Coincidence

William hurried to the academy, but when he saw the walls of the academy, he decided to walk slowly, as if he were tired.

He knew that he would certainly be questioned if there was an investigation because they could easily identify the people who were stationed in the prince's area.

He just had to look calm. If they questioned him, it would be enough for him to answer calmly. He had never thought that such an organization as Crime Scene Investigation existed in this world.

Besides, the Academy would probably prefer someone as powerful as him to an arrogant prince and his stooges.

He pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind and went to give his mission.

This time, he received the mission reward in the form of contribution points. Because he had something he wanted to test.

The Evil Pig mission was only worth ten contribution points. Of course, he then went to the Treasure Building to sell the other pigs he had killed. This time, he didn't see the stupid attendant he met last time.

Again, he was greeted by the same woman. He left, again leaving her a nice tip.

He had a satisfied smile on his face when he left the treasure building.

The total number of points was over seventy. While that might be enough for some things, he wasn't sure if he would be satisfied with his goals, as he couldn't predict.

He quickly went to the Technique Building. He wanted to replace the flame steps with a better or more useful technique.

He quickly gave his seal to the teacher, and after the examination, he went to the shelves of Fire Element techniques.

His flame steps were useful, but they were not enough for him. In total, he found eighteen techniques that were similar to Flame Steps. What these techniques had in common with Flame Steps was that they gave the user increased speed, agility, and dodge.

None of these techniques were as flashy as Flame Steps. Most of them could even be considered attack techniques. There were even some that focused on kicks.

William eliminated them as useless. After all, he had eight techniques for the fire element. In his estimation, this was not enough.

That's why he went to the Wind Element shelf, which was the best in terms of speed. There, he found two techniques that could be useful to him and completed the set. However, he saw that he was short in terms of contribution points.

When he made his final calculations, he could take up to five techniques. Moreover, they were all techniques that belonged to the Fire Element.

The techniques he found in the wind element section required fifty contribution points, which was more expensive than usual!

Two was one hundred contribution points. Even this price was enough to explain their power and value.

He returned to the teacher with the five techniques. The teacher was startled when he saw that he had taken all five movement techniques at once. But he spoke only after handing over the copies.

"What are you going to do with all those movement techniques?"

William's answer was ready. He was expecting such a question.

"I want to develop an understanding of the matter and be able to use the techniques better." He said.

The teacher found this answer appropriate and positive. He just gave him a simple warning.

"Sometimes it's not good to concentrate on more than one technique. It might slow you down, but if you know what you're doing, I have nothing to say. Just be careful."

"Thank you, teacher!" William bowed.

He liked his tough but protective attitude.

After leaving the technique building, he went straight to his room. He had to test his theory.

He calmed down and sat down on his bed.

He lined up the techniques he had taken from his dimensional bag in front of him.

He touched one technique in front of him.

[Like a Volcano (Movement Technique) x1]

He had seen this before when he selected a technique. This was the point he wanted to confirm. If he had a system that could combine, then it could also work in terms of techniques, right? He wanted to try it.

Actually, just the technique in front of him was enough for him right now. He especially liked the 'Like a Volcano' technique. He would spread the Fire Element on the soles of his feet and suddenly release it with a repulsive force. It was a technique that allowed him to dash long distances or perform sudden bursts of speed. It would make his flame steps powerful.

Then he touched on the other four techniques.

[Like a Volcano x1+ 4 (Movement Technique)/ Do you want to combine other techniques with 'Like a Volcano'? Y/N]

This notification made him happy. Could he fix the shortcomings of 'Like a Volcano' by combining other techniques?

He didn't think too much about it because he would know the answer soon.

Slowly, he placed his finger on [Yes]. Then, the same white light surrounded the parchment containing the techniques. All of them slowly combined in front of him and turned into a single parchment, but what he didn't expect was severe pain in his head as the writing inside the parchment began to appear.

He felt such pain that he could not stand the pain for a few seconds and fainted.

Sitting in bed, he should be thankful that he tried. At least he looked like someone sleeping peacefully.

It took him eight hours to wake up. When he opened his eyes, he could still feel the remnants of the pain he had experienced. He was also very tired. It looked like he had been studying math day and night.

He put his hand to his head and shouted the first thing that came to mind.

"System!"

[Combined successfully!]

After confirming this, he looked at the scroll in front of him. It was twice as large as before. He read it carefully. A look of surprise crossed his face as he approached the scroll.

The combine was successful in the direction he had predicted!

His earlier concern had been that the system would combine these techniques robotically. But his fears were unfounded. Some of the techniques he chose were related to the shortcomings of Like a Volcano. The system had successfully taken those useful parts from other techniques and combined them with Like a Volcano. At that time, Like a Volcano was close to the top in its field. The only thing missing was the power output.

That would require a lot of research. It would be best if he could find a technique to reduce the power output. However, 'Like a Volcano' would be a flawless and perfect technique. Of course, at his level.

There was a reluctance in William. He even thought that he had wasted so many contribution points.

After all, he would soon advance to the bronze level. Then these techniques wouldn't be of much use to him. As the qi stored in his body by the qi pool would grow, stronger techniques with more qi would open doors for him. At present, 'Like a Volcano' would only be considered perfect at the iron level. The best bet was that he could use it up to the mid-bronze level.

All he needed to do now was to go hunting to get more soul stones or contribution points.

He also needed to control the Metal Heart in Worm Mountains. Finally, he needed to get some barrels and some anticoagulation potion from Baldur before he was ready for the new mission.

It was because he was obsessed with this bloodline thing. It was something that could make him strong. He had to learn from Baldur which creatures had which bloodline powers. Before that, he would have to read the 'Black Forest Encyclopedia', which was not available in the library.

He would have to find the bloodline that suited him best and hunt those creatures to take their blood.

He sighed tiredly to himself.

So much to do and not enough time!

William was a bit hasty. Whenever he set his mind to a job, he would work his heart out to get it done quickly. But he couldn't rush such things. After all, this was not his old world. A small mistake could cost him his life.

First, he wanted to go to the library. Although he still had a little headache, there was no problem with his body. He got the book easily because he arrived at the library before everyone else, but he encountered a problem while reading it.

This technique combination work had exhausted all his mental strength!

Before he could read the first few pages, he felt a terrible pain in his head. He had to leave the book where it was and go out for breakfast.

There was no problem doing everyday activities or anything like that, but when he had to do something that required mental strength, he was immediately in great pain.

After a few tests, he would not be able to use the system or any technique until he recovered. He just had to live like an ordinary person. He estimated that the headache would subside in a few days as time passed.

Arriving at the dining hall, he met the trio he could call 'friends'.

He ordered a nice meal in exchange for an extra soul stone and sat next to them.

He thought it wouldn't hurt to socialize since he needed to recover for a few days.

The trio greeted him with smiles. They considered William their friend.

Merlon struck up a conversation with William, as usual, the most talkative of the group.

"William, you won't believe what we've been doing!" His face was excited as he spoke.

"What you've been doing?" William wasn't very curious, but as a good friend, he had to ask.

"We successfully completed our first hunt!"

"Ah! Congratulations! What did you hunt?"

"An evil pig! You should have seen this evil pig, it had big red eyes. Its teeth were as big as my arm. Leslie stopped him with his crossbow. With my sword, Dullan's spear, we finished it off in a few minutes!"

He was very excited as he spoke. He was exaggerating so much that it was as if the trio were superheroes who had saved the world. William did not underestimate them. Everyone started with such small hunts.

After a while, Merlon's excitement subsided and he asked.

"What did you do? Did you get a mission?"

William didn't want to answer, but he thought quickly and felt that this was an excuse that might help him.

"Yes, we got the same mission by chance. I killed an evil pig too, but it was stupid to go alone, I got hit on the head and have to rest for a few days." He said with a sigh.

He pretended to be weak. He didn't want to upset his friends.

Meanwhile, he noticed that they were leveling up as well. Looking closely, Merlon and Dullan had reached the eighth meridian, and Leslie had reached the ninth meridian. Leslie was very close to the iron level. He felt he could break through at any moment.

"Dude, you are out of luck. Would you like to join us on the next hunt? Tomorrow we will hunt evil pigs again."

William politely refused. He did not want to show them his strength but to be healed. He could help them hunt with his physical strength, but if he got into a bad situation, he wouldn't be able to prevent it.

"Unfortunately, I need to recover first. Maybe next time." He said with a slightly sad expression.

His acting was really good.

Merlon understood a little about being alone most of the time. He was a somewhat antisocial person who avoided group activities. He did not too much thinking about it.

"Anyway, I hope you'll come one day, the four of us can catch bigger prey."

Meanwhile, Leslie joined in the conversation. "Really, I want to fight an Iron Level creature before I become Iron Level!"

"Maybe we can try tomorrow," Dullan said, then added. "But let's still take the level where we can do the mission. We cannot leave it to chance."

William examined Leslie, who was a little cold when he met them.

This boy seemed used to things. Now he could laugh out loud and take his place in conversations. The old proud and arrogant princely air had faded a bit. Even though he still had the air of nobility because of his blond hair, he looked more like 'one of them' now.

When he compared the two of them with the other prince, there was a huge difference between them. If he had to be close to someone, he would definitely choose Leslie. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't choose the other one now. After all, he had killed him.

When no one spoke for a while, there was silence. Everyone just ate slowly. Again Merlon could not bear it and spoke.

"Have you heard? There will be a contest for us in a month."

"What contest?" William asked because he was interested. If there was a contest, he could definitely win. If the prize was what he wanted, he would have no problem revealing his power.

"Fresh Blood Contest. That was the name they gave it. From what I've heard, there will be a fighting contest. There will be good prizes for the top three." He said. He spoke in a very low tone as if he didn't want his voice to be heard.

"Fight? What are the prizes?" William was curious. If there was a nice prize, he would definitely be there.

"That's a secret." Merlon lowered his voice even more. Everyone was leaning over the table to listen.

"It's just a guess for now, but it's a huge thing. I don't know about the others, but the top three will have a chance to be the principal's student!"

"What?" William was excited. That's why he raised his voice.

"Shhh! Be quiet. This is just a guess! Nothing is certain!" said Merlon, afraid that the others would hear him.

William nodded in understanding. The conversation between the quartet was interrupted. Each was silent, lost in thought.

After breakfast, they all left. William went back to his room to rest. Mental healing was something he could get over by just resting, without expensive potions.

He wasn't too interested in being the principal's disciple, but this man was a huge gold-ranked warrior!

He could certainly help him with some things, guide him. If this prize was real, he certainly wouldn't hesitate to fight for it.

On the second day, he felt a little better and was able to read things, albeit slowly.

First, he went to the library to read the encyclopedia. He had to get there first and finish as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, his reading speed disappointed him. He could only read a few dozen pages at most. This book was an inch thick! He needed a few more days to recover.

During the recovery period, he made a schedule for himself. He would go to the library every morning and read as much as he could. Sometimes he tried to explore the system, but the system was just a simple program. He could not freely access its contents. Except for the notifications that came to him, he had nowhere to touch.

As far as he could remember, he tried to touch some places, but disappointment was the only thing he encountered.

The days passed slowly, quietly, until he recovered.

...