Orion woke up early the next morning. He had a clear goal in mind. Go back to Abyss, hunt monsters, and get stronger.
He immediately headed for the travel terminal. On his way, he stopped by a clothing store. It had all kinds of clothes and outfits. Orion wanted to buy a few good outfits for himself.
After exploring a bit, he bought a few black tactical combat suits. They were skin fit but not tight; stretchable, comfortable and didn't restrict movement. He even bought a few jackets to pair with the tactical gear.
After changing into new clothes, Orion looked completely different. He looked handsome, strong, and ready for combat. His aura exuded power. Even a few saleswomen were awestruck by his transformation. He paired the tactical suit with a sharp jacket on top.
After that, Orion stopped by a convenience store. He bought several packets of dry rations, jerkies, cup noodles, and even a portable cooking set that had a stove, a few cans of butane, some simple seasoning, cooking oil, a frying pan, a pot, and a chef's knife. It even came with a bowl, plate, spoon, fork, and steak knife. People only bought such stuff if they wanted to go camping in the wild. But Orion had other ideas. He wanted to go on a long solo hunt, so he needed to cook his own food to fill his belly.
After that, he finally arrived at the travel terminal. He sent a message to Luna with his new smartphone before entering the Abyss through the teleporter. The message was simple, stating that he would be away for a few days.
Far away in a glowing metropolis, Luna was sleeping peacefully in her room. Her smartphone, resting on a nearby table, buzzed with a message notification. In just one week, Luna's life had been flipped upside down not once, but twice.
The first time was when she was classified as null. The family called her a disgrace, a stain on their proud legacy. They stripped her of the title of princess and kicked her out of the family.
The second time was when she managed to awaken thanks to silent help from Orion. When she returned home and told her grandparents the great news, they were overjoyed. His grandfather even promised to train her personally in swordsmanship. He even burnt through his secret savings to get her the best sword-related skills he could find.
And the Silver family? When they heard the news, a slip from her happy grandfather, they acted as if they had never kicked Luna out. They started calling her the pride of the family, a genius that will lead the family into prosperity. They once again gave her the title of princess and even threw a great party for her awakening, calling every prestigious family of the metropolis.
♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢
Orion arrived back at Steel Mountain base. He immediately headed toward the wilderness.
Only after going quite deep into the wilderness, Orion found his first prey. Two wind wolfs. Orion immediately summoned his shadow wind wolf and sent it to fight with one of the wolf as he sent a lightning bolt toward the other. It struck the wolf in a flash. It howled in pain. Orion knew that wolves can call other wolves with such a howl. He needed to finish this wolf quickly. He immediately sent three spells hurling toward the wolf. Icicle, fireball, wind blade every attack struck it right after another. The wolf died immediately.
[You killed F-Tier Wind Wolf]
[EXP gained: 225]
[Lives gained: 15]
[Level Up!]
[Level: 3] [Progress: 175/1000]
[Lives: 31]
[All stats increased by 4]
[You obtained 20 attribute points.]
Orion smiled. That was quick progress. He had a 15x multiplier this time. He saw at the corpse. Numerous drops had appeared beside it.
[15x Wind Wolf Pelts] [30x Wolf Fang] [30x Wolf Claw] [15x Wind Blade Skill Card] [15x Swift Boots]
Orion used a shadow call. A shadow wolf similar to the one currently fighting with the other wolf appeared from the shadow of the beast's corpse. After summoning his second shadow soldier, Orion stored every drop along with the corpse in his void storage.
He then turned his attention to the other wolf fighting with the shadow wolf. Both wolves were in a stalemate. But the shadow wolf was slowly overpowering it. Shadow wolf had endless stamina, and even its injuries were immediately healing thanks to the constant supply of mana from Orion. The wind wolf, on the other hand, had numerous injuries across its body. Orion immediately sent a wind blade to finish it.
[You killed F-Tier Wind Wolf]
[EXP gained: 90]
[Lives gained: 6]
He performed a shadow call to summon another shadow wolf and then stored all the dropped loot along with the corpse. He now had three shadow wind wolves.
Orion moved on. The three shadow wolves moved in front of him. After some distance, Orion found another pair of wolves. He immediately commanded his shadow wolves to attack. They rushed toward their target like a gust. Orion casted a few wind blades to accompany them. In just a minute, the three wolves were dead.
Orion immediately called a shadow call. Three more shadow wind wolves rose from the ground in front of him. Orion stored the loot. He didn't store the corpse this time. He had no need to carry so many corpses. He wouldn't be able to eat them before they start rotting. Even in void storage, the concept of time existed. Beast corpses will rot if left for too long. Meat drops were better since they didn't rot. Orion didn't even need to handle it. It was ready to grill, with some seasoning and perfect steak pieces.
He then noticed that the shadow wolves were eating the flesh. He checked their stats. All six had similar stats. But then he noticed that the stats were slowly increasing. It wasn't much increase of one or two points, but it rose. He turned around to see that the six wolves had already devoured the three corpse.
"So they can grow stronger by devouring beast corpses," Orion muttered to himself. He immediately took out the two corpses he had in storage and gave them to the beast to eat.
He then started hunting more wolves. Now, he didn't even need to fight; his wolves were enough to handle three or four wolves at once. And as they finish them, Orion would use shadow call to summon their shadows and make them part of his army. The shadow wolves would then devour the corpses and grow stronger. By afternoon, Orion had about fifteen shadow wolves in his shadow army.
He had reached level 4. Orion checked his loot. His gaze only focused on the most valuable items. He had 103 wind blade skill card and 103 swift boots. Orion did mental maths. If one skill book even sells for twenty thousand, which in itself was a very low estimate for a Bronze rank skill card, and the same for the swift boots, Orion had loot worth around four million.
Orion smiled to himself. But he had noticed another problem. His stats had grown significantly. He had about 40 attribute points still not allocated. But for a level 4, his acquired skills were still at level 1. It wasn't that Orion wasn't using them.
He had even called back his wolves and bombarded a small pack consisting of five wind wolves to death with his spells all by himself.
But due to his Ultimate Loot function, his level and stats were rising quickly, but his skills weren't keeping up.
That was a problem. He was levelling up too quickly. His skills weren't keeping up. And he might attract unwanted bad attention if he kept rising through levels like this. Imagine that he killed a weak beast, and the ultimate loot function triggered a 10,000x or a 100,000x. Orion will jump several levels in one go.
"I should talk with Truck-kun about this," Orion muttered to himself as he contacted Truck-kun through his divine communication function. Truck-kun immediately responded, and Orion found himself back in the dreamy space.
Truck-kun was there. Orion explained his problem. And Truck-kun nodded, understanding the issue.
"That's easy to solve. I will give you EXP storer and EXP converter functions. EXP storer will allow you to store EXP, and then you can amass a lot of EXP without any issue or attention and level up whenever you like. EXP converter will allow you to use EXP to level up your acquired skills," Truck-kun said as if he had predicted that this would occur.
Orion was delighted. It clearly solved his problem perfectly.
Orion once again appeared in the middle of the wilderness. Now the system panel had a few more things. Just beneath the attribute points was another data label. Stored EXP. It currently shows zero. A plus icon has also appeared in front of all his acquired skills. Orion wanted to try it out. He clicked on the plus icon. Another prompt appeared.
[Do you want to spend 50 EXP to level up Fireball to Level 2?]
Orion tapped yes. Another pop-up appeared saying that he had insufficient stored EXP.
Orion moved forward, eager to find more monsters and kill them to gain EXP and use that to level up his skills. He soon found five more wind wolves. Orion made quick work of them. After that, he summoned shadow wolves out of those corpses too. And then commanded them to devour the same corpse they had risen from. Orion then checked his System Panel.
He now had five hundred and eighty stored EXP. He used it to level up his Fireball to level 2. He then used Fireball once again. This time, the fireball appeared with much more ease; it needed less mana, and Orion could feel that it had more power without being boosted with mana.
Orion immediately used the EXP to level up all his acquired skills to level 2. He even levelled up Fireball to level 3. He now only had eighty points left. Not enough to level any other skill. It took a hundred points to level up any level 2 bronze-rank skill to level 3.
After that, Orion checked his loot once again. He now had one hundred and thirty-eight wind blade skill cards and one hundred and thirty-eight swift boots.
"If I get any more, I will be disrupting the market," Orion said to himself.
Just then, Orion heard a high-pitched howl. Orion turned toward the sound. And he saw another wolf standing at some distance.
It looked a lot different from the wind wolves Orion was killing. While wind wolves had grey fur, this one was black like night itself. It was a lot bigger, clearly much stronger than wind wolves. Its glowing red eyes were fixed on Orion.
And then it rushed forward. It was quite some distace but in an instant it was just five meters away.
"Shit!" Orion muttered as he activated Rapid Dash and dodged the pouncing wolf.
Orion appeared some distance away as the wolf landed at the place where Orion had been a moment ago. It turned toward Orion, as if following his scent and growled.
Orion immediately launched several magic skills. Lightning bolts, fireballs, and icicles struck the wolf, but it didn't do much damage. Any wind wolves would have been dead from that barrage.
Orion used more skills. Earth spike shot out from the ground in front of the wolf, targeting its neck. The wolf jumped and dodged the attack. He then raised his claw and slashed in the air toward Orion.
Three arcs of lightning energy rushed toward Orion. Orion could feel its power. It was much more powerful than his lightning bolt.
Orion immediately dodged it with rapid dash. The wolf growled once again. Lightning crackled around its body, and flames appeared in its mouth.
The flames shot out from its mouth and rushed toward Orion. Orion once again dodged with rapid dash. The flames struck the ground where Orion had been standing a moment ago and exploded. It wasn't a simple explosion of flames like Orion's fireball, where flames burst and spread quickly. Instead, it was like an explosion of a bomb. A deep crater had appeared in the ground.
Orion sucked in a deep breath. He needed to pull every card in his arsenal. Orion immediately summoned all his shadow wolves. Twenty shadow wind wolves appeared beside Orion. With a command from Orion, they rushed toward the big black wolf. The wolf was surprised to see so many wolves appear from nowhere.
But it was fast. It easily dodged the wolves with speed and attacked them with its lightning attack and exploding fire blast. The shadow wolves were killed immediately. But Orion just summoned them again with mana. And wolves weren't the only thing the wolf had to face.
Orion used his floral command talent. Trees trembled as if alive, and then their branches shot toward the wolf like lightning. Branches coiled around the black wolf like pythons.
The black wolf couldn't move now. What followed were a dozen level three fireballs. The wolf growled in agony.
After that, Orion moved toward the wolf, the crimson sword materialising in his hand. Orion slashed it at the wolf. His crimson sword only left a deep gash in the neck, though Orion had intended to behead the wolf in one slash.
"You are quite tough," Orion muttered once again. He then raised his sword and slashed once again. The wolf head finally fell to the ground. Orion collapsed to the ground.
[You killed D-Tier Thunderblaze Black Wolf]
[EXP gained: 2500]
[Lives gained: 250]
Orionn was surprised. So it was a D-tier beast. He then checked the loot.
[25x Thunderblaze Black Wolf Pelts] [50x Wolf Fang] [50x Wolf Claw] [25x Thunder Stride Skill Card] [25x Exploding Fire Skill Card] [25x Lightning Slash Skill Card] [25x Thunderblaze Black Jacket] [25x Black Wolf Mask]
So Orion had triggered a 25x multiplier. He immediately learned Thunder Stride, Exploding Fire, and Lightning Slash. Orion immediately used EXP to level them up to Level 3. After that, he levelled up all other skills that were still at level 2 to level 3. He even upgraded exploding fire, lightning slash, and thunder stride to level four, each upgrade costing 500 EXP. Just like that, Orion had spent 2650 EXP.
He then checked out Thunderblaze Blazk Jacket. It was another good piece of equipment. Orion removed the jacket he was wearing and put on the new jacket. It felt good. This jacket provided a bit of elemental damage reduction and even added 10 points to constitution. The Black Wolf Mask was also quite good. It enhanced senses.
Orion suddenly remembered something. He had nearly forgotten about it. He hurriedly stood up and used Shadow Call on the wolf corpse. A black shadow rose from the ground beside the wolf corpse. It was even darker than the shadow wind wolf.
[Thunderblaze Black Wolf]
[Class: Shadow Summon]
[Level: 1]
[Strength: 32] [Agility: 37] [Constitution: 36] [Mana: 42]
[Skills: Lightning Slash, Exploding Fire, Electric Fang, Thunder Stride ]
Orion was surprised. This wolf had quite high stats.
Orion checked his own stats.
[ Stats ]
[ Strength: 26 ] [ Agility: 27 ] [ Constitution: 27 ] [ Mana: 37 ]
[ Attribute Points: 40 ]
[ Stored EXP: 330 ]
The wolf stats were indeed higher. He immediately allocated the attribute points. The distribution was simple. Ten points to each of the four stats. Orion felt satisfied by his new stats.
[ Stats ]
[ Strength: 36 ] [ Agility: 37 ] [ Constitution: 37 ] [ Mana: 47 ]
[ Attribute Points: 0 ]
[ Stored EXP: 330 ]
Orion then summoned Pearl and mounted onto it. He was tired of travelling on foot. Pearl neighed happily.
In front of Pearl were twenty-one wolves, with the big thunderblaze black wolf at the very front.
Orion looked like some kind of powerful king that had tamed these wild wolves. Orion took out the wolf mask and placed it on his face. He didn't want anyone to see him riding Pearl and commanding so many wolves. Words could spread, and people can be found with just their facial descriptions. Orion didn't want to risk such things and attract attention.
Soon, the wolves were running through the forest, followed by majestic Pearl, with Orion on its back. After some time, Orion reached the end of the forest. In front of him was a vast plain. At some distance was a base. He had arrived at another base. He cancelled Shadow Call and even stored Pearl back in his beast space. He then headed toward the base. He showed his awakening certificate to the guards who didn't recognise him. After that, Orion was able to get into the base.
He immediately spotted the trade centre. He immediately entered the building.
."Welcome to Yellow Plains Base Trade Centre. How may I help you?" the receptionist said politely.
"I want to sell some items."
"Can I see the items?" the receptionist asked.
Orion nodded and dropped most of his loot.
Orion now only had one lightning slash skill card, one thunder stride skill card, and one thunderblaze black jacket left in his void storage. He had planned to give them to Kael.
The receptionist was shocked. She had never seen so much loot at once. There were 138 wind blade skill cards, 138 swift boots, 24 exploding fire skill cards, 23 lightning slash skill cards, 23 thunder stride skill cards, 23 thunderblaze black jacket, and 24 black wolf masks. There were various other simple loots like wolf claws, wolf fangs, and wolf pelts.
"Let me calculate the total for you, sir." The receptionist said as she started counting various items and calculating the price.
After nearly ten minutes, the receptionist looked up and said, "Sir, you can get around 12.6 million federation credits. The exact amount is twelve million six hundred and fifty-four thousand."
Orion nodded. It was higher than the amount he had in mind. The receptionist completed the amount transfer and handed Orion a VIP card.
"Sir, this will give you vip status at any of the First Sanctuary Human Federation Trade Centres. You will have a VIP discount and access to private rooms while doing business." The receptionist said, explaining.
The card has a golden symbol of the Federation Trade Centre. These cards came with quite a status. One only receives it when one completes a transaction of more than ten million in one go. Only the most powerful guilds had such cards. Orion had even read that only 47 of such cards had been issued till now.
After the transaction, bought a map for the area. It was a detailed map that cost a thousand federation credits. It showed the nearby human bases, wild ares. It even showed the monsters one will find there.
Orion came out of the trade centre and sat down on a bench near the town square. Orion saw that the yellow plains base was surrounded by fertile plains. A river flowed right beside the shelter. It was one of the few shelters that allowed agriculture.
On one side of the plains was dense forest that separated it from the Steel Mountain base, which mainly had wolves, panthers, and rabbits. The other side of the plain was the dark swamp.
Dark swamp was home to poisonous beasts, insects like bees, wasps, and spiders, poisonous toads, giant armored crocodiles, thunder eagles, fire vultures, and dark ravens. There were even treants that camouflaged against the mangrove trees of the swamp.
Orion already had his goal clear. He will go and hunt some beasts of the dark swamp. He wanted to kill those insects. Insects were troublesome to deal with; they are fast, and their stings are generally poisonous. He even wanted to hunt some of the armoured crocodiles, thunder eagles, fire vultures, and dark ravens.
After making some preparation, Orion headed for the dark swamp. He had several insect repellent sprays with him. Thankfully, they worked fine even in the abyss, and many people in Yellow Plains Base used them while hunting near dark swamp. Even trade centre had many of those available.