16 Chapter 16: Nocturnal (2/2)

He hurled the large ants into the pits one by one until he received another string of notifications which he ignored. He gained yet another 1200 experience and 12 burial points, which made him a few steps closer to his goal.

Once he was done viewing his new and improved status, he returned to the lake and contemplated where he should place his unallocated stat point. He had been upgrading stamina for a while now, and it was now equal to his strength.

His initial plan was mainly putting points into both agility and stamina. However, the other attributes were proving to be worth is while as well. Alas, his dream of becoming young still diluted his judgment, causing him to place a point into stamina once again.

[Stamina has been leveled up]

Immediately, an exhilarating feeling washed over his body and the impurities in his pores were rinsed away. His skin became even paler, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to disappear. Finally, he could pass as a very handsome thirty-year-old man.

A refreshing smile formed on Wilhelm's lips as he fell to the ground and closed his eyes, making himself comfortable. As a man who had slept in the toughest of conditions, he had long trained himself to be capable of sleeping wherever he pleased.

…

The next morning, sunlight leaked into the cave from the large hole in the roof. It illuminated Wilhelm's sleeping figure and caused his eyelids to flutter. The glaring light irritated his skin which provoked him to wake up prematurely.

He slowly stood up from the ground and stretched his limbs while yawning. His dirty-blonde hair which possessed streaks of black flowed behind his shoulders and swayed with his movement. The surroundings were relatively peaceful, and not a single sound could be heard.

Seeing that nothing had rudely intruded on his peaceful sleep, he decided to plan out his next day and future path. First of all, his current strength was not capable of conquering the dungeon, so he would have to procure power from within. To do this, he would need to hunt the weak monsters until he became powerful enough to reach the higher levels.

As it stood, minor stat points would not be sufficient enough. Although they increased his abilities by leaps and bounds, it was still not enough. It required a considerable amount of experience to level up, and the number of creatures in the dungeon was limited.

The only way he could see himself getting out of the dungeon alive was advancing his class and evolving his skills. If it were anything like games in his past life, then there would be a few paths laid out in front of him. Not to mention the fact that his skill had already evolved, this proved to him that progression was possible.

The main issue that bugged him was his low-level. Since he had received a class at level five, then his advanced class was probably at either level fifteen or twenty. It already took him a few days to level up once; now it would take another a week or maybe even month until he reached those levels.

A sigh escaped from Wilhelm's lips as he scratched the back of his head. The world he was thrown into was riddled with secrets, so he didn't give up just yet. Who knew if his class would power-up in the future, or if he could gain some sort of powerful item. There was no use crying over spilled milk.

Wilhelm grabbed the nearby knife and placed it inside of his loincloth as he departed from the lake. He figured it was about time to map out more of the dungeon and locate the ant and grottenburg nest.

The feeling of being trapped alone with monsters irked him. However, Wilhelm had long become crazy from years of fighting in wars. His personality had been cultivated and held back for years. That was why he could laugh in the direst of situations and smile from the most painful memories.

Even now, a small smile crept onto his lips as he thought about leveling up from killing the beasts. He was a unique person, and anyone else would've surely gone insane by now. It was no easy task to survive in such a situation, especially when your only meals consisted of disgusting grottenburg and flame water.

As he thought to here, he traveled further down the vast cavern and took a few turns that he had skipped previously. Compared to when he first entered, the cavern was extraordinarily quiet, which confused Wilhelm. It was as if those minotaur-like creatures scared off the other monsters on the bottom floor. If so, why did no other creatures approach the lake when they left?

Countless unanswered questions assaulted Wilhelm as he investigated the confusing cave, marking his path as he went. As he treaded deeper, another two pathways appeared in front of him. These two, however, were slightly different than the others.

The one on the right was slightly bigger but possessed a strange acidic liquid dripping from the roof. On the other hand, the one on the left seemed to be a different color, as if it was recently dug and inhabited.

Both paths showed signs of life and Wilhelm could easily guess which creatures they inhabited. He could still remember the acidic saliva that the grottenburgs' produced, and the digging skills the ants possessed.

Wilhelm inwardly marked this place as dangerous and quickly departed. Instead of entering their nests like a mad man, he would hunt them when they were alone. Who knew how strong the ant queen and grottenburg parents were.

Wilhelm used the markings on the wall and soon made it back to the lake, where he decided to drink a few gulps of flame-water. He had somewhat grown used to the pain, so his reaction wasn't as distinguishable as before.

He cleaned himself and sharpened his blade, patiently waiting until night befell. He could assume both creatures were nocturnal; as such, he would need to wait until night to hunt. Before that, however, he would prepare.

He hummed a peaceful tune as the sound of a knife getting sharpened on a piece of stone resounded throughout the small cave. If any other ordinary human were here right now, they would surely run away with fear-stricken expressions.