Blademaster Ascension

22- Advanced Payment

The large room nearly contained a thousand people of all ages. Yet it was quite silent at the moment. Occasional whisperings could be heard among the children, but they were quickly reprimanded by the older generation beside them. At this moment, in a corner of the room where children  gathered to play among themselves as silently as possible without angering the their parents, there stood a young boy in his mid teens. His posture was quite stiff, as if he had encountered a very troublesome situation. His face reflected anxiety and a certain amount of fear, an expression that wasn't uncommon in the room.

However, the boy himself was aware that his fear and the crowd's fear were about completely different subjects. His slightly unfocused eyes were looking at a glowing report, shown to him by the half machine living behind his left eye.

[ Number of beings with stats higher than 5- forty nine
Number of rank one beings- eleven
Number of rank two beings- six   ]

This exceeded his expectations by a great margin. This room didn't even contain one-third of the total population of the town. Yet sixty six people inside this room had enough strength to fight him, and seventeen among them could defeat him within seconds. He had never even experienced the power of a rank two human, who would be theoretically much more dangerous than rank two monsters.
Many of these people were his acquaintances with whom he was on a friendly term. Some of them were almost like relatives to him. However, he knew that it wouldn't stop them from taking the legacy from him. After all, that's what they were her for, living the life of an ordinary mortal.

Standing at that corner, he formulated plans after plans inside his head, most of which were not plausible and dangerous to a certain extent. The biggest problem at the moment was that he wasn't strong enough. Even if he could predict who would attack him and when, he had no way to prevent them from doing so. Powerlessness was frustrating indeed.

Slowly, Rowan's expression turned rather determined, with a hint of desperation and madness hidden within. What he needed the most at this moment was power. Although there were many ways he knew which could grant him the power he craved, all of them had their catches and flaws. Eating monster flesh was a safe bet. But it didn't increase his mutation compatibility. With just 63.25% compatibility, his advancement to rank one could very well be disrupted, leading to uncontrollable mutation or perhaps death.

Even if it was over ninety percent, Rowan would rather not risk it. At this moment, the only other way to increase his strength was magic. This could increase his compatibility, but his stats would be left out from advancement. The situation had truly left him helpless. He could only hope that his house remained intact so that the ingredients and potion in there aren't destroyed.

"Psst...oi, Rowan! Here!"

Rowan's chain of thoughts were broken by a low hiss from his side. Turning around, he saw Isa straining his neck to look back and wave at him from a group of particularly large sized people. Then he noticed other kids around his age behind Isa, all gathered together as if they were discussing a secret. He couldn't see Marius and some others anywhere. Did they not manage to come here in time? Or perhaps those fools were trying to help the battle experts fight the monster right now...sigh. Kids his age were so reckless and hot blooded! Did they think with their muscles or something?!

If it was Rowan from the past days, he wouldn't have much qualms about joining the discussion among the kids present there. Although he didn't have a relationship with them that can be considered good, he wasn't exactly a total outcast. But now that he knew exactly who among those kids had certain secrets related to legacies and the hidden figures of this town, he was rather apprehensive about communicating with them.

"Hey, come!" Isa emphatically moved his hand at him again. Rowan forced a disinterested smile on his face and looked away, keeping still and silent like a statue. In fact, his legs had long gone soft when he discovered the amount of danger he was in around these people.