Roy's greedy eyes were on the Boneworm's corpse.
There was a rune stone somewhere inside it.
Rune Stones, like soul shards, were rare.
Humans couldn't merge with them; only beasts could.
Humans, however, have mastered ways to make optimal use of them, and Roy could use it to increase his defense without merging with it.
An item that would grant him a superpower was within his reach.
Yet, he couldn't immediately hold it.
Rustling noises were what he heard just as he was going to start dissecting it, indicating that an army of monsters was heading his way.
There was no time to waste. He didn't want to get pincered attacked by monsters of different types. The subspace opened below the monster's corpse, devouring it. The Troglodytes' corpses were also messily thrown inside it. Left were the Fruits of Light and the Fruits Night. The tree, their birth mother, had shattered.
Its killer was none other than the guy who was showing the intention of picking them up and stuffing them in his pouch.
The scent of sweetness was still the same in the air. This meant that the ripened fruit was fine, covered by leaves and branches. Unlike the unripened one, it was thick and hard, unable to be destroyed by falling down to the ground and getting squeezed. This was the first to be thrown inside the subspace. The scent did lessen, but it didn't decrease, and the rustling noises increased.
When the tree landed on the ground, some fruits were destroyed, getting squashed under it. The others lost their chance to blossom as they had lost their source of energy, their nurturer. Roy, however, knew a method to make them rips. Otherwise, he wouldn't have wasted his time picking them up.
Before going away, he also picked up the tree and pushed it inside the opening of his subspace, which was like a 5-meter wide dark hole.
But he failed.
A system notification rang in his mind.
『Ding! Your subspace is already full.』
『You can upgrade it to increase its storage capacity. Would you like to do it? It will cost 1 Skill point.』
"Yes…" Roy said in a hurry.
『-1 Skill point』
『Ding! Congratulation. Your Soul Spell Subspace Level 1 has advanced to the second level』
『You can now store a hundred more items of varying sizes and shapes inside of it.』
A ridiculous scene was played in the clearing. The thick, towering tree was gobbled up by the dark hole. Seeing this, Roy thought that maybe he wasn't using this skill of his accurately. A ridiculous thought popped up in his mind.
"Maybe… just maybe, I can use this in battle too. Well… it's worth a try." Roy said with a thoughtful look on his face as he sprinted away.
He was no cowardly dog, but he was not a stupid prideful person either. He had pride, but it didn't allow him to die stupidly, tackling more danger than he could survive.
He didn't go too far, just hid in the grassy lands, planning an assassination.
Mere minutes after he left, a few dozens of troglodytes appeared in the clearing.
"Kichiek!"
"Kuh!" "Kih!" "Kah!"
"Kichiek!" "Kichiek!"
Roars were heard.
They could be seen fighting over the squashed fruit.
Although not ripe and squashed, it was clear that they were cherished by the Troglodytes.
They harpooned each other for the leftover bits Roy had no intention and time to pick.
The battle ended in a couple of minutes. Troglodytes' brawls weren't like humans. It was far too vicious and cruel.
From biting off the limbs of their opponents to skewing them to their harpoon, Roy had seen them do everything in silence.
There were three groups. One was completely annihilated. Of the remaining two, one ran away. While the other started collecting the spoils of war. Roy left them be and chased after the one running in the grasslands.
『Ding! Congratulation. You have killed a Level 8 Troglodyte. You gained 80 EXP.』
『Ding! Congratulation. You have killed a Level 9 Troglodyte. You gained 90 EXP.』
『Ding! Congratulation. You have killed a Level 9 Troglodyte. You gained 90 EXP.』
One by one, he assassinated them.
They were injured already from the previous battle, and Roy was in the dark until he made a move against them, so they were taken down easily.
He returned to the clearing.
As expected, the Troglodytes were still there.
Roy saw them eating the unripened fruits. This was the best time to attack them.
Reflection shot out his hand, charging towards the defenseless back of a monster ignorant of the danger it was in.
"Gikahh!"
The sight of a sword gushing out of the head of a yellow troglodytes was presented to the eyes of many.
The monster corpse fell to the ground, revealing Roy, who had a hideous smile on his bloody face, his eyes glowing red.
The devil was here!
The Troglodytes immediately stuffed the hard-earned delicacy in their mouths and armed up, pointing their weapons at Roy.
He chuckled, pulling the sword out of the back of the dead yellow troglodyte.
"Bring it on!"
"Kichiek!" "Kichiek!"
The troglodytes immediately rushed in with a war cry. One jumped forward but missed Roy by a few too many inches and was immediately met with a powerful kick so powerful that it was sent flying into its comrades.
Like pinballs, they dropped to the ground.
And before they could stand up, five heads rolled.
Roy's EXP surged way past his goal, going above 1300 points.
It was time to level up again!
『Would you like to level up?』
"Yes…"
『-1300 EXP』
『Ding! Congratulation. You have advanced to the mythical 13th Level of the Body tempering stage from the 12th level. You've reached the True Peak of Body Tempering. You're the first to do so in 700 hundred years.』
『Ding! Congratulation. Your world's energy sensitivity has reached 100%.』
『You can sense the world's energy present in the sky, sea, land, trees, and all living and non-living things』
『Ding. Congratulation. You no longer require EXP to advance to the next stage. An Awakening stone or baptism on the Awakening platform would be enough.』
『You're completed hidden requirements for a ranked reward.』
『Ding! Congratulation. Master of Shadows, Ninam's Third True songs: The roar of the sea severing and Mountain Splitting sword has been awarded to you.』
"Ninam… again? Just what relation does my system have with Ninam?" Roy wondered.
He couldn't come up with a reasonable answer.
He could only move on, taking the book out of the Blue Screen and inspecting it.
『You've inspected the sage book, Ninam's Third True songs.』
『This is the third of the six songs composed by Ninam. Ninam was born to a human mother but an elven father. In his blood ran the blood of peace-loving elves. His voice could make flower blooms and fairy dance. After the fall of his beloved, he searched for ways to make even his lovely voice into a weapon. Thus came into being six songs of devastating might. The third of the songs is an art of a sword straight out of myth. This book contains the form, breathing patterns, exercises, and requirements necessary to learn the Third Song.』
"Wow...." Roy congratulated himself for getting this treasure.
『-2 Skill points.』
『Ding! Congratulations. Ninam's Third True song was learned by you.』
A massive amount of information drilled into his mind. Roy's eyes closed. He understood all there was to it. The sad news was that he was too weak to bring out its true might.
