Over 6 hours have passed since Aurus and Fenrir started their massacre. Throughout those 6 hours, they were able to kill around 135 X-grade Inanimates with the help of Aurus' [Soul Perception] and [Spirit Detection], and Fenrir's [Keen Senses]. Although it was vastly lacking compared to the number Aurus mentioned 6 hours ago, it still gave them bountiful benefits.
"[Sword of Intensified Gluttony]!"
Throughout these past 6 hours, Aurus became more and more familiar with the skill [Spirit Sword of Seven Hells]. As of this moment, Aurus had the proficiency level wherein he could think up of the most suited two sword combination in a fight, depending on the buff or the debuff he needed.
Bang!
"Fenrir!"
"Yes, Master!"
Whoosh!
It was also a given that Fenrir would level up along the process of Aurus killing X-grade Inanimates since part of the XP Aurus gains would be distributed to Fenrir in the process. To be honest, Fenrir had already reached its MAX level after the 20th X-grade Inanimate or so was killed, at the moment, all of the experience was going into the unused experience bar that Aurus had.
Nonetheless, with Fenrir being maxed, it could now act as a tank and even as an attacker when needed, as there was now a stronger force behind the attack.
"[Wind Shot]!"
Fwoosh!
"Master, enemy is distracted!"
"Got it!"
"[Sword of Gluttonous Pride]!"
Bang!
And just like that, the 136th X-grade Inanimate was killed without difficulty thanks to the cooperation between Aurus and Fenrir.
Aurus, who was hovering midair all this time, landed on the ground and rolled towards Fenrir. He then said to it, "Good work!"
"Hehe!" Fenrir, who felt like it was on cloud nine whenever Aurus complimented it, could not help but wag its stick tail left to right multiple times as a screen appeared on Aurus' screen not long after.
Ding!
'Experience +2500'
'17 Life Points have been obtained.'
'16 Will Points have been obtained.'
'15 Alliance Points have been obtained due to killing an X-grade Inanimate.'
'The Life and Will bars are now completely full, turning the excess Life and Will points into experience for skills related to Life and Will points.'
'[Inheritor of Two Ideologies] has leveled up.'
'[High Vessel of Sentience] has leveled up.'
'[Supreme Purity Spiritas SP Vessel] has leveled up.'
'[Supreme Purity Spirit Energy Core] has leveled up.'
'[Transcendent Vitality Anima Creation] has leveled up twice.'
'[Spirit Sword of Seven Hells] has leveled up.'
'[Middle Spirit Spell Core] has leveled up.'
'[Tempestuous Spiritas Glide] has leveled up.'
'The following skills have reached the MAX level: [Inheritor of Two Ideologies], [High Vessel of Sentience], [Supreme Purity Spiritas SP Vessel].'
"Wow, a lot has leveled up just from this one fight," Aurus could not help but mutter as he thought that it could be coincidence as to why all of these skills leveled up at the time he was fighting the 136th X-grade.
"You know what? I think I'll just stop at 140 X-grade Inanimates, I might destroy the ecosystem of this place." As he was thinking about his improvement in strength once he upgraded the skills that could be upgraded, he knew that it would become even easier for him to kill X-grades. Thankfully, he remembered that once a certain thing from an ecosystem was brought to near extinction, the balance it had would be offset.
In fact, thanks to Aurus killing over 130 X-grade Inanimates, more and more S-grade Inanimates lost the will to become stronger as there was not much X-grade Inanimates left within the Tempest Cliff. They all thought that S-grade Inanimates were now the strongest levels of power within the Tempest Cliff.
Well…Aurus was not in any position to care about that, he was an Executive level member of the Tempest Branch Alliance first and foremost. He would only be concerned if the X-grade Inanimates of the alliance were also being killed.
"I think I'm already close to buying that skill?" He placed the previous thoughts at the back of his head as the thought of how much Alliance Points he now had surfaced in his mind. "Open Alliance Shop."
Ding!
________
[Tempest Branch Alliance Shop]
Alliance Points: 3040
Stock resets in 6 hours!
--------
[Active Skill — Stick Clone] – 500 Alliance Points
[Passive Skill — Longevity] – 300 Alliance Points
[Passive Skill — Spirit Expansion] – 750 Alliance Points
[Active Skill — Reaper's Verdict] – 1700 Alliance Points
[Active Skill — Spirit Aura (Rare)] – 3000 Alliance Points
________
"Oh, I actually have enough." Aurus could not help but lightly chuckle after seeing that he had barely enough to buy the skill he wanted. "I guess I don't need to kill more X-grade Inanimates for now."
Fenrir, who was beside Aurus all this time, could not help but stare at the screen in front of Aurus and ask, "Master, what's the floaty thing?"
"Hm?" Aurus turned around to look at Fenrir, who was curious about the screen in front of his field of vision. Pondering for a bit, he replied, "It's something special, stay silent about it, okay?"
Although Fenrir thought that there was more to the screen, Fenrir agreed to what Aurus said.
"Buy [Spirit Aura]." Seeing that the amount of Alliance Points he had was enough, he did not hesitate to buy the skill right now.
Ding!
'You are going to buy [Spirit Aura (Rare)] for 3000 Alliance Points, are you sure about this?'
Being dead set on obtaining the skill, Aurus confirmed the order, receiving another screen not long after that told him that he had learned the [Spirit Aura] skill.
"Identify [Spirit Aura]!" Even though Aurus had committed the effects of [Spirit Aura] to heart and knew that the effects won't be changed, he still could not help but look at it.
Ding!
________
[Spirit Aura (Rare)] (Level 1/20)
Grade: S (Mortal)
Aura, something that cannot be seen by the naked eye, but can be felt by anyone when strong enough. Some auras focus on sheer strength, some focus on being as unnoticeable as possible, while some focus on using their auras to augment their powers.
This skill allows the user's aura to act as a domain where the user's abilities would be significantly heightened in combat for a limited duration. Specifically, the user's energy-related, may it be energy attacks, energy storage, and energy restoration, would all be heightened to a certain degree for a limited duration. It can also affect the user's allies.
All attacks that use SP will have their final damage boosted by 20%
SP regeneration will be boosted by 50%
Maximum SP storage will be expanded by 50%
Duration: 30 minutes
Radius: 10 meters
SP Cost: 1200 SP
Cooldown: 2 hours
________
"With the current amount of SP I have, I think I can execute [Spirit Clone] once I evolve my SP Storage skill," Aurus muttered to himself in excitement as he looked at the effects of the skill.
Of course, ever since Aurus was notified by Kevin that his current body would be in grave danger, even if conscious or unconscious, all of his movements were done in order to hasten the time when he could create a spirit clone, a way to mitigate the effects of the danger he would face in the future.
"Yeah, I won't delay this any further," Aurus said to himself inwardly as the SP cost of the [Spirit Clone] skill came to mind. "Evolve all of the currently evolvable skills. As for [Supreme Purity Spiritas SP Vessel], evolve it on the path that pursues purity."
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Not long after commanding the system to evolve the skills that just reached MAX level not long ago, a notification screen appeared in front of Aurus' screen, letting him know the new names of the skills.
'[Inheritor of Two Ideologies] has been evolved to [Seeker of Two Destinies].'
'[High Vessel of Sentience] has been evolved to [Grand Vessel of Higher Sentience].'
'[Supreme Purity Spiritas SP Vessel] has been evolved to [Zenith Purity Spiritas SP Vessel].'
"Another X-grade Mortal level skill to level up." Aurus could not help but look at the final evolved skill and smile inwardly as he finally had another X-grade Mortal skill to level up, all of which by the looks of it can evolve to Transcendent level.
Feeling satisfied with how strong he was finally getting, Aurus looked at Fenrir and said, "It's been a few hours since you've maxed your level."
"Nonetheless, it's time to evolve you."
Here's a slightly shorter chapter due to the fact that I was for some reason, not in the mood to write. But hey, at least something was done in the chapter, right?
I hope my motivation becomes better tomorrow.