I leaned against the tree, breathing heavily as everyone took stock of the aftermath. The darkness had faded, leaving only the soft glow of mana lights and the eerie silence of the forest. The hobgoblin shaman's body lay motionless, a grim reminder of how close I'd come to disaster.
A familiar sensation rippled through me. The subtle internal shift I'd felt earlier in the day. A transparent notification appeared in my vision:
You have gained 6 EXP for defeating a Level 2 Hobgoblin Shaman.
Level Up! You are now Level 3.
56/800 EXP to next level
You have 3 unspent attribute points.
I blinked slowly, careful not to react visibly. Two level-ups in a single day. The system clearly rewarded combat far more generously than my previous activities. Years of study and practice had yielded painfully slow progress, yet a single dungeon run had accelerated my growth dramatically.
