MISERY: THE LEGENDARY GRIFFIN CAN BE UPGRADED?!

[You have killed a level 5 slime!]

[Exp: 80% --> 88%]

[You have received a Copper Coin ×1!]

Slimes were rather weak even at level 5. The vulnerable golden core in the center of their ball-sized physique, slippery and transparent, where effortlessly pierced by a rusty sword.

[You have killed a level 5 slime!]

[Exp: 88% --> 96%]

[You have received a Copper Coin ×1!]

Alab was deadpan as he looked at the rusty sword clutched sloppily by a skeleton. With every move came a creaking sound as its skeletal arms gripped the rusty sword.

It only managed to lift the sword a little before the crimson flame in its eye sockets dimmed, reflecting its crisis in utilizing the sword.

A pack of confident slimes assaulted the skeleton. A drop of acid excreted from their slimy bodies that gradually dissolved its bones. Helpless, the skeleton died at the onslaught of slimes.

[Your summon "Skeleton Trainee", has died!]

The slimes jumped in delight at their triumph.

[You activated your skill "Skeleton Trainee Summoning (E)"!]

[You have summoned a skeleton trainee!]

A skeleton drenched in murky fog emerged from the ground. With a rusty sword in its hand, it struggled to stabilize itself.

With another creak, it turned its head towards Alab who made his way towards the skeleton. He could no longer withstand the pitiful sight. His hands took the rusty sword from the skeleton trainee who was the same height as him.

Clutching the sword, Alab thrust it toward the elated slimes on the ground. With every lift of the swords came the system announcement that was restless in notifying his kills.

The skeleton, appeared like the master as it gawked at Alab. The confident slimes shivered at the picture of the massacre to its keen.

An hour had passed with the darkness soaring higher. Plucking and creaking sounds resonated in the gloomy [Slime Practice Dungeon] as deep in the dungeon, a skeleton sat as he stared at the young boy one-sidedly massacred slimes.

Then, a notice different than before resonated.

[You have killed a level 5 slime!]

[Exp: 99% --> 1%]

[You have received a Copper Coin ×1!]

[You have leveled up!]

Alab bathe in soothing ambiance as he felt his fatigue and subtle burns recovered. He was now level 5 and his leveling speed had evidently slowed down.

With another brandish of the sword, a slime had lost its life.

[You have killed a level 5 slime!]

[Exp: 1% --> 2%]

[You have received a Copper Coin ×1!]

[Drop item obtained! Slime liquid (E)]

Alab saw a golden teardrop materialize in his inventory.

[Slime Liquid (E)

Description: A drop item from slime.

Effects: It is a little acidic]

After an hour of killing slimes, only 4 items had dropped. His E-grade skill [Luck] was trivial as the drop rate was too low. Still, Alab persisted in slaughtering slimes until the daylight lit his dull eyes.

It was a sleepless night of grinding yet Alab secured stingy 24 items. The drop rate was just too horrible. If not for his level reaching level 10, there would be no valuable profits in that entire night.

Alab found the rate to be too slow as he had already acquired sufficient mana to utilize his SSS-grade skill [Conversion]. However, his items were not enough to use even once.

[Name: Alab Lukeford

Level: 10

Exp: 1%

HP: 1000 / 1000 (10 × Constitution value × level)

MP: 3400 / 4800 (10 × Intelligence value × level)

< Attributes >

Strength: 5 ---> 10

Dexterity: 7 ---> 10

Constitution: 7 ---> 10

Intelligence: 9 ---> 48

Free attribute points: 0

< Inventory >

< Skills > ]

[Conversion (SSS) (Unique) (Active)

- Your experiences have thought you that life is unfair. You can now play with fate the same way fate has toyed with you. You have developed the power to convert anything you touch into points. The points can be used to increase the grade of your chosen category.

MP Cost: 990

Cooldown: None]

[To upgrade a skill, you need the corresponding same grade points as that skill.

Available Converted Points:

- E (×26)

Upgradeable Skills:

Skeleton Trainee Summoning (E) (0/100)

Item Upgrade (D) (0/100)

Luck (E) (0/100)

Mana Cost Reduction (D) (0/100)

Zero Cooldown (SSS) (0/100)]

Alab acquired 50 free attribute points in his level-ups which he allocated into [Intelligence] after setting his other stats into 10 each.

With that, he achieved his goal of beyond 1000 mana and could now use his [Conversion] skill. But another problem arose as he didn't have adequate items to satisfy the integral 100 number of items.

Further, he could only upgrade his E-grade skills [Luck] and [Skeleton Trainee Summoning] at the moment as he didn't have any D and above items at hand.

However, what went beyond Alab's expectation was the upgrade conditions besides the [Zero Cooldown]. This implied but one thing - that SSS-grade skills could still be upgraded.

Alab almost lost his deadpan expression as his analysis never entailed such a notion.

Still, the conditions were absurd as he had to have 100 SSS-grade items in order to do that.

After an hour, Alab decided to go back to the barracks and check out the stalls that Luke had mentioned. It would be best if there were item stalls that sell E-D grade items at least.

The pouncing slimes halted their attacks as a human appeared from behind the skeleton they were delightfully killing with ease.

It had been the very first time since they encountered a monster weaker than themselves. Before they could escape, Alab had pierced their cores, leaving a bluish slippery liquid littered to the verdant soil as the slimes ceased.

The fragile skeleton could only act as a tank against these eager slimes.

Typically, it was difficult to find a pack of slimes as they ventured singly. But last midnight, Alab discovered a surprising thing - the slimes that were scattered around the area appeared attracted by the wobbling skeleton as their numbers erupted by a large margin, emerging before the skeleton's path as they assaulted the miserable skeleton.

This made his hunting rate quicker than usual.

Alab now wrapped his hunt for now as he summoned the griffin, shortly riding on its back. As he was gazing at it, a daring thought came into his mind.

"Since griffin is summoned from the item [Griffin Summoning Token] then is it possible that I can upgrade it as well?", Alab pondered as he glanced at the griffin, its eagle head glancing back at him.

Its wide eyes reflected the misery it had endured for a millennium. Being demoted to nothing but mortal's pet humbled the legendary griffin into nothingness.

Having thought of this, Alab recalled that he was yet to name the griffin. An idea sparked in his mind as he muttered.

"I shall name you, Misery"

[The young griffin has been successfully named Misery!]

[Misery (E) (0/100)

Description: A summoning imprisoned in the token. Griffins are legendary monsters in the past who lost their mighty titles as the "God of Summoning" imprisoned them in the token. They were demoted and can now only be used for aerial transport thus the "God of Summoning" has decided to sell the tokens to the system.

Owner: Alab]

Looking at the upgrade condition beside Misery's name, Alab verified his daring presumption. Indeed, his summoning tokens could be upgraded.