Ascend

Ding!

[ Item Enhancement Skill is now level 2. Enhancement success rate permanently increased by 5% ]

[ Congratulations! You have increased the level of your skill for the first time. ]

[ You have obtained a one-time Ascension Card as a reward. ]

[ Congratulations! You have obtained the very first item gift from the system. ]

[ You have unlocked the System's 5-Slot Inventory as a reward. ]

Vincent couldn't help but smile after he finally increased the level of his skill. It took him a very long time to do this and the reward did not disappoint him.

He then checked the Inventory itself and realized that one of the five slots already has something in it which is a golden card and he suspected that it to be the Ascension Card reward that he just received.

He immediately tried to take it out by using his mind. The card disappeared from the Inventory Space in his mind and suddenly appeared in his hands.

"Interesting."

Vincent muttered as he studies the mysterious card. He no longer needed to appraise the card itself as it seems that any item given by the system would have a detailed description included in it.

[ Ascension Card ]

[ Description: A one-time use card that helps any item's quality to ascend one rank. ]

"This…"

Vincent's eyes lit up after seeing the description of the card.

"Ascending one's rank?"

He knows only four types of item quality right now.

Poor, Common, Uncommon, and Rare.

He already expected that there is something higher than Rare and thought that he'll only discover it once he set out of this forest.

However, with the Ascension Card, he can finally discover what is after the Rare rank.

"Wait… Should I really use this on the cane?"

Vincent hesitated for a moment.

He only has one card after all and he doesn't know when can he obtain such an item again. There might not even be a second time to get this reward since he noticed that the rewards for the 'first-time achievement' would always change.

"Let's keep this inside the inventory for now. No hurry…" Vincent said as he returned the card to his Inventory.

Then, he held the cane on the table and tried to put it inside the system's inventory.

However, he did not get any notification so he surmised that he can't put any other items inside the 5 slot inventory aside from the items given by the system.

He tried it with other things within the cabin but unfortunately, none of them can be placed inside the inventory.

It's a bit disappointing but he's still thankful for such a reward. After all, he learned that he'll most likely get more items from the system seeing that it has 5 slots.

"Well, let's leave it at that… I still have to farm for more experience."

Vincent muttered as he saw how much he needed to level up his skill from level 2 to level 3.

[ Item Enhancement Lv2 – The user can use their Mana or Enhancement Stones to upgrade the item they are holding. ]

[ Enhancement EXP: 0/6000 ]

The experience points he needed to gather increased by another 1,000 points. Well, now that he has a larger mana capacity, this shouldn't take a very long time.

***

"Hmm… Should I try checking that Withered Mountain?" Vincent muttered to himself as he blankly observes the river in front of him.

Within this part of the forest, he had already eaten everything he could find and he was already tired of it.

The reason why he wasn't leaving this small part of the forest was that he was still afraid of facing the Savage Beasts or Magical Creatures that could be living outside the perimeter his grandfather had set up.

However, he has now improved his Soul Arts and had just achieved a complete change in his physical body achieving incredible strength.

He is a genuine 2-Star Aura Knight now and perhaps, the only thing that he lacks was high-level combat art.

Right now, his combat art was still revolving around the palm technique he learned from his grandpa. As for any Cane or Staff techniques, he doesn't have any at all. He can only try

Almost three years had passed and Vincent is now over twelve years old.

During this time, he was able to improve the quality of his life as he managed to get a few +6 items. Right now, his whole cabin can probably survive even if attacked by a modern tank considering the increase in the durability of each wooden plank.

Vincent sighed as he was starting to get bored grinding for experience points and practicing his Tier 1 Mana Arts.

As a matter of fact, he already reached the Perfected State from those four low-level techniques because he has nothing else he could practice.

At the moment, using Shrouded Steps whenever he moves is like breathing to him. He does it so naturally as swift moves like a ghost.

"No… Perhaps I should start hunting those Savage Beasts for now. Maybe I can already collect Beast Cores on my own."

Although he knows that he's already quite strong, he doesn't really know how would compare against those strong beasts. They are also capable of utilizing mana thanks to their cores after all.

Vincent considered this for a moment before he finally decided to leave the river.

Instead of catching the same fish for his meal today, he would try to catch a Savage Beast for the first time!

The young man then returned to the cabin and wore his combat gears.

[ Wolf Leather Gauntlet +7 ]

[ Wolf Leather Shin Guard +7 ]

[ Soul-Forged Ironbark Cane +7 ]

[ Silver Ruin Dagger + 7 ]

The two leather gears were actually from his grandpa as well and he only adjusted them to his size.

Anyway, after reaching the seventh enhancement, Vincent also obtained a reward of additional 50 points in his Mana Capacity so he now has 190 units of mana which is really something incredible.

It had increased this much as he realized that practicing Soul Arts can also slowly increase his Mana.

Though he has poor talent in practicing mana itself, his mana capacity was definitely at the level of an early-stage Master Magician right now.

The only problem is that he really can't learn the Tier 2 Mana Arts that his Grandfather left for him.

"Alright… This should be enough."

Vincent said as he carried a bag containing a few rations and medicinal herbs in case of emergency.

Soon, the young man cautiously left the safe perimeter that his grandfather has set up to find a Savage Beast