Fighting the pack of Palebranch Wights was brutal. Lucien had to be surgical in his approach. He now had excellent armor, so he wouldn’t die from one hit—that was reassuring.
However, there were hordes of them. The least of his worries was being struck by one. His movent decisions could trap him in their midst, and then death would claim him. Right now, Lucien couldn’t afford to die.
Dying ant he would have to end the ga early tonight, which was one of the rare chances he got to play after what happened to Halo. He had to maximize this opportunity.
Death wasn’t even an option.
So he circled the pack of twisted walking trees, never getting trapped between them. When his stealth cooldown ended, he vanished and executed another one from behind.
He distributed his attributes evenly between speed and strength, which yielded even better results than before and amplified all his item effects. But the most fortunate effect was fire.
Palebranch Wights were wood-type monsters and were devastatingly weak to fire attacks. Most of the ti, Lucien just needed to unleash a quick succession of strikes, then keep running. Eventually the monster would burn out, and he would gain his level.
But he had to say...
Lucien panted as he wiped sweat from his neck.
"What shitty leveling system does this ga have?!"
Imagine slaughtering a level 55 monster, only to gain four asly levels! Then you lose all those hard-earned Evolution Points—in his case, Fusion Points when he fused with things.
The ga was a cycle of crushing difficulty. And yet, there were players who had surpassed level 400?
Lucien could only begin to fathom what a savage and rciless world he had thrown himself into. This was hardcore through and through.
The thought sent goosebumps racing across his skin beneath his pristine white armor.
’Let’s focus. Four points to strength.’
[Your strength has increased by 4 points]
’Speed... five.’
[Your Agility has increased by 5 points]
Lucien spun the Nightfang—the movent wasn’t smooth, but the sword in his left hand didn’t fall. He plunged forward and vanished again.
Then he launched into the air, raising both swords above his head and plumting down with them, driving both blades into the monster’s shoulders.
Fire erupted, hurling him backward.
[You have lost 23 Health Points]
Lucien rolled across the ground and sprang to his feet.
’How pathetic—taking damage from my own attack.’
[You have slain Palebranch Wight Lv. 55]
[You have gained 1,830 Fusion Points]
Lucien shook his head in frustration.
’This is maddening. Absolutely maddening. How am I stuck on level 12, having to butcher three or four level 55 monsters just to reach level 13? Soone explain to how this makes any sense!’
He was raging internally while maintaining a cold, calculated deanor through the narrow slits of his wolf mask.
Lucien released both swords, allowing them to dissolve into blue light. The light stretched into a brilliant stream that materialized a long katana in his hands.
He studied the pristine, curved blade—its tal seed to radiate malice even toward him.
Lucien angled it downward, igniting it with fire. His free hand transford into tal, claws extending from his fingers as flas engulfed the entire limb.
One eye blazed with devilish crimson light through the narrow slit of the wolf mask. Then Lucien exploded forward.
This ti he didn’t go invisible. He reached the first Wight and swung his sword—but that was a feint. He drove his clawed hand straight into the monster’s heart, crushing through the wood with devastating force.
[You have dealt 138 damage]
[You have dealt burn damage]
[Target has entered burn state]
[Target will lose 10 health points per 3 seconds]
Apparently his hand attack was weaker than his sword strikes because of his pathetic level. But Lucien had no ti to dwell on this.
He felt absolutely exhilarated. Every battle taught him sothing new, made him sharper. He felt like a supercomputer learning at breakneck speed from accumulated data.
And the rush—it was intoxicating. This... this was the world he had been searching for!
Lucien pulled back, evading the clawed strike of one monster as it crashed into the space he’d occupied re milliseconds before.
Now, at level 12, he had gained substantial speed and strength and felt more powerful than ever in the ga.
However, it still wasn’t nearly enough. What Lucien truly had to thank was [Predator’s Instincts]. Ti and again, the passive trait warned him of incoming attacks saturated with bloodlust.
And it functioned so flawlessly that Lucien could sense the danger before the notification even appeared.
There was almost no difference in movent synchronization between the capsule and headgear, but soone like Lucien, who paid obsessive attention to his body, noticed the subtle distinction.
It felt diluted—sohow just out of reach. With the headgear, it was obvious he was playing a ga. The capsule blurred that line completely.
This left him unsatisfied with the imrsion. Lucien could understand why most people chose capsules, while headgear was reserved for those who couldn’t afford the premium equipnt.
Right now, though, he was a beggar without options.
[You have dealt 900 damage]
[You have dealt burn damage]
[Target has entered burn state]
[Target will lose 100 health points per 3 seconds]
Lucien wrenched the curved blade from the monster’s wooden body. He could already sense another one lunging in for a brutal attack.
He quickly threw himself aside, but to his shock, the monster’s limb stretched like a living branch—continuously growing and coiling around his legs. Instantly, he was hurled into the air and slamd against the hard bark of one of the ghostly white trees.
[You have received critical head damage]
[You have lost 344 health points]
[You have entered stunned state]
For about a second, his entire mind went blank. He didn’t know what had happened, but found himself sprawled on the ground. It felt like an eternity had passed, but the monster was already whipping another elongated limb at him—this one tipped with a razor-sharp blade.
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