The Doom-Bringer (Seeking Collection, Recommendation!)

"What on earth is going on?"

Donald walked a few paces, his brow furrowed in a deep frown.

Being targeted by a transcendent—especially one with such cryptic and mysterious methods—was certainly not a pleasant experience.

"You aren't surprised, which means this isn't your first time encountering transcendent power, is it?"

Sulu stared at Donald, stating it as a fact.

"I heard a mentor of mine talk about this sort of thing before!"

Donald did not refute this. "Did it come looking for you?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not. Who knows?" Sulu spread his hands.

In any case, the shadow couldn't talk, and he wasn't about to volunteer to shoulder the responsibility.

"To think... that even within St. George University, transcendents have appeared..." Donald muttered to himself.

"That's quite normal, isn't it?"

Thinking of the Dawn of Gods mentioned by Rhode, Sulu said this deliberately.

"As I thought..." Donald's expression shifted. "You are someone from that circle, or at the very least, you have had contact with it!"

"Heh..." Sulu gave a non-committal reply. "What do you plan to do about tonight?"

Given Donald's status and strength, he might truly have brushed against the circles of the transcendent.

"That shadow—it harmed me, and it wants me to just pretend nothing happened?!"

Donald's face turned grim. In that brief moment earlier, he had truly felt the threat of death. "I must retaliate with force! But... since the enemy is a transcendent, I must formulate a perfect plan. For instance... catching a lead on them and handing it over to the police!"

Sulu nodded with a blank expression. "I won't let her off, either!"

"The attacker is a woman?" Donald's expression flickered. "If you intend to act... perhaps we can cooperate and share the secrets of becoming a transcendent!"

In front of Sulu, Donald finally confessed his ambition to become a transcendent.

"Are you... perhaps being too impatient?" Sulu asked curiously.

"Once there is a conflict of interest, things change. I... want to become a transcendent! I must do it quickly!" Donald clenched his fists, as if hiding some secret.

"Very well. What resources do you have? Perhaps we can discuss this."

Sulu agreed immediately.

Don't let the fact that Donald's combat skills were inferior to his own fool you; among ordinary people, he was already among the best. Furthermore, as the president of the university Combat Club, his connections were far broader than Sulu's, and he might truly be able to provide some assistance.

"It seems you already have someone in mind, then?" Donald's eyes lit up.

"Indeed!" Sulu did not deny it. "I have a few suspects. What do you intend to do?"

"I need some time to prepare!"

Donald would certainly not make a decision on such a major matter immediately. After agreeing on a time to meet again tomorrow, he politely took his leave and hurried away.

Sulu watched his retreating back, his eyes deep and contemplative.

To be honest, if it weren't for the whole business with Beatrice, Sulu would have already called for official reinforcements.

On the business card left by that policewoman, Marilyn, there was an address.

Although she is concerned with the trail of Beatrice, she can't just ignore a case of attempted murder, right? It's just that the phrasing of certain things will need to be coordinated with Donald.

Trying to take on two female spellcasters by himself was a foolish endeavor.

When there is a problem, finding a police officer is the correct way to solve it.

As for himself? He would just follow behind and silently pick up the scraps. He could even take the opportunity to see the true strength of the Federation.

However, there was one key point: Beatrice!

Others didn't know, but he and that witch both knew that Beatrice had already died in the private room of the White Tower Cafe!

If that witch fell into the hands of the police and started talking, he would be behind bars by the next day!

Therefore, even if I use official power, must I silence her? Or... should I resolve this privately with Donald?

But... as I am now, I fear I am no match for any witch who is fully prepared!

No... the opponent only manipulated shadows; she doesn't necessarily know the fact that Beatrice is already dead... Compared to the risks, finding the police is still safer.

Earlier, he had seemed like a fierce tiger, but in reality, he had caught her completely off guard, using the boost of Tiger Power to break free from the shadows and his high mental strength to resist her mental suppression.

Once the opponent reacted and made specific preparations, Sulu felt the probability of his failure was very high.

The fact that the system hadn't given him any experience points proved that it judged the encounter as a draw at best; he was still too weak.

Therefore, urgently craving strength, he turned his attention back to his attribute panel:

Name: [Sulu Portley]

Profession: [None]

Class: [0]

Title: [None]

Strength: [1.3](1.5), Agility: [1.2], Constitution: [0.8](1.0), Spirit: [1.6]

Skills: [Corpse Maiden Creation LV1], [Krav Maga Combat Arts LV4]

Passives: [Common Hebraic LV3], [Basic Physics LV4], [Demon Hunting Lore LV1], [Ancient Hebraic LV2]

XP: [90]

Status: Weakened

90 XP!

This included the gains from exterminating the rats in the sewer earlier, as well as the spoils from defeating Donald just now; it was the highest amount of XP Sulu had obtained since he started.

Not only did a '+' sign appear behind [Krav Maga Combat Arts LV4], but one also appeared behind [Corpse Maiden Creation LV1], indicating they could be upgraded.

It really hasn't been easy. I can roughly guess the outcome of upgrading Krav Maga Combat Arts—it'll likely just add 0.1 to my Constitution and Strength. But what about the spell-casting branch? Will it increase my Spirit stat?

Since it consumed more XP than the combat arts, there should be some surprises in store.

With a hint of trepidation, Sulu tapped the '+' sign behind [Corpse Maiden Creation LV1].

[Consuming 90 XP, Corpse Maiden Creation LV1 upgrading to... Ding! Detected that Corpse Maiden Creation LV1 upgrade requires prerequisite class: Doom-Bringer, Spirit requirement 2.0! Conditions not met! Upgrade failed!]

"What?"

Sulu's heart skipped a beat. He looked at the XP bar and saw that the 90 XP had been returned in full. He let out a sigh of relief, though his expression remained grave.

Some truly transcendent-level skills have bottlenecks for subsequent upgrades, even if I can use the attribute panel to take shortcuts at the start!

The path of classes still holds many secrets... but the capabilities of this attribute panel exceed my expectations.

Although this upgrade attempt failed, Sulu was still pleasantly surprised.

The attribute panel had revealed quite a bit of information.

For instance, [Corpse Maiden Creation] was clearly a skill belonging to a necromancy-type caster; at later stages, upgrading it required a prerequisite class—[Doom-Bringer]! It also had specific requirements for Spirit.

In other words... if I obtain skill books in the future that others cannot learn, I can use the system to uncover their secrets.

Since the spell-casting skill couldn't be upgraded, Sulu didn't hesitate to invest his XP into Krav Maga Combat Arts.

[Consuming 80 XP... Krav Maga Combat Arts leveled up to LV5! Constitution +0.5, Strength +0.5, Agility +0.1!]

80 XP? Does the cost to upgrade combat arts double with each level?

Sulu had been mentally prepared for this.

On the contrary, the additional increase in Agility gave him a small, pleasant surprise.

Perhaps, by training his combat arts to the pinnacle, it was entirely possible to break through the class bottleneck and enter the realm of the truly transcendent!