Not my level again

The system flooded Jon's mind with messages after his victory over the red zombie and distracting him from his shock:

[You have obtained the requirement to evolve the skill 'Soldier Physique'.]

[You have acquired the skill 'Aura'.]

[Martial Expert (First Realm): You have obtained the minimum knowledge to practice martial arts. An expert is superior to a layman. As you train and learn, you will eventually forge your own martial path. All stats: +50.]

[Your *** level has increased.]

[You have reached 'Level 25' in the Unranked Realm. You need certain requirements to advance to the next realm.]

[To continue your path, these classes are available to aid in your journey:

1.Crafter

2.Spearman

3.Martial Artist

4.Blacksmith

5.Moon Dreamer]

Excitement surged through Jon, he had been waiting for this moment for a while now, but he quickly calmed down to evaluate the options before him.

"Let's see... Crafter, likely due to my mind world. Spearman is an obvious option, given my weapon. Martial Artist could work, so I'll set that aside. Blacksmith, another viable option... and Moon Dreamer."

The mention of Moon Dreamer caught his attention. There had to be a reason the system aligned him with the Moon, Sun, and Star skills. He recalled the description of Moon energy—Mystery, Dream, and the Unconscious. It was more than just an ability; it was a path he felt destined to follow.

Sighing, he muttered, "It's like the choice was never really mine. It's obvious which class I should pick."

He considered a situation where the paths were so closely related that it was hard to select one, but he even realized that those other paths, he could still learn them alongside his main.

He didn't even consider the temptation for quick power-ups that some might chase in haste, even without knowing that it could hinder them later.

But Jon had always been the cautious type and besides his trait wasn't going to allow him rush his decision just to gain momentary strength.

"I choose Moon Dreamer."

[You have chosen 'Moon Dreamer'. The Moon is closely tied to Mystery, Dream, and the Unconscious. Mystery represents what many seek yet fail to comprehend: the essence of life itself. You must fulfill certain requirements to unlock this class.]

[To obtain the Moon Dreamer class, you must:

Obtain two First Realm Cores (0/2)

Fight, kill, and absorb the remains of 10 First Realm beings (0/10)

Fight, kill, and absorb the remains of 30 Unranked Realm beings (0/30)

Evolve your main skill to the Second Realm.]

[Any remains obtained now will be counted once requirements are fulfilled.]

"What?!" Jon's voice rang out in shock. He had barely survived his previous battle, and now the system was demanding even greater feats.

"What if I hadn't unlocked Aura?" The thought of how close he'd come to death chilled him. He glanced back at the zombie's body, noting that despite all his efforts, the creature had no core or skill drop.

His shock of having defeating the zombie could not overwhelm what was happening at this moment.

"Great," he muttered, slightly disappointed. Still, he needed to move forward.

Jon resumed his journey toward the boys' dormitories. And, this time along the way, he experimented with mana. He had just unlocked a skill that was a concentration of mana, so he wanted to know if he could do more.

And he was realizing them, now just swinging his spear with just mana was enough to take out the lesser zombies that crossed his path.

And he also made several discoveries: like spreading mana allowed him to sense his surroundings up to 300 meters. When combined with his Moon energy, that range doubled to 600 meters, giving him almost complete awareness of the battlefield.

He found that using mana consciously to run made him faster. Even cleaning himself with mana worked, which surprised him. Mana, it seemed, was a versatile tool for almost anything.

"Just by mastering this, I will be 1.5 times stronger than before," Jon realized, grinning.

And as he approached the dormitory area, he saw the situation and it was really dire.

Unlike the female dormitories that were scattered around, the male dormitories were all together. And there were 11 dorms in total.

But now he found that only five buildings remained standing, while six had been reduced to rubble.

Even the intact dorms were heavily damaged—except for one: surprisingly it was the very dormitory Jon had once stayed in. It looked nearly untouched.

And there were some reasons that the boys' dormitory area was crawling with zombies. A lot of zombies at that.

He didn't know why there were a lot of zombies, but he first spread his newly learnt perception.

He wanted to scan the general level, but a number powerful zombies and they snapped their heads towards him. 'It seems, they can also notice it.' he nodded his head and got into a stance.

Without wasting time, the zombies started commanding the other zombies to attack.

This wasn't going to be easy because, he had to avoid damaging the already fragile buildings.

First by spreading his bluish fog, he latched onto some of the zombies, forcing them to collapse to the ground. However, his mana pool dropped by one-fifth, but it worked flawlessly. "Perfect." He smirked shrugging off the dip in his mana.

In one fluid motion, Jon swung his spear, decapitating the advancing zombies with ease. His movements were precise, and his strength didn't wane.

Suddenly, he raised his spear to block an attack of one of the five zombies that lunged at him.

CLANG

"You're not even at my level again," he taunted as blocked with ease. Then, he attacked,

SLASH.

THUD...THUD

This time the arms of the creature fell to the ground. Then he released his aura, and the zombie froze in it's place.

"Wait for your turn." He faced the zombies and said slowly. The other zombies froze too, seemingly paralyzed by the release of his aura.

'So that works too.' He tried to freeze their movement with his skill, but his aura alone could do it just fine.

And with minutes of exploring different uses of his mama, all the zombies were dead. "Whew." He released a breath as he looked at his aura.

He was totally meant to be struggling with first realm monsters at this stage, but the aura he just got seemed to be that much of a cheat.

So not thinking to much about it, he spent the next minutes shifting through the corpses for their cores.

Among the reaching 30 cores, two of cores from the zombies that were also on the threshold. But,bthe core he got was different from the normal unranked he was used to, which was a pleasant surprise. However, not laying any emphasis,

"Now everything is over." He looked at his former dorm. It was still a bit strange, the building was still standing but he would investigate.

So, as Jon approached his former dormitory, a thunderous RUMBLE echoed across the area.

BOOM...BOOM...BOOM

His head snapped toward the loud noise, eyes widening in disbelief. Charging toward him was a lion, except it was a six-meter-tall lion, its flaming mane and legs igniting the ground as it moved causing the explosion that was resounding.

Though, he had now found out that size didn't matter, but it didn't matter with this lion. If all the zombies he just fought were all in the border, this one had crossed it.

The concentrated mana around the lion's body, the precision odlf movements that wasn't random like the unranked and the devastation it's mere presence caused.

This was the first realm monster he had seen. And, maybe unfortunately, he couldn't allow that lion to get closer, if not it would not only destroy the remaining dormitories but also the survivors remaining.

Jon clenched his jaw. "One chance," he whispered. He couldn't let the beast reach the dormitory. He couldn't even risk fighting it one on one. So, he had only one chance to kill it. This time, he wasn't reducing any strength, no he was going to use everything he had.

Taking a deep breath, Jon assumed a stance and unleashed every ounce of his Aura, channeling his Moon energy into his spear.

The sky was already darkening around him, so it was the glow of his power and the lion's roaring flames that was lightening up the area.

At this point, the beast had just noticed him and sensed the danger. It raised it's paw filled with fire, ready to pounce, but that didn't matter for Jon. He activated the special effect of his shadow steps, vanishing and reappearing right in front of the creature.

And with all his strength focused on the tip of the spear, drove all of its power forward.

BOOOOOOM

And the result was shocking.

A massive hole was torn through the lion's skull. He could literally see the other side through it's head, but that didn't spare the spear. It disintegrated into powder from the sheer force of the attack. It was already been used for something way beyond it's capacity, but it still fulfilled it's last role.

The blood and gore of the lion showered Jon, drenching him in the remnants of his victory.

[You have obtained the remains of Level 27 'Mountain Fire Lion'.]

And Jon stood still, his breath heavy, drenched in the blood of the fallen beast. He smiled weakly still displaying his shock,

"Now that... was an attack."