Chapter 154: A Familiar Face (1/2)
As he ventured deeper into the mountain range, Arthur crossed from the green fertile land to the ash-filled dead soil. The trees were darker, a type Arthur had never seen before. As he made his way through the forest and into the valleys of the dead, he was greeted with the same bony monsters.
”Let's test how much I have grown.” Arthur took out his dagger before deciding he would use a different weapon. From the items he got from the prince, he took out a trident that was engraved in navy blue depictions.
There was a human-spider skeleton like the one he fought the other day a distance away. Arthur used his amplification runes and inscribed the fire rune on the trident before aiming it at the skeleton.
His mana pooled into his hand before heading toward the trident, enveloping it like a capsule. He was never able to use his mana this efficiently before he got his Art. The fire rune shone brightly as ancient flames were birthed on top of the three spearheads of the trident.
Contracting his muscles, Arthur used his 210 amounts of strength to throw the trident toward the skeleton. His base stat was 150, another 40 came from the armor he wore, and the last 20 came from his amplification rune.
He stomped on the ground so hard that it gave in and he twisted his body as he launched the trident. As it left his hand, Arthur heard the sound of the air tearing apart as a whistling sound was produced. He felt the weight leave his grasp as the flaming weapon tore through the valley and found its mark.
With how big the human-spider was, Arthur couldn't miss his mark. The trident, ablaze and destructive, found its mark in the monster's lower skeleton and broke through it.
With his control over the rune, Arthur poured mana into it and a giant explosion engulfed the spider. The bones turned charcoal before breaking apart and falling to pieces.
Without needing to take out the core personally, the monster's body fell apart and the core detached itself. The undead was dead. Arthur walked over and pulled his weapon from its corpse.
”This amount of mana…” Arthur mumbled in awe. Before he broke through, he could barely win against this monster. Now, with his boost in strength and mana, it became a piece of cake.
[You have leveled up.]
The message reminded Arthur of his unused points. Right now, he had 9 stats points and 16 legacy points. Even though his main source of stats was absorbing cores and essences, it was still a welcomed bonus.
Right now, his mana was the most abundant one of the five. He also had his cores to absorb, so he was hesitant about investing more stats points in mana. In the end, he decided to throw them into his Strength stat.
He felt a warm current change his body, radiating from his soul. After a short moment, his body felt stronger by a margin.
For his legacy points, he decided to look through the legacy inheritance later. He wanted to keep hunting for now to test his new limits.
The monster he just killed was a peak-mid-tier monster. Meaning it was as strong as adult Kira that had helped him during the trial. Kira was currently a middle-mid-tier monster after its last evolution, so it wouldn't be far before it was as strong as its future self.
'What would happen when it evolves to peak-mid-tier?' Arthur wondered as he studied the trident. It has broken apart because of his mana and fire destroying it. He was too strong to use normal weapons now. 'Would something happen to Kira at that time?' He wondered.
Arthur took out his dagger, the only weapon capable of hosting his mana and strength. His mana was stronger than normal mana because it was the physical form of the energy, no agents used to create it but the laws of existence. Luckily, the golden dagger Solomon has gifted him was sufficient.
[Your mana has increased by 1.]
[Your mana has increased by 1.]
He picked up the core, absorbed it, and moved on. He walked deeper into the valleys, avoiding dark forests and ominous caves. After a while, he found a platoon of undead just like before.
Arthur's hand trembled faintly. It wasn't because he was afraid, but because he was excited. As he saw the undead soldiers surrounding an undead knight like the one that he fought before, he couldn't hold himself back.
Arthur gripped his dagger tighter as he walked closer toward the platoon. The undead knight sensed his existence and looked at him from underneath its helm, two sinister red flames inside.
”Turn to ashes, undead.” Arthur raised his left hand as flames surrounded it. ”It's your misfortune that you'll die today.” He waved his hand and it cut through the air with an arch of flames.