Chapter 42

Nick woke up early in the morning, he felt a little lethargic. He meditated during the night and recovered a little over 200 MP. He slept for about 4 hours, which was enough time, but he still didn't get enough sleep. Of course, it didn't feel as bad when he checked it last time, but it was still unpleasant.

Getting out of bed, Nick began to put on his clothes and armor over them. Taking it in his hands, he felt that it was lighter than it was last time, remembering that he left the knives in the wolves. He slapped his face with his palm, out of disappointment.

Excellent! How can you be so inattentive?

"Crap."

Grumbling to himself, he dressed, fastened his sword to his belt and left the house. After a quick snack in the fresh air, he went into the forest. Yesterday, talking to the prince, he told him that he would go hunting again. But this time he would go kill goblins.

Nick started jogging lightly to avoid wasting his stamina. The forest was as calm as ever, he saw a few [Uncommon] level animals, but he didn't bother hunting them. They wouldn't give him the experience he needed anyway.

After running 20 kilometers, he came across unusual tracks. After sniffing the air, he slightly changed direction and followed the smell of blood. After 5 minutes, he came across a cave inside several large stones. Near it were several puddles and tracks of some huge animal with claws.

He stopped and thought about whether he should go into an unfamiliar cave and fight an unknown enemy. He wanted to use the [Reincarnator's Madness] skill, but it didn't work.

Mmm, there is still a recovery period, unsuccessfully, but oh well.

Nick approached the cave and listened for any sounds coming from it, hearing nothing, he went inside. The ground was hard and had almost no rocks. In poor lighting, Nick saw well enough due to his high perception, he began to walk carefully, without making any sounds. The cave went down about 20 meters, and then turned sharply to the right. Turning the corner, Nick saw a bear with really huge paws, it was lying next to a torn corpse.

Race: Bear [Uncommon] Lvl 97

Hmm, judging by his physical characteristics, he should be about 1.5 times stronger than me. Apparently, he didn't notice me because of the strong smell of blood. Do bears drag food to their caves? Who cares.

Nick cast a sound suppression spell and cast a thin film of mana on himself to hide his scent. Approaching the bear to a distance of 5 meters, he used the movement technique and quickly stabbed the sword into its neck. The bear woke up an instant before the sword hit its target. It tried to hit Nick with a paw with claws, but his technique allowed him to dodge. The bear quickly stood up and rushed at Nick with a loud growl.

Did I miss and not deliver the killing blow?

Nick jumped back from the attack and carefully examined the wound on his neck. Blood was flowing quickly from it, he had not cut the bear's throat, but he had still left a fatal wound.

Now I just need to hold out long enough.

With all of his enhancement skills activated, Nick charged at the beast himself, stabbing his sword deep into its paw. Nick was at a disadvantage in the relatively narrow cave. The bear would have been able to crush him if it had not been afraid of his sword. The bear charged again, to which Nick responded by retreating and striking the bear's paw again. Nick used the "technique" of multiple strikes and forced the bear to retreat several steps. His strikes were very fast and precise, and he was able to leave many cuts on the bear.

He expected that this would make him retreat, but it had a different effect. Apparently the bear got tired of being wounded and became enraged, as it no longer feared his sword. The bear growled loudly and became much faster and stronger in the next moment. His paw slammed into his sword. There was a loud sound of blade colliding with claws. Nick was thrown back several meters from the force of the blow and dropped his sword.

Damn, that beast used a technique!

Nick stood up when the bear attacked him again. Using the technique barely managed to escape, Nick quickly cast an earth spell sending dust into the air to blind the bear. To avoid being hit by his own spell, he created a thin transparent film of mana over his eyes. His plan worked, a lot of dust got into the bear's eyes and nose causing it to lose sight of him. Nick wanted to get his sword, but it was closer to the bear than to him, so he ran out of the cave. Nick could hear the bear chasing him and hoped that the wound would finally have an effect. Running outside, Nick continued to run, he did not know what else he could do against the bear without a weapon and mana.

Why doesn't this thing die or slow down? I really overestimated myself, damn! Arrogance will be the death of me.

Turning around, Nick saw a bear 20 meters away trying to catch up with him. But his paws were so wounded that he couldn't use his great agility to catch him. Nick laughed hysterically to himself, even when he was in that situation, it was funny. He was lucky that he managed to hurt him badly enough that it was just enough for him

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Using his stamina, Nick ran away from the bear for about 2 minutes until it started to slow down and tripped, falling to the ground. Nick was about a hundred meters away from it and was just waiting for the notification to come to him.

Congratulations, you have defeated [Медведь][Uncommon] Lvl 97

Congratulations, you have gained one level in the Class [Adept of the Art Phantom Sword][Rare] Lvl 5 > Lvl 6

For 1 level you get:

Strength +5

Dexterity +7

Stamina +7

Vitality +4

Constitution +5

Intelligence +2

Perception +5

+5 free attribute points

"Nightmare, I had to kill 6 [Rare] Lvl 22-30 creatures, and one [Uncommon] Lvl 97. Like what's the point, damn it! Last time I got three levels in two classes for killing Ceros [Rare] Lvl 78. Of course, he was much stronger than me and I almost died, but I didn't fight him alone. I urgently need to know how experience is distributed. Why didn't anyone tell me about this before?!" Nick complained loudly, in his opinion, this was absolutely unfair.

Finally calming down a bit, Nick ran into the cave and took his sword. Returning to the bear, he tried to skin it. He knew how to do it in theory, but in practice and without a short knife, he spent a lot of time on it and got covered in blood. Now completely angry at the current circumstances, he went to the camp. Along the way, he stumbled upon small animals and met a flock of [Sly Crows][Rare] along with their intelligent leader. You could say that he was lucky that no one caused him any problems.

Back at camp, Nick went straight to the river. He had the misfortune of being seen by almost all of his classmates. Everyone looked at him blankly, and when he got closer, everyone held their noses from his stench.

This time Nick learned from his mistakes, he did not look for a deserted place by the river. He just went to the place where the troll was growing plants. He hoped that at least there he would not be attacked by a poisonous snake again. The troll was with Max and Kaeti, he greeted him with loud laughter when he saw the state he was in.

"AHAHAHA, PERFUME BELOVED. YOU LOOK LIKE SHIT! AHAHAHA!"

Nick walked up to the river and saw in his reflection a man who had just been through a war. There were bruises under his eyes from a bad night's sleep, his face, neck and hair were covered in blood, the expression of quiet rage that was on him added to the entourage of a maniac killer.

Nick grinned at this and waved his hand at the troll and the others. He silently walked past them carefully, without stepping on the plants, and entered the river. Having entered up to his waist, he removed the skin from his shoulders and began to wash it from the blood, watching the surrounding people. Being satisfied, he laid it on the grass, having entered the river again up to his waist, he began to undress and rinse his clothes. Having finished with this, Nick dressed in the river in wet clothes with visible traces of blood and got out of them. Silently waving goodbye to his friends, he walked past them. The troll began to laugh behind his back again, but he did not care.

Entering the kitchen, he took some food and went to eat it in his house. After eating, Nick calmed down and began to meditate. He restored his mana to 330 MP, it was early evening and he decided to go have a snack and talk to Evander, or Liam. He needed to know how to distribute experience.

He met them at a huge fire sitting not far from each other in a group of classmates. Nick thought for a second about the fact that he had not seen Linella at all today, he was curious about what she could be doing now. Approaching Nick began an idle conversation.

"Hello everyone." Everyone looked up from their food and greeted him briefly. Sitting down next to Evander, he continued. "Evander, how are you?" Evander looked up from his food and looked at him, confused.

"I think it's normal, and what about yours?"

"Oh, I killed a bear today and decided to hunt in pairs now, or save up more mana. It was risky." Nick replied, taking the offered plate of food.

"I told you to be careful, but level 1 can solve a lot for you, so I think it was worth it." The prince responded with a smile.

"Perhaps you are right, I actually want to ask what determines the amount of experience I receive in classes."

"You don't know?" the prince asked in surprise.

"No, they took me right after my 15th birthday, and before that they didn't want to answer my questions about classes." Evander shrugged and answered.

"Well, first of all, the rank and level of the creature you killed certainly matters. The higher they are, the more experience you get. The quantity and quality of skills are also important, titles also play a big role in this. You can also gain a level in classes by upgrading skills, getting titles and performing actions in the class. For example, mages need to cast spells, bakers need to bake and so on, but this of course gives a meager amount of experience."

"You know, I thought about it that way, but I didn't know that titles played a role in this and that you could essentially get free experience. So if I kill a [Uncommon] rank creature with a bunch of strong skills, I'll get more experience than if I kill a [Rare] creature with a high level and a small number of weak skills?" The prince nodded and replied.

"Yes, that happens sometimes."

"Okay, but do you know how to estimate the amount of experience I need to level up?"

"Hmm, well the more stats you get for a level in a class or race, the more experience you need for it. I don't know if there's a rough calculation of the cost of experience, but I doubt there is. Calculating the required experience is mostly pointless. Sometimes it works completely unpredictably. I heard a story about a man who killed a weak [Uncommon] level snake and got 10 levels in the [Hunter][Uncommon] class for it. He later brought its corpse and it was carefully examined. This did not answer any questions about how the snake could bring so much experience, but it was proven that the man was not lying."

"Hmm, that's really weird." Nick said thoughtfully.

Well, it's clear that the snake was unusual, but people couldn't understand it. Which meant that it was too unusual. Interesting, I need to remember that.

"Thank you for your knowledge, my Prince." Nick replied with a smile.

"Aha-ha, nothing like that."

Nick's last phrase lifted everyone's spirits and they finished eating in friendly silence. Afterwards Nick went home to continue meditating or to get a good night's sleep, he hadn't decided yet.