7 Chapter7-Level UP!
John fell silent for a second.
Then, he pulled out the Withered Staff from his backpack and glanced at his character panel.
[Class]: All-Class Magus (god-tier)
[HP]: 100
[MP]: 600
[Attributes]: Strength 9, Stamina 10, Spirit 30, Speed 13
[Talent]: Divine Favor Tome (SSS-level)
[Skills]: Spring of Soul lv10, Mana Recovery lv10, Pyrokinesis lv10, Aquakinesis lv10...
[Equipment]: Withered Staff (iron-tier lv1)
Seeing his panel, John's heart settled into a sense of security.
Indeed, only power could give him that feeling of safety!
He walked briskly through the ruins of the city, his eyes constantly scanning for any sign of monsters.
At this moment, John was itching for a fight with a creature.
His expectations were soon met.
Not long into his journey, John encountered his first monster on the roadside.
[Name: Blood Rabbit (common monster)]
[Level: 3]
[HP: 300]
[Strength: 18]
[Stamina: 15]
[Defense: 10]
[Speed: 25]
[Skill: Gnaw]
True to its name, it was a blood-red rabbit.
When John spotted it, the creature was burying its head in a pile of rotting bones, its body twitching continuously, the grating sound of bones scraping together piercing the air.
John didn't approach.
He extended his hand, focusing his thoughts.
"Pyrokinesis, activate!"
In an instant, a serpent of fire as thick as a wrist and over a meter long burst forth from John's hand, racing towards the blood rabbit!
"Boom!!"
After a thunderous explosion, a three-digit red number rose into the air.
"-434!"
The blood rabbit didn't even have time to let out a cry before it disintegrated into tiny specks of light.
An instant kill!
[You have slain "Blood Rabbit lv3", earning 300 Exp!]
[Current Level: lv1]
[Exp: 300/2000]
The commotion even startled John himself.
He hadn't anticipated that his Pyrokinesis would obliterate the creature in one hit!
This was, after all, a two-level jump!
The power of an SSS-level talent was indeed extraordinary!
John reckoned that with his current damage output, even level 5 monsters might not withstand a hit!
With this in mind, John began to move towards the area where level 5 creatures were known to roam.
StellarSea Academy offers specialized courses on dungeons, with beginner dungeons like the Phantom Ruins being a major focus of study.
Hence, although John had never visited them, he was quite knowledgeable about the Phantom Ruins.
On his way to the level 5 area, John encountered three level 2 blood rabbits and two level 3 abyss rats.
After defeating them, he gained 1200 Exp points.
Additionally, these five monsters dropped two items: [Blood Rabbit Teeth] and [Abyss Rat Eyeballs], both common materials.
In Stellarburg, there are general stores that buy such materials.
While low-level materials aren't very valuable, John was in need of federal coins, so selling them was better than nothing.
It was just unfortunate that no equipment dropped.
John was prepared for this.
The chances of monsters dropping equipment were inherently low, a matter purely based on luck and not something one could insist upon.
It didn't take long for John to reach the level 5 area.
As soon as he arrived, he alerted some hidden monsters.
A giant, foul-smelling dog, over two meters in length, slowly approached him from behind.
Its saliva dripped steadily, and its crimson eyes were filled with hunger and greed, as if it already envisioned biting through John's neck.
But before it could attack, John's years of honed sharp senses and high spirit attribute allowed him to sense its presence in advance.
[Name: Decayhound]
[Level: 5]
[HP: 800]
[Strength: 40]
[Stamina: 30]
[Defense: 15]
[Speed: 33]
[Skills: Bite, Pounce]
"Roar!!"
Realizing it had been spotted, the decayhound no longer concealed itself.
With a ferocious howl, it burst forward with explosive force, lunging at John like a black arrow.
John's eyes turned icy, magical energy swirling around him.
In front of him, a fist-sized water orb rapidly expanded.
In just the blink of an eye, the orb grew to a massive two meters in diameter.
Aquakinesis, activate!
The colossal water orb, like a cannonball, smashed towards the decayhound.
The beast, still mid-air, was hit squarely by the massive orb, sent flying like a burst sack.
"-432!"
The damage number rose!
The decayhound was slammed brutally against an old car, black blood splattering everywhere. It struggled, attempting to stand.
John, naturally, did not grant it the chance.
A single Pyrokinesis took its life.
The decayhound disintegrated into specks of light.
Simultaneously, a white light shone upon John.
[You have slain "Decayhound lv5", earning 500 Exp!]
[Your level has increased to lv2, granting you 10 free attribute points!]
[Current Level: lv2]
[Exp: 0/5000]
By now, John's spirit attribute had reached 40 points.
Each level-up granted him a basic increase of 5 points in all four attributes.
For spirit attribute, he received an additional 5 points, a class bonus specific to magus.
Without hesitation, John allocated all 10 free attribute points to his spirit.
The spirit attribute not only enhances a magus class's magical attack power and MP recovery speed but also subtly boosts a magus's perception and reaction skills, making it the most crucial attribute for them.
However, most magi need to distribute their attribute points across various skills and can't afford to invest them all in spirit.
John was different.
Possessing the SSS-level super talent [Divine Favor Tome], he didn't need to worry about skill enhancement, allowing him to use his attribute points extravagantly.
Now, with the boost from his Withered Staff, his spirit attribute had reached 50 points, and the basic skill damage had increased to 500 points.
With the full-level Spring of Soul augmenting his magic damage by 50%, John's final damage output had soared to 750 points!
For creatures like the recently encountered decayhound, John could almost achieve a one-hit kill.
The palpable rush of power from such a visible improvement in strength was indescribable.
John's eyes blazed with excitement as he gripped his staff, ready to delve deeper into the Phantom Ruins.
Just then, his gaze caught a faint black shimmer at the spot where the decayhound had dissipated, conspicuous even in the darkness.
Intrigued, John walked over and looked down. As expected, the decayhound had dropped equipment!
[Equipment]: Hound Paw Necklace
[Type]: Accessory
[Level]: lv5
[Tier]: iron-tier
[Quality]: common
[Attributes]: Wisdom +5, Speed +5
[Skill]: None
Seeing the equipment's attributes, John's eyes lit up.
He hadn't expected a rare-tier accessory to drop, especially one of common quality!
Accessory equipment is the second hardest to drop after weapons.
Even though the Hound Paw Necklace was just a level 5 iron-tier item, it was enough to delight John.
It was a pity, however, that he couldn't wear it yet due to its level restriction.
But John figured that with his rapid leveling speed, it wouldn't be long before he could.
Picking up the equipment from the ground, he stored it in the storage ring Scarlett had given him yesterday and continued deeper into the ruins.
As John ventured further into the Phantom Ruins, the monsters became denser and more powerful, and he began to feel the strain.
It wasn't a matter of damage; the main issue was his mere 200 HP.
A single touch from these monsters could leave him severely injured or even dead, so he had to remain completely focused, which was mentally exhausting.
After some thought, John decided to find a place to level up.
His primary goal was rapid leveling, and proceeding further seemed too risky.
Finally, he stopped outside an abandoned parking lot.
Inside, there were numerous shabby, rotting walking corpses, mostly between levels 6 and 8.
They were strong but slow, making them ideal for leveling up.
John found a good spot to climb up, lit a cigarette, and then started hurling his Pyrokinesis and Aquakinesis around as if they cost him nothing.
With his maxed-out Pyrokinesis and Aquakinesis, which were instant cast, and the added benefits of max-level Spring of Soul and Mana Recovery, he had no worries about running out of MP.
Streams of fire and orbs of water slammed into the walking corpses, skyrocketing John's Exp like a rocket!
[You have slain "Walking Corpse lv6," earning 623 Exp!]
[You have slain "Ghoul lv7," earning 720 Exp!]
[You have slain "Rotten Corpse lv8," earning 789 Exp!]
...
