Zach couldn't believe his eyes, he was reading this notification again and again to be sure he didn't misread. After reading it for the tenth time, Zach knew this was the real thing.
[Ding ! Peak rank 2 being killed + 15 000 EXP]
This notification was followed by a total of 8 level up notifications, in a single fight went from level 19 to level 27, he was overjoyed, he had gained a total of 54 System points, with the 14 he already had, he had 68 System points.
'Even though right now it seems to be a big number, in reality it isn't.' Zach knew that this number seemed big because he was still low level and didn't have a lot of skills. The cost of upgrading the level of his skills would only become greater and greater, to make his skills level 3 each needed 25 System points and he still didn't know with how many skills he will end.
He would distribute those stats points once they had collected the treasures, for now he had a good soul and dantian cultivation but was severely lacking in the physical cultivation. Unfortunately for Zach he wouldn't improve this one with system points and even if he did he would still be in the rank 1.
He was still hesitating but Zach thought about improving his hell fire and death gaze to level 3 and splitting the remaining points between his spirit and intelligence. Zach still didn't have any thought of putting System points in upgrading death from the shadows, it was too much of a gamble in his opinion.
Zach slowly stood up, his left arm was still badly broken and it would take some time or a few pills to heal it, as for his right shoulder it was still aching very much but that was it, it wasn't a too serious injury.
He looked towards Zoe, she was still unconscious, he approached her, he wanted to wake her up to see if she had something to heal them up or at least put them in a better shape.
He put his hand on her shoulder and started to shake her a bit, seeing that it didn't wake her up he decided to start slapping her cheek while calling her name. After the first few ones Zoe started to slowly open her eyes, she was growling "Stop ... I'm awake, let me alone."
When he heard this Zach chuckled and said "Zoe you are still in the ruins with your legs in a very bad state, do you still have those pills to help us healing ?" When she heard this, memory of what happened started to came back in her head, she started to blush from embarassment.
She then nodded and made appear from her spatial ring 3 pills like the one she had given to Zach, she gulped 2 as her state was way worse than Zach's one, and gave the last one to Zach.
Zach smiled and gulped the pill as well, instantly he felt the pain in his right shoulder diminish a lot and like last time a warm feeling invaded his left arm. This time however the feeling was warmer and he was confused about this.
"Are those ones more potent than the one you gave me ?" He asked with curiosity. "You are rigth those are a tier above the one I gave you."
'I'm not clear about those tier, I will ask her about it later.' He put those thought at the back of his mind stood up and extended his hand towards Zoe. She grabbed it and stood up, the pills were potent enough to let Zoe stand up, she still had to wait quite a lot of time if she wanted to run again but for now walking at the speed of a grandma was enough.
Zach supported Zoe and they slowly walked towards the fox's corpse, they would pick up a few bones, after all bones of peak rank 2 beasts weren't as common as bread so it would fetch for quite a few golds or it could be forged in a good weapon. They each took ten or so bones, Zach put them in his shadow and Zoe in her spatial ring.
Zach stumbled upon something that he wouldn't have suspected, it was the same as the transparent blue rock but this one was red, he decided to ask Zoe about it. "What is this ?" She looked at what was in Zach's hand and said with excitement.
"It's a mana core ! It can appear on rank 2 beasts but it's not a sure thing, you can find one on almost every rank 3 beasts, it's similar to our dantian. I don't know all the use it has but I know the most common one, if you have the same affinity as the core you can use it to improve your dantian or physical cultivation. This one is of the fire element, it's useless for me so keep it."
She explained with a bright smile, she didn't say that she didn't lack any of them, in fact she could have better ones, she also believed that it would be useful to him.
After collecting the bones they went towards the room where would be the teleportation circle and the rewards for the first clear. The enter of the room was in the wall which supported the plateau, it was a large double doors with beatiful red carvings representing the fox and the flames he had used.
Zach pushed open the door and before them was sight which was less grand than they expected. It was simply a big room with big black pillar on which were tied lantern, 20 meters in front of them they could see a platform on which should be the teleportation circle, on each side of the path towards the platform there was 2 pedestals.
They took a look at what were on those pedestals and the next instant their eyes widdened, it was the unique rewards. On the first one on the left there was a book, they approached it and they could read on the cover {Core of life method} It was a cultivation method suited for an element which had very few people, like the name said it was for the life cultivator.
They took a look at the content and they were astounded, with this method you could cultivate up to the higher realm, they didn't know until where in the higher real but the simple fact to have a method that could make you ascend was priceless.
She looked towards Zach with anticipation in her eyes, she was ready to make a whole speach to him but before she could he said in a plain tone "Take it I don't have any use for it, migh as well be useful for someone else rather than letting it rot in my sha ... cough ... spatial ring." Pure bliss could be seen on her face, she didn't expect Zach to let a so valuable method to her so easily.
After the fight they had partaken in, they would negociate over fighting each other for treasures. However considering what happened to Zach the last time he entered a room full of treasures, he was extremely vigilant since they entered this room, he was ready to summon his scythe the next instant.
On the opposite pedestal was a sort of dark grey liquid metal, it was constantly changing form, each of them didn't have the least idea of what it could be, the sole clue they had was an inscription on the pedestal.
{Here is Zaalem, its potential will only be unleashed with the right user.} 'It should be a weapon or something like that, it isn't particularly interesting if it can't be fully unleashed.' Zach thought and touch it to see if it was really a liquid.
However the moment he touched it, he felt something, he felt the hunger of Zaalem, it was a hunger for something he knew of and was especially useful for him : souls. 'Interesting if it have a connection with souls I might be able to unleash its full potential, though I don't know what worth it has fully unleashed.'
"I will take this one if you don't have any objection." Zach stated calmly, Zoe had the same first thought as Zach so she nodded her head. Zach took it and put it in his shadow, he will delve in its secrets later. They had splitted the first treasures, they walked towards the other two pedestals which were 5 meters farther than the one they had checked.
On one was a vermilion cube, with carvings of the sun on each face, one more time on the pedestal there was a small inscription to give them a clue of what use it could have, on this one was {Once in the light, the mana will be attracted}.
Zoe gasped, her mouth was open 'It's the perfect artifact to help my country against Kartelion, with this training will be easier.' She badly wanted it but she knew she had to convince Zach to have it, she looked at him, he was pensive. 'It could be useful, with this cube my physical cultivation could be improved more easily.'
However when he saw Zoe's face and how much she wanted this one he decided to let it to her 'Anyway it's not a must have so giving it to her isn't a problem and it may be more benificial, building a good relationship with her is definitely a good idea.'
Zach chuckled and said with a bright smile "I see how much you want it, so take it." Zoe didn't believed it, he had already gave up a method that could help ascend and now he was giving up an artifact that would increase the ambient mana density which would greatly help when cultivating.
Never she would think that he didn't need an environment with much more mana to increase his cultivation.
They reached the last pedestal and when Zach read the inscription, this time it was his turn to be dumfounded, he was trembling in excitation, there was nothing that could be better than what he had stumbled upon.