Sakeer observed the widespread effect of Dark Wave and couldn't help but be a little surprised.
Then, he grinned.
Trample!
He stomped down—vanishing in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared before the Cursed Basilisk that had attacked the Archangel Flame.
With a swift arc of his iron sword, the blade sliced cleanly through the monster's neck.
Poof!
A spray of foul, rancid blood erupted as its massive head was severed.
Bang!
Even in death, the Cursed Basilisk's body twitched, stumbling forward before collapsing heavily to the ground.
[XP Gained: 723]
[XP Gauge: 10,355 / 10,000]
Sakeer frowned slightly.
"Is the experience from Cursed Basilisks always this low? Or is it because of the curse?"
The thought flashed through his mind as he twisted his ankle, propelling himself toward the next Cursed Basilisk.
Click!
His iron sword shattered upon impact.
Without hesitation, a new one appeared in his grip.
Slash!
[XP Gained: 539]
Whoosh!
Sakeer continued to switch swords, his figure weaving rapidly through the darkness.
Each time an iron sword shattered, another Cursed Basilisk fell.
The power of Dark Wave rendered the monsters completely paralyzed, leaving them helpless prey for the slaughter.
Unless one possessed resistance to both "Fear" and "Curse of Weakness," Dark Wave was an exceptional crowd-control skill.
But—
Sakeer noticed something unusual.
Each kill caused the curse energy within his own body to stir more violently.
The Cursed Basilisks carried far more cursed energy than any demonic creatures he had encountered before.
And yet—
Despite absorbing so much of it, he couldn't feel any noticeable change in his own curse power.
What was the purpose of all this corruption?
The question lingered.
But for now—
He kept killing.
Within moments, the last of the dozen Cursed Basilisks fell.
Click!
Sakeer casually tossed the cracked sword hilt aside and glanced at his status panel.
[XP Gauge: 16,789 / 10,000]
A small smirk appeared on his face.
"Not a bad haul."
He turned his attention to Dogan, who lay unconscious on the ground.
His skin was now half-rotten—a grim sign of the curse's spread.
Sakeer frowned.
This was getting worse.
And he had no way to fix it.
"Finding the source is our only hope."
Lifting Dogan, Sakeer motioned forward, allowing the Archangel Flames to lead the way.
Time passed slowly as they ventured deeper.
A few more monsters with rotting bodies attempted to ambush them, but Sakeer cut them down with ease.
[XP Gauge: 17,520 / 10,000]
Strangely—
Although the monsters' physical strength was weak due to the curse, the corrupt energy they carried was immense.
Yet, as they advanced, the number of rotting monsters decreased—
While the number of bones on the ground increased.
Then—
After nearly twenty minutes of walking through the dark valley—
Sakeer came to a sudden halt.
Before him stood a massive stone wall, blocking their path.
He stepped forward and pressed his palm against the rough surface, then knocked hard.
Thud.
Solid.
Or was it?
Sakeer narrowed his eyes.
He gestured toward one of the Archangel Flames, commanding it to circle the wall, using its light to scan for anything unusual.
Although his monocle granted him night vision, it wasn't as effective as actual daylight when it came to spotting fine details.
He watched closely as the angel searched every crevice—
Until finally—
Ten meters up, where the stone wall met the rock face, something came into view.
A hidden opening.
Sakeer's lips curled into a smirk.
"Found it."
He gestured for the Archangel Flame to lift him up.
Sure enough—
At the very top of the stone wall, a broken hole had been dug into the rock.
Sakeer studied the size of the entrance.
This wasn't natural.
"A tunnel… dug by something big."
His gaze darkened.
"A Cursed Basilisk, most likely."
Sakeer also felt the curse energy in his body growing more restless.
"The power of the curse is becoming more active… Is it really here?"
With a slight nod, he commanded another Archangel Flame to enter the cave first. His expression remained unreadable as he waited.
Seconds passed—
Nothing happened.
Only then did Sakeer step into the stone cave himself.
The cave walls were covered in fine scratches and a thick layer of dust, a clear sign that this place had been untouched for a long time.
Before long, the exit of the dark cave came into view.
The Archangel Flame's glow spilled ahead, casting flickering light over the cave entrance.
Sakeer stepped forward, stopping just at the threshold.
His gaze dropped downward.
A narrow space—like a crevice between mountain walls—stretched out before him. The area was small, yet the combined glow of the two Archangel Flames was enough to fully illuminate it.
Then, his eyes narrowed.
"That is…?"
Boom!
Without hesitation, Sakeer leaped down from the ten-meter height, landing heavily on the ground. A deep vibration echoed through the confined space.
The curse energy here was so dense that it surged like an invisible tide—thick, suffocating, and overwhelming.
Ignoring it, Sakeer turned his attention forward.
Against the rock wall, a human skeleton sat slumped. Its gray-white bones looked ancient, and the joints that once connected the limbs had long since rotted away.
Strangely, there was no smell of decay.
This person had clearly been dead for a long time.
But the most striking sight—
Right before the skeletal remains, a massive scale rested on the ground.
It was as tall as a man, pitch-black, and seething with dark energy.
The black curse mist, usually invisible, billowed visibly from the scale, slowly dispersing into the air.
Sakeer's eyes widened in shock.
"What the hell… is this?"
He had imagined many possibilities, but never had he expected the source of the curse's power to be a scale.
And what about the human skeleton?
Given how long it had been here, it shouldn't have remained intact—especially in a place so saturated with cursed energy.
Frowning, Sakeer quickly stepped forward, his magic flaring.
"Item Identification!"
…
[Item: Mystic Scale]
Level: ???
Description: ???
…
Sakeer stiffened.
This was the first time he had ever encountered an item he couldn't identify.
His gaze shifted back to the scale itself.
Judging by its sheer size, it had to belong to a giant creature.
At the same time, the curse energy within him became increasingly agitated.
Almost on instinct—
Sakeer raised a finger and lightly touched the black scale.
Boom—
The moment his fingertip made contact—
The slow, drifting curse energy that had been leaking from the scale suddenly rushed forward as if it had found an outlet.
The dark energy flooded into Sakeer's body like a raging torrent.
His accumulated curse power, which had been hovering at a limit, surged past a bottleneck in an instant.
[Cursed Knight: Level 1 → Level 2]
A notification flashed across his status panel.
Sakeer's expression shifted—shocked.
But the process didn't stop there.
The curse energy from the scale kept pouring in.
Even the lingering dark mist in the air—which had previously been dispersing—began converging toward the scale and then into his body.
This process lasted longer than he expected.
For the first time, Sakeer could clearly feel the transformation of curse energy within him.
Then—
Buzz—
His status panel refreshed again.
[Cursed Knight: Level 2 → Level 3]
At that moment—
The mysterious scale's power was finally exhausted.
Its once pitch-black surface became streaked with gray-white lines, as if all of its dark energy had been drained away.
Sakeer stared at the panel.
Then at the [Cursed Knight] class, now at Level 3.
His face froze—filled with disbelief.
"This… is like discovering a whole new world."
For as long as he had known—
There had only been two known methods of advancing a class level.
One: Training it manually, like the inhabitants of this world. But that was far too time-consuming.
Two: Using experience points to level up instantly.
But now—
He had just found a third method.
"Absorbing class-related energy… can actually increase a profession's level!?"
Sakeer muttered, still trying to process the revelation.
Then, a thought struck him.
"Wait… Does this only apply to the [Cursed Knight] class?"
For example, a "Sword Master" class wouldn't be able to improve this way. It could only be trained through cultivation.
Sakeer's eyes gleamed.
"What an incredible discovery!"