Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 54

54. Amaranth (1)

[Quest Completed!]

[Level Up!]

As the supply wagons laden with goods safely arrived in the White Forest, the quest was completed, and Aile received a large amount of experience.

After the player who fought Aile in the cave retreated, no attackers appeared this time for the transport convoy, and the quest was completed without any major incidents.

‘I did have some experience saved up, but I never expected to level up twice at once…’

It must have been thanks to the quest expanding into a larger one related to the ancient spirit, unlike the initial request.

While he was subtly surprised by the unexpected reward, Patrol Captain Allund approached Aile, who was standing next to the wagon.

“I heard the story from the Rotums. I thank you for helping us.”

Allund placed his hand lightly on his chest and gave Aile a slight bow, a traditional Elven greeting.

They wouldn’t treat a human like this just for escorting supplies, but the ancient spirit was an important being to the High Elves, and they showed him due respect.

In addition to the actual reward, he was granted permission to freely enter and exit the White Forest, and he even gained access to the village in one go.

Compared to what he had initially thought when accepting the request, it was a much more significant advancement in their relationship.

“Contact us if you have other matters.”

Allund left those last words and departed, and at the same time, Aile’s eyes widened.

It might sound like a passing remark, but with a little more thought, it was quite meaningful.

The implication that they could entrust him with quests if new things arose was obvious, and the possibility of receiving follow-up quests connected to this incident couldn’t be ruled out.

“Aile!”

Feren approached with a bright smile, waving his hand.

As one of the Rotums with more outside experience, he had joined the transport again and accompanied Aile, even appearing to have serious conversations with the High Elves.

“How is it? Is the transfer of the spirit stones all done?”

“Of course! Aile chased away the troublemakers, so there’s no problem. But Aile, are you leaving again now?”

“I have to. I can’t stay in the village forever.”

At Aile’s words, Feren’s expression turned gloomy, as if he had never been smiling.

“If you ever think of us, please visit again!”

“Of course.”

Aile stroked Feren, who was clinging to his leg, and sent him to where the other Rotums were gathered.

The Rotums were ready to depart again, and it was time to return to the Spirit Forest.

Aile waved his hand briefly and turned his steps toward the center of the forest.

A human rashly entering the village where the High Elves lived would be turned into a hedgehog by arrows flying from all directions, but there was no need to worry at this point since he had been granted passage to the village.

‘It’s still impossible to receive quests from ordinary residents, but I should be able to buy items at least…’

The White Forest had many high-quality equipment and potions that were famous for their quality, but more than that, he was planning to buy a bunch of special material items that could only be obtained here.

They were different from what he could get from the Rotums in the Spirit Forest, so he was buying them in advance, separate from the materials he had obtained back then.

Of course, Aile, whose proficiency in all life skills was close to 0, wouldn’t be able to do anything with those materials, and most of them would be sent to Alisa.

In particular, there were a few materials that she had specifically asked him to send when she received the news that he had entered the White Forest.

Relationships with Elves, especially the High Elves of the White Forest, were not easy to establish, so it was inevitable that players who focused on crafting and gathering [life skills] would be eager to capitalize on this opportunity.

Aile thought that once he sent these materials, he wouldn’t have to worry about potions for a while, and he moved his feet while unfolding the map.

“Then, where would be a good hunting ground next…?”

* * *

Swoosh!

Four undead monsters that rushed in with a fierce momentum were cut in two by a swift sword strike.

But even the corpses that were split in half were not intact.

The white flames swept through the spot where the lightning-like sword strike had passed.

Only the smell of burning corpses lingered where the fire had passed.

Aile planted his longsword into the ground and leaned against it slightly.

‘As expected, the firepower is amazing.’

A new exclusive skill he had learned: Flash Cut.

He had tried using it several times while hunting in the Spirit Forest, and it had satisfactory performance, befitting a Heroic-grade skill [a skill with high power and rarity].

The power and utility of Flash Cut, which had shown great performance in the last PVP [Player vs Player combat], were clearly confirmed, and it seemed that he could put aside worries about having a one-shot kill attack for the time being.

‘If only the mana problem could be solved…’

Aile drank a mana potion filled with blue liquid.

The taste was like a familiar sports drink… but that wasn’t the important thing; the fact was that his mana was almost bottoming out with just one use of the skill.

With this, it was difficult to actively use it in a more urgent real-world environment.

As he could tell when he fought the black-hooded man in the Spirit Forest, there wasn’t always time to leisurely drink potions.

‘It can’t be helped since I haven’t invested even 1 point in magic power…’

In fact, when struggling with a lack of mana, even other classes had no choice but to invest a certain amount of stat points in magic power.

But Aile didn’t touch the magic power stat to maximize efficiency.

Instead, there was the sixth stat, ‘Madness,’ which increased not only direct stats such as attack power and speed, but also a certain amount of mana.

Unlike others, Aile, who had additional stats from the beginning, could have the merit of focusing more on other stats without investing in magic power, as long as he accumulated enough Madness stats to compensate for the lack of mana.

For now, the best long-term option was to accumulate Madness stats as quickly as possible to increase his mana.

‘And to accumulate Madness stats, what’s needed is a boss monster or a player, or…’

“It appeared!”

Aile, who had discovered something, pulled out the sword he had planted and started running.

The shadow of a monster that passed by like a breeze on the left.

Chasing after it, there was an undead monster with a larger build than most of the other guys that had appeared so far.

“Groooar!”

“Okay.”

Aile smiled happily and raised his sword.

Then, he activated the skill ‘Heretic Designation,’ and a red mark appeared on the monster’s head.

A precious prey that would increase his stats: an elite monster.

To stably grind stats without ups and downs, it’s best to catch elite monsters, which have moderate rewards and difficulty, rather than boss monsters that require a lot of time and effort to catch, or players with high risks.

Of course, the problem was that most elite monsters rarely appeared like rare species, mixed in between hunting grounds where ordinary monsters appeared, so a lot of luck was needed.

But the reason Aile chose this place as his next destination after leaving the White Forest was none other than because it was a hunting ground where elite monsters frequently appeared.

Thump!

The undead monster’s huge arm slammed down on the floor.

But Aile, who was standing in that spot, had already moved behind the monster and cut it in one go.

Whoosh!

A long wound appeared on the monster’s back, and white flames burned the flesh, causing burns.

The monster’s health plummeted as damage from the opposite attribute was added to the longsword that was swung strongly with weight and the burns caused by the flames.

“Groaaar!”

Then, the monster, as if losing its reason, rampaged wildly, making it difficult to predict its movements.

Swoosh!

But Aile saw all the movements of the rampaging monster and dodged them, and he chipped away at its health by hitting its weak points whenever there was an opening.

The monster’s patterns, which had felt subtly tricky at first, were now familiar and didn’t seem difficult.

Due to the nature of elite monsters, which have high stats that are difficult to overcome without preparation and often appear in situations where preparations have not been made, they were treated as obstacles that interfered with peaceful hunting and dangerous elements that could kill if encountered by chance for ordinary players around them, but for Aile, who had been aiming for them from the beginning, they were just easy opponents.

Slash!

The monster’s two legs, which were covered in wounds, were cut off in one go by Aile’s swiftly swung sword.

It was the same Flash Cut skill he had used before, but since he didn’t use Holy Fire, the effect of flames sweeping through the enemy like an aftereffect did not appear.

Thud!

The monster that fell forward tumbled on the floor and fell into a near-death state where it couldn’t move once its health dropped below a certain level.

The reason he stopped the Holy Fire skill in the middle was that he deliberately calculated the health and damage so as not to completely end its life.

Aile, who had successfully finished the hunt, lowered his sword and activated the Judgment skill for the final task.

Swish!

A thick book that appeared in his left hand asked about the method of execution for the undead in front of him.

It was obvious that it was difficult to tie up such a large creature to the stake.

Aile sentenced a slightly different punishment than usual and gripped the tilted weapon again.

Then, standing right next to the fallen monster, he raised both arms and lifted the longsword high.

Whack!

With a surge of blood, the monster’s head rolled on the floor.

[You have successfully executed the designated punishment according to ‘Judgment’. The stat bonus is doubled due to the effect of the skill.]

[Favor of the Goddess +0.22% (Currently 55.13%)]

[Light Order Contribution +70]

[Faith Stat +2]

[Madness Stat +2]

[The Judge’s speed is increased by 10% for 60 minutes due to the execution of beheading.]

[You feel your faith deepening even further.]

[Faith Stat +0.1]

[Madness Stat +0.1]

“It seems like I’m encountering elite mobs more often than I heard, and everything is going smoothly without any hitches…”

Aile muttered, wiping the black blood from his cheek.

The Favor of the Goddess stat had already exceeded 55 percent, and the Madness stat had also exceeded 30.

The contribution that had been running low had already gathered 800, and there was even an additional bonus stat due to actions related to faith.

Ordinary people would be jumping up and down with joy, but Aile strangely felt a bit uneasy.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off in one corner of his mind.

Aile hadn’t been lucky while playing games so far.

No, to be precise, he wasn’t unlucky when it came to internal aspects of the game, such as getting good items.

But perhaps because of his personality that couldn’t stand losing, he would unintentionally get caught up in all sorts of incidents and create conflicts even when he wanted to stay still, so he couldn’t help but feel uneasy that things were going so well.

‘Maybe…’

One thought flashed through Aile’s mind.

As a result of thinking about the things he had been unlucky with while playing other games, it was a perfectly reasonable inference no matter how many times he thought about it.

“Is Warlord my life game…?”