Chapter 32: Ranking up to E-Rank
With the skill stealer having died the system gave me a couple of new notifications so I decided to look at all of the notifications that I had been getting throughout the fight.
'Sword Mastery leveled twice reaching level 6, Body enhancement leveled once reaching level 4'
While looking through the system notifications I notice an alert that caused me to be alarmed. The notification surprised me since it only came after I had stopped time.
[Warning!!! An unknown object has been absorbed in the host's body and is affecting the hosts' personality taking emergency action....]
I didn't receive another notification about the unknown object so I guess that even the system is having trouble with the unknown object. It may affect me in the future but for now, I don't feel any different in particular.
[Quest "Greed that Taints the Soul" has been completed]
[Rewards received: +1 Level, Random Cheat Skill Ticket x1]
[You have reached level 16]
I hadn't really used any magic throughout the fight so none of the elemental magic that I have increased in level. Right now I plan to focus on increasing the skill level of sword mastery since I'm going to end up fighting the enemy up close and using magic in short-range could lead to me doing damage to the both of us.
'System, use the Random Cheat Skill Ticket'
[Using Random Cheat Skill Ticket... Done]
[You have gained the cheat skill "Skill Steal"]
'And I'm immediately struck with the same ability as the skill stealer huh.' While the system had given me the ability to steal skills from others I had no intention to use it as freely as this guy did, he had let his greed for power take over his reason and he started hunting people down. Hopefully, the skills go back to their rightful owners.
Since everything was dealt with and I even got a new cheat out of it I was in a happy mood as the three of us clear up the body. We couldn't find his head so the guild master took his body for evidence. As we were wrapping up the cleaning the guild master and Finn started talking about rank ups.
"With this, I can confirm that you are strong enough to be able to rank up from F to E-Rank. I'll tell the staff once we head back." The Guild Master said while thinking about the situation.
"So this was a test sir?" With how Finn sounded surprised about the guild master's decision it seems like this was entirely
"Yes, I wanted to see how capable Bell was so I didn't tell the other adventurers how to defeat the skill stealer. I honestly think that he could be a D-Rank adventurer right now but if he jumps ranks I would have to send in a report, and that would bring in unwanted attention." The guild master explained his reasoning. It seems that he thinks that I could be a D-Ranked adventurer right now.
"That's fine, I'd rather get stronger than quickly increase my adventurer rank, ranks don't tell you the exact strength of the person either." Since increasing my adventurer rank too fast would bring in some unwanted attention from the higher-ups I'll just increase it at a normal pace. While that may affect my plans for the future I'm sure it will only slow me down a little since I have cheats to increase my survival rate. The Time Stop cheat itself increased my survival rate incredibly since I can just stop time and run away.
With my rank up guaranteed by the guild master himself, we finished up cleaning the surroundings and got ready to head back. As we were heading back another unknown voice came from a tree nearby.
"You kill a dog and you don't want to speak to its owner? Quite rude of you no?" The unknown person said in a calm voice. The way that he said it was as if he was just looking for a way to trouble us and not really looking for revenge against whoever killed his "dog".
With the introduction of a new party that claims that we killed his dog the three of us turn to look at the source of the voice.
"Demon." Seeing the source of the voice the guild master called the Demon what it was. A Demon was behind this who charade and was probably controlling the skill stealer from behind. This Demon was most likely what the skill stealer had been worried about when I had touched the Orb.
"You two humans could fuck off, I only want to kill the silver-haired monster." The Demon said while looking at me with hate in his eyes.
'You would think I killed his brother with the amount of hatred in his eyes. I've never met this Demon in my life.'
"You think that I would comply with that request?" Surprisingly the Guild Master had gotten angry with how the Demon had talked to him. So angry in fact that the Guild Master had made a move himself.
With the Demon acting haughty towards us humans and basically treating the others like they weren't worth their time he had failed to see the incoming attack from the guild master.
"I've struck fear in Demons far stronger than you and you want to act like you're superior to me. Try again in your next life." The only thing that I had noticed was that the guild master had moved from his spot at an incredible speed and then I heard him talk. I didn't even notice that the Demon's head was already in his hands with a haughty expression with anger still in his eyes. he hadn't even had time to comprehend the situation before his head was off his body.
The Demon's body fell onto the floor headless with blood spurting out everywhere. The guild master threw his head back onto the body while lighting the body on fire, after letting the body burn he had burned all of the blood so no one could trace the Demon.
The way back to the capital of light had been quiet and once we entered the guild we had reported that the skill stealer had been slain. The guild master also had the staff increase my rank so I had to turn in my guild card to get a new card. The new guild card was plated with bronze on the edges and had a large E ranking on the card with all of my information as well.
"Now that you're an E-rank you can enter the dungeon 'Goblin's Rage' it's a Dungeon filled with goblins. Let's head there together some time." While talking to Finn the guild master had gone back to his office so Finn was telling me about the Dungeon that I had gained access to. He had told me about the way to the Dungeon, as well as what kind of monsters were inside.
"Sure, we can head over there tomorrow if you aren't busy. After what had happened today I'm kind of tired so I'm going to go to sleep."
"No problem, I'll come to get you tomorrow at 8 am."
With the promise for raiding a new Dungeon, tomorrow Finn and I had split ways and I went back to the inn to get some sleep.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
ByDevon
ByDevon This chapter Bell had gained a cheat skill that could lead to some trouble if others found that he has it. Just like the previous skill stealer, he could be hunted down if he used it to steal skills from others. As such he will only use it in certain circumstances like from monsters or bandits.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone