Grinding the levels

"On our left, one fifty meters away."

With Eve's hand pointed out in a certain direction, I rush forward with my hand tightly gripping the handle of windslord. There is no point in wasting even a single moment. The core aspect of grind is a speed at which one can subdue the targeted number of enemies!

When I arrive at the distance of barely thirty meters, I slow down to a jog, while extending my main hand to the back. When the momentum carries me over to a place only twenty meters away from the best lair, I swing my right hand over my head, pulling the sword down to the ground.

"Blop!"

"Defeated the Gyuarna"

"Killed the Gyuarna"

"Host receive 550 experience points!"

"Next one is four hundred meters away to the south!"

Taking only a split of a second to arrive at my destination after the loud noise is made by my wind-wave hitting the liar, Eve instantly points out the location of the next enemy.

After finishing our previous conversation, we made a proper deal. If I manage to defeat forty enemies in this area without incurring any injuries myself, she will believe that I have the skills to support my claims and she will apply to the sect master to allow me into the inner sect ranks!

With the prospect of a calm, peaceful life in front of my eyes, I couldn't contain my eagerness. At first, I even jumped into a run, without even asking Eve for directions! With such a motivation, I wasn't able to properly control my strength and I dashed so fast, that she managed to catch up to me only when I took my sweet time to defeat the first opponent that I found!

Adding the last kill to my count, I was missing only a seven heads before the fluffy life with Eve could be confirmed! With exactly thirty-three beasts already killed, both my level and the executioner path rose considerably. Unable to gauge the meaning or even the effects of the paths yet, I could only watch my normal level tick up almost every second or third beast! Only after reaching level 20, did the required exp for the levelling up jumped from growing by 100 to 500 per level.

With twenty-third level already, I have exactly eighty attribute points! Since I can easily deal with the beasts in this area with my current strength, I didn't spend a single point on any of my stats. Why then?

As soon as I fought with my first beast after acquiring the executioner path, I realised that some of my attacks and movements were far smoother than they used to be before. With the continuous bloodshed of the demonic beasts, this path even ranked up, greatly enhancing my battle prowess. While it was hard to put it in the words, I internally felt how to use my sword, despite lacking a real fencing training. My hits become heavier and the damage output multiplied at least by two. Considering how great those effects were, I want to unlock the path checker system tool, to finally get some information about it!

What if I can level up any path that I want to its second grade, but when I reach the third level with it, the rest will be deleted? What if there are some hidden perks coming in the package with the higher grades of the path? Even with the higher requirements for the level-ups, I believe that I will still be able to grind for long enough to improve my stats later on, even if this tool will turn out to be completly useless!

Finishing my slow jog towards the next target, I kneel down and start crawling through the mud. While running doesn't tire me at all, my body still reacts to the exertion with profuse sweating. If I don't smear the earth all over myself, the acute sense of smell of the gyuarnas could alert them of my presence! I already fought toe to toe with one of them - even if it was a higher subspecies of its kind - and I didn't want to risk my pink future with Eve only to get my task done slightly faster!

Arriving at the set distance of twenty meters, I draw my windslord from the storage ring. Prompting myself up, I use my full attention to watch the surroundings. While I'm not worried about a sudden attack from an unexpected enemy, I need to avoid making any noise if I want to kill this beast with just a single hit!

With my hands raised only at the height of my head, I propel the sword forward with just a slight tilt of my wrist. When the blade reaches the point of breaking the balance, I add the strength of my arm, side and back, to pull the sword to the ground with the greatest force I can muster.

"How did…"

Before even the shockwave arrives to rip the beast into shreds, I hear Eve's voice behind my back. Apparently, she was worried when no bang was heard and wanted to check on me. From the looks on her face, she arrived just in time to see the cut appearing on the gyuarna body! If not for the timing, her sentence wouldn't get interrupted midway!

"Blop!"

"Leveled up!"

"..."

".. you kill it at such a distance…"

With her sentence uttered involuntarily, I understood one thing. Even when Eve was fighting near me, those brawls actually took place in close quarters. Even when I was cutting down the trees as soon as we entered the forest, she could've assumed that it was the power of wind-wave that did the job!

"Oh, sorry, I assumed you already realised that at this point! Let's rest for some time, while I prepare a proper dish. With such an abundance of meat just lying around, it would be a shame to not use it!"