The Villain has Perished

I put aside Gylothyn and re-shifted my focus to absorbing the condensed mana from the lake.

Looking up at the night sky, I could see stars twinkling, the constellations clear and vivid against the blackness of the sky. The moon, full and bright, cast a soft glow over everything, illuminating the water and casting shimmering reflections on the surface.

The ethereal water was continuously nourishing my physique.

The 1st Mortal Awakening increases Magic Power the most, while in the 2nd Mortal Awakening the Physique stat is boosted more than the MP stat. My MP was already over 1000 and it was comparable to elves but my Physique was below average by human standards. This was a good chance to overcome my shortcomings.

As I freely floated in the lake, the gentle sound of water lapping against the sides of the lake continued to echo. The air was cool and refreshing. I could vividly sense the improvement…. yup, that's the extent of my poetic vocabulary. Can't think of more flowery words. Though, I'm good at this if I say so myself~

'Interface' I muttered inwardly.

A few lines appeared in my vision.

[Floor 0]

[Shop]

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ [Language Translator] Level 1

[Directory]

I nodded to myself. 'Language translator went up to level 1 and the Directory was also unlocked after reaching 2nd Mortal Awakening.'

The effects of language translator level 1 weren't noticeable. But I knew that it was going to become useful in the upcoming days.

Directory stores the information of monsters someone has defeated themselves. The information in the directory is about the monsters' race.

The details of a specific monster someone has defeated is also written in the directory. However, that information is the information they had analyzed about the monster by themselves. It is not given to them like the information about the monsters' race.

'Open Directory'

⟪Directory⟫

Wind Fist Kangaroo, 1st Mortal Awakening

Duckbilled Quack, 1st Mortal Awakening

Greenfoot Horsie, 1st Mortal Awakening

Toothhorn Beck, 1st…..

Dwarf Giraffe.....

Zeppie F….

…

…

…

Five Horn Deer, 3rd Mortal Awakening

Adamantium Tailed Baboon, 1-star Master

⟪User can access the records stored in Directory by issuing a mental command⟫

The number of monster species in my directory was over 80. At the end of the directory was the Master rank monster that attacked me tonight. I read its records. 'Open Adamantium Tailed Baboon, 1-star Master.'

Ding!

⟪Accessing records of Adamantium Tailed Baboon, 1-star Master⟫

Adamantium Tailed Baboon(Species)

These bipedal monsters can grow from 5 meters to 8 meters. They like living in areas with tall trees and have flexible bodies. Their preferable method of attacking mainly involves using their tails and slashing with their sharp claws. The number of tails represents the strength of an Adamantium Tailed Baboon. Their long arms help to increase their range of attacks considerably.

Adamantium Tailed Baboon, 1-star Master:

[Physique] → 300

[Magic Power] → 250

Skills Possessed → <Steel Tails> F

⟪User doesn't have enough information to evaluate the skill possessed by the Adamantium Tailed Baboon, 1-star Master⟫

⟪The records will be further updated after the user has analyzed the monster in more depth⟫

The Adamantium Tailed Baboon Physique stat was 300 while the Great Boars had 250 points in Physique.

The stats are linear. The value of 1 stat point remains the same, whether it is added at 1 Physique/MP or 10,000 Physique/MP. Considering this fact, the gap of 50 stat points when the total stats are near 300 value wasn't too lethal.

Yet, the Great Boars were no match for the monster. It was because of the F rank skill <Steel Tails>.

The skill should have a basic effect of increasing its tails' stats. The effect overlapped with the monster's 300-stat physique and increased its offensive ability by many folds. As a result, although it wasn't physically stronger than the boars by a large margin, the monster was easily able to kill them.

I won only because my speed boost caught the monster by surprise and it was unable to use its tails on time. It would've been a lot harder to win, had I faced the monster in a fair fight.

The directory provided me with a good amount of information about the monsters in the forest. Their habitats, preferred method of fighting and habits.

The information written in the directory was only at a basic level. But that would increase as my rank increases and the information will become detailed.

'Open Shop' Closing the directory, I browsed the shop.

It had a wide variety of goods. The list was almost inexhaustible and it had no search function. This made it difficult to buy a specific item in an emergency situation, unless you know where exactly the item is in the shop.

'I want to buy a new set of gear but I don't have the coins for them.'

The items I needed consisted of basic protective items and a few special objects that would ease my exploration of the new world.

Though they were expensive I had no intention of being a cheapskate and not buying them. After all, I can't use Jae-sung's method to reach the core section of the Forest of Silence and then clear the world connected by the Port under the Griffin's nest.

If everything goes as in the novel, in a few dozen days Jae-sung will use the road adjacent to the Forest of Silence. By then he would've already regressed and gained the memories of his 1st life.

Unlike the 1st life, he wouldn't participate in the Rite of Passage because he knows that he cannot defeat the overseer of the Rite of Passage, my elder brother. He leaves to find treasures to grow stronger as fast as possible and complete his revenge.

Jae-sung would move towards the elven village. On his way, he would meet a few villagers who had been attacked by Griffin on the road.

'I wonder how the events will play out now since I replaced Jared, my elder brother, as the overseer of the Rite of Passage.'

The meeting with homeless villagers triggers a quest to subjugate Griffin, to which Jae-sung agrees. He enters the forest swiftly. The mission had a time limit but then Jae-sung encounters the Lake of Purity and recognizes its special abilities.

However, since he would have already completed his Mortal Awakenings and was a Grandmaster at the moment, the lake was of no use to him and he ignored it.

'In the novel, due to the time limit of the quest Jae-sung decided to ignore the monster tribes in the middle section and headed directly to the core section. After he completes his mission he luckily finds the port and enters the world connected through it.'

Jae-sung was able to travel through the middle section without fighting monsters because of his concealment skills. However, I did not have anything like that. If I wanted to reach the inner section, I had to take an approach different from the one Jae-sung used.

Carelessly entering the middle section was no different from suicide. If I got caught, I would be besieged by thousands of Mortal Awakening monsters and hundreds of ascended rank monsters from all the monster tribes living in the middle section.

I needed to scout the middle section beforehand. That way I would know where to go and where not to go. But I had to enter the middle section to scout the middle section of the forest. It was putting the cart before the horse.

'Let go with Plan C.'

It had been one day since I entered the forest. But I was confident that I could accomplish my goal with all the information I gathered in this one day.

With my goals set I got to work, creating Hound Wolf, my newest Master rank summon, and storing them inside the summoner card.

In the meantime, I released the only boar I had in my deck.

The boar materialized with a flash and grunted. Its injuries had been healed but the scar on its left eye was still there. It scanned the surroundings to search for enemies. But when it didn't find anyone, it sat beside me.

'It's injuries healed? Is this a function of the summoner card?'

It was clear that I did not know much about my occupation. This was mainly because I didn't have enough time to experiment with my occupation and there was a lack of opportunities to do that.

'I have enough Life Points to unlock a new summon too. I can unlock Jet Dragon fly right now or wait a bit, collect extra 500 life points, and unlock the new summon from Plant Avenue.'

The new summon from Plant Avenue was a 3-star Master rank. But I decided to unlock Jet Dragonfly.

The soft chime echoed in my ear.

Ding!

|| -10,000 Life Points ||

|| Jet Dragonfly Unlocked ||

The lake's condensed mana was in the liquid and gaseous form. It was easier to absorb and increased my mana recovery by many folds, allowing me to call my summons without worrying about the MP expenditure.

'Summon Jet Dragonfly.'

'Release Hound Wolf.'