Chapter 22: Leveling Up (2)

Once Sol happily gobbled up an entire armor set, from the headgear down to the sabatons, he whined softly, asking for a lift to his nest atop Blake’s head.

Still astonished by Sol’s ability to devour something so much larger than himself, Blake gently took him into his palm and placed him on his head.

Sol closed his golden eyes and nodded off. His little lips were slightly parted as he leaned to one side, covering himself with Blake’s hair.

“Who knew the Sun slept?” Blake whispered, listening to Sol’s quiet breaths.

Opening his game system with a mere thought, he clicked on his inventory and equipped each item, one by one, taking on the form of the dark demon.

He stopped at the headpiece, knowing it would place Sol on cold metal instead of his head—an abrupt shift that might wake him.

Blake felt awkward since he’d never had a familiar or a house pet before. He hadn’t realized he had such a soft spot for them; perhaps Sol’s adorableness tugged at his heartstrings.

Wouldn’t the blizzard outside wake him up anyway, though?

Blake rolled his eyes upward, thinking.

A few moments of contemplation led him to leave Sol behind.

That, however, proved not as simple as it sounded.

It wasn’t that Blake had to be gentle, but Sol seemed anchored to his head, refusing to budge.

It’d be more accurate to say that Sol had latched onto Blake like something alien…

This little one left Blake with no choice.

He put on his helmet, waited a few seconds to see whether Sol stirred, then turned the knob on the smithy’s doors and stepped into the blizzard.

His small companion didn’t even blink while the snow pelted him.

The blizzard also had less effect on Blake now that he wore his full armor set. None of the cold debuffs from his first day here bothered him anymore.

A few seconds later, Sol’s warmth enveloped Blake in a pleasant bubble that melted the falling snow.

Beatrix had no reason to worry from within her master’s shadow.

With everything under control, Blake made his way down the mountain’s slope, following the same path his dwarven friend had once used, though the snow had long since buried any tracks.

-

Fighting common monsters had never been Blake’s preference.

They generally fought with predictable patterns and lacked intelligence.

It was nothing like fighting players or unique monsters that could adapt to their opponents’ skills and environment.

Still, higher-ranked monsters came with advanced behavior beyond their usual patterns, so exploring the world always thrilled him.

Something dangerous might lie in wait, guarding treasure; unexplored areas could conceal valuable information for side quests or the main lore—inevitably leading to exciting battles that tested his wits.

“You look like a common mob,” Blake whispered, eyeing a white lynx with an avalanche pattern rippling across its fur.

He’d left the main road and ventured straight into a white forest buried in snow.

It didn’t take long for him to encounter his first monster; the lynx stalked past a tree and, by bad luck, came upon the dark demon.

They sized each other up.

“A single clean cut with Crescent Pride, followed by a thrust into its neck, will do the trick,” Blake thought.

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Though he didn’t have a stat for critical strikes, crits naturally happened when striking vulnerable spots—rewarding anyone who fought smart.

“If I somehow miss, the bleeding will finish him,” Blake added.

Bleeding also occurred naturally in both worlds. In Ashen World Online, it whittled away HP depending on its severity.

Light wounds rarely caused this debuff, but Blake was confident in both Crescent Pride and his skill—he was sure he could inflict at least mild bleeding, if not severe.

Unconcerned about the lynx’s opinion of him, Blake dashed forward with his Prideful Step Skill, slicing through the creature’s exposed side and appearing behind it.

As though he sensed the next moment in time, he drove his katana forward before the monster could react.

When it finally did, Blake’s blade slid into its neck like a knife through butter.

Blake’s black eyes gleamed.

He surrendered to a surge of battle lust, having missed the thrill of combat so much that even a common monster—normally dull—now excited him.

He let out a wild roar, his booming voice echoing throughout the white forest, summoning more lynxes from every angle.

A scene reminiscent of the hall of gatekeepers played out once again, this time in the snowy woods.

Fortunately, the only witness to Blake’s one-sided display of domination was Beatrix.

-

Blake’s stamina had dropped dangerously low—even though he’d already reached level three.

He needed to conserve a bit of energy to escape the white forest and avoid dying like a noob.

Leaning against a tree, he watched Beatrix emerge from his shadow. She stared at him—or so he assumed—through a mask without eye slits.

She wore it now because they were in dangerous territory.

“…ah, damn,” Blake muttered, realizing his mistake.

He’d come here to gather food so he could forge without suffering side effects.

Instead, he’d given in to the urge he’d been suppressing all this time—fighting monsters like the battle maniac he truly was, a side he couldn’t hide.

“My inventory expanded after I leveled up,” he said, consciously opening his game system in hopes of finding a few slices of meat.

Sure enough, he’d obtained five chunks of raw meat.

Their small icons already made his mouth water.

“I should’ve gone for the butcher title… I’d have ended up with a lot more meat.” Blake felt like smacking his own forehead for missing such a clear opportunity.

Players could turn monsters into particles—something NPCs couldn’t do—to gain random loot.

Money was guaranteed, while resources or items were much rarer. Materials like meat, bones, or blood fell somewhere in between, with a higher chance than items but still lower than guaranteed money.

To boost the drop rate of these ‘in-between’ resources, players could earn simple titles like Butcher.

Blake could have skinned or sliced a single lynx multiple times to get that easy title, but he hadn’t, consumed by his killing spree.

“I also should have let you show off so I could gauge our teamwork… Instead, I just fought like a madman… My old habits are coming back. Thanks for the reminder.”

Standing still like a statue, Beatrix quietly sank back into his shadow. She’d emerged only to admire her master, inadvertently helping him—an outcome that left her awkward, too.

Meanwhile, Sol kept snoozing like a baby.