Mark was making his way to a place to rest for a bit, as he did the ground shook a bit before a large pillar of light sprouted out from the direction he came from as the dense curtain of magic was very threatening for him which was strange since the spells from the S-ranked magician at the pier city seemed on par with the caster of this spell yet he wasn't as intimidating for him compared to what he was feeling now.
He was curious about it at first but quickly changed his mind as whoever that cast it may have a few more and something else made him uneasy he wasn't sure what it was but he decided to follow his instinct to continue on his way, as it was pretty accurate almost every time!
It didn't take long for him to find an empty cave that could give him shelter for some time as he has been hearing a strange buzzing sound near him yet unable to find it, so Mark thought of a simple idea to head into the cave then quickly use sneak to hiding and see what was following him.
He stayed patiently past the cave entrance that was hard to see until the buzzing sound has gotten louder exposing the said culprit which happened to be a small wasp which made Mark curse under his breath before quickly using his tail like a whip in frustration ending the bug's life instantly, not knowing that this little action created new enemies for him to deal with in the near future.
Since he found a good place for the night, Mark made some of his skills grow another level again as his Armor started looking like large spiked scales for increasing his natural armor again, and his presence became more manageable as it was like he could shrink it when he wants to hide or enlarge it when fighting.
The interesting experience was the Assassinate skill, it was as if he could discern the flaws within the target of this skill making his next attack to be efficiently vicious when it arrives some of the goblins that roamed the area 'volunteered' themselves almost immediately upon seeing him.
the increased stamina gave him a feeling that was similar to when his strength skill grew but this time it was more uplifting as the air became richer with every breath he took, and like a shackle was removed making him liberated from whatever it was that hindered him.
As for the magic resistance, the strange writings it left on him became a bit more prominent and the layer that covered his armor was now slightly darker than ever.
He released a breath of hot air as it was getting to that time as his body was begging him to increase four certain skills as soon as possible a rather annoying craving that has been bugging him ever since he became aware of it.
Thanks to the goblins that he killed, Mark was able to track down his temporary hunting grounds as there were over a hundred goblins and the leader was another Shaman but judging from how out in the open their base was, the crude weapons they used, and the lack of elites.
the leader wasn't a smart one, despite being a damned shaman...
Thus for the next two weeks, he hunted them down mercilessly~
Maximizing the usage of his skills with every given chance with sneak reaching the tenth level before a strange message was assigned beside it.
Sneak level 10 (Tier limit)
whatever that Tier limit meant prevented him from making the skill grow any higher, so he set his efforts on to the next high leveled skill which was sharp claws thanks to how fast goblins can breed and more goblins decided to join their 'merry' camp.
Mark ended up making a good number of them into goblin cutlet as those claws and spikes of his rendered iron useless against him now when it also left him the same message upon reaching level ten so he tried growing his stamina into another way by staying up for the past ten days, while it did work this also made him extra cranky as there was another grayed out skill again however he is unable to activate it thanks to the same message as the level ten skills.
The Tier fucking limit again, this was getting frustrating so he did another idea that brought him pain and suffering for some time, which was land in the middle of the camp and tank all of their attacks it seemed like a dumb idea at first but at least he learned something peculiar about how to make his skills grow faster, the more enemies that attack him the greater the sudden boost for growing his skill.
Although there were a few times that he lost control of himself and nearly caused the goblins to scatter from the damage that he brought forth, then with some 'gentle persuasion' using assassinate, increased strength, and increased stamina, they became more than happy to remain within the camp after losing more than half their numbers which dwindled down to twenty-one as the Shaman was practically broken mentally from his plans being destroyed by Mark repeatedly.
The shaman was going as far as to ask Mark to just kill him and be done with it, but the person, no, the monster that he was asking wasn't going to let it end that easily this went on until the few weeks were up.
At the end of it, all Mark was finally convinced to kill the majority of them except for one person er monster is the more appropriate term for this one as the survivor was a strange spider that was not larger than his fist, as this cowardly creature toiled through some hardships to create clothes for the goblins of this camp since it was enslaved for the past ten years unable to grow to the next tier as it also lacked the ability to fight!
Despite this monster being such a low tier monster, it came to show that sheer effort can make a difference as it could communicate through writing or through connecting with its web that could emit low-frequency sound waves that could barely be heard, the name it was given that was now engraved into its being was 'Silk' for weaving its spider web, after being used by goblins, orcs and other monsters under the monster lords and their demon armies making it quite knowledgeable about all sorts of things.
It was always quite talkative once it opened up to Mark even more so when he didn't use the subordination scroll on it but rather used it on one of the female goblins and placed her under its command.
Making his travels less boring and entertaining, once everything was settled there was an interesting thing that happened when he closed his eyes to sleep after spamming his stamina skill and checking his stats at the end of the end.
Just beside his race on the status screen, a new thing popped up as it asked him something that made him instinctively answer yes almost immediately.
[{DO YOU WANT TO EVOLVE?}]
Upon selecting yes, unlike the games where you get to choose where to 'branch' off to it simply showed this.
[{NOW COMMENCING EVOLUTION}]
[{!̴̢̞̩͖̬̤̭͇̤̌͂̓͑̓͜@̵̨̧̭̦͚́̕:̷̡̝̗̮̠̾̒$̸̥̞͇̥̳̩̩̭͔͝"̴̢͎̙͇̀́̃̏͛̍̚͠%̶̦̈́̒̂̿́̀ ̵̛̮̈́͊̂̋̊̑͠i̶̧̦̻͙̯̖̪͖͗̄̌͌̌͜s̵̲̪̖̎̌͛̔͝ ̵̡̮̥̰̜͍̄̀̉͆̈́ȃ̴̦̬̦̈́̅̐̕͝͝n̷͊͆̅̿͌͋̕͝g̶̩̞̈̔ȇ̵̼̪̓̚ͅȑ̵̯̻̥̯͖̹̗̗̠̌͗͆͆͠͠ẻ̴̟d̷͇̯͊̎͗̔̃́̄̆ ̷̨̘̭̖̃̅͌b̴͕̩̍͂͠y̴̢̨̛̱̲̻͕̓̍́̋̿͘͜ ̷̛̖̰̰̈́́͒̌̍͝ÿ̸̡̝̪̞̱̻̯́̌̊̋̈́͊͘͘ͅơ̷̞͛͐̍̀͌̐̒͂ȕ̴͖͓͕̮͆r̷͍̲̣̥̬͆ ̶͈͈̯̙̙̾͗ȩ̷̪̣͔̀͒̍͑̆̂̐ḟ̴̱̥̲̘̑͐ͅf̶̮̳̱̝̯̲́ơ̴̠̺͒́́͆͛̀̚̚͠ŕ̶̛̠̩͕̂̈́̒̒̚ͅt̴̡̯̙̩̞͎̞̊͛͊̃̂͊́͜s̷̨̧̜̘͎̜͖̣̈́̑̔̉͐͜,̴̻̙̘͈͎͙͙̂̔̍͗͒̚ ̴̻̳̮̉͌̀́͒͑̚d̵̝̻̤̣͙̽́̐͝i̶̡̡͇͍̒͗͛͠f̴͓̙̏͒̓̚f̵̨̫̲͎̿̂͌̏̐͒͘i̸̢͔͉̾̐͛͂͒͘c̷̣̜͍̝̔̇̐͜ͅū̶͙̯̭͋̾͒̾̾͠͝l̵̨̹̱͙͍̫̩͚̍̑̎̽̓͆̈̚t̴͙̹̯̻̳͛̋̊͐̾͘̕̕͝͝y̶̺͇̘͉̺̭̝̐͑͗͌͜͠ ̷̨̛͍̺̂̂̐́̈́̒̅͂h̵͔͝ȃ̶̹̭̺̟̍̒̌̽̂̄͘s̶̢̢͉̺̬͔͇̰̗̋̽͛͜ ̴̨͛̍͌͠î̶͎͓͖̳̗̓͌̑̾ṋ̵̢̛͍̳̔̓̌̐̆̄͝c̶̡͉̮͎̦̗̖̺͆̒͆r̴̺͍̹̯͎̀e̴͎̓͑̍͆͝ą̷̨̙̯̹͉̔̍ş̴̗̥̘͎̼̤̂̅͘̕ë̵́͗d̴̥͒̈͑̈́̄̚̕͠ ̷̗̦̜͇̭̫̩̈́̉ͅb̸̡̢̼̗͈̤̤̺̈̆͑̾͂ŷ̵̨͈͕̯̣̙͗̀͆̄͠͝ ̶̨̤̻̼̦̠̀̄͗1̸̳͎͉̩͖͙̙͍̒}]
Life has just gotten harder for him!