I Hate This

5th life

My idea is to make use of my extra life and kill the monster from morning until night and then regress to this morning and kill more monsters again. Since the only thing I lose is gold when I regress, this is the best way to level up.

In previous live my intelligence stat passed 10, so now I have 2 clones for farming monsters. Including me, this makes my progress 3 times faster. I have been killing monsters for half a day and my progress has already skyrocketed.

[ Status: Kaiden ]

[ Special Skill: The Will Of A Cat ]

( Usage: 6/9 ) ( Refill in: 36 hours )

[ Special Skill: Perfect Mirror ]

( Usage: 0/2 ) ( Refill in: 18 hours )

[ Level: 12 ( 26 ) ]

[ STR: 28 ]

[ DEF: 20 ]

[ DEX: 30 ]

[ SPD: 34 ]

[ END: 28 ]

[ INT: 18 ]

[ LCK: 5 ]

At this rate, it shouldn't take me more than 2 lives to reach level 40.

I need to at least be on the same level as the Minotaur, then I will try and fight it to sorta figure out what I need to improve if I fail to kill it.

For skill, I've already purchased "Grant Flame", which engulfed my weapon with fire. This skill prevents enemies with regeneration from healing themselves, so in case the Minotaur have that sorta thing, then this skill is a big help.

There isn't any more useful skill or magic so I decided to not get greedy and pick all the stuff available to purchase. I might also get confused if I have too many skills and magic.

I wonder what other Awakened got for their Special Skill. Hopefully, someone with a strong skill will appear during the Boss fight.

To be honest, I think the strength that I have currently is too much, my head starts to hurt whenever I exert too much power even though my fatigue level is fine. I'm guessing it's because my body didn't have the time to adapt to such an intense and sudden change of strength.

Then I should take 1 day to relax before fighting the Boss, it would be bad if I suddenly had a migraine mid-fight.

You know, I'm surprised the system allows this kind of exploit. I would've thought some kind of admin would show up and wiggle its finger at me and disintegrate me with a wave of its hand.

Can you tell that I'm bored? Yea me neither.

There's barely any monster that is stronger than me now except the Boss Minotaur.

The orc nest that I mentioned earlier is also wiped out by my clone alone. I've been looking for Monster Den to clear since it's the most effective way to level up. But now, I think I've wiped out all the monsters in this area, given that I've been hunting them like a madman.

Of course, they still appear from a portal I didn't see and multiplied again.

Right now, me and my clones are resting together. Nothing special, I just like having company while resting. Plus, there aren't any more monsters so we had to wait until more dungeon breaks happen and spawn more monsters.

The smell of blood and death still lingered in the air, making me slightly uncomfortable. Are people still dying? Oh right, some Awakened must have been fighting the Minotaur on their own.

I should've prepared some air freshener with me.

***

6th life.

I now have 3 clones and with them, I've managed to reach my goal before sunset.

[ Status: Kaiden ]

[ Special Skill: The Will Of A Cat ]

( Usage: 5/9 ) ( Refill in: 1 hour)

[ Special Skill: Perfect Mirror ]

( Usage: 0/3 ) ( Refill in: 2 hours )

[ Level: 14 ( 40 ) ]

[ STR: 42 ]

[ DEF: 34 ]

[ DEX: 45 ]

[ SPD: 50 ]

[ END: 42 ]

[ INT: 29 ]

[ LCK: 5 ]

That's funny, we are on the same level but our stats are very different.

I should level up one more time so my intelligence reaches 30, which allows me to have 4 clones. I might even let just my clone fight the Boss at this point.

Best Special Skill ever!

... But where should I even find a monster? This city is almost clean of monsters.

I will try the sea then, I haven't been hunting there to be honest, since I only go for the place where there are civilians to save.

Arriving at the sea, I was hit with the smell of salty water.

I should've gone here sooner, there's not a single scent of blood in the air, it's refreshing. My clones give me a thumbs up for approval, seems like they also don't like the smell of blood. Sometimes I forget how intelligent they are.

My refreshing moment is suddenly interrupted by a large crab monster appearing from the sea.

There are 6 of them emerging from the sea at the same time and waddling their way to me. If only they weren't ugly this would've been so cute.

Well, go ahead guys, use a skill to defeat them.

"Yes sir"

They quickly made contact with the crab monsters and started giving them hell. Cutting off their legs and letting the other finish it off with a stab in the head when the monster is down. Their teamwork is unmatched, and the monster is wiped out in an instant.

I think if I were to help them I would've only been a hindrance so all I did was watch them do their thing.

[ Status: Kaiden ]

[ Special Skill: The Will Of A Cat ]

( Usage: 6/9 ) ( Refill in: 50 hours )

[ Special Skill: Perfect Mirror ]

( Usage: 1/4 ) ( Refill in: 1 hour )

[ Level: 15 ( 41 ) ]

[ STR: 41 ] ( +1 )

[ DEF: 34 ]

[ DEX: 46 ] ( +1 )

[ SPD: 52 ] ( +2 )

[ END: 43 ] ( +1 )

[ INT: 30 ] ( +1 )

[ LCK: 5 ]

Finally, here goes.

I summoned the 4th clone and geared him up. Now, I should give them different weapons for balance right? But I haven't received any new passive skills for weapons.

Is there a reason for it? Like, because I've chosen 2 passive weapon mastery, I couldn't choose anything else?

At some point, it feels like the system is lacking in detail. Let's just look on the internet again.

Before searching for my answer, something else catches my attention.

"Awakened killer?"

A thread about a guy going around and killing other Awakened has made its way to the hot topic.

There's not much detail left by the one who posted it, there's also no reply when questioned.

No location is mentioned too, so I can't investigate it.

Hmm... I should handle the Boss Dungeon situation first, then I will figure out who this killer is, or someone else will.

But why did he or she do it? What are the motives? We are already being invaded by fantasy monsters that shouldn't exist so I don't know what are they getting from killing other Awakened, satisfaction? Sounds a bit silly.

... I shouldn't think about it too much. First, let's see how the Minotaur is doing.

***

There he is, the Boss Minotaur. Looks like he just finished killing another batch of Awakened, covered with wounds and blood, seems like some have given it a hard time.

Still, the wound is slowly closing proven by the amount of blood dripping from its body lessening.

Should I gouge out how strong we are in comparison? Or even try killing it now? Both sound good to me.

Maybe killing it now is better so I can go ahead and search for the rumoured "Awakened Killer".

Alright boys! Go kill him!

"Yes sir"

All four of my clones are rushing towards the Minotaur. The Boss pick up their presence and quickly readys itself for battle.

My clone quickly overwhelmed the Minotaur with their numbers, attacking from various angles and making the Minotaur unable to land a hit.

One of the clones would get its attention and dodge its attack while the other was stabbing and slicing the Minotaur. All of this is done without a single Skill being used.

Woah! They might be able to kill it!

The Minotaur is drenched in its own blood while roaring.

I gotta give it credit, if not for the amount of clones attacking it at once, it might have won. It's just the clone coordination with each other is near perfect. Almost like seeing a team of professionals doing their thing efficiently.

But, something unexpected happens.

"Huh?!"

The Minotaur suddenly disappeared, and one of my clones was split in half. Shortly after, it appears again a few meters from the group.

[ Your clone #2 has been killed ]

Wait, that's a skill! Is it Flicker?! How the heck can it...

[ «Appraisal» ]

[ Boss: Minotaur ]

[ Level: 80 ]

[ STR: 120 ]

[ DEF: 80 ]

[ DEX: 130 ]

[ SPD: 110 ]

[ END: 120 ]

[ INT: 80 ]

[ MRT: 100 ]

HUH?! IT DOUBLED?! Why! What happened?!

Second phase?! Damnit! I should've known! Now they're completely outmatched, and not only that, the Minotaur can use a Skill now.

Paying my attention back to the fight, the Minotaur already killed all of my clones.

[ Your clone #3 has been killed ]

[ Your clone #1 has been killed ]

[ Your clone #4 has been killed ]

No way...

The Minotaur let out the loudest roar I've ever heard, hurting my ears from this distance. I'm sure the whole city could hear it.

Is that thing even beatable... No, it's possible, before it had the chance to upgrade, it needs to be killed. If I could do that, then it's possible.

I don't have the power to kill it in one blow, but from this fight, it appears that it couldn't just suddenly enter the second phase, it had a time window before it could do so, and that's when we were supposed to kill. Otherwise, it's impossible.

... Hah, should I dance with it as well? Just to see how far our actual gap is? Why not, I already going to regress, so might as well.

[ «Sprint» Activated ] [ «Battle Aura» Activated ] [ «Self Barrier» Activated ] [ «Grant Flame» ]

The Minotaur sensed the sudden change of energy and turned its gaze towards me.

"... You're so scary fam"

For a second, it gives me a serious look, almost like it acknowledges me as an opponent.

It disappeared in a second and I felt a stinging sensation telling me to jump.

[ «Flicker» ]

Dodging its attack I couldn't even see, I ended up several meters from the Minotaur. It doesn't matter since the distance is covered almost instantly.

From here, I didn't think about the move I made. The swing of my sword, dodging a sure kill hit, making up strategies mid-fight, using several skills, it's not me who doing this. It's like my Passive Skill "Battle Instinct" takes over my body and fights in my place.

I don't know how it's possible, perhaps my level is high enough to make this possible.

[ Warning ]

[ Fatigue has passed 80. Your physical capabilities are now halved. ]

[ All activated skills will be deactivated ]

The moment I slowed down, a sharp pain hit me in the abdomen.

The Minotaur landed a hit, and I was sent flying across the street. I was up in the air and had time to spare for a thought.

"I... Hate... This..."

The Minotaur showed up while I was still in the air with its weapon raised, planning to cut me in half.

"I... Hate... You... Too"

[ You're dead ]