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[ Na: Moon ] [ Race: Human ] [ Class: Classless] [ Level: 30 ] [91%]
[ Lives: 20,657 ] [Super Lives: 0] [ Strength: 149 ] [ Agility: 209 ] [ Constitution: 171 ] [ Mana: 251 ] ( 10 to all stats) [ Attribute Points: 5] [ Skills: Elental Attack, Advanced Elental Body, Tenacity, Golden Skin, Ignite, Dagger Arts, Rune Inscription, Eye of Truth, Thunderclap Raiju, Calmness, Beastmaster, Minor nd, Purify, Stone Clasp, Heaviness, Air Step, Piercing Sword, Bird dance, Bullseye, Archery, Spear Arts, Feint] [ Talent: Grim Reaper ] [ Class Skills: Class Slot {0/1}, Life Burn]
[Beast Souls: Fire and Nature]
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His first acupoint had crossed more than half of its capacity. The spiritual energy inside it was dense and flowing steadily, feeding the layered foundation with every passing hour. Moon predicted that within the next hunt or two, it would be completely filled.
'Half a spiritual acupoint is already providing with an acupoint's worth of power. Once it's complete, it should reach two acupoints worth.'
His Runesmith class had also expired during the hunt, the daily tir running out quietly while he was mid-combat. Moon wasn't in a rush to copy Frey's class again. Using the copy now would lock him into it for another day, and he preferred to keep his options open. If he encountered soone with a more valuable class before then, he wanted the flexibility to take it instead.
He would copy Frey when he was truly free and had the ti to dedicate to practicing Rune Enhancent properly.
Moon glanced at his lives. They had climbed back to a solid number, a little above twenty thousand. Exactly the threshold he needed for what he had planned next. But barely enough. He wanted a cushion above it before committing.
'I'll hunt so more. Build the reserve a little higher. Then I'll evolve it.'
He turned toward Frey, who was sitting against a tree catching his breath. The man looked tired, his mana reserves clearly running low from the hours of supporting Moon's hunts.
"Let's keep going."
Frey looked up at him, a flicker of exhaustion crossing his face, but he said nothing. He stood, dusted himself off, and started walking.
The two made their way deeper into the hunting ground. They were getting closer to the pavilion, and the strong winds that began to penetrate even the large trees reflected it. Even the beasts in this area were scarcer, as if the weaker wildlife knew better than to linger this close to the castle's domain.
Multiple roars suddenly split the air from the direction they were heading.
Moon stopped mid-stride, his eyes snapping towards the direction the cry ca from. It was the sa sound from before. A beast's cry upon encountering a spirit, the desperate scream of sothing that knew it was about to die.
Rather than turning back, Moon looked at Frey beside him.
The Runesmith had gone pale, his eyes shrinking in fear, his hands already inching toward his pouch on reflex. The shudder that ran through him was visible.
"We are going in." Moon said. "If it's one spirit, we kill it. If there are more, we abort."
Frey's head snapped toward him. "That's too dangerous. We should head back while we still can. If the spirit sees us, it will chase us, and if there are more nearby they will—"
Lightning crackled in Moon's hands. After holding him hostage, Moon was no longer bothering to hide his elental power from Frey.
The sound of lightning cut Frey's words short. He looked at the sparks dancing between Moon's fingers, then up at the cold, flat expression on Moon's face.
"Since when was this a cooperation?" Moon's voice was as cold as ice. "You listen to orders. Or I will kill you myself."
The forest was silent around them. Even the wind seed to hold its breath.
Frey swallowed hard, the lump in his throat moving visibly.
"Y-Yes, sir."
Moon turned toward the direction of the roar and began walking. Frey moved in front of him as instructed, his steps reluctant but obedient.
It took them roughly half a minute to reach the source. Moon guided Frey up into the canopy, both of them settling on a large branch that overlooked a wide clearing below.
A single spirit stood at the center of the clearing, surrounded by the bodies of beasts in various states of destruction. A herd had been caught in the open, and the spirit was carving through them without resistance. Its sword moved in quick, efficient arcs, each swing dropping another creature. The beasts tried to fight back, charging, biting, clawing, but they were nothing more than a flock of sheep against a wolf.
Moon studied the spirit from a hundred ters away. The diamond on its forehead glowed brighter than the previous one he had seen.
It was strong too, perhaps just as strong as the one he had killed alongside Isabelle.
But Moon was stronger now than he had been during that fight. His first acupoint was more than half filled. His elents hit harder, and his combat experience against spirits was no longer zero. And Frey, for all his flaws, was a capable fighter when his life depended on it. Nearly as strong as Isabelle in terms of raw output.
'With Frey as bait, I won't need to split my attention the sa way. I should be able to kill it faster than last ti.'
The rewards were worth the risk. A spirit kill would flood his acupoint with spiritual energy, potentially pushing it close to full. And the spiritual crystal inside its chest was another prize entirely. He still hadn't used the first one from the previous spirit. Taking a second would give him two concentrated reserves of spiritual energy to cultivate with.
Moon's eyes narrowed as he watched the spirit dispatch the last of the herd.
"Get your runes ready." He whispered to Frey. "You're going in first."
Frey cursed internally. Every ounce of his being scread at him to refuse, to argue, to find so excuse that would keep him out of that clearing.
But the explosive runes on his chest and Moon's cold eyes stopped him.
He couldn't say no to the monster standing beside him on the branch. Spirits were terrifying, their speed, their intelligence, their ability to track and kill with no rcy. Frey had survived this long on the floating island by avoiding them entirely.
But Moon was worse.
The spirit might kill him, but he would eventually revive. As for the monster beside him…dying at his hands ant true death.
'At least I have a chance to revive. Frey told himself, gripping his rune pouch with white knuckles. This monster still needs . He won't sacrifice just yet. Not while I'm still useful.' He took a shaky breath and pulled three runes from his pouch, holding them between his fingers.
'Just you wait. The mont an opportunity presents itself...' He glanced sideways at Moon's cold, unblinking profile staring down at the spirit below.
The thought died before it fully ford.
'...I'll keep following orders.' Frey convinced himself that this might the chance he could use to escape, the spirit might be strong enough to stop Moon, or perhaps kill him.
He couldn't escape, if he tried to, Moon will simply blow him up. His only chance is…for Moon to die.
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