He observed the tall, thin man in front of him for a moment before saying, "Sir Drogo, I'm currently stuck at Player Level #6.5, and I want to quickly level up to #10."
"But right now, all the members of The Unveilers are at the castle, busy preparing for the war against Shadowmoor, so I can't get the necessary Items."
Drogo listened attentively and replied, "Alright. So what are you asking for?"
Ash swallowed nervously before responding, "I apologize, but could I ask for an advance payment in Items, enough for me to level up to Player Level #10?"
He tapped his pipe against the ashtray on the table, clearing it out, before packing it with fresh tobacco and lighting it.
Then he took a puff from his pipe and blew a thick cloud of smoke at Ash, making him flinch a little.
Ash quickly tried to hide his reaction. This was one of his only chances to connect with this person.
"So," the man said, pausing briefly. Ash felt slightly anxious but kept himself calm.
"You want 35 Special Items to level up," the man said slowly, dragging out his words for emphasis.
"Yes, Sir," Ash replied directly.
Drogo seemed to think for a moment. Ash took the chance to add to his offer, saying, "I'm willing to skip receiving any Special Items for nine turns," as he raised his offer slightly.
The skinny man squinted at Ash while staring directly at him and then said, "You can have them without paying. But you have to make some creatures that belong to me as part of our army."
Ash raised one eyebrow and asked, "Your creatures, Sir?"
"Yes," Drogo replied briefly, crossing his legs.
Seeing that the man wouldn't explain further unless he agreed, Ash quickly started thinking hard.
'At least the creatures would only obey me, and I can perform some necromancy now. This might not be a problem,' he thought and decided to accept the offer.
"Alright. I agree," said Ash, followed by a widening smile from Drogo.
"Very good. I will have someone deliver the 35 Special Items to your room later," Drogo said as he stood up and called one of the knights waiting outside his chamber door.
After giving the knight his orders, Drogo turned to Ash and said, "Follow me."
He stood and followed the leader of Drogo Castle, with Jagu walking by his side.
"Your tiger is quite impressive. You got him after obtaining The Heart of The Jaguar, right?" Drogo asked as they walked along the corridor of the castle.
Ash replied, "Yes, Sir."
There was no point in hiding it. If Milo could figure it out, it wasn't unlikely that Drogo would know too, he was the highest-ranking leader after all.
Drogo nodded thoughtfully and then asked again, "The giant spider and the others, those aren't from the same item, correct?"
"No, Sir. They're from magic summons that I learned from a magic book."
"Very good," Drogo nodded again, and they remained silent for the rest of the walk.
Ash kept observing the leader and noticed that he walked with a slight limp. His right leg seemed to have an issue.
And he was hiding it beneath his long cloak.
They arrived at an open area behind the castle, where several large stone-walled buildings stood.
Each building had doors made of iron bars, and a few dozen knights were stationed around the area, keeping watch.
They approached one of the nearest buildings, and Ash saw that inside was a large gorilla, half-lying against the wall of its cage.
"Do it now," Drogo ordered him.
He nodded and focused on transferring the creature into the page of The Supreme Magus Grimoire, using the circle on his forehead.
After a few moments, the large gorilla started to thrash wildly and let out loud screams, causing some knights in front of the cage to step back, covering their ears.
But its resistance didn't last long. The creature soon transformed into a glowing blue mist and floated into the circle on Ash's forehead.
Once it was fully absorbed, he said, "One down."
Drogo clapped his hands and then said, "Four more creatures to go. You can handle it, can't you?"
"Yes, Sir," Ash replied before heading toward the other cages.
He repeated the process with a giant black python, a massive eagle, a young wyvern, and an adult raptor.
After all the creatures were absorbed into his forehead, Ash turned back and walked toward Drogo.
He then said, "All done, Sir."
Drogo smiled, patting Ash on the shoulder with a grin.
"Would you like to see them now that they are tamed?" he asked.
"Of course."
Ash turned and motioned for the knights to clear the field.
Once the area was empty, he released all the creatures he had just stored in the Grimoire.
The creatures emerged, lining up neatly in the field. They were fully tamed and obedient to Ash's commands.
He gave a small demonstration, directing the creatures to move in sync, and they complied without hesitation.
Drogo clapped loudly and exclaimed, "Excellent!"
Ash simply smiled and instructed all the creatures to return to the Grimoire.
Drogo, clearly pleased, chatted with him briefly before informing Ash that he could now head to his room to receive the Special Items.
***
Now he was sitting on the sofa in his apartment, looking at all the Special Items delivered to him by a palace staff member.
The total was exactly 35 items, and Ash grinned with great satisfaction.
Finally, he was about to reach level ten and already knew which advanced level he would choose.
One by one, he patiently picked up the Special Items from his table and let the System process each one.
Although he felt a bit bored pressing "Y" repeatedly, his excitement kept him going.
Finally, the system screen stopped making sounds, and with high anticipation, he opened his System.
[Player: Ashborn Locke]
[Player Number: #23875]
[Level: #10]
[Stats:
⇒ Strength: 105
⇒ Endurance: 95
⇒ Agility: 105
⇒ Intelligence: 95
⇒ Magic: 230]
[Extra Point: 420]
[Profession:
⇒ Hunter: Level: #8]
[Sword Skill:
⇒ Shadow Sword: Level: #42]
Since his defense level came from the shield on his wristband, it wouldn't show up in the System unless he was actively using it.
Ash smiled with satisfaction as he saw his player level had finally updated to level #10.
Shortly after, the system screen changed, displaying the message:
[Player: Ashborn Locke]
[Player Number: #23875]
[Your player level has reached level #10.
You can now select an advanced level for your Hunter profession.
Available advanced levels:
⇒ Assassin
⇒ Warrior
⇒ Adventurer
Please make your selection.]
Without any hesitation, Ash selected the Assassin role, drawn by the advanced skills of that level, which Liliana and Yuuki from the Sassi Hunters had thoroughly explained to him.
After he pressed Assassin, new text appeared on the screen;
[Player: Ashborn Locke]
[Player Number: #23875]
[Level: #10]
[Profession:
⇒ Hunter: Level: #8]
[Advanced Profession:
⇒ Assasin: Level:0]
[You will receive all the following skills:
↪ Shadow Blade
↪ Poison Master
↪ Sniper
↪ Disguise Specialist
↪ Trap Setter]
[Skill acquisition initiated.]
[Three.]
[Two.]
[One.]
Suddenly, Ash's mind was flooded with information about all the Assassin skills, overwhelming him with intense dizziness. His ears started ringing, and he curled up on the sofa, while holding his aching head.
This condition lasted for several minutes. Once it ended, he slumped on the sofa, panting heavily.
Seeing his master in pain, Jagu ran to his side, whining softly and licking his face.
"I'm fine. I'm okay," Ash reassured Jagu, then leaned back on the sofa, still catching his breath.
After his breathing returned to normal, he smiled and began laughing in satisfaction.
"Finally, I'm an Assassin now!" he exclaimed.
He stood up and tried to sense if there was any difference in himself.
Sure enough, he felt that his body had become significantly lighter.
Since it was already late and he was in high spirits, Ash decided against going out to practice his newly acquired skills from the System.
Instead, he chose to open his System skills menu to review and explore the abilities he had unlocked.
[Assasin skills:
↪ Shadow Blade: Silent takedowns and using shadows in his missions.
↪ Poison Master: Skills for crafting and using various poisons.
↪ Disguise Specialist: The ability to disguise himself within a crowd to approach a target.
↪ Trap Setter: Skills for setting traps to capture or eliminate targets without direct attack.]
"Cool," he said, smiling to himself, then remembered that he needed to boost his magic stat as well.
Given that many of his skills were increasingly reliant on magic, he knew he had to raise it significantly.
Without hesitation, he allocated all his extra points, totaling 420, to his magic stat, bringing it up to 515.
With the 200% boost from his magic ring, his magic stat skyrocketed to 1545.
Seeing his magic stat reach 1545, Ash smiled again with satisfaction.
"Now, I'm ready to go to war with Shadowmoor," he declared confidently.
He was eager for the battle, knowing there was a chance to obtain valuable Items that could make him even stronger.