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The surroundings seemed normal, yet a powerful sense of danger loomed deep inside Liang Yue.
Feeling a faint tremor in the ground,
he instinctively leapt backward.
His downward slash—
casual, almost reflexive—
unleashed a sword energy strike so fierce
it carved a trench-like scar into the stone floor,
tearing through the ground in a wave.
Perhaps it was his imagination,
but he thought he saw a faint stream of light within that slash.
Bang!
Compared to the speed of his strike,
the monster bursting up from the ground to attack
was just a fraction slower—
enough for it to dodge the Backstep Slash.
Appearing before him was a small-type monster.
Needle Rabbit.
The name popped instantly into Liang Yue's mind.
It looked exactly as he'd imagined—
a rabbit-like creature, but much larger,
its head tipped with a sharp spike,
its body covered in white fur.
In the dim light of the cave,
its crimson eyes shone vividly.
"So it's this kind…"
"This floor's danger level just went up.
Without sharp perception,
you'd get ambushed easily."
Without a change in expression,
he simply swung his sword—
a diagonal slash from above.
Infused with heavy sword intent,
the strike split the Needle Rabbit clean in two.
[Exp +89]
Its body dissolved into black-gray dust,
leaving behind a slightly larger dark-purple magic stone.
"Not bad exp…"
Monsters deeper down had stronger stats,
and as a result,
better experience yield—
a sort of energy conservation law in play.
What really caught his attention, though,
was the Backstep Slash enhanced by Flowing Heart.
As the dust settled,
the shallow trench carved into the ground was clearly visible.
Attack power had obviously risen,
and even the range of his sword energy had extended.
"Considering the stamina cost…
Yeah, totally worth it."
That was just the surface benefit.
Liang Yue knew the Sword Soul Template
only provided a growth path—
its real potential depended on how he developed it in battle.
——
After the Needle Rabbit encounter,
he explored the rest of the floor with greater caution.
Any monster could burst from the ground at any moment—
staying alive meant staying sharp.
Among the creatures he faced were Killer Ants,
but he'd grown so used to them
that they no longer posed a threat.
Their armor was already easy to cut through,
and with Flowing Heart buffing his strikes,
fights turned into pure one-sided crushes.
He'd yet to see any other monsters,
which felt odd.
By rights,
the 8th floor should have been a big jump in danger level…
but was his stat growth making it feel like "easy mode"?
Something felt off.
Peering into the wide tunnel ahead,
without a compass or map to guide him,
he kept his pace conservative—
scouting the terrain before engaging in high-intensity combat.
He preserved his stamina,
rounding a bend to find an open area…
still no monsters.
Ever vigilant,
he muttered under his breath,
"If this is all there is,
making it to the 10th floor should be no problem."
"As for deeper floors…"
He'd only venture further once he had enough intel.
But just as that thought formed—
In the wide cavern ahead,
the faint blue light of glow-fruits on the walls
couldn't fully pierce the darkness.
From the shadows,
butterflies with shimmering blue wings
fluttered into view,
reflecting the light as they flapped slowly toward him.
Their pace was gentle,
but with each beat of their wings,
they released a faint, glowing powder into the air.
They were beautiful—
so beautiful one could almost forget they were monsters.
Blue Butterflies.
Transparent azure wings,
and the telltale shimmering powder they shed in flight—
he recognized them instantly.
He had just finished making a bold claim to himself,
and now fate had answered
with a rare monster spawn.
His memory of the original story was fuzzy,
but a monster labeled "rare"
was bound to be trickier than a Needle Rabbit.
"…
This feels like pulling a 5-star on the first gacha roll."
Watching the graceful Blue Butterfly drift closer,
Liang Yue didn't feel much danger—
with Flowing Heart's range boost,
he figured killing one would be easy.
He tightened his grip on the mithril shortswords,
ready to end it in one burst as soon as it was in range.
But under the dim glow of the wall's fruit-lamps,
his eyes caught something else—
More of them.
Many more.
An entire swarm of Blue Butterflies.
As they flapped in unison,
their glittering powder turned the air
into a glowing, dreamlike sea of petals.
He was momentarily dazed—
not from their beauty,
but from the sheer number of rare monsters now before him.
"…?
You're kidding me."
If the first was a lucky 5-star pull,
this was like a game dungeon dropping so much loot
you wanted to throttle the developer—
pure overkill.
No joy at the sight,
only the realization
that a horde of rare monsters was now rushing toward him.
And he knew exactly how dangerous that was.
He had zero intel on the Blue Butterflies' abilities,
but that shimmering powder?
Almost certainly poisonous.
"…
Then I'll just have to end this fast."
No retreat.
The sheer exp from killing them all
was more than enough motivation to try.
As they drew closer,
their flight path lowering,
he kept his breathing steady,
backing away while considering his options.
He needed a large-scale attack.
Draw Sword Slash (Batto-jin)—
one of the Sword Soul's signature moves—
required level 35 to learn.
At his current level,
he couldn't use it.
But as the glittering swarm closed in,
a wild thought crossed his mind—
"Too low level?
…Then I'll just handcraft the move."
With Flowing Heart to boost his damage and range,
and with dual shortswords doubling the sword energy output,
plus the higher attack frequency they allowed…
he might just wipe out the entire swarm.
The idea sparked an eager grin.
Instead of fear,
he felt pure anticipation.
Looking at the oncoming mass of monsters,
he muttered with a smirk,
"…Yeah.
This could work."
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