Ultimately, Phyrill didn't do anything after seeing how uncooperative the three men in his group were. Theo himself wasn't interested in getting a girlfriend since he would endanger her in the process, so he had closed the gate to his heart before letting anyone enter.
Laust was too focused on surpassing his brother, not woman, so he wasn't interested in anyone here. As for Sihan, no one understood his thoughts. Hence, Phyrill didn't even bother him.
And if he tried to peek alone, he would be brutally murdered by Alea. Ultimately, he decided to sit patiently in the camp.
After that, the group decided to leave the area at 6 AM, so they didn't waste any effort and quickly fell asleep with Alea and Theo the first to guard the night. This was the first time Theo camped in a dangerous place, so he didn't know whether he could sleep or not. Still, considering he was pretty tired after moving around, he slept like a log after his shift was over.
The group continued their journey according to Phyrill's plan and destroyed two nests on their way before Ellen ranked up.
Theo observed her and realized Ellen ranked up in an instant without any change in her body. "Eh?"
Seeing his surprised expression, Alea realized Theo was still clueless about the blessing system. "Do you want to know why Ellen didn't experience anything?"
"Ehm, is it due to the lack of blessing?" Theo asked with a small voice to avoid anyone other than Alea hearing it.
"Yes. Well, it's hard to find a first-year reaching the Elite Rank, so you haven't gotten any lectures about it, so I will give you some lectures here. First, I'm sure you still remember the two things that will influence the extra points you get from a rank up, right?"
"Yes. It's potential and a blessing. If I remember correctly, you will still get ten points even without any potential and blessing." Theo nodded with a serious expression.
"Well, Ellen should be able to get twenty to thirty points in this rank up, but who knows… Anyway, there is something changing other than your status points. I don't know if you have realized it or not…" She looked at him with a smile.
"Hmm?" Theo narrowed his eyes and thought about it. He wondered what was changing when they ranked up. Unfortunately, after one minute, he gave up and asked, "I don't know anything. What is it?"
"It's the Five Aspects."
Alea's answer amused and confused him at the same time. After all, the five aspects needed to be trained and shouldn't have any change during the rank up.
Alea continued, "Then do you think why we call it Five Aspects? And what is the category of becoming one of the most important aspects?"
Theo furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. "I don't know."
"Exactly. After long research, we have realized there are five big aspects that will improve when we rank up. They are Awareness, you can say our aura, killing intent, pride, senses, emotionlessness and so on. The second thing is Breathing. It's not that clear for breathing, but there may be some kind of change in your brain that leads to the improvement of Awareness and Breathing since every movement is controlled by your brain.
"Then Magic Control and Endurance for an obvious reason along with your technique… Again, the technique is connected to your brain. According to scientists, our brain is improving every time we rank up, so we understand something better, thus improving the Five Aspects. And they believe the potential comes from the brain."
"I see." Theo nodded in understanding. Although there would be much that needed to be covered, this explanation was enough for the time being. He added, "And the blessing is another variable that gives us more power in the rank up."
"Yes. It's like outside interference." Alea pointed to Ellen and continued, "Of course, you need some time to adjust your state, so we still need time after a rank up. If we have a blessing, we usually enter our subconsciousness while our mind adjusts itself."
Before he asked another question, Ellen already rose from the ground and waved her hand, showing she had finished.
Theo smiled and came to them with Alea as they continued their journey immediately.
Since they lowered their pace to get some levels, they needed another two to three days to arrive. On the way, they destroyed another three nests and stopped hunting even a single monster on the last day because they needed to conserve their strength for the Hero Rank monster they wanted to kill.
They were only a few hundred feet away from another river and Phyrill told them to stay because they were already inside the Hero Rank monster territory and the monster population in this area was low due to its reign.
After another few minutes, Phyrill returned with the information.
"This is the monster. It's alone right now." Phyrill handed him his Skylink. "The monster is drinking the river water right now. If we go forward another two hundred feet, we will immediately get a visual."
Name: Hardrock Mammoth
Level: 251-255
An aggressive type of mammoth that can destroy many things with its hard head or sharp ivories. The skin comprises compressed stone, making it just a bit less durable than normal steel.
"…" Theo looked at this twenty feet tall mammoth, wondering if they could fight against him. The image was the recent picture that Phyrill took a moment ago.
"I believe we can outrun the mammoth even if we fail," added Phyrill to help Theo make the decision. "Theo, no one has fought against a monster like this before, so I think it's better to not give specific instructions because things may go beyond our expectations."
The others looked at him while maintaining their silence, but they seemed pretty eager to fight a Hero Rank monster.
Before saying anything, Theo looked at his own status to add some points. He hadn't added any points since the start of this journey, so he had many points to allocate.
Name: Theodore Griffith
Status: Elite
Level: 85
EXP: 3512/7343
Blessing: God of Mischief
Skill: Pierce (F), Clone (D), Monkey Fist (F), Magic Bullet (E), Haste (E), Focused Charge (E), Blink (D), Elemental Shield (E), Illusion Multiplier (D), 1 Slot Remaining
Attributes: Strength 115, Endurance 68, Agility 77, Vitality 59, Magic Power 110
Free Attribute Points: 80