While chasing the Skarn, Thalion had the feeling that they might instinctively return to their swarm, and he would very much like to give them a warm welco.
This world really didn’t need more of those annoying fish and sea creatures.
Thalion slowed down slightly to give the Skarn the impression that they were faster and might actually escape, while he turned his attention to sothing else—his experience gain.
After killing the sharks, he had been close to reaching the next level. Right now he was on the brink of hitting Level 83.
There was just one thing that bothered him.
After evolving, he had been certain that reaching Level 81 required around six hundred seventy thousand experience points.
Now, however, reaching Level 83 required more than one million.
The increase in experience required per level clearly wasn’t linear and seed to rise more and more with every level.
For now, it didn’t make much of a difference. The next few levels would co quickly enough.
But when it ca to the later levels of E-grade, he would likely start running into real problems.
There was also another issue he needed to deal with during E-grade, and it would probably be the most difficult one of all.
He needed to remove the Mark of the System.
The system’s voice had clearly stated that removing it was only possible at a lower grade, when the system had not yet fully assigned a true value to soone.
The higher one climbed, the more difficult it would beco.
Being sacrificed by the system at so point in the future was sothing Thalion would very much like to avoid, which ant he had to start thinking about a solution.
He already knew the mark was attached to his soul, but that knowledge didn’t help much right now.
He would have to invest a great deal of ti researching the topic and gathering information before evolving further.
ditation alone wouldn’t be enough.
He would need a master who could teach him about the soul.
If not a master, then at least reliable knowledge.
Unfortunately, information like that was probably extrely expensive, and at the mont Thalion didn’t even have his backpack anymore.
Not that there had been much value left in it anyway.
He had tried asking Ratgul about the matter, and the god had indeed strengthened his soul significantly.
The problem was that Ratgul had never truly cared about the soul itself. He had simply reinforced it in the crudest way possible—mainly to increase ntal defenses.
Another problem was that Thalion couldn’t simply ask soone directly about the Mark.
Doing that might attract the attention of so powerful entity overseeing the system, and being killed for asking the wrong question was not that high on his list of priorities.
What Thalion really needed were forbidden artifacts, like the dark crystal he had bought during the tutorial.
That crystal had contained countless blueprints for rituals and portals that allowed one to leave the system.
Without sothing like that, he would probably waste countless years without making real progress.
The chances of finding such knowledge in the next two system events—those created by Lyrian and R-87—were probably very low.
No.
What he truly needed was to travel to Integrated Space and participate in one of the great trials where only the strongest elites gathered.
Only there would he find the knowledge he needed.
There might be one other option.
He could attempt to leave the system with his soul alone.
The Golden Palace was no longer an option, and Thalion wasn’t even sure if they would be willing to help him.
They were probably not interested in the rise of another holy warrior.
He would have to find another place he could visit.
However, even with the massive amount of information the crystal had forced into his mind—and the convenient search function within that knowledge—finding a suitable location would still take ti.
These were the only two viable options Thalion could see.
The alternative would be spending thousands of years experinting blindly until he finally succeeded, and that was not sothing he was willing to accept.
For now, his plan was simple.
Test his new forms.
Get used to them.
And keep leveling.
He desperately needed those levels for what was coming.
It wouldn’t take long before the Chosen reached D-grade, and once that happened, the war would begin.
Maybe Thalion would help.
Maybe he would stay out of it.
He hadn’t decided yet.
At the mont, far too many people were trying to kill him.
The only way he could see himself making a difference would be by hunting elves or vampires on his own, or perhaps working as so kind of unofficial agent for Eric—without the other Chosen knowing about it.
Eventually, the Chosen would gain the ability to build portals to the domains of their patron gods.
Using such a portal could have been a solution, but it was far too dangerous.
Thalion had no idea how the gods viewed him, or even how many of them already knew about his existence.
So certainly did.
In that regard, he would follow the advice Ratgul and the others had given him.
There were teleporters sowhere on this world.
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Every faction was searching for them, because whoever controlled one would make enormous profits.
More importantly, it would provide a direct connection to Integrated Space.
Getting his hands on one of those teleporters would be essential.
As an alternative, Thalion had also considered using one of the Incursions to reach Integrated Space.
But that option was probably just as dangerous as using one of the Chosen’s portals.
In general, Thalion preferred to stay away from beings that could kill him with their pinky finger.
Controlling such a portal himself and using it to enter the great trials in Integrated Space to obtain the forbidden knowledge he needed seed like the best plan for now.
For that, he needed power—and a lot of it.
Even then, power alone would only be the bare minimum.
At so point, he would also need to reconnect with his old group.
For now, they should be safe with Eric, but he intended to visit them eventually. When Eric was out pushing through the rest of E-grade, Thalion might have the opportunity to sneak into the camp and have a quiet conversation with them.
It would be best if Eric and the other humans didn’t know about it. Otherwise they might get in trouble because of him, and that was the last thing he wanted.
This had also been one of the reasons why Thalion had gone off on his own once it beca clear that resisting the elves’ attack had been impossible.
Reaching a high rank in the treasure hunt had never been guaranteed, and it had been far better for the others to integrate into Eric’s camp rather than stay with soone who might very well end up dead.
But first, Thalion would have to find a teleporter, and then he would need to beco strong enough to fight off a Chosen who might already have reached D-grade by that ti.
That could be difficult.
Still, with his current forms, Thalion believed he at least had a chance.
Besides leveling, there was another way for him to beco significantly stronger.
So far, only his human form possessed a bloodline.
Stealing bloodlines was difficult, but he believed he could manage it with both his Eclipsari form and his serpent form. Water and darkness control were very similar to blood control, after all.
When it ca to his wyvern form, he had no idea how he was supposed to manage or even create the tendrils.
As for bloodlines, he already had a target in mind for his Eclipsari form—the prince.
He could also steal weaker bloodlines and use the one form to assimilate them, strengthening the bloodline in his human body.
Even now it was already fairly powerful, but there was no reason not to make it even stronger.
There were many things on Thalion’s mind, and a great deal he needed to accomplish in a short amount of ti.
Gaining levels also ant that sooner or later his class should grant him one or two additional skills.
That alone was already a major power increase for anyone, no matter the rarity of their class.
For a Divine class, it should be even more significant.
For now, he would eliminate a few more Skarn before making his way back to shore.
He needed a suitable place to test the Eclipsari and Wyvern.
Since he would already be back on land by then, he could also visit his old friends before returning to intensive leveling.
Getting used to all his forms was important, and he didn’t want to spend too much ti underwater.
If he encountered an enemy he couldn’t defeat and needed to escape, he wanted to be able to switch between forms comfortably.
That was, after all, what made him so powerful as a shapeshifter.
So far he had mostly chosen the form that worked best against a specific opponent or environnt.
In the future, however, he wanted to shift fluidly in the middle of combat, catching his enemies off guard.
Ratgul had also said that this would be a good strategy, since no one expected a shapeshifter to fight that way.
Most shapeshifters only had one or two useful forms, and switching forms mid-fight was almost unheard of.
While chasing the Skarn, Thalion began picking up more trails belonging to other Skarn and even so sea-won, thanks to the ability of Hunter of All.
This title really was remarkable.
It didn’t make him stronger directly, but never losing track of a target and detecting everything so early was incredibly powerful.
Thalion finally spotted them near the surface.
For the Skarn, his arrival ca at a very unfortunate mont.
The sea-won were currently pulling a ship underwater, while the fish eagerly waited for their feast.
Fortunately for the sailors, Thalion happened to be right there to save them from a terrible fate.
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