Up in the air, Sammuel was forced into a terrible position. Considering his options the best option in this case was to wait for a better opportunity to get away. He might be able to slash the Hemorrhaging Bat in this position but he could be doused in its corrosive blood.
The Hemorrhaging Bat grabbed ahold of Sammuel using its two clawed feet, bringing him further up the cave. When they reached the ceiling, the Hemorrhaging Bat made its move, opening its mouth and filling it with blood.
This was becoming a problematic situation. Now that it was beginning to feast, Sammuel made his move. Grabbing the Hemorrhaging Bat’s legs, he twisted one of its feet. This gave him enough leeway to use the Hemorrhaging Bat’s body to propel himself to a nearby stalactite.
These stalactites were only around a meter long but there were a lot of them. Compared to normal rock, it was made out of stronger minerals that wouldn’t break unless immense force was applied to it.
Holding onto it firmly Sammuel was now stuck on the ceiling. Placing his sword back on its sheath, Sammuel chose to use another weapon.
[Switch Ego: Mineral-Clawed Ferron]
Sammuel easily tore the rock apart giving him sharp protruded weapons to throw. He needed to use everything he had to turn the tides on this fight. After securing around three stalactites, Sammuel was ready to fight back.
[Switch Ego: Runic Bear]
With three projectiles in hand, Sammuel turned his attention back to the Hemorrhaging Bat that brought him up here. It was recoiling in pain as it slowly flew down to the ground gurgling out the blood in its mouth. Red blood splattered all over the ground causing it to create small streams of smoke.
Holding it in his hand, he threw it down, aiming to pierce through the body of this stationary target. The stalactite was heavier than Sammuel expected causing it to fall down just before hitting his target. This made Sammuel account for the following attack. His second throw hit its mark accurately.
[Earned 53.21% EXP | Star Quality EXP: 54.95/100%]
A substantial increase. It was a little above half a level. Thinking about it, a fully maxed level 10/10 enemy should give at least this much if not more for his level 3/10 [Ego: Runic Bear].
The Hemorrhaging Bat started bleeding, causing there to be a small dent in the ground where its blood started to pool. Once it had died, it even caused its body to start crumbling in itself. It was breaking itself apart.
This wasn’t over yet, there were still 4 more Hemorrhaging Bats for him to deal with. All of which had relatively the same specs as the one he had just killed, if not a little weaker. But taking into account the one he already injured, there were only 3 Hemorrhaging Bats that were actual threats.
Their Combat Power is high because of their offensive capabilities, able to corrode most enemies. But that doesn’t mean that their bodies are strong, in fact, they are fragile. I need to keep this in mind in the future.
Sammuel’s [Ego: Runic Bear] might not have the highest offensive stats but it was quite tanky. A mix of both while being a master of none. Placing his attention back to his enemies, he threw a stalactite toward the other Hemorrhaging Bat he already injured before.
[Earned 51.33% EXP | Star Quality EXP: 106.28/100%]
[Leveled Up | Permanently Gain Combat Power: +8.84 | Sammuel: 31.6 (4/10)]
Sammuel felt a lot better after achieving this state. Although the Hemorrhaging Bats’ blood was still something that would affect him, it wouldn’t completely decimate his body now. The Hemorrhaging Bats were now at a loss.
They could rush up to Sammuel as he was protected by the stalactites, if they ever tried to do so, they would only impale themselves. This was all part of Sammuel’s plan. He switched from [Ego: Mineral-Clawed Ferron] to grab more stalactites and [Ego: Runic Bear] to actually kill his enemies. Sammuel continued this until he killed all of them.
[Leveled Up | Permanently Gain Combat Power: +7.65 | Sammuel: 39.25 (5/10)]
[Gained Ego: Hemorrhaging Bat | Card Quality: Bronze | Star Quality: 1 (10/10)]
[Name: Sammuel Arthus
Ego: Hemorrhaging Bat
Card Quality: Bronze
Star Quality: 1 | 10/10 | 0/100%
Affinity Level: 4.5%
Combat Power: 30.32]
This was an unbelievable day. Sammuel had managed to level up his [Ego: Runic Bear twice] and get another Bronze [Ego]. He was making immense progress.
Sammuel showed a wide grin as he was finally making his way forward.
[Flowing Swordsmanship | Gain Combat Power: 12.95 | Sammuel: 53.2]
[Condition Cleared: Reach 50 Combat Power | Reward: Ego Fusion
Ego Fusion: Use [Ego] of the same species to power each other.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Unlocked the ability to get duplicates of Ego.]
Another seemingly overwhelming terrifying ability. Sammuel narrowed his eyes. This could be a game-changer.
[Current Stats:
Base EXP Gain: Bronze (Ego: Runic Bear) | 1.83x
Card Drop Rate: 2%]
With a 2% chance, Sammuel’s mind started to think of how to go about this optimally. Thinking about it, Sammuel already had a very terrifying Card, Runic Bear. Even [Ego: Hemorrhaging Bat] was already outclassed by it after leveling up.
With a base Combat Power of 39.25, while only being level 5/10, this meant that [Ego: Runic Bear] had a limit of around 60-80 depending on how lucky he was with the increase. This made it so that Sammuel could focus on other matters for the time being. Primarily, getting 5 Bronze [Ego].
[Condition: Gain 5 Bronze Ego (3/5) | Reward: Ego Delegation
Ego Delegation: Change EXP Gain and Affinity Level based on chosen [Ego]. Does not affect inherent stats]
Although [Ego Delegation] didn’t seem all too good, Sammuel could tell the future application of it. The Base EXP Gain depended on the [Ego] and it was all equal, after all.
[Base EXP Gain: Bronze (Ego: Hemorrhaging Bat) | 3.21x]
This Hemorrhaging Bat managed to quickly grow strong due to its inherent multiplier. If Sammuel could use this for his other [Ego] then it was obvious just how fast he could grow. It was essentially doubling his EXP gain essentially free. If he had this multiplier when he killed the Hemorrhaging Bats then he would’ve gained 5 levels, meaning he would’ve been level 8/10 right now.
Not daring to be any riskier, Sammuel immediately went back to Aganth.
Solidified Pure Blood was a highly sought-after item due to its medicinal properties. Once he had set up shop, multiple sharp-eyed customers desperately wanted this item, even paying slightly above market price.
As such, Sammuel was hard-pressed to find one particular person to sell it to. He had decided to split it among multiple people but his customers vehemently denied this proposition. As such, it had turned into a bet where the winner took all. Sammuel ended it off with a total of 9 gold coins for everything.
“Dammit! If only that Hatchling didn’t come here I wouldn’t have been forced to stock up on supplies.” Even the winner felt bittersweet upon his victory. As it turned out it was a mercenary that was preparing for the turbulent times ahead.
Sammuel narrowed his eyes at this information. It was the Hatchling again.
Now that I think about it, security did seem tighter than before. But it just doesn’t make sense, why would the Hatchling even come here for?
Without any sufficient clues, Sammuel placed it at the back of his mind. There was no point in dwelling in this matter any further Going to Lawrence’s abode, he dropped off the Mirage Apples he got during his venture.
“Sammuel, great news, hell, amazing news! At this rate, I’ll be able to do what I need in a short amount of time. These Mirage Apples are even better quality than last time!” Lawrence held the Mirage Apples in his hands with an awkward expression. If he had paid for a normal rate then he would’ve already been down 20 gold coins.
Paying his due of 20 silver coins, Lawrence proceeded to explain the current progress that he had with his product. It was already in the testing phase but up until this point, Sammuel still didn’t exactly know what it was about. All he knew was that Lawrence was making great progress.
Sammuel then returned back to the inn and practiced [Flowing Swordsmanship] using [Ego: Base]. He finished off the day great.
The following days, Sammuel proceeded to continue this routine of finding rare treasures, slaying creatures with a Bronze Card Quality, and slaying goblins on the side.
On one fateful day, Sammuel finally received it.
[Gained Ego: Goblin | Card Quality: Colorless | Star Quality: 1 (10/10)]
It was another fully leveled [Ego: Goblin]. Sammuel checked and instead of his original 3.03 Combat Power, it was now 3.12. It was slightly better but it still wasn’t worth using. What Sammuel wanted from this was one thing, to understand what his new ability could do.
[Ego Fusion
Ego: Goblin | 1 (10/10) | 1 (10/10)
Raise EXP | Raise Affinity Level | Superimpose]
The first two options make sense… but what does ‘Superimpose’ mean? I guess I should try it out but I need to be practical first.
[Gain Affinity Level: +6.56% | Goblin: 10.26%]
The weaker card disappeared from Sammuel’s mind. It had been consumed to increase his Affinity Level for goblins. This was arguably a phenomenal increase.
[Switch Ego: Goblin]
[Evolution Condition Cleared: Reach 5% Affinity Level for [Ego: Goblin] | Reward: Colorless to Bronze and Level Reset]
Once the ball started rolling, everything just started to keep getting more and more favorable for Sammuel. He was making immense progress by the day. His strength was growing to become quite formidable.
[Name: Sammuel Arthus
Ego: Goblin
Card Quality: Bronze
Star Quality: 1 | 1/10 | EXP: 0/100%
Affinity Level: 10.26%
Combat Power: 0.76]
He only needed one more Bronze Card Quality to reach [Ego Delegation]. It was only a matter of time now. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as lucky as he was when he received [Ego: Hemorrhaging Bat]. Though that wasn’t all too bad as he finally made more than enough to secure Xeril’s payment.
Inside Sammuel’s inn, Xeril had visited him to talk about the payment. He came in alone and left his spear behind.
“Listen, Sammuel, it's fine if you didn’t get the 30 gold coins. I know more than enough just how difficult it is to make money.” Xeril sighed. “I only made 3 gold coins after an entire week. And I’ve tried pretty hard.”
Sammuel couldn’t help but feel a little bad. After all, he had a total of 52 gold coins on him right now. This was after securing himself a lot of protective supplies and finally acquiring a new sword.
Dropping 30 gold coins on the table, Xeril’s eyes was filled with shock. Even he had to make considerable effort to make 3 gold coins yet Sammuel managed to gain 10x more than what he could make.
“You didn’t ask for a loan, did you?” Xeril jokingly asked. This may be Aganth, the city of commerce yet it didn’t mean that just anyone could make a lot of money.
“I have my ways. Don’t worry about me. So, about the institution, where do we start?”
“That’s…” Xeril suspiciously asked Sammuel. “You don’t know?”
Shrugging it off, “I only know it's a place where you learn [Skills].”
Xeril felt a little troubled by this. But nonetheless, he fully explained to Sammuel everything he needed to learn. As Sammuel was listening in, he was surprised at how great the system was. It was based on the learner and not on anything else. It was more open than he anticipated.
“The place we’re going to is the Reuge Institution where we can get taught by a special teacher there. We can meet up tomorrow here after I finish settling the payment. And before I forget, don’t bring weapons on you. The institute has training weapons for us to use.”
After Xeril explained a few more things for Sammuel to keep in mind. After exchanging a few more words, they caught up while talking about the current state of Aganth.
“Anyways, you might want to get another set of clothing. You’ll look like a beggar otherwise.” Xeril left with a small joke.
Sammuel looked down and saw his grey clothes turn slightly red and green from all the blood that stained his clothes. A few cuts were made here and there making it seem as if Sammuel had just gone through war.
“I think it’s time to meet her again. It’s been a while. I wonder what kind of gift I should bring? Marie should probably like something cuter than anything.”