After the display of power that Konnor had put on that day, Emery and Co had done nothing but grind. Grind and grind and grind levels. At a certain point, he had gotten a sort of mechanical accuracy to it.
Deadly. Efficient.
[Level: Seven…Exp:0/7000]
'Finally at Level Seven, now I won't need to worry about looking weak for the meeting with Hemp later today.' Well, that was just half of the things on his mind.
He was more concerned with where they would find the next boost that would allow them to progress to the next level. In their spree, the three had killed virtually every Class Ten monster that ventured into the area. One could only wonder whether they were the beasts or not.
After each new level, the exp requirements gradually got far more ridiculous. From 900 to 1800, to 2900 to 4800, then finally to the 7000 he saw here today. Frankly, he just wasn't sure how the exp requirements worked or were capped.
It got on his nerves to some extent.
Where exactly was he supposed to get 7000 exp from? Were there even any beasts that gave that much exp in one go? Would he have to kill thousands of Class Tens before achieving the requirement?
But on the bright side, all three of them had improved a considerable amount.
"Status!"
[Ding!]
[Name: Emery Fenon]
[Job: Chef]
[Level: Seven…Exp:0/7000]
[EP: 200]
[Attributes:
STR- Class Ten
AGI- Class Ten > Class Nine
INT- Class Ten > Class Nine
DEF- Class Ten
DEX- Class Ten]
[Skills: Basic Knife Skills, Intermediate Cooking, Beginner's Instincts, Stealthy Blade, Razor Knife (Lvl 1), Darkness Razor Knife, Shield Bash, Heavy Strikes, Basic Improvised Martial Arts, Razor Kick]
[Summons: Two–Elyn, Citro (Expand)]
[Status: Normal]
The most pleasant discovery of all of them was the fact that Emery was bordering on a Class Nine Awakened. He didn't feel any different, but his actions so far had spelt the difference for him.
They'd killed a few Class Nines in the past two days, just enough that they wouldn't be biting off more than they could chew.
He also learned several new skills. Some of which he could unfortunately not use in his current state.
Shield Bash and Heavy Strikes were perfect examples. They were pretty much situational skills he'd thought of while he was facing off against certain opponents.
On the other hand, though, Elyn's growth was much, much larger. It was like looking at heaven and Earth since the last time he'd checked her status, which was basically the only other time he'd ever checked it.
[Ding!]
[Name: Elyn]
[Job: N/A]
[Race: ??? (Not enough information)]
[Level: Seven…Exp:0/7000]
[Attributes:
STR- Class Nine > Class Eight
AGI- Class Ten > Class Nine
INT- Class Ten > Class Nine
DEF- Class Ten
DEX- Class Nine]
[Skills: Brute Strength, Punch, Kick, Rush, Moonlight Jolt, Force Fist, Moonlight Strengthen, Starlight Shatter, Moonlight Barrage, Swift Strike, Surge]
[Status: Normal]
Well, to put it simply, Elyn was just a Class Nine at this point. Yes that was right, a Class Nine. It had happened today just when they advanced to Level Seven. She had far fewer skills than Emery did, but could easily wipe the floor with him.
There was one final observation he made after observing both Elyn and several other Class Nines that they had come across. It was as such: A person advanced to Class Nine by having at least three of their stats reach Class Nine or higher.
Put into perspective, Emery was a single stat away from achieving that.
It might not sound like much, but not to forget that a few days ago, he wasn't even awakened. He'd almost died from two beast attacks, one of which he could deal with now without even raising a finger.
'All I had to do was send Citro to deal with it. Speaking of Citro…'
[Ding!]
[Name: Jade Eye Mongoose ]
[Race: Beast]
[Threat rank: Class Nine Threat]
[Level Nine…Exp: 0/7600]
[Attributes:
STR- Class Nine
AGI- Class Ten
INT- Class Nine
DEF- Class Ten > Class Nine
DEX- Class Ten]
[Skills: Dig, Basic Poison Tolerance, Fierce Strike, Stalk, Rush, Fierce Bite, Basic Analysis Skills, Piercing Fang Attack]
[Remark: A strange class 10 beast with a small stature but mighty abilities. It is an anomaly amongst anomalies]
Citro was far less spectacular in terms of the increase, but it was still nothing to scoff at. A single tap from his fingertips would be able to decimate Class Ten Beasts and weaker Class Nines with ease.
"Are you guys ready to head over there now?" he asked, a little nervous.
Elyn nodded, and her little ponytail bobbed frequently.
"It will be fine," she laughed. "Just don't worry about it too much. Hemp will love you!"
That only served to stoke the anxiety within him.
"I don't want him to love me!"
"Well, too bad. You're going to be loved, anyway!"
"Eep, eep eep."
"I heard what you said, you bastard mongoose. I'll pluck those eyes and sell them!"
"Eeeeeep!"
"Who are you calling a bitch!?"
"Eep!"
"URGHHH!"
Between Elyn's assurance and giggles or Citro's comments, Emery wasn't sure what had relieved him the most. It was probably all of them.
They walked into the large building and moved up one floor where Chris was waiting for them. Two unfamiliar people whom he didn't recognize accompanied the man; one a man and the other a woman.
Emery automatically glazed over them and looked ahead to see where they would be going.
"Come on," Chris said and moved forward, heading up the stairs rapidly. The building was about a dozen floors, but it felt far less as they ascended so fast.
Barely two minutes later, they stood on the uppermost floor in front of a large door.
"You ready?" Chris asked.
While he wasn't sure how to answer just yet, the anxiousness that had been building up inside him disappeared almost immediately. Everything and anything important said to him all came rushing back in a frenzy.
Finally, the chef took a deep breath and recalled the one thing he would never forget.
'A distracted chef is a bad one. Calmness is key,'
So with that thought in mind, he looked back up at the door and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm ready."