Candice felt a lot of mixed feelings as she stood at the open door at the back of the apartment building giving her a front roll view to the final moments of the fight between Huey and Jace fought. She had seen the Jace in the giant metal suit move at speeds that were hard to follow and then she had seen Huey respond in kind with equally fast movements before he suddenly disappeared into his shadow.
Of course she had seen what Huey was capable of and she had been confident that everything would be fine and that against someone like Jace who was a few levels above her he would hold his own.
But that illusion was shattered by what she was witnessing.
Was a fight between Evolvers supposed to be this monstrous especially when their levels were essentially probably just above level 10?
It was only after witnessing Jace's final attack that she realized how lucky she had been to have escaped when she did. Hell it was even miraculous that she managed to inflict the wound on his eye while she was at it but her heart couldn't help but drop when the thought that if an all out fight had broken out then she stood next to no chance.
She bit her lower lip and hugged the two skill scrolls tightly to her chest
She felt frustrated.
Was she really that weak?
Her thoughts drifted back to what had transpired with Damien a while ago. How she had been easily incapacitated and man handled by that disgusting man and a fire ignited within her.
'I'm no longer a level 5…I've gotten stronger and can still continue to do so' she affirmed herself. Determination burning in her eyes as she looked at the near naked figure of Huey as he squatted down beside to pick up what she presumed was a skill scroll dropped by Jace's corpse.
She too had reached the conclusion that humans had a high chance of dropping the skills that they had learnt threw the system if by chance they had been defeated.
…
[You have acquired the soul essence of First Star Order Level 12 Jace Norman. You have received Health +3, Mana +2 and Magic +4]
[You have levelled up to Level 15. You get 2 stat points to distribute freely]
I focused on the green letters flashing in my retina. With this I could confirm Jace's death, not that it would have made any difference in the first place. There was no one who could survive being cut down the middle.
Seeing the level up notification on top of that I couldn't help but feel a bit more satisfied. The last time I levelled up had been last week after killing the Second Star Order Eagle back on campus I had levelled up to level 14. Since then I haven't gone up in level, until now.
It became very clear that as a person's level rose higher and higher, the quantity as well as the quality of Soul essence a person need to absorb to reach the next level grew exponentially.
And in this case, the soul essence I had accumulated from the low level beasts I had killed as well as Damien, the two evolvers and Jace was enough to push me up one single level.
Though it might seem like a small growth I couldn't complain after all I hadn't levelled up in a week!
I threw these thoughts to the back of my head as I focused on the changes my body was going through. I felt my mana replenish in full. Not just that my stamina also rose, to top it off the changes in my health could clearly be felt as my broken bones and torn muscles began to repair themselves and regenerate at a rate that wouldn't have been possible before the apocalypse. I could feel that if my recovery continued at this rate then three days at most and I would be fully healed.
It was astonishing.
For every rise in level the body underwent something akin to a reset. Stats that could be depleted would be restored in full. These stats included Health, Mana, Magic and Stamina. And that feeling was refreshing in a way.
With my current perception I had noticed Candice's presence a while ago but right now my focus was on the skill scroll in my left hand as the system brought up its information.
[Metal Control First Star Order Active skill level 5-Metal as long as it is below rank 2 and within a range of 10 meters bows at your every whim. Consumes 10 mana points on activation and depending on the use of the element will deplete mana points accordingly]
'Strong!' I thought. Although the description was a little bit vague, I could tell that this was a strong skill with unlimited potential comparable to
They could essentially create something akin to a personal domain that would give them a complete advantage in a fight.
I had decided.
'You will be my third reliable skill'
With that the scroll vanished and a flood of information seemed to flow through my head like a torrent of rain and for a few seconds I was in a daze.
[You have learned First Star Order Active Skill Level 5 Metal Control]
Snapping out of my daze I couldn't help my look back to the way that Jace had used the skill. A few seconds ago I may have appeared impressive but now? It just seemed a bit mediocre though I have to admit it was very creative as well. Sure having a giant metal suit was nice and all but wasn't that just a waste of mana?
Shaking my head I looked off at Candice standing at the emergency exit of the apartment. She was holding onto the two skill scrolls as she looked at me and within her eyes I saw a deep fire ignite.
It seems the fight instilled a competitive spirit in her.
She wanted to get stronger. I knew it.
I took a look at the immediate surroundings and couldn't help but feel my heart tremble. The entire 'backyard' of the apartment building was filled with craters, broken walls and even part of the apartment seemed to have cracked walls as some windows had shattered completely.
But then again given the magnitude of the fight, it would have been more than weird if there wasn't this level of destruction.
I let out an exhausted breath and walked out of the crater.
The level up had restored all my mana, shadow and stamina but the mental fatigue was something that only a good night sleep could replenish but now wasn't the time for that yet.
Multiple people who were the survivors living under Jace rule were in this building. And for obvious reasons they had heard the commotion. There was just no hiding. I lifted my eyes high up. From the windows in the higher floors of the apartment. People and some families of the survivors were looking at me with different expressions.
Relief, reverence, fear and some admiration. It was the sort of feeling that I didn't know I would get unless I had been a celebrity in the past. It stirred something within me.
Something that was both satisfying and at the same time made me feel disgusted with myself. It made me fill proud, as though I was a god amongst men and for a moment I basked in the feeling. But then the face of a blue eyed blue hair boy flashed in my mind and I immediately snapped out of it.
Wasn't that how those arrogant, rich and privileged felt when they thought they could have anything in the palm of their hands with a simple wave of a ward of cash? I felt disgusted with myself. This wasn't me.
I would never end up like those arrogant pricks.