As he flew above the forest his level reader was activated and multiple creatures' names and levels appeared in his vision. Reading through the ones he passed over they were mainly level threes and level fours and it took him a few hours to even encounter a single level 5 monster.
Even after finding level five it wasn't hard to kill and didn't let him test his full power. He was slightly frustrated but continued to fly further and further into the forest, eventually, there was a group of names that were tightly bunched together and running in a line.
'They're running? Wait, they're running my direction?'
He flew to the left a bit and after seeing their names not move towards his direction it was obvious that they were either running after something or running from something. The first one he could immediately rule out as he couldn't see a single name appear in the forest for miles in front of their path so he glanced behind them.
'There's nothing?'
He was confused at why there wouldn't be anything behind them as it seemed like the group was running from something. He slowly lowered himself to the ground as the group approached him readying one of his new skills. A purple light escaped through the cracks of his mouth and his neck slowly arched itself.
As soon as he saw the first creatures appear in his vision he immediately flexed his neck muscles and a deep violet wave of gas escaped his mouth. Although the group was over a hundred meters away the gas had reached them almost instantly without much of it dissipating.
The first creature to get covered by this violet-colored gas was a leopard. It was wary at first but after noticing that nothing was wrong with itself it marched deeper into the fog, as it marched its action got slower and more rigid before it fell to the ground with a thud.
The other creatures realized something was wrong with the fog. it seemed that after reaching level 5 their intelligence received a massive boost, but this intelligence did nothing as they realized too late. More and more creatures fell to the ground and as this occurred there was a single creature that stood within the fog seemingly unaffected.
'It didn't die?'
Although he said this, he truly didn't know how strong his current abilities were and didn't know how effective they would be for killing anything with the same level as him. However, he was very reassured that this one attack was able to take out a group of level fives in under half a minute.
As he was thinking about his abilities the creature in front of him began to move. He couldn't see its form very well before but he could know that it had gotten closer. It was an ant, a very large one. It stood at a staggering 6 meters tall and looked at him with its antennae rapidly moving.
'I didn't see anything that was an ant when I looked from above though?'
He tried reading its level but a sharp pain came from his mind and as the name formed in his vision a cracking sound was heard as it dissipated into the fog. This startled him as he hadn't run into any problems before this.
[Host is unable to read its level as the reader you have currently is too low leveled.]
Sighing he asked. 'Well, how much is a higher level one?'
[Each level after 5 requires one hundred points.]
He grimaced. 'Fine I'll buy the level 6 one, I should have enough right?'
[Host has enough points.]
The name appeared once more.
[Fire Ant Scout]
It was a normal Fire Ant judging by its looks and it had reached level 6 but what worried him is that it had scout after its name. This meant there was a hierarchy involved with its evolution that made it specialized for scouting purposes, even more alarming than that was the fact this level 6 creature was only a scout. If this was a scout then would the real damage dealers look like?
The ant slowly moved its head as its feelers dance in the air before it simply turned around and left. It had ignored him entirely and just left after it moved its head around a bit. Thinking about how those level fives were running he realized they must have stumbled upon the nest.
'Idiots, never attack an ants nest without an army of your own.'
Being a former centipede he had a few dealings with ants before the evolution but it ended miserably each time. He shuddered thinking about those experiences and looked at the ant that left. It left to go to the west so its nest would be in that direction.
'So don't go that way for a while.'
He quickly flew into the sky as he checked his quest progress and his notifications however he almost crashed into the ground when he saw them.
[You have gained EXP! This will be given to the system as a repayment!] x6
'Thought...'
[Yes Host.]
'How many level fives worth of experience do I need to repay my debt?'
[Calculating... Calculations done. Although the experience given to Host was at most worth two level Five creatures the exhaustion caused by the action requires a large pool of experience.]
He winced and was somewhat scared for the answer. 'And, how many would that take?'
[It will take Host 17 level five creatures to repay Host's debt. This can be simplified to two level 6's as well.]
He was startled by the number of level fives but was shocked by the number of sixes. 'Only two?'
[The gap between the levels after five increase exponentially and require ten times as much experience as it did to go from level 1 to 5.]
He did think that as the levels went on there would be a very large stat difference but he didn't realize the experience pool to level would also increase in relation to that. But he truly wondered if the levels of power are already so extreme at his level wouldn't a level 10 be able to stomp the earth flat?
'Is there a max level?'
[There is...not a max level..]
'What was with the pause.'
[...]
'Nevermind then.'
He pushed the rest of the questions he had to the back of his mind before he continued flying further south and as he marched further a small amount of pressure was placed on him making it harder to fly. As he flew further south the pressure got worse and worse until he had to land and as soon as he did the pressure disappeared.
'So there's a rule here to not fly?'
That pressure was indeed terrifying, he couldn't even tell which direction it was coming from. He marched forward and as he did an obelisk came into sight, this obelisk was pitch black and pierced into the clouds above but it also seemed unnoticeable as if it had merged with its surroundings.
Getting closer he soon bumped into a barrier that was a few miles from the obelisk. He pushed on it with as much strength his six legs could give him but it didn't help him breakthrough.
'Let's see if I can't break through.'
He arched his neck as a purple light filled his mouth and just as he was about to release his breath a message appeared in his mind. However, it was in a language he didn't know.
'Thought, can you translate this for me?'
[Translation can be done. It says, 'Those who wish to enter must reach the peak.']
'That is....cryptic.'
He pondered on those words and found them very simple if anyone wants to get into the barrier they've got to be the strongest. He smiled mentally before he left the place making sure to remember the general outline of the terrain.
Although he left with a 'smile' he was very wounded inside. It means that first had to reach a level to where he could stand at the very top but just how long would that make if Thought kept stealing his experience?
When he could finally fly again he noticed the direction of the pulling force had changed slightly, he was getting much closer. He silently chuckled as he flapped his wings and sped off in the direction he felt that pulling sensation.