Chapter 28: Level Up
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After the lively gathering came to an end, Lis and Yaer agreed that he would return the next day to practice the long whip with her. He was just about to leave when—
“See you tomorrow!” Yaer waved at Lis.
“I’ll see you out,” Yasen said as he rose, giving Lis a meaningful glance.
Lis showed no reaction and followed Yasen out of the villa.
“Is there something you wanted to discuss? You went out of your way to keep me here.”
Lis stood on the steps by the roadside, looking down at the green shoots emerging from the cracks between the stones.
“Lord Viscount Kane...” Yasen hesitated before continuing, “I imagine you have already realized that Miss Yaer’s identity is anything but ordinary.”
Lis remained silent, tacitly acknowledging Yasen’s statement.
Even the most outstanding younger son of a ducal family acted like a bullied child in front of Yaer. Who could possibly fail to notice?
“Until I receive permission, I cannot tell you Miss Yaer’s identity. I hope you can understand.” Yasen paused, then said solemnly, “I do not wish to know whether your meeting Miss Yaer was a coincidence or the result of some other cause, but I hope you will not do anything that might harm her...”
Yasen did not finish, but Lis naturally understood what he meant.
As for the veiled threat in Yasen’s words, Lis truly did not care. If he could not reveal that he already knew Yaer’s true identity, he would have liked nothing more than to kneel and pledge himself to her in advance, binding himself to that powerful patron.
He was practically ready to say, “If Your Grace does not cast me aside, I, Si, would be honored to acknowledge you as my adoptive mother.”
As for doing anything harmful to Yaer—Yasen was thinking too much.
A protagonist of this sort, a child of destiny chosen by the heavens, was practically born with the Goddess of Fortune at her side. No matter what difficulties she encountered, she would always turn danger into safety. Such luck was beyond the reach of ordinary people to oppose.
“Lord Yasen, I will never do anything that might harm Yaer. This is my promise as Viscount Kane.”
Lis spoke to Yasen with solemn conviction.
“I hope so.”
Seeing that Lis had given his assurance in the name of nobility, Yasen’s expression softened considerably. After all, the kingdom’s nobles valued their reputations above all else. He nodded and said, “Welcome to our adventuring party, Lis.”
“Thank you, Yasen. See you tomorrow!”
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After returning to his estate, Lis sat beside the small table in his bedroom and lifted the chilled fruit tea Rossi had specially prepared for him, pondering everything that had happened that day.
Meeting Yaer today had been a complete accident. More surprising still, he had somehow joined Yaer’s mercenary band just like that.
It had gone so smoothly that it was almost unbelievable!
It seemed he could now give serious thought to his plans for the Festival of Holy Sacrifice. If he could obtain Yaer’s support, he might find another way to break through his current predicament.
However, Yaer’s strength should still be limited to that of a Gold-ranked warrior. She would not break through to the next level until the later stages of the version 2.0 storyline.
But that was far too distant to plan for. Lis had no need to worry about it yet. He would deal with the Festival of Holy Sacrifice first.
The incident involving Camus had certainly been deliberately orchestrated by someone. That was actually good news. Since they had failed to achieve their objective that time, they would surely not give up. All Lis had to do was wait for them to reveal a flaw.
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Improving his strength still had to come first. There were many things he could not accomplish with the power of a novice mage, such as his research program for civilian enchanting products. At the very least, he would have to wait until he became an intermediate mage before he could reproduce the special magical formations stored in his mind.
Although many unexpected things had happened today, he had still accomplished everything he had set out to do at the Mercenary Guild.
He had registered as a mercenary.
Training in the proficiency of the final weapon had already been placed on his schedule. Although the long whip seemed rather unsuitable for a man to wield, Lis was not picky. As long as he could complete his proficiency in ten different weapons, that was all that mattered.
He had also unexpectedly joined Yaer’s adventuring party. From now on, he would not have to worry too much about obtaining experience through subsequent missions.
The few teammates in his party were all publicly known to possess Silver-ranked strength. Even if there were penalties to the experience he gained, completing missions would still provide him with a substantial amount.
And then there was Yaer, whose true strength was that of a Gold-ranked warrior. She was quite different from that half-baked fellow Welff. Considering Yaer’s extraordinary nature, Lis suspected that she might already possess strength comparable to that of a high-ranking Gold warrior.
His own strength was still a little too low.
After giving it some thought, Lis summoned his status panel. He decided to use all the experience he had accumulated so far to increase his character level. Skill levels could wait for the time being.
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[You have consumed 735,604 unallocated experience points!]
[Your character level has increased: 30 → 31!]
[You have gained Strength +1, Agility +1, Intelligence +2, Charisma +1, Arcana +1, Endurance +1]
......
[Your character level has increased: 33 → 34!]
[You have gained Strength +1, Agility +1, Intelligence +2, Charisma +1, Arcana +1, Endurance +1]
[You have allocated 10 free attribute points]
[Your Intelligence attribute has increased: 76 → 96! (Attribute modifier)]
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As a series of system messages appeared, Lis felt refreshed. The slight fatigue he had accumulated during the day vanished completely, and his mind became noticeably clearer.
Was this the effect of improving his own attributes?
The attributes of his former game character had been nothing more than virtual numbers, so he had never experienced any tangible sensation from increasing them.
Lis summoned his attribute panel.
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Name: Lis Kane
Race: Human
Level: 34
Health: 1,280/1,280
Mana: 2,000/2,580
Status: Normal
Experience: 0/210,000 (Unallocated experience: 15,820 points)
Primary Class: Arcanist (Novice)
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Secondary Class: None
Talent: Versatile
Attributes:
Strength 39
Agility 40
Intelligence 96 (Attribute modifier)
Charisma 42
Arcana 37
Endurance 39
Luck 3
Free Attribute Points 0
Feats:
[Arcane Mind] — Intelligence receives a twofold numerical modifier; elemental affinity +100%; Arcane submodules unlocked
[Advanced Fatigue Resistance] — Reduces the negative effects of fatigue on the body; stamina recovery speed +50%
[Rank Suppression] — Gain an additional power bonus when facing professionals of a lower rank; current bonus: 10%
[The Fearless Challenger] — Damage suffered from rank suppression reduced by 30%; chance to become immune to negative conditions such as fear, intimidation, silence, confusion, and charm
[Basic Toughened Body] — Health increased by 10%; light-injury recovery speed increased; physical resilience and elemental resistance slightly improved
Skills: Cantrips (Mage Hand, Clean, Flash...), First-Circle Spells (Fireball, Ice Arrow, Charm Person...), Second-Circle Spells (Ice Blade, Wind Walk, Burrow, Moderate Wound Repair, Levitation...), Third-Circle Spells (Chain Fireball, Elemental Shield, Stinking Cloud, Hold Person), First-Circle Arcana (Oil Spell), Third-Circle Arcana (Blue Orb, Ray of Aging), Martial Techniques (Furious Slash, Shield Bash, Resistance Enhancement, Lesser Enhancement of All Attributes)
Milestones: [Novice Mage (Bronze Rank)], [The First Step of the Strong (Silver Rank)]
Legendary Renown: 10 (Kingdom-Level — Court Viscount Legendary Renown +10)
Equipment: Emerald Staff, Emerald Amulet, Ring of Focus
(There has been a little progress. I have gone from cannon fodder to slightly stronger cannon fodder!)
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There was no denying it: wielding power felt wonderful!
Lis nodded in satisfaction. Although he had nearly emptied all the experience he had painstakingly accumulated, every one of his attributes had improved comprehensively. It was worth it.
Besides, he could obtain a steady source of experience by completing mercenary commissions in the future. He no longer needed to agonize over whether to improve his character level or his skill levels.
Lis declared: “I want it all!”
After indulging in his satisfaction, Lis poured the no-longer-chilled fruit tea into his mouth and prepared to head to the laboratory to begin that day’s magical research.
He not only had to research new arcana, but also master new third-circle spells.
Lis was no chosen one favored by heaven. He had to seize every moment. Only by accumulating strength bit by bit through his own efforts could he ultimately gain the power to control his destiny.
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