As the System still didn’t deliver the actual kill notification nor his rewards, Leo settled to do something productive—like harvesting the massive beast underneath him. With its typings, he would be one step closer to a few crucial mutations he had to get in the future. Or so he hoped. He still had no idea what level the Goliath was.

There is no way it is under eighty. He mused as his blades extended once more. I will be really mad if it is…

With a quick Hunter’s Pulse, Leo confirmed where the Goliath’s heart was and started cutting. The thick hide still fought against his strength, but at least it wasn’t as bad as before. The lack of regeneration factor also made his job much easier.

As such, within a few minutes of cutting and bathing in blood, he stripped the Nightmare of its heart and some of its armored hide. He also took two eyes and tried to cut out its stomach, which didn’t go too well. The entire organ became a mess of mangled flesh that the System’s Identify refused to recognize.

Oh well… Nobody ever said I’m a good butcher. He grimaced, throwing the destroyed organ back into the hole he made. Let’s see… anything else I can take?

He opened the list of Beta tier mutations and quickly checked those he cared about the most. He already took care of the body parts for improved regeneration, armor, and potential eyesight enhancement, but maybe he had forgotten about something.

Wait. Here it is…

His gaze shifted from the Goliath’s arm back to the mutation menu. He literally needed muscle tendons of at least a level eighty beast with a Might typing for a small, permanent boost to that attribute. There were still a few more components required to complete this mutation, but if he had a chance to check one off the list, why not take it?

No idea how I’m supposed to remove the tendons and not destroy them, though. That’s a job for a professional, not a guy with weapons made for tearing the flesh.

Maybe if his blades hadn’t become serrated after the evolution, he would have given this a try. However, seeing as his attempt to remove the stomach had already failed, he just settled for cutting off an entire arm and figuring out the rest later.

He could always ask Naz’Tor for some manual on the proper harvesting of stuff like that or buy something from his Ether shop. It had been a while since he had looked there, and with his job, it just might have something to help him.

Yep, sounds good. Leo nodded and started cutting. He sawed through through the bone, but just as he was about to finish, the System finally returned with notifications. Give me a moment…

With a spark of Reinforcement, he gave the almost cut-off arm a tug and ripped it off. He ignored it as blood splashed all over him and stored the limb in his soul.

Now that’s done, show me what you have.

Greater Infernal Goliath (LVL: 83) slain | Experience awarded | 830 Ether gained

Thank you! Leo breathed out a sigh of relief. For a moment there, he feared he had butchered the Goliath for nothing. Wouldn’t be a big loss, but still something annoying.

Congratulations! You have reached level 74. Class and Racial attributes have been distributed.

Two levels… Good enough, I guess. Twenty-one for the next evo… He shook his head with a chuckle. Damn… And to think I barely just evolved. The world outside of Earth is really something else.

Spiritual kill recognized. Pieces collected. Remaining experience awarded. Please note that killing something on a spiritual level, while very effective, will result in a partial loss of experience gained. As this is your first infraction, the System has reconstructed your foe’s soul and neutralized the penalty. This won’t happen again.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Oh…” Leo blinked, unsure if he had read this right. “No. Still the same…”

When the System first told him to stand by after he killed the Goliath, he thought he would be getting some bonus reward, not a warning. It made sense, though. If a soul, or at least a part of it, was used to award experience to its killer, then destroying it the way he did was obviously bad.

But what exactly happens to the dead souls? The System said that in newly induced universes, they linger until the next Outbreak begins. But how can this be true if souls are used for experience? Is it even true? Did it lie to me?

Leo dragged a hand across his face, letting out a sigh. No, don’t think about it now. I will get my answers one way or another. I won’t allow anyone to play me.

After dismissing the notification, Leo stabbed the body of the Goliath and released Devour. The corpses turned to dust even faster than that of some low-level Voidling.

Devour consumed: +12 Might.

Honestly, after everything he did to the Nightmare, he didn’t even expect this much. All he really wanted from it was some Essence and regeneration boost. His back and shoulder needed it, and he didn’t want to waste another Bellatoure when he could still fight and keep his eyes open.

Nyx might need it, though.

Quickly, Leo climbed out of the crater and ran back to the feline. She was still sleeping, and from what he could see, some of her fur had already regrown. He thought of giving her the mixture anyway, but there was no reason to wake her up.

She deserved some rest—they both did—and with about thirty hours left on the timer, they didn’t have to hurry. There was only one layer left, and if this much time wasn’t enough, then they were fucked from the beginning anyway.

I should probably call Lily, too. This might be the last chance I get…

With a nod, he walked away so as not to disturb the sleeping feline and fished out the transmitter out of his soul. He selected the second contact on the list and waited for the call to connect.

It did after not even a second, and Lily’s concerned voice exploded out of the device.

“Leo! You finally called! What’s going on?”

He smiled. “Everything’s fine. Calm down.”

“Don’t you dare to tell me to calm down,” she hissed. “It’s been over six hours! What’s happening? What took you so long.”

As much as it warmed him to hear how she cared, Leo couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“It’s been only six hours, Lily. Before I left, I told you I wouldn’t call often, if at all. This isn’t exactly a place where I can relax and go calling everyone.”

“But you did,” she pointed out. “So what happened? What changed?”

Leo felt like sighing for the hundredth time this day but held himself back. Instead, he slowly explained everything to Lily. From what happened on the first layer to the end of the battle against the Goliath.

“Wait, wait, wait!” She cut him off just before he could finish speaking. “You’re level what now?!”

“That’s what you’re focusing on? Really?” he palmed his face. What did I do to deserve this?

“Yes. Really!” Lily shouted. “Six hours, twenty-four levels. You don’t see anything wrong with that? It took you weeks to get to fifty! Now, you are almost at a hundred. That’s… that’s nuts.”

Leo opened and closed his mouth repeatedly. “Well… when you put it like that.”

“See?! Now you understand.”

“Yeah, yeah. I get your point,” he muttered. “But listen, my level isn’t important now. Once Nyx recovers, we’re going to the last layer. The core must be there… I don’t know how long it will take to find it, but we will.”

“You must call afterward, got it? I can’t…” she trailed off, her voice breaking just a bit.

“Once I’m safe, I will. I swear.”

“Good.” Lily sniffed. “If you break this promise, I will find you and kick your ass.”

Leo chuckled. “Of course you will… So tell me, has anything happened since I left? I know it’s been only a few hours, but…”

----------------------------------------

“Are you sure you are good to go?” Leo asked his companion as they walked toward the Goliath’s original sleeping spot.

Nyx rolled her eyes at him. “I am. Don’t make me repeat myself for the third time. You let me sleep for too long anyway.”

“It’s been only three hours.”

“Still too much.” She huffed. ‘We don’t know what is on the other side. We need all the time we can get.”

This time, Leo had the urge to roll his eyes. “I told you already. If over twenty-four hours won’t be enough, nothing will be.”

“We will see.”

“Whatever,” he muttered under his breath, focusing on avoiding the lava strewn around them. The Goliath’s death didn’t mean all the damage it caused went away.

“Here it is.” He looked up at the Realm Tear, one very similar to the last one. The only difference between them was the color of energies sparking around them. Where on the first layer, they were blue; here, they became red to fit.

Fitting. Third layer, here we come…