Chapter 97: Ups and Downs

Thanks to the black fireball thrown at him, Aurus knew that Fuschar was not dead from the last strike he slashed out, but instead, barely living just so it could retaliate.

Turning his field of vision around to look at Fuschar, Aurus could easily see that the vitality remaining within Fuschar’s body just barely let it send out a single attack that could possibly turn the tides. Sadly, the attack Fuschar sent out could not even injure Aurus that much, only reducing his HP by a few hundred at most. Then again, Aurus could not help but ask himself, “Shouldn’t the Battle module’s plan allow me to kill my enemy with certainty? Why did it leave the enemy with a small amount of HP to retaliate?”

He then looked at the Battle module screen that popped up after looking at Fuschar once more, finally seeing his mistake after a quick skim.

“Ah.” It seemed that Aurus forgot the final move on the Battle module’s plan.

Intensifying the aura his new staff, Staff No. 2, radiated, he conjured a magic circle within his Spell Core that was filled with abstruse and mysterious runes. Not long after, a blade made out of extremely dense Wind energy particles was formed on top of Aurus’ body, to which Aurus hastily maneuvered to slash towards Fuschar’s body.

Swish!

“Aarrrghh!!!”

With another shrill cry coming out of Fuschar’s mouth that gradually quieted as time passed, Aurus was finally certain that Fuschar was dead for sure this time.

Ding!

With a notification sound resounding throughout his mind, Aurus was now extremely sure that Fuschar was dead. He even saw the particles that remained from Fuschar’s body get absorbed by his body.

With the Life and Will particles being automatically omitted by the system’s notifications due to his [Life] and [Will] being maxed out, he could still see that he gained Genesis and OS Points, to which he gained 5 and 1 respectively.

‘Experience +10000’

‘50% of the user’s gained experience shall be shared to the user’s pet.’

‘Congratulations! Fenrir has leveled up to Level 43!’

‘Congratulations! Aurus has leveled up to Level 10!’

‘5 Genesis Points have been obtained.’

‘1 OS Point has been obtained.’

“Oh? Fenrir has already reached Level 43? Then that means it won’t take long for him to evolve to S-grade!” Although Aurus noticed that with every boss he killed, Fenrir would level up, it was only at this moment did Aurus truly take notice of it since allowing Fenrir to evolve to S-grade would let him kill bosses faster, with Fenrir flanking attacks and him dishing out attacks.

He hovered over the ground of the Inferno Grounds for a bit as he tried to recall the list of bosses he could kill at his current level. “I’ve already killed 2 bosses out of the list I made, which has 10 bosses in total. I shouldn’t waste more, lest Herellia gets mad at me.”

Although he was quite sure that Horell told Herellia about him going away to hunt and strengthen himself, he could not help but have this nagging feeling at the back of his head, gnawing away at his worries.

“[Gale Hover]! [Child of the Wind]!”

Using two movement boosting spells consecutively, with the latter being learned when his Spell Core reached Middle grade, Aurus bolted out of the Inferno Grounds, heading for the next area in his list to kill its boss and earn OS Points at a faster time.

…

Within the core of the Tempest Cliff…

A few days have passed since Chonk was finally enlightened on the lacking part of his Tempering skill, [Tempest Genesis Rebirth]. Due to the sheer difficulty of the Tempering skill he created, the process of his transition to a Rank 1 class was extremely lengthy when compared to other transition process, with the quickest only needing half an hour.

But with its lengthy transition process came its benefits. Due to the nature of Chonk’s skill, the structure of his body, which was previously thick and sturdy, now become slimmer and sleeker, allowing one to feel the nature of Wind radiating around his body without sacrificing the original qualities of his body, which was being sturdy in its defense. Not only that, his body grew in size as well, around twice his original size.

And finally, the ray of light that shone upon him at the instant he fully mastered his Tempering skill, this ray of light imbued a bit of the natural laws of Wind on his forehead, creating a small mark of a blade on it.

A few minutes later, the ray of light, which shone upon him all this time throughout the transition process, gradually dissipated as Chonk’s consciousness finally awakened to the newfound feeling of a transitioned body.

It took a while for Chonk to adjust to his new sleek body, doing some basic movements at first to get accustomed to his surely heightened stats, before doing more and more complex movements with fluidity and grace.

Finally knowing the limits of his newly transitioned body, Chonk could not help but feel elated at the improvement the transition gave to his body, laughing to himself. “Although it took me a few years to finally master my Tempering skill, the reward I got from it was definitely worth it. Not only has my strength and vitality grown many times stronger, my speed has shown the greatest improvement, not even comparable to my previous speed!”

Basking in the joy of transitioning, Chonk then felt a splitting pain in his head for a moment before dissipating the next instant after, as if it did not occur at all. He tried to look into the insides of his mind for a bit, before discovering with great joy that the benefits of transitioning did not stop with increasing his stats, it also gave him innate skills that he could use!

“I should check the skills that I obtained after I create an Ascension skill!” While walking out of the core of the Tempest Cliff, a ringing sound resounded throughout his mind, stopping him in his tracks.

“Oh? Who could be calling at this time?” Since Chonk was finally finished transitioning to a Rank 1 class, his method of communication, which was previously sealed due to his wish of not being disturbed, was now unlocked, which consisted of calling through the mind.

Accepting the call, Chonk then asked, “Who is it?”

Not long after Chonk was finished asking, a voice Chonk was familiar with, replied, “Master, I feel like I’m about to breakthrough to the Animate level. Do not worry for I still have the Master’s ambitions in mind. The class I’ll evolve into will definitely not let you down.”

At first, Chonk was shocked as he did not expect that the one who would call him was a spy he sent out long ago, the most secret spy he had placed in one of the three alliances that governed the Tempest Cliff. Dumbfounded for a bit, it took Chonk a while to compose himself before saying, “As long as you have my ambitions in mind, then I don’t mind what class you choose.”

“Alright Master, I won’t disturb you any longer. From the aura I can feel through our call alone, it seems that you have successfully transitioned into a Rank 1 class, Master. Congratulations.”

Lightly chuckling, Chonk then replied, “Thanks. I’ll also congratulate you in your advance to the Animate level in advance…”

“Horell.”

…

After about a week of traversing multiple regions in order to hunt down their bosses, Aurus was finally done clearing the list of bosses that he could kill at his current level, with many of his skills obtaining a decent upgrade. Although he wanted to evolve most of them at this point, he could not wait but evolve another thing first as the thing he wanted to evolve first was more important than his skills.

Using all of the movement boosting spells he had in his arsenal, he darted towards the insides of the Tempest Cliff, not even making a stop on the base of the Tempest Branch Alliance, but instead, heading towards the sole building he owned, the Tempest Cliff Inheritance.

Whoosh!

Since the distance between the outskirts of the Tempest Cliff and the Tempest Ruin could be easily traversed within an hour with Aurus’ current capabilties, it did not take long for Aurus to enter the Tempest Cliff Inheritance and hover at the center of a jade green hall, a place he felt somewhat nostalgic to.

“Thankfully, all of the extra experience that could not be used did not go to waste,” Aurus could not help but say with excitement. Yet not long after, this excitement was turned into a sour feeling as he added, “But I wonder…”

“Why did I have such incredibly bad luck in killing those bosses?”

Throughout the 8 remaining bosses that he had to kill, almost all of them were only hanging by a thread near their death, rather than being surely killed by the plans formulated by the module. Almost every time, he had to suffer against the last minute retaliation from the bosses, which did not hurt at all, but felt annoying.

“Not only that, even the last boss I wanted to kill was alerted of my presence before I could attack! What’s wrong with my luck these past few days?”

Putting his problem of bad luck at the back of his head for now, he calmed his emotions down as he commanded the system, “Summon Fenrir.”

Whoosh!

Not long after, a large wooden wolf appeared in front of Aurus, to which this wooden wolf hastily screamed out, “Master!”

Since it was a long time after Fenrir was last released into the world, Fenrir felt a sense of longing for his master, wanting to snuggle up to him at the instant he was summoned.

“I’m sorry for not needing your help earlier, Fenrir,” Knowing the emotions his pet felt, Aurus could not help but sincerely apologize. “But this time, that’s going to change!”

“Are you ready?” Aurus looked at Fenrir straight in the eyes…as if they both had eyes in the first place.

Having a hunch as to what his master was about to do, Fenrir wagged his tail back and forth in a quick manner as he shouted, “Yes, Master! I am always already!”

“Alright then! From now on, you will never leave my side!”

“Evolve Fenrir!”