Lyra was still in shock. She had just seen Ren do something impossible. Enchanting a weapon should take days of work by a master. Ren had done it in a few seconds by just holding a monster part.
"My System 'glitch' has some very nice features," Ren said, answering her unspoken question. He was already moving deeper into the wet, muddy fen. Lyra had no choice but to follow him.
The next hour was like a harvest. They did not fight one wasp at a time. They fought groups of two or three. The new Wasp-Sting Longsword was a terrifying weapon. It cut through the wasps' hard shells as if they were made of paper.
Ren was a storm of death. Lyra's job was now just to support him. She used her cracked shield to block attacks from behind. She used her sword to push wasps into the path of Ren's deadly blade. They started to work together like a real team.
And with every dead wasp, Ren's power grew at a very fast rate.
[You have defeated: Glimmerwasp Drone x2! +1200 EXP!]
[You have defeated: Glimmerwasp Drone x3! +1800 EXP!]
[You have leveled up! You have reached Level 7!]
...
[You have leveled up! You have reached Level 8!]
After they defeated another group, Ren said they should take a break. He sat on a log, full of energy. Lyra sat down, tired but also very excited. She had never been in so many thrilling fights.
Ren was happily counting his new pile of stingers. "See?" he said. "We will be very rich soon."
Lyra laughed. She watched him for a moment. "Why, Ren?" she asked softly. "Why do you want to be so strong?"
Ren became serious. "When I was a kid in the orphanage," he said, "the stronger kids got more food and warmer beds. The weak kids got nothing." He looked at her, and his eyes were cold and hard. "In this world, if you are not strong, you are just a tool for someone else. I will never be a tool for anyone, ever again."
Lyra now understood. Under his happy, playful personality was a very strong will.
After Ren put his new stat points into Strength, they continued. They followed the buzzing sounds deeper and deeper into the fen. They found the home of the wasps: the Glimmerwasp Nest.
It was a giant thing made of mud and hard, shiny bug parts. It was built on the side of a giant, dead tree. Dozens of wasps were flying around it. And at the entrance, there was a wasp that was much bigger and scarier than the others. Its shell was black like a polished rock. Its stinger was thicker and dripped with a dark poison.
"That's a Royal Guard," Lyra whispered, pulling Ren behind a big tree root. "That is a B-Rank monster. It is at least Level 30. We have to go, Ren. We have enough."
But Ren was not looking at the Guard. He was looking at the giant nest. A new message appeared on his secret screen.
[Target Found: Glimmerwasp Hive Heart (inside the nest)]
[Potential Idea: [Endless Swarm]]
Ren looked at the big Guard, then at his sword, and then at the nest. A wide, excited, and very dangerous grin grew on his face.
"Go back?" he whispered. "Lyra, we just got to the boss room. The real prize is in there."