[Name- Marcus Soldiers]
[Rank - Level 5, First-Grade]
[HP - 100%]
[Aggro - 100%]
'Noice! Now I can check my theory!' Max smiled, and pulled out his dull blade.
Sadly for him, this was the first floor and the monsters here were too weak to actually drop weapons or rather any type of artefacts.
He even had to store his dull blade in its sheath because normally, one didn't get access to their Soul Sea until the Silver Rank to store their artefacts in it.
'Man, I need to work on this useless habit of thinking so much nonsense,' Max scolded himself and launched himself towards the skeletons.
The skeletons only carried broken swords, so they shouldn't cause too much problem. But their nigh immortality was the problem as they could just heal endlessly and attack people.
Max easily deflected a blow coming at him and swept his blade horizontally, aiming at its spinal cord. They were more or less equally powerful so a single blow shattered the spinal cord and threw the skeleton sideways.
As he turned his head, he found a heavy hammer flattening the skeleton. He blinked, staring at the corpse of the skeleton. Yes, a corpse because Stelle's hammer had destroyed it altogether, turning it into dust.
[You have slain Level 5, First-Grade Monster, granted 5 EXP]
[You have leveled up!]
'Damn! So I can really do that,' Max grinned in excitement. While he had regrets that Stelle killed the other one, the thought of leveling quickly through the skeletons filled his heart with joy.
As he looked down at the dust of the skeleton, Max smiled as he thought about its weakness.
While the Skeleton army was technically immortal, there was a single bone in their spinal cord which didn't have that healing power. Once it was destroyed, the skeleton would also die for real.
"Huh? They are actually turning into dust?" Stelle was surprised as she asked. "Didn't you say they were immortal? Are they different from the ground ones?"
"No, they aren't," Max said, as he stepped forward. "We just destroyed their weakness. The third bone of the lumbar vertebrae!"
"Just destroy their lower spinal cord and be done with it."
Seeing Stelle's confused expression, Charlotte sighed and also stepped forward, 'He knows about human anatomy, so why did he say he's illiterate? Just what is up with him?'
"Oh, by the way, can you leave the powerful skeletons for me? I'll kill them," Max said, as he continued walking forward in the damp tunnel.
Surprisingly, the tunnel walls were still intact and not affected by the passage of time, which worked for them so they continued their journey.
'Should I level up?' Max thought. 'They already know that I have some means to advance quickly because there is no way one gets to Level 4 this quickly, not to mention now I can get to Level 5.'
"By the way, ladies, can you swear an oath that you won't let my secret out?" Max asked, turning around to face them. "I wish to tell you something since we are working as a team and it's inconvenient to keep it to myself."
Stelle didn't say anything and, as usual, left the decision making to Charlotte. The elder sister also didn't respond, thinking about his words.
Swearing an oath usually means using the Labyrinth System as the basis to swear the oath and once you did that, there was no going back.
If the oath was broken, death would be the best outcome. That was why everyone would think thrice before making an oath, even if it was meant for their benefits.
"So, let me get this straight, you want me to keep your secret a secret, right?" Charlotte asked.
"Correct! I wish to form a permanent party with you two and that means letting go of my secret. But we don't have that level of trust and even if there were, I wouldn't risk it," Max said in all seriousness.
Even if he was the one who made her character and knew she wouldn't betray him, Max didn't want to risk it. After all, this was reality and the plot would definitely change.
With plot, characters also change.
Charlotte stared at him for a while and then asked, "What do I get in return?"
"My company, which you will definitely enjoy," Max chuckled softly and added, "Jokes aside, what do you want?"
Charlotte smiled and said, "I want you to help me with your everything when I ask you. In short, I need you to owe me one."
"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Max asked. "I can just walk out of here, abandoning you, and my secret would still be safe. Even if you do rat me out and try to experiment on me, you can't get it out of me."
"You misunderstand. You can refuse if you feel like your life is in danger because of me," Charlotte said, maintaining her smile. "Given how you say you want to accompany us, I'm guessing you will help us anyway, so I don't want to be harsh."
"Then, do we have a deal?" Max asked. "You will keep my secret with you and I will help you if you ask for my help."
Charlotte nodded and said, "Let's go over with it, then. We need to get to the castle too."
"Sure!" Max was very happy with the deal.
[I'm surprised you're willing to go this far.]
'If I want my leveling to remain secret, the only way is to remain a lone wolf, which I don't want to. It's better this way since we can progress faster and also build trust with each other.'
[I'm glad you're not giving in to your paranoia and not going lone wolf style. This was a test for you and you passed.]
'What test?' Max was perplexed.
[You think I gave you the leveling system randomly? Well, the majority of the leveling MCs I've seen go the lone wolf route and I wanted to see if you'll do the same. After all, your goal is to save others so you can still use the loophole.]
Max blinked before a smile formed on his lips.
'Are there more of such tests?'
[Probably? Your Big Sis Kafka is very generous, you know. I have prepared many things for you, including rewards for clearing the tests.]