While continuing to traverse the forest in search for other dogs to kill, he took a short glance at the screen he moved to the side before opening up his status screen to see that his stats shot up by a great margin.
Ding!
________
[Aurus] (Level 3)
Experience: 0/3
Race: Wolf
[HP]: 20/20
Stats:
[Vitality]: 20
[Strength]: 20
[Defense]: 20
[Agility]: 20
Skills:
[Wolf Bite], [Wolf Claw], [Wolf Rage], [Survival Instinct]
________
"So my stats double for every level up and evolution I go through?" Aurus felt that his stats at the later levels would be extremely crazy, considering that his stats have doubled twice already since he has gone through two level ups. "I wonder what's the limit for this illusion world?"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Thanks to his newly obtained [Survival Instinct] skill, he was able to sense the dogs nearby that would be considered a threat at his current level. From his senses, there were only a few of those roaming around throughout the forest, hence he could just rest easy as he continued to search for dogs to kill.
...
A few minutes passed by and Aurus finally found a dog of the same level as his, having the race of a Wolf already. Looking at his body and the wolf in front of him, both of them looked alike. "Is it because the illusion world is lazy?" Aurus asked himself inwardly.
In the end, Aurus just shrugged his shoulders as he noticed the wolf taking a few steps closer to him. "Who cares, I'm not an illusionist anyways."
As the wolf in front of him was taking its sweet time to get closer to Aurus, thinking that Aurus was some easy prey it could eat even though it's the same level, Aurus could not help but chuckle inwardly.
"[Wolf Rage]!"
Whoosh!
In an instant, his eyes turned bloodshot as foam dripped out of his mouth while his fur stood up on all ends. If one looked closely, one could see a faint red aura covering Aurus' fur.
"Hm...so for every evolution, the skill gets stronger as well?" Aurus could see the effects of the skill on his body, it was basically an upgraded version of the [Rage] skill in his previous body. The same went for the [Strong Scratch] he used to kill a Rabid Dog, which was the upgraded version of [Scratch].
The wolf in front of Aurus noticed his transformation and knew that it wouldn't stand a chance against him if it didn't transform as well.
So it did.
Showing the same appearance as Aurus, it was now impossible to tell who was which. The wolf growled at Aurus, gesturing that it would not hesitate to kill him if he attacked.
Aurus laughed this threat off and dashed forward, raising his front paw as he dashed before swiping downwards to hit the wolf's spine. Sadly, the wolf predicted where Aurus' paw would hit, heading towards Aurus' blind spot before opening its jaw to...
Crunch!
Take a bite at one of Aurus' hind legs. With the strength a wolf could fully muster, Aurus' hind leg was instantly crushed into two, debilitating him of his capabilities to maneuver quickly. Surpisingly, Aurus did not feel any pain at all, instead he just felt a surreal feeling that the affected hind leg was burning.
The wolf that bit Aurus' hind leg now looked at Aurus as if he was easy prey and proceeded to open its jaw to crush Aurus' other hind leg. Sadly, Aurus wasn't going to let that happen.
Using his other hind leg as a pivot point, with the help of his high agility, Aurus raised his front paw and swiped at a speed that incomparable to before, colliding with the unguarded wolf's neck.
Bang!
Although both of them had 20 points in Strength and Defense respectively, Aurus was able to use the momentum he gained from rotation and added it into his paw, resulting in the wolf flying while it was shocked.
It crashed through one tree...two trees...three trees...four trees in total before stopping to a halt, embedded within the fourth tree's trunk.
Whimpering in pain afterwards as Aurus felt the wolf's vitality gradually weakening, the wolf turned into little fragments not long after before a yellow fog appeared in front of Aurus as it enveloped his whole body.
"So that's why there was that nagging feeling in my head that it's better to kill a being of the same level." Aurus finally understood.
The yellow fog made quick work of Aurus as it hastily changed his figure to become bigger and sturdier as greater strength coursed through his veins. Not only that, he could also feel a foreign energy enter through his brain for a short instant before the yellow fog dissipated.
Whoosh!
If anyone looked at Aurus right now, they would think that Aurus was a beast blessed by the heavens, with his fur being silver in color as a yellow crown made out of hardened fur stuck out of the top of his head.
Ding!
And with another level up, the screen notifed Aurus of the changes in his body.
'Aurus has leveled up.'
'Aurus has evolved from [Wolf] to [Spirit Wolf].'
'The skill [Spirit Manipulation] has been obtained.'
'The skill [Spirit Bolt] has been obtained.'
"Wait a minute...[Spirit Bolt]? [Spirit Manipulation]?" Aurus felt that these skills were different from the other skills. He then opened his status screen and was exhilarated to know that he could level up faster.
Ding!
________
[Aurus] (Level 4)
Experience: 0/4
Race: Spirit Wolf
[HP]: 40/40
[MP]: 40/40
Stats:
[Vitality]: 40
[Strength]: 40
[Defense]: 40
[Agility]: 40
[Intelligence]: 40
Skills:
[Spirit Devour], [Spirit Claw], [Spirit Wolf's Rage], [Spirit Instinct], [Spirit Manipulation], [Spirit Bolt]
________
"I knew it! I now have access to SP! Well, MP!" Aurus could not help but be happy. Since he was still trying to escape at the fastest time possible, he then dashed towards a certain direction with his doubled agility as he activated [Spirit Instinct], noticing that not only could he sense dangers, but also sense the lower beings as well.
After a few seconds, he turned his body to face another direction as he said to himself, "You shall be the first one!"
Whoosh!
After half a minute, Aurus was around 50 meters away from a lone wolf who was currently hunting for prey. Of course, Aurus did not mind the current situation of the wolf and conjured a bolt of energy through the [Spirit Bolt] skill.
"Fire!"
Whoosh!
Under the control of Aurus, the energy bolt cleanly passed through the wolf's throat, rendering it dead in an instant.
Ding!
Aurus noticed that a screen appeared in front of his field of vision which showed that he gained 1 experience point, rather than 3 points like what he got in the previous evolution.
"Hm...is it because my stats are way higher than the previous level, thus my experience gain is being diminished if I kill a being of a lower level?" Aurus thought about this for a bit before deciding to kill a being of the same level once more.
"Haah...I hope the next level is the last level before I can escape." Casting [Spirit Instinct] again, Aurus was lucky to find a Spirit Wolf only 200 meters away from him. Within twenty seconds or so, the gap between the two was reduced to 70 meters, taking into consideration the Spirit Wolf's sensitivity to living beings. He then activated [Spirit Wolf's Rage] as a backup plan if he ever got into a close combat fight.
After that, he conjured an energy bolt once more before aiming at the Spirit Wolf's brain.
Whoosh!
In an instant, the distance of 70 meters was easily travelled by the energy bolt and almost hit the Spirit Wolf's brain, hitting the eye instead.
Why?
It was because the Spirit Wolf's sense of danger was activated as it sensed the energy bolt coming at it. It decided to take a step backwards in order to protect its most precious part.
"Awooo..." It then let out a soft howl as it grimaced in pain, trying to look for the culprit that shot a bolt at it. Sadly, the culprit was out of its passive sensing range.
"[Spirit Bolt]! [Spirit Bolt]! [Spirit Bolt]!"
Not long after the first energy bolt, rather than one energy bolt following up after that, Aurus threw out three energy bolts in succession, aiming to kill the Spirit Wolf with one of these three shots.
The Spirit Wolf's sense of time was slowed down as it felt the three energy bolts aiming for his brain, his throat, and his heart. Thinking of the best possible plan, it kneeled down as close to the ground, easily dodging the three bolts.
But alas, it was going to die here.
"[Spirit Bolt]!"
Psh!
The sound of a projectile passing through skin was heard. The eyes of Spirit Wolf was filled with shock as it did not know where the energy bolt came from as it passed through its throat. Having feelings of regret, it gradually lost its vitality before dissipating into thin air as tiny little fragments.
As for Aurus, he looked at the dissipating body of the Spirit Wolf for a bit before letting out a soft smile. Not long after, his body started to glow an eye-blinding white light. He felt that his soul was being sucked away from this world and was going to be teleported to another world.
Of course, Aurus was ecstatic to feel this as he knew that he had finally escaped the illusion world!
Whoosh!
At that instant, the Spirit Wolf body of Aurus in this illusion world turned limp and gradually transformed into little fragments as it dissipated into thin air.