Chapter 4: Heir of Oblivion

Almond reigned himself as he wiped the tears that appeared due to intense relief and exhilaration from his resurrection.

But he knew that he had to make things right if he wanted to live.

‘Jacob won’t let me live if I come out of the labyrinth alive. But…’

His fist clenched tightly as he muttered, “Since I am alive. I am not letting you three pieces of trash live…no matter what!”

Almond’s whole vibe changed as fear escaped from him, and his eyes oozed out ferociousness and bloodthirst.

He then took a deep breath and looked at the new class he got.

[Spirit Dealer]

-Class rank: SS

-Class Perk:

—> +150% Mana capacity (SS)

-Class skills:

—> (S) Spirit Pocket: You can harvest a spirit containing memories of a target that has recently died. [0/20]

—> (S) Spirit Explosion: You can use a stored spirit to cause an explosion in any location within 10 meters of yourself. Explosion might become special by chance, boosted by the random powers of the spirit’s arsenal of skills before their owner’s death.

—> (SS) Spirit Devour: Devour the spirits to acquire permanent stats. There’s a limit to gaining stats from the spirits of the same species.

—> (SS) Spirit Factory: Use the spirits and turn them into one-time use items or spirit weapons, with their effect depending on the target spirit’s power before their owner’s death.

‘So I can harvest spirits and use these spirits for other skills…This looks powerful,’ Almond felt his class’s power within, boosting his mood and confidence.

Looking at the path ahead into the forest, he started walking, ‘According to the first floor’s map, I am at the southwest starting point of the labyrinth. I remember those three talking about going to the goblin settlement in this area.’

Almond’s eyes glinted sharply.

‘Very good. That’s a perfect place to test my skills and kill those three pieces of trash.’

[Almond]

-Adventurer rank: Bronze.

-Level: 1 [0%]

-Class: Spirit Dealer (SS)

-[Vitality: 100%]

-[Mana: 250/250]

-Stats:

|-Physical:

↳[Strength: 7 | Health: 7 | Stamina: 7]

|-Mental

↳[Mana: 10(+15) | Focus: 10 | Perception: 13]

‘My stats changed…My Health was 3, Strength was 2, and Stamina was also 3. My Mana was 10, but it increased to 25 thanks to my class perk. Focus and Perception are same as before.’

‘I already had above-average perception and focus, so I was hopeful after entering here, but those three pieces of trash got me,’ Almond clenched his fist.

‘But I may be even a bit thankful to them now,’ Almond grinned. ‘Not that I would spare them, though.’

‘Alright, I am here.’

Almond arrived in Murky Woods, a small woodland area occupied by Dire Wolves between levels 1 to 3.

He saw clear signs of those three entering this forest. The goblin settlement was at the end of this forest, at a river bank running from Fairy Mountain, which was one of the higher-level areas on the first floor.

As Almond walked into the forest, he finally encountered the Dire Wolves.

But dead ones.

‘Hmm? What’s that?’

Almond saw a blue wisp hovering above the furthest wolf.

[Dire Wolf Spirit]—[0:1]

[Dire Wolf Spirit]—[0:0]

It vanished.

‘So it was a countdown,’ Almond understood what it was and made haste into the forest.

‘If I can get some spirits for free, I can start getting stronger!’

‘Due to getting the Clergyman class, the Academy gave me a holy staff, but…’ Almond glanced at his staff while running.

[Holy Staff]

-Grade: Common

-Effect(s):

—> +10 Mana capacity.

-Skill(s):

—> Holy Blast: Shoot a holy orb that blasts in a 1-meter radius and deals pure magic damage of light attribute. Cost: 10 Mana.

‘Still, this is the lowest level of staff even in common grade with that shitty effect. I can also use Spirit Explosion as an offensive means, so I am not out of options for an attack skill.’

Almond saw more wolf spirits and quickly acted, using his Spirit Pocket skill.

[Spirit Pocket]

-Rank: S

-Effect: Pull spirits within your vision and store them in the spirit pocket.

-Cost: —

-Current number of spirits: [3/20].

Almond resumed running.

‘Is this an effect of my class? My physical body is performing like this for the first time.’

‘Fatigue isn’t catching up like I thought.’

‘I can speed up.’

Almond soon arrived at another pack of dead wolves, and all of them had their spirits still hovering!

Spirit Pocket.

Current number of spirits: [8/20]

‘Just running like this feels good,’ Aldmond grinned as he ran at his full speed ahead.

He could feel his body in its entirety without feeling weakness like before!

‘There’s some kind of power that’s preventing fatigue from building up. I can feel it!’

‘Haha, this is awesome.’

[You have discovered your awakened innate talent.]

[You have been unknown. Should you have died, there would be no record of you or memories of you in anyone. Therefore, you were to be devoured by Oblivion, the Maw of Forgotten.]

[You witnessed its presence.]

[Yet, you managed to escape.]

[Thus, you have awakened an innate talent: Heir of Oblivion.]

[Heir of Oblivion]

-Description: For you, who has witnessed the presence of Oblivion yet managed to escape.

-Rank: Mythic, (???).

-Effect(s):

—> Mana consumption and Stamina consumption are halved.

—> Mana recovery, Stamina recovery, and Health recovery is doubled.

—> Your impression on others is easily forgotten.

—> Your impression on people you hold important is strongly remembered.

‘T-This…’ Almond was dumbfounded, amazed, overjoyed.

‘No wonder I am not tired at all by running. Simply running won’t consume my stamina due to this fast recovery!’

‘With such a passive trait, I should also try to learn close-combat style skills! I don’t want to leave an obvious weakness when I can fill it up and make it my strong suit.’

He encountered another pack of four dead wolves and absorbed the spirits.

Almond was getting excited by his future prospects, but his daydreaming was over as he smelled smoke and heard chaotic sounds nearby.

‘They started attacking the settlement already? But they should be tired after fighting in the forest.’

Almond arrived at the periphery and could easily see the fight occurring in the center of the settlement.

‘This place feels familiar…must be because I’ve read about the First Floor many times,’ Almond wryly smiled and focused on the settlement.

‘They killed three goblins out of ten.’

-Current number of spirits: [18/20]

‘Got them.’

‘All three Goblin Archers are burned to death, so goblins lost their long-range attackers already.’

Almond suddenly saw one of them chugging a potion and understood why they weren’t tired.

‘Jacob, that bastard. He must have brought a bunch of potions from outside. His father is guild leader of an A-rank Guild, so he must be loaded.’

‘That pouch I saw hanging at his waist must be a storage pouch.’

Almond’s eyes were coldly fixed on the trio. ‘I have to kill them before they grow. Those potions give them a way higher edge, especially if he also has special effect potions.’

‘I have to eliminate Jacob before anyone else.’

He had seen the latest developed potions. It was a new way of making potions. Instead of just creating buff, debuff, and recovery potions, this method was offensive.

Throw a potion and freeze an area.

Throw a potion and burn a field.

Throw a potion and release toxic gas.

Potions became disposable special weapons!

‘Jacob, please don’t use too many potions until I am done. They’ll be very helpful to me,’ Almond grinned.

[Spirit Factory has finished the production.]

‘Perfect.’