I nodded.
"It's okay but how do you know?"
"My brother told me," she said. "These are owned by the army and the royal family. They're only given to Elite Unit members on probation, based on merit.
Believe me when I say this—these things are rare. If my grandfather put them here, it means he's investing a good amount of his personal wealth this time."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? So what is it?"
North answered without hesitation.
"These are skill cores. The blue ones can level up a skill, while the gold ones evolve an existing skill."
I blinked in surprise.
"Seriously? So, with this one, I have three blue skill cores and one gold skill core. Does that mean I can level up a skill three times and then evolve it?"
She shook her head.
"No. A skill can only be leveled up once using these cores, and it can only be evolved once. That's why these are given to Elite Unit members on probation—because they only work below level 25. Once you get a class, they become useless."
That gave me a lot to think about. I had two skills at the moment, and if I was going to use these cores, I wanted to push them as far as possible on my own first.
Then, I'd use the cores to break through any limits. And if I wanted to evolve both skills, I'd need to hunt down another golden skill core.
I nodded.
"Well, that settles it. Our goal is simple, we hunt as many blue and gold skill cores as possible. Since I didn't do anything for this one, you guys can have it."
Then I turned to North.
"By the way, do you have any skills?"
She shook her head.
"No. We were supposed to receive skills from our commander after the welcome ceremony and pick ones that fit the class we wanted, but as you know, we got thrown straight into this."
She crossed her arms.
"The army has a lot of good skills, and for Elite Units, they offer even better ones."
I shrugged.
"I'm sure the commander has something planned. Maybe once our little one-month forest vacation is over, we'll finally get to choose."
I looked around at the massacre we had caused and the other unit members still engaged with a few lower-level Bisons.
Turning to the duo, I said.
"Alright, let's move. We need to pick up the pace. I am sure other people will start clearing the checkpoints soon and if they can't then the Abominations will have the cores. Also I want to be as close to the center as possible before the next command."
The duo agreed with me.
Once North finished collecting her arrows, we sprinted toward the next checkpoint.
****
It was the 13th day and we were set to receive our second command.
We sat in a small clearing, waiting.
North was fiddling with her bow, absentmindedly running her fingers along the string.
Steve was flipping an empty water bottle between his hands, his expression blank.
As for me, I was staring at the massive volcano dominating the horizon.
The thing was huge—no, bigger than huge. It was enormous, towering over everything, a reminder of how small we were in comparison.
The area around it was barren, stripped of life.
No trees, no grass, just cracked, blackened earth stretching toward its base. The ground looked unstable, uneven, like the volcano had erupted recently.
Even from this distance, waves of heat shimmered in the air, making it clear that this thing wasn't dormant.
Our journey here had been slow.
Along the way, we targeted various checkpoints, but most had already been cleared, either by other unit members or by Abominations drawn to the Essence cores.
According to North, Abominations were naturally attracted to the cores because of the concentrated Essence inside them.
That explained why we kept arriving at checkpoints only to find them looted or swarmed by lower-level monsters.
After multiple detours and delays, we finally made it here.
Personally, the journey had been dull. There hadn't been a single Abomination above level 10, and at this point, I could take them out with a single punch.
At first, North and Steve had been entertained, but after a couple of days, even they got bored.
We had managed to find four more blue skill cores, bringing our total to seven blue and one gold. But that was it. No more golden cores.
We had hoped for more, and though we weren't exactly disappointed, the lack of progress made it hard to stay excited.
Right now, we were sprawled out lazily for a different reason—our food was gone.
It wasn't supposed to run out so quickly, even with the three of us sharing. But during the journey, we had learned something about North.
She was a glutton.
She ate more than Steve, and Steve ate a lot.
She ate often, constantly complaining about the food, but still stuffing it down like she was starving. No amount of warnings about our limited supply could stop her.
If anything, she seemed completely unbothered. Her reasoning?
"My grandfather won't let me starve," she had said with complete confidence.
And honestly, after seeing what he had done for her during the checkpoint hunt, I was starting to believe it too. There had to be a solution coming soon.
I exhaled and laid down on the grass hands behind my head.
Not much has changed for me other than the level ups and progress I made in my skill. I still wore the same torn up pants only. And I was clean and fresh. I had to be since North was around.
I liked her company as well.
She was cute and looked beautiful to me all the time. She was hard working too. She practiced her archery whenever we were not hunting. She was fast on her legs and her perception was high too.
She was funny, passionate about killing Abominations, hated Eternals, was hardworking, stubborn, confident, and surprisingly sweet when she wasn't complaining about food.
I chuckled at the thought. I had been praising her a little too much in my head lately.
Shaking my head I pulled up my status to check my progress.
[Status]
----------------------------------------------
Name : Billion Ironhart
Race : Human
Class : N/A
Laws : N/A
Level : 14
Talent :
- Generator 2
- Essence : 10/10
Attributes :
- Strength: 38
- Constitution: 30
- Dexterity: 26
- Psynapse : 36
Unused Stats: 0
Skills:
- Essence Manipulation (Innate) Level 2
- Psynapse Boost (Innate) Level 2
----------------------------------------------
I had leveled up twice. As we progressed, gaining levels became harder since the highest Abominations I could find were only level 10.
I allocated both level-ups into Strength and Psynapse and used my Essence store to reinforce Constitution and Dexterity, gaining eight permanent stat points thanks to my talent.
Charging up Generator had become a routine by now. I pretended to be angry, smashing pillars just to absorb the lightning flickering across them. A bit dramatic, but it worked.
Since awakening, I had personally gained a total of 99 stat points, while a normal person without the Generator talent would have only reached 70 at level 14.
I was nearly 30 points ahead, and I was confident the gap would only continue to widen.
I had also leveled up my skill [Psynapse Boost].
I started using it more often, even while walking to get familiar with it. The new level enhanced my cognitive abilities even further.
Focusing, I pulled up my [Talent] panel to check my progress toward leveling up Generator.
100/200.
Halfway there.
If things kept going at this pace, I was sure I could level up Generator again before the month ended.
Finally, I looked up at the floating projector to look at our rankings.
[Level Rankings]
-----------------------------------------------
1. Billion Ironhart : Level – 14
2. Steve Harper : Level – 12
3. North Winter : Level – 11
4. Sarah Gibson : Level – 9
5. Mark Salt : Level – 9
6. King Holt : Level – 8
7. .
8. .
9. .
10. .
-----------------------------------------------
Steve and North were right on my heels.
As I was lost in thought, the ringing sound snapped me back to reality.
Tiring… Tiring….