Chapter 81: Two Levels in a Row!
The Mushroom King collapsed, its Frost Rune Sword clattering to the ground beside it. Su Yu stepped forward, curious about the weapon's properties.
**[Mourning of Fungus (Consumable)]**
*Remaining Uses:* 5
*How to Use:* Shout "Inherit you, father!" and stab the target.
*Effect:* If the target is the user's father, deal 99,999 true damage; otherwise, restores 30% of maximum health.
*Note:* You can stab yourself. Of course, doing so may lead your opponent to think you've lost your mind.
"A consumable that's completely useless," Su Yu muttered, shaking his head with a small smile. Unlike the player Snowflakes, who had brought his father into the game, Su Yu had no family to trigger the sword's main effect. So, at best, the Mourning of Fungus was a health-restoring item with limited value—hardly worth celebrating.
With a shrug, Su Yu tucked the [Mourning of Fungus] into his bag. He quickly skimmed through the other loot from the Mushroom King, storing it all in his backpack.
"Alright, Tina, ready to begin?" Su Yu asked, turning to Tina, who was eyeing the fallen Mushroom King with a determined look.
"How high do you think you'll level up this time?" he wondered aloud, a hint of excitement in his voice. Tina just grinned, her knife gleaming.
"Let's get started," she said, stepping forward as golden energy flared around her, swirling like a radiant storm. With a sharp exhale, Tina focused her power, releasing a golden thread that linked her to Su Yu. Instantly, a [Blood Connection] buff appeared on Su Yu's status bar, lasting for one hour.
Tina raised her sword high, then drove it fiercely into the Mushroom King's cap. Black blood spurted forth, and Tina absorbed it eagerly, her energy surging.
**Ding! You've gained 1,000 experience points through [Blood Connection]!**
The game log continued to refresh as power flowed from Tina into Su Yu, his mana growing stronger with each pulse.
**Ding! You've reached Level 13!**
In total, Su Yu tallied 16,500 experience points from this single encounter. From Level 12 to Level 13, he only needed 14,000, which meant he had already gained enough to push his experience bar well into Level 13.
And Tina wasn't done yet. She retrieved blood essences from other mushroom creatures she'd defeated and absorbed them too, her golden energy blazing like sunlight in the dark cavern.
**Ding! You've gained 1,000 experience points through [Blood Connection]!**
After absorbing the last drop of essence, Tina radiated with brilliant light, her power boiling with golden energy, illuminating the entire cave. Su Yu's experience bar filled rapidly, finally stopping at Level 14 with 58% progress.
"Two levels in one go! The rewards from this main storyline are incredible," Su Yu thought with a grin. Wild monster hunting would have taken hours to reach these levels, but with Tina's help, it had taken only minutes. And [Blood Connection] was still active for another hour. With Tina's support, he might manage two more levels.
Seizing the opportunity, Su Yu reached for Tina's hand. "Let's keep going, Tina! Onward to the next mission!"
"Ah?" She hesitated, looking slightly dazed from her own level-up gains. "I thought we'd take a break. I just leveled up twice, after all."
Her level gains had indeed been astounding—she was now Level 30, an impressive feat for such a short time.
"Rest can wait," Su Yu said with a grin. "After this next wave of monsters, I'll rest right alongside you. Sound fair?"
Tina laughed, agreeing with his enthusiasm. "Alright, the next area is the 'Monster Garden.' There's a human corrupted by dark magic there that we need to deal with."
**Ding! Your main storyline quest has been updated! [The Holy Maiden of Oran City (4/100)].**
**Quest Requirements:** Assist Tina in clearing out the 'Monster Garden,' slaying [Magic Ogre] x30, [Magic Pea Shooter] x30, [Evil Nut Wall (Elite)] x5, [Corrupted Ogre Dave (Leader)] x1.
**Quest Reward:** 1,500 EXP, [Sunflower Seeds (Special Item)].
With the quest log updated, Su Yu left the cavern with Tina, calling for Tima, their faithful mare. Once mounted, the two galloped toward the Monster Garden, ready for the next challenge.
---
Meanwhile, back at Novice Village No. 2's Wolf King Valley, Snow Leopard was busy leveling up with three guildmates. Range is the Truth had logged off for the day, so Snow Leopard had gathered new members for this leveling run. In his druid form, Snow Leopard swiped at the Howling Moon Wolf in front of him.
**30**
**42**
**29**
The wolf whimpered before collapsing, rewarding Snow Leopard and his party with a steady stream of experience points.
Teaming up was one of the best ways to level up in *Evolution*, as players who damaged a monster shared full experience points on the kill.
An archer in the group sighed, "Minister, grinding monsters nonstop like this gets dull. How much longer until we reach Level 50?"
"Three or four more months at least," Snow Leopard replied, not looking up. "Power doesn't come easy. But once we hit Level 10 tomorrow, we'll get access to a lot more gameplay in the main city."
"Yeah, there are only a handful of Level 10 players on the leaderboard right now. We're still part of the top-tier crowd!"
The archer checked the [Ranking List], expecting to see familiar faces. But when he did, his jaw dropped, his hands shaking so much that his bow nearly fell.
"Minister, look! [Nemesis] just hit Level 14!"
"What? Level 14? He was only at Level 12 a moment ago!"
Snow Leopard quickly opened his friend list, his eyes going wide at the "Lv. 14" prefix next to [Nemesis]. He stared in disbelief.
"I thought Nemesis was fast at Level 12. How did he just jump two levels? What kind of mission did he complete?"
(End of Chapter)