A Background Character’s Path to Power

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SCENARIO: "THE PRINCESS'S SHADOWED FOES"

"Fifteen blades came for royal blood. Fifteen blades fell before they could strike."

STATUS: COMPLETED

OBJECTIVES:

✓ Neutralize all assassins without casualties (15/15)

✓ Identify their motives

REWARDS:

- 100 Scenario Points

- 1.000.000 Aura Coins

- [Sleeproot Extract] (x10)

- [Shadowbane Cuffs] – "Forged from the same darkness that bound them." (Prevents cursed targets from self-destructing.)

- [Silent Veil Upgrade]

NOTES:

"The true mastermind remains veiled... for now."

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Oh!

The rewards were better than I expected them to be.

The most useful ones were the skill upgrade, cuffs, and, of course, the SP.

Let's see what the other one offers.

I glanced at the other scenario completion window.

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SCENARIO: "THE WEIGHT OF JUDGMENT"

STATUS: COMPLETED (HIDDEN)

"To peer into hearts and render judgment based on what lies within—a burden that shapes both judge and judged."

▸ HIDDEN OBJECTIVE COMPLETED:

✓ Soul Reader - Assess the true nature of 15+ individuals, separating the desperate from the malicious

▸ REWARDS:

- 50 Scenario Points

- Skill Evolution: [Observant Eye] → [Discerning Gaze]

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Oh, a skill evolution again, and it's the Observant Eye this time.

With anticipation, I opened the evolved skill window.

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[Discerning Gaze] - Passive/Active (Lv. 1)

"The ability to see past facades and glimpse what truly motivates others."

Passive Effects:

- Enhanced Observation: All previous Observant Eye abilities improved by 50%

- Perfect Night Vision: Complete clarity in total darkness up to 100 meters

- Telescopic Sight: Can focus vision to clearly see scenes up to 2 kilometers away

Active Effects:

- Lie Detection (5 times per day): 80% chance to detect if the target's current words are lies or the truth

- Basic Status Reveal: View target's basic information - (Name, Age, Race, Path, General Health Status, Resonance Tier)

- Focus time: 3 seconds for either ability

- Cooldown: 3 minutes between lie detection uses, no cooldown for status reveal

Limitations:

- Telescopic focus causes temporary tunnel vision (5 seconds)

- Active abilities don't work on those significantly stronger than you

- Overuse of lie detection causes eye strain and mild headaches

- Cannot detect self-deception or beliefs the person genuinely holds as true

- Status reveal may show "???" for information beyond your understanding

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Whoa, this is what you call an evolution!

I analyzed the skill's capabilities and limitations as I walked through the middle keep, thinking about how to use them efficiently.

The perfected night vision would be invaluable for stealth missions like today, though I'd need to watch out for that tunnel vision drawback. The lie detection was a massive improvement - from barely functional to 80% accuracy. Although it only had five daily uses, it was still better than being unable to use it.

The status reveal effect was what made me happiest. Unlike the limited-use Character Insight, this seemed to have unlimited uses with just a brief cooldown.

Being able to instantly access someone's Resonance Tier and basic information would give me a tactical advantage in the future.

As for the limitations, they were pretty reasonable.

Either way, the harvest was good this time.

With a thought, I tested out how my vision changed, and it was... fantastic. It was similar to the first time I got it, but a little bit better. I could see the bakery far in the distance with better clarity.

Definitely good stuff. This is gonna be useful for my next persona.

With that in mind, I opened the infirmary's door and entered.

Since it was still early in the morning, only the two healers on duty were here. After greeting them, I headed to the second floor to continue reading while waiting for the work to start.

I only hope the baron won't make a mistake.

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[Later at night.]

"I see. Thanks for handling it then."

Lady Nisha nodded while gesturing for me to continue.

According to her words, the baron had met with her before departing and asked about the mysterious appearance of the assassins, how they'd dealt with so efficiently, and his miraculous recovery. Their conversation had gone exactly as I anticipated.

Now, the baron believed it was she who did everything. Moreover, he ended up following the advice written on those papers. He left the innocent or desperate ones in the keep and gave them service punishment, assigning the vice captain to watch over them. As for the rest, the real criminal ones, he took them with him to the capital as witnesses and evidence.

I still ended up partially contradicting my original intentions, but it was the best possible outcome under the circumstances. But I still believe I could've done it better if I had more time.

"Now then," Lady Nisha said, "let's see if yesterday's experience improved your focus."

I began forming basic shapes again, and the time passed.

I worked on five more shapes, three more basic and two slightly more complex ones. What surprised me was how much easier they came compared to the previous sessions. The shapes held their form longer, required less mental strain, and felt more natural to create.

I was definitely adapting to the exercises.

As I continued practicing, the underlying purpose of these drills became clearer. These weren't arbitrary exercises - they were the fundamental building blocks. Every advanced technique I might learn in the future - elemental swords, arrows, barriers, complex arts - would essentially be combinations or modifications of these basic geometric shapes.

Add a little bit of imagination and unconventional thinking, and you'd be a genius in the making.

"Finally starting to grasp why I make you do these tedious exercises?" Lady Nisha asked, noticing my improved performance.

"The foundation," I replied, maintaining my concentration on a slightly complex truncated cube. "Everything builds from these basics."

She smiled approvingly. "Exactly. Master the fundamentals, and the rest will become intuitive."

I nodded in understanding.

"And to keep up with this progress, I will teach you the next phase," she continued, her expression becoming more focused. "Until now, you've been learning to feel, taint, project, shape, and hold. But that's only the half of it."

She gestured, and several dark shapes materialized around her and began moving, flying, attacking, and so on.

"As you can see, the next phase is the movement. From today, you'll spend the first ten hours on perfecting your resonant shaping as usual, but the remaining time will be dedicated to resonant movement training. You need to learn to manipulate these shapes dynamically - rotating them, moving them through the air, even morphing one form to another while maintaining structural integrity."

I watched the shapes moving according to her will.

"Are you ready then?"

"...Of course."