6 Mole’s burrow
Without waiting for the earth mole to recover for even a moment, Hans conjured a fireball and thrust it into the monster's head, instantly ending its life.
[ You have killed a level 32 earth mole!]
[ +270% Exp awarded due to level difference.]
[ You have leveled up!]
[ You have leveled up!]
[ You have leveled... {Lvl: 9}
[ You have gained 20 wisdom points, due to the effect of the skill {Almighty Knowledge} +2 have been added to all your other stats.]
With that taken care of, Hans moved on quickly to make use of the remaining time before the arrival of the association scouts.
After disposing of several other moles and finally reaching level 16, Hans realized that he had neared the end of exploring the entire area and began looking for spots he hadn't already ventured into before.
Making his way toward the last unexplored corner of the caves, Hans suddenly felt an unfamiliar sensation that resembled neither a sound nor a touch.
It was the feeling of foreboding… DANGER.
Feeling unsettled in his heart, Hans slightly tilted his head, and immediately after that, a red scratch appeared on his cheek, tracing a line between the corner of his mouth and his ear.
It was a line drawn with nothing but his own blood. Had he been a second late, no, even half a second late, his head would've already been rolling on the muddy ground by now.
Reacting quickly, he turned around and saw a cloud of dust rising in a certain spot and immediately reacted by activating, {Piercing Gaze}.
[ Elite Monster
Race: Shadow Mole
Lvl: 37
Strength: 40 (80)
Agility: 16 (32)
Endurance: 47 (94)
Wisdom: 13 (26)
Blessings: {Blessing of the shadow (CURRENTLY ACTIVE): Allows it to be hidden from the eyes of its enemies and the sound it produces is greatly reduced. While the enemy remains unaware of its position, all its stats are doubled. The blessing will cease to function when the enemy touches it.}
Description: An elite soldier born amongst the ranks of the moles, its size is similar to that of a human and possesses the blessing of the shadow.
Monster evaluation: High F-rank, when under the blessing of the shadow its power is equal to high E-rank.]
'Shit, shadow blessing?! It's basically an ability to turn invisible! What do I do now?!'
Just as he thought, another attack blitzed in, even faster than the first, however, this time it was aimed straight at Hans' face.
Fortunately for the young man, he had already sensed it and managed to dodge the attack, but the sheer force of the attack was enough to make his hair stand on end.
As he evaded the second attack, another series of attacks soon followed, and the only thing Hans could do was dodge while occasionally trying to parry a couple of them to minimize the damage.
Luckily for him, it seemed like the mole wasn't experienced in fighting, and struggled to control its speed; otherwise, the fight would have been over in minutes.
However, as exhaustion set in and scratches started accumulating on his body, Hans realized that he couldn't keep up with the fight's rhythm. "It's.. it's too much! I won't be able to hold it for long, I need to do something."
"Think… think… That's it!"
Hans backed away a bit, cornering himself before using both of his hands to conjure a large fireball.
His idea was to lay a mantle of fire on the ground to see the monster's movement so that he could have a chance to touch it, thereby allowing him to deactivate its blessing.
However, while it seemed pretty easy theoretically, in a damp place like a cave where he could find nothing that could be used to set the flames, it proved to be a challenging task.
Hans was well aware of that and was left with only one possibility: the fire had to be sustained by him while parallelly he continued fighting.
Since he had no other choice, Hans decided to try it.
{FIREBALL} he said while holding a huge fire with his hands before spreading it out through the surroundings, using it to cover a large ground of the cave.
Even if the heat and intensity of the flames were at the minimum, it still strained his mind heavily.
Just when he was at its wits end, the flame in a certain spot wavered, and a patch of ground not covered by flames started forming as it closed in on Hans faster and faster.
Just when he saw the patch was right before him and the beast was about to collide with him, Hans ducked.
As soon as he did so, the wall where he had rested his head a moment ago developed a hole followed by the debris falling off and the rise of a small cloud of dust in the surrounding area.
Not shocked about having been in his spot for even a second would have been his demise, and afraid of the fact that he might lose this opportunity, Hans quickly raised his left arm, touching something hairy that stood at the level of his chest.
As soon as his hand felt a touch, an ugly giant mole materialized beside him.
But before he could even take a look at the mole's panicked expression, Hans withdrew the flames on the ground and struck the monster's face with a fiery jab, deforming its snout with numerous burns.
Finally, Hans, who had risked his young life because of this troublesome opponent, had a chance to take out his anger as he spat, "Not attacking me anymore, are you??!!"
A few minutes later, the mole died and was only able to last that long thanks to its abnormal endurance.
After the deactivation of its special ability of Shadow's Blessing, the mole's dexterity and intelligence had dropped below Hans' level, making it nothing but a punchbag for the young man to vent his anger.
After killing the beast, Hans plopped onto the wet ground, feeling breathless and fatigued while he gasped for air.
Pant… pant…
[ Congratulations! You have obtained the spell {Fire Veil}(Tier- 1) after modifying the spell {Fireball}]
[ You have killed an elite monster: Shadow Mole]
[ +200% Exp for an Elite Monster, +210% Exp because of the level difference.]
[ You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up {Current level: 23]
[ From a shard of the shadow blessing, you have obtained the spell {Stealth} (Tier-1)]
[ Your wisdom has surpassed the 250 threshold, you can now advance to the 2nd circle.]
[ Name: Hans
Age: 18
Class: Knowledge Seeker (UNKNOWN)
Title: None
Level: 23
Strength: 28
Dexterity: 28
Endurance:28
Wisdom: 281
Class skills:
{Knowledge Hunger}
{Almighty Knowledge}
{Piercing Gaze}
Normal Skills:
{Fireball}(Tier-0)
{Fire Veil}(Tier-1)(NEW!)
{ Skill name: Fire Veil. Description: Achieved after possessing good control over the fire attribute.
Effect: Creates a veil of fire of up to a ten-meter radius around the user.
Everyone within the radius apart from the user will take burn damage over time and receive higher damage when hit by fire element spells.}
{Skill Name: Stealth (Tier-1) Effects: You can coat yourself with a layer of mana, allowing your breathing, smell, and sound to be hard to detect. Consumes mana every second. When an enemy isn't aware of your ambush, you will get +30% attack damage}
Evaluation: Tier-1 mage with astonishing control over mana, can face opponents slightly stronger than him.]
Hans rubbed his eyes before double-checking the information to ensure that he wasn't dreaming.
In just one battle, he had acquired two spells, and with that, he was now ready to advance as 2nd tier mage.
"It must be the result of fighting with my life on the line," Hans assumed as he stared at the dark ceiling above.
After another half an hour of rest, he decided to call it quits.
The boss monster within the E-rank gate was as formidable as a D-rank monster, and engaging something like that with his current state would certainly lead to his demise.
After returning to the gate, Hans activated his {Stealth} before slipping through.
As he made it to the other side, he was greeted by a blinding light, but using his hands as a cover, he slithered away among the crowd.
_____
Back at Hans' home.
"I survived the gate, leveled up, and can now advance to tier two mage. Along with that, I've also gained two valuable skills. But… what should I do with this?" he wondered as he extended his hand to reveal a shiny red stone.
It was a stone casually dropped by the monsters and was renowned as a high-quality material for crafting weapons and tools.
"It was in the shadow mole's corpse, and I picked it up since I had read that they were valuable. But the question is, where should I sell it?"
The next morning, after breakfast, Hans set off with a specific destination in mind: The Trading Center.
The Trading Center was a market that had established branches in every corner of the world, its founder and owner was an awakened woman who was often referred to by the prefix "Money Maven".
After the chaotic disaster all over the world, she exploited the opportunity to amass immense wealth by selling crucial items for awakened guilds, probably making her the richest person alive.
The reason everyone trades there? It was pretty simple, because of the low taxes, and whatever one was to sell there would not pass through the hands of the authorities.
Since everything that happens in the trading market stays in the trading market, there was no way anyone would know of someone's transactions unless they were to reveal it by themselves.
"That's exactly what I need," Hans exclaimed to himself as he approached an imposing structure made out of quartz.
Inside, he was greeted by a vast shopping mall organized in a circular shape with everything on sale sporting price tags with at least four digits.
After Hans walked into one of the shops, he encountered a white-haired elderly woman with a pair of round glasses sitting behind the glass counter.
Thinking for a moment, Hans took out the stone and placed it on the counter while remaining silent, unsure of what to say.
The elderly inspected the stone for a couple of seconds before stating, "A mana stone from an elite Rank E monster, with this size… I'll take it for this much," and indicated four fingers.
Although his hopes were a bit high compared to what she offered, Hans nodded. He had expected to get about ten thousand for it, but apparently, the market price was much lower than he had expected.
Since he had no use for the stone, he decided to complete the deal and gave her his account number, but soon enough he was shocked to see the message he had received.
[ You received a deposit of 40,000$]
Hans was utterly astonished and happy when he walked out of the mall with his newly acquired wealth.
"I see why most people prefer to trade here. It's as easy as drinking a glass of water," Hans reflected with a wide grin on his face.
