I woke up from a deep, warm slumber—the best rest I'd had in years.
Turning to my side, I saw Sera sleeping as peacefully as ever. I slipped out of the room as quietly as a shadow.
After a rushed shower and a quick preparation, I bolted from the house, heading toward the teleportation circle on foot.
I didn't even bother calling for the carriage; the run was a perfect warm-up for what was to come.
When I arrived, the guards let me through without a single question.
Unlike yesterday, the square was deserted. I had arrived much earlier this time. I walked to the side door in the courtyard and gave it a firm knock.
After a short wait, the same man from yesterday opened the door, though his beast was nowhere to be seen.
Before he could utter a word of annoyance—which I could already see forming on his face—I reached into my pocket.
I produced the Silver family crest: the crossed claws.
The man swallowed his rage instantly.
Normally, it took ten people to activate the circle—or five, if you were an "early bird" rewarded for diligence.
But with that crest in my hand, rules were mere suggestions. I requested immediate transport to the Misty Layer.
Sometime later...
I was deep in the Misty Layer, tracking a creature that was considered one of the strongest for its level. It was a beast perfectly balanced in both offence and defence.
Finally, I found it.
A giant green praying mantis, slightly larger than I am. It stood there with those terrifying scythes and a razor-sharp triangular head.
It was the peak predator of Level Two.
I steeled myself for a brutal fight.
Unlike the other monsters in this layer, the Mantis didn't bother with an ambush. It turned toward me with chilling calm, ready for the dance.
I lunged with my claws at lightning speed, but it deflected the strike with its blades effortlessly.
As it swung to cleave me in two, I leapt back and used [Darkness Control] to forge black arrows.
Though they struck true, they left nothing but faint scratches on its hardened chitin armour.
Suddenly, it spread its wings and lunged. Its left blade caught my shoulder before I could fully dodge, leaving a deep, bloody gash.
The Mantis watched me with its massive eyes, but its caution grew as the wound healed in the blink of an eye.
I attacked again. This time, I pulled a heavy axe from my storage bracelet.
The axe was the only tool for shattering a shell this solid.
The fight devolved into a savage rhythm. The Mantis was nearly perfect—its speed, defence, and power were all top-tier.
However, I was betting on the one thing I held over it: endurance and regeneration.
As the battle wore on, the Mantis began to slow. Its strikes lost their lethal edge.
Its armour outlasted its stamina, but no shield holds forever.
After a gruelling struggle, I finally breached its defences by relentlessly targeting a single crack. I wouldn't have succeeded if the creature hadn't finally collapsed from sheer exhaustion.
The rumours of its courage were true; not once did it try to flee.
Finally, its suffering came to an end.
I took a moment to breathe, then used my flames to clean the carcass entirely, leaving only the Green Core.
Ding!
[Congratulations, Master!]
[You have earned 200 units of Clean Energy.]
I didn't waste a second. I still had two targets to find.
I headed for the easier one: a Swamp Worm.
They are notoriously difficult to track because they blend perfectly into the muck, and I lacked any scanning abilities.
So, I used the most reckless method available—I used myself as bait.
The result was even more violent than my first encounter.
This worm was stronger, faster, and far more vicious. My ankle narrowly escaped being severed entirely.
Even though it regenerated the moment the worm died, the shock left me rattled. I swore to myself that I would never use that tactic again for as long as I lived.
The worm vanished under my Green Flame, leaving behind a dull grey core.
My third and final target of the day was a Lunar Deer.
These creatures were beautiful beyond words. Noble, herbivorous, and possessing meat that was considered a legendary delicacy.
But that beauty was guarded by extreme caution and supernatural speed.
It stood before me, grazing on the grass, checking its surroundings every three seconds.
Don't let the elegance fool you; that silver horn could turn any careless predator into a pincushion in an instant. Its speed was enough to make any monster reconsider its hunger.
Tracking it was a nightmare for my nerves.
I stayed in stealth for several long minutes until I was within ten meters. Without making a sound, I readied a long spear.
I twisted my waist to gather momentum, planting my feet firmly.
With perfect timing, I transferred the force from my legs through my core and into my shoulder, launching the spear with everything I had.
Whoosh!
The spear buried itself completely in the deer. The velocity was so great that the tip pinned the creature to the ground.
It struggled for a heartbeat, then grew still.
The deer had suffered the least of all my prey; the spear had pierced its heart directly.
As I looked at it, I felt a faint, sharp sting of sadness for taking the life of a creature so beautiful.