[Experience Limit Reached]
[You have reached Level: 6]
[Your [Summon Undead Knight] skill has reached Level 6]
[Your [Mourning Rain] skill has reached Level 3]
[Your [Undead Graveyard] capacity increased by 1]
After hunting several level 6 monsters, Ethan finally reached level 6 as expected.
His [Summon Undead Knight] skill leveled up alongside him, and his [Undead Graveyard] capacity increased by 1.
Having used it numerous times, his [Mourning Rain] skill also reached level 3, improving its effects.
There was still about an hour left before he would be expelled from the dungeon, as everyone who entered was given a six-hour time limit.
"Let's see if I can reach level 7 before that," Ethan muttered as he raised his hand and began summoning more undead knights.
With his replenished and expanded Spiritual Energy reserves, he could now summon up to seven level 6 undead knights.
However, he chose to summon only five, keeping the remaining Spiritual Energy to cast [Mourning Rain] if needed.
This brought his total number of summoned undead knights to thirty-five.
With all thirty-five of them standing behind him, Ethan ventured deeper into the dungeon in search of stronger prey.
Before long, he encountered a group of level 7 monsters, humanoid creatures with dark, sluggish green skin, bald heads, and primitive clubs in their hands, standing around five feet tall.
---
[Forest Imps]
[Level: 7]
[Skills: Bite, Club Attack, Sprint]
---
As soon as they spotted Ethan, the imps became instantly aggressive, charging at him with feral hunger.
Before they could close the distance, however, they were met by the relentless assault of dozens of black swords swung by the undead knights.
While the undead knights clashed with the [Forest Imps], Ethan activated [Mourning Rain].
In an instant, black droplets began to fall from above, coating the battlefield.
As soon as the rain touched the imps' skin, their heads grew heavy.
Their surroundings blurred and wavered.
Raspy whimpers escaped their throats as though something had lodged inside them.
Their awareness dulled, their movements faltered, and their speed noticeably decreased.
The effect lasted only five or six seconds before fading, its duration limited by the disparity between Ethan's level, his skill level, and the monsters' level.
But those five seconds were more than enough to incapacitate the monster by striking its vital points, and in the next few minutes, only slaughter persisted, kill after kill.
[Experience Increased]
[Experience Increased]
[Experience Increased]
Experience skyrocketed.
The knights were more than enough to slay a monster one level above their own.
"I can summon many Undead Knights, but that's about all I can do. They look powerful and can kill monsters even one level higher than them because they have strength in numbers, but individually, the knights are very weak," Ethan thought, rubbing his chin as he commanded his summons through the mental link he shared with them.
"My Undead Knights have the most basic attributes of an Awakener with a low-grade Knight profession, and Knights are among the most generalized professions within the Combat-Class category."
"They don't possess any skills, and the number of Undead Knights I can store only increases by one with each level. Even if the number of my summons grows, it's nothing special compared to other high-grade Combat-Class professions."
Ethan began to analyze his own strengths and weaknesses. "The skills and attributes of high-grade Combat-Class professions are incomparable to those of low-grade ones... "
"Even if I have dozens of Undead Knights, their overall combat power can't compare to that of a single low-grade Knight-class profession, because unlike my summons, a real Knight-class awakener possesses skills and has opportunities to strengthen their attributes beyond simple level-ups. But I don't know if my summons can be strengthened..."
"Maybe my summons would become stronger if I enhanced my [Summon Undead Knight] skill, but acquiring a [Skill Enhancement Card] is very difficult."
Then a grin crept across his face.
"Well, it would be very difficult for others, but not for someone like me, who possesses the [Black Halo] trait, which seems to increase my luck to the maximum value, meaning that obtaining a [Skill Enhancement Card] is guaranteed."
"Hm, every ten levels, Awakeners have a chance of triggering both the [Skill Enhancement Card] and the [Wheel of Skills Card] at the same time, but they can only choose one. In that case, I can either choose to awaken a new skill or enhance an existing one."
And just like that, about an hour passed.
Ethan had hunted dozens of level 6 and level 7 monsters and finally leveled up.
[Experience Limit Reached]
[You have reached Level 7]
[Your [Summon Undead Knight] skill has reached Level 7]
[Your [Undead Graveyard] capacity increased by 1]
---
[Awakener: Ethan Aurel Ashenfall]
[Profession: Necromancer]
[Level: 7]
[Attributes]
-Strength: 10 (Base) + 60
-Dexterity: 10 (Base) + 60
-Stamina: 10 (Base) + 60
-Vitality: 10 (Base) + 60
-Sense: 10 (Base) + 120
-Spiritual Energy: 10 (Base) + 120 + 120 (One Ascends)
[Active Skills]
-Summon Undead Knight (Level: 7)
-Mourning Rain (Level: 3)
[Passive Skills]
-Death Link
-Summon Storage: 17/17
[Traits]
-Black Halo (Unique)
-One Ascends (Spiritual Energy)
---
"I've reached level 7, and time is almost up. Hopefully, it's enough for me to be recruited by Monarch University," Ethan said with a confident smile.
He was sure he did great; he believed he was probably one of the few who managed to reach level 7 this quickly.
Ethan turned his attention back to the Undead Knights standing among the corpses of various monsters.
Some of the knights had deep claw and fang wounds, and a few were even missing legs or arms, yet they were already regenerating at a visible speed.
Ethan decided to keep only 17 Undead Knights and dismissed the rest, sending them back to his [Undead Graveyard], the spiritual space within him where he could store a limited number of summoned undead.
From there, he could summon them anytime and anywhere without spending Spiritual Energy.
The [Undead Graveyard] also had another benefit: it enhanced the regenerative capabilities of the undead resting within it.
Just as he was lost in thought about his skill, a sudden gust of wind brushed against his skin, followed by a powerful pulling force.
In the next instant, he was yanked out of the dungeon and found himself standing before the dungeon gate in the arena once again.
"The last and the 777th candidate has returned," Rovan announced.
That was obvious; Ethan had been the last to enter the dungeon and the last to come out.
As soon as the other announcers, Rovan, and the remaining candidates saw him, their eyes widened in surprise, even shock.
Not because he had survived, but because of his level.
"What the hell? He reached level 7?"
"Even the high-grade profession awakeners only reached level 6, and that was already considered impressive!"
The eight representatives from the eight universities could hear the murmurs among the candidates.
They all silently agreed that Ethan's performance had surpassed the others, even those with high-grade professions.
Ethan himself looked surprised as he heard their whispers and felt the sharp gazes directed at him.
"Wait, so I'm the only one who managed to reach level 7?"
Right then, every eye was fixed on him.
He had become the center of attention in an instant.
His fellow candidates looked at him with intense expressions, some filled with disbelief, others with competitiveness.
While no one could see another's exact profession, they could sense each other's level.
It wasn't something Ethan had learned to do yet, but to those who could, his power was obvious.
Ethan glanced at Rovan, the Awakener's Hall manager, who was now watching him with a curious expression.
"Now that the final candidate has emerged from the dungeon, the recruitment will begin," Rovan's voice echoed across the arena as he looked toward the eight recruiters.
"Before we begin, the candidates I call out should step forward and stand beside me," Rovan instructed.
Then he began calling out candidate numbers.
"Candidate numbers 89, 103, 109, 122, 127, 160, 169, 245, 266, 289, 333, 357, 389…" Rovan continued reading out the numbers.
From those he called, Ethan quickly understood that Rovan was separating the awakeners with high-grade professions, as well as those with unique and powerful mid-grade professions, from the rest.
Ethan's number was also called last, so he stepped forward and joined the group, the same group of candidates who were now glaring daggers at him.
"They're making me so uncomfortable with all the glaring,"
Ethan sighed, not even bothering to look back at them.
"It seems there will be a lot of competition among the students within the universities."
Ethan watched as the remaining candidates stepped up one by one, standing before the eight recruiters, who evaluated and chose among them.
Each recruiter had their own criteria when selecting awakeners, and the candidates themselves had no say in which university they were recruited into.
Not that anyone would complain; being chosen meant the recruiter saw potential in them.
Every single awakener in this batch was recruited; not one person was left behind.
It was as if divine luck had blessed this particular batch of awakeners; not a single one had awakened a useless profession.
Even the recruiters and organizers were astonished by the results.