With a level increase, Dean McKenzie gained 0.5 spirit and 5 mana points.
Also, Dean McKenzie's depleted mana was fully recovered to 26 points.
Beyond that, there weren't any other benefits.
The gains were much smaller than Dean McKenzie had anticipated.
Fortunately, from the beginning, Dean McKenzie had no intention of relying solely on leveling up to conquer his enemies.
In any case, his new strategy centering around Doggy Two was already set in motion.
What Dean McKenzie needed to do next was to refine this strategy.
Then, using this strategy, he would slowly wipe out the Corpse Swarm.
[You have successfully used Talent [Extraction] on the corpse, and extracted 0.2 Agility!]
[You consumed 200 Copper Coins and granted 0.2 Agility to your summon, Doggy Two!]
...
After leveling up, Doggy Two's agility has further increased to 1.8.
Dean McKenzie is back in action.
He is fully concentrating on controlling Doggy Two to lure and kill the monsters!
As Doggy Two's agility increased, combined with Dean McKenzie's improved command skills.
Dean McKenzie's strategy with Doggy Two at the core is maturing progressively.
On average, every two to three minutes, Dean McKenzie was able to command Doggy Two to kill a corpse individually.
However, after leveling up, the experience points Dean McKenzie received from killing corpses decreased.
The original 5 points per corpse was now only 4 points per corpse.
In other words, Dean McKenzie needed to kill 38 corpses in order to level up.
Of course, based on Dean McKenzie's current monster hunting speed, it would only take about one to two hours to kill 38 corpses.
Under Dean McKenzie's meticulous command.
The corpses kept falling under Doggy Two's cudgel, and his experience points continued to rise.
In less than an hour, they had dealt with almost 20 corpses.
The size of the Corpse Swarm visibly decreased, and Dean McKenzie's experience points skyrocketed.
The only thing that slightly soured Dean McKenzie's mood was.
It seemed that his drop rate had decreased along with his level increase.
Out of nearly 20 corpses, they only managed to loot three shiny spots.
Two of the light spots were worth 100 Copper Coins.
The remaining light spot was a small [Life Potion].
...
Potion: Life Potion (Minor)
Use level: Level 1
Effect: After use, it can heal injuries below 5 physique points, and recover some physical strength.
...
Even though it wasn't what Dean McKenzie wanted the most, it was still something he needed at the moment.
After all, he was currently injured.
However, having obtained the healing potion, Dean McKenzie didn't use it right away.
He felt that this item shouldn't be carelessly used as it could serve as a lifesaving recourse.
Hence, Dean McKenzie carefully stored the potion away, and continued to hunt monsters with Doggy Two.
However, their good fortunes didn't last long.
Shortly after, Dean McKenzie encountered a tricky obstacle.
The corpses within fifty meters of the small broken house had been completely cleared by him.
The remaining corpses were all concentrated within the fifty-meter range of the small broken house.
In other words, from now on, Dean McKenzie no longer had the condition of luring the creatures one by one.
As soon as he got within the 50-meter radius, it becomes a relentless battle.
"Has it come to this already?"
Dean McKenzie had anticipated this situation, and had long planned the strategy for it.
Without wasting any more time, he started his preparations.
Calling Doggy Two back, Dean McKenzie directed Doggy Two to dig pits on the Rotting Corpse Plain with its bone claws.
These pits weren't big, with diameters of around twenty to thirty centimeters and depths of around one meter.
With Doggy Two's 1.4 attack and 1.8 agility, coupled with the relatively soft soil of the Rotting Corpse Plain, Doggy Two managed to prepare hundreds of pits in three spots in about two hours.
After Doggy Two had set up the traps, Dean McKenzie, drawing a deep breath, patted Doggy Two's head!
"Go ahead, whether we can pull this off depends on this round!
If we succeed this time, I'll treat you to the finest food and drinks in the future!"
Dean McKenzie's promises didn't affect Doggy Two at all, after all, it couldn't understand him.
Then, under Dean's command, Little Skeleton moved within 50 meters of the small broken house.
As soon as Doggy Two entered that range, an instant eruption, the corpses within the range charged towards Doggy Two like a swarm of bees.
Neither Doggy Two nor Dean McKenzie were flustered by this situation.
After all, it was Doggy Two, not Dean, that was being chased, and Doggy Two was silly, so they were not panicking.
Dean calmly directed Doggy Two to retract, backing towards the area where the traps were set.
He stood their waiting for the roaring Corpse Swarm.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
The equally silly corpses did not avoid any traps, even if there was a clear pit in front of them.
In one round, more than a dozen corpses fell from the pits.
"Run!"
Dean decisively ordered, directing Doggy Two to start running. An advantage of 1.8 Agility exploded, leading the Corpse Swarm in a circle.
The route they took was carefully planned by Dean.
Quickly enough, Doggy Two led them all to the pits with the traps.
Under Dean's direction, Doggy Two passed the trap, while the Corpse Swarm behind him went through it again.
This time not many corpses fell into the pit, but the original corpses that fell into it were unfortunate, getting stepped on straight away.
A few were trampled to death on the spot.
[You have killed 6 'Corpses'. Earned 24 Experience Points!]
Dean's experience points went up to [104/150].
As for the Corpse Swarm, aside from those killed, there were still about 30 or 40 corpses injured.
Bring it on!
Under Dean's command, Doggy Two led them towards another pile of traps.
The story repeated itself.
[You have successfully killed 7 'Corpses'. Earned 28 Experience Points!]
[You have successfully killed 4 'Corpses'. Earned 16 Experience Points!]
After three waves of traps, Dean's experience points had reached [148/150].
Right on the edge of leveling up.
After three traps, the Corpse Swarm had been falling behind in numbers, and there were only a handful of corpses following Doggy Two.
Among them was one that was much larger than the regular corpses.
The real challenging fight was about to begin.
Dean gritted his teeth and gave the command!
"Pull them over this way!"
Under Dean's order, Doggy Two pulled the corpses over to him, while Dean was prepared to take a shot with the rock in his hand.
Dean had already thrown rocks several times today, but this was the most nerve-wracking one.
"I must not hit the big one, I must not hit the big one!"
Dean didn't have too much confidence in his abilities. He was not sure how many times he had missed today, and if he hit the big one, his life would be at stake.
But he had to throw.
"Then I can only aim at that big guy!"
Dean said as he gritted his teeth and threw the rock at the big guy.
"Bang!" It hit one of the normal corpses next to it and attracted it over.
Dean was overjoyed.
"With the power of death, create the Tooth of Destruction!"
He chanted and a precise bone tooth was shot out, hitting the eye of a corpse that was about five meters in front of him.
[You have successfully killed 1 'Corpse'. Earned 4 Experience Points!]
[Your level has increased to 3. Your 'Spirit' has increased by 0.5, your 'Mana' limit is now 31 points]
[You've leveled up to level 3, triggering the Necromancer Apprentice's skill. You have unlocked the 'Summon Skeleton' skill!]
[Your 'Summon Skeleton' skill has increased to Level 2!]
…
The system prompt was constantly refreshing, and the running Doggy Two suddenly shone brightly
…
Thanks to [Yellow Tiger Left] for the reward of 1800 starting coins!