As Alex surveyed the now quiet battlefield, a wave of exhaustion washed over him.
Despite his newfound powers, his mental stamina was still limited. After a long, drawn-out battle, Alex felt weary and drained.
He looked over what remained of Kunze, and frowned.
"Did I really have that in me?"
A sense of discomfort began to spread through Alex's chest, a creeping dread that threatened to engulf him.
It wasn't guilt he felt, or remorse; he didn't regret his decision.
No, it was something different, a vague unease that gnawed at him from within.
Alex shook his head, and got back on track. It was time to collect his gains. He absorbed the few essences the monsters left behind. The boss dropped one and the crowd of monsters several more, bringing his total number to eight. The boss dropped a skill shard as well. Alex stowed it inside his backpack with the others. He went around the battlefield, carefully collecting everything he could. The most interesting gain was that Kunze actually left behind a skill shard too. It was a rare occurrence, but still a possibility. That made some awakened band together to ambush and kill others, simply in hopes of stealing their skill shards. The fact that the dropped skill shard would always be the highest ranked possessed by the victim would only add some oil to the fire.
The most exciting fact was that the skill shard left by Kunze was actually a 3-Star one.
It was a skill named [Subordination] which allowed one to control another person to an extent. While far from actual mind-control or enslavement to one's will this skill was still a pretty powerful one. The subordinate would gain a proportional power boost of one-tenth of the skill user's stats in exchange for submission. In case the subordinate tried to harm the skill user, the subordinate's body would be paralyzed for a short while and the skill user would be warned of ill intent.
This was a skill Alex never heard of before, but that was probably because of how powerful it could technically be. This skill had its drawbacks though, the biggest one being that the subordinate would have to be weaker than the skill user, and submission must not be resisted by the would-be subordinate successfully.
As Alex processed this new knowledge, an unsettling realization dawned on him.
How could that bastard be in possession of such a skill? Of course, a skill like this could be the reason he rose to his position in the first place, but 3-Star skills were really hard to come by in a place like City #11.
Alex could feel a headache coming. There were rumors that Kunze was in cahoots with Valerian Klaus, but if it turned out that Klaus was his backing, Alex would be in a world of trouble. He was already on Klaus's bad side and that guy had a pretty resounding reputation as a powerhouse of City #17. He had exclusive control of the only 3-Star dungeon in the immediate area, and there were rumors he could actually be a 4-Star already. The problem it entailed was that the higher one climbs in the ranks of awakened, the higher the disparity in power between the ranks. If 1 or 2-Star battles were largely decided by one's actions in battle, someone at 4-Star rank would completely and utterly annihilate any 2-Star awakened, no matter how clever or experienced he was. And Alex wasn't exactly a battle prodigy. He got a great talent and a multitude of skills, but in the experience department, Alex was leagues behind a powerhouse like Valerian Klaus.
Alex slapped his face lightly and rubbed his forehead. It was too late to turn back, so he simply proceeded with collecting the loot. There was no point in worrying about the big bad if you could use that time to prepare instead.
Sweeping the battlefield for loot was a tedious process, but nonetheless, a rewarding one. Kunze and his guys were wearing some kickass magical items, and Kunze's equipment particularly, was like hitting a jackpot. All because of one item - the Storage Bag.
A storage bag was an incredibly useful spatial artifact, the space inside of which could be used to store things in an incredibly convenient manner, since even the cheapest storage bag would possess a circular space of at least one meter in radius. Kunze's bag was on the slightly better end of the spectrum and had a radius of at least one and a half meters. Such artifacts were often used by higher leveled awakened and by rich good-for-nothings as a means to carry valuables and avoid thievery.
Not to mention the fact that Kunze's storage bag was practically overflowing with vitality crystals, and even contained some of more rare and exotic objects like fruit that would permanently boost a stat of yours once consumed, potions that would boost a stat temporarily, skill shards, and so on.
The only saving grace was that Kunze was too preoccupied fighting a boss to sift through his bag, if he had enough time to boost himself with these potions, Alex wasn't sure he would be able to deal with him as easily as he did.
Then, came Kunze's greatsword and armor. These were both 2-Star ranked, and the former, especially, had an excellent property that allowed the sword to be used as a conduit for energy-based attacks, thus increasing their effectiveness.
The armor was pretty good too, boosting one's endurance by a respectable twenty points, an addition that would make it less likely for him to sustain fatal injuries in battle. The only downside was that the armor was in really bad shape, but as long as it was not completely annihilated, it should recover in time simply by absorbing the ambient mana.
The rest of the Kunze's equipment was in scraps, unfortunately. Maybe it suffered too much damage in battle, but in any case, none of it was usable again. As for others, Adam left behind a pair of gauntlets that boosted one's strength and a ring with the same effect, and Lukas's shield actually had a property of damage mitigation, simply canceling 5% of incoming damage. It didn't sound like a lot, but such a reduction might mean a difference between life and death, so Alex didn't find it in him to complain.
The rest of the spoils included a bunch of vitality crystals and half a dozen magic crystals which were instantly absorbed by Alex. Using the Kunze's wealth of vitality crystals, Alex quickly brought his vitality to 141, almost reaching the 150 limit for 2-Star rank. The feeling of constant rise in strength was almost intoxicating. As the energy of vitality crystals fused into his body, Alex felt an exhilarating rush of power surging through him. It was a powerful sensation, almost overwhelming. Thankfully, Kunze was pretty generous for someone already on the other side.
Clearing up the storage bag, Alex found a bunch of... recreational medicine lying around. It could in theory explain Kunze's somewhat erratic behaviour. If he was high out of this world, then maybe Alex's success was more in part due to Kunze's personal inadequacy, which felt more grounded than any other idea in Alex's head.
The only thing left to check was the two skill shards that waited patiently in Alex's backpack.