"Okay. Since you're sharing this information with me, then you must have a way for me to uncover this clue, right?" Elias said.
"I do. I can already sense several surges of mana gathering to form a dungeon in this university," Queen Anna nodded, folding her hands over her chest.
"But the real question is whether you're prepared to challenge a dungeon as you are now. Naturally, it's best to wait until you're level 20 or have awakened a Class. Perhaps even both, which is even better. That way, not only will you obtain more perks by levelling up, but you'll be far stronger than others at the same level."
"That will give you significant advantages and enhance your survival when facing a dungeon." She pointed a finger at him. "As you are now, attempting a dungeon is akin to certain death."
"Won't I have a better chance of survival with my unique talent?" Elias asked with a frown. "And how do I awaken a class?"
Queen Anna shook her head, indicating she wasn't going to answer that question. "No, you don't. As I said before, your chances of dying are higher without a class or reaching level 20."
"Thank you for your warning, but I'm ready to take the risks," Elias said with a smile. "I want to level up quickly, so it's worth it."
"Haha! You are quite confident, aren't you? Good... I'll lead you to where I sensed the dungeon whenever you're ready to leave," Queen Anna responded with laughter.
Although Elias had heard her chuckle before, it had always been suppressed. This was the first time he heard her genuinely laugh, far removed from her cold, rigid tone. The sound tingled like music in his ears, soothing the warriness and anxiety within him.
"I'll need to open my loot first before we move," Elias responded with a nod.
Queen Anna nodded.
Elias sat down at the corner of the wall, opened his bag, and took out the white orbs he had collected. He grabbed two of the orbs and crushed them in his palm. Instantly, the orbs scattered into countless specks of light before coalescing again into two different items.
[Rat Tail Whip: A flexible whip crafted from a mutated zombie rat's tail. +3 Agility]
[Mutated Rat Daggers: Bone-made daggers formed from the incisors of a mutated zombie rat. +2 Strength]
"These are common drop items," Queen Anna explained. "The higher the level of the monsters you eliminate, the higher your chances of obtaining higher drop items. Drop items themselves are rare, and even more so in some dungeons. So, regardless of what the item is, it's always valuable. Because if you can't use it, you could sell it to someone else."
"Do you plan on handing it over to the survivors you'd saved?" she suddenly asked, her tone curious.
Elias replied, "If I want to give this to them, I'll need to return to the group, which means revealing myself for a longer period. I plan to get out of here as soon as possible because I prefer to work alone. So, it's troublesome."
He attached the items to his waist and continued, "Although the stats they offer aren't worth much to me, it's still better than nothing. I'll just figure out a use for them later."
Queen Anna nodded, finding his explanation reasonable.
Elias crushed the last remaining two white orbs.
[Black Crow Boots: Boots crafted from the talons and shadow-tinged feathers of the Black Claw Crow. They are unnaturally light, giving the wearer a sense of weightlessness. +12 Agility. Reduces fall damage by 10%.
Passive: Short bursts of movement generate a slight lift, reducing stamina drain while sprinting by 10%.]
[Skill – Light Step Boost. A skill orb formed from the residual essence of a Black Claw Crow. When learned, the user's footwork becomes lighter, faster, and harder to detect.
L.V.1 (Active): Increases movement speed by 15% for five seconds. +10% Sprint Agility (faster direction shifts). Reduces footstep noise by 25%. Cooldown: 18 seconds.
Do you wish to learn? Yes/No.]
Instantly, a pair of deep black metallic boots, with all of their edges shaped in the form of crow feathers, and a white scroll radiating a soft brown light appeared before him. Both items looked exquisite, as though they had been forged countless times to achieve the perfect form.
Elias clenched the scroll in his right hand. The white scroll dissipated into countless specks of light, swiftly vanishing into his body.
[Skill learned – Light Step Boost L.V.1 (Active)]
Elias turned his attention back to the boots.
Surprisingly, the boots enlarged until they perfectly fit Elias's legs as he brought them to his feet and wore them. He similarly wore the other boot.
From the information he had obtained, he knew that items such as this would automatically fit to match the wearer's physique. Of course, that was only once, after the orb had been crushed. If anyone other than the wearer, possessing a different physique, decided to wear the item after that, it would either be too small or too big.
An item could only change to match another's physique if they were of a higher level or possessed an ability to do so.
Elias stood to his feet and gently sensed the lightness from his legs to his entire body, as he grew familiar with the feeling of the boots from where he stood.
The only thing Elias couldn't help but worry about was whether the boots would be destroyed after he transformed into his Solar Ascension State.
He would be satisfied if they weren't, because he didn't want to walk barefoot while clearing a dungeon or facing a horde of zombies and monsters again.
Still, Elias felt a surge of accomplishment flow through his heart after opening his loot. These were the fruits of his labour.
With a small smile on his lips, Elias summoned his status screen.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ Name: Elias Miles ]
[ Race: High-Human ]
[ Age: 20 ]
[ Level: 13 (11.00%) ]
[ Title: ]
[Class: ]
[ Unique Talent: Solar Ascendance (★★★★★ Legendary Tier) ]
[ You can absorb sunlight, refine it, and convert it into stat enhancements. Growth potential is limitless, bound only by the availability of radiation and personal evolution. As a result, you are proud and arrogant. Powerful during the day, weaker at night.]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Health: 213
Mana: 40
Strength: 36
Constitution: 35
Agility: 37 (+12)
[Stats Points: 36]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Racial Skills:
Adaptive Evolution (Passive): Your body adapts to stress, danger, and energy faster than any race. The more you train, the quicker you progress. Resistance to poison, magic and pain slowly increases over time. ]
[ Unique Skills:
Solar Ascension (Active/Passive Skill) L.V.2: Enhances all stats by 400% for 20 minutes. Physical and magical attacks become superheated. Attacks gain solar burn, dealing minor damage over three seconds.
Solar Infusion (Passive/Active Skill)L.V.2: Channel sunlight into weapons, fists, or spells to deal fire or light, penetration or burn damage. +10% penetration.
Cruel Flare (Active Skill) L.V.2: Unleash a controlled solar flare of around ten meters. It can blind the weak, stun enemies, and incinerate projectiles.
Radiant Heal (Passive/Active) L.V.2: Healing Potency increased by 20 per cent. Faster purification of toxins, diseases and illnesses. Slight regeneration effect lasts 5 seconds after casting. Restores stamina and reduces fatigue.
Thermal Immunity (Passive) L.V.2: Fire damage is reduced by 90%. Solar or plasma damage heals moderately. Resistance to heat-based environmental hazards increases dramatically.
Light Eater (Passive Skill) L.V.2: Light sources reduce radiation absorption by 20% or less. Slight increase in stability when exposed to weakened light fields. ]
[ Skills:
Light Step Boost L.V.1 (Active): Increases movement speed by 15% for five seconds. +10% Sprint Agility (faster direction shifts). Reduces footstep noise by 25%. Cooldown: 18 seconds.]
[ Equipment: Black Crow Boots. Rat Tail Whip. Mutated Rat Daggers.]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
(Please note that this status screen was added after the chapter was written.)
Elias appreciated the stat increment brought by the Black Claw Boots.
Seeing the improvements he had made in such a short few hours, Elias was satisfied.
After calculating the experience points he had obtained to level up to this point, he was aware that the higher the level, the more difficult it was to level up once more. This meant he would need to slay several times more hordes of zombies and monsters than he had just slain if he wanted to rise to the next level.
After replenishing his Sunlight reserves, Elias looked at Queen Anna and said, "I'm ready. We can head out immediately."
He glanced at the sky and saw distant shadows. Understanding that the night would soon emerge, he decided it was best they moved as quickly as they could because he was unaware of the creatures that would emerge at night.
Queen Anna didn't respond immediately. She stared at Elias briefly, her eyes scrutinising him from head to toe. Then, she turned to the side and pointed at a two-story building.
"See that building on your left. I can sense the gathering of a dense formation of mana. That's the closest I can sense nearby," Queen Anna explained.
Elias looked at the building she pointed to and nodded. He walked over to the edge of the gymnasium and leapt from narrow ledges, each just wide enough for him to stand on, until he reached the ground.
With the Black Claw Crow Boots, Elias' movements were agile and light, allowing him to perform these actions effortlessly.
Elias leapt through the concrete gates and evaded the various zombies and monsters as he rushed toward the building Queen Anna had pointed at.
Elias slowed down his steps, sensing the steady, slow growls of a monster. He halted at the corner and snuck a peek at the back of the building.
It was a large bear, about five meters tall, lying on its four legs on the ground with its eyes closed. Its fur was deep brown, with several parts looking like hardened shells and spikes emerging from varying areas around it.
Surrounding it were the strewn corpses of zombies, monsters, and other unknown beasts that Elias had never seen before. He sensed how powerful it was from its presence.
Elias swiftly withdrew his head before the beast could notice him.
"I thought you said that there was a dungeon here," he whispered, glancing at Queen Anna, who hovered right in the open, unfazed by the presence of the beast. He stared at her doubtfully.
"Yes, there's a dungeon here," Queen Anna replied with a nod. Her voice was confident. "Remember what I told you, that dungeons don't appear unless you've solved certain clues."
"But what does that have..." Elias's eyes widened in surprise before he could complete his sentence. "You mean..." However, before he could continue speaking, Queen Anna interrupted. "Yes. Since the dungeon I sensed is here, that means the clue you need to solve to open it is to defeat that beast."
Elias frowned. He had planned to do his best to solve the clues without exhausting the Sunlight Reserves, but from the looks of it, he wouldn't be able to do that anymore. Moreover, this beast was more powerful than the monsters he had fought before.
***
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