It was well past midnight. Almost three hours had gone by since they killed their first Skulker. Since then, they'd hunted five more and now stood outside yet another cave. Each fight and the material collection took about ten to fifteen minutes, but most of their time was spent searching for caves and tracking the beasts. Aaron had to weaken each Skulker so the girls could finish them off.
The first Skulker had been level 20, but all the others were lower levels. Aaron let Kyela finish off a level 16 and a level 19 Skulker, which boosted her to level 15. Tyra took down level 16, 17, and 19 Skulkers, raising her from level 4 all the way to 17.
Aaron could have stopped their leveling up after they hit level 10, but he remembered his first mission. Back then, having two team members instead of one had earned him an increased reward from the system. He hoped the same thing would happen here. That's why he let the girls keep leveling past 10—maybe he'd get double the M.P. again.
With just four Skulkers left for the team mission, Aaron decided it was time to start leveling up himself. They stood together on the ledge outside the new cave. After all the hunting, he could see how tired the girls were. He spoke softly, "You both should rest here for now. I'll go by myself and start my leveling."
Tyra protested, "No, we can come too. We can hold the lamp and help collect materials." Aaron smiled at her, trying to reassure her. "No, you're both exhausted. Rest here for a while. I'll handle this part alone and finish quickly."
Both girls knew Aaron had been holding back to protect them and that he could have taken down more monsters if he'd been alone. So they didn't argue anymore. Aaron smiled, happy they understood, and said as he walked into the cave, "While I'm gone, you two can assign your attribute points."
Now alone, Aaron ran deeper into the cave with the mana lamp strapped to his waist. So far, every Skulker they'd found was only 70 to 100 meters inside. He kept going—100 meters, 150, 200—but still didn't see any sign of a beast. Still, the faint acidic stench in the air told him a Skulker was somewhere up ahead.
He pushed forward another 50 meters and saw a faint glow of moonlight ahead. When he reached it, the path opened into a huge chamber, with moonlight pouring in through a big hole in the ceiling. He stepped forward, taking in the full view of the strange new surroundings.
Suddenly, a scraping sound crawled from his right. Aaron spun toward the noise, eyes wide. There weren't just one but two Skulkers, side by side. Usually, these beasts preferred the solo life, but tonight, it looked like he'd stumbled into a Skulker couple's private party.
As soon as the Skulkers spotted movement, they snapped to attention, all sixteen eyes fixed on Aaron. He couldn't help thinking, Thank god I left the girls outside; otherwise, we'd be getting a front-row seat to spider mating rituals. In the next instant, Aaron activated Shadow Stealth. Both spiders recoiled in surprise when he vanished, then started spraying venom everywhere.
Aaron had already slipped to the right, moving closer to the Skulkers. The real pain was that these bastards loved to fight from a distance, spewing venom from their mouths like busted water hoses. He used Abyssal Insight to check their stats—just level 15 and 17.
Aaron stuck to his usual method and threw his daggers at both Skulkers, forcing the fight down to ground level. With all the open space in the chamber, he darted between them, retrieving his blades as the two spider 'lovebirds' screeched in pain.
Without hesitating, he activated Predator of the Weak and drove his dagger into the back of the level 17 Skulker. The attack hit with 500% increased, 1560 damage, enough to kill the damn thing twice over.
The first Skulker let out a dying screech, but Aaron didn't waste any time. He activated Shadow Veil, dark energy swirling around his dagger, and drove the blade straight into the mouth of the second Skulker, the level 15 one. With only 590 health left, the 3.5x damage was more than enough to finish it.
Both spiders dropped dead in under forty seconds. Mana poured out of their bodies, and a kill message flashed before Aaron's eyes.
[Venomweave Skulker (Lv. 17) Defeated]
[Venomweave Skulker (Lv. 15) Defeated]
[Congratulations! You have leveled up. Bonus attribute points awarded.] x3
Aaron clicked his tongue, a bit annoyed he'd only leveled up three times from two kills. But there were still two Skulkers left for the team mission, and he wanted to do more than just the minimum, so he could level up more. He moved over to the carcasses to collect the materials.
After about fifteen minutes, Aaron had collected all the valuable parts. He muttered, "I should go back to the girls—they'll be waiting, and damn, it really stinks in here." He glanced one last time at the dead Skulkers, their lifeless eyes staring up, a grim reminder that in this world, one moment you're on top, and the next you're just another corpse.
Outside the cave, the two girls slept side by side, their backs against the stone wall. They were so deeply exhausted that even if a beast horde showed up, they probably wouldn't care. More than thirty minutes had passed since Aaron went hunting. They'd already finished assigning their attributes and had drifted off without even realizing.
When Aaron got back to the entrance, he found both girls asleep. He smiled quietly to himself and whispered, "Their first mission really wore them out." Remembering he'd told them to assign their stats, he decided to check their progress from the guild section.
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Name: Tyra
Class: E Rank – Cinderstring Archer
Level: 17 (Progression: 19%)
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Attributes
Strength: 3.5 (6.5)
Stamina: 1.9 (2.4)
Constitution: 2.8 (3.3)
Agility: 3 (6)
Mana: 3.5 (4)
Loyalty: 50% + 50%(Contract)
State: Exausted
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Health Points: 280 / 280 (330 / 330)
Mana Capacity: 35 / 35 (40 / 40)
Attack Power: 35 (65)
Affinity: Hellfire
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Skills
Steady Draw (Passive)
Steadies breathing and posture before releasing, increasing precision by 15%.
Keen Sight(Active)
Heightens visual awareness and focus, increasing vision by 35%.
Mana Cost: -1 every second.
Cinder Nock(Active)
Channels faint Hellfire into an arrow before release, increasing damage by 40%.
Mana Cost: 10
Cooldown: 60 seconds
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[A/N]: The attribute values shown in brackets include all bonuses from weapons and gear enhancements.
Tyra had put 2 points each into Constitution and Strength, and 1 point each into Stamina, Agility and Mana. Aaron nodded in satisfaction, glad to see she understood how to balance her attributes. With only one attack skill, boosting her Strength was a smart move, and increasing her Constitution made sense since it was her lowest stat.
Aaron also noticed her loyalty had gone up. With a soft smile, he thought, "Well, at least it's improving." Then he checked Kyela's status.
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Name: Kyela
Class: E Rank – Lifebloom Spirit Caller
Level: 15 (Progression: 3%)
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Attributes
Strength: 4.5 (6)
Stamina: 1.4 (1.9)
Constitution: 1.5 (3.5)
Agility: 1.5 (2)
Mana: 3.5 (6.5)
Loyalty: 70% + 30%(Contract)
State: Exhausted
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Health Points: 150 / 150 (350 / 350)
Mana Capacity: 35 / 35 (65 / 65)
Attack Power: 45 (60)
Affinity: Nature
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Skills
Shared Senses(Passive)
Links her perception with her summoned spirit. The link remains active as long as the spirit is within 30 meters.
Lesser Spirit Contract (Active)
Call and contract a lesser nature spirit.
Contracted spirit: Liora, the Leafwhisper Sprite
Number of contracts available: 0
One-time mana cost: 20 mana during call
After contract mana cost: -1 every second.
⟡⟡⟡
Aaron cursed inwardly. Shit, she dumped almost everything into Strength—does she want to be a spirit knight instead of a summoner? He facepalmed. He knew Kyela was feeling less useful to the team since her spirit couldn't fight. That was probably why she threw more than half her 7.5 points from leveling up straight into Strength, thinking she'd have to be her own frontline.
But she wasn't thinking long-term. Her current rank was only temporary. With enough M.P., he could upgrade her rank to contract stronger spirits, and for that, what she really needed was Mana, not muscle. Aaron made a mental note to talk to her about it after the mission.
Aaron watched the girls sleep, deciding not to wake them. With a few hours left before sunrise, he figured they deserved the rest, especially after tonight's chaos. He'd already cleared out the Skulkers inside, so this spot was safe. Quietly, he walked over and sat on the edge of the ledge, legs dangling. The cave was twenty-five meters above, and moonlight spilled down, painting the treetops silver.