thought. "One I never would've considered back when we were one. I'm some sort of Necromancer and Beastmaster now—a little of both. I need as much Soul Power as possible to tread this path. And guess who has the perfect Innate Skill for that?"

Sora and Kara both chuckled, immediately understanding what he meant. His [Prestige] skill made him uniquely suited for farming [Soul Pearls] on a ridiculous scale.

However, Alius's smile faltered as he continued. "But I'm too weak," he confessed. "My body, mind, and energy levels are all lacking. My level is also too low, and I have trouble leveling up."

His words shocked the other two. Kara frowned slightly, her tone incredulous as she asked, "You have trouble leveling up? With your power?"

Alius smiled and shook his head. "I have over ten million familiars and undead," he explained. "Each additional member of this 'family' siphons off part of the experience I gain. It wasn't a problem when I sent all of them out to gain experience for me, but now I'm stuck in this city."

Alius turned his attention to the duo, asking them a question that caught them off guard.

"What happened to you? You seem colder than before. And you, Kara, the aura you once carried is gone. Both of you look exhausted and tense, even though I can't see through you anymore. But I can sense it from your souls fluctuations... What happened inside that tower? And why are you sitting so close to each other?"

Alius wasn't aware of their relationship. Sora and Kara remained silent for a while, before Sora sighed.

He answered, "Kara and I have been together for years now, if you count the time inside the [Time Space]. And don't give me that look—you know we always considered that possibility when thinking about the future, back when you were me. Anyway, we spent quite a bit of time in the tower, and it changed us, that's why we've changed..."
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After explaining some of the key events during their trials, Alius also began to understand how they had become so strong.

Sora continued, "One of the friends we met there, Salim, warned us about Hannah. And, funnily enough, she asked me to meet her after the tower trials. Do you want us to help you plan your lover's rescue?"

Kara burst into laughter, while Alius face-palmed and groaned, "You're so annoying. Hope isn't my lover, but yes, I want to rescue her. I'm not counting on you to storm in and break her out, though. I want to leave this place and grow stronger first. I can enter a level 160 zone and level up quickly. I think that once I hit the 160 range, I'll be stronger than all of them."

Realizing Alius' understanding of limits and power levels was lacking, Sora and Kara explained how players fought after reaching their limits. They highlighted how important it was to have a few overpowered abilities to compete with the strongest players.

"So you've hit all three limits? Then I guess I've hit one as well... Does this mean I'm now able to compete with the guys waiting outside? I've been here for a while, and was warned not to use Soul Power inside of the city by the system..." Alius said, leaving Sora and Kara puzzled.

"After reaching the Soul Level limit, I started developing skills based on Soul Power. Last week, I managed to create a supreme skill related to it."

Seeing the surprise on their faces, Alius smiled and shared the skill description with them.

Reading the effects over and over again, Sora couldn't tear his eyes away from the skill description.

Kara, noticing his intense focus, laughed and teased, "Let me guess, you're already plotting how to drag me into the [Time Space] so you can develop your own Supreme Skill based on Soul Power. Did you forget that we were planning on taking some time off after all of this."

Turning to Alius, she asked, "Why did you have to show him this, Alius? You know how competitive he is!"

Sora, deep in thought, didn't respond to her joke. His expression turned serious, and after a moment, he asked, "Alius, do you want to fuse again?"

Hearing him, Alius who has started eating again after sharing his skill description, almost choked on his food.