"Just reached 19. Now I only need one more level." Ren lied without the slightest hesitation.
Kael stared at him, searching for the tension in his shoulders or the avoidance of eye contact, but he found nothing.
"Alright, let's finish off one more vermyrex and return," Kael informed the cohort as everyone's mana reserves were already low and the exhaustion from the fights had begun to catch up, slowly but surely.
Ren neared Owen and asked, "So did you also receive your shield from fighting off a miniboss?"
Owen stared at him strangely, and then simply replied, "Don't you already know that I awakened the warrior class? That's how I can summon a shield."
"Oh." Ren nodded, not paying attention to Owen's weird gaze. He knew Owen might not be much informed about things like miniboss fights and the information might only be limited to the higher-ups and those who experienced it, like Selene.
Ren glanced at Kael, recalling that he too was a part of the people managing the citadel.
'But neither does he look powerful nor does his fire ability appear much faster or deadlier.' Nonetheless, his fire was hot enough to turn splinters of wood into ashes.
The reason Ren was able to form his deadly dagger of ashes.
'But what type of ash is it?' Ren pondered, remembering how the bleeding spot of the earlier vermyrex had dried and black char had fallen down from it, not to forget how its eyes were destroyed to... oblivion?
His gaze snapped toward the status panel, and this time, the way he viewed his skill changed.
"Oblivion Series... " Only now did Ren grasp the meaning of the Oblivion Series skill.
Despite being able to manipulate ash, char, and cinders, it also tried to destroy the target to oblivion just as the name suggested.
But Ren still wasn't sure how it worked, and he had another problem on his hands.
'A class.' He needed to come up with an excuse fast because he had already reached level twenty-three, further reinforcing his assumption that he wouldn't be able to obtain a class.
He had multiple options. Either he could say he had received a brute class that increases strength, as his strength was literally double that of the others at the same level or he could also say he had unlocked some type of skill that allowed him to integrate with something but he still didn't know how to use it.
'First option is safer but the second option would increase my chances to comprehend and learn how to use the skill—Oblivion Integration,' contemplating, Ren kept a steady pace with the group.
Ren's eyes frequently darted to Owen in hopes of finding some healing potion or something of that sort from the drops. He hadn't forgotten about Caleb's injury.
He hoped that he could find some safe zone like the beginner village inside the city, and he thought he had almost found it. But when Ren found out that the citadel was nothing more than a defense base created and managed by the joint efforts of awakeners and players, he knew that he had to find a solution manually.
"The recipe to create a Basic herb." Ren still remembered his first day in this world. That was when he had also found out that one could create a Basic Herb that could alleviate some pain with just three ingredients.
So if he could even find one ingredient for crafting a magical potion, there was a chance that the other required ingredients might become visible to create the healing potion. There was also another possibility that he could directly receive a potion like that from a miniboss drop, which was highly unlikely.
'I need a weapon, fast.' His fingers traced his back, still remembering the structure and position of the axe that used to be latched on his back.
Just then, a huge shadow crashed into the center of the cohort without any warning.
Ren was flung aside with the force just like the others were and was thrown far away, his figure scraping to a halt near an open drain.
"Shit," No one had even realised what had happened until the pain from the crash registered in their bones.
Before Ren could even locate the others, his body tensed on instinct. A single drop of saliva fell onto his cheek and slowly slid down into his cloth.
'Shit.' Without wasting another second, he jumped left.
At the same instance, a figure slammed onto the spot where Ren was standing just a second earlier.
Without hesitation, Ren tried to conjure the dagger made from ashes but nothing happened. His eyes widened in horror, blood running cold as realisation dawned upon him that Kael wasn't near him, rendering his ability completely useless.
Before the dust could even settle, the creature pounced at Ren again, and only now did he see it clearly. It looked like a... sugar glider?
Ren didn't have the time to think, acting on instinct, he threw a punch at the creature before him.
His fist ripped through the air, but the strike didn't land. The creature had sensed the massive force emanating from the fist in the blink of an eye and had changed its trajectory just in time, shooting straight into the air.
Its small body and exceptional flight ability allowed it to dodge at the last moment.
"KAELLLL," Ren screamed as he bolted in the direction where Kael was thrown to, but the vermyrex flying above him didn't give him the chance to do that.
It dived through the air, aiming for Ren's back.
Ren instantly sensed the danger behind him, but he didn't dodge sideways.
"Shrieeek..."
The assailant's speed increased as its small body sliced through the air, it opened its small and ferocious maw but Ren dropped to the ground and avoided the strike.
Before the vermyrex could even stop itself, a massive and ferocious maw of another vermyrex appeared in front of it.
And devoured it.
The second vermyrex gulped it down its throat as it skidded to a stop.
'Are you alright? P... prince?' A cautious and weak voice echoed in Ren's head as he stood up.
"Well, it was a very close call. I didn't have any other ideas to take it down as it simply dodged my fist and I couldn't even find Kael anywhere around me." Ren muttered as he brushed off the dust on his tunic as he breathed heavily.
And without wasting any further time, he dashed off to find others, knowing that they might be in danger, the only explanation for no one coming to his aid after his scream for help.