The overall improvement of ability values has a relatively significant effect at lower levels—especially when facing monsters that always attack with full force.
Speed, strength, and reaction time can all decide the outcome of a battle.
Liang Yue had deep experience with this when fighting Dungeon Lizards. By aiming for the monster's weak points, he could easily take them down once he launched his offensive.
To put it another way—
An adventurer with high overall ability values might not necessarily excel in PvP combat, but in PvE against monsters, their strength was definitely guaranteed.
This was the main reason Liang Yue didn't place too much importance on changes to his ability values.
Saying "ability values are useless" outright was too extreme; their effect was simply smaller in comparison.
What truly determined overall strength was:
First—rare magic and skills.
Second—level.
After that came combat techniques.
And lastly, ability values—unless one was an all-rounder with maxed stats, in which case they could truly fight above their rank.
With the "Sword Soul Template" always by his side, Liang Yue had a very clear picture of his future path.
An adult wouldn't naively limit themselves to one option—he wanted them all!
——
With a swift motion, Liang Yue severed the Dungeon Lizard's head. Its body instantly dissolved into black dust, leaving behind a magic stone, which he bent down to pick up.
"I've killed so many Dungeon Lizards on the 5th floor… my mood is as cold as the blade in my hand."
That was pretty much how Liang Yue felt right now.
Once the monsters in the current passage were cleared, the walls would crack again, producing new Lizards and Geckos as replacements.
The EXP gain hadn't decreased—
But the slow progress of his level-up bar after his recent advancement was already a sign that it was time to explore deeper floors.
"Let's recover a bit… Then I can probably head for the 6th floor."
Liang Yue knew that the next monsters he would face were "War Shadows," notorious rookie-killers. That fact alone was enough to make him take them seriously.
With plenty of energy from last night's meal and a full breakfast that morning, he took a quick sip of water before continuing onward.
Upon reaching the 6th floor—
The environment changed drastically. The pitch-black tunnels felt like the depths of a cave, lit only by the faint glow of phosphorescent fruits.
Even the air was slightly cooler.
Cautiously observing the unfamiliar surroundings had long become second nature to Liang Yue. He advanced slowly, pushing forward step by step.
So far, so good.
After walking for some distance without encountering a single monster, he refused to let his guard down.
Then, with the sound of stone falling from the tunnel ceiling, his honed battle instincts kicked in. Following the sound, Liang Yue sharply turned around.
Not far behind him, a pool of strange black liquid writhed on the ground before solidifying into a humanoid shape.
The monster stood about 1.6 meters tall.
Its appearance could be summed up in one phrase: a pure black shadow with the features of hands and feet, and long wrists tipped with three razor-sharp claws.
The name instantly came to mind—
"War Shadow."
"So soon?"
Already prepared for battle, Liang Yue felt no nervousness toward this so-called "rookie killer."
If anything—he was itching to try it out.
He gripped his horizontal blade tightly but didn't rush to attack. First, he wanted to observe the War Shadow's common attack patterns.
That would make the rest of his expedition easier.
The War Shadow, driven purely by instinct to slaughter adventurers, didn't hesitate.
Its oddly proportioned body ran forward in a strange gait. Liang Yue held his guard, his blade raised horizontally.
Compared to Dungeon Lizards—
War Shadows were faster. Their long arms and sharp claws gave them a greater attack reach.
Misjudge the distance, and it was easy to get caught off guard.
When he saw the War Shadow raise its long arm to swipe, Liang Yue immediately stepped back to open up distance.
The long arm and razor claws swung with full force, and when the attack missed, the massive follow-through left the creature wide open.
That was his chance.
Liang Yue stepped forward in an instant. With the opening stance of his Inner • Ghost Swordsmanship, a sweeping slash burst forth, tearing through the air with steel-splitting sword energy.
The blade's aura effortlessly cleaved the War Shadow in two. A deep purple magic stone fell to the ground, along with gold and a special material—
"War Shadow Claw."
"Not that bad after all."
From his perspective, with Inner • Ghost Swordsmanship already at the Mastery stage, it was almost unfair. The sword aura's reach made cutting down these upper-floor monsters feel like playing on Easy Mode.
[EXP +67]
The key was the EXP gain—it was double that of the Dungeon Lizards. The magic stones and material drops were worth more too.
Checking his progress bar, Liang Yue muttered,
"Conservatively speaking… 30 to 40 more War Shadows and my Sword Soul Template will hit Level 8.
Not bad."
Testing single specimens wasn't enough, so he continued fighting to observe their attack styles.
He confirmed that they only used straightforward attacks—
Except when they appeared in groups, in which case they coordinated their strikes.
After that—
It was all about grinding!
With each battle, Liang Yue's understanding of Inner • Ghost Swordsmanship grew deeper.
Immersing himself fully in the art of combat—
He didn't even realize it, but his evolving style now carried a natural "momentum" and "killing intent" in every movement. It had already fused into the smallest details of his sword swings.
Only when his stamina was completely drained, his arms aching with each swing, did he finally stop the training trance.
The sword aura not only extended the weapon's range, but also seemed to keep it sharper for longer. Or maybe it was just his imagination—his blade felt deadlier than before.
"Whew…"
Confirming there were no monsters nearby, Liang Yue slumped against the wall, gasping heavily. The thrill of advancing his swordsmanship overshadowed his exhaustion.
He pulled out his boxed lunch. Who knew how much time had passed? His hunger drove him to devour it in big bites.
The good news—
It tasted great.
After finishing the meal and gulping down several mouthfuls of water, he let out a satisfied sigh.
"Nice… Now, what level am I at?"
The monotonous grind was bearable because each kill gave him that tangible EXP feedback.
It was like living inside a roguelike hack-and-slash game. Opening his golden-fingered Sword Soul Template—
——
[Liang Yue]
Level: 10
EXP: 0.3%
Skill: Inner • Ghost Swordsmanship (Mastery)
SP: 90
——
"That's enough for today."
Having achieved his goal, Liang Yue decided to end his dungeon grind for the day despite the soreness in his arms.
On the way back to Orario, he treated it as post-meal exercise, stretching his muscles and cleaning up any trash.
Just as he was about to leave, his ears caught faint footsteps.
He could also make out distant voices—meaning they weren't monsters.
That made him even more cautious.
When facing monsters, all he had to do was figure out the best way to kill them.
But in the dungeon, if you ran into other adventurers—
There were a lot more things to think about.
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