Ding!

[You have killed x7 "Ground Spiders (Level 26)"]

[You have killed "General Ground Spider (Level 27 Elite-Rank Boss)"]

[You have gained 64,000 experience points.]

[You have gained 7 Evolution Points!]

[You have gained 148 Lives!]

---

"Good."

Stark currently needed 200,000 experience points to level up.

The next advancement task and level lock would come at level 50, the next major milestone.

Of course, reaching it would take time.

For other players, it would take even longer, but even for him, it wouldn't be easy.

Leveling up was only going to get harder.

Still, Stark didn't mind.

As long as he could keep killing strong monsters and taking risks, he would keep rising.

That much was certain.

At his current level, 25, he required 200,000 experience points to move forward.

Every level afterward, the requirement increased by 20,000.

That meant by level 50, he would need 700,000 experience points for a single level!

And because of the [Experience Decay], it is understandable why it would take longer.

Even for him, that was going to take some time.

Especially since experience reset back to zero every single level.

But of course, thanks to his high damage, he knew killing hundreds of monsters woul be easy.

'Oh well.'

Hand of Avarice!

Ding!

---

[You have gained 6 Evolution Points!]

[You have gained 7 Evolution Points!]

[You have gained 151 Lives!]

[You have gained 72 Lives!]

---

"Nice."

Two of the [Ground Spiders] dropped [Spider Exoskeleton (Rare)] armor.

Stark stored them into his inventory and kept moving forward.

'I already know why there are so many spiders nearby.'

When several monsters of the same type gathered in one place, it usually meant there was a zone tied to them close by.

Of course, most people would take one look at that kind of zone and say, "hell no."

They would avoid it altogether.

Seren, in Stark's past life, had been terrified of spiders.

Because of that, their party had skipped that zone entirely.

But now? Stark was alone.

He wasn't afraid of spiders either. So why wouldn't he go?

He continued onward, hunting more [Ground Spiders] as he rode atop the [Ghost Wolf].

Every kill was clean, his spells crushing them easily.

At one point, he encountered another boss: a [Ground Mole (Rare-Rank Boss)].

It didn't survive for long.

Ding!

---

[You have gained 46,000 Experience Points!]

[You have gained 9 Evolution Points!]

[You have gained 194 Lives!]

---

And eventually, Stark found what he was looking for.

A cave entrance. Its walls and ground were covered in thick spider silk.

Ding!

[You are about to enter a dangerous level 26–28 zone: "Spider Silk Nest"]

[Once you enter, you cannot leave unless you die.]

'Good.'

In his previous life, Seren had stopped them from going further at this exact point.

Stark had contested the decision, but Max and Seren both refused, and the party turned back.

This time, things were different.

This time, Stark wouldn't lose this chance.

Even if the place was dangerous, it was worth it.

In fact, it was perfect.

A zone like this was one of the best ways to raise his level.

His top priority now was reaching level 30 as fast as possible.

The [Demonic Ruins] were the best grinding ground between [Shell City] and the [Land of Mist].

But before going inside… Stark had something else to do.

[Current Evolution Points: 307.]

His EP had steadily increased through all his hunting.

Now, he had more than 300, enough to evolve three skills.

He was confident he could clear the spider nest even without evolving them, but this was the perfect chance to test out his new abilities.

Ding!

[Do you wish to consume 100 Evolution Points to evolve "Hand of Avarice"?]

"Yes."

Ding!

[You have evolved "Hand of Avarice" (Mythical) to "Hand of Avarice" (Ancient)]

[Current Evolution Points: 207.]

Stark's eyes lit up.

He had been waiting for this. He quickly opened the new description.

---

[Hand of Avarice (Ancient): Can be used on corpses, has a 125% → 150% chance to obtain another loot reward. In addition, if the loot is an item, there is a 30% → 50% chance to increase the rank by one.]

---

'Damn!'

This was huge.

The chance of obtaining extra loot increased by twenty-five percent, which meant it would trigger even more often.

On top of that, the chance to increase an item's rank had almost doubled.

Fifty percent. One out of every two items had a chance to upgrade.

If he looted an item now, there was a fifty–fifty shot it would become stronger than before.

And in the future… if this skill continued evolving… maybe that chance would reach one hundred percent.

Just the thought made Stark grin.

But he didn't waste time. He had two more skill evolutions to go through.

[Do you wish to consume 100 Evolution Points to evolve "Invincible Magic Barrier"?]

"Yes."

Ding!

[You have evolved "Invincible Magic Barrier" (Mythical) to "Unbreakable Magic Barrier" (Ancient)]

He immediately selected the other skill.

[Do you wish to consume 100 Evolution Points to evolve "Piercing Bone Spikes"?]

There were two reasons he chose it over [Storm of Lightning] or [Vines of Fate].

The first was simple: [Piercing Bone Spikes] did more damage.

It was focused damage, yes, and he needed to be accurate, but it was far more effective against single targets.

The second reason was even more practical.

His lightning and vine skills didn't work well against spiders.

Their resistances and natural defenses reduced their effectiveness.

But the bone spikes could effectively harm them.

"Yes."

Ding!

[You have evolved "Piercing Bone Spikes" (Mythical) to "Piercing Skeletal Spikes" (Ancient)]

[Current Evolution Points: 7.]

He had spent everything.

It would take a long time to save enough EP for more evolutions, but that was fine.

It took 250 EP to evolve an ancient-rank skill after all.

'Perfect.'

Now it was time to check the details.

---

[Unbreakable Magic Barrier (Ancient): Summon a barrier around the user that can endure many attacks. It has 40,000 HP → 100,000 HP. 30 (15)-seconds cooldown.]

---

[Piercing Skeletal Spikes (Ancient): Summon 15 skeletal spikes from the ground to pierce an opponent. Each spike deals 2,000 → 3,000 damage and has a chance to cause "bleeding". 20 (10)-seconds cooldown.]

---

'Holy shit.'

The difference was massive.

First, the [Unbreakable Magic Barrier].

Its HP had jumped to one-hundred thousand. That was terrifying.

A monster like Andregil might be able to break it in a few hits, but for smaller enemies? No chance.

They would need to swarm him in numbers just to stand a chance at breaking through.

Then came [Piercing Skeletal Spikes].

This was the strongest deal-damage skill in his arsenal now.

If every spike landed, the total damage would exceed one million.

Of course, Stark knew that realistically, only about one-third of the spikes would land.

But even so, the numbers were absurd.

And if he caught an enemy off guard, like he had with the [Church Assassin] or the [Calamity Minotaur], the result would be an instant kill.

'Perfect.'

The cooldowns hadn't gone down, but they hadn't gone up either.

That was good enough.

Stark clenched his fists, excitement running through him.

His power had jumped again.

And with that done, he turned his focus back to the cave entrance.

He stepped inside without waiting.

Ding!

[You have entered the "Spider Silk Nest"]

[Lives loss rate: 500]

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.