[You have devoured a level 7 Willowbee Worker. Gained +1 Health and +1 Stamina.]
[You have devoured a level 7 Willowbee Worker. Gained +1 Focus.]
[You have devoured a level 7 Willowbee Worker. Gained +0.5 Focus.]
‘Three is a rough limit to gain stats from the same species…unless I devour higher level ones, then it would be one more, I guess.’
‘Next.’
[You have devoured a level 8 Willowbee Guard. Gained +1 Strength and +1 Health.]
[You have devoured a level 9 Willowbee Guard. Gained +1 Perception and +0.5 Focus.]
[You have devoured a level 8 Willowbee Guard. Gained +0.5 Mana.]
‘Last to devour,’ Almond used Spirit Devour on the Willowbee Queen spirit.
[You have devoured a level 10 Willowbee Queen. Gained +1 Strength, +1 Perception, and +1 Mana.]
Almond clenched his fist and opened it a few times as he felt the surge of power-up he gained settling.
[Almond]
-Adventurer rank: Bronze.
-Level: 8 [5.2%]
-Class: Spirit Dealer (SS)
-[Vitality: 100%]
-[Mana: 388/388]
-Stats: 3 unassigned points
—Physical:
↳[Strength: 26.5 | Health: 15 | Stamina: 14.5]
—Mental:
↳[Mana: 15.5 (+23.25) | Focus: 17 | Perception: 18.5]
After he looked at his status, he decided to add 3 unassigned stat points to his Focus.
Almond felt a slight change as he added 3 points to the Focus stat.
And a second later, he heard a notification.
[The activation range of your Spirit Explosion has increased to 20 meters from 10 meters.]
‘Awesome.’
He could now use Spirit Explosion anywhere within 20 meters of himself!
‘If I could get a vision like a bird’s eye from above, it would make things easier since I’d be able to put Spirit Explosions with uncanny precision,’ Almond thought.
‘Alright, this is a goal. I’ll have to get a skill like that somehow.’
He then looked at the Spirit Pocket skill’s interface in his mind and fell into thought.
Spirit Pocket: [47/100]
After a second, he put the remaining 7 Willowbee Guard Spirits into the Spirit Factory, along with 3 Willowbee Workers.
Almost all of his Mana was exhausted as he put these ten Spirits into the Spirit Factory.
The stronger the Spirit, the more Mana was required to put it into the Spirit Factory. However, the cost of Mana was lower than when he put the Dire Wolf Spirits.
Almond guessed that the Cost was adjusted according to his level as well.
One more addition was that the Spirit Factory didn’t have a timer before, but it showed a timer after he put the Spirits this time.
‘It could be related to increasing Focus.’
[Time until the first production—1 minute and 42 seconds.]
Afterward, he looked at the Spirit Kodoku pocket, though it still didn’t show any timer.
‘Hurry up,’ Almond internally said to it before he closed off everything and entered meditation to recover Mana.
The room in the trunk was silent as minutes passed by.
After the trio recovered their Mana, they drank water to quench their thirst and continued to rest to recover their Stamina for a few minutes.
Five minutes later, they left the trunk and crossed a bit over a hundred meters of distance before targetting another Willowbee Hive.
It took them a bit over five minutes to kill all the Willowbees.
“How are you so good with the sword? You couldn’t even hold one properly if I remember correctly,” Natalia asked as she stared at Almond weirdly. ‘Geez, is he some kind of natural-born genius with the sword?’
“Yeah, I am honestly impressed,” Lily nodded. “And it’s like you’re improving crazily fast.”
“Yeah…” Almond looked at the sword, his wrist masterfully bending as he swung it swiftly around him. “I don’t know. The sword just feels…right in my hand, and I somehow know how to use it. I can figure out new ways to attack with it fast while fighting.”
“Weird, but good for us,” Natalia snickered. “We’ll need to hunt two more Willowbee Hives to reach level 10.”
“Yeah, let’s go and get a quick rest somewhere before continuing,” Lily nodded as she put away her daggers. “We are doing way better than I expected.”
The trio continued walking and soon found a small pond after crossing a bunch of bushes.
However, they immediately scurried away from there and found a hollow tree trunk before settling inside.
“Shit, Blade Mantis is drinking water there. What should we do? I heard they are really perceptive and can find their prey from fifty meters away,” Natalia said as she gulped. “Are we safe in this trunk?”
“Don’t worry. The Mantis can’t smell much, so we are safe here. It’s their sharp vision from those big eyes that can look at all sides and weird aura-sensing antennas that make it a hunter,” Almond said.
“Yes, it’s impossible to ambush that Blade Mantis,” Lily nodded. “It will sense me even if I use my skill, which makes me invisible to the eyes. I have yet to master Mana Shroud. If I could use it alongside my Phantom Cloak skill, I could ambush it.”
Mana Shroud was another technique that used Mana to close all nodes of one’s body to prevent any aura from leaking. It required 20 Focus and 20 Perception to begin learning it due to the requirement on Mana control.
“We can kill it,” Almond suddenly said.
“I thought you were a walking encyclopedia, Almond?” Natalia rolled her eyes. “Blade Mantis bronze rank level 10 is the same level as Willowbee Queen, but it is twice or more as strong if you don’t know.”
“I know,” Almond said as his eyes flickered a bit, and a strange wooden cross-bow with patterns of Willowbee Guard’s yellow and silver design.
[Willowbee Crossbow]—Uncommon-grade.
“Oh?” Lily blinked.
“Item? I thought you could summon monsters…” Natalia was startled.
“One of my class skills can create items from monsters I kill. Basically, dead monsters drop something unique that only I can see, and I can use that thing for my skill, which can create random things.”
“But where would you get arrows for this?” Natalia tilted her head in confusion.
“I think there’s no need for external arrows, right?” Lily smiled.
“Yep,” Almond nodded and shared the item’s status with them. “It costs mana per shot.”
[Willowbee Crossbow]
-Grade: Uncommon.
-Durability: [100/100]
-Duration: 1 day.
-Attack: 100 per shot.
-Cost: 10 Mana per crossbow arrow.
-Spirit Effect(s):
—> You can infuse an additional 10 Mana in the crossbow to grant the Poison effect to the arrow.
—> Feeding a spirit to this item also extends its duration of existence and recovers its durability.
“And…ahem, I have more items.”
Waving his hand, Almond took out nine more items as they lay on the ground, causing Natalia and Lily to stare at them with a dumbfounded expression.
3 x Willowbee Crossbow. (Uncommon)
3 x Willowbee Poison Bomb. (Uncommon)
1 x Willowbee Shield. (Uncommon)
3 x Willowbee Daggers. (Common)
