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Noah began to absorb all the blood he had bathed with, cleaning his tattered clothes, he would have to change them whenever he gets back to his room… the same could be said for Iris, who had most of her shirt torn apart alongside her skirt, revealing a bit of her body.
Noah glanced at her eyes, however, as he asked her how she felt.
"It is done. Iris, how do you feel?" asked Noah.
"Ah… (Is Noah-sama worrying for me?!) I am… fine," said Iris.
"Good, let's pick these Cores, and let's go then," said Noah.
"The Cores! …Will you keep the ones that the Goblin Champion dropped, Noah-sama?" asked Iris, quickly standing up as she covered the area of her breasts that was being revealed shyly.
"Well, we both used all our strength to defeat it. Although I gave the final blow, you also helped on its defeat quite a lot. I would like you to take a share, if possible. After all, if you grow stronger it is also better for me so I can rely on your strength," said Noah with a cold and expressionless tone, although Iris saw him as someone very gentle…
"I-I see! Noah-sama, you're so benevolent…" said Iris.
"Benevolent? What are you talking about? Let me tell you that you are my servant, it is normal for me to want you to grow strong. I am not a gentle person, and all I do is within my personal interests, make sure to bear that in mind," said Noah coldly, although Iris kept smiling dumbly.
"Alright~," said Iris, thinking of Noah as some kind of tsundere, although he really meant it.
Noah sighed as he could not get to convince Iris that he was not really someone gentle, and decided to simply go grab the Cores.
The Goblin Champion had dropped six Vitality Cores, Mind Cores, and Force Cores, alongside two Ability Cores…
The Ability Cores seemed to be related to the Goblin Champion's Skills, and it was the first Ability Cores that Noah had finally found in the whole Dungeon exploration.
These Ability Cores were named 'Goblin Champion Ability Cores' and would give a random Skill that the Goblin Champion possessed.
Because in this world, the acquisition of Skills through Monster Ability Cores was rather random, it was very hard to specialize at first, but after more investigation about the monsters and their specialties was made, classifications of Monster Ability Cores were finally born.
The Goblin Champion could be classified as a hybrid-type monster, who was both good at physical combat and magic, meaning that his Monster Ability Core could randomly give either magic or a physical Skill.
Usually, the Class of a person was decided when their first Ability awakened, whatever it was about would decide the person's future, who would then seek Monster Ability Cores of certain monsters that specialized in what their Class was about.
Noah and Iris were both physical fighters with extreme physical strength and fast speed and could be considered between the 'Berserker' Class, but Noah is also becoming proficient in long-ranged Blood attacks, so he could even be considered an 'Archer' as well.
"I said that I would share, but now I feel rather regretful, I would like to have both of these… But I must keep my word," thought Noah, as his soul and personality were fused with the Blood Progenitor, he was very prideful and decided to keep his word with his subordinate, even if he now regretted it a bit.
"Iris, here, have half of the drops," said Noah, handling Iris three of each Stat Core, and one Ability Core.
"E-Eh?! This much, Noah-sama, are you sure?!" asked Iris, even she was surprised over Noah's generosity, which wasn't truly generosity but his pride.
"Take it already before I change my mind. I will not say this twice," said Noah.
"Eep! Okay, okay!" said Iris, grabbing the cores and saving them in her backpack, which was still miraculously intact for the most part, aside from the blood and dirt stains.
Noah had gathered 23 Cores in this dungeon exploration, counting on the ones dropped by the Goblin Champion, it was a rather bountiful harvest despite this being his very first exploration, and he was already looking forward to exploring the dungeon a few more times tomorrow with Iris.
If he were able to provoke stronger monsters to appear, it meant that he would be capable of getting more Cores than originally intended, which was way better for him.
Noah and Iris then walked out of the Dungeon without many difficulties aside from a few small Goblins, which Noah sliced off into pieces without much effort, although only one of them dropped a Core, which Noah took for himself, making it 24 Cores.
As the two finally left the rift, they noticed that it was already around 3 am, and in a few more hours classes would begin again, although they did not felt sleepy at all and the exhaustion they felt was already dissipating.
"Now, Iris, we will march our ways to our rooms, tomorrow let us try to lay low and do as usual… If we fight against those that bully us out of nowhere, it might awaken suspiciousness. I am not asking you to not fight back, but if you do, do it in a place where there are not many people… And even then, they usually thy have higher stats than us. Hm, well, it would be better to avoid them altogether, try to be more evasive. We'll meet at 10 pm again in here, alright?" asked Noah.
"V-Very well!" said Iris.
"Make sure to use all the Cores, I want you to be stronger," said Noah, walking away, as Iris quickly do so.
"What a concerned Master," said the Blood Progenitor, teasing Noah.
"Would you shut up? My mind has most likely become like this because of you of all things," said Noah.
"Heh, it's not like you had anything before that, right? You were a pathetic and suicidal brat, no one ever liked you nor cared about you. I gave you the power and even a BETTER personality, you should be thankful!" laughed the Blood Progenitor.
"I am thankful for your power, but not of you pestering my mind," said Noah.
"Heh, this is the least I can do, I can't even control your body or something! I am literally caged inside of your soul, you know?! Let me torture your mind a bit at the very least!" said the Blood Progenitor.
"Sigh…"
Noah sighed, walking within the shadows of the night back to his room, where he sat down on the bed and began to use the Cores immediately.
He had gathered 8 Vitality Cores, 7 Mind Cores, and 9 Force Cores, each one gave him a single digit of a corresponding stat because they were F-Rank, but if he were to use one of higher ranking, he would get way more stats.
However, just by seeing how he almost died against the Goblin Champion, it was still rather early to even step into E-Rank Dungeons yet, at least Noah wanted to get into the E-Rank stat requirements before jumping into it.
Flash!
The spherical jewels turned into light, infusing Noah's body and strengthening it.
Vitality was something akin to Health Points, Stamina, and Physical Defense, Mind was something akin to Mana, Magic, and Magic Defense, and Force was something akin to Strength, Agility, and Dexterity.
By using Cores from all of these, Noah felt not only his magic becoming stronger alongside his Mana pool getting a bit bigger, but he also felt like his bones, cartilage, skin, and muscles strengthened, and that his vision and sharpness had also been increased.
Then, Noah glanced at the Goblin Champion Ability Core.
"Time to use this thing…" said Noah, absorbing the Ability Core as, unlike the one he has fused into his chest, this one turned into light and merged with him differently.
Flash!
Then, Noah sensed that he had gained a new Skill.
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Author's Note: If you're enjoying this Novel make sure to check some of my other works, such as Epic of Summoner: Supreme Summoner System in the Apocalypse!
It's a Novel about an Interdimensional Apocalypse where the main character is thrown into it! Using his amazing Summoning System, he crawls his way to the top and survives the turbulent and chaotic era!
I am sure that you won't be disappointed at all if you like Action and LitRPG elements! Check it out if you can!