Talent Awakening! Every Legendary Summon Grants Me Assassin Attributes-Chapter 23: What Great Assets look like

After the end of the hectic confrontation, Zack had led Oliver to the makeshift fort he had built. Looking at the makeshift home Zack had constructed for himself from afar, it did not look like much.

To monsters, Oliver was sure they would simply walk past at the sight of it, thanks to it being nothing fancy, just another uneven formation among countless others.

Coming closer to the structure, Oliver noticed the makeshift rock-carved door slanted across the entrance. From afar, it almost looked like it was part of the two massive rocks that had collided together in jagged unison, making it appear as one whole, natural formation.

Seeing Zack take off the door and place it aside, Oliver couldn’t help but commend him inwardly.

’Brilliant.’ he thought, following Zack into the dark embrace of the structure.

Inside, it was a bit crowded, given that this place had not been built with any intention for comfort or for more than one person.

Thanks to the dim light from the swaying lantern, Oliver was able to immediately identify the other two.

Yuki looked drained, with dark, sunken eyes and tattered hair that clung messily to her face. Whatever horrors she had faced after appearing in the Horrid Caverns had surely left their mark on her.

While Hera Silver wore a deep frown, her expression hardened. Thanks to Yuki, she had been healed almost completely, but the dried blood stains on her clothes told enough of a story for Oliver to understand what she had gone through.

"I see you both survived," Oliver spoke, his tone low and devoid of emotion.

"I hate what you did," Hera said through gritted teeth. Then she sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "But... I owe you my life, Crow."

Oliver nodded slowly.

"Wait, what did he do?" Zack’s face paled as a strange thought formed in his head.

"Slave..." Yuki groaned, clearly trying to hold back tears.

"Wait! You have them under the same contract?" Zack’s throat went dry as Oliver gave a simple nod. ’Maybe he really wasn’t bluffing about the escaping thing... Curses... Why did I sign that contract?’

Oliver cleared his throat, calling the room to order. "As I am now, I don’t intend to stay any longer than I have to in this horrible place. I doubt any of you would also." He paused for a moment, letting his words sink into them before continuing. "Zack, you have more experience about the Caverns. Why did you not progress further than this?"

Zack let the question linger for a moment before taking a seat by the wall of his fort.

"Well... I entered the ruins with a few other Players, all of whom I hired myself.

By the time I reached this part of the Cavern, out of a dozen Level 5 Players I hired, all that remained were just two. Then we reached the next damnation, a river within the cavern, more than thirty feet wide and over a dozen feet deep."

His voice grew quieter.

"The two men jumped in first, and as I was about to follow... I hesitated. Moments later, they began to scream. Their skin slowly burned off... their flesh soon following... until they were eventually... nothing."

"A river of acid?" Hera asked, her face filled with worry.

Zack nodded at her concern.

This was certainly a big development, Oliver reminisced. In his first life, he had simply gone against numerous types of monsters and endured a few excruciating tortures to get to the Altar.

However, this time, there was an Acid River.

’Times like this, infinite regeneration would be quite useful...’ He shook his head. This was no time to dwell on things that were not here right now.

Still...

"Those other two died quickly because of their low life points," Oliver asked to confirm.

Zack blinked a few times, thinking before nodding. "It took them about one minute before their bodies were completely decomposed by the acid. Meaning, if we can make the swim through the river in, say, three minutes, we only lose three lives."

Oliver was impressed by his perception. Then he turned to face the other two.

"Can both of you spare two lives?"

Hera, without a doubt, had more than three lives. Currently, if Oliver were to take a guess, she would have around seven life points to spare—but this was only speculation.

Yuki, on the other hand, seemed to shrink further into herself, as though the entire world was pressing down on her.

"I have two lives..."

[Ding!]

[You have received a life from Your Master Crow]

She gasped, her gaze rising from the notification to Oliver’s devoid eyes. "Lord Crow... Thank you."

The shady Lord Crow lingered for a moment before turning to Zack. "Let’s head out immediately."

They heeded his command without fail. Clearly, his little act just now had a positive effect on how they perceived him.

From the way they moved now, though not bursting with energy, he could see their eyes had lightened, even if only slightly.

Oliver studied them for a moment. To them, he was beginning to look like something close to a companion, even if they tried to hide it, Oliver knew the looks of dogs slowly learning loyalty to their master... That was without a doubt.

Unfortunately—

To him, they were nothing more than adequate Assets.

Oliver turned away, summoning his status screen.

[Scale of Judgement Relic is active.]

The broken, rusted scale slowly materialized before Oliver, visible to him alone. The scale only seemed to have improved slightly from the last time he summoned it.

’Its not at full power yet.’ he sighed. If the scale was at peak performance, escaping the ruins and all of its trials would be nothing short of easy.

With that he dismissed the scale of Judgement, ’Restoring the scales should be my first priority in this life.’

He thought taking a long look at the restoration cost on his system.

[Restoration of Scale of Judgement] 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

[First condition: 300 Karma points]

Oliver’s gaze lingered on the a moment linger at the last condition, absorbing the information carefully.

[Final condition: The life of Four slaves owned by the user]

Silence followed.

Then Slowly... his eyes shifted.

Zack.

Hera.

Yuki.

Three?

His expression did not change.

But something behind his empty gaze... sharpened.

"...I see."

With that the notification vanished.