Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Although that bothered him a bit, Rain asked for some food made with mana. He watched the barkeeper summoning something like a stew, but he couldn't understand a single thing about the process, even though Rain was skilled enough to make his own nutrients and digest them.

"He doesn't seem strong, so this must be a skill of his family or something," Rain thought. "This is a good enough excuse to satisfy my hurt ego."

After filling his belly and confirming that there was nothing wrong with the food. Rain began to wait for the news about the arrival of the others. There were thirty thousand people in the star vessel… some of them were bound to appear in that city. Or so Rain was hoping…

"Maybe I shouldn't be so hopeful…" Rain thought. "I am unlucky in the game, unlucky in love, and I am lucky in my unluckiness… I guess Elisabetha will report this to Terra and Seara as well. The sisterhood is strong."

"I can feel their presence in this area, but they aren't close," Elisabetha said. "It seems that they are in other cities… what are you going to do?"

"You feel the same level of their presence as before?" Rain asked.

"That is right…" Elisabetha said.

"It must be because there is some sort of strong barrier keeping us separated, or the zones," Rain rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Whoever controls this prison doesn't want everyone in this zone banding together and causing trouble."

While Rain wanted to check the outside, he still had to wait for a while; there were people important to him who didn't have relics, too. His kids, his grandparents, his mother… as usual, doing nothing and just waiting for things to happen was just too annoying.

Level 55: Efficient Skill Fusion - Merges complementary skills for more potent effects, granting higher damage bonuses.

Level 60: Skill Evolution - Unlocks the potential for certain skills to evolve into more advanced versions, granting substantial parameter increases.

Level 65: Parameter Retention - Retains a portion of parameter bonuses even if skills are reset or changed.

Level 70: Skill Reset - This allows the reset of some skills and uses the experience to level up other skills.

Level 75: Enhanced Parameter Growth - Boosts the natural growth rate of parameters of paths by one percent per level.

Level 80: Skill Empowerment - Temporarily enhances all skills after a significant milestone is reached, boosting their effectiveness. For every ten levels, the skills gain a ten percent bonus in efficiency.

Since Rain was bored of his mind and he was eager to do something, his brain worked better than expected and he finally filled the empty slots of the diligence path. It finally reached the level that he was in, so that was one less thing to worry about.

Soon enough, he began to test those skills. Unfortunately, for skills to obtain the effect of skill empowerment, they had to be reset, and leveling up those skills again didn't allow Rain to gain the bonuses of level in parameters once again.

"I guess the overseer is doing his job and watching me… making sure that I won't cheat," Rain thought. "How is that asshole watching all this and doing nothing?"

That was the result of their own actions and eagerness, so maybe that was the reason why… Regardless, Rain wondered if he would watch them die or stay there until the day of their deaths.

While Rain wanted to test the other skills, one day had passed since he decided to wait, and he didn't get any news… at that point in time, Rain wondered if the barkeeper was incompetent, or if he was messing with him or if no new person had truly arrived in that city.

"Hello again," The barkeeper said when Rain showed up at the tavern. "Unfortunately, I don't have any news for you."

"Are you sure?" Rain asked. "I know those guys, and I am certain that they wouldn't fall to those challenges. Even if they were a bit slow, they wouldn't take more than two days to cross those zones."

"Yes, I am sure," The barkeeper said. "Well, you only need to pay if I obtain the information that you want, so you don't have to worry about it."

Rain had a hard time preventing his eyes from squinting after hearing that… as if he could afford not to worry. Unlike the rest of the people there, he wasn't willing to stay in the city even if one hundred years passed.

In the end, Rain decided to return to his room and plan his steps ahead… there was something in that city that it didn't feel right. Everyone was too calm and collected when they looked at him. While some people who looked like humans seemed suspicious, there were plenty of others who acted the same way, and they didn't look like him at all.

In the end, Rain used his domain and activated the Water Mirror technique as well… waiting for others to do that kind of job for him had reached a limit, and even though he didn't have an information network, he had something that he could use to make up for that. Skills and knowledge.

Rain left the tavern without letting anyone realize of his leave. At the same time, he made sure that no one suddenly looked at him by using his earth magic and sensing everyone's footsteps around.

"I want to use my skills to sense when and where anyone will arrive, but that will make it easy to track me, then…" Rain furrowed his eyebrows.

In the end, Rain jumped to the top of one of the houses in the area and then checked the surroundings. He soon found some large and tall buildings that seemed like places where people would reunite without having to be taverns or similar places… those were the bases of the so-called bands…

"Those are some good starting points to learn about things," Rain thought.