The heart-wrenching screams and the sound of metal cutting continued to echo through the great hall.
Amidst the carnage stood Kael, his expression indifferent, as the crimson aura and petals continued to float in the air. The scene might have seemed beautiful to outsiders. To him, it was merely bloody efficiency.
The two-headed leather dogs were frightened; some tried to escape, but were quickly decapitated.
The scarlet aura enveloped him like a bloody veil, while the petals floated around him, slow and deadly. His face, impassive and splattered with blood, made him look like a demon risen from the bowels of hell.
Time passed quickly. After twenty minutes, not a single two-headed leather dog was left alive. Their corpses and reddish organs were scattered all over the floor, giving off a strong smell of blood and decay.
Ding!
[You have completed mission #2: "Defeat all Two-Headed Leather Dogs."]
Ding!
[Delivering reward...]
[You have received 5 stat points.]
The status windows materialized before him. He glanced at them quickly. Then he redirected his consciousness to the core.
The sea of mana shimmered with a silvery liquid, dense as mercury. The coagulated essence of mana was calm, like an ancient pond.
My mana sea was reduced by 9%. The expenditure is much less than when I use magic. Kael compared the spending of mana essence.
When he activated the spell [Breeze], his mana essence expenditure was 10% per use. Compared to using aura, it is much higher. But magic has much more attack damage than aura in the early ranks.
However, for Kael, the expenditure was not a problem.
His recovery rate was the fastest, thanks to his SSS-rank talent, which gave him a huge advantage over many S-rank talents.
After checking his core, his consciousness left the sea of mana. Kael looked at all the corpses and opened his status window.
Kael Medici
Title: Strayed Demon.
Talent: SSS.
Mana Core: Awakened.
Rank: 9
Knight Rank: 9 Stars
Magician: 1st Circle
Traits: Refinement (A), Swordsmanship (A), Melee (S), Tamer (C)...
Strength: 33 +
Endurance: 31 +
Agility: 31 +
Vitality: 80 +
Mana Capacity: 88%
Stat points: 104
Looking at his stat points, Kael decided to use some of them, but not all. He hadn't used them before, not because he didn't want to, but because his mortal body couldn't handle the upgrade. If he used all his stat points, he would only hurt himself, ending up crippled at best.
However, he already had a plan for this and would be able to use all his stat points.
After thinking about it for a moment, he pressed the '+' button several times. The stat points were reduced from 104 to 50, and the stats increased.
[+18 in Strength].
[+18 in Endurance].
[+18 in Agility].
After making the improvements, Kael pushed aside the corpses lying at his feet. Without rushing, he let himself fall to the ground, crossing his legs in the lotus position. His palms rested on his thighs.
Then it came.
At first, it was just a tingling sensation, as if thousands of fire ants were crawling across his skin beneath the epidermis.
Two seconds later, the pain exploded.
It wasn't just discomfort, but a flood of incandescent needles piercing every muscle, every tendon. His fibers contracted and twisted beneath his skin, visible even through the fabric of his clothes.
Thick, bluish veins emerged all over his body, tracing a grotesque map of suffering beneath his sweaty skin.
His bones were not far behind. They creaked and shifted, as if someone were carving them from within.
Sweat poured from his pores, cold and thick, sliding down his forehead until it mixed with dust and dried blood.
But his face... remained impassive.
Not a tremor of the lips, not a rapid blink. Just those cold eyes, fixed on an invisible horizon, while the veins in his forehead throbbed. His muscles stretched and contracted with unnatural elasticity, like rubber.
The air smelled of blood, decay, and dampness.
As the minutes passed, the veins protruding from Kael's body began to disappear, as did the pain. Shortly thereafter, the extreme pain vanished completely.
Kael remained seated in the lotus position, feeling his body fill with strength and vitality.
With sweat running down his forehead, he looked at his profile.
Kael Medici
Title: Strayed Demon.
Talent: SSS.
Mana Core: Awakened.
Rank: 9
Knight Rank: 9 Stars
Magician: 1st Circle
Traits: Refinement (A), Swordsmanship (A), Melee (S), Tamer (C)...
Strength: 51 +
Endurance: 49 +
Agility: 49 +
Vitality: 80 +
Mana Capacity: 88%
Stat points: 50
Looking at his stats, Kael knew that his body was at its limit at the moment, and if he decided to increase any of them, he would only hurt himself.
My current strength is that of someone at Rank 9 in the Upper Tier. However, this isn't enough to compete with my brothers. I need to begin refining my Mana Essence to level up quickly.
Kael closed the profile. His body had changed. He felt the power flowing, but he knew he was still a fragile vessel. Increasing his strength any further now would only mean self-destruction.
But he already had something in mind. Once he finished clearing that dungeon, he would do it.
He knew what to do: improve his exoskeleton and go for the Demon Wolf's inheritance. He got up from the ground, took his canteen, and drank a sip of water.
...
In the west of Kiran Mountain, the sky was covered with slowly drifting clouds. Between them, the sun peeked out for a moment, blindingly bright, before sinking back into the mist.
Snow fell slowly, accumulating on the bare branches of the trees and on those that still had leaves, enveloping them in a white shroud. A gust of icy wind shook the treetops, and the snow that fell danced in the air before disappearing into the ground.
In a white tent, Jasper sat on a log, basking in the warmth of the campfire. The members of his group stood before him, their expressions serious and exhausted.
They had already made a first assault on the dungeon, where two of their members were seriously injured.
Inside, they encountered traps and a group of Miner Bears, whose hides were as strong as iron.
Jasper glanced at his team members briefly. He wasn't shocked by this; he knew it would happen. The good news was that they had already made enough progress to reach the room where a Mining Bear Baron was located.
My brothers haven't made their first assault on the dungeon yet. And that bastard Kael only has one member in his group. So this reward is mine, and Father will look at me again.
Jasper had informants in his brothers' groups, except for Kael's, for obvious reasons. But he had received information from each of his brothers' groups, and every so often, he would receive a report.
At that moment, a white three-eyed raven entered the tent. It landed on Jasper's arm, and in its claw was a note.
Jasper read the note with curiosity, and a smile spread across his face.