'I don't know why the watch doesn't count the monsters killed by Devastate, but this changes everything! I can enter private dungeons that charge per kill and kill as many monsters as I want without needing to pay the full amount, and I could even profit from it!'
Lucas' closed his hands into fists from sheer excitement.
He then looked at the watch again and mumbled to himself, "Although I can make up excuses for the number of mana crystals I have by saying that I had them from the beginning, it will still be suspicious if I only have two kills after staying in here for so long, so I should kill a couple more."
Since that woman didn't check his backpack before he entered the dungeon, Lucas could simply say that he'd brought these mana crystals with him.
And without concrete proof that he'd tampered with the kill count device, they can't really make him pay that 10,000 dollars.
After spending a couple more hours in the dungeon, Lucas decided to stop at 11 kill count as it was getting too dark to even see where he was walking.
In total, Lucas killed 46 monsters in the private dungeon, but he left the dungeon with only 11 kill counts.
A different servant working for the mansion approached Lucas when he exited the dungeon.
"Hello, can I see your device?"
Lucas nodded and showed her his arm.
The woman then removed it using a special key, and she proceeded to look for any signs of tamper.
"The total will be 660 dollars for 11 kills."
Lucas counted the money and handed it to her in cash.
"Thank you for your business." The woman bowed to him.
Lucas then quickly made his way out of the mansion and returned to the guild, where he sold the mana crystals, earning back 1,840 dollars.
"Can you put this money into my card as well?" Lucas handed her the rest of his cash since he didn't want to carry around cash everywhere.
"Your total balance is now 6,485 dollars."
Now that he had more money, Lucas paid for another three days of rent in the guild.
The following morning, Lucas returned to the potion store to buy more mana potions.
"Here's 11 small mana potions." The man handed him an extra mana potion again.
"Thank you."
Lucas called a taxi shortly after leaving the mana store, returning to the mansion to complete his quest that only needed 15 more kills with Devastate.
Once he returned to the dungeon, Lucas began hunting again, finishing the quest a few hours later.
[You have Plundered the ability 'Minor Agility Boost' from your victim]
[Your ability 'Minor Agility Boost' has gained some experience]
[Your ability 'Minor Agility Boost' has leveled up]
{Minor Agility Boost(Lv. Max): Permanently increases Agility by 15}
[You have leveled up]
[You have acquired 5 Stat Points]
[You have completed a Quest]
[Your ability 'Devastate' has leveled up]
{Devastate(Lv. 2): Obliterates whatever you touch if they are below level 25. Requires 200 mana to use.}
Lucas' eyes widened with shock when he saw the mana he now needed to use the skill.
"200 mana?! That's nearly half of my mana!" He exclaimed.
Although he had expected an increase in the mana required to use his now more powerful ability, he didn't expect such a sharp increase, which was 4 times more than what he needed previously.
However, after thinking about it for some time, using 200 mana to instantly kill any monster below level 25 isn't all that bad.
'Looks like putting my points into Intelligence for more mana was the right choice. At this rate, I will need over a thousand mana to use Devastate even once in the future if its mana usage continues to increase at this rate.'
'Anyways, now that I have finished this quest, I can finally stop wasting my time on these weak monsters.'
However, he still needed to kill a couple of monsters without using Devastate so that he doesn't leave the dungeon with 0 kill count.
About an hour later, right as Lucas killed his 4th monster for his kill count, another quest suddenly showed up.
[You have received a Quest.]
"Another one?" Lucas raised his eyebrows as he read the contents.
[Quest: Kill 100 monsters above level 10]
[Progress: 0/100]
[Reward: 5 Stat Points]
Lucas' eyes widened with surprise when he saw the reward.
'5 Stat Points? This is basically a free level!'
Furthermore, he only needed to kill monsters above level 10, which was as easy as breathing for Lucas at this point.
Sometime later, Lucas left the dungeon and paid the worker standing outside 420 dollars for 7 kills.
He then went to the guild to sell the 22 mana crystals he'd obtained and earned 880 dollars.
The following morning, Lucas went to look for another private dungeon that had mostly monsters above level 10, and before arriving at the dungeon, he would stop by the mana store to buy another bundle of mana potions.
Lucas repeated this routine until he killed 100 monsters above level 10 to finish the quest after 5 days.
In these five days, Lucas had leveled up 2 more times, reaching level 13.
However, since he wasn't able to use Devastate as often anymore due to its increased mana usage, Lucas wasn't able to take advantage of the exploit with the kill count as often as he'd like, so he was barely able to profit from the private dungeons.
Though this should change once he enters more difficult dungeons with stronger monsters, which also means more profit for him with every kill.
[You have completed a Quest]
[You have acquired 5 Stat Points]
Lucas released a sigh of relief after seeing this notification. Although killing the monsters took almost no effort, it started getting tedious and boring after a while since it was so easy, so he was glad that it was finally done.
After completing his second quest, Lucas left the dungeon and waited to see if he would receive any more quests, but after an entire day of waiting without getting any new quests, Lucas decided that it was about time for him to try entering a more difficult dungeon so that he could earn more money.
