Xavier obtained more Soul Essences than he expected. The wisps of Soul Essences ascended into the air and merged into his deck. Most of them, at least.
Mutated Dog has been slain. +3 Soul Essence +1 Common Card Shard
Mutated Dog has been slain. +2 Soul Essence +1 Common Card Shard
Mutated Dog has been slain. +1 Soul Essence
Mutated Dog has been slain. +2 Soul Essence +1 Common Card Shard
Goblin has been slain. +1 Soul Essence
Goblin has been slain.
Goblin has been slain. +1 Soul Essence
Goblin has been slain.
Goblin has been slain.
Goblin has been slain. +1 Soul Essence
Goblin has been slain. +1 Soul Essence
The notification had proven Xavier’s presumption to be correct. The humanoid monsters were actually Goblins.
He collected the Common Card Shards and put them into his pocket. Right after pocketing the Shards, Xavier began walking towards the bush behind which he had seen the Goblins disappear. He did not have to look for them for long as they were having trouble dragging their huge prey to their camp.
They moved slowly through the street, unaware of their silent follower.
Observing them from a distance was exciting at first. However, half an hour passed quickly, yet nothing special happened. The Goblins had yet to reach the end of the street where an intersection led to the center of the town, or further up the hill.
This will take a while Xavier grumbled in his heart.
He decided to invest the Soul Essences he obtained from killing the Mutated Dogs and the Goblins to increase his survivability.
I should upgrade Vitality and Agility once I return home. There is no way to tell what will happen to me once the quality of my Foundation Stars improves.
Xavier wanted to integrate his Soul Essences into Agility and Vitality to upgrade their quality to the next level. But since he had no idea what would happen upon improving his Foundation Star’s quality, Xavier didn’t do it. It was better to be cautious and do it at home instead of doing it in the middle of the street filled with beasts and Infected.
Fortunately, he had more than enough Foundation Stars to strengthen. Thus, the dozen Soul Essences in his possession vanished quickly.
Integrate six Soul Essences into the Star of Perception. Y/N?
Integrate one Soul Essence into the Star of Vitality. Y/N?
Integrate four Soul Essences into the Star of Strength. Y/N?
Integrate one Soul Essence into the Star of Energy. Y/N?
Xavier agreed to everything and continued to stalk the Goblins while ensuring that he maintained a safe distance from them. Simultaneously, every inch of his body was filled with warmth.
The Foundation Stars of Vitality, Perception, and Strength were upgraded to the Peak at 9/10. Meanwhile, the Star of Energy reached 6/10.
Of course, Xavier wanted to improve his Dexterity and Wisdom as well, but he felt that his Perception and Strength were more crucial stats given his pursuit of the Goblins.
Xavier wanted to make sure that he would be able to sense as much as possible from his surroundings. That way he could minimize the risk of inadvertently exposing himself and remain the silent hunter rather than turning into the hunted. As for his Strength, Xavier wanted to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.
A blazing boar might attack the Goblins, kill them, and then charge at him. To ensure that he could protect himself and threaten his enemies with superior physical strength, Xavier upgraded the Star of Strength. Furthermore, he liked the feeling of strength surging through his body.
Improving the Stars of Vitality, Agility, and Strength were the most evident. They altered his physique slightly to create a perfect constitution and provided him with a boost of much-needed confidence.
At least, that was what Xavier felt whenever he put Soul Essences into the Star of Agility and Vitality. The Star of Strength improved his constitution significantly. He felt something squirming through his body to properly shape and align his muscles before strengthening them accordingly.
His muscles felt stronger than before and Xavier could clearly tell that he would have to use less than half of his strength to cleave through the skull of an Infected. As long as the ruby katana was sharp and durable enough, maybe even the blazing boar’s hide could be cut!
All of his Foundation Stars received a major upgrade so he could feel the difference. It was subtle at first but was noticeable with every second that passed. He tried looking at a tree, far from his location and tried to focus on a lone fruit hanging down from a low branch. His vision sharpened and he could see the orangish-yellow fruit with a reddish tint clearly.
His ears twitched when he heard something snap behind him. But when he swiftly turned back, he noticed that an Infected had stepped on a twig, far away from him. He snapped his attention back to the Goblins and felt goosebumps prickle his skin when he heard raspy, growling noises that the goblins were making while dragging the boar. Xavier couldn't help but smile at his overall heightened perception.
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Other than the major changes his body underwent, Xavier could also sense the increase in the Star of Energy and Vitality. His body was filled with vigor, and he was ready to face the incoming dangers.
If there were any that is.
Time passed slowly as the Goblins continued to laboriously pull the blazing boar behind them. An entire hour passed until the Goblins reached the intersection. They took a left turn and moved downward to the center of the small village.
There are no side-alleys on that street. Their base must be near the main street. Xavier concluded.
He was tired of following the Goblins. They moved way too slowly and were held back more than a few times as Inferior Infected were attracted by the smell of blood gushing out of the blazing boar’s wounds. Xavier figured that they would spend another hour, possibly two hours until they would reach the main street – even if the street was not even 400 meters from their current location. The boar’s weight and the additional interferences of the Inferior Infected slowed them down that much.
Thus, Xavier decided to take a different route. He knew the village better than most people, especially the small hill he grew up on. Now that he knew where the Goblins were likely to end up, Xavier stopped hesitating. He turned left and rushed down the sloped side that led down to the main street. He trespassed into the property of his neighbors while trying to go through a shortcut, but Xavier doubted that anyone would mind.
He ran through the narrow gaps between the houses and jumped across a small bush onto the terrace of an old neighbor couple. The noises he made were distinct and would have attracted attention but Xavier was already far enough from the Goblin group so he didn’t mind the noises he made too much.
When he looked up at the terrace of his neighbor to run forward, Xavier halted in his tracks. He saw the lifeless corpse of a middle-aged woman and the old neighbor couple looking at the corpse with glassy eyes. The middle-aged woman was the caretaker of the old couple.
Though there was nothing left of her old identity. Her stomach was ripped apart, and her intestines spilled out of it. Blood and innards were scattered around her corpse and the neighbors were covered in blood, her blood. Their faces were smeared with blood and flesh. It was disgusting and made Xavier retch.
Fortunately, Xavier didn’t have enough time to stare blankly at the corpse. The old couple groaned loudly and moved toward him upon sensing his presence. They had become Infected.
Xavier didn’t think twice. He used Dash and unsheathed the ruby katana in a swift motion. The katana cut through the head of the old woman right before Xavier pushed forward to drill the ruby blade through the old man’s face.
Inferior Infected has been slain.
Inferior Infected has been slain.
Xavier didn’t feel happy seeing the notifications appear in front of him, but there was nothing he could do about it. The sour feeling wouldn’t disperse just because he was sad and dissatisfied about the bitter fact that most old people seemed to have turned into Infected.
The caretaker didn’t turn into an Infected even after she was bitten and torn into shreds. Xavier recalled, looking over to the middle-aged woman even if it made him violently gag once again.
The woman’s body was in the worst condition. She was clearly dead. Nobody could survive wounds like she had sustained. But there was one thing that intrigued her.
Does she have a Deck with her?
Xavier had only seen the Decks of his parents and grandmother. He suppressed his disgust and looked for the caretaker’s Deck. Could he link with a second Deck, or was that not possible? Xavier was curious.
After searching the disgusting corpse for a good minute, he finally found what he had been looking for. The Classless Deck looked just like the Decks received by his family. There was not a single difference.
Let’s see…
Danger! Do not link two Decks to your Soul if you cannot handle the consequences!
Xavier was not sure what was the level of risk involved, but it sounded like a fair warning. Therefore, he pocketed the Classless Deck and moved ahead.
He entered the house and jumped down the flight of stairs to enter the basement, look through it and rush to the door to leave the house once again. It felt a little bit weird to storm through a stranger’s house just like that, but he doubted that the old couple would mind. Not that they were in a condition to mind, to begin with.
At last, Xavier reached the main street of his tiny little village.
The bright rays of the sun illuminated the main street as it was well past sunrise now. Xavier bent down a little, hands on his knees as he took in lungfuls of air. Dash had ended, leaving him feeling exhausted.
He still had to find a way to properly utilize it without overexerting himself. And as he looked at the familiar street to catch his breath, a wry smile appeared on his lips. A row of small stucco homes was on his right, neatly trimmed bushes and flowering plants adorning their gardens while cars stood just outside the pavement.
On his left were huge trees behind a fence, their wide canopies providing shade to passersby. He tried to focus on the grass a few feet away from him and noticed that he could see individual blades softly moving in the gentle breeze.
Not only that, but he could also see the dewdrops on a few of them, reflecting the color of rainbows.
The scenery was beautiful, but Xavier didn’t have the luxury to focus on it. A cacophony of growling noises reached his ear from the left where a group of Infected had gathered.
There were a total of 13 Infected, and each of them had taken note of Xavier. They began moving slowly toward him, their glassy eyes staring at him while their hands thrust forward.
I remember all of you. Not by your names, but your faces. It’s sad to see that everyone ended up like…this…
Some of the Infected looked worse than the rest. Their necks exposed large chunks of flesh while some of them had been torn apart properly. Two of them missed an arm, while one of them even missed a leg. The one-legged Infected crawled slowly toward him as if trying not to be the last to reach him.
Xavier steadied his stance and activated Dash to eliminate the closest Infected with a single strike. Instead of retreating to reorganize and stay far away from the Infected’s teeth and claws, Xavier jumped straight into their group.
He evaded their slow movements with ease and beheaded them one by one. The blade was slick with blood yet it continued to reap more prey for him. One of them was about to reach Xavier when the duration of Dash neared its end. However, Xavier had already sensed the Infected’s attack.
Thanks to his high perception, he was prepared and responded accordingly. His blade cut through the air in a smooth motion and sliced through the neck of the Infected, beheading him.
When the number of Infected was reduced to two, Xavier noticed something from the corner of his eye. He kicked the ground and pushed himself back. The following moment, his heart skipped a beat as an arrow propelled through the air.
The arrow pierced through an Infected’s eye and must have pierced its brain as well since the Infected collapsed on the ground and stopped moving.
Xavier glanced to the right, expecting to see a Goblin Archer, or worse, a group of Goblins. But that was not what Xavier found.
A young woman, wielding a recurve bow stood in the middle of the street, a second arrow already nocked.
“Leyla? What are you doing here?”
****
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