"FUCK!" Alicar roared as he summoned a fireball in his palm and smashed it into the vine bear’s face directly, the flames scorching its fur and skin.
That was enough to make it let go of him, though Alicar’s shoulders still throbbed with agonizing pain, blood trickling down his arm.
’I thought I was invincible with this class of mine,’ Alicar thought, his mind racing as he stumbled backward. ’But... I’m not strong enough. I need more.’
He was far too weak right now, and that realization hit him harder than any monster ever could.
He needed to become stronger, that was the only way he could rise in this world.
He wanted to have the confidence to face anything head-on and never be looked down upon again, that was his ultimate goal, and he wouldn’t let anything stand in his way.
"Are you okay?" Iris shouted as she summoned a lightning strike that she sent toward the vine bear, who avoided it with a quick step. "Goddamn uncommon-rank monster!"
That was to show how much stronger a single rank could make a monster, as the vine bear was proving to be far more resilient than anything they had faced before.
Alicar launched many elemental attacks at the vine bear after, and so did Iris, attempting to overwhelm it with sheer volume of magic.
It tried to attack them several times, its massive claws swiping through the air with deadly intent, but fortunately, after around a minute of intense fighting, it finally fell to the ground, dead.
Ding!
[You have killed Lv.4 Vine Bear]
[You have levelled up to Level 3!]
[You have gained one point in every attribute, and two free attribute points.]
"One point in Constitution and the other in Spirit," Alicar mumbled as he felt himself grow stronger, the power surging through his body like a wave of warmth.
He was still bleeding though, and Iris quickly approached him to check up on him, her eyes filled with concern.
"We don’t have anything to heal you," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "Maybe we can—"
"—It’s fine," Alicar cut her off with a faint smile, "I feel better after leveling up."
Seeing the faint aura in his eyes, Iris simply nodded, deciding not to argue with him about it.
Less than an hour since using his class, Alicar had almost died, and that sobering thought lingered in his mind.
The Eternal Realm wasn’t just a game-like world, it was quite literally another dimension that truly existed and was linked to many other worlds.
This meant that dying here was permanent death, there was nothing you could do to help yourself if you died.
Which meant Alicar had been less than a second away from dying if not for Iris’ quick thinking and timely intervention.
At least he knew that having a teammate was a good thing, though that didn’t mean he would trust anyone easily, not after everything he had been through.
Alicar got up, and ignoring the blood trickling from his shoulder, he pointed forward with determination. "Let’s go. I want to get to level 4 before going back at least."
Two hours passed after that, with Iris and Alicar heading deeper into the forest, their confidence growing with each monster they defeated.
They encountered a few more groups of awakeners as they went deeper, but they mainly focused on dealing with any monster that came their way, not wanting to waste time on unnecessary interactions.
As an awakener leveled up, it became harder and harder to gain experience points, requiring more kills to progress.
Common-rank monsters were enough, but they would need to kill a lot of them, and so they did, cutting through the forest with growing efficiency until...
Ding!
[You have levelled up to Level 4!]
[You have gained one point in every attribute, and two free attribute points.]
"Haha, got it!" Alicar grinned widely, a surge of satisfaction washing over him.
He turned toward Iris who had just killed a group of level 5 monsters and leveled up as well, her face lit up with excitement.
Iris and Alicar without realizing it had actually stepped into a much darker area of the forest, where no one else seemed to be around.
It had been over an hour since they had seen any human alive, only monsters that were on their way.
"Jacob was level 4," Iris mumbled to herself, her eyes narrowing with determination. "Maybe level 5 will be enough for us to defend ourselves."
Likely no one in human base #3 was level 5 at this point after only a few hours of being in the Eternal Realm.
After all, as Rick said, the average awakener takes around a week to reach that point, which also meant the base had facilities for people to rest and recover.
"Sure, let’s just go for a little more, though I think the monsters’ level will start growing soon."
"My Spirit just hit 19," Iris puffed out her chest in pride, a confident smile on her face. "I don’t think they can do anything!"1
"Quickest way to get killed," Alicar sighed, shaking his head at her overconfidence. "But sure."
The duo decided to head forward through the dark forest, killing a few more monsters in their way until they emerged in another clearing.
This one was much larger than the other one they had found Jacob in, and in fact, there seemed to be something massive in the middle of it.
A massive temple stood in the middle of the clearing, emitting a powerful and faint aura that sent chills down Alicar’s spine.
The structure was ancient and imposing, covered in strange symbols that seemed to pulse with an eerie light.
"Wait... what?" Alicar muttered, his eyes widening in disbelief.
Iris’ eyes widened as well as she gazed at it, her breath catching in her throat.