Turning around, Alex smugly looked at Aiyana — though his expression was hidden behind his mask.
Aiyana was staring at him in shock. She couldn't believe how quickly he had grown stronger.
"Hi. Let's look around," Alex said as he started walking to find more ghosts.
Aiyana silently followed behind him.
As they moved, they encountered more and more Shades of various levels — the weakest being level 3, and the strongest being level 10.
But Alex easily defeated them thanks to his increased stats.
After leveling up, his attack damage seemed to have reached 300.
If he had to calculate it, he'd say his base damage with bare hands should be 4, equal to his Strength stat. After a 50% increase, that made it 6. With the sword multiplying it by 50, it totaled 300.
Still, the level 10 Shade felt like a mini-boss of this Wailing Shade area. It had 500 HP — which broke the pattern, since it should've only had 350 HP going by previous increases.
But it didn't matter much. One more good Slay was enough to finish it.
The worst part? The drop rate. It was so bad that, even after killing at least 20 Shades, he hadn't gotten a single item.
Leveling up also seemed harder the higher his level went.
Even though he was defeating monsters much stronger than him, he had only leveled up twice.
───────[ STATUS WINDOW ]───────
Name: Alex Grey
Level: 4Title: Player, Otaku
Class: None
Affiliation: None
HP: 180 / 180
CP: 0 / 0
Stamina: 50 / 50
EXP: 21%
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⚔️ STATS
Strength: 6
Agility: 6
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 9
Perception: 7
Stat Points: 4
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Skills
Analyze (Lv. 1)
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Quests
Main Quest] End the Era of False Peace
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"This sucks. Killing that level 10 Shade only gave me 15% EXP..."
"What the hell are you talking about? Speak human!" Aiyana said, sitting beside him on a bench, clearly annoyed.
After defeating the level 10 Shade, they stopped appearing. So he decided to rest and recover some stamina.
But man, he wanted to complain. She just walked beside him while he did all the work — not that he could really say anything. It wasn't like she asked him to fight everything.
"Ugh, why is my stamina recovery so slow—"
Growl.
His stomach rumbled.
"Idiot. Eat if you're hungry," Aiyana said as she magically pulled out a luxurious bento box — the kind rich anime girls always bring to school.
"WOOOW!" Alex's eyes sparkled across the screen. Too bad he couldn't actually eat it.
"You can eat it, hmph! You should be grateful that I'm letting you sha—"
Aiyana suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
The food vanished the moment Alex brought it near his face.
"WHAT THE—?!"
"Thanks! That was great. My stamina increased by 15, and my recovery rate got faster too."
"Huh?" Aiyana stared, confused.
"That was for both of us!"
"…Sorry, I thought… uh… that…"
"Hmph! Don't talk to me." She turned her head away, fuming.
Alex looked at her for a few seconds, then up at the sky.
"Aiyana… how do people easily kill those things?" He wondered if beginners really came to this place to grind — was he just pathetic? If not for his sword and hers, he might've died several times.
"How? Simple. They use magic power or long-distance weapons."
"…Figures."
"That long pause… don't tell me the idea of ranged weapons never crossed your mind." Aiyana smirked.
It wasn't really Alex's fault. He just… even if he had thought of it, he didn't have one.And magic? Yeah, he had none.
"Still, how did you suddenly become so strong… Don't tell me you devoured them?" Aiyana asked seriously.
"Devoured? No, I just leveled up by killing them."
"Stop using game terms! And isn't that basically the same as devouring?"
"How so?"
"From what I can see, every time you defeat one, some kind of energy flows into your body."
Huh? She can see EXP going into me? Weird. I can't even see that myself as the Player…
Aiyana kept glancing at his eyes. She couldn't fully explain it, but every time she looked—
'His soul is so beautiful… How can a human soul be this pure? It's like a toddler's. Is he secretly a baby?!'
One of the main reasons she allowed him to follow her so easily was that pure white soul of his. A pity it was only half… she wanted to see it in full.
"Still, is there a problem with that?"
"Devouring powers are usually in the hands of psychopaths. They kill people to get stronger."
"Wait… is there a scarcity of monsters?" Alex suddenly felt terrified. If there weren't many, how would he level up?
"No, but to become stronger, they have to devour monsters stronger than themselves. That's extremely risky. Devouring those at the same level doesn't do much. And devouring weaker ones? Useless."
"I see…"
"It's similar to what you're doing — fighting ghosts halfway to awakening. But what you do is different… not a single soul is devoured."
The mention of "awakening" piqued Alex's curiosity.
"What do you mean by awakening?"
"…Awakening is when someone who has sensed the presence of magic has trained their body enough to finally store it inside themselves. When that happens, they break their limits and evolve their lifeform."
"Like me, yours truly! I'm the youngest Awakened in history to reach Rank 1 at age 14!" Aiyana proudly slammed her hand onto her chest.
Trying not to get distracted by the two gravity-defying reasons to look elsewhere, Alex asked:
"Rank 1? Can you tell me more?"
"Well, I sha—" she suddenly paused and turned away again. "I won't tell you."
"You're still mad about the food."
"Eh?! Why would I be mad about that?! I'm not a petty person!"
"Oh, really?"
Five minutes passed.
"YOU DUMMY! Can't you say something?!" Aiyana suddenly snapped. She couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Well… I can't do anything if you're mad, can I?"
"You're hopeless. I bet with a personality like yours, you don't have any friends."
"...…I know."That reply made Aiyana pause. She suddenly felt a bit guilty.
"Hey, I didn't mean—"
"Don't bother. It doesn't affect me one bit. I'm fine being alone."
"That's… actually, I think you're pretty cool. You're brave and kind."
"No… I'm not brave or kind. But… I appreciate that you care." He looked at her and said, "You're actually very nice, Aiyana."
"Huh? Where'd that come from?"
"It's true. Even though we haven't known each other long, I can tell you're kind-hearted."
"…You attracted those Death Flames, didn't you?"
He had wondered why the flames suddenly changed direction. Now he understood. Without her intervention, he would've been toast — literally.
"W-WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" Aiyana blushed furiously.
"That's enough. Let's keep going," Alex said as he stood up and walked ahead before turning back.
"What? Aren't you coming?"
"Why don't you go ahead yourself? I can't really do much anyway." Her voice was quiet, eyes on the ground.
"Huh? What are you talking about? I don't need you to do anything."
"Oh really?! I bet you think I'm just a weak rich girl, don't you?!" Her sudden outburst caught him off guard.
"Just go! I knew I was useless! Even though I'm the youngest Awakened, you're probably laughing inside at how pathetic I am!"
"Aiyana… it wasn't me who brought you here. You came on your own. That must mean you have something important to do, right?"
She looked up.
"And honestly, I don't see you as pathetic at all. You're literally the youngest Awakened. That's crazy impressive."
"Not to mention, you're my guide. I just need you."
"…You're really good with words for a loner," Aiyana muttered under her breath. Maybe it was because of the distance, but Alex didn't seem to hear it.
To be continued…