A Story of Evil

Chapter 184: Solomon's Wisdom

As soon as Sol's team returned, they got what they expected. There was a welcoming celebration for them. With banners and confetti and a live band being all part of the joy and festivities. Crowds gathered and cheered for them, making the event brim with even more life.

However, the awarding itself wasn't done on the same day. There were various obvious reasons for this. The first was because, they needed to be properly dressed for the event. Their clothes were basically torn, messy, has burns and holes as well. This wasn't a proper uniform for someone who's going to be awarded, plus their overall look was still a big mess.

That's why King Jubilee ordered them to have a whole day of rest first. But, the team wasn't allowed to go back to their respective domains yet. They stayed within Pentagon which Sol found to be a bit odd but, nevertheless followed. It wasn't like he could do anything against the king's orders. Nor was there any valid and logical reason for doing so.

Hence the group did as they were ordered. Staying within this place s they waited for the day to pass. That is, except for Solomon who met with the king within Pandora's Box.

"Forgive me for taking up your time again my liege." Sol began; half kneeling in front of Jubilee.

"Don't sweat it." The king said, tapping the paladin's shoulder who finally rose.

"If it's you I've got plenty of time plus, I know you'd be saying something interesting again." The king added.

"How are you so sure of that my liege?"

"Come on now Sol. When have you ever come to me of your own accord without actually saying something of interest?" Jubilee said in reply, recalling that every time Sol approached him, the boy brought nothing but surprise after surprise. Both because of the boy's natural deductive ability and, the SEED he gained which fortified this even more.

"Anyway, putting me inside Pandora's Box...did you learn some new move or something?"

"No my liege. But I'm close to."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"I want to ask if it's possible to limit the range of my garvity and space spells."

"Limit it?"

"Yes, I'll increase the gravity on the knees. On the joints on the elbows. I'll place a dagger through space and make it blink. All of those things. I want to ask if its possible."

At this the king began laughing his heart out. It was close to the laughter he let out during the titan selection. When he was genuinely entertained by the appearance of Solomon.

"Ohh kid, I knew you'd entertain me again." The king said, with his voice full of glee.

"So it's possible?"

"It is. But, it would be easier if I demonstrate it to you." This time it was Solomon who was surprised as, the king snapped his fingers. Changing Pandora's Box and turning it to a battlefield. With one large monster in front of them. A basilisk at that. Twice the size of the one which Sol encountered during the Culling.

"Sol, although you have claimed your powers for basically, over a year now. You have yet to even scratch the surface of it." The king began, taking off his overcoat and his vest. Leaving only his black long sleeved button down as his top. He then tied his hair up in order to get a better view of the monster which, began charging at them.

Just before the monster hit, the king outstretched his hand and, weighed the creature down using gravity. The monster then breathed fire but King Jubilee deflected this through the use of space. He then raised the same hand holding the monster down. Flinging it away as he placed the back of his hands together, in a position as if he was forcing a door open. The veins on his hands came out from the force he was exerting and, with one push he made a ripping motion. With the monster in the sky following this command as it was torn in half.

As always, Solomon was impressed with King Jubilee's command of the skill. However, he knew that this was far from the point which King Jubilee wanted to make. And he was right because the king faced him once again right after he finished dealing with the monster.

"Increasing gravity to press down your enemy. Decreasing gravity to make yourself or your opponent float. Creating invisible structures by stacking up space. Those are just the basics of your ultimate skill and, what you have yet to understand is the combination of your abilities." The king then snapped his fingers again, creating another flame basilisk. This time however, the monster didn't charge. It stayed in place as the king snapped his fingers again.

This changed the whole battlefield into the same view he and the king gains when using [Spatial Awareness]. A three dimensional view with blue tiles separated by white grids.

"This is the basics of [Spatial Awareness]. As you can see, there's nothing much to this skill. But if you level it up and, activate it along with [Analysis] plus, [Reverse Analysis], this is what you'd gain." The king snapped his fingers again.

The view they shared changed once again. Sol saw data on top of every body part of the basilisk. He saw red spots and indicators on some areas. He also saw some black dots floating around it and, down below the monster. There were also runes floating around the monster, all being slightly away from one another.

"I've reached the point where I can see all of this at once when using my skills at the same time. Remember, your skills are meant to complement one another. And if they are so, then one skill should work for the benefit of another or, they could all benefit your ultimate skill."

The king then began explaining the roles of everything which Sol was seeing. The information tabs showed only the most crucial intel on the body parts which are useful during the fight. An example is the description of when the basilisk releases a bit of steam from the gap between its scales or not. This allows someone to know when the fire breath of the monster would be released as, the release of steam is connected to its body heating up entailing that it would use the said attack.

The king then said that the red areas were the weak spots of the monster. Meanwhile, the black ones around it were current blind spots. All this information got Sol amazed. Making him want to continue training right away.

"So all this time you were capable of using your powers on close quarters combat my liege?"

"Well. Not necessarily."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said, I'm the first person to ever get this skill. That means there was nobody to guide me on the ropes. And I'm not as much of a genius like you Sol. That's why it was a bit more difficult for me to make my skills advance. And so, I was never able to master micro casting."

There was a large difference between the wide range casting of their ultimate skill and, the target specific one. Even without the king telling him this, Sol could feel it. That the latter required more focus and precision and, if mastered along with the former type of use, then he would be invincible.

"I see. Then, I would be able to learn it then." Sol said, making the king laugh once again.

"Of course you would. You have all the time to do so and, you even have Pandora's Box to train in. Your progress would be much faster than mine no doubt." King Jubilee said in reply.

"Thank you for showing this to me my liege."

"Don't sweat it Sol. You are one of my two paladins after all. And I need to make sure that the title wouldn't sully the first who got it." King Jubilee said in reply, tapping the shoulder of the boy as he finally disabled the simulation offered by Pandora's Box.

"Now, is there anything else you'd like to say?" The king added.

There was actually something else that Sol wanted to say. He wanted to tell the king about the discovery made by the team. But, for some reason he was hesitating to do so. It was as if his voice was being pushed back. As if there wasn't even enough air for him to say anything. But, with one final effort, Sol was able to say:

"Nothing comes to mind my liege."

"I see."

This is the biggest secret the boy has kept from the king thus far. He also told his allies to never mention about the same thing. Not until he reported it directly something he refrained from doing so at the moment.

It wasn't like Sol wasn't planning on telling the king. He did. But this is only after he got some answers of his own. One which would give him a clue on where those items came from and, one which would give him clarity on whether there were more humans outside the domains or not.

But he pushed this thought aside because, the king held both of Sol's shoulders. He thought that he got caught but, the king's words were actually different from what he expected.

"Well, I'll be heading out then. I'm sure you've already gotten an idea of what you need to do anyway." King Jubilee added. Finally ending the conversation as the king walked out of the box and as his back was turned, Sol whispered:

"Forgive me my liege."