Luke opened his eyes to find a figure staring down at him.
“Good morning, my love.”
My love…?
“Morning, Charlie.”
She was sitting there inside his tent, waiting for him.
Back when she was just an armored skeleton, she used to do this all the time, standing watch while I slept. But that was during the tutorial, and she didn’t speak back then. Now that she does… it feels a little strange. Still, it’s fine. It’s not like I’m normal either. She just lacks social tact.
Charlie handed him the dinner he hadn’t eaten the night before. She stayed beside him, quietly watching as he ate, visibly pleased when he told her it was good.
“Let’s move out. We still have a few days before Sirius,” he said, already starting to take down the tent.
Angie stepped in to help. “You don’t need to do that, my lord. I’ll take care of it.”
***
Luke ran alone for a while. He was much faster than the two of them, especially when he burned stamina to fuel his sprint. Mid-run, he leapt off a cliff instead of following the long path down.
In midair, he unfurled the bat-wing cloak he’d carried since the tutorial and glided over the forest as he descended.
The trees in that forest were massive, their branches more like bridges than limbs. He dropped lower, advancing as he slid along branches and roots.
At one point, Luke spotted a massive bear in the distance. He sprinted along a branch straight toward the beast.
He hurled a throwing knife. It struck, but barely penetrated the bear’s thick hide. The simple sheath that generated those knives had been the system’s gift when he accepted the class. The knives were no longer enough for enemies this strong, or even weaker ones that naturally had armor, whether from tough hides or powerful equipment.
The bear charged him, rearing up on its hind legs and swiping repeatedly as Luke retreated. He tightened his grip on both kukris and jumped to the side. One blade slashed across the bear’s snout, drawing a pained roar. The other followed in a swift spin, cutting deep into the creature’s neck.
The bear staggered a few steps, then collapsed. After a moment, the notification appeared.
[You have slain a Brown-Furred Bear – Lvl 66]
Luke opened the bear’s chest and tore out its heart. When he struck it, he didn’t feel the softness of flesh, but something solid within. He pulled out the mana core. Only beasts above level 50 had them, and even then, not all of them. Physical cores were rare.
“This will be useful for the snake,” he muttered, storing the core in his pocket dimension.
It was for Franky. The wyvern hatchling needed a hundred to evolve.
[Familiar: Frankzaroth
Race: Ancient Wyvern
Rank: F
Familiar Skills: [Accelerated Flight (Rare)], [Fireball (Common)], [Wyvern’s Roar (Epic)]
[Evolution to Rank E]: To evolve from Rank F to Rank E, the familiar must consume Rank E Magic Beast Cores.
Rank E Cores (0/100)]
One hundred cores to reach Rank E. It would take time, but he’d get there eventually. Gripping both kukris, Luke pressed deeper into the forest, hunting anything that crossed his path. When a boar charged him, he stopped it barehanded, grabbing the creature and activating [Curse].
He could have killed it more easily by firing mana spheres, but he wanted to refine the direction of his class. Just as Angie had unlocked a spear-throwing skill simply by wielding a spear, he suspected this path would shape his own abilities. The downside was that this method took longer to kill.
[You have slain a Brownhide Boar – Lvl 11]
**Your second class [Witch] has reached Level 3! (+5 Intelligence, +3 Wisdom, +1 Agility, +1 Endurance, +1 Vitality, +1 Perception, +1 Willpower, +2 Free Points)**
[You have acquired a Witch Skill]
He tapped the notification immediately.
[Cursed Weapon (Uncommon)]: The witch imbues the blade she wields with a fragment of her curse, channeling malignant energy into the weapon. Attacks made with this weapon deal additional curse damage, inflicting intense pain upon contact with the cursed blade.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said, genuinely stunned.
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He raised both kukris and activated the magic. The blades were enveloped in purple curse energy.
A perfect synergy with my assassin class. This is insane.
***
Luke looked at his system interface.
Name: Luke
Level: 57
Race: Half-Demon
Rank: E
Class: [Demonic Predator (Lvl 60)]
2nd Class: [Witch (Lvl 3)]
Profession: [Guardian Botanist of Mother Freya (Lvl 71)]
Titles: [Dark Lord]
Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Dark Demon]
Health Points (HP): 5450/5450
Mana Points (MP): 5653/(5890)
Stamina: 3003/(3220)
Soul Fragments: 305/1000
Stats:
Strength: 497
Lethality: 775
Agility: 605 (615)
Dexterity: 339
Endurance: 322
Vitality: 545
Toughness: 182
Perception: 523 (533)
Wisdom: 584 (589)
Intelligence: 346
Willpower: 619
Free Points: 175
Class Skills: [Advanced Blade Handling (Uncommon)], [Profane Knife Throwing (Uncommon)], [Twin Blade (Common)], [Basic Dark Dash (Rare)], [Basic Blood Regeneration (Rare)], [Predator’s Mark (Rare)], [Demonic Blade Dance (Rare)], [Wraith Form (Ultra-Rare)], [Force Infusion (Rare)], [Advanced Stealth (Rare)], [Assassin’s Tracking (Rare)], [Mana Infusion (Rare)], [Basic Archery (Common)], [Demonic Predator Hands (Epic)]
Second Class Skills: [Basic Magic Conjuration (Common)], [Teleportation Pentagram (Legendary)], [Curse (Common)], [Cursed Weapon (Uncommon)]
Profession Skills: [Herbology of Mother Freya (Ancient)], [Precise Extraction (Common)], [Basic Potion Crafting (Common)], [Corrupted Plant Growth (Rare)], [Plant Sensor (Uncommon)], [Botanical Bond of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Seed Conversion (Rare)], [Plant Manipulation of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Corrupted Blood of Mother Freya (Ultra-Rare)], [Thorn Mutation (Uncommon)], [Soil Analysis (Uncommon)], [Botanical Purification (Uncommon)], [Acid Blood Arrow (Epic)], [Soil Guardian I (Ancient)], [Vegetal Respiration (Common)]
Race Skills: [Identify (Common)], [Demonic Perception (Uncommon)], [Dark Blood (Uncommon)], [Advanced Meditation (Uncommon)], [Demonic Endurance (Uncommon)]
Rank Skill: [Soul Infiltration (Rank F)]
Bloodline Skill: [Servant of the Dark Lord (Unique)]
Servants: [Charlotte Vespertilio (Vampire) - Lvl 50], [Angie (Stone Angel) - Lvl 0]
Familiar: [Ancient Wyvern (Rank F)]
He still had a large pool of unassigned points. He’d intentionally left them untouched until he truly understood how each attribute functioned. Now he did. He understood how every stat played its role, even the ones tied to mana. Now that he had real experience killing with witchcraft and with his kukris at Rank E, he finally grasped how Lethality affected his weapons.
So he spread the points across the board: +10 Strength, +25 Lethality, +15 Agility, +10 Dexterity, +10 Endurance, +15 Vitality, +5 Toughness, +10 Perception, +25 Wisdom, +25 Intelligence, +25 Willpower.
Luke felt the shift ripple through his entire body. The difference was immediate. He was much stronger now.
“Taking care of those little plants was absolutely worth it.”
His profession granted him a large number of attribute points every time he leveled it up: +5 Strength, +3 Agility, +4 Vitality, +4 Intelligence, and +12 free points. Those free points were absurdly valuable.
***
Angie stood beside Luke as they deliberately allowed themselves to be surrounded by wild boars. Luke didn’t intervene. She needed real combat experience, not enemies restrained so she could finish them off safely. Boars were perfect opponents for her. Their tusks, their charges, the way they fought head-on mirrored how Angie used her spear.
She learned by watching them move. The feints. The way their legs pushed off the ground before a charge. The timing of the headbutt.
When the first boar rushed her, Angie gripped her spear tightly and didn’t take flight. She sidestepped, planted her feet, and lunged. The thrust struck the boar’s flank, and she drove forward, pushing with her whole body, dragging the creature as the spear pierced deep and tore through its hide.
[Angie has slain a Wild Boar – Lvl 9]
Another charged. This time she met it head-on, fast and precise, driving the spear straight between its eyes. The boar collapsed, spasming.
[Angie has slain a Wild Boar – Lvl 9]
She struck the third without hesitation, smashing into it with the shaft before thrusting again and again until it fell.
[Angie has slain a Wild Boar – Lvl 9]
**[Angie has reached Level 2! Stone Angel (Rank F)] (+2 bonus point to all attributes, +5 free point)**
“It’s over. I killed them all,” she said, wiping blood from her face.
“Congratulations, Angie,” Luke said, genuinely impressed.
“Thank you, my lord. I know these creatures are weak to you, but for me, this was an important step. I need to grow stronger to protect you.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Luke replied, pointing at his witch ring. “I’m still a beginner too, remember?”
Luke noticed something strange. Angie gained an enormous number of points per race level. Two points to every stat, plus five free points. A bonus that he and Charlie had only received at Rank E, yet Angie had it at Rank F.
It was ridiculous.
Angie wasn’t normal in many ways, whether it was the sheer volume of points her class granted or this race bonus.
“You didn’t recover mana or stamina when you leveled your race,” Luke observed.
“Yeah. Nothing came back,” she said. “Looks like the ‘different universe’ theory wins.”
Back when Luke was still Rank F, every race level-up had fully regenerated his body. Lost limbs, injuries, everything. It was a bonus his universe had received, but only up to level fifty. Reaching that threshold meant stepping into Rank E. The system’s way of pushing people from his world toward the first steps of divinity.
Angie didn’t have that benefit. She was from another universe.
When Luke used Identify on Angie’s race, the information was vague, yet revealing when combined with what he’d learned during the tutorial.
[Stone Angel]: A living statue shaped like an angel, a direct affront to true angels. Forged from profaned stone and the soul of an angel, the Stone Angel is both beautiful and terrifying: petrified wings, cold gaze, gray skin. It feels no mercy or compassion for anyone except the one it has sworn to serve. Where a true angel embodies light and grace, the Stone Angel carries silence and condemnation.
Attribute Bonus per Level (Rank F): +2 to all stats, +5 free points.
As they continued walking, Luke turned his attention to the two skills Angie had just gained.
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