At the same time that the blue-scaled snake whose length hovered around 50 meters collapsed lifelessly onto the ground with a loud bang, two green messages flashed in Bai Zemin's retina.
One of them informed him of something that had not happened in a while.
[You have absorbed the Soul Power of First Order Thousand Thorn Snake level 50. You have received Strength +12, Magic +10, Mana +5.]
[You have leveled up and reached level 46. You receive two status points to distribute freely.]
"It really has been a while since I leveled up." Bai Zemin sighed as he walked towards the First Order Thousand Thorn Snake now devoid of any vital signs.
"Well, but as I said before, levels do not represent the real strength of an existence." Lilith followed closely behind him and remembered..
"... That's true."
Although leveling up granted 2 status points to humans every time they acquired enough enemy Soul Power to push themselves to the next stage, those 2 status points didn't mean much to people like Bai Zemin who aimed for dangerous and deadly clashes against existences above them in levels or Order to get the most out of Soul Power.
This was precisely one of the main reasons why Bai Zemin never bothered with touching his status points since he reached the First Order, and simply let them accumulate. That way, he would at least have an instant source of power that would boost his strength to new heights in cases of immediate need.
Furthermore, while it was true that Bai Zemin's level had not increased, this battle against the First Order Thousand Thorn Snake level 50 had made something very important clear; this was that his overall strength had definitely increased explosively compared to when he fought against the Second Order Archaic Bear.
The Thousand Thorn Snake naturally could not compare to the Archaic Bear, however, the beast's power could not be underestimated in any way; its physical body was terrifyingly tough and strong with enormous destructive power thanks to its powerful and flexible tail while its poisonous skill was a handicap for anyone who was its enemy to think twice before facing it.
In the past, Bai Zemin was sure that he definitely wouldn't have lost against the Thousand Thorn Snake... But he definitely could not have played with the beast casually as he did tonight.
His overall strength had increased so much that Bai Zemin basically used an evolving beast as if it was his personal punching bag.
"I guess I can now say that I really am invincible among the First Order." He stated matter-of-factly. "Even if it is a powerful beast on the verge of evolution, it doesn't represent the slightest danger to my current self."
"I believe you were already invincible in the First Order for quite some time." Lilith giggled graciously and pointed out, "Though it definitely wouldn't be as overwhelming as it is now."
Bai Zemin smiled and pulled his dagger from his waist. Then, he carelessly stabbed at the center of the Thousand Thorn Snake's forehead. However, even as he stabbed with all his might it was defiantly piercing through the beast's scales; this was so now that the snake was dead, one could imagine how defiant it would be to pierce through its defenses with this dagger if the beast was still alive!
"This Steel Tooth Dagger is a Rank 1 weapon with 350 physical attack points but it still can't casually cut through this snake." Bai Zemin lamented as he continued working to remove one of the scales. "I'll have to craft a better one later. I have a lot more better quality materials now anyway."
"You can use the claws of the Second Order Archaic Bear you killed back then. The survivors under your command probably already finished dismantling its body... Or whatever they were able to extract in good condition." Lilith coughed slightly and remembered.
Bai Zemin couldn't help but smile bitterly. It was truly ironic how the strongest beast he had met so far, which also meant that it was the beast with the best material for building equipment, ended up in such a miserable state that its pelt was basically useless and even several claws were destroyed by the IFVs' shots.
After pulling out a palm-sized scale and casually throwing it aside, Bai Zemin began to cut the snake's flesh with the dagger in his hands.
Although it was challenging to cut through the tough, slippery scales of the snake, its flesh was incredibly tender and soft. The dagger in Bai Zemin's hands cut with ease as if instead of cutting flesh it was cutting a piece of hot butter.
Bai Zemin unconsciously swallowed and muttered, "I think I'm really going crazy. Even though it's covered in blood and the meat is raw, I can't help but want to take a bite."
The corner of Lilith's mouth trembled a little when she heard this and she said dumbfounded, "I say, little brother Zemin, didn't you eat just now? Besides, you really can't eat raw meat. You'll probably get poisoned by the beast's mana! You'd better cook it properly before you do something crazy."
"Kek... I won't. Just saying!" He pointed out before finally slamming his fist forward. His arm buried itself deep into the dead beast's head piercing through the layers of sliced flesh until it finally reached the brain.
"This sensation is really disgusting." He grunted with a grimace. However, his eyes soon lit up as he felt something hard within reach of his hand and he quickly picked it up before pulling his arm out again.
The entirety of his arm was stained with blood, more specifically, it was his armor and gloves while only a minor part stained his fingers. In addition, several pieces of flesh were stuck on the wrist and elbow thorns protruding from the armor.
Bai Zemin ignored the encephalic matter dripping down the armor and his gaze immediately focused on the object he clutched tightly with his left fist.
"With this Soul Stone, the total number of First Order Soul Stones I have finally reached 30." He rejoiced aloud, "Furthermore, there is also a possibility that a few more were found in the Beginning Village area."
"Why don't you level up some skills now then?" Lilith suggested, "In any case, if you die it's all over so you might as well become more powerful. While it might be a bit selfish to monopolize everything for yourself, you can at least take several of them."
Bai Zemin hesitated for a moment before finally nodding.
In fact, now that he had some supply of Soul Stones, he could upgrade some skills. Although he didn't have all the First Order Soul Stones on him at the moment, he had five stones that he always kept in his bag; together with the one he had just found now, the count totaled six First Order Soul Stones.
Bai Zemin was about to head to the records of his Blood Manipulation skill when he suddenly remembered something and immediately skipped to somewhere else.
Deep within his soul, where the runes that represented the skills, Bai Zemin searched through the active skills part until he finally stopped at a dark-colored rune with what looked like a person running engraved on it.
[Unstoppable Front Charge (Unranked active skill) level 5: This skill has reached the maximum level and can evolve to the next Order.]
[You have fulfilled the requirements to evolve Unstoppable Front Charge to First Order. Do you wish to continue?]
"Mmh..." Bai Zemin frowned slightly and before agreeing decided to check the evolution requirements first.
Unstoppable Front Charge was an external active skill that he had learned through a scroll he obtained after defeating the First Order Reinforced Iron Boar Jabali level 49 when he visited the smithy where he used to work in the past.
All of Bai Zemin's companions, including the old man who taught him about blacksmithing, had either died or turned into zombies. At that time, the First Order Reinforced Iron Boar appeared like a colossal beast on the horizon, knocking down the trees and crushing everything in its path as it charged towards them.
Bai Zemin could still remember that back then it was difficult to kill the beast; not because of the power of the beast itself, but because he back then still wielded the Xuanyuan Sword that did not have the ability to break through the tough defenses of the evolved boar.
"Why did you learn that skill?" Lilith asked slightly confused, "Although there is no doubt that it is a good skill to make both an instant attack and escape from dangerous situations in the blink of an eye, I don't think it suits the path of evolver that you have chosen to walk."
She continued, "From your Blood Manipulation skill to your newly acquired Gravity Manipulation, both skills grant you the ability to practically freely control different elements. Crimson Blood Judgment is an extremely destructive skill that does not distinguish between ally or enemy. Lightning Movement together with Invisibility gives you a mortal power rarely seen anywhere else... And even your Regeneration skill that you haven't used even once so far is extremely useful in extended combat."
"Basically, each and every one of your skills were carefully chosen to completely overwhelm. This means that the evolutive path you have chosen is the most difficult but also the best one, which is the path of total supremacy... However, that skill Unstoppable Front Charge somehow doesn't seem to suit any of these skills of yours." Lilith finished and the more she spoke the more perplexed she became.
"Call it instinct." Bai Zemin sighed and calmly explained, "Somehow I feel that this skill will turn into something good after evolving."
"... I wonder where that instinct of yours comes from." Lilith really didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the fantasies of the young man in front of her.
"Hey, in many video games the weakest skill sometimes turns out to be the most mysterious and powerful in the end!" Bai Zemin defended before finally confirming the evolution requirements of the skill Unstoppable Front Charge.
- - - - - - - - - -
[Unstoppable Front Charge - Evolution Requirements:
[Kill enemies type Agility: 10,000 / 10,000]
[Kill enemies with high jumping power: 10,000 / 10,000]
[First Order Soul Stone: 6 / 6]
- - - - - - - - - -
"Those mutated spiders were at least good for something." Bai Zemin smiled slightly as he confirmed the skill requirements.
Lilith rolled her eyes and remembered, "They also gave you thousands of Unclassified Soul Stones!"
Bai Zemin did not reply and simply decided to confirm the question of the Soul Record.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
...
The First Order Soul Stones that were inside the bag tied to Bai Zemin's waist immediately flew out followed a second later by the Soul Stone that was still in his hand.
The six First Order Soul Stones began to spin in the air at speeds that even an extremely powerful existence like Lilith could not follow with her eyes until it reached a point where only a spiral could be seen. Gradually, the spiral of light began to illuminate with a multicolored glow for several seconds before the multicolored light dimmed and turned into a deep black light that had practically blended in with the darkness of the forest.
The deep black light flew into the sky and then plummeted down before hitting Bai Zemin's body without him even being able to react. Fortunately, he was already familiar with such a sight, or else he might have been scared out of his wits.
The deep black light immediately traveled into his soul and surrounded his spirit for several rounds before finally stopping in front of the rune representing the skill Unstoppable Front Charge. In the next instant, the black light collided with the rune and Bai Zemin's soul shuddered fiercely.
His face crumpled slightly as the rune began to change quickly.
The rune that previously had a barely visible scribble of a person who appeared to be running suddenly shuddered and the design blurred. It only took a few blinks of an eye for the scribble to change into a huge tree with a large shadow behind it along with strange engravings of mysterious white color.
[The skill Unstoppable Front Charge Unranked has evolved to First Order successfully.]
[Unstoppable Front Charge Unranked level 5 ----> First Order Shadow Blink level 1.]
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Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3