Level Four Swordsman

As he walked along the edge of the village, Lu Chen discovered that Human Head Fireballs were once again roaming freely through the areas he had cleared. All of this plunged Lu Chen into deep doubt.

It was no wonder Lu Chen felt this way. Anyone would feel discouraged after working hard for half a day only to find that it had been completely useless.

"Luckily, I'm not killing evil spirits for the safety of the nearby villages, but for Experience Points. Otherwise, there's no way I could keep my mentality intact right now."

At this point, Lu Chen finally understood why the village did not clear out the evil spirits around it. It was not that they were unwilling; it was very likely that clearing them out was simply useless.

Of course, this was the worst possible news for the village, but for Lu Chen, it was good news.

"I originally thought that once those Human Head Fireballs were gone, I'd have to look for other monsters. But now, it seems I won't need to for the time being."

Before long, Lu Chen, whose body had returned to normal, began hunting evil spirits once again.

After finding a fireball within the totem's range, Lu Chen took one step outside its boundary and waited for the crimson fireball to approach.

The Human Head Fireballs did not possess much intelligence. Charging straight ahead, they were easily shattered by a single sword strike from Lu Chen. Afterward, their scattered flames would gather together again. Naturally, Lu Chen would not let that succeed. Having prepared in advance, he would disperse them once more just as the fireballs were nearly done gathering.

The third time, those crimson flames would converge on Lu Chen from all directions, intending to invade his body with their dispersed, plentiful flames.

In response, Lu Chen chose to use the abundant vitality coursing through his body to resist that erosion head-on.

More often than not, those crimson flames would be dissolved by Lu Chen's vitality before they could even reach him.

That was how Lu Chen dealt with the Human Head Fireballs.

But this time, things were different. After shattering the core of a Human Head Fireball with his first strike, Lu Chen waited for those flames to regroup.

The problem arose here.

The crimson flames that Lu Chen had scattered tried desperately to gather together. In the past, they would quickly reunite.

But this time, after struggling for a while, they did not gather. Instead, they gradually dissolved into the night.

"What's going on? Did it run away?"

Just as Lu Chen was at a loss, the system notification sounded again.

The system notified him that the host had killed a remnant soul—Human Head Fireball—and obtained 20 Experience Points.

"It died? Just like that? What exactly happened?"

The sudden change left Lu Chen somewhat stunned. Then, he noticed the notification that followed in the system.

"The Experience Points have decreased too. There are only twenty points. This definitely isn't because my strength has increased."

Lu Chen was very clear on that point. He had just killed several Human Head Fireballs. Although the experience they gave was somewhat less than yesterday, it had only decreased by a few points. Lu Chen understood that since he had leveled up once, the Experience Points would indeed decrease somewhat.

But for them to drop by more than half at once like this was absolutely abnormal.

Thinking of how the evil spirits could never seem to be killed completely, yet became much weaker and gave fewer Experience Points after being killed once, Lu Chen connected the clues and vaguely formed a guess.

"Those evil spirits truly are difficult to kill, but appearing in the real world must require something I don't know about. After they are killed, when they gather again, they become much weaker."

"Perhaps they slowly grow stronger as time passes."

"Or perhaps they grow stronger again after devouring human vitality."

Because he knew too little, Lu Chen could only make a few guesses.

However, he felt that his guesses were very likely correct.

Of course, Lu Chen quickly gave up on exploring the truth of the world.

"I'm still too weak. Questions about exploring the essence of this world can wait until later. Right now, what I need to do is become stronger as quickly as possible."

After that, Lu Chen stopped overthinking and continued patrolling along the edge of the totem's range.

Because the Human Head Fireballs had become weaker, Lu Chen killed them one by one with a single sword strike this time. He dissolved more than ten of them before consuming even a single point of vitality.

However, although Lu Chen still had vitality left, there were no Human Head Fireballs remaining.

Rather than getting angry about this, Lu Chen let out a sigh of relief.

"Sure enough, Human Head Fireballs can't respawn endlessly. This world may be dangerous, but it's still struggling on."

For Lu Chen, who wanted to farm Experience Points, the Human Head Fireballs never disappearing was a good thing.

But upon closer thought, one would realize just how terrifying that was. If everything could respawn infinitely, this world would be finished. Humanity would never be able to withstand evil spirits that could revive without end.

And when the nest was overturned, how could any egg remain intact? If all humanity died, Lu Chen alone would never be able to survive.

"This is good. Those evil spirits can't respawn infinitely."

The fact that evil spirits could not respawn endlessly made Lu Chen happy for a while. But soon, as he looked at the silent night, where not even a Human Head Fireball remained, he felt somewhat upset again.

"The easiest monsters to deal with are gone!"

"Should I go deeper in, or head to the patrol routes of the other teams?"

With that in mind, Lu Chen did not make an immediate decision. Instead, he conserved his vitality and returned to the area near the village. He was not going back to rest—he was about to level up.

Opening the system interface and ignoring the various pieces of information within, Lu Chen looked at his Experience Points.

Experience Points: 809

When Lu Chen had advanced to a Level Two Swordsman earlier that day, he had 298 Experience Points left. During the night, he had also cleared out five or six Human Head Fireballs in perfect condition, each of which had provided him with fifty or sixty Experience Points, adding more than three hundred in total.

Afterward, Lu Chen cleared out the respawned Human Head Fireballs as well. This time, he had killed more than ten of them, but the respawned ones were simply too weak, each providing only ten or twenty Experience Points. As a result, Lu Chen's Experience Points had not broken through one thousand.

"Though I didn't break a thousand, over eight hundred isn't bad either."

"System, raise the Swordsman level."

Following Lu Chen's command, his Experience Points began draining at high speed. Once they had been consumed to a certain extent, Lu Chen's system interface suddenly shook. Then golden light bloomed from it and spread across his entire body.

Bathed in the golden light, Lu Chen felt warm all over. At the same time, his powerful physique became slightly more streamlined.

System Notification: Host has consumed 300 Experience Points. Swordsman has reached Level 3.

System Notification: Swordsman has reached Level 3. Host Agility +1.

System Notification: Host has consumed 400 Experience Points. Swordsman has reached Level 4.

System Notification: Swordsman has reached Level 4. Host Strength +1.

The leveling was soon complete. At the same time, hunger rose from every cell in Lu Chen's body—the leveling process had drained too much energy from them.

Fortunately, Lu Chen had prepared for this. He reached for the Pottery Jar beside him, removed its seal, and began gulping down the Medicinal Soup.

Once it entered his stomach, the Medicinal Soup was rapidly absorbed by Lu Chen's powerful body. Before long, he had absorbed the entire bowl, and his condition improved as a result.

"As expected, a normal level-up without gaining a skill doesn't consume much. But once I gain a skill—especially a powerful one—I'll need to prepare a huge amount of nutrients."

Having discovered some of the system's leveling rules, Lu Chen was quite pleased. But then he turned his gaze toward the outskirts of the village.

"Evil spirits, I'm coming."