章 3: Killing Goblins and Leveling up

Bang!

He shot a bullet at one of the goblins, hitting it straight in the head and leaving a gaping hole. Approaching the remaining three, he decided to use the Basic Sword Arts skill to finish them off.

Max attacked as soon as he neared them, executing an upward slash from the ground that split one goblin in half. Swiftly, he moved to his right and thrust his sword straight into the head of the second goblin.

It couldn't dodge, resulting in its head being pierced. However, at that moment, the last goblin attacked with its wooden knife, aiming directly at Max's left waist. Thanks to his Three Dimensional Body skill, Max could see the attack coming.

He spun quickly, angling his sword to parry the strike, causing the knife in the goblin's hand to fly away. Without hesitation, Max swung his sword, slashing the goblin's neck and causing its head to roll across the floor of the hall.

'This feels so good,' Max thought excitedly as he took deep breaths. Despite the ease with which he defeated the goblins, he felt mentally and physically drained. 'I need to level up.'

His body possessed only a limited amount of mana since he hadn't even reached Level 1 in the Novice rank. In fact, his body hadn't undergone any changes since awakening his class. Only a faint wisp of mana had flowed into him during his awakening, and now most of it was depleted, leaving him exhausted.

Looking back, he noticed that the other six students had defeated their targets. "The ones I killed are mine; the rest are yours to handle," he declared.

"What? That's not fair!" one of the students protested. "You alone will have seven cores while the six of us get three?!"

Max sneered. "That's how it is. I killed seven of them; they're mine. Simple as that."

"But there are six of us! How are we supposed to share three cores?" Carl shouted angrily, gritting his teeth.

Max shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't care. What I kill is mine. That's final." He began collecting the drops from the goblins he had defeated.

"This guy!" Carl growled in rage, his frustration palpable.

"Carl, calm down. You know who this guy is, right?" Sil, another student, patted Carl's shoulder.

"I know," Carl admitted, still fuming. "And I saw how he alone took down seven goblins while we struggled with three." Though enraged, he could do nothing but watch helplessly.

Sil sighed. "He's known as the Overlord at the academy for a reason. He dared to fight the dean's son, the general's daughter, and even Henry Reins from the richest family in Crestford City—and he defeated all of them. They didn't stand a chance, whether in physical assessments, theory, or combat. After seeing him take down these goblins, I believe he truly deserves that nickname."

"Hmph. He won't be undefeated for long," Carl sneered. "William must have awakened a powerful class, and we all know he'll challenge Max in the dungeon. I bet he'll finally have a chance to beat him."

"Carl, that's impossible," another student, James, chimed in. "We all know William's track record against Max—it's… humiliating."

Carl grinned. "I know that, James, but think about it: Max didn't seem to use any class-related skills in his fight. If we share this intel with William and he defeats Max, we could join his squad. And working under William—the dean's son—would be far better than fumbling around blindly in dungeons."

The other five students exchanged smiles, nodding in agreement with Carl's plan.

Meanwhile, Max had collected all the items dropped by the goblins and sat in a corner of the hall. 'Seven cores. Even though they're just basic cores with no rank, they should be enough to get me to Level 1 in the Novice rank.' He glanced at the seven small green orbs on the ground, along with items like rusty daggers, goblin hide scraps, and stale rations—typical goblin drops.

Max picked up one of the rusty daggers and inspected its stats.

---

[Rusty Dagger]

–Rank: Common (Damaged)

–Description: A dagger used by goblins for ages, now rusty and broken after its owner's demise.

---

'Huh. These goblins used stone knives, but they dropped daggers… Interesting,' Max thought, deciding the weapon wasn't worth using. 'I'll just sell them.'

As he was about to store the items in his backpack, a sudden realization hit him. The dagger in his hand disappeared.

"It's gone!" Max exclaimed, startled. But before he could panic, he felt the dagger inside his body. "Is it… inside me?" Closing his eyes, he focused on calling the dagger, and to his amazement, it reappeared in his hand.

"Damn, I have my own storage space inside my body!" he muttered, excitement coursing through him. 'This Three Dimensional Body skill is more than it seems.'

He quickly stored all the items—except for the seven cores—in this newfound space.

"And now, it's time to level up." Max picked up one of the cores and began absorbing them one by one.

Sometime later, Max absorbed the last core, and a notification appeared in his vision:

[Congratulations to Max Voidwalker for leveling up to level 1 of Novice Rank.]

As Max read the notification, a surge of energy coursed through his body. At the same time, he felt an undeniable increase in his physical strength and overall vitality.

'It's not massive, but I can feel the improvement,' he thought, flexing his fingers and testing his new strength.

'Status.'

---

[Max]

–Rank: [Novice]

–Level: 1

–Class: [Dimensional Keeper]

–Physique: 4.5

–Soul: 6.2

–Energy: 6

–Skills:

—»Class Skills: [Three Dimensional Body, Dimension of Time]

—»Acquired Skills: [Basic Sword Arts, Magic Bullets]

---

Max frowned as he reviewed his status.

'My energy stat increased by 1, physique by 0.5, and soul by just 0.2. Is this good or bad compared to other classes?'

Every class had its own unique stat increments upon leveling up. These values weren't standardized, so Max couldn't determine whether his increases were average, subpar, or exceptional. To him, the overall boost of 1.7 felt underwhelming.

Shaking off his doubts, he turned his attention to a more pressing matter: his second class skill, Dimension of Time. He hadn't had a chance to use it during the fight with the goblins but was eager to test its effects.

Anything related to time manipulation piqued his interest.

Looking around to ensure the other six students were preoccupied, Max silently activated Dimension of Time.

The moment the skill took effect, his surroundings shifted. The dungeon's hall, the ground, and even the other students disappeared. In their place was an endless expanse of floating, pure white clouds stretching as far as the eye could see.

'What is this? How did I get here?' Max's heart raced as he spun around, taking in the surreal scenery.

The clouds swirled gently, bathed in a calming light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. It was as though he'd been transported to a dream.

'This can't be real…' Max thought, trying to ground himself. 'Did the skill do this?'

Before he could ponder further, a wooden door materialized in front of him, standing impossibly in the middle of the sky.

As the door appeared, a surge of information flooded Max's mind, making everything clear.