Chapter 64: There Is No Hope For This One
The battle back up the catacombs was quite exhausting for Zorat.
Not because of the several different species of dungeon monsters they had to dispatch on their way up, nor was it because of the terrible landscape and climate.
No, it was all due to the ever-present observation of the hero of stealth. Ava.
It turns out, that when she said she was never going to take her eyes off Zorat again, she meant it quite literally.
Ava had been like a hawk monitoring everywhere Zorat steps..
He realised he had to have a serious talk with her to contain her overzealous tendencies.
After a rigorous three-day journey of ceaseless battling and occasional rests up the catacombs of permafrost...
The knight commander and all heroes finally made it outside the dungeon, and were met with a beautiful double yellow suns, shining brightly in the sky.
This sunny and warm weather, with abundant fresh ventilation caused all the heroes to slump to the sandy grounds in joy and relief that they had somehow survived such an ordeal with all of them alive and well.
Zorat, too, was quite satisfied with the gains from the dungeon.
He had managed to secure two divine skill runes that contain divine authority fragments. One was planned, the other was an accident, but a fortunate gain nonetheless.
Now, including his own, when those two other divine skills are unraveled by him, he would possess three divine authority fragments in total. And soon enough, he will have them all in hand.
This wan’t all that Zorat gained too; he had finished off a lot of monsters on their last legs; This opportunity was so magnanimously granted by Andrew, seeing as Zorat was still a Hero, and would eventually have to battle the demon king with them, he couldn’t remain so weak.
Zorat gladly accepted the free experience, and in just three days, just like Erica, he too had reached the Adept realm.
What a standup guy. hehehe.
Now, Zorat’s stats looked like this...
*****
[Name: Caleb Cole]
[LV: 17 ]
[HP: 275/275 ]
[MP: 55/55 ]
[STR: 14 ]
[DEF: 14 ]
[SPD: 14 ]
[Affinity: Space || Earth || Bow || Shadow ]
[Skills: Spatial Repertoire (Error) || Portal (Error) || Earth Manipulaion (Error) ]
[Divine Skill: Null Presence || Infinite Penetration ]
[Special Skill: Space Manipulation (Error)]
****
Apparently, when regular people level up, they gain two distributable stat points...
Whereas, when heroes level up, they gain three.
A similar thing happens with the health points and the mana points....
Well, that’s until they break through the major node realms, and there are some bonus stats awarded in accordance with the realm nodes stages.
Zorat had observed the process of those distributable stats taking effect on his physical body, and he had deduced the process to be quite simple.
It was mainly the reallocation of a dead being’s accumulated living essence into another living being, which is so conveniently sugar-coated and cleanly digitized as a stat made of numbers.
At its core, such leveling, as they call it, was essentially similar to a demonic practice of using life and soul essence to grow stronger.
This made Zorat smirk at the ignorance of the people of this world hunting demons because they kill and devour living beings when they too were fundamentally doing the same thing, just with a little more refinement.
"Rest for a while, heroes. After which we will commence our journey back to the kingdom, and eventually the royal palace." Azaria began addressing the tired heroes.
"There will be a lot of dangers on the way, but nothing you all at your current levels won’t be able to handle."
"Sustenance will no longer be a problem. There will be enough game and water sources on our way back..."
"And I’m sure the message I transmitted to the kingdom must have arrived by now, so there should be some people on the way to provide us with much-needed additional goods."
The heroes were very happy at this news, because there is just so much they can hope to accomplish from venturing and foraging in the woods for sustenance, as people who were only a little over a week ago, just college students. They needed some finished goods that could make things easier.
"In one hour, we’ll leave. Rest up." Azaria finished saying as she turned to face the forest of no return, checking for any signs of movement.
Their presence might have alerted what dwells within, she needed to be cautious. No one attempts a journey into the forest of no return, unprepared.
They were headed into the forest opposite to this, in the direction of the kingdom of Ursula.
Even to someone like Azaria, venturing into the forest of no return when she was in this weak a condition, would be quite dangerous, and she wouldn’t be able to come out unscathed.
But for the current heroes, it would be extremely dangerous, suicidal even. Though they could level up quite alot, they werent ready for that, and definitely not in their present condition.
Zorat was about to allow his mortal body some rest when he realized Ava was still looking in his general direction even as she tried her hardest to appear like she was only just looking around.
Zorat had gained something worthwhile thanks to Ava, so, being in such a light mood, he decides to take a softer approach to get the young lady off his case.
"Ava... can I have a word with you ?" Zorat called, smiling at Ava who appeared visibly startled before starting to blush as she followed behind Zorat to a secluded area.
Looking into her sky blue eyes behind those glasses, Zorat spoke calmly in his velvet voice."First, I want to thank you, Ava... I have gathered that if it was not for your lead, we wouldn’t have been rescued so soon."
"Um...no..not at all...its...."
"It’s what... what friends do right?" Ava blurted in a hurry, fluttering her arms as she stammered to dismiss the praise, with her cheeks turning even more crimson, before she turned her gaze down shyly to avoid Zorat’s eyes, with her arms fidgeting behind her back.
Zorat continued. "However, Ava.... can I ask you a favor ?" Zorat said softly with a kind smile.
"Anything you want, Caleb.... Anything at all." Ava responded instantly as she met Zorat’s gaze with intense eagerness.
"Could you, maybe... stop keeping an eye on me ?. I know you made a promise, but its unnecessary now."
"No. I will never take my eyes off you again." Ava replied flatly, standing her ground and looking very serious, which just made her appear cuter.
This was actually the boldest Zorat had ever heard her speak before. Her words so far were almost always in whispers.
Hmm... guess I have to pull out the big guns. Hehehe.
You see, Zorat had quite the experience in dealing with people like Ava; he knew exactly what buttons to push.
"Ava... if you continue doing this... it will make me dislike you."
Zorat said these words expecting a certain outcome, but he only saw Ava blushing even harder as her body visibly trembled from what he could only describe as compressed excitement.
Without lifting her head fully, she murmured beneath her breath, twirling slightly. "Caleb... Caleb likes me."
"..."
sigh... There is no hope for this one.