Leveling up, efficient growth

Leo woke early the next morning.

After a few simple stretches, he left the palace with his stone knife and headed straight for the eastern hillside he had chosen yesterday.

Morning light filtered through the treetops. Mist still lingered in the woods, and the air was fresh.

With yesterday's experience, he was much more efficient at finding ant nests.

In less than an hour, he found his first target beside a pile of rocks-a red ant nest built in the gaps between three boulders.

Leo watched for a while, confirming that no other dangerous creatures were nearby.

He found a thick branch, drove it hard into the nest entrance, then quickly stirred it around.

Blackish-red ants poured out like a tide, but this time Leo was prepared.

He had reinforced his trouser legs and cuffs with broad leaves, making it difficult for the ants to crawl inside.

He swept the branch from side to side, knocking down and crushing large numbers of ants.

A faint warmth kept radiating from the tattoo on the back of his hand.

[Life energy +0.01]

The notifications came without pause.

After clearing out the nest, Leo continued searching. Over the course of the morning, he destroyed three nests of different sizes, raising his level progress from 31% to 68%.

During a brief midday break, he ate some berries gathered yesterday and drank from the stream.

With his strengthened body, his stamina drained noticeably more slowly. Half a day's work left him only slightly tired.

"At this rate, I can level up today."

That afternoon, Leo widened his search. Besides the obvious mound-shaped nests on the surface, he began looking for nests inside rotten wood or deep underground.

As the sun sank toward the west, he found his fifth ant nest of the day at the base of an enormous dead tree. This one was quite large.

It took Leo nearly half an hour to clear it out completely.

When he swept away the last batch of ants, the tattoo on his hand suddenly radiated a stronger warmth than ever before.

[Life energy +12.3]

[Level: 1 (5%)]

I did it!

A warm current surged from the tattoo and quickly spread throughout his body.

Leo could distinctly feel his muscles swelling slightly and hear faint cracks from his bones. After ten-odd seconds, the warmth gradually subsided.

He clenched his fists, feeling a clear increase in strength.

When he tried jumping, his body felt much lighter. Even an easy jump carried him almost fifty percent higher than before.

His vision was clearer too-he could make out the veins on leaves twenty meters away.

Leo found a small tree about as thick as the mouth of a bowl to test his strength.

Wrapping both hands around it, he pulled hard-the roots loosened, soil turned over, and the tree slowly rose about three inches out of the ground.

He still could not uproot it entirely, but his strength already far exceeded that of an ordinary adult.

"An improvement across the board."

That was his conclusion. It was not just strength; his speed, endurance, defense, five senses... every aspect had improved significantly.

He recalled the descriptions of Nen users' basic physical abilities in Hunter x Hunter.

An ordinary Nen user's physical strength was usually developed through prolonged training and nourishment from Nen Aura.

His method of strengthening himself directly through life energy might be even more efficient.

"If I reach level 25, even without awakening Nen, my physical abilities alone should rival an average Nen user's."

Leo calculated inwardly. That realization further strengthened his determination to level up quickly.

As darkness approached, he returned to the palace.

That night, Leo tried making a fire. He found some dry wood, carved a groove in it with his stone knife, and selected a hardwood stick to use as a drill.

Though inexperienced, his enhanced strength and control made it easier to apply force.

After two hours of repeated attempts, smoke rose from the groove. He carefully added dry moss crumbs and blew gently-

A flame sprang up.

Starting a fire was a major achievement. Cooked food would provide more energy, fire could deter wild beasts at night, and he could process hides to make simple equipment.

Over the following days, Leo settled into a regular routine.

He set out each morning, searching outward from the palace.

He focused on ant nests and other colonies of insects while watching for small animals along the way-rabbits, gophers, and birds-and killing them whenever convenient.

These animals provided relatively little life energy, but it added up, and they also supplied meat.

His strengthened body multiplied his efficiency.

Prey he once had to approach cautiously could now be ambushed at greater speed; large ant nests that had once demanded considerable time and effort now took half as long to destroy.

Three days later, he reached level 2.

The improvement was just as noticeable.

This time, he deliberately measured the results: he ran a hundred meters about two seconds faster than at level 1; a punch could leave a clear dent in a tree trunk; and he could land easily after jumping from five meters up, with only a slight jolt to his knees.

His recovery had also improved significantly.

Once, while clearing an ant nest, several Soldier Ants bit him. The wounds stopped bleeding and scabbed over within half an hour, and were mostly healed the next day.

Leo began making simple tools: a pack woven from hides and vines to carry more supplies; dried tendons from his prey to experiment with bowstrings; and sharp stone flakes tied to wooden shafts as spearheads.

On the fifth day, he reached level 3.

By then, his physical abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people.

An all-out leap could carry him onto a three-meter-high rock wall; he could snap branches as thick as an arm with his bare hands; and he could see movement thirty meters away by moonlight.

He also began encountering larger creatures.

A lynx-like beast once tried to attack him, but he killed it with his stone spear and gained 8 points of life energy-less efficient than an ant nest, but much quicker.

Leo realized that as his strength increased, he could start challenging stronger prey.

He began deliberately looking for signs of medium-sized beasts while continuing his efficient routine of clearing ant nests.

On the evening of the seventh day, after Leo cleared a large ant nest in a rock crevice, the familiar warmth spread from the tattoo on his hand.

[Life energy +15.7]

[Level: 4 (2%)]

From level 0 to level 4 in one week.

Leo stood on the hillside beneath the setting sun, overlooking the distant forest.

The changes in his body were transformative-he was now several times stronger than when he first arrived, with comprehensive improvements to his speed, reflexes, and endurance.

He tried recalling the events of Hunter x Hunter. His physical abilities had probably already surpassed the competitors on the lower floors of Heaven's Arena and approached those of the fighters on the middle floors.

And this was only level 4. He still had a long way to go before his "Zetsu" state would be lifted at level 25.

"If I can keep up this pace..." he estimated.

But he knew that the life energy required to level up would surely increase with his level.

Besides, the forest contained only so many ant nests. He could not keep clearing them indefinitely.

He needed to plan ahead.

He decided to expand his exploration starting tomorrow.

He would continue searching for ant nests while moving in the direction marked on the map, seeking new sources of prey for future leveling.

The campfire crackled. Leo roasted the rabbit he had caught that day, fat dripping into the flames as its aroma filled the air.

He took a bite. Crisp outside and tender within-having fire had greatly improved his quality of life.

In the firelight, the dark-red tattoo on his hand seemed to shift faintly, as though alive.

Level 4. Twenty-one more levels before his goal of 25.

The road ahead was still long, but at least he had made a smooth start.

The next day, Leo changed his strategy.

No longer satisfied with ant nests and small prey, he began actively searching for large creatures.

Around noon, he found a target in a valley.

It was a One-Horned Bear-nearly two meters tall at the shoulder, covered in brownish-black fur, with a gray horn almost half a meter long growing from its forehead. It was drinking leisurely beside a stream.

Leo watched from behind a rock. A creature that size was bound to provide plenty of life energy.

But the risk was high too. The One-Horned Bear's thick hide and horn were both deadly weapons.

After weighing his options briefly, he decided to attack.

The battle was fierce. Relying on his enhanced agility, Leo maneuvered around the bear and repeatedly thrust his stone spear, but each strike inflicted only superficial wounds.

The One-Horned Bear possessed terrifying strength. Every attack brought him perilously close to death.

Ten minutes later, its paw grazed Leo's left shoulder, and his bone cracked sharply.

The doubled pain made his vision darken, but he gritted his teeth and held on, seizing the opening to drive the stone knife in his right hand into the bear's eye.

The One-Horned Bear howled in agony and charged wildly in its fury. Leo was knocked flying. Coughing blood, he struggled up and saw that the wounded eye had ruined its aim; it was crashing blindly into the rock wall.

Enduring the excruciating pain, he picked up the thickest wooden spear on the ground, rushed at the bear from behind, and drove it into the back of its neck with all his strength!

"ROAR!"

With one final agonized cry, the One-Horned Bear's enormous body crashed to the ground. It twitched a few times, then went still.

Leo collapsed into a sitting position, gasping for air and covered in blood. His left shoulder was fractured, and he had numerous abrasions. The doubled pain nearly made him pass out.

But an intense warmth spread from the back of his hand.

[Life energy +45]

[Level: 4 (47%)]

One hunt had raised his progress by 45%! Far more efficient than ant nests.

The price was steep as well. Leo examined his injuries; he could no longer raise his left arm. With difficulty, he treated his wounds, splinted the arm with branches, and tore strips from his clothes for bandages.

Half an hour later, he could barely stand; after two hours, he could move his left arm slightly; by the time he returned to the palace before dark, his injuries had mostly healed.

"My recovery... is even stronger than I imagined," Leo said in surprise.

This meant he could undertake riskier hunts and recover quickly from injuries without disrupting his subsequent activities.

From that day onward, his hunting strategy changed completely.

He no longer relied solely on ant nests, instead actively seeking large creatures: One-Horned Bears in the valleys, saber-toothed tigers in the forest, giant crocodiles in the swamps... all dangerous, but rich sources of life energy.

Of course, he still cleared any ant nests and insect colonies he encountered along the way. Those were a steady source of gains.

The days passed one by one.

Leo grew increasingly familiar with the forest.

He knew where to find particular prey, how to exploit the terrain, and each creature's weaknesses and attack patterns. His combat experience accumulated rapidly.

After one month, he reached level 8.

By then, his physical abilities were astonishing: he could fight medium-sized beasts barehanded and jump from ten meters up without injury.

After two months, level 12. He began venturing into more dangerous areas, even deliberately entering the territories of powerful creatures.

After three months, level 16. Ordinary beasts could no longer threaten him; he needed stronger prey.

Meanwhile, Leo also discovered a pattern: the life energy required to level up increased with each level, meaning he needed more-and stronger-prey.

He began systematically sweeping through the secret realm, exploring every corner of the forest.

Time flew.

Half a year later.

Somewhere in the secret realm's forest, a Rhinoceros Armor Beast the size of a small elephant crashed to the ground.

Its entire body was covered in thick hide like bone plates, impervious to ordinary attacks. Yet now a fist-sized bloody hole pierced its throat, killing it in a single blow.

Leo stood beside the corpse, flicking blood from his hand.

He had changed enormously. He had grown from 1.7 meters to nearly 1.85 meters tall, his physique lean and powerful, his muscles sculpted.

Long months outdoors had tanned his skin a wheat-colored brown, marked with faint scars-the traces of half a year of combat.

His eyes were sharp as an eagle's, carrying the composure of someone who had repeatedly faced death.

He wore homemade leather armor pieced together from several kinds of hides, with bone plates fitted over vital areas. A stone knife hung at his waist-along with several bone throwing darts.

Over those six months, Leo had also deliberately trained his body. Taking advantage of his powerful recovery, he subjected every part of himself to punishing, self-injuring conditioning, gradually adapting to the doubled pain.

The dark-red tattoo on his hand grew faintly hot.

[Life energy +120]

[Level: 23 (10.8%)]

"Level 23," Leo murmured.

From level 4 to level 23 in half a year.

He had explored nearly the entire secret realm and hunted down most of the forest's large creatures. Those remaining were relatively powerful, beyond his ability to kill for now.

Finding suitable prey now took a great deal of time each day, and his leveling had noticeably slowed.

But his strength had undergone a complete transformation.

He had tested it: an all-out punch could break a waist-thick tree trunk; he could sprint a hundred meters in under five seconds; his vision could pick out insect holes in leaves a hundred meters away; and his hearing could catch faint sounds within a hundred meters.

His recovery was even more terrifying. A week earlier, a venomous lizard had bitten him during a hunt, its potent venom paralyzing half his body. Yet three hours later, he had metabolized all the poison, and the wound healed that same day.

"Two levels left." Leo looked east, toward the secret realm's exit. "Once Zetsu is lifted at level 25, I can leave this place."

He shouldered the Rhinoceros Armor Beast's most valuable part-its single horn. The material was hard enough to make weapons.

On his way back to the palace, he cleared two small ant nests, earning a few more points of life energy.

That night, beside the campfire inside the palace.

Leo roasted meat while polishing his newly made bone spear.

Over half a year, he had transformed the palace into a temporary base, complete with a food-storage cellar, a workspace for processing materials, and a resting area lined with hides.

"The last two levels... might take more than a month," he estimated. Prey was becoming harder to find; sometimes days passed without a suitable target.

At that very moment, inside a cave at the forest's edge on the eastern side of the secret realm.

Ripples suddenly disturbed the calm seawater. Ancient patterns on the rock walls lit up one after another, emitting a pale-blue glow.

The light gathered into a swirling gateway at the center of the cave.

Ripples spread, and three figures emerged from the gateway.

At their head was a tall, thin middle-aged man in a finely tailored suit, with a refined, scholarly air.

He held a dark gray stone tablet-the very one that had fallen in a town on the Ulubian Continent six months earlier.

A man and a woman followed behind him.

The man was young and wore glasses, with a large backpack on his back. He looked like a scholar.

The woman had red hair and an athletic build, with a short blade at her waist and an alert gaze.

"We did it!" the young scholar Kaspar exclaimed excitedly. "Mr. Satotz, we really got in!"

The red-haired woman, Selena, rested her hand on her blade's hilt and surveyed their surroundings warily.

"Air is circulating, and plants are growing. This hidden realm is still functioning. Be careful. There may be guardian creatures."

The three switched on their lighting equipment and began exploring farther out.