The other people joined the cave entrance soon enough, and as their gaze landed on the dead monster’s corpse, almost all of them gasped in shock and disbelief at the sight before them.
Only Leon, Sera and Darian seemed overjoyed at the sight, their faces lighting up with genuine appreciation for what Alicar had accomplished during the night.
"Good job, Alicar," Leon slapped Alicar’s back with enough force to almost send him flying across the cave, his grin wide and approving. "Oops, but I mean, you managed to defeat that thing by yourself, that’s a real feat."
"Would have been better if you had been awake," Alicar groaned, rubbing his sore shoulder with obvious annoyance at the man’s enthusiasm.
"Oh, but I was awake," Leon shrugged casually, a faint smirk playing on his lips. "Ready to intervene if the situation got too bad."
At that moment, Alicar stared at him with a neutral expression, his eyes searching for any hint of deception in the man’s words, then simply sighed in resignation. "Oh well... sure, I guess."
"That was just to show you all what you needed to do to survive in this place," Leon spoke loudly, his voice surprising all the awakeners in the cave and capturing their attention. "The monsters in this realm range from level 6 to 10. This will be your task, all of you need to get to level 10, within the next few days preferably."
Even after a year of being trapped in this nightmare realm, Leon didn’t seem to have given up hope of leaving this place, his determination unwavering.
They couldn’t defeat the sun beast, that was a certainty, but the second exit condition, the portal at the top of the mountain, that was what he was aiming for with all his effort.
While the others were talking and ready to return to their "beds", Alicar on the other hand focused on his panel, his curiosity getting the better of him as he examined his status.
[Name: Alicar Soulveil]
[Class: Soulless (Unique), Elemental Mage (Special)]
[Talent: Infinite Evolution]
[True Title: None.]
[Level: 5 (26%)]
[Constitution: 9]
[Strength: 9]
[Agility: 11]
[Spirit: 19]
[Attribute Points: 0]
[Skills: Six-Elements Affinity, Elemental Attack]
[Class Skill: Contract Slot (1/1)]
’Reaching level 5 didn’t increase my contract slots,’ Alicar thought with a hint of frustration creeping into his mind. ’And didn’t do anything with my talent either.’
[Evolution Points: 0]
They were still at zero, completely useless and offering no benefit whatsoever to his current situation.
Most talents were pretty passive, allowing their owner to gain a massive advantage over others, but it was said that "active" talents like this one were the strongest among all.
The group returned to sleep after that, including Alicar, and Darian seemed to have set up the "better" barricades, ones that had spikes on them to deter any approaching monsters.
"Heh, most of my kills come from traps, that’s how I level up since I can’t fight," Darian explained with a proud grin on his face. "Gotta make use of what I have."
The trio actually always switched between who would watch for the night, and today was Leon’s turn, which is why he hadn’t slept at all during the night.
Now he decided to give up the "ruse" and simply positioned his back against the cave’s wall, near the entrance, ready to intervene if anything attacked.
Just like that, Alicar fell asleep again, and the others did too, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day for all of them.
The hours passed slowly, the darkness of the cave undisturbed as everyone rested from the previous day’s ordeal.
And as the sun began to rise once more over the dark forest, Leon woke up everybody in the cave with a loud announcement.
Many opened their eyes, hoping that all of what had happened had been a terrible dream, but as soon as they noticed the cave walls, their expression darkened once more.
Iris simply sighed as she got up, already knowing that it couldn’t be this easy to escape their nightmare.
And as for Alicar, he also opened his eyes, and the moment he did, something strange appeared before him.
Ding!
[Evolution Points: 1]
His talent’s panel actually appeared on its own, and strangely enough, it now displayed a 1 instead of a 0, a change that made his heart skip a beat.
"...Wait, what?" Alicar muttered, his eyes widening with confusion and surprise at the unexpected notification.
Alicar scratched his chin, thinking about what could have possibly happened overnight for this to happen, but nothing came to mind.
Perhaps he got Evolution Points when he slept, though that would surprise him a lot since it seemed too convenient.
After a few seconds, Alicar instead decided to check what he could use those evolution points on, opening his panel with anticipation.
And there it was, right next to his skills, a new addition that hadn’t been there before, a symbol that promised growth.
[Skills: Six-Elements Affinity (+), Elemental Attack (+)]
That "+" right next to the skills had not been present before, only appearing after he acquired that evolution point, which told Alicar all he needed to know about its purpose.
He decided to click on [Elemental Attack] at that moment, his heart pounding with anticipation as he made his choice.
[Skill: Elemental Attack]
[Rank: Rare]
[Level: 1 (+)]
[Evolve for 1 Evolution Point?]
Seeing that, Alicar’s eyes widened, his body trembling with excitement as he whispered, "Evolve!"
[Level 1 → 2]
’Oh shit!’ Alicar thought, his mind racing with the implications of what had just happened.
As said before, many awakeners spent months or years attempting to master their skills enough to level them up, or had to use incredibly rare items to achieve the same result.
And yet, with a single evolution point, Alicar was able to push his skill to another level while doing absolutely nothing at all.
He quickly checked the new description to see what had changed about his abilities.
[Skill: Elemental Attack]
[Rank: Rare]
[Level: 2 (+)]
[Description: Make use of the power of your affinities to conjure different attacks. Your proficiency with this skill will determine your attacks’ power. +20% Damage.]
The description remained the same except for the percentage damage that he added, meaning that Alicar’s skill was now much stronger than before.
He tried to click on the "+" once more to see what would happen, his curiosity getting the better of him as he explored the system.
Beep!
[Insufficient Evolution Points. Cost: 2]
’I guess the cost doubled,’ Alicar thought, his mind already calculating the implications of this discovery. ’Does it mean that it’ll keep doubling every time though?’
If that was the case, Alicar could quickly imagine himself hitting a wall as it would take months to level up his skill even once.
Regardless, he was still happy with what happened just now, and he vowed to find a way to increase his EP soon.
He wondered if he should tell Iris about what just happened, but right as he was about to do that, she was the one that approached him, a shocked expression on her face.
"Alicar!" she brought him to the side to make sure nobody heard, her voice barely above a whisper, "This might sound crazy, b-but my skill just leveled up out of nowhere!"
"Oh," Alicar replied, his mind immediately connecting the dots.
...
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