"It's been a long day." Looking at the sun in the distance, Ren muttered to himself.
It had been around six hours since they had entered the forest to level up three times and for Ren to level up at least six times to catch up with them.
"But my strength should already be almost near them due to my abnormal growth." Opening his status screen, he checked his progress.
｢Name: Ren
Level: 5
Bloodline: Heir of Oblivion
Strength:12~>20
Agility:11~>15
Vitality:7~>11
Stamina:12~>16
Mana:2~>10 — [0/10]
Spirit Power:7~>41
Skill:———｣
Analyzing his stats, he had come to some conclusions.
"First, each of the stats increases with the same growth rate, such as strength with +2 and agility with +1."
"Second, every time he gets an Oblivion Entity, his mana depletes based on its level. If it's a level three vermin, his mana will deplete by three points."
Contemplating, Ren looked at his two level 3 and the two level 2 vermin standing behind him.
'Third, I don't know how to recover my mana.'
Still, he had gained much more than he had realized and now it was time to return.
"But what should I do with them?" He couldn't exactly take these to the village and expose his only card.
Not when he didn't trust them enough.
While he was wondering whether to leave them in the forest or take them back, two of the Vermins jumped at him.
Ren was horrified to see them lunge at him. He didn't even have the time to use his axe to defend himself.
'Shit, it was my mistake for trusting them blindly.' Cursing, he tried to duck down but they had already reached him.
Just as he closed his eyes, a "shkk" sound rang in his ears, making him open his eyes and turn his head.
His minions' chests now bore a deep gash. Turning his gaze on the assailant, he was surprised to find that it was also a Vermin.
And his Oblivion vermin had protected him just now.
But the attacker looked a little different.
This one had two black horns on its head; one of its eyes was completely orange, instead of the normal yellowish color he had seen in others, with a fierce gaze locked upon him.
Clearly, it had timed the attack when Ren had dropped his guard.
But had failed to predict the actions of his two vermins protecting him.
Before the attacker could take remove its claws from the chest of his vermin, Ren threw his axe at it.
Tilting his body at the last second, it took the blow on its left shoulder.
Jumping back, it created some distance between them.
Looking at the axe beside him and the empty-handed Ren, it revealed a menacing grin.
Rushing forward, it once again lunged at Ren.
One of the level 2 Oblivion Vermin jumped forward to help but couldn't even halt it for a second before getting thrown aside with a severe gash in its chest.
Ren's face revealed a panicked expression which stimulated the Vermin even further.
But just as the claws were about to grab his head, Ren tilted his body at the perfect moment by sheer instinct. And impaled its stomach with a splinter of wood.
The vermin's eyes widened in horror as it saw the splinter inside its solar plexus.
"Hsvgg…" Muttering some gibberish, it fell down on its knees and died.
[Level 10 Vermin killed. Exp +165]
[Leveled up! You have reached level 6!]
"Looks like my caution paid off." Ren had used the branch he had broken from the tree earlier to create this splinter.
His chest heaved up and down as he breathed heavily. As much as he liked the thrill and adrenaline of it, playing around wasn't something he wanted to risk his life for.
And despite it being a level 10 vermin, it didn't had a brain to anticipate the attacks and dodge it, which was the reason Ren was able to kill it in a single blow.
"Now, let's see how much better are you."
With a grin, he clicked on the (+) sign mentally.
But this time, it didn't work.
"What?" Frowning, he clicked on it directly only to fail again.
He stopped. Contemplating for a moment, his eyes fell on his mana stat:
Mana:10~>12 - [2/12]
'Ah, that's the reason. Wait, so do I need ten points to use it? Isn't that too much?'
Clearly, killing mindlessly wasn't going to work as the leveling speed wasn't that fast. Even killing a level 10 at level 5 rewarded withwith a single level-up.
'It feels like the system doesn't want anyone to grow stronger. It is not creating opportunities for everyone but only for those who can tread the path ahead.'
Glancing at the three vermins lying on the ground, he tried to reawaken them but couldn't.
"So if they die… they die. Sigh, what did I even expect?" It would be basically a cheat to have unkillable monsters when venturing alone in the apocalypse.
But glancing at the remaining Vermin, he thought for a moment before commanding it.
"Drag him and follow me." Giving the instruction, Ren started going back with a subtle smile present on his face.
'I am hungry after being here almost six hours, I should head back quickly.'
As he moved through the forest, his mind kept drifting to the earlier fight.
He wasn't naive, he knew that strength without technique was nothing but, all show and no substance.
Ren was pretty sure that the stats represented the full power one could actually bring out, not how much one was currently able to bring out.
Simply put, he needed to increase his efficiency.
Reaching the village, he found one more Vermin on his way and, this time, he decided someon thing.
"What better way to train than a real fight?" He ran straight at it just like before.
The Vermin turned around and with a scream, pounced on him.
Tightening his fists, he punched the zombie squarely in the chest, making it vomit a vile green blood.
The zombie tried to attack once more, this time at his neck.
But Ren grabbed its face with his left hand and threw it to the ground, without wasting a second, he bent down and jumped at its head with all the strength he could muster in his right knee.
'Thump.' The creature died, with the greenish disgusting blood splattering on the ground.
"Nope, never doing it again." The impact caused him to wince in pain but he still found it more enjoyable than fighting with a weapon.
A few minutes later, he finally returned, but found none of the group members present.
But suddenly, his eyes landed somewhere else.
"Are you kidding me?"