『Ding! Congratulation. You have killed 11 Armored Spirit Archers. You have gained 22 shards of the Arrow Force skill and the right to extract True Dragon’s fire essence out of them.』
The system’s notification rang in his mind. All his foes were dead. However, he still didn’t step out of his hiding spot.
In his ghostly form, Roy could be compared to a vampire as he was able to see in the dark, and unlike humans, he had a 360° view of his environment. He was able to see everything around him. He had no blind spots. The best part was that his sixth sense was still with him. He concluded that it wasn’t something unique only to his human form.
Roy was just a ghost right now.
However, not only was he able to sense no fluctuations taking place in the energy of the world and the mana in his surroundings, but after seeing no ripples in the fabric of reality, he was also able to determine that no Armored Spirit Archers were hiding in the void around him.
‘I am no longer under the threat of getting sneak-attacked by these bastards. Let’s get out of this stifling darkness.’
Roy wasn’t a creature of darkness. He was a human who hadn’t even adapted to the dark. He didn’t like being one with it. Thus, he stepped out of it, transforming back to his human form. The second he did that, the luminous stones close by lit up, brightening up his surroundings.
Roy’s eyes glimmered as he took in the sight of fifteen lifeless Armored Spirit Archers slumped on the floor. He had killed the corrupted spirits that used to reside within them by destroying the suspicious magic circles on their backs. Now, they were just treasurable items waiting to be picked up by him.
“The True Dragon’s Fire Essences in them should be more than enough to level up my physique several times.”
Roy permitted the strongest system to do its thing.
『A total of 100 units of True Dragon’s Fire Essence have been extracted from the corpses of 15 Armored Spirit Archers.』
『They will now be transferred to you.』
A hundred dust-like particles came out of them, hovering over their corpses.
In a flash, they entered Roy’s body and frantically refined his Physique!
The True Dragon’s Fire Essences flowed endlessly throughout his body like lava, melting some of his organs, scorching his bones, reducing a few of them to bone dust, burning his skin, and entering dozens of his blood vessels with such intensity that they exploded.
Roy’s face twisted in agony. The sensation of shooting pain filled him. However, he was so used to pain that he kept his calm, screaming not even once. Anyone else would have already died, but not him. He knew that this much wasn’t able to kill him. He knew he would survive this. So he didn’t panic.
『The self-healing skill has been activated.』
『-25 HP.』
『All your wounds have been healed.』
His body regenerated and, like a sponge in the water, started to pick up and swallow the True Dragon’s fire essences one by one. His skin was tempered! His bones were tempered! His organs were tempered! His blood was tempered! His blood vessels were tempered! Even his cells were refined! Every single inch of his body, inside or outside, was tempered!
『Ding! Congratulation. You have successfully tempered your physique using a hundred True Dragon’s fire essences.』
『Your physique has leveled up six times!』
『Your level-2 innate energy refining body has advanced to level-8 innate energy refining body.』
『Your energy bar has increased to 5500 points』
『You can release 3000 wisps of mana and 30000 units of aura from your body instantly.』
『In terms of energy absorption and emission, you have exceeded aura masters with Three Aura Meridians opened.』
‘My level-8 innate energy refining body is a high-level Earth-grade Physique. It’s only three-level ups away from advancing to a Sky-grade Physique!” Roy exclaimed.
What did he need to level it up three times? A total of 80 True dragon’s fire essences. How could he get them? By hunting 10-20 Armored Spirit Archers.
Roy sunk into his shadow.
After becoming a ghost, he crawled deeper into the corridors in search of Armored Spirit Archers.
He found one after fifteen minutes.
It was walking in the corridor all alone.
It was dark, and Roy looked no different than the darkness of the corridor, so the Armored Spirit Archer completely missed and walked past him.
Its back was exposed to him.
Roy’s eyes turned murderous.
He transformed into his mist form and immediately flew towards the monster that was ignorant of its impending doom.
“Die!” After arriving right behind it, he took out Ghost Chaser, activating its runic effect, causing its weight to increase to 15 tonnes. His hands surged with strength as he swung it horizontally.
It smashed into its back.
“Boom!”
The collision caved in its back and left its magic circle in a completely shattered state.
Thud!
It fell to its knees with a dull thud, the floor cracking as a result.
It had died without knowing what killed it.
『Ding! Congratulation. You have killed a rank-2 Armored Spirit Archer. You have gained two shards of the Arrow Force skill and nine True Dragon’s fire essence.』
『Your physique has been slightly tempered.』
『It has taken three steps towards the ninth level of innate energy refining body. (3/10 XP)』
This notification was ignored as Roy felt energy fluctuations behind him.
He immediately acted and stored its corpse in his subspace before sinking into his shadows, becoming a ghost and one with the darkness of the corridor. He disappeared from where he stood instantly.
Space distorted where he once stood, and an armored spirit archer emerged, sniffing the air like a dog and looking around.
“Hmm. Weird. I definitely sensed a Baldwin. A pure-blooded scent is too sweet and hard to be mistaken for something else. I am sure he was here a moment ago. Where did he disappear to?”
Then… it suddenly heard a man’s voice. It came from just behind it. It didn’t have a heart, but its body still trembled as if it was terrified.
“To sign your death warrant.” Roy swung his sword down, and tens of lightning bolts that were crackling around it flew out, thundering down on its back.
The Armored Spirit was too slow to avoid them, and thus, It felt them exploding on its back, destroying its soul.
Its magic circle was destroyed.
Another one bit the dust.
『Ding! Congratulation. You have slain a rank-2 Armored Spirit Archer. You have gained two shards of the Arrow Force skill and ten True Dragon’s fire essence.』
『Your physique has been slightly tempered.』
『It has taken four more steps towards the ninth level of innate energy refining body. (7/10 XP)』
Thanks to his sixth sense, Roy sensed that another one was using spatial movements to fastly appear in this location.
He disappeared into the darkness, becoming like a ghost. They could dip in and out of the void, while he could become one with the darkness and step out of it as he liked. A the same time, he cleared out the crime scene using subspace. A black hole opened beneath its body, sucking it inside. Then, closed, vanishing.
Now that there was no corpse left, the approaching monster’s vigilance wasn’t aroused after it reached this place.
“No… I am sure I heard a loud boom coming from this direction. Something must have caused it, but what?”
“Me.”
A thick voice laced with evil was heard.
“W-what?” Scared to no end, It jumped out of its place. It became more cautious. Then, it moved in a circle, looking around for the source of the voice but found no one but itself in the darkness.
“What the… is this place haunted by ghosts, or am I hearing things?” said a spirit.
It kept looking around in bewilderment, not realizing that just behind it, a shadow rose from the ground. A hand came out of it. It was holding a thick sword. Black lightning was crackling around it. These crackles made it realize that something was behind it, and immediately it tried to jump away from whatever it was!
….
Author Note:-
Ever experienced a patch in which a class became too powerful because of its broken skill combos? This situation is exactly like that!