Chapter 23: Ten Days (4)

[Monster Detected: Skitterclaw Spider (x5)]

[Level: 12]

Fast, coordinated, and nearly the size of a grown man, the spiders emerged from the darkness with their venom sacs visibly pulsing beneath translucent carapaces.

Origin Eyes caught the important detail immediately.

A faint golden outline settled over each sac.

"There."

Leon raised his staff, Stormcaller’s Conduit, and fired.

Crack!

The bolt punched directly through the nearest venom sac.

The spider convulsed as its own venom flooded backward through its system before collapsing onto the ground.

Leon repeated the trick twice more, but the remaining spiders quickly adjusted their positions, no longer giving him a clean angle.

Slash!

Sidestep!

Slash!

The final two went down beneath the Bloodfang Edge instead.

Ding!

[You have killed "Skitterclaw Spider (Level 12)" and gained 70 experience points.]

[You have killed "Skitterclaw Spider (Level 12)" and gained 70 experience points.]

[You have killed "Skitterclaw Spider (Level 12)" and gained 70 experience points.]

.....

Ding!

[Lucky Fate has activated!]

[Rare Drop Probability significantly increased.]

[Skitterclaw Spiders have dropped: 2600 Eternal Coins, 3 Venom Sacs, 1 Silkweave Cloth.]

[Talent Devourer: Residual Talent Energy Detected: "Paralytic Venom" (Fragments Available: 4)]

Not enough for a new talent.

Leon fused the four fragments into Poison Howl instead, watching with interest as the system processed the fusion.

Ding!

[4 Fragments of "Paralytic Venom" fused into Talent: Poison Howl.]

[Description Updated: Targets affected by Poison Howl now suffer a chance of brief paralysis in addition to the standard poison effect.]

The seventh day brought three fights, each one faster than the last as his growing arsenal began compounding on itself.

[Monster Detected: Emberback Salamander (x6)]

[Level: 13]

Fire licked along the creatures’ spines with every step, and the first one managed to catch Leon’s sleeve, scorching the fabric before he pulled away.

Ding!

[Fire damage inflicted.]

By the fourth kill, the burns barely registered.

Ding!

[Absolute Adaptation has activated!]

[Resistance to fire-based damage increased.]

Crack! Crack! Slash!

Ding!

[You have killed "Emberback Salamander (Level 13)" and gained 78 experience points.]

Five more notifications followed in rapid succession.

Leon barely broke stride before the next threat announced itself with a chorus of high-pitched shrieks.

[Monster Detected: Duskwing Bat (x12)]

[Level: 13]

A full swarm descended from the dim forest canopy, using sound rather than sight to navigate.

The first pass came from three different directions at once.

Leon didn’t panic. He listened. The pattern in their calls repeated every four seconds, a rhythm his mind caught almost immediately. Within moments, he had mapped out the pattern and understood how the swarm was moving.

Ding!

[Origin Eyes has activated!]

[Echolocation pattern analyzed. Predictive tracking enabled.]

After that, dodging them became almost effortless.

Leon simply moved to where they weren’t going to be.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Twelve kills took less than a minute.

Ding!

[Lucky Fate has activated!]

[Rare Drop Probability significantly increased.]

[Duskwing Bats have dropped: 150 Eternal Coins, 6 Sonic Membranes.]

The third and final fight of the day waited in a small ruined courtyard.

Three suits of animated armor stood motionless until Leon crossed some invisible boundary.

[Monster Detected: Hollow Knight (x3)]

[Level: 14]

[Type: Construct]

They moved stiffly, but every swing carried enough force to crater stone.

Leon met the first blade with his own, the decay and corrosion of his attacks already beginning to eat into the metal upon contact.

Slash! Crack!

The second knight nearly caught him with a follow-up strike, but Life Mend’s newly acquired ranged properties allowed him to heal the graze without breaking his footing.

A thin golden shimmer sealed the wound from several feet away.

Slash! Slash!

The final knight crumbled beneath a combination of Arcane Surge and a direct strike from True Verlimon Bird Slash.

The shockwave from Tremor Impact finished what the decay had already begun.

Ding!

[You have killed "Hollow Knight (Level 14)" and gained 95 experience points.]

[You have killed "Hollow Knight (Level 14)" and gained 95 experience points.]

[You have killed "Hollow Knight (Level 14)" and gained 95 experience points.]

.....

Ding!

[Lucky Fate has activated!]

[Rare Drop Probability significantly increased.]

[Hollow Knights have dropped: 9000 Eternal Coins, 2 Reinforced Armor Plating, 1 Runed Gauntlet.]

Leon walked over to the remains of the final Hollow Knight.

The three suits of armor had already begun dissolving into particles of light, leaving behind several pieces of reinforced metal and a strange gauntlet covered in glowing runes.

Leon crouched and picked up the gauntlet.

Ding!

[Talent Devourer]

[Residual Talent Energy Detected: "Stoneskin"]

[Fragments Available: 3]

[Source: Hollow Knights (x3)]

[Consume Fragments?]

[Yes / No]

Leon glanced at the notification.

Three fragments.

Ding!

[You have consumed 3 Fragments of "Stoneskin".]

[Talent Fragments Stored: Stoneskin x3]

[Fuse 3 Fragments to acquire New Talent: Stoneskin.]

[Or fuse Fragments into an existing Talent or Skill to grant it a Stoneskin Effect.]

Leon didn’t hesitate.

"Fuse them and acquire the talent."

The three fragments immediately began to glow. Pale brown energy emerged from the remains of the Hollow Knights, gathering into three tiny crystalline shards before shooting toward Leon.

The fragments sank into his body one after another.

For an instant, Leon felt his skin tighten, as a strange sensation spread throughout his entire body, as if an invisible layer of armor had formed beneath his skin.

Then the feeling disappeared.

Ding!

[3 Fragments of "Stoneskin" have been fused.]

[New Talent Acquired: Stoneskin — Grade: C]

[Description: Temporarily harden the user’s skin and underlying tissues, increasing resistance to physical damage. Effectiveness scales with the user’s Constitution.]

Leon clenched his fist.

His body looked exactly the same.

Yet he could feel the difference.

His skin felt denser. Stronger. More resilient.

Leon raised his hand and lightly tapped his forearm with his knuckle.

Thud.

The sound was slightly denser than he expected, and Leon could feel the firmness beneath his skin. It wasn’t a dramatic change, but there was an undeniable sense of increased resilience running through his body.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"So that’s Stoneskin."

Another useful talent.

Leon glanced at the dissolving remains of the Hollow Knights, his expression thoughtful.

Another monster.

Another ability.

Another permanent addition to his growing arsenal.

He opened his status panel and scanned through his steadily expanding list of abilities, before he closed it.

If this was what the beginning looked like, he couldn’t help but wonder how powerful he would become once he reached the later stages of Eternal Heaven.