Chapter 39: The Secret Level

As soon as Stroph fired the Lotus, his house began to fall to pieces. The explosion was unbelievably powerful, the recoil sent Stroph flying off and crashing into a wall, after that he had to dodge the falling debris.

Stroph quickly got out and looking at the pile of rocks, he remembered that Violet was still home. He immediately ran toward his ruined house, but just as he took a few steps, a huge piece of wall flew up and a bandaged arm appeared from the rubble. Seconds later, Violet crawled out, shook off the dust and looked at him.

Stroph was incredibly happy at this moment and the smile on his face shone like the sun. Unfortunately for Violet, he was so much happier not that she had survived, but the thing she had been able to keep.

< My God, Violet, she`s just some kind of miracle! Who else but her would think of saving cheesecake while your house was falling apart!> Stroph kept praising Violet's cleverness to himself.

After a while, Violet calmly approached to him and said: "Master, I was able to save only this dessert, everything else is under the rubble, what was that explosion?" Violet was incredibly strong physically, so even if the whole house had collapsed on her, she wouldn't have died. But she didn`t know what had just happened to their house.

Stroph had no idea what to say, but after ten seconds he started scratching the back of his head and quietly said: "Well.. I was testing my new weapon and there was an accident, we could say, I miscalculated the power." Stroph was not thrilled that he had actually destroyed his own house and it was completely accidental, and moreover, he would have to buy a new one.

Upon hearing his words, Violet only nodded slightly and handing him the cheesecake, said: "Master, you need to eat the dessert, otherwise, it will go bad very quickly without a refrigerator."

Stroph didn't know what to say, on the one hand he was happy to be offered a delicious dessert at a time like this, but on the other hand it really scared him how unperturbed Violet was in this situation. And, eventually, their house fell apart, not a plate.

But whatever Stroph thought about, few seconds later, the cheesecake was in his mouth. He quickly finished it, then began to ask himself about what he should do.

< I could call Cristo and go to the monster hunting, or I could buy a house and go as early as tomorrow.> Stroph couldn't make up his mind, but the sudden voice of "Snow White Darkness" helped him make a decision.

The eerie voice echoed in Stroph's head, <Boy, let's already go killing, you'll figure out where to sleep later.> It said nothing more, leaving the final decision to Stroph.

He thought for a while longer, then looked at the girl in front of him and said: "Violet, you're certainly not fully recovered yet, but would you like to come with me to hunt monsters? You don't have to worry about your safety."

Stroph wasn't sure if he should be in such a hurry, but Violet's physical strength, indeed, was simply abnormal.

Violet only nodded in response and waited for his actions.

Stroph realized that buying a house could be indefinitely postponed, so he put the Lotus in the black case and started calling Cristo, selecting his number from the contact list.

As usual Cristo answered almost instantly, not even a single beep passed.

Cristo's joyful and cheerful voice was heard immediately, "Look, who is here! Stroph White in person! I take it you're finally ready to go to the monsters?"

Cristo hit the nail on the head at once, so Stroph simply answered him, "Yes, call your men and let them escort me out. You know where I live"

"All right, wait ten minutes and one of my best subordinates will come to you. Good luck." After these words, Cristo disconnected from the call.

Violet heard the entire conversation perfectly, so she didn't ask any questions and was just waiting quietly for the car to come for them.

Stroph was thinking about "Negative Energy, and how he could learn to use it in any situation. He didn't fully know all its effects and uses yet, but even a single shot from the Lotus was already worth the time spent learning about "Negative Energy".

The difficulty was that you could only control it when you wanted it for hundred percent, and there were no other thoughts or desires in your head. Pure selfishness.

<OK, I need training, and combat experience. When you are fighting learn ten times faster than sitting at a book>. After these thoughts, Stroph stopped thinking about controlling "Negative Energy" and just stared at the wreckage of the house in front of him, waiting for Cristo's subordinate to arrive.

Some minutes later, he got bored and decided to check his characteristics by opening his status.

[Name: Stroph White (History Collector)

[Race: Man]

[Level: 6 (167/7500 exp)

[Titles - 3]

[Histories - 10]

[Strength - 14]

[Dexterity - 16]

[Endurance - 13]

[Intellect - 18]

[Luck - 0]

[Spirit - 0]

[Negative Energy - 17]

[Skills - 2]

<Аh? A new characteristic? Bookmark, what is it?>Stroph, roughly understood what "Negative Energy" meant, but it was much better to know exactly what it meant than to guess.

[It came from your contact with "Negative Energy", 17 being the value of "Negative Energy" at the moment, in case you were wondering, you spent 33 units of "Negative Energy" on the recent shot.]

Stroph didn't ask anything else, he understood everything and had no questions. But, he was a little upset that he spent most of his "Negative Energy" on one single shot.

A couple of minutes later, a big black SUV pulled up and a girl with pitch-black hair and incredibly pale skin got out.

She walked up to Stroph, bowed slightly and said: "Mr. Stroph, Mr. Cristo sent me to you, my name is Vanessa Leth, please, get into the car." After these words, she looked at Violet and with a strange expression on her face asked: "That girl, is she coming with you?"

Stroph didn't answer her, but headed straight for the jeep, gesturing for Violet to follow him. Vanessa did not react at all, simply got back into the jeep and sat at the driver's seat.

They were driving for quite a long time, and after about two hours they reached a huge building with many guards, standing next to it, and for some reason Stroph was sure that every one of them was at least a second rank fighter.

He was greatly surprised that such strong men were used as mere guards.

Vanessa got out of the jeep, opened the door for Stroph, and then led them straight to the entrance.

The two guards at the front doors were wary at first when they saw the black Jeep, but as soon as they realized Vanessa was coming their way, they immediately stepped back, making way for her.

No one checked or stopped them, they quickly reached the lift and after an incredibly long descent, they finally reached the very place where many strong men were fighting monsters.

Stroph was horrified at the number of different monsters and battles he noticed only glanced down at the giant funnel in front of him.