System's POV

Chapter 205 Unwilling Pawns In A Chess Game

Tiona had a good memory, so she was able to pinpoint the exact location of the City Lord's Residence even if she was digging under the ground alongside Rocky.

The Rocky Bal-Boa was there to help protect her just in case something went south.

It was still a Rank 5 Monster known for its toughness, so escaping with Tiona was not a problem.

If the Champions really wanted to run after it, they would have to have a powerful digging ability that could outrun it in its own environment.

"Remember Tiona, no matter what happens, don't enter the Residence. Just try to find if there is anything suspicious from a safe distance. Prioritize safety above all."

That was the reminder that Thirteen told the Black Snake before she left to do her mission.

Because of this, she remained at a safe distance and merely extended her senses to get a better understanding of the layout of the residence.

Before leaving on this mission, Thirteen had given Tiona several Cores, giving her a different set of abilities.

The first one was Detection Awareness.

This allowed Tiona to instantly sense if someone had detected her presence, allowing her to escape as fast as she could.

The second one was Rarity Detection.

This was a power that could be used to detect precious gems, ores, and artifacts within a fifty-meter-radius around her.

Tiona had been in the presence of the Altar in Pavan's hidden basement, so she was now familiar with the sensation of being near the round mirror that Paven used to communicate with the Majin Prince.

The third skill that she possessed was Enhanced Awareness. This ability amplified the power of her detection abilities, further expanding their range.

Since Tiona could naturally pinpoint the location of both the living and the dead, she was able to sense the life force of the people inside the residence.

Although she didn't know who these people were, she could tell their Rank due to the brightness and intensity of the aura that surrounded their bodies.

Tiona's fourth skill was a very rare skill that she luckily gained after eating an extremely rare Rank 6 Beast Core in Paven's collection.

Originally, Thirteen had wanted to use it as an ingredient for a weapon. But, since he was unable to wield anything above the Bronze Rank, he decided to try his luck and let Tiona absorb it.

The result was an incredible skill that allowed Tiona to basically infiltrate anywhere, passing through concrete and steel walls with ease.

The skill was called Unblocked Passage, which belonged to an Ethereal Monster that could pass through walls and other physical barriers like a ghost.

Unfortunately, that Rank 6 Monster was weak against any type of elemental skill or abilities. So although it could escape easily, it was still killed in the end by a powerful warrior of the Tigerkin.

Her fifth skill was called Hyper Reflexes. Just as the name implied, Tiona's reflexes had a significant increase, allowing her to react in time and perform the necessary movements within her capabilities.

The sixth skill in her arsenal was Increased Speed, doubling her movement speed in any terrain.

Her seventh skill was called Vulture's Eye, which increased the range of her vision.

The eight skill was Voracious Flesh Eater. When activated, it gave Tiona a set of razor sharp teeth, allowing her to chew on flesh, which was something that snakes didn't do.

Just like all the snakes in the world, they only devoured their prey whole, and did not chew them like Humans and other animals.

Thirteen had stumbled upon this interesting ability, and decided to let Tiona keep it.

Since she had the Predation Ability, the seven-year-old thought that perhaps she could learn new abilities by eating a monster's flesh, instead of its core.

Due to time restriction, he was still not able to test out this skill of hers. But, even if it didn't work the way he envisioned it to be, it was still a good skill, which had many uses.

Her ninth skill was called, Harden.

This doubled the hardness of her body, which was very useful when she transformed her body into steel, making it twice as hard, granting increased protection.

If Tiona lived long enough and was able to transform her body into Adamantine, perhaps no weapon in the world would be able to cut her down so easily.

The last and final skill that Tiona possessed was Blink.

This skill allowed her to instantly teleport five meters away from her original location.

Although she couldn't use it consecutive times, she would be able to use it once every two minutes, making it a very important means of escape, if ever she needed to run, or dodge an attack aimed in her direction.

All in all, Thirteen used over a hundred and fifty cores to get Tiona's current skill set.

It was a staggering number of resources that the seven-year-

old wouldn't have freely used if not for the fact that he got them all from Paven's collection.

He still had dozens of Cores with him, but he planned to use them for his Rune Magic, so he was forced to stop after his stockpile dwindled to the double digits.

Even so, he didn't regret his decision because, for him, Tiona's safety was of the utmost importance.

Armed with these skills, Tiona confidently did her mission and surveyed the entire residence,

She made sure to stay out of the detection range of the Champions that were guarding the residence.

Since she was deep underground, the Champions weren't able to sense her because they were focusing their detection around them, and not under them.

After half an hour, Tiona found an object of interest, but it wasn't located inside the residence.

No. It was actually an underground passage, which she believed to be used as an escape route that the City Lord could use in case something unexpected happened.

This passage was long, and spanned for three hundred meters, deep inside the mountain.

Drada City was built on the base of a mountain, and the City Lord's Residence was right under it, making it an ideal hiding place to conduct things that mustn't be seen by the public.

Tiona, and Rocky followed this path until they reached its end.

Sensing that there was no no life force in the surroundings, Tiona took a gamble and poked her head out of the ground to see everything clearly.

After glancing at her surroundings for a few seconds, Tiona didn't hesitate to retreat in order to report to her Master about her findings.

Just like Thirteen had predicted, there was indeed an altar, which Gael used to communicate with the Majin Prince.

Armed with this knowledge, they would be able to investigate while the City Lord was away, and look for the other half of Arthas' medallion.

Thirteen believed that if the two parts were merged together, it would become the Beacon of Hope.

This was the key to defeating the Majin Prince, who was unaware that a little brat had appeared to mess up his plans for conquest.

But, the boy knew that having the key was not enough to overturn the situation.

He would need to set a trap for Arundel, and for that to happen, he would need the cooperation of the Barbarians and the Tigerkins.

Two races who weren't aware that they had become the unwilling pawns in a chess game between the Majin Prince, and a seven-year-old, who was once the System of Cannon Fodders.