Level Up

After Lu Qiming gave himself a hard slap, his head finally cleared completely. A bitter smile tugged at his lips.

"System, do you think I'm a wimp? I clearly have strength that far surpasses that of ordinary people in this world, yet I still got so scared that I lost my mind."

"Ding! This system does not know what the host is talking about. This system is only responsible for passing on a profession. If the host fails the mission, this system will select a new host."

The mechanical, mature woman's voice rang out in Lu Qiming's mind, completely unconcerned with what had just happened to him.

"Tch! I know, I know!"

Listening to the system's voice in his mind, Lu Qiming didn't know why, but it gave his oppressed, shattered reason the tiniest bit of comfort. At least he wasn't alone. He had the system with him.

At the thought, Lu Qiming smiled faintly, his face covered in blood.

"System, can you change your voice to a Loli Voice? Preferably one that changes every day. For now, give me a tsundere little girl!"

"Ding! This system does not have that ability."

"Tsk."

Lu Qiming smacked his lips a few times and stopped teasing his system. He turned and walked toward the Stainless Steel Basin he had just thrown aside.

"Brother Stainless Steel Basin, are you okay?!"

He picked up the Stainless Steel Basin and looked ruefully at the huge dent in it. It was a good thing he hadn't used Brother Stainless Steel Basin in that last flurry, or it would surely have perished heroically.

Then Lu Qiming flipped the Stainless Steel Basin over and pressed one hand against the bulge on its bottom.

"Clang, clang, clang."

After a series of knocks, the Stainless Steel Basin returned to its original shape, though its bottom was now covered in obvious fist marks. But he was sure his Stainless Steel Basin Brother wouldn't mind.

It had crossed time and space with him, after all!

"Now, it's time to collect the spoils."

Lu Qiming looked at the Magic Stones scattered across the ground and smiled like a man seeing an autumn harvest. Holding the Stainless Steel Basin in his left hand, he crouched down and started picking them up one by one.

While collecting the Magic Stones, Lu Qiming opened his Panel.

Name: Lu Qiming Lv3 (200/300)

Age: 16

Spirit: 15.3

Strength: 15.3

Agility: 20.3

Constitution: 15.3

Profession: Assassin

Skill Points: 0

A level had appeared beside his name on the Panel, and every one of his attributes had increased by 0.3. Lu Qiming also felt more familiar with the techniques in his memories. But when he noticed the newly added Skill Points, he paused in the middle of picking up Magic Stones.

"System, what are these skill points?"

"Ding! The host gains one skill point for every five levels, which can be used to unlock profession skills."

Lu Qiming nodded and looked at his level. He was level three, so he would get another skill point after gaining two more levels. And according to the mission record he had just checked, his progress had already become 50/1,000,000. That meant he had killed fifty monsters, leaving him nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred fifty short of his goal.

"System, how does my experience work?"

"Ding. The host starts with one hundred experience points. Before level ten, the experience needed to gain each level increases by one hundred. Each ordinary monster on the first floor of the Dungeon grants ten experience points."

"Mm."

Lu Qiming nodded. Now he understood it completely. Before reaching level ten, the experience needed for each level would increase by one hundred, and the stronger the monsters, the more experience he would gain. That was much better than the tenfold increase in experience requirements for each level in the games he used to play. Plus, every level increased all his attributes by 0.1, and every five levels earned him a skill point.

That meant that, if he put no more than three points into each skill, he would need at least ten skill points to unlock the next tier of skills. In other words, he had to reach at least level fifty.

"Then let's keep going!"

A dangerous smile curled Lu Qiming's lips. He set the Stainless Steel Basin on the ground and looked toward the group of monsters charging from the intersection.

There, Goblins, Half-Wolves, Gnomes, Ant Monsters, and other creatures—nearly a hundred in all—were rushing toward Lu Qiming. They let out strange cries as they fixed their bloodthirsty gazes on him.

"Roar!"

Lu Qiming drew a deep breath, roared at the oncoming monsters, and charged forward with his fists raised.

Just then, a group of adventurers returning from the middle floors of the Dungeon heard the commotion. Having fought countless battles while adventuring in the Dungeon, they immediately recognized the sounds of a large number of monsters gathered in one place.

"Captain, should we go take a look?"

A half-elf girl turned toward the man behind her, who carried a greatsword on his back. Familiar with the Dungeon, she could tell from the monsters' roars that a large horde had gathered and was attacking an adventurer.

"Mm, let's go have a look." The greatsword-bearing man turned around as he spoke and looked at the pair of Amazon warrior sisters behind him.

"Aili, Ailin, get ready to fight. This will be a good chance for you to get used to working as a team."

"Yes, Captain!"

The two twin girls, who looked no older than fourteen, nodded. They had joined the Kin two months earlier, and they were now following the group to the middle floors because they had a rare Berserker talent.

With this talent, the more intense the battle, the faster they grew. To train the two of them, their Kin had unusually taken the two rookies from the upper floors all the way to the middle floors.

But along the way, their teammates had killed most of the monsters first, leaving just one or two for the girls to fight.

After a month, they had grown considerably, going from complete rookies to capable warriors. That was why their captain wanted them to give it a try when he heard that a large number of monsters had gathered.

After all, Aili and Ailin could already defeat the weakest monsters on the middle floors on their own, but they had never faced a horde. Since they had come across one on their way back—and it was made up of monsters from the first floor—it was just right for them.

As the team from the unknown Kin approached the gathering of monsters, they spotted densely packed footprints on the ground. With their experience, they could tell at a glance that at least a hundred monsters had gathered up ahead.

The sight only made them more curious. What kind of rookie adventurer didn't know to leave after a fight, and had let the monsters—drawn by the sounds of battle and the smell of blood—surround them?

They quickened their pace. As they rounded the corner of a passageway, a terrifying scene came into view.

A dense horde of monsters roared incessantly. In the middle of them, a black-haired boy kept vanishing and reappearing, hammering the monsters on the head with blow after blow. A strange laugh rang from his mouth.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

One monster's head after another burst like fireworks. Between the gruesome sight and the boy's strange laughter, everyone froze in place, at a loss for what to do.

Thank you, dear readers, for the recommendation votes, comments, and favorites!