With a confident grin, I swung my sword down at the creature's head—only for the blade to bounce off with a sharp clang!
A jolt of force traveled up my arm, numbing my grip from the recoil.
"What tough skin you have, Mr. Red," I muttered through gritted teeth.
I took a step back, shaking off the numbness. That didn't work. I needed another way. My eyes darted over the beast's form, scanning for a weak spot. Then, an idea struck me.
Pushing forward, I placed a hand on the monster's snout, forcing its jaws open with my sword before angling the blade upward.
"Happy dreams, Mr. Red."
With a swift, forceful thrust, I drove the blade through the creature's mouth, piercing straight into its skull.
The red lizard convulsed violently before its body fell still, blood gushing from its mouth.
Ding!
[You have slain an E-Rank Dormant Monster: Red Lizard]
<500 Exp>
<500 Coins>
[Congratulations! You have leveled up. You are now Level 1. +5 stats to all attributes]
I exhaled sharply, taking a moment to catch my breath. "That was easier than I thought." A slow grin crept onto my face. If this keeps up, I'll become the strongest in no time.
Leveling up was essential. In this world, strength was the only thing that mattered.
Summoning my status window, I checked my progress.
---
[Status Window]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: 〘Zane Somnus〙
Level: ⟨1⟩ ⟦400 / 2000 EXP⟧
Title: ???
Race: 〘Human〙
Class: ???
Coins: 1300
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
───[ Stats ]───
❖ Strength: ⟨10⟩ → +3 +5 → 18
❖ Agility: ⟨10⟩ → +3 +5 → 18
❖ Stamina: ⟨9⟩ → +3 +5 → 17
❖ Perception: ⟨11⟩ → +1 +5 → 17
❖ Health: ⟨10⟩ → +5 → 15
❖ Mana: ⟨150⟩
---
My stats had increased significantly, but something stood out. While every attribute had gained a flat +5, the Slumber's Blessing had distributed an extra 10 points randomly—+3 to Strength, +3 to Agility, +3 to Stamina, and +1 to Perception.
More importantly, my mana pool had increased by 50. If my guess was right, it increased by ten times my level gain.
I clenched my fists, feeling the newfound power coursing through my body. Before, lifting 70 lbs was a struggle—now, 100 lbs would probably feel effortless.
"Amazing," I murmured, flexing my fingers. This wasn't just numbers. My body felt lighter, my movements sharper, my endurance stronger.
With renewed determination, I pressed forward, hoping to find more monsters soon. Every fight was a chance to grow stronger.
And it seemed my wish was about to be granted.
In the distance, shadows shifted—eight figures emerging from the darkness.
Wolves.
But not normal ones.
They were nearly twice the size of regular wolves, their black hides blending seamlessly into the night. Their saber-like fangs gleamed ominously, and their obsidian eyes reflected nothing but hunger and malice.
Long, razor-sharp talons extended from their paws—capable of rending flesh and bone with ease.
A headache crept up my temples. "Dammit. I really need to stop jinxing myself."
Despite my grumbling, a smirk tugged at my lips. I raised my sword, rolling my shoulders.
"Alright, puppies. Let's see what you've got."
The wolves wasted no time. Six of them formed a semi-circle around me, while the last two—noticeably larger and more intelligent—hung back, observing.
I focused on the three wolves positioned to my right, lifting a hand to my eye.
"Sleep."
A pulse of invisible energy surged through the air. Instantly, three wolves shuddered before collapsing, their massive bodies hitting the ground with heavy thuds.
<-90 Mana>
A wave of exhaustion hit me. Shit, that's more draining than I thought. Thirty mana per target… That left me with only 60 mana—not enough to put another three to sleep.
Two wolves remained standing in front of me, eyeing me warily. No time to hesitate.
"Sleep!"
<-30 Mana>
One of them slumped, but the other shook off its shock, baring its fangs.
Ding!
I quickly reached into my pocket, pulling out a mana recovery potion I had looted earlier.
"Didn't expect to use it so soon."
Keeping my gaze locked on the wolf, I bit the cork off the vial and downed the shimmering green liquid in one gulp.
A warm energy surged through me. I opened my status window.
<150 Mana>
Relief washed over me.
No hesitation—"Sleep."
<-60 Mana>
Two more wolves collapsed.
Now, only the two largest remained. Unlike the others, they didn't attack immediately. Instead, they took slow, deliberate steps back, their fur bristling.
I chuckled. "What's wrong? You were so eager a second ago."
They snarled but hesitated.
"You two make such a cute couple," I mocked, taking a step forward. They took another step back.
Their instincts were screaming at them.
I smirked. "Sleep."
<-70 Mana>
Both wolves collapsed instantly.
A wave of fatigue hit me like a hammer. My body still had strength, but my mind felt sluggish. If I cast even one more spell, I'd collapse on the spot.
"Not bad," I muttered, cracking my neck.
But now came the real work.
I approached the smaller wolves first, raising my sword high before bringing it down.
Clang!
The blade barely made it halfway through the first wolf's thick neck.
Shit, that's tough.
Gritting my teeth, I planted my foot against its limp body, pressing down until the blade carved through the remaining flesh and bone.
One head down.
I repeated the process. Second. Third. Fourth. Fifth. Sixth.
By the time I finished, the ground was soaked in crimson. My arms ached, my breathing was heavier.
Then, a familiar rush flooded my body.
I had leveled up.
But there were still the two larger wolves. Cutting through their necks would take forever.
Instead, I rolled them onto their backs, exposing their vulnerable bellies.
Much easier.
With a swift motion, I plunged my sword deep into the first wolf's stomach.
Blood spurted like a fountain.
I jumped back, avoiding the mess. Then, I did the same to the second wolf.
Only then did I check my notifications.
---
Ding!
[You have slain an E-Rank Dormant Monster: Black Wolf]
<500 EXP>
<500 Coins>
.
.
.
[You have slain an E-Rank Dormant Monster: Black Wolf]
<500 EXP>
<500 Coins>
Ding!
[You have slain an E-Rank Awakened Monster: Black Wolf]
<1000 EXP>
<1000 Coins>
[You have slain an E-Rank Awakened Monster: Black Wolf]
<1000 EXP>
<1000 Coins
---
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have leveled up to 2. +10 to all attributes.]
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have leveled up to 3. +10 to all attributes.]
---
A grin spread across my face.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!"
I exhaled, feeling a surge of power rush through my body. The notifications in my vision confirmed it—I had officially reached Level 3.
Slaying six E-Rank Dormant Monsters had netted me 3,000 EXP, pushing me to Level 2. Then, the two E-Rank Awakened Wolves had given me another 2,000 EXP, bringing me up to Level 3.
Not only that, but my coin balance had skyrocketed by 5,000.
I pulled up my status window, eager to see the changes.
---
[Status Window]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: 〘Zane Somnus〙
Level: ⟨3⟩ ⟦800 / 4000 EXP⟧
Title: ???
Race: 〘Human〙
Class: ???
Coins: 6300
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
───[ Stats ]───
❖ Strength: ⟨18⟩ +10 +10 → 38
❖ Agility: ⟨18⟩ +10 +10 → 38
❖ Stamina: ⟨17⟩ +10 +10 → 37
❖ Perception: ⟨17⟩ +10 +10 → 37
❖ Health: ⟨15⟩ +10 +10 → 35
❖ Mana: ⟨150⟩ → -100 +100 + 200 → 350
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
───[ Skills ]───
☾ [ Sleep ] (S-Grade) ⟦ Upgrade^ ⟧
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
───[ Shop ]───
---
I flexed my fingers, marveling at the difference. My body felt lighter, my muscles stronger, my senses sharper. It was as if I had undergone months of intense training in just a few minutes.
My [Sleep] skill was proving to be a game-changer. With just a thought, I had immobilized multiple enemies, eliminating them one by one without much resistance. But there was a problem—mana consumption.
Each cast drained 30 mana per target, and stronger monsters would likely cost even more. If I hadn't looted that mana potion earlier, I would've been dead meat.
I frowned, rubbing my chin. "I need to find a way to increase my mana pool… or at least get more potions."
My gaze drifted to the corpses around me. The air was thick with the stench of blood. This wasn't exactly the safest place to rest.
I needed to move.