65 Lords of the forest below the mountain (1/2)

The other thing Dorian was able to discover, or rather confirm, was the change from Mission Mode to Exploration Mode. It was said at first that this would be more real, and Dorian now understood how.

Apart from the limit the strongest being in that world would have, there was also the drop. Despite Kevin being the strongest enemy he ever faced, being a Level 4 Mage, his loot was poor.

Kevin would be able to wipe out the Dark City with enough time, and yet be it Marcus, Lucie or the Captain, they all had more loot than Kevin.

That meant the strength of the opponent will not influence the loot. Right now, Dorian could kill a god and not get anything, but he could also kill a being weaker than Level 1 and get the strongest items in the realms.

Of course, those were extreme examples just to portray the situation, Dorian didn't have any hope of it actually happening. Looking at the corpse of Kevin, Dorian couldn't help but shack his head. He had truly been lucky this time.

In normal circumstances, killing Kevin would be impossible. Even though Mages are weak against assassinations and are more suited toward group fights than individual fights like this, a Level 4 Mage was still way stronger than Dorian.

If Gurek and Erendur weren't distracting him, Dorian wouldn't have been able to approach Kevin. Kevin had thrown dozens of fireballs, and Dorian had suffered injuries from only one of them. Five or six of them would be enough to kill him.

Adding in that blink skill, it would have been impossible to kill Kevin by himself. A Level 4 Knight would be even more fearsome, because Knights train for individual fights. If it were a Knight, Dorian wouldn't have been able to kill him so easily.

Anyway, he now hoped that this ally of Kevin would have more loot. The [Gatherer] was a good equipment, Dorian liked it, but for such a strong opponent to only drop this… At least he will be able to sell the green items.

For this ally though, Dorian felt conflicted. Because he was the one sent to pick the treasure, he should be stronger than Kevin. But then, why didn't he attack Dorian?

Or was there some kind of other entrance? After all, he was alone in that room. There was no other light in the room, so how could there be someone else in that room?

Dorian was in meditation when Erendur said \”We should go capture this Master of Snakes.\” Dorian shook his head and replied \”No, we should wait for reinforcement. The enemy inside is of an unknown strength, we can't just go in.\”

Erendur sneered \”I don't need them.\” Dorian shrugged and said \”You can go if you want, but I will stay here to wait for them.\”

Erendur frowned and looked at Gurek, but the latter said \”Don't let your anger cloud your judgment, we can't go in there.\” Erendur said \”I will go, whether you come or not. We can't let him escape.\”

Gurek shook his head. Erendur grunted and got in the tunnel by himself. Dorian ignored him and used his Holy Fire Manual. At first, Dorian didn't know what use it would have. But now, he understood. This manual was actually able to strengthen his body.

But the speed at which it did so was different from people in this world. Instead of just strengthening him bit by bit, it would strengthen him every time he passes a rank. The levels would in turn enhance the amount of Life Essence he had.

Basically, going from Level 1 to Level 10 will enhance the quantity of Life Essence, as well as his control over it, while Level 10 to Level 1 will enhance the quality. And enhancing its quality enhances his body.

Unfortunately, Dorian was currently at Adept Level 1, so he would only be able to enhance the quantity for a long time. There was one thing to celebrate though, this ability was categorized as a Special Ability, and he would thus not need higher ranked ability books to enhance it.