Chapter 24: Already Level 19

The eighth day slowed down again.

And for good reason.

[Monster Detected: Bloodfang Direwolf, Elite]

[Level: 15]

It was alone.

Leon had long since learned that something being alone was often more dangerous than facing it as part of a pack.

The Direwolf threw its head back and howled.

The sound struck Leon like a physical wall of pressure.

Ding!

[Hostile Effect Resisted!]

[Monarch’s Will has nullified an attempt at alpha-level intimidation.]

Leon didn’t move.

The Direwolf lunged the moment the howl ended, its jaws snapping shut on empty air where Leon had been standing a heartbeat earlier.

Slash!

Bloodfang Edge opened a long gash along its flank.

Poison and decay took hold almost immediately.

The Direwolf didn’t slow down. If anything, it became even more aggressive, blood and something darker than blood leaking from the wound as it circled for another opening.

Crack! Crack!

Two bolts fired from the Stormcaller’s Conduit struck its body with faint flashes of residual lightning.

The staff’s passive effect had finally appeared.

The Direwolf convulsed mid-stride, stunned for just long enough.

Leon closed the distance.

Slash!

The beast went down hard.

Ding!

[You have killed "Bloodfang Direwolf (Level 15, Elite)" and gained 310 experience points.]

Ding!

[Lucky Fate has activated!]

[Rare Drop Probability significantly increased.]

[Bloodfang Direwolf has dropped: 4,500 Eternal Coins, 1 Pendant of the Undying Ember (Artifact), 1 Direwolf Fang.]

[Talent Devourer: Residual Talent Energy Detected: "Alpha’s Roar" (Fragments Available: 8)]

Leon examined the pendant first.

[Pendant of the Undying Ember]

[Description: A small, ember-red stone set in blackened silver, said to carry a fragment of an extinguished fire spirit’s final will. While worn, the bearer’s HP regeneration is permanently increased, and once per day, the pendant may fully restore the wearer from the brink of death, consuming itself partially in the process before slowly regenerating over the following week.]

Leon read the description twice.

An artifact that could pull him back from the brink of death, even once per day, was fate changing!

He quietly slipped the chain over his neck.

Then he turned his attention to the eight fragments of "Alpha’s Roar."

Ding!

[8 Fragments of "Alpha’s Roar" have been fused.]

[New Talent Acquired: Alpha’s Roar — Grade: C]

[Description: Release a powerful roar that exerts overwhelming pressure on nearby enemies, intimidating weaker-willed targets and disrupting their movements.]

The ninth day brought two more fights before Leon finally stopped to take stock of everything.

[Monster Detected: Thorned Basilisk (x2)]

[Level: 16]

[Innate Talent: Petrifying Gaze]

Origin Eyes warned him of the danger before the basilisks had even fully opened their eyes.

A faint warning pulse settled behind Leon’s own vision.

He kept his gaze low, tracking their movements through peripheral awareness instead, and closed the distance before either creature could turn its gaze directly toward him.

Slash! Crack!

Both went down without ever managing to use their signature ability.

Ding!

[You have killed "Thorned Basilisk (Level 16)" and gained 110 experience points.]

Ding!

[You have killed "Thorned Basilisk (Level 16)" and gained 110 experience points.]

Ding!

[Lucky Fate has activated!]

[Rare Drop Probability significantly increased.]

[Thorned Basilisks have dropped: 700 Eternal Coins, 1 Band of Deflection, 2 Basilisk Scales.]

[Band of Deflection]

[Description: A simple iron ring, unremarkable in appearance, etched with faded warding script along its inner surface. While worn, the bearer gains a small but permanent chance to entirely negate incoming ranged projectile damage, the ring flashing faintly each time it activates.]

Then

Ding!

[Talent Devourer: Residual Talent Energy Detected: "Petrifying Gaze"]

[Fragments Available: 10]

[Source: Thorned Basilisks (x2)]

[Consume Fragments?]

[Yes / No]

Ding!

[You have consumed 10 Fragments of "Petrifying Gaze".]

[Talent Fragments Stored: Petrifying Gaze x10]

[Fuse 10 Fragments to acquire New Talent: Petrifying Gaze.]

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

Ding!

[10 Fragments of "Petrifying Gaze" have been fused.]

[New Talent Acquired: Petrifying Gaze — Grade: C]

[Description: Allows the user to emit a supernatural gaze capable of gradually petrifying weaker targets who meet their eyes. Effectiveness depends on the user’s Intelligence and the target’s resistance to supernatural effects.]

The second fight came at dusk.

Pale, translucent shapes drifted between the trees, barely visible against the fading light.

[Monster Detected: Grave Wisp (x5)]

[Level: 16]

[Innate Talent: Lingering Curse]

The first wisp’s touch left a cold numbness spreading from Leon’s fingertips. It didn’t register as conventional damage on any status bar he could see, but he immediately knew something was wrong.

Ding!

[Curse Effect Detected: Vitality Regeneration reduced by 20%.]

By the third wisp, the numbness had already stopped spreading.

Ding!

[Absolute Adaptation has activated!]

[Resistance to curse-based effects increased.]

Leon cleared the rest without further incident. The Stormcaller’s Conduit made short work of the creatures, its arcing lightning proving particularly effective against enemies with no real physical form to hide behind.

Ding!

[You have killed "Grave Wisp (Level 16)" and gained 110 experience points.]

[You have killed "Grave Wisp (Level 16)" and gained 110 experience points.]

[You have killed "Grave Wisp (Level 16)" and gained 110 experience points.]

[You have killed "Grave Wisp (Level 16)" and gained 110 experience points.]

[Talent Devourer: Residual Talent Energy Detected: "Lingering Curse"]

[Fragments Available: 5]

[Source: Grave Wisps (x5)]

[Consume Fragments?]

[Yes / No]

Ding!

[You have consumed 5 Fragments of "Lingering Curse".]

[Talent Fragments Stored: Lingering Curse x5]

[Insufficient Fragments to acquire New Talent: Lingering Curse.]

[Fragments will remain stored until sufficient fragments are obtained.]

[Current Talent Fragments: Lingering Curse x5]

Leon decided to store the fragments for now.

As for Lingering Curse, he had a different plan.

Rather than fusing the fragments into one of his existing talents or skills, he intended to accumulate enough to acquire Lingering Curse as a talent of its own. That way, he could evolve it later and potentially gain access to an entirely new source of power.

Curse energy.

It was too valuable an opportunity to waste by simply adding the effect to something he already possessed.

.....

With the sun beginning to set on the ninth day, Leon finally sat down against a fallen log and opened his status panel properly for the first time in nearly a week.

The numbers had grown considerably.

[Status]

Name: Leon Wes

Role: Support

STR: 15

AGI: 20

CON: 30

INT: 50

Stat Points: 0

Level: 19 (340/18,000)

Rank: Initiate

HP: 620/620

MP: 900/900

Leon studied the attribute spread for a long moment before allowing himself a small, satisfied nod.

It wasn’t perfectly balanced, and he had never intended it to be.

Intelligence still carried the largest share by a wide margin. Nearly everything he relied on—Arcane Surge, Poison Howl, Life Mend, and True Verlimon Bird Slash—benefited directly from it. Starving his primary stat just to chase some abstract idea of balance would have been the kind of decision that looked sensible on paper and got him killed in practice.

Constitution came next.

The Ironhide Rhino and Bloodfang Direwolf had both reminded him, in their own painful ways, that Perfect Body’s recovery meant very little if a single attack was strong enough to kill him before that recovery could matter.

Agility followed closely behind, giving him enough speed to avoid attacks that didn’t care how much armor he wore.

Strength had received the least attention. Leon had invested just enough to keep his physical attacks from falling too far behind, especially since Bloodfang Edge and True Verlimon Bird Slash already carried most of his melee output through technique rather than raw physical power.

Every point had gone toward something he actually needed, rather than being spread evenly simply because the numbers looked nicer that way.

Then Leon turned his attention to the Evolution Points he’d been steadily accumulating.

[Extra: Evolution Points: 34, Talent Fragments: 5 (Lingering Curse)]

Thirty-four.

That was more than he had expected.

Leon went through his list with the same deliberate care he’d used when allocating his attributes.

Ding!

[6 Evolution Points consumed.]

[Life Mend has evolved: A → S]

[New Role Talent: Vitalis Mend (S)]

Ding!

[8 Evolution Points consumed.]

[Poison Howl has evolved: B → A]

Ding!

[6 Evolution Points consumed.]

[Arcane Surge has evolved: Silver → Gold]

[New Skill: Arcane Requiem (Lvl. 19, Gold)]

Ding!

[10 Evolution Points consumed.]

[True Verlimon Bird Slash has evolved: Gold → Platinum]

[New Skill: Verlimon’s Judgment (Lvl. 19, Platinum)]

[Skill Grade Scale: Iron → Bronze → Silver → Gold → Platinum → Diamond → Mythril → Legendary → Divine → Transcendent.]

Ten tiers in total.

Four Evolution Points remained.

He left them untouched, keeping them in reserve for whatever came next.

[Extra: Evolution Points: 4, Talent Fragments: 5 (Lingering Curse)]

Eleven levels in eight days had become sixteen levels in nine, and Leon allowed himself exactly one breath of satisfaction before pushing back to his feet. The tenth day was waiting, and he intended to make the most of it.

The tenth day started the same way the previous nine had, and he had been tracking a pull toward the southeast since morning, an instinct he couldn’t quite explain. Lucky Fate, probably, working the way it always did, quietly.

The pull led him into a valley ringed by dead trees, silent in a way the rest of the forest hadn’t been. At the center stood a cracked stone altar, its carvings shifting whenever he wasn’t looking directly at them.

Ding!

[Lucky Fate has activated!]

[An extraordinarily rare discovery has been detected.]

Origin Eyes sharpened the moment he crossed the valley’s edge, and the altar’s true shape unfolded in front of him. Not a shrine. A gate.

[Underworld Altar Detected.]

[Function: Dungeon Entrance]

[Destination: Underworld Realm]

[Recommended Level: 22-25]

Leon smiled.

"Well," he murmured. "This might be difficult, but with my ten talents and everything else I’ve managed to accumulate, I should be able to breeze through it."

A confident smile appeared on his face.

Whatever awaited him inside, Leon had no intention of backing down.

He took a single step toward the gate.

"You don’t intend on going in there," a voice said, calm and unhurried. "That will be a death sentence."

Leon froze.

The voice was female, close enough to belong to someone standing right beside him. He turned. The valley was empty.

A/N: For anyone complaining about the EXP he gained from the monsters or questioning how he was able to reach Level 19, remember that this is the result of nine days of accumulated grinding. Normally, I wouldn’t show every fight scene from those nine days in just five Chapters. I only showed the battles involving new types of monsters to keep the story moving without repeating similar scenes.