Chapter 119: Valia and her Strengthening

It was quite late at night when Zaid returned to the hotel.

After spending several hours exploring the city with Erick and John, he finally decided to head back. The other two stayed a little longer, but that was because Zaid had something important to do.

The city was much bigger than it seemed at first glance.

They had found several shops related to dungeons and beasts. Places where hunters could sell materials, weapon shops, stores specializing in potions, and even establishments that bought beast cores.

Beast cores!

It’s extremely difficult to find anything like that among Rank D or lower beasts. The chances increase as the rank goes up, but in Ranks F, E, and D, it’s highly unlikely to find one.

Take Zaid, for example, who has killed many beasts and still hasn’t found a single one.

This city was built around the dungeons inside the Dungeon of the Lost Fragments, which is why it served as the center of human trade within this dangerous dungeon.

Zaid sat down on the bed.

"Valia."

When she heard him speak and realized he wasn’t asking her anything mentally, Valia materialized in front of him.

Her tail twitched, and she asked, "What?"

"We need to talk."

"About what?" She wagged her tail.

"Your growth. I don’t know anything about it."

"My growth?"

"That’s what I said."

She narrowed her eyes. "And now you’re worried about it?"

Zaid smiled sheepishly. "I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but..."

"Don’t lie," Valia grumbled.

Zaid remained silent.

"I knew it." She laughed, though she didn’t take it seriously.

"I grow by eating beasts, Zaid. Well, if I could get a Beast Core, I’d grow twice as much. But eating beasts is the best option."

"Eating beasts? Devouring them physically?"

"Pretty much."

"I see... Are there any limitations? I think I can get you plenty of beasts."

"Of course there are limitations. You can’t kill them—I have to kill them myself. You also have to avoid absorbing their ME, because that will slow my growth."

"I see," Zaid frowned.

Now he understood why she hadn’t grown at all... He literally hadn’t let her grow.

He looked at his stats. Thanks to leveling up, he gained +10 Stat Points in each of his attributes, making him very powerful even within Rank D.

However, what worried him was something else.

[Level 11: 20/600 PE]

"I need 600 PE to level up just once in Rank F," he said. "We’ll have to make some sacrifices," he sighed.

Fortunately, he no longer had just one Rank C talent, but two of them and one Rank B talent. Before, he would have needed to kill 60 beasts to level up; now, he only needed 15. He now understood why Soul Talents could be worth as much as national treasures—or even more.

He could afford to sacrifice beasts just to level up Valia.

It was part of his experiments in this first attempt within the loop. If he couldn’t maintain the strength he’d gained, perhaps Valia could at least maintain it.

"From now on, I’ll leave certain beasts to you. I can control how much PE and ME I consume, so don’t worry—feel free to kill them or let me kill them; nothing will happen."

"You can do that? You should have done it sooner!"

"I had no idea you leveled up like that."

"You never asked me."

"You could have told me, couldn’t you? Just like I don’t know anything about your power... Which, by the way, I think I can do something with now."

Valia jumped toward him and stood on his legs. "Have you started to understand my power?"

"Not really understand," Zaid replied. "It’s just a hunch I’ve had ever since I reached Rank E."

"What is it?"

Zaid looked at his right hand and focused on it. He thought about that feeling that had recently emerged within him and began trying to channel it.

For a moment, a small flame formed in his palm, but it disappeared shortly afterward.

Valia was surprised.

But Zaid tried again... And this time it went better, though it went out once more.

"Right. I think as I level up in Rank E, I’ll start to get the hang of it. Although you could just teach me to save me some time."

Valia stared intently at Zaid’s palm. She was impressed that he’d been able to figure it out in such a short time.

"Maybe..." she murmured, though she didn’t finish her sentence. Still, her expression was strange.

Her eyes sparkled as she looked at him. "I’ll show you soon, when you have time!"

"Great!"

They were both excited.

Although Zaid was more excited to find out how many levels he could level up.

Tomorrow would be the day he’d experience what the world was like from an A-Rank’s perspective.

He’d go out. He’d hunt. He’d kill. He’d level up...

Nothing could go wrong.

He understood why high-level hunters were so excited about going into dungeons—so much so that they did it several times a week and many times a month.

"What percentage of beasts will you give me?" Valia asked.

"I don’t know. It depends on how many beasts are in that area."

"Remember that I don’t level up in the same way you do—I rise in Rank."

"I remember. You’re currently at Silver Rank, right?"

"Yes. In the Intermediate Stage," Valia noticed that Zaid didn’t understand the concept of stages, so she explained it to him. "Each rank on our scale is divided into four stages: Initial Stage, Intermediate Stage, Advanced Stage, and Prime Stage. Moving up between stages isn’t difficult, but moving up a rank requires a lot of resources."

"I get it," Zaid nodded in understanding. "That sounds tough."

"Well, we have another option,"

"What is it?"

"By having a master of the opposite sex, we can grow by improving our relationship. If you grow, I’ll grow with you. It’s the most perfect form of human-spirit evolution."

Zaid blinked a couple of times, trying to understand what she meant... It didn’t take him long to notice, because she was looking away too much.

He didn’t know what to say.

He laughed, though it was a bit forced. "I’ll do my best," he said.

Valia glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Coward," she muttered.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Nothing."

Valia disappeared from in front of him. "Remember your promise. You’ll let me grow!"

Shortly afterward, Erick and John returned to the hotel. They went to bed shortly after going over the plan for the next day.