His physique underwent a gradual transformation, The muscles in his body were now more defined, improving his overall appearance, but even more so the strength in his lower body.
Xavier flexed his muscles and could instantly feel the strength humming through his body. His Foundation was slowly getting somewhere. He was not as tired or slow as he used to be.
‘It is about time that I strengthened my Foundation Orb. I don’t think I would have been able to collect any more Soul Essences without advancing to Stage-1 and linking more Cards to the Card Deck.’
Even though he hadn’t been weak before advancing to Stage-1, it was much easier to fight against powerful monsters now that his Card Deck was linked to more useful Cards. His Cards were leveling and his Foundation was growing stronger. That was something he had been waiting for impatiently for several weeks.
Now that he defeated the Kobold Swordmaster and the Kobold Shaman from before, Xavier realized that he had been using too much World Energy. Fortunately, the enhancement of his Star of Agility and the acquisition of the Onyx Blade solved that issue. He wouldn’t have to use as much energy as before to kill various monsters with a high Foundation.
‘It makes sense that Leyla and the others told me to advance to Stage-1 as quickly as possible. Expanding the Card Deck and being able to integrate more Soul Essences into my Foundation improved my strength manyfold.’
He had been struggling against enemies that were easily defeated by Leyla and the like. It was a good thing that he hadn’t encountered Kobolds with Foundations exceeding 500 units. That was fortunate…but he knew that he would face them pretty soon. However, Xavier was prepared.
‘Come to think of it, the others’ Foundations are already close to 700 or 800, right?’ Xavier tilted his head to the right as he thought about the other combatants. They often watched him struggle and intervened in his fights whenever it looked like he was about to die. Yet, Xavier was certain that he had offered them a helping hand plenty of times as well. At least, that was what Xavier believed until now.
Maybe, I didn’t help them as much as I thought. So…I was the baggage? That is a bummer.
Xavier shook his head and straightened his shoulders. It was truly fortunate that he finally advanced to Stage-1. He should be able to catch up to the others in no time with his large Card Deck and other advantages.
With that thought in mind, Xavier began walking through the large forest. His strides were large and purposeful but he was careful not to make unnecessary noise and alert any potential monsters. His senses were enhanced so his eyes and ears took notice of every single movement and every little noise as he moved vigilantly with Judgment and Eye of Evolution activated at all times. In addition to that, he also lowered his energy consumption as much as possible while using the bare minimum to locate threats or possible prey.
Judgment and Eye of Evolution were pretty good Cards to pinpoint the location of his enemies. Sometimes, he saw the hues of monsters from far away, long before he discovered them hiding amidst the massive tree branches, or behind bushes. Adding Nightvision to the mix made it even easier to find potential targets.
The Cards’ effects improved even further as their Level increased, granting him a superhuman enemy detection ability.
[Proficiency of Judgment reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Nightvision reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Eye of Evolution reached 100%. Level Up!]
The superhuman enemy detection combination drained some energy, but using Meditation while paving his way through the forest balanced out the energy consumption. It was not long before he encountered more Kobolds.
There were almost a dozen Kobolds but he immediately noticed that they were not the ones he had already fought. This group was slightly different in appearance and physique. All of them had a menacing look in their eyes and had a more burly physique. Their broad chest and arms were covered in black tattoos. The symbols and shapes drawn on each of their bodies followed a similar pattern though he had no idea what any of that meant. He observed them from a distance as they seemed to be discussing something that sounded to him like grunting and hissing.
Xavier’s gaze narrowed on the long, pointed fangs protruding from under their jaw and he made a mental note to not let his skin brush against those deadly tips. All of them held weapons as well, much like the Kobold Swordsmaster. The long blades had a silver tip that glinted in the light while the onyx blade seemed to devour all the light around itself.
War Kobold – 342 – Strength
…
Xavier scrunched his nose when he discovered the War Kobolds, but he knew that his Foundation was higher. He was at a great advantage, even though the group of War Kobolds had 11 members.
Xavier used Camouflage to circle the War Kobold group and inched closer to them. They seemed to sense his presence as a few of them hastily looked around when Xavier crossed the ten-meter range to the closest enemy.
He used Dash and Thunder Step simultaneously and kicked the ground as hard as possible to appear next to the nearest War Kobold.
The War Kobold’s instinctive reaction was to lift its weapon. However, before the War Kobold could react properly to the sudden attack, Xavier had already cut through the War Kobold’s wrist, severing its hand. Simultaneously, an Air Bullet amplified with Coat of Fire was released right in front of the War Kobold’s eye.
The Air Bullet pierced through its twitching eyelid and splattered the War Kobold’s left eye. It didn’t kill the monster immediately, but it was enough to give Xavier a small advantage. He twisted his body and slashed at the War Kobold again, severing its head.
His high Agility, enhanced with Dash and Thunder Step was more than enough to surpass the War Kobolds’ Agility. He released several Air Bullets and coated his weapon in Armor Break and Pierce Armor to ensure that even minor wounds would inflict considerable damage.
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He weaved through the small gaps in the War Kobolds’ group, closed into wound two of them, and retreated with quick strides. He narrowly escaped getting beheaded by a longsword that scraped off his neck and released a few Air Bullets to hit the other incoming blades.
Using Armor Break and Pierce Armor on the Air Bullets, Xavier managed to damage two weapons, but it was not considerable damage. The blades were still sharp enough to cut him into pieces.
Several minutes passed in the blink of an eye, as Xavier single-handedly fought them. They might not have the perks of Cards to strengthen them or a high Foundation like their human opponent, but their teamwork was commendable. Xavier could only wish his people would achieve such battle awareness and team it up with weapon mastery so they would have it easier. But not everybody was as hungry for strength as him and most of the survivors were older than him. It would take them some time to reach his expectations.
All around him, blood was sprayed and body parts were flung in the air as he hacked and slashed through his opponents. Had he been the slow and clumsier version of himself right now, they would have badly injured him and maybe killed him with their combined strength. Luckily that was not the case.
He staggered back and took a few deep breaths as the last standing War Kobold collapsed on the ground, never to get up again. Wiping the blood off his weapon on the robes of the corpse of the last enemy he slayed, Xavier’s gaze drifted through all the corpses lying in a pool of blood.
His short encounter with them reminded him of just how much he and the survivors back in Haven had to work on.
The War Kobolds had been stronger than he expected. One’s Foundation wasn’t everything, after all. It was a good thing that Judgment alerted Xavier well in advance. Judgment determined the War Kobolds as dark orange threats. He was warned and could prepare himself mentally and physically to swiftly tackle them.
Fortunately, that was enough to deal with the War Kobolds.
It would have been easier if he could use Borrow to amplify his Foundation with Glut’s Foundation, but the Ember Sparrow was still occupied with evolving.
My energy consumption is still too high.
His energy consumption was not as high as before, but it was still bothersome. He would have loved to upgrade the Star of Energy to the Basic Rank right away. The unfortunate part was that upgrading his Foundation in the wilderness was a bit risky. He was getting closer to Logwood and the Kobold’s Monster Gate as well. Xavier couldn’t take the risk right now. He didn’t want to encounter any unpleasant guests while upgrading his Foundation.
He took a look at the small stash of notifications that had formed as a result of the battle against the War Kobolds.
11x War Kobolds have been slain.
+26 Soul Essences, +2 Common Cards, +5 Uncommon Card Shards, +1 Rare Card Shard.
So many Soul Essences and Card Shards?
The fight against the War Kobolds had been rather difficult, but he didn’t expect this nonetheless. However, the bigger surprise came from the remaining messages.
[Proficiency of Dash reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Judgment reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Meditation reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Minor Regeneration reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Coat of Fire reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Spell Mastery reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Eye of Evolution reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Camouflage reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Shadow Blade reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Thunder Step reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Thunder Step reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Energy Blade reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Armor Break reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Armor Break reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Pierce Armor reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Stun reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Elemental Aegis reached 100%. Level Up!]
So many Cards leveled up? Did I even use Elemental Aegis and Judgement in the battle?
Seeing the flood of notifications, Xavier was confused. Rightly so. He knew that he used some of his Cards repetitively against the War Kobolds, but it was not like he used them dozens of times.
Usually, it was a lot harder to Level his Cards.
Is it because the War Kobolds were greater in number and that the danger level was high as well? Or am I fighting more monsters that have undergone high-quality evolutions? Xavier shrugged, Maybe, it’s both. It is very helpful, one way or another.
The gains he made from his little skirmishes with the three Kobold groups were extraordinary. He procured a new weapon, got hold of more Cards and Card Shards, his Cards leveled up several times faster than before, and he managed to increase his stockpile of Soul Essences rapidly. Though the stockpiled Soul Essences would disappear soon.
Integrate 24 Soul Essences into the Star of Agility
75/100 → 99/100
Integrate 2 Soul Essences into the Star of Vitality
50/100 → 52/100
Xavier’s expression lit up as he felt the warmth of his Foundation Stars growing stronger as the integration took effect. It was a great feeling. Oddly Addictive, some may even say.
Trying to ignore the addictive sensation of growing into existence with superhuman abilities and powers that most couldn’t even dream about before the world changed, Xavier glanced at the Onyx Blade.
He knew that the sword would be of great use for quite a while. It was certainly better than any of the weapons his father purchased from their savings in the past.
Thinking about his father, Xavier could only grin foolishly. His father would take the War Kobold's weapons and drag them home right away to add to his prized collection. The Onyx Steel, named by none other than Xavier, was extraordinary and it was certainly worth bringing home for the Craftsmen to analyze and the combatants to use in battle.
Xavier’s mission, however, was not to bring back some armaments. If he had a pocket dimension Card, or something similar that allowed him to store items without affecting his movement speed, Xavier would have collected the weapons. But since he was not fortunate enough to procure such a valuable Card yet, Xavier could only leave the Cards behind.
He felt sad to leave the potential resources behind but he had no other option but to let go. With a sigh, he cast one look at the armaments that would have strengthened his group and resumed walking through the forest. Thankfully, he came across no other monster groups as he made his way through the dense forest that began thinning as he approached a hillside. With his senses alert for any surprise attack, he reached the base of the hillside behind which his destination, Logwood was located.