Chapter 38: Skill Upgrade, Plan

[Congratulations on defeating White King Manticore. 10,000 Gold coins to each party member.]

[Congratulations. You have reached level 10.]

[You have triggered the level-up boon.]

Everyone, including Alfred, leveled up to Silver level 10.

Almond and Lily finally triggered their second level-up boon after entering Silver rank. Natalia had already triggered it when she reached level 9 and got a skill option in it.

Chimera Viperfiend reached Silver level 8 from Silver level 5 as well.

"Are we going to be lucky again?" Almond muttered, looking at the spot where the boss had died and absorbed its spirit.

It had dropped materials for crafting armor and weapons, but that wasn’t what everyone was hoping for.

As the dust scattered, they finally saw all the drops, including a blue orb!

The trio moved in closer to inspect the item.

"It’s an accessory," Almond raised an eyebrow.

[White King Manticore’s Necklace]

-Grade: [Rare/Low]

-Durability: [1000/1000]

-Aura: +10% Elemental resistance to the user.

-Perk:

—> +4 Health, +4 Mana.

-Effect(s):

—> Magic Scales (Passive): Reduce magic damage dealt to you by 10%.

—> Mana Overload (Active): Increases your Mana by 100%, but after five minutes, your Mana recovery will be sealed for 10 minutes.

—> Flame Barrier (Active): Conjures a barrier of fire element at the cost of 100 Mana.

"This could sell for millions." Natalia’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she gazed at the necklace.

"This is indeed the most valuable item we’ve gotten so far," Almond grinned.

Natalia coughed and looked at Lily and Almond. "So who’s going to keep it?"

"You can keep it for now, but I’ll take it in three days since I plan to stay on this floor," Almond said with a faint smile. "Guess why?"

"Spirit Devour?" Lily asked, a knowing look on her face.

"Exactly," Almond said with a nod. "Devouring lower-level monsters’ spirits gives fewer stat points. I’ve reached the maximum level possible on the first floor, so I’m not going to get any stat points from Bronze-rank monsters anymore. I might also get nothing from other Silver level 5 or lower monsters, though I’ll have to check that first."

"But there are other areas, like Fairy Mountain. Seven more, to be exact," Almond said, his eyes glinting. "I’m going to do a spirit devour hunt at every place."

"Holy shit," Natalia muttered. "You’re going to be so much stronger than others at the same level."

"Good, then I’ll focus on Dungeons after leaving," Lily said with a sharp smile, her eyes fiery. "Dungeons don’t level you up, but the monsters there drop many things, and bosses drop stat-boosting items at a low chance. You can grind here while I’ll grind in the dungeons."

Almond chuckled as he handed the necklace to Natalia. "Sounds good."

Lily put the materials in her storage ring while Natalia and Almond went to pick up the arrows and spear, respectively.

"What did you get this time? Skill options?" Lily asked Almond with a smile. "I got a skill option this time."

"Let me see," Almond said, thinking about the two Level-up boons he now had. He’d saved the first one since it didn’t have a skill option and planned to keep saving it.

As for the second, Almond looked at it and couldn’t help but grin. "I got it!"

Without hesitation, he selected the skill option.

[Your skill: Spirit Factory (SS) has been evolved to Spirit Forge Factory (SSS)]

[Your Skill: Spirit Forge Factory (SSS) requires some conditions to be fulfilled for a complete upgrade.]

"Oh?" Almond raised an eyebrow.

"Let’s rest for a bit. I need to focus," he said, then took a seat.

Then, he activated the Spirit Forge Factory, finding himself in a cyberpunk fantasy-themed hall lit by spiritual torches.

"It’s bigger," Almond thought as he scanned the room, spotting a large screen that displayed the skill’s details and upgrade requirements.

A mystical, skully maw with a swirling black vortex was centered below the screen. According to the new information Almond got after the skill was upgraded, he knew the maw was responsible for creating items after eating spirits.

’What’s this?’

There were more things. To the left and right of the hall were various square slabs displaying item types. Many types of items.

’Don’t tell me…’ Almond suddenly thought of something, quickly turning to read the information on the screen. ’Damn, I was right.’

The skill’s new effects were crazy!

[Spirit Forge Factory]—Locked.

-Rank: SSS

-Effect(s):

—> Use spirits and turn them into various items via Spirit Maw. It will not display more details regarding crafting when you add Spirits into the Spirit Forge Maw.

—> You can now initiate Super Spirit Item Forge, requiring 20 Spirits for a single item creation. It will be a guaranteed maximum potentialized item. Cooldown: 1 day.

—> You can select Item-type Slabs to decide which type of items you want to create for each Spirit. You can also select slabs and randomize the creation of items based on selected slabs.

-Currently available Item-type Slabs:

-{Weapons}-

— Swords: Long sword, Great sword, Katana, Rapier, Scimitar, Broad sword, Short sword, Pole Sword.

— Daggers: Curved dagger, Wavy-bladed dagger, Slender dagger, Long dagger.

— Spears: Lance, Javelin, Pike, Glaive, Halberd.

— Axe: Broad Axe, Double-headed Axe, Throwing Axe.

-{Armors}-

— Light Armors: Leather Armor, Cloth Armor, Robes.

— Medium Armors: Chainmail, Studded Leather.

— Heavy Armors: Plate Armor.

-{Accessories}-

— Rings, Necklace, Bangles, Earrings.

He then looked at the requirement on the right side of the screen, making his eyes widen in shock.

"Damn… the class can go above SSS-rank?"

"This is crazy…" he murmured.

Since he’d spoken out loud, Lily and Natalia became curious. They knew Almond got a skill option, so it was bound to be crazy, given already his high-ranked skills.

"What happened? I bet your crazy class skill got even crazier," Natalia smirked.

"Which one got upgraded?" Lily blinked, throwing a guess. "Don’t tell me it’s Spirit Factory?"

"Fuck, if it’s that one, how broken is it now?" Natalia was dumbfounded. "Is it Spirit Factory for real? Nah, no way."

"Actually, it is," Almond said with a wry smile. "But it’s sealed for now. I need to fulfill the requirement to make it activate."

He shared the new skill information with them, causing their jaws to drop.

"Fuck! This is too OP!" Natalia muttered.

"Agreed," Lily nodded, her eyes twinkling. "An SSS-rank skill…it’s got to be this strong."

"So, what’s the requirement?" Natalia asked.

"It’s going to make me broke for the foreseeable future," Almond sighed, sharing the details.

[Requirement to unlock the skill and finish the upgrade.]

-1. Sacrifice 100 Rare-grade items (0/100).

—> Skill Unlock & Guaranteed Rare-grade item forge option.

-2. Sacrifice 50 Super-grade items (0/50).

—> Guaranteed Super-grade item forge option.

-3. Sacrifice 10 Epic-grade Items (0/10).

—> Guaranteed Epic-grade Item Forge option.

-4. Sacrifice 5 Legendary-grade Items (0/5).

—> Guaranteed Legendary-grade Item Forge option.

-5. [Sealed]: Requires the class to reach (L) rank.

"Damn," Natalia muttered. "Wait… the class can go beyond SSS-rank too?"

Lily’s eyes sparkled as she read the end.

"I can eventually craft Epic-grade and Legendary-grade items by using the spirits of Epic and Legendary-rank monsters, but that’ll require me to go to higher floors. But it’ll be better if I unlock that guaranteed option before that."

Lily nodded. "Yeah. You can start by purchasing cheap Rare-grade items from artisans outside to unlock the skill."

"That’s the plan. I also want to buy Epic-grade and Legendary-grade items to unlock the Epic and Legendary forge options as early as possible. All in all, I’m going to be broke for a while, but it’ll be worth it."

"I’ll help," Lily said, her eyes lighting up as a plan started forming. The thought of them living together made her grin. "I think I have a suggestion you’ll like. Want to hear it, darling~?"