Crrrrrrink! Criiiiink! A phone buzzed beside a pillow. It rang a few more times before finally a muscular hand picked it up.

The person lazily tapped the answer button and touched it to his ear. "What is it, Devid? It’s only 4 in the morning. You’d better have a damn good reason for waking me up so early." His voice was drowsy.

"Guild Master, it’s bad. Noah went with today’s raid team without permission. The initial mana measurement confirmed the gate to be D-class. But....." His voice trailed off.

"But what?" The person who had been yawning till now suddenly sprang into a sitting position.

"But the gate turned out to be B-class. Luckily, we had an A-class hunter in the team for supervision. He brought back the whole team unharmed with the help of other B-class hunters, but the monsters followed them outside."

"You mean a gate outbreak?"

"Yes, Guild Master."

"Inform the alpha squad. Now... Send me the location, too. I am coming."

"Yes, Guild Master."

The call ended. The muscular man hurriedly changed into his combat gear. He then opened a cupboard and brought out a scepter. With that, he stormed out of the room.

Meanwhile, back inside the gate, where Leon was.....

Boom!

A spiked mace slammed into the wall hard. Leon barely dodged it, leaping into the air as debris and dust exploded beneath him.

Before he could land....

Another humanoid boar swung its chained mace at Leon.

Leon crossed his daggers in front of him like a shield.

But the moment the mace hit the crossed daggers, Leon’s expression changed.

The impact blasted him backward like a rag doll. He hit a wall and instantly coughed out a mouthful of blood. His body slid down, leaving behind a dent in the wall.

"Damn these small gorillas. They aren’t taking any damage from these daggers."

Leon’s eyes narrowed. "Or maybe I am just targeting the wrong place."

Two monsters were already charging toward him, the two chained maces circling in their hands.

Leon pressed against the wall and lifted his body. "Let’s see if you can defend against this as well."

Leon lunged forward as well. Just as they were two metres apart, Leon flipped in the air, aimed for the back of the neck of both monsters and hurled his daggers.

Schlk! Schlk!

Both daggers sank deep into their necks. Green pus-like blood gushed out. Both the monsters froze, then collapsed to the ground.

Leon landed behind them, a smile tugging at his lips. "You forgot to guard that place." He chuckled.

He yanked both daggers and then shot forward, weaving amongst the monsters like a shadow.

The remaining 18 humanoid boars fell within the next few minutes. These monsters were strong. But there was nothing without weaknesses in the world. That could be tiny or huge. But it would be there for sure.

Leon excitedly collected all 20 monster cores.

"Let’s see how much Qi I will get from each one this time. They were strong, so they better satisfy my hunger."

He started swallowing the cores one after another.

[You have absorbed Qi.

Qi: 21,500/640,000]

[You have absorbed Qi.

Qi: 41,500/640,000]

"Each core is giving 20,000 qi. That’s good. Really good."

...

.....

.....

Leon finished swallowing all 20 cores.

[You have absorbed Qi.

Qi: 401,500/640,000]

"The more my level increases, the requirement for Qi increases, too. But why is the ratio so unfair? I mean, come on, man. If this continues like this, how many monster cores will I have to consume in the future to break through just one level?" He facepalmed.

But he could feel it. Even without a breakthrough, the more he absorbed Qi, the stronger he became. And each time, the breakthroughs weren’t the same. The higher the level, the higher the boost in strength. Maybe the ratio wasn’t the same as the requirement of Qi, but the increase varied for sure.

Leon looked at the hole in the distance. The passage for the next layer. And even without going through it, he could tell. Next was the boss layer. The eerie sensation emerging from it was suffocating. Too suffocating. It sent a chill down his spine.

Leon slowly walked toward the hole. He didn’t jump immediately this time. "System?"

[Yes, Host.]

"What type of monster is waiting down there?"

[Sorry, Host. I am not designed to predict any danger. But if you are feeling afraid, I can help you prepare for it.]

"Who said I am afraid? I was just asking so th.... Wait... What? You can help me prepare? How?"

[You can buy weapons and artifacts from the system. Or you can make the system forge one by providing the required materials and labor fee.]

"Like I have money to buy a weapon!" Leon said sarcastically.

[Host can sell the monster corpses to the system to collect spirit coins. The currency to trade with the system is spirit coin.]

"Which corpses? The ones I killed? But they already decayed and vanished in the air."

[Negative, Host. The corpses didn’t vanish. The system collected and stored the corpses. You can check the storage.]

"What?????? Show me the storage list. Now."

[Sure, Host.]

[Storage:

> 1× Giant Centipede Corpse

> 10× Normal Goblin Corpse

> 55× Elite Goblin Corpse

> 96× Red Jackal Corpse

> 20× Humanoid Boar Corpse]

"All. Sell them all." Leon said excitedly.

[Trade confirmed. All the corpses are sold. Host can’t claim for the sold items in the future.]

"Yeah. Yeah. I am not that petty. Show me how many spirit coins I have now."

[Spirit Coins: 1,000,089]

"Good. Now show me the inventory. Let’s see what type of weapons I can buy."

Images of weapons with their price tags started popping up on the panel.

A pair of daggers with dragon-mouth-shaped hilts — 580 k.

A pitch-black greatsword — 980 K.

A pair of rapiers — 670 K.

A longsword — 1.2 M.

A double-edged battle axe — 1.1 M.

A steel warhammer — 1.4 M.

A curved scimitar — 750 K.

A reinforced spear — 820 K.

A claymore — 1.6 M.

A spiked mace — 700 K.

A short sword — 520 K.

Looking at all the weapons, Leon’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

"That claymore would’ve been nice. But I am short of spirit coins. Then let’s go with this short sword."

Leon tapped one of the images containing a short sword with a 520k price tag.

[Sure, Host.]

[Purchase Confirmed.]

The panel shimmered as a sword hilt slowly emerged from it. Leon grabbed it gracefully. And then pulled the whole sword out.

He gave it a few swings. "It’s good. It suits my height, and the weight is just right."

The green edge shone slightly under the dim light of the gate.

Leon’s eyes returned to the hole. "I guess I am ready now."