Aaron spent the day killing Mice with the team of 5 which seemed to have some sort of hidden agreement to compete against the kid and keep their combined kill-count higher than him instead of competing against one another.
Pio, Lucas, and Sherry spent time wearing masks with their young master Ron near the poisoned lake while he almost evaporated the whole lake of water and exposed more and more of the ground at the bottom of the lake, the kid's main goal was to get rid of all that poisonous water while accumulating Proficiency Points for the Flame Orb and Energy Bolt Skills.
He also enjoyed his meals with Mr Smith, grandpa Sid and his timid woman which seemed to understand that the only reason she's invited to this boy's house is because she's with the old man... but Aaron stayed polite and generously gave her a bottle of All-Cure Potion once he saw her limping slightly on her left foot.
Seeing the woman gawking from surprise after the "Miracle" happened and she could step on her left foot without experiencing any difficulty then her pure feelings of joy and gratitude towards the kid afterwards, but Aaron waved it off like nothing and requested that she takes care of his grandpa Sid in return for this small favor.
He also made sure to discuss the important issues with Cassandra, old man Vogen, and uncle Tylus at lunch since the work is almost completed everywhere on the construction site except for his house which still has about a dozen of floors left for them to construct on top of the 4 floors which they already built!
Of course Aaron wouldn't be satisfied with any house, the building of his house needs to be tall enough for him to stand on the roof and look everywhere around the Village.
The walls of his house are already 10 meters high and extremely thick which would trouble a few Rhinos ramming against them at full force.
The main gate Mr Smith is going to construct would be massive and fully made from top-quality refined metal, even a junior Poisonous Stone-Centipede might fail to break it with power.
He also mentioned the area where the Poisonous Lake is located and discussed his plans for that place with the three, but these plans would probably have to wait until Sen completes his plans for the new village-walls with the 5 shells.
Today he sent some words about the cost it's going to take their house if they wish to build high and sturdy stone walls on three sides of Pine-Breeze Village, Chief Peter's house would be forced to pay at least 200,000 Gold Coins!
A few minutes later Aaron delivered the 5 shells to the guards on the west-gate but there was no empty space for him to leave them inside the Village which why he had to drop them outside the walls before going back.
Sen also sent words that his fears were true because the leaders of the local gangs and the different groups of bandits called for a meeting and they must be deciding what to do next after hearing about the amount of wealth the Mice meat is making in the markets within and outside their territories.
Aaron dismissed the messenger while saying : "Let me worry about that, you better think about your own issues and solve the debt your house owe me now instead of wasting your time with bandits."
With the kid being generous when he's financially comfortable enough to do so, the people working in the construction site were also fed meals of excellent quality.
Of course Aaron had to play with Flora in the pool for a while but poor girl didn't know how to swim which he had to teach her how to swim first before letting Sherry handle these lessons while he relaxed and cultivated Proficiency Points for almost all of his Skills.
When it was dark and the workers left his house, the kid and his maid were the only ones left in this big house.
Of course Aaron had already killed more than 200 Fuzzy Phosphorus Mice and the group of 5 had a bit higher kill-count than him in total.
'My Exp bar stands at 6,842/10,000, I guess it's time for me to go visit the canyon in the Dark-Forest.' He thought before covering Sherry with a soft blanket made from light strands of Mice fur.
'Cassandra already resolved my issue down in the basement and I can easily wash the blood whenever I feel like it but I've grown sick and tired of killing these rodents.
'It's getting dull really and the amount of Exp I'm earning from killing the nocturnal creatures of the canyon is more or less the same.
'Yesterday I had it all planned and set a trap but failed to find an appropriate prey to lure it there, maybe tonight I'll get lucky with that.
'But I should probably look around the area where the Wasp were patrolling yesterday.'
The kid kept Teleporting and the time it took him to Teleport 12 times was around 10 Seconds with 5 Seconds of rest in between.
He could Teleport 8 times continuously but it'd leave him dizzy with his head spinning so much that he wouldn't be able to differentiate which way is up, it stays this way for 20~25 Seconds afterwards and if he dares do that shit again the aftereffect wouldn't leave him for 5 Minutes only it'd be twice as strong and he wouldn't even be able to move a muscle unless he drank a bottle of All-cure Potion.
But that miraculous Potion would barely alleviate the aftereffects and he'd still be unable to activate Teleport at all afterwards, once the 5 Minutes are over he might be able to Teleport once again... but he wouldn't be able to spam it normally without having to suffer the consequences of his actions.
System : Host gained 8 Exp
"Hmmm..." Aaron suddenly stopped after killing that harmless-looking lizard before scanning the area with his eyes, "This is odd, yesterday these little creatures would scurry away in panic once they spot me coming but today quite a few of them actually attempted to attack me despite being unprovoked." Afterwards he Teleported away.
System : Host gained 12 Exp
"There's no mistake here, something is attracting these creatures to attack me." The kid stopped once again after killing some sort of Raccoon-Sized Squirrel which left the comfort of its nest and tried a cheap shot at chomping his neck from the back with its front teeth, "Maybe I shouldn't sleep on that Mark which the Darkness Seal left on me, but I've asked Sherry to help me look for it and we couldn't find anything at all."
*Buzz*
Aaron's attention was attracted towards the source of this sharp noise when these Wasps flutter their wings, it sounds a lot like bullets cutting air!
'Even these ones are becoming a lot more sensitive towards my position and are spotting me from further away, but I'm a lot different now compared to the enemy you guys met last night.' He thought while greeting two Wasps with Triple-Stars before Teleporting to a tree-branch in the opposite direction and firing two more volleys of Throwing-Stars to end the remaining Wasps.
Everything ended in a matter of 2~3 Seconds and this area of the canyon became eerily quiet!
'The problem with this Triple-Stars Skill is the whizzing-sound the Throwing-Stars make when they travel towards the target and the much louder bang that follows whenever I target a single enemy.
'I've come to resolve this issue by avoiding targeting single enemies even when there's only one left, I still choose to waste a Throwing-Star and strike anything else instead of attracting unwelcome enemies to my crime scene.
'Meanwhile the Energy Bolt Skill is practically perfect for situations where stealth is essential for me to actually hit the target, but the much louder boom which follows is the issue.
'Using Flame Orb in this terrain is already dangerous not to mention that me using it at night is like calling my enemies over to attack me, besides how slow the Skill is when it isn't channeled.'
Aaron stayed on his toes and didn't dare risk his chances, whenever Lucid Nightmare was about to enter Cooldown period he'd go back to the Village walls and wait it out before heading back into the canyon.
His back and forth trips made him extremely familiar with the area and the time wasted on these trips decreased a lot after almost every creature wandering anywhere around his path got killed.
In the beginning more creatures were attracted towards the scent of blood but when the numbers increased the result was actually quite the opposite and these nocturnal creatures actually moved further way from the easy meal which was left untouched for them!
'So sensitive towards the danger, their instincts are so sharp already yet they're still acting like idiots once I enter their range!' Aaron thought.
"But not all of these creatures are behaving this way," He muttered while standing at the crown of the highest tree and watching the sparse moonlight shining from between the curtain-like clouds at the backs of a group of Wasps, "These ones are bigger and faster than the ones I've killed so far, their most noticeable characteristic is the silver lines on their black and Yellowjackets.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
"It's kind annoying to see them arrogantly feeding on the prey I spent time and effort to kill, they're acting as if they were in their own backyard huh!
"I'm close to Level 6 anyway, let's see how much Exp I'll get from these guys." Aaron targeted the closest Silver-back Wasp with 2 Throwing-Stars and the Wasp behind it with the remaining Throwing-Star before Teleporting away and repeating his attack with another activation of the Triple-Stars Skill.
But after his second Teleport, the kid stared at the 2 Wasps which he targeted and frowned because all of his attacks actually missed their target!
"They can avoid the Throwing-Stars because they're so fast, fuck!"
*Buzz* *Buzz*
Now all of these Wasps were targeting him and keeping up with his location thanks to the mark which is hidden somewhere on his body.
It took Aaron 3 consecutive Teleports at maximum distance to actually escape these frightening Wasps but what they did next almost made him curse before retreating from the canyon as fast as possible without daring waste a second.
If it weren't for the moonlight... then Aaron might've failed to notice the cloud-like of Wasps which responded to the call from the group of Silver-back Wasps which he provoked then almost failed to escape their detection!
'There must've been tens of thousands of these Wasps, I'm left speechless after seeing that sight really... yet Chief Peter's house still dared to build a Village so close to the hive of these Wasps!' The kid was struggling to believe their stupidity! Or is it just plain blind courage?
'I need to be extremely cautious around that area of the canyon in the future.
'Also targeting these Silver-back Wasps with Triple-Stars isn't going to cut it anymore, I need to be prepared to use the big guns.
'But it'd be for the best if I set my plan in motion before I truly deliver the nastiest of blows, time to reel the net in on these fuckers!' Aaron waited until his all of the Cooldowns on his Skills were Zeroed before going back to the canyon.
This time he cleared the area leading to the location where he set the destination of his Mystique-Door from any creatures that might harass him or delay his actions on the time to come.
Sometimes he'd carefully approach the territory of the Wasps to scout their range of movement, but he noticed that whenever he killed a few of them... the rest of the Wasps would move towards the location where their neighbors died and search the area for the culprit.
System : Level-UP
"Finally! As expected... reaching Level 7 is going to take twice the amount of Exp and effort." Aaron muttered before leaving the canyon after a few Teleports then ran the rest of the distance through the familiar outline of the forest before stopping when the curtain-like clouds in the sky sealed the moon shut and cut the sparse moonlight.
"It's going to become a lot difficult for me to see anything in the dark without scanning the area with Lucid Nightmare, I should wait for the moon to shed some light instead of doing anything reckless.
"Thankfully I have things to plan in the mean time, but should I increase the Level of my Defensive-Skills or increase my repertoire of MP?
"Improving my Magical and Physical-Defense allows me to withstand harder hits while increasing my MP bar helps me take more hits, I don't wish to ever be hit but I don't believe any number of Teleports would help me avoid the Wasps when there's so much of them.
"I'm increasing my MP bar because it's becoming harder for me to actually use my Skills without having to worry about how much I've got left in the tank.
"A few Teleports are enough to eat the most of my MP bar already, and what makes it a sad sight to look at is that I'm already using two consumables to increase my MP bar by more than double!
"It kind of makes me look like a failure as a Magician but I'm punching above my weight here since I'm only Level 6 and filthy rich.
"By increasing my Wisdom-Attribute I'm increasing both my Mana and my M/Def at the same time which kind of solves a bit of my problems since when I'm combining the benefits from my Defensive-Skills and the two consumables my M/Def's quality is [Rare+3]+35.2%.
"I believe the best course of action for me in the future is to keep allocating 2 Skill Points at Mana Points Boost before using the remaining Point to increase the Level of one of my 2 Defensive-Skills.
"I'm going to start with Magic Guard first while Mana Armor is going to be delayed until I reach Level 7, maybe I'd be accumulate enough Proficiency Points to Level them both UP by then."
Mana Points Boost Increases MP permanently and Increases MP proportional to host's level Mana Points Boost Level 5 Permanent MP Increase 5% Proportional MP Increase Current level * 50
Aaron's MP bar increased by 370 once he raised MP Boost's Level, but he didn't stop there and raised it up to Level 6.
Mana Points Boost Increases MP permanently and Increases MP proportional to host's level Mana Points Boost Level 6 Permanent MP Increase 6% Proportional MP Increase Current level * 60
'My base MP bar was 1398 and now it's 2234! I'm kind of tempted to push it up to Level 7, Should I go for it?' The kid fell into deep thought before shaking his head, 'Nah... my MP bar stands at 4416 thanks to the Candied-Apples and the Extreme Blue Potions.
'Increasing Magic Guard's Level would allow me to take harder hits and negates them with my Mana, I shouldn't put the cart before the horse.'
Magic Guard Damage dealt affects host's MP instead of HP. If host's MP reaches 0, host's HP takes the full amount of damage. Magic Guard Level 4 Mana Points Cost 60 Damage Displaced 43% Guard's Duration 276 Seconds Proficiency Points 22/200
*Sigh*
Aaron released a breath before murmuring to himself : "I made the right choice there, the time has come for me to unlock the final leaf on the Neutral-Class Skill-Branch.
Identify Uses Mana to improve eyesight which allows one to categorize hidden details. Identify Level 1 Mana Points Cost 12 Vision +8 Awareness +6 Duration 25 Seconds Cooldown 40 Seconds Proficiency Points 0/100
"Whoa!" The kid was so surprised once he activated the Identify Skill, he even forgot that he was currently standing on top of one of the Archer-Towers and is supposed to be quiet not to spook or frighten these poor guards which would but them on alert almost all night for the remainder of their watch!
"Who's there?"
"I heard it too!"
"Is it bandits?"
"Are we under attack?"
"What's with all the ruckus up there? Did you guys see anythin-" One of the team captains raised his torch up hoping to see what's going on inside the towers since he's being tasked to patrol the walls with his team but his words got caught within his throat once he saw the kid standing on top of the roof of the Archer-Tower.
The day Aaron captured Rodd and Lucas this man was on the shift of guarding the west-gate, he saw and heard a lot about this kid ever since.
That's why when the kid smiled and gestured for him to be quiet with a finger on his lips, the team captain immediately turned mute.
He saw the kid vanish into thin air before any one of his team rise their heads to look up!
"What is it captain?"
"Nothing. You lot up there better quiet down and stop making noise, it was just a Night-Owl no need to worry but you lot better stay vigilant! Teacher Sen warned us of the possibility of getting raided at night by some bandits, all of us might die if you blink an eye you bastards." Afterwards the team captain continued patrolling the walls with his team while thinking : 'What was the kid doing there? Is something in the Dark-Forest interesting him? I better report that later to teacher Sen, I might be rewarded or he might allow me to work the day shift... the lady of the house is complaining about the lack of "That" and already threatening to find another!'
While this team captain was sighing deeply and trying to ignore the melody of moans and gasps which him and everyone currently stuck at the night shift could hear clearly, Aaron was looking everywhere and receiving a lot of notifications!
Pine Tree : Dead
A split-second later he received another notification.
Dead Pine Tree : Termites nest
"Not only did my eyesight improve thanks to this Identify Skill, I can sense the location of almost every creature around me at the same time without having to rely on the scanning-domain from Lucid Nightmare!" The kid smirked like a little devil while looking up at the cloudy sky which still refuses to release the moon and kept preventing it from casting its light on the canyon, "I guess I don't have to wait for anything to happen, with this Identify Skill in my arsenal... I don't feel like being Passive anymore.
"Time to eat! 20k of Exp is a lot of waiting and effort... I'd prefer it if I send all of them to the afterlife with a bang.
"A Big-Bang! Now I've remembered a funny boxer who went with that name, he spoke funny too and said a lot of insulting and awkward shit all the time."