Chapter 46 - 10X EXP (2)

Leon didn’t bother checking the loot. His Lucky Fate was passively gathering thousands of Eternal Coins and high-tier materials into his inventory, but he didn’t care about the money right now. He only cared about the timer.

For the next three hours, Leon turned the Ashen Canyons into a graveyard.

He encountered packs of Iron-Clad Minotaurs (Level 38). These massive, hulking beasts were covered in naturally occurring iron plates and wielded massive stone pillars as clubs. A single swing could shatter a boulder.

Leon didn’t dodge them. He wanted to test his Adept-tier physical limits.

When the leading Minotaur swung its pillar, Leon activated Obsidian Carapace. His skin turned to pitch-black volcanic glass, and he met the massive stone club with his bare left forearm.

BOOM!

The canyon shook. The ground beneath Leon’s boots cratered. But his arm didn’t even bend. With 50 base Constitution, augmented by the Adept promotion to 70, and the B-Rank defensive talent, he was an immovable object. The kinetic recoil instantly shattered the stone pillar in the Minotaur’s hands, the reflected damage shattering the beast’s wrists.

"My turn," Leon whispered.

He unleashed Alpha’s Roar. The concussive wave of pure intimidation blasted the Minotaurs backward, disrupting their formations. He followed it up with Gorgon’s Decree, the deathless petrification sweeping over their legs, locking the massive beasts in place.

Then, he executed them one by one, the Severance Effect of his sword turning their iron plating into useless decorations.

Ding!

[You have killed "Iron-Clad Minotaur (Level 38)" and gained 68,000 experience points. (10X Multiplier Applied)]

Level 34. Level 35. Level 36.

The levels blurred together.

Ding!

[Talent Devourer: Residual Talent Energy Detected: "Iron-Hide" (Fragments Available: 8)]

He fused the eight fragments directly into Obsidian Carapace, permanently increasing its damage mitigation scaling.

As Hour Four began, the canyon opened up into a massive, subterranean swamp bathed in an eerie red light. The Crimson Mire. The water here looked like diluted blood, and the air was so toxic it would have choked an ordinary player to death in minutes.

Leon simply breathed it in.

Ding!

[Absolute Adaptation has activated!]

[Your body is adapting to airborne hemorrhagic toxins.]

[Resistance to blood-borne poisons and respiratory toxins increased to near-immunity.]

Perfect Body purged the initial damage, and Leon strode into the mire without breaking stride.

The water began to boil.

[Monster Detected: Blood-Mire Elemental (Swarm)]

[Level: 40]

[Type: Amorphous Construct]

[Innate Talent: Liquid Anatomy, Blood Drain]

Hundreds of featureless, blood-red humanoid figures rose from the swamp. They had no internal organs, no bones to break, and no vulnerable joints for Origin Eyes to highlight. Physical weapons would just pass right through them, and they were designed to swarm a target and drain them dry.

"Perfect," Leon said calmly.

He drove the butt of Stormcaller’s Conduit into the muddy ground.

He channeled his SSS-Rank Eternal Mana. His massive mana pool, now sitting well over 2,000 points thanks to his continuous level-ups, flared like a beacon in the darkness.

"Domain of the Dead," he chanted, expanding the necrotic aura to its absolute limit, suppressing the entire swarm.

Then, he raised his left hand, pointing it directly at the center of the advancing horde.

"Arcane Requiem."

He didn’t fire a bolt. He fired a continuous, sweeping beam of localized apocalypse. The massive laser of poison, decay, and lightning swept back and forth across the mire. The decay effect treated the blood-elementals like organic matter, instantly rotting their liquid bodies into black sludge. The lightning vaporized whatever was left.

The Leeching effect flooded Leon’s body with so much stolen vitality that his skin physically glowed with excess life energy.

The slaughter lasted for twenty uninterrupted minutes. Eternal Mana ensured his reserves never dipped below fifty percent, allowing him to maintain the devastating beam of magic indefinitely.

Ding!

[Blood-Mire Elemental Swarm eliminated.]

[Total kills: 412]

The 10X multiplier applied to 412 Level 40 monsters created a system notification so massive it momentarily lagged his interface.

Ding!

[Calculating Experience...]

[You have gained 43,260,000 experience points. (10X Multiplier Applied)]

Ding!

[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 37!]

...

[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 42!]

Six levels in one go.

Leon dropped to one knee, gasping for breath, not from physical exertion, but from the sheer, overwhelming rush of the system forcibly rewriting his biological limits over and over again in rapid succession. The heat radiating from his body was intense enough to evaporate the swamp water around him.

Ding!

[Lucky Fate has activated!]

[An extraordinarily rare drop has been detected.]

[Blood-Mire Elementals have dropped: 450,000 Eternal Coins, 40 Vials of Pure Lifeblood, 1 Skill Rune: "Aegis of the Void" (Diamond-Rank).]

Leon’s head snapped up.

A Diamond-Rank Skill Rune.

Skill Runes were incredibly rare. He had found few before, like the Gold-Rank True Verlimon Bird Slash dropped by the Level 8 Stone Golem on day one. To find a Diamond-Rank rune, two entire tiers higher than Platinum, from a swarm of Level 40 monsters was absurd. Lucky Fate was practically handing him the keys to the kingdom.

He reached out, snatching the pulsing, void-black crystal from the mud.

[Skill Rune: Aegis of the Void]

[Level Requirement: 40]

[Rank: Diamond]

[Time to Comprehend: 4 Seconds]

Leon gripped the rune tightly. Four seconds. For an ordinary Adept, attempting to comprehend a Diamond-Rank skill would require weeks of isolated meditation, risking mental collapse from the sheer complexity of the magical theory.

For Leon, it was just a quick download.

His SSS-Rank Supreme Comprehension activated. The void-black crystal shattered into a fine mist of starlight, absorbing directly into his palm. His mind expanded, processing complex spatial geometry, the folding of dimensional barriers, and the absolute nullification of kinetic energy.

Ding!

[Skill Acquired: Aegis of the Void]

[Level: 42]

[Rank: Diamond]

[Description: Allows the user to tear a momentary rift in the fabric of space, creating a localized, absolute void-shield. The Aegis absorbs all incoming physical, magical, and conceptual damage, redirecting the kinetic energy into the shadow plane. Cooldown: 15 Seconds. Mana Cost: Extreme.]

An absolute defense skill.

Leon stood up, a terrifying smile spreading across his face. He had Obsidian Carapace for brawling, Band of Deflection for projectile negation, and now Aegis of the Void for when an enemy tried to drop a mountain on his head.

"Eight hours left," Leon checked his internal clock.