As streams of bright red aura emerged, the surroundings were engulfed in a nauseating scent of blood.
In an instant, the skinny old man's figure became much more robust, his skin gradually bulging and becoming smooth and moist. Eventually, he transformed into a bizarre youth with a blood-red lotus pattern on his forehead.
He opened his attribute panel, which originally displayed [Level 20, No Class], but now it had directly changed to—
[Level 50 Blood God Priest].
At the same time, the previously empty skill column was now filled with various abilities.
The talent column also changed to [Blood Conversion (Class A)].
This was clearly a very powerful player!
Theoretically, he shouldn't have been able to enter the instance at all!
The youth, with a very clear goal in mind, headed towards the northwest direction of the instance.
Along the way, some monsters that emerged from holes in the ground were instantly turned into mist of blood by some strange power before they could even touch the youth, turning into streams of blood light that flew into the youth's sleeve.
...
Meanwhile, Sterl had a relaxed expression. Not long ago, he received a system prompt—
[Player Miste is using the item Divination Crystal Ball to detect your situation. Do you allow the detection? Yes/No]
Sterl naturally allowed it.
After all, the shocking feat of single-handedly killing a level 20 elite had not been discovered, which was all that mattered.
And Sterl, disguising himself with the [Aspect of the Void], simply killing some level 20 ordinary monsters, would only add to his genius reputation!
He indeed hadn't expected that it was the death perspective of others that revealed his previous pursuit by the wolf warriors.
At this moment, Sterl was running through the wilderness, causing quite a commotion.
Soon, a beast that had been moving very quickly from behind charged over.
[Stellar Remnant (Ape Form)]
[Category: Ordinary Level Monster]
[Level: 20]
[Constitution: ???]
[Strength: 30]
[Agility: 20]
[Spirit: ???]
[???]
[Meteor Drop: Leaps high into the air to launch a falling attack.]
After closing the distance with Sterl, this ape-like monster jumped into the air, surrounded by azure stellar light, and charged downwards.
Sterl calmly activated Divine Descent and grabbed his shadowy scimitar. With the enhancement of over seventy points in strength and agility, a mere level 20 monster, even using a skill, couldn't compete with him.
Swoosh!
The blade flashed, and the ape-like monster was cut in two. Then it turned into two balls of azure light that ascended into the sky.
[You have killed Stellar Remnant (Ape Form) and gained 700 experience points.]
"It seems, this kind of monster is relatively strong?" Sterl said with ease. The reason he said this was that monsters above level 20 not only give experience based on their level but also their strength.
The weakest level 20 monster might only give four to five hundred experience points, while stronger monsters of the same level give more experience.
However, Sterl's attributes were too high, making every monster, regardless of strength, fall to his blade in a single strike.
As he pondered, faint footsteps arose from behind.
Two monsters, one tiger-shaped and the other leopard-shaped, both bearing the name [Stellar Remnant], approached him from the left and the right in a pincer move.
"More experience points coming?" Sterl greeted them with a welcoming expression, having confirmed he had ventured into an area dense with monsters.
He then used up today's quota for evolution.
[Basic Experience Potion] → [Advanced Experience Potion].
After that, Sterl downed the potion in one gulp and, wielding his shadowy scimitar, charged into battle!
As he drew his sword, he briefly considered for a second whether to refuse the Divination Crystal Ball's detection and switch to grinding with Firestorm instead. However, considering that finding monsters itself took some time, switching to Firestorm might not be very profitable, so Sterl chose to stick with his blade.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
After two slashes, the two wild beasts were severely injured.
Although Sterl didn't have any skills specific to swordsmanship, he had learned the basics in a general education course and handled the weapon competently in combat.
In less than 10 rounds, the two monsters were turned into experience points.
Then, Sterl went in search of his next target...
His experience bar was rapidly leaping forward.
One hour later, he had gathered enough experience points to reach level 11.
Three hours later, he was at level 12.
Five hours later...
Eight hours later...
Twelve hours later...
Inside the instance, the dazzling starry night seemed endless.
Sterl lightly lifted his hand, leaped high, and then from above, he slashed down, splitting a humanoid monster in two from head to toe.
Then, two system prompts followed—
[You have killed a Stellar Remnant (Humanoid Form), gaining 700 experience points.]
[You have successfully gathered a stream of Blood Essence.]
Sterl initially ignored the game system's announcements, moving forward to collect his loot, "Another piece of stardust? Not even a copper coin dropped, how stingy."
However, after tallying his gains since entering the instance, his mood brightened.
In terms of experience points, he had amassed enough for level 17, just waiting to be refined through meditation.
But the collection of Blood Essence wasn't much, only fifteen streams. The reason being that Blood Points were only calculated based on the monster's base experience... That is to say, a level 20 monster, whether ordinary, elite, or even a boss, only yielded two hundred Blood Points, naturally accumulating slowly.
In addition, there were the loot from killing monsters, a total of 10 stardust shards.
[Stardust Shard]
[A shining crystal that seems to hide special power.]
Sterl didn't know its use and it seemed it couldn't be used for leveling up. But suspecting it to be a special product of the Starfall Wilderness, he still treasured and stored the stardust shards in his backpack.
And now...
He glanced at his status bar and noticed the [Marked by Divination] effect was still active.
"Are those folks at the mid-level base really that idle? Watching me slay monsters for almost a day without taking a break?"
Resigned, Sterl took out the [Wilderness Survival Kit] he had purchased at the base from his backpack.
Upon choosing to use it, a tent immediately sprang up on the spot.
Sterl then entered the tent, pretending to sleep, and conveniently chose to block the divination mark.
It all made perfect sense. Wanting some privacy while sleeping is normal, right?
Inside the tent, Sterl hastily pulled out the Bloody Diamond, silently invoking:
"Consume three streams of Blood Essence to craft the Visage of Void.
Consume ten streams of Blood Essence to learn the Bloody Sprint."
Instantly, a sinister and crimson light flashed over the Bloody Treasure, catching Sterl off-guard. After using the item, he felt as if his consciousness had ascended to a vast expanse above, transforming into a vague figure in red.
The power of the Bloody Duke within the Bloody Diamond surged and pulsed.
A beam of light infused into the void, another beam into the figure that Sterl had become.
Sterl, feeling the energy coursing through him without the slightest discomfort, felt incredibly light and ethereal. He even took the opportunity to peer around from his high vantage point.
He quickly realized he seemed to be in the void, looking down upon the Starfall Wilderness below—the instance zone.
It appeared as a gigantic continent shaped like a turtle, with strange orbs of starlight floating above it.
"Is this the real appearance of the instance world?" Sterl pondered, also marveling at the fact that such a creation of a god-like demon allowed him to overlook an entire world just by using it once!
However, what truly startled him was the clear sensation of another bright red orb shimmering within the Starfall Wilderness.
"The power of the Bloody Duke?"
"No, wait!"
"It's someone from the Cult of the Blood God!" Sterl paused, instantly realizing the connection.
When he had received [Demons of Blood Magic], he knew about the offerings from the Bloody Duke in the Blood God Cult, clearly ranked among themselves.
And the Bloody Diamond in his hand, maximized with evolutionary power, was likely considered a high-grade offering under the Bloody Duke's command.
At this moment of activation, he naturally sensed the presence of his subordinates.
Yet, Sterl remained calm.
Even if a member of the Blood God Cult were to come, what of it?
After all, the instance limits to those below level 20.
Then I am invincible!
Sterl mused wildly, and at that moment, he found his vision returning to the inside of the tent.
A strange energy churned within him. A piece of bright red silk lay quietly by his side.