Chapter 36: Level 300

*Boom*

*Boom*

…

…

"Suppressing fire quickly! Don't give them a chance to regroup!"

"Affirmative High Commander Ray."

Ray and his operators are currently in a forest area within Earth fighting against the troll's tribe. This is their sixth tribe for today and it's barely even past afternoon. He took the Mission to track and cull the population of trolls that are booming because no one bothers to take care of them.

The duty to deal with the troll population belongs to Grigori. The Grigori lacks appropriate grade field agents to deal with the mission. They are either low rank or high rank but the mission isn't lucrative enough and very bothersome to complete means they will not have spare time to take the mission.

For Ray, he has a satellite to give a real time map of his area when on Earth and manpower to fight against the troll tribe that have enough numbers to overwhelm a High class combatant that normally requires a group to fight.

After a few more Aerial Bombardment and continuous fierce attack from Assault class operators, another troll tribe is killed off. Ray gathers his proof using a camera in the device to submit his Mission.

"Whew… that's rather intense. Thankfully there isn't any champion or warlock in this tribe." Ray exhaled his breath and sat down on a fallen tree stump to check the device again.

"38 more tribes… That's a lot for a small forest like this. Thankfully there is a barrier erected to isolate them from the normal world."

While Ray is scrolling the Mission list to find the troll tribe's mission, he suddenly receives a call from Issei that he may have forgotten about because he is very busy lately.

"Hey, Issei. How are you doing?" Ray greets Issei.

"Doing fine, Uncle Ray. Ah, I called you because I wanted to inform uncle that Rias' fiance appeared today and sort of ended up with an unofficial rating game between the fried chicken Riser and Buchou." Issei explained.

"Oh, so… when is the Rating Game?" Ray asks because Rias should be given time to train since she never had a rating game before and this is her first.

"Uh.. the Gremory maid, Grayfia said that Buchou is given two weeks to train." Ray gritted his teeth unconsciously when Issei uttered the maid's name.

"Good luck then Issei. With Rias peerage regular training, you should have a higher chance to win. Besides, your peerage now has Xenovia right? She is a fine addition to your group as Durandal's wielder."

Xenovia was excommunicated by the Church and joined Rias peerage during Michael's visit to make a deal with Ray. In canon, this didn't happen and Rias should have a greater chance to win against Riser.

"Thanks uncle. Also, bring Cheshire to visit us here at ORC sometime. Asia missed Cheshire and she couldn't visit your new place in Grigori."

"I'll try Issei. I have been rather busy recently. Maybe when I'm less busy then I will bring Cheshire to visit Asia because Cheshire also wanted to meet Koneko too." Ray said before the call ended.

Ray stretched his body a little before looking at his operators that lined up in 3 rows with 10 each row. The last row however only has 9 operators. This means that he has 29 operators and means his level is 290+ and almost reaches level 300.

He had returned to grinding for his levels in Mission mode since his assessment test a week ago. His new routine is rather similar with the old one and the only change is he spends his daylight doing mission or bounty from Grigori to accumulate points or credits whichever, which is used as currency in Grigori.

Surprisingly, the local monsters or harmful creatures are a viable source of exp for him. The troll tribes alone can earn him more exp than what he gained from normal Mission mode because the trolls are individually way stronger than an infected. Only however the cons of these monsters is they only gave him exp if excluding the mission reward from Grigori.

"Let's go, another 10 tribes should be enough to reach level 300." Ray said after seeing that he currently sits on level 298.

None of his operators replied but they saluted and followed Ray to exterminate the next troll tribe.

Later in the evening, Ray returned to Grigori Earth HQ in normal clothes and moved to Azazel's office. He received a notification from his device that Azazel gave Ray an order to meet him as soon as possible. As told to him, Ray went to Azazel's office immediately after return where Azazel revealed Ray possesses a sacred gear that he is interested to research on.

"Nothing difficult Ray. You only need to try to activate the sacred gear Blade Blacksmith and try to explore its usage then give me a written report once a week." Azazel explained.

Ray agreed without much fuss as this is quite an easy task for him. Azazel also promised to help Ray with learning magic for his future uses on upgrading his gears. After that, Ray returned to his dorm.

…

Closing the door, Ray announced his return and put away his pair of sneakers before Cheshire came running to hug him with her kitty chasing her from behind. "Welcome back, papa!" Cheshire said while Ray is cuddling her. "Mn, I'm home too, Cheshire. Are you hungry? Also where is everyone?"

"Sister Mittelt is in the kit-"

*crash*

A loud noise came from the kitchen that had Ray come running with Cheshire still hugged by him. Ray saw a warzone after looking at the kitchen where Mittelt is standing on a small wooden stool, amongst the chaos and destruction of cooking utensils all over the kitchen counter, floor and sink.

"O-opsie?" Mittelt says after seeing Ray and Cheshire. Mittelt surprisingly isn't wearing her usual outfit and wearing a plain t-shirt that is too big for her size that was definitely stolen from Ray and a tight black spats under an apron.

"I was trying to cook something for you when you return but…" Mittelt looked down pitifully when I sighed. She was expecting a scolding but Ray didn't scold her and gave her a head pat, telling her she did her best. "You're not angry that I caused a big mess?" Mittelt asked while taking glances at me, waiting for my answer.

"Yes, I am angry that you caused a big mess but you didn't do it on purpose right?" Ray said and opened the Marketplace for certain items. "No! I did it on purpose… I just wanted to be useful because unlike Raynare and Kalawarna, I'm not strong enough to take on missions."

"Then, you are forgiven. Besides, this isn't really much of a problem for me." Ray said before taking out an almost humanoid robot and input some command with the user interface device that came along with it. "There. That should clean up the mess. I'm also too tired to bother about it. Let's have our lunch. I'm starving already." Ray said and Cheshire also joined and cheered "Lunch! Lunch! Lunch!" with her kitty mewled along trying to support her master.

Ray opens the Marketplace again and browses the Shokugeki no Souma world category to find an appropriate meal for everyone.

"Cheshire, do you want salmon again?" Ray asked "Mhn! Salmon Yummy! Cheshire wants salmon! salmon!" She reacted as usual when salmon is involved. Ray didn't buy the usual plain cooked salmon fillet and go extravagant on a dish called Yuan-Style Grilled Tokishirazu. A grilled salmon dish made by Yukihira Souma team in their first assignment of the Promotion Exams.

For Mittelt, he plan to make it a punishment which he choose Jet Black Curry Laksa. A seafood noodles dish that smell incredibly awful but taste surprisingly great for those who dare to eat. He also wanted to a side dish of the legendary grilled squid dressed in peanut butter but he refrained since food supposed to taste good and not traumatized people.

Then finally, Ray select a simple omurice dish since this one is actually among the cheaper options unlike the previous two which cost more than a million points as a finished dish compare to ingredients that cost only 200k per bag with two fillets. This is fine, Ray reassure himself since his recent progress in grinding netted him a dozen billions of SAS dollar. Although the balance now only around 4 billions, there is still plenty to splurge on luxury once in a while.

Little did he knew, Ray will regret his decision for two separate reason later…

He served the dishes that cost him more than 2 million points on the table. He saw all three including the kitty cover their nose when the Jet Black Curry Laksa appeared on the table. The kitty even gagged before fall stiff on the floor with her tongue extended outside of her mouth. However, when Ray take out her meal of diced premium salmon, she instantly wake up and mewled to demand her food too. Ray serve the diced premium salmon for this overdramatic kitty on a plate next to Cheshire's seat.

"Papa, why is that thing smell very bad… Is that even a food?" Cheshire complained about the stench that smell like rotten fish. "Well, this is a punishment for certain someone that ruined the kitchen." Ray said before looking at Mittelt and showing her gesture that tell her its her food.

"Don't worry too much about Mittelt, it may smell bad but it actually tastes very good." Ray assured Mittelt while chuckling which didn't look convincing enough but she trusts that Ray will not feed her inedible food. Mittelt hardens her resolve and takes a bite of the Laksa. At first, her face showed disgust. A bite later, she is devouring the food like a starving person.

Cheshire looked in disbelief while the kitten had its jaw opened wide and the salmon cube in her mouth fell back to the plate. "Nya! Is that food really delicious? Cheshire asked in disbelief while Ray assured that the food really is delicious. "Do you wanna try it, Cheshire?" Ray asked but Cheshire shook her head and immediately ate her own grilled salmon.

After they ate their meal, Ray went into his Mission lobby to do a few important things. Mainly he surpassed yet another big milestone of leveling up. He reached level 300 and he had notification that he had yet to check.

———

[Congratulations for reaching level 300, System 2.0 will be installed.]

[System will be overhauled and basic functions buffed.]

[Mission mode will undergo major upgrades.]

———

There is only one notification which is from reaching level 300. When he checked the buffed functions, what he saw was upgrades in his SAS 4 system such as his status and skill trees. His stats are increased greatly and indirectly by the upgrade from skill trees. All of the SAS skills received a buff that increased the duration, percentage etc.

When Ray checked his status, his HP had doubled and his EP tripled. Even though the majority of his skills have become very strong, he is confident to fight Baraqiel again and have a higher chance of winning.

———

Name: Raymond D'Angelo (Ray)

Level: 300

Title: Lolimancer

HP: 118,000 (+280 HP/S)

BD: 118,000 (HP regen will regen durability if HP is Max)

(BD=Barrier durability)

EN: 1100 (+30 EN/S)

———

Reload Modifier: 25%

Movement Modifier: 40%

Recovery Time: 15S

Crit Chance: +32%

Crit Damage: +147%

(Double the base Damage)

SAS 4 $: 4B

SP: 0

———

(General Skill)

Fast Reload (0/25)

-Decrease reload time

(+4.8% per level, +120% max)

Fast Movement (0/25)

-Increase movement speed

(+3.2% per level, +80% max)

Toughness (12/25)

-Increase max HP

(+6000 per level, +150,000 max)

Health Regen (1/25)

-Passively regenerates health over time

(+8 HP/S per level, +200 HP/S max)

Energy Boost (25/25)

-Increase max energy

(+12 Energy per level, +600 Energy max)

Energy Regen (25/25)

-Increase the amount of energy regenerated per seconds

(+0.4 EN/S per level, +10 EN/S max)

Recovery Time (0/25)

-Reduce your recovery time when knocked down

(-10.4% down time per level, -260% max)

Pay Grade (25/25)

-Increase cash reward

(+32% per level, +800% max)

Body Armour Expert (0/25)

-Increase the total resistance for all armour equipped.

(+16% per level, +400% max)

Field Supplies (0/25)

-Get extra ammo and premium ammo when looting special loot(special crate) or looting ammunition.

(32% of clip size per level, 800% of clip size max)

Grenade Damage (0/25)

-Grenade do extra damage

(+32% damage per level, +800% damage max)

Critical Shot (0/25)

-Increase chance of critical shot and critical damage

(+2% chance and +16% damage per level, +50% chance and +400% damage max)

———

(Heavy Class Skill)

Hold The Line (25/25)

-While standing still, increases damage and allow bullet to penetrate zombie

(30 energy cost, 60S cooldown)

(Initial, 16S duration and +60% damage/ Max, 60s durations and +400% damage)

Heavy Gear (25/25)

-Reduces (%) negative movement modifier from equipments

(-4% per level, max -100%)

Tough Body (25/25)

-Increase damage resistant to all type of damage

(+3.2% per level, max +80%)

Die Another Day (25/25)

-Become 99% immune to damage for a short time

(40 energy cost, 50 sec cooldown)

(Initial, 4S active duration, max 20S active duration)

Brute Strength (0/25)

-Increased brute strength allow you to push through obstacles and damage enemies in your path

(Initial, +100% push force and 60 damage to obstacles/Max, +1060% push force, 1500 damage to obstacles)

Concussion (25/25)

-Shots have a chance to stun enemies

(Initial, 10% chance, 1 sec stun/ Max 50% chance, 4 sec stun)

Aerial Bombardment (25/25)

-Powerful orbital strike deals huge damage in a targeted area. [Unlock LV 15]

(60 energy cost, 90 sec cooldown)

(Initial, 12 blasts, 4000 damage each, 8m blast radius per blast/ Max, 28 blasts, 64000 damage each, 8m blast radius per blast. Can switch to 1 powerful bomb.)

———

Then the next upgrade which is the Mission mode that added more maps and mostly surprisingly is he now able to challenge the mission in squad of 4. This means he can bring Mittelt and the others to fight and grow stronger with him. The lobby however didn't have a limit which means he can bring Cheshire in here without worry about leaving her alone when he is challenging Mission mode.

Overall, this is a great upgrade that helped him immensely. Only if this came earlier, he wouldn't even need to join Grigori or worry about anyone in this world. He can stay in the lobby indefinitely and keep getting stronger. When he finally goes out, he can easily trample his enemies.

Well, life just doesn't always go our way…

—————

(Note: Update will be very slow as I stated in my other novel because I have to go for an internship soon.)