Chapter 227: Spirit Exchange
Click.
As the heavy metal doors slowly slid open to either side, the spacious and silent President’s office came fully into Zich’s view.
Compared to the last time he had been here, the office itself had changed very little. The deep-blue metallic walls were still engraved with countless silver runes designed to isolate detection and spatial fluctuations. Directly opposite the entrance stood a massive floor-to-ceiling transparent window. Looking down from here, one could overlook not only the Players Association Headquarters but also nearly half of Stoneheart City stretching into the distance.
Arthur sat behind his desk.
Several signed documents lay neatly before him, while four other figures occupied seats on either side of the office.
One wore the crimson ceremonial attire of the Human Alliance, with a badge depicting five crossed swords pinned to his chest. He was clearly the Alliance official responsible for delivering this year’s Chosen Tournament championship rewards.
To one side sat a middle-aged man in a light green suit bearing the Ancient Tree emblem of Green Group.
Beside him was a man dressed in an impeccably tailored platinum robe embroidered with faint golden sun patterns along the cuffs and collar. His attire alone was enough to identify him as a representative of the Vilhart Family.
As for the final person, Zich had seen him only the previous evening.
He was the City Lord’s Estate attendant who had delivered Evelyn’s invitation outside the Moon Lake area of Silvermoon Court.
The moment they heard the door open, all four pairs of eyes turned toward Zich simultaneously.
Unlike the curious, probing, and scrutinizing gazes outside, however, none of them had come today to question the secrets surrounding him or to extend another invitation.
Each of them was here for only one purpose.
To deliver the rewards prepared by their respective organizations for the tournament champion.
Zich stepped into the office.
The heavy metal doors silently closed behind him.
Arthur raised his head, glanced at him briefly, then pointed toward the only empty chair before the desk.
"Sit. You’ve kept everyone waiting long enough."
"My apologies. I thought I could take the reward whenever I like."
Silence briefly filled the office.
Arthur stared at him for several seconds. It was as though he had expected exactly that response all along. In the end, he simply sighed softly.
This kid...others would be excited and would have sleepless a night because of this.
Helen had indeed reminded him the previous night to collect his rewards as soon as possible, but to him, whether he came last night or this morning made absolutely no difference. The rewards would remain exactly the same.
Arthur clearly had no interest in arguing over such a trivial matter.
He opened a silver document lying on the desk before turning toward the Human Alliance official.
"Let’s begin with the standard championship rewards provided jointly by the Players Association and the Human Alliance."
The official nodded. With a wave of his hand, a silver storage box engraved with spatial runes appeared on the desk. Moments later, a translucent projection slowly unfolded before Zich.
[Chosen Tournament Champion Rewards]
500,000 Soul Stones
5 Advanced Recovery Potions
3 Advanced Mana Potions
1 Epic-grade Skill
1 Epic-grade Equipment
1 Qualification to Enter a Special Training Region
Looking at the reward list floating before him, Zich’s expression was unchanged in teb outside but in the inside was different story entirely.
Half a million Soul Stones.
Eight advanced potions.
An Epic-grade skill.
An Epic-grade equipment item.
And access to a special training region.
Any one of these rewards would be enough to drive countless young players on the First Layer into a frenzy, especially the Epic-grade skill and equipment, treasures that ordinary players could never hope to obtain through conventional means, however thanks to his perfect control of his emotion, he was ()
The Human Alliance official observed him for a moment before finally speaking.
"Most players your age would probably find it impossible to stay calmly seated after seeing a reward list like this."
Zich lifted his eyes. "Well, they are already mine Staring at them won’t make them become mine any faster. There’s no need to be excite about it."
The official blinked in surprise.
Then the stern expression on his face softened slightly.
"No wonder President Arthur said not to expect responses appropriate for your age when speaking with you."
Arthur ignored the remark. Opening the first silver container on the desk, he took out a skill scroll wrapped in silver-gray light and slowly pushed it toward Zich.
"This is the Epic-grade skill the Association selected from the Human Alliance Skill Vault based on your class and fighting style."
Zich lowered his gaze.
Rows of information quickly appeared before him.
[Spirit Exchange]
Grade: Epic
[Effect: Exchange positions with any one of your summoned creatures. Maximum Range: 1,000 meters Cooldown: 30 seconds]
The farther the distance, the greater the mana consumption.
The Human Alliance official explained from the side.
"When this skill was first catalogued, it was classified as a high-level survival skill for summoners."
"The summoner’s main body is usually the weakest part of the entire summoned army. Once an assassin or high-speed class breaks through the defensive line, the battle often ends within seconds."
"But as long as one summon has been positioned safely beforehand, Spirit Exchange allows the summoner to instantly escape danger."
"A range of one thousand meters. A thirty-second cooldown. Used properly, it makes it extremely difficult for any opponent lacking spatial lockdown abilities to kill you directly."
Zich did not immediately touch the scroll.
His gaze was fixed on the description, but countless possible applications had already surfaced within his mind.
Escaping lethal attacks was merely the most basic use.
If Iron hid near an enemy beforehand, Zich could deliberately bait an attack toward himself and exchange places with Iron at the final moment, forcing the enemy to face an elite undead commander instead.
If he later obtained flying summons, he could instantly switch places with one high above the battlefield, crossing terrain or evading large-scale attacks.
If skeletons were scattered throughout the battlefield in advance, every single one of them could become his next foothold.
Under special circumstances, he could even send a small summon into a building, cave, or sealed area before using Spirit Exchange to enter directly.
A one-thousand-meter range was not true long-distance teleportation, but it was more than enough to cover most battlefields.
More importantly his maximum summon capacity was about to reach seventy and he could fuse the collosal bone giant in his graveyard.
Once his legion truly took shape, any location occupied by one of his summons could become the place where he appeared the very next instant.
This wasn’t merely a survival skill.
What it truly changed was the positional relationship between himself and his entire summoned army.
From this moment onward, he no longer needed to remain behind every summon.
He could appear anywhere within his legion.
’This..’
For the first time, the expresonless look he had wore cracked.