Skill Forge: Broken Extra Character

"Oh crap, I gotta hide somewhere." Ray looked left and right, desperately searching for a place to cover his face.

"Who are these guys? And why is he acting weird?" Jett wondered silently, though he was grateful they had been saved. All he knew was that someone among them was the reason those two figures had appeared.

The man was clearly a mage, floating effortlessly without a weapon. The woman beside him wielded a great sword, engulfed in a yellow aura.

"A mage and a swordswoman, both at the master level? Could it be...?" Jett turned to look at Freya.

"Freya? What have they done to you?" The silver-haired man spotted Freya lying helplessly to the side before glaring at the cloaked men. "You're all going to pay for what you did to my niece!"

{Light Magic: Light Javelin}

An array of light shaped as javelins appeared, aimed directly at the men Jett and his group had been fighting, attacking them rapidly. The shots were so fast that not even Jett could see them.

While the attack continued, the mage rushed to Freya's side, using his healing and support skills to help her.

[Rose Repair B]

[Vitality Boost C]

[Heal C]

He enveloped her in a cocoon created with his [Rose Repair] skill.

"It's Sylvester the Swift Caster and Tanya the Flame Berserker! What do we do?" Gabo panicked as he recognized them.

'Sylvester and Tanya? I know those names,' Jett thought to himself, noticing Ray still acting uneasy. 'Oh, that's right, they can both see through his artifact.'

"We need to retreat, Gabo. We have her blood, so our mission here is complete," Articus informed them, showing the bottle they had used to collect Freya's blood.

"And where do you think you're going, huh? Taste the power of my blade," the swordswoman said, her voice echoing as she swung her sword effortlessly.

[Flaming Sword]

Multiple enormous lines of fire from her strikes were sent directly at the men.

"Thank you for your sacrifice," Articus said, pushing two of his allies forward, causing them to bear the full force of the attack and instantly burning them to ashes. "We shall meet again." He threw an orb on the floor, causing it to glow massively.

"Think you can escape me?" Tanya rushed to attack, but as soon as she got within five feet of them, a magic circle activated beneath her, causing a massive explosion.

{Compression Burst}

"Hehe, good thing I set a magic circle beforehand. There's no way she'll get out of that without a few bruises," Articus laughed as he and the others started to disappear.

"And who do you think I am? You need to do a lot more than that to even think about injuring me." Her voice could still be hear from inside the rising smoke.

[Boost]

"Eat this!" Tanya took a firm stance and tossed her sword at Gabo and Articus. The sword pierced through one side of Gabo's abdomen and completely sliced off Articus' left arm.

"Aaaargh!" they both screamed in pain and agony. "We'll get you for this!" Gabo yelled, trying to fight through the pain before they finally vanished.

"I missed. Tch." Tanya clicked her tongue in frustration.

'That blast, she's really strong,' Jett thought.

"That was a Recall Orb. They even had something like that, plus a five-star intermediate-level magic circle? They definitely had help from someone more powerful," Sylvester remarked as he inspected the magic circle. "Good thing you kids were here; you managed to slow them down."

"But you know this was really reckless and dangerous. What if something happened to any of you? That would be a disaster," he continued, looking pointedly at Ray. "Isn't that right, Prince Raymond?"

"Ha ha… Ah right, yes, Master," Ray laughed nervously. "Please don't tell Father."

"Look what I found hiding in the woods." Tanya showed up, holding Evelina over her shoulder.

"This little weasel managed to snipe more than half of the security before we even got here. Pretty impressive, don't you think?" Tanya remarked, smirking.

Evelina shook her body furiously in a futile attempt to free herself. "Let go of me! Let go! Asher, Ray, come help me! This crazy old hag won't let me go!"

"What did you just call me, you little brat?" Tanya snapped, furious at being called an old hag.

Sylvester sighed, not knowing what to do with Tanya. "Let her go, Tanya. I don't even know why you came along."

"Umm… because you asked me to?" Tanya replied, sounding confused.

"No, I didn't," Sylvester pointed at her, feeling annoyed. "I specifically asked you not to follow me, but you did anyway."

"I couldn't stay still when our precious students were in potential danger, now could I? And as expected, he managed to hold his own with his friends."

"Yes, speaking of which, who are you? You managed to keep up with the Divine Lords just to protect my niece," Sylvester asked, turning his attention to Jett.

"Jett Grift, sir," Jett replied.

"Grift? You're his son?" they both chorused.

"Yes, do you know him?" Jett asked, surprised by their reaction. He decided to use the opportunity to learn more about his parents.

"You really don't know anything about him?" Tanya asked.

"No, not much," Jett admitted.

"He was our captain! A very powerful—" Tanya began, but Sylvester quickly covered her mouth.

"You know, if he hasn't told you, then it probably means you're not yet fit to know about it. It wouldn't be right for us to say anything," Sylvester said, smiling at Jett. "But I must say, they really gave birth to another promising child, being able to keep up with the Divine Lords."

"You've already said that before, old man," Tanya said, breaking free from Sylvester's weak hold. "What if he's even one of them? Hey kid, when did you observe your awakening ceremony?"

'She's surprisingly smarter than I thought. Should I just say it?' Jett wondered.

"Leave the child alone, Tanya," Sylvester intervened.

'Saved.' Jett celebrated inwardly.

They were all given potions to help heal their injuries and time to rest before being taken back to the capital. During that time, Jett was able to copy a skill from each of them.

[Triple Casting A]

When activated, the user is able to cast three spells simultaneously. Greatly depends on intelligence stat.

[Duration: 1 minute]

[Cool Down: 5 minutes]

[Bypass A]

When activated, the cool down for each skill can be bypassed once, but the effectiveness of skills reduces by 30%.]

[Duration: 5 minutes]

[Cool Down: 1 hour]

*****

"Long live the king," Jerry could be seen bowing to a man seated on a magnificent throne. The king, Reynolds, was a prestigious figure, draped in regal robes of deep blue and gold. His throne, carved from the finest oak and inlaid with precious gems, exuded an aura of authority and grandeur.

The room was adorned with banners bearing the royal crest, and guards stood at attention, their armor gleaming under the grand chandeliers.

Reynolds gestured for Jerry to stand up. "Let's drop the honorifics. The fact that you requested an urgent meeting must mean something is wrong."

"You catch on quickly, Reynolds. We have a problem," Jerry began, getting straight to the point.

Tapping on his throne, feeling restless, Reynolds asked, "And what would that be? I don't think there would be anything much scarier than saying you lost that staff."

Jerry sighed. "Well, that's the problem."

"What!" Reynolds exclaimed in anger.

"It's gone, or more accurately, it was stolen," Jerry stated, keeping a straight face.

"How could you let this happen?" Reynolds shook his head in disappointment.

"I can't be sure, but whoever managed to pull this off without any suspicion must truly be skilled or, at the very least, have backing from an even more powerful individual or organization," Jerry shared his thoughts on the matter.

"What about the platform?" Reynolds asked, feeling even more anxious than before.

"I've tripled the security. Not even an ant can get past those defenses," Jerry assured him.

Reynolds breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's a relief. Since the staff has already been stolen, we have to at least prevent the worst-case scenario from happening."

"That's right," Jerry agreed.

Midway through their discussion, Reynolds paused for quite some time, his expression shifting dramatically. Jerry wondered if something was wrong.

"Telepathy, was that Sven?" Jerry inquired, noticing the king's sudden change.

"Yes," Reynolds replied, his voice tense. "A terrorist attack just occurred with the Divine Lords right in the heat of it, and the Priestess of Light was abducted."

"Then we need to hurry..." Jerry began to prepare to leave.

"It's already been taken care of. Sylvester and Tanya are on their way. I swear, those children never listen," Reynolds said, shaking his head in exasperation.

"It's been a long time since I saw those two. I wonder how they are faring now," Jerry mused, a hint of nostalgia in his voice.

*****

Sylvester took Freya back to her residence to receive medical attention, leaving Jett to be accompanied by Ray, Rosa, and Tanya.

"You really don't have to bring me all the way here," Jett said, trying to decline the offer as he saw the massive castle before him.

"Of course we do. You also risked your life to fight alongside us," Ray explained. 'I'm just low-key putting you out there so the king notices you,' he smiled inwardly.

"What about the others?" Jett inquired, feeling uncomfortable about the idea.

"Don't worry about them," Tanya replied. "His Majesty is more likely to give them a scolding than actually reward them anyway," she explained with a grin.

"Yeah, we only went back to get Rosa," Ray added.

"Hmph, I told you this was a bad idea," Rosa rudely interrupted.

"You did? I only remember you aiding our escape," Ray feigned ignorance.

The interior of the castle was breathtaking. Grand chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceilings, casting a warm glow over the marble floors. Intricately woven tapestries depicting the kingdom's history adorned the walls, and columns of white marble lined the halls, each carved with exquisite detail. The air was filled with the faint scent of lavender, adding to the regal atmosphere.

They walked straight to the throne room where Jett was in for a surprise. Standing and facing the king was none other than his father, Jerry.

"Father? What are you doing here?" Jett exclaimed in shock.

*

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Hehe

Didn't know Daddy's a big sho8 around here