Chapter 71 | Treasure Chest Items, B-Rank Core

[Shadow Robe]

[Tier: 1]

[Rank: A]

[Description: A flowing robe woven from shadow-infused silk, granting the wearer increased magical potency and agility. +15 Spirit. +7 Agility.]

Alicar’s eyes widened as he gazed at the Shadow Robe’s items, his breath catching in his throat. "That’s... amazing."

Such an item would usually be found around the 8th or 9th floor of the Trading Centre, reserved for the wealthiest and most powerful awakeners, and would cost an awakener around a million or more to buy with their hard-earned funds.

As for the second item, it was a small stone with an S mark on it, glowing faintly with a soft, pulsing light that seemed to radiate ancient power.

[Skill Stone]

[Tier: 1]

[Rank: S]

[Description: A rare and valuable stone infused with concentrated energy. When used, it can increase the level of a single skill by two levels.]

"Holy shit!" Alicar let out, his shock growing even more than before, his hands trembling slightly as he held the stone.

Not only was this an S-Rank item, which were only found in the Tenth Floor of the Trading Centre and worth a fortune beyond imagination, but it was insanely useful for any awakener fortunate enough to acquire one.

Any awakener who acquired such an item would grow tremendously stronger overnight, their power increasing in ways that would normally take months of grinding.

Even a single level from a skill could drastically change what they could and couldn’t defeat, turning the tide of battle in their favor.

If anyone was in his situation, they would immediately try to level up their skill, or perhaps wait to gain one more level and then use it to maximize the benefit.

But for Alicar... there was no such need, his unique situation giving him options that others couldn’t even imagine.

Or more precisely, he would use it, but not now, preferring to save it for when it would have the greatest impact.

After all, the Evolution Point cost of his skills was really affordable right now, but once a skill reached level 8, it would take weeks to level it up naturally through grinding, or perhaps months if it was a legendary skill, as going from level 9 to level 10 would cost 1,024 evolution points, which was a staggering amount.

But fortunately, with this item, he could skip from level 8 straight to 10, saving him 1,540 EP in the process, a massive shortcut that would accelerate his growth tremendously.

He decided to equip the Shadow Robe immediately, feeling the fabric settle against his skin, and store the Skill Stone for later as he knew he would need it at the perfect moment.

Then without even a waiting period, a panel appeared before Alicar, its letters glowing with an ethereal light.

[Good job, Soulless One, you have gained the right to access the "Upper Stage" alongside the others like you.]

"What?" Alicar’s brow furrowed with confusion.

Before Alicar could finish his sentence, his vision narrowed, and he appeared right outside of the cave, with the entrance now completely sealed, the stone seamless and unbroken.

The cave was now just a wall into the cliff, and if anyone passed by, they would have never even thought that there was a cave in this location before, the entrance erased from existence.

’...Alright,’ Alicar thought, shaking off his confusion.

Once he was out, Alicar was able to pull out all the monster corpses and started to use his Stalker’s Knife to grab the cores, the blade slicing through their flesh with practiced ease.

He took four C-Rank cores from the Dark Hounds and a B-Rank one from the Shadow Wraith, yet another powerful core that hummed with energy.

’As I thought, the monsters at level 20 and above likely give better cores!’ Alicar thought with a grin, his excitement growing. ’Good to know, it benefits me more than anybody else.’

He consumed each of the C-Rank cores, feeling their energy surge through him, granting him 4 Evolution Points, then he stared at the B-Rank one, his curiosity piqued.

’One C-Rank core is one EP, so what does a B-Rank one give?’ he wondered, his mind racing with possibilities.

He didn’t wait around too long to figure it out as he absorbed the B-Rank into his body, feeling the power pulse inside him until a notification appeared.

Ding!

[+3 Evolution Points.]

"Ohoh!" Alicar grinned, his eyes lighting up with satisfaction. "So that means a B-Rank core gives me 3 EP per use, I just have to find out what an A-Rank and S-Rank one does now."

Not only had he gained amazing items and two levels, but Alicar also gained 7 EP from the cave, making his trip incredibly worthwhile.

[Evolution Points: 10]

"Good, time to evolve another skill," he mumbled, his mind already made up. "Though I already know which one this time."

In the cave, the one thing that almost killed Alicar was the fact his mana ran out, forcing him to go into Mana Exhaustion, a dangerous state that could leave a mage unable to cast spells for days.

So the way to fix this issue was obviously... to increase his mana capacity, as well as his control over his spells to make each cast more efficient.

And the way to do that was obviously to evolve his Six-Elements Affinity.

[Skill: Six-Elements Affinity]

[Rank: Epic]

[Level: 3 (+)]

[Evolve for 8 Evolution Points?]

"Yes!" Alicar confirmed without hesitation.

Ding!

[Level 3 → 4]

And with that, he checked the skill’s panel once more, eager to see the improvements.

---

[Skill: Six-Elements Affinity]

[Rank: Epic]

[Level: 4 (+)]

[Description: Grants an affinity to the six elements. Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Ice, Lightning. +30% Mana. +40% Elemental Control.]

[Insufficient Evolution Points. Cost: 16]

---

"Perfect," Alicar whispered.

He felt his mana reserves expand, allowing him to recover from his Mana Exhaustion state, as well as being able to wield his power with much greater precision and efficiency.

After that, Alicar stored the corpses into his spatial ring once more to sell for later and continued deeper into the forest, his confidence renewed.

After around half an hour inside of the Level 20 area of the First Layer, he encountered another enemy that made him stop in his tracks.

[Ironbark Lv.22]

[Rank: Epic]