An Kai returned to the tavern where he was staying.
He found the owner and exchanged ten gold coins for enough food to fill Storage Ring No. 1.
Without stopping, he ran toward the Evergreen Gang's headquarters before dawn.
Ten minutes later, An Kai arrived at the Evergreen Gang's headquarters.
After observing carefully, he found that only two guards remained in the sprawling Evergreen Gang headquarters. They were discussing their past murders...
Competing over who had killed more people, and so on.
Once he confirmed that they were the only two there, An Kai sent two Fireballs their way without hesitation.
The two Evergreen Gang members, who had murdered countless people, died amid thunderous explosions without even putting up a fight.
Then An Kai rushed into the Evergreen Gang's headquarters. After searching the place, he found some stored meat and an empty storage ring.
It had a capacity of about two cubic meters.
There were also some Profession Skill Book Analysis books, which looked as though they could fetch a good price.
Other than those, there was nothing else.
An Kai guessed that their resources and other supplies were probably in the storage rings worn by the Evergreen Gang's leader.
He had seen two rings on that fellow's hands earlier.
Still, this trip had not been wasted. At least he had gained a storage ring with a capacity of roughly two cubic meters.
Together with his two three-cubic-meter rings, he now had eight cubic meters of storage space.
He had also obtained more than twenty gold coins' worth of food from the Evergreen Gang.
All in all, this trip had been well worth it!
After making an estimate, he figured that, with his current appetite, his stored food should last about five years.
An Kai cast several Fireballs in succession, setting the Evergreen Gang's headquarters ablaze before rushing out of Chaos City...
Under cover of night, he vanished into the desert outside Chaos City.
An Kai's destination for secluded training was none other than his secret hideout in the oasis.
He could not enter the mage tower yet. Once inside, he would need over 100 intelligence to activate the quest.
Who knew whether that quest would be easy?
If he was trapped for too long, ran out of food, and still could not leave, he would be in trouble.
Besides, An Kai already knew that his appetite would grow as his attributes increased.
After weighing his options, he decided that the secret hideout in the oasis suited his needs.
It was well hidden, and he could obtain some food there too.
The next day, while running, An Kai learned through the side story that the Evergreen Gang had issued a wanted notice for him and Hanks.
He could not help muttering about how stingy they were.
He had given them the entire Mountainbreaker Gang, yet they still cared about those few scumbags from the Evergreen Gang...
At the same time, An Kai noticed that Will-Bukelin had not chosen to return to Buklin Capital. According to the side story, he intended to use Chaos City to help him take revenge...
The Bounty Tower, to be precise.
But the wealth needed for his revenge was an astronomical sum. Will-Bukelin had concealed his identity and was working toward that goal in Chaos City.
Two days later.
An Kai returned to his Second Secret Hideout in the oasis.
He moved the boulder aside with both hands, entered the cave, then blocked the entrance with the boulder again.
He lit the cave with a Fireball.
An Kai took out the Lower-grade Magic Stone...
[Skill Points +100.]
He checked his skill points. They had reached 101!
That three-digit number was immensely reassuring.
With his spirits high, An Kai took out the [Meditation Staff] and began meditating in seclusion...
Now, while holding the [Meditation Staff], An Kai only needed to devote himself entirely to Meditation for a day and a half to gain one attribute point.
A month and a half later.
An Kai finished another round of Meditation.
[Attribute Points +1]
As usual, An Kai chose to add his newly acquired attribute point to intelligence.
[Intelligence +1] [Intelligence: 61]
Over that month and a half, including roughly half a month of rest, An Kai had successfully raised all four of his attributes to 60!
Now that his intelligence had reached 61, the barrier holding back his spells had been cleared once again!
With a grand wave of his hand, he happily allocated his points!
[Skill Points -30] [Fireball Proficiency +10] [Meditation Proficiency +10] [Freezing Spell Proficiency +10]
With that, all three spells had reached [Lv7 "70/70"]!
Pushing the boulder aside, An Kai walked to the shore of the oasis lake.
A Fireball suddenly appeared in his hand. It was enormous, about the size of one of those little mobility cars for seniors from his previous life.
He raised the Fireball high and swung his hand. The enormous ball of flame instantly slammed into the lake!
Boom!!!
A tremendous explosion rang out, blasting two [Desert Crocodiles] resting in the lake to pieces...
A crater more than five meters across appeared where the Fireball had struck!
"That should be enough to kill that Richardson fellow, right?"
Muttering to himself, An Kai returned to his training cave in a good mood.
Out here in the desert, merely moving the boulder aside for that short time had allowed a wave of heat to invade the roughly fifty-square-meter cave.
As he stepped inside, hot air hit him in the face.
With a thought, An Kai formed a layer of ice in his hand using Freezing Spell.
First, he used one hand to block the entrance with the nearly three-meter-tall boulder. Then he pressed the hand holding Freezing Spell to the ground.
In an instant, a thin layer of ice spread outward from An Kai.
One Freezing Spell was clearly not enough for the fifty-square-meter cave.
But mana was the one thing An Kai never lacked. The balanced development of his four attributes gave him mana reserves far beyond those of other mages at his level.
Freezing Spells kept forming in his hand, spreading outward from him.
Five minutes later.
An Kai had cast twenty-three Freezing Spells, coating the entire cave, inside and out, in a thin layer of ice...
The heat disappeared. In a desert where even taking a breath scorched the nostrils, An Kai's secluded training spot was truly a paradise!
A day later, having finished enjoying himself, An Kai picked up the [Meditation Staff] and resumed his great undertaking of secluded training!
At times like these, An Kai would always exclaim from the bottom of his heart, "The old guild leader was such a good man!"
"You haven't found him?"
"He's in the desert. There's no doubt about it!"
Inside the ancient castle where Mage Donglin was training in seclusion, a mage subordinate was reporting to him about An Kai.
The date of his three-year agreement with An Kai was approaching, yet An Kai had vanished without a trace, as though into thin air.
"It seems I'll have to go myself. This student of mine is rather slippery..." Dong Lin muttered.
A gentle breeze swept in, carrying him out of the ancient castle.
Behind him, more than a hundred black-robed figures followed closely, making clacking sounds as they walked.
It sounded like bones knocking together...
150 days later.
An Kai slowly opened his eyes.
He had never imagined that the secluded training he thought would last five years was already about to end...
[Attribute Points +1]
After meditating for a day while holding the [Meditation Staff], he had finally gained an attribute point.
An Kai glanced at his four Attribute Points, all of which stood at 80, and chose to add them to intelligence without much hesitation.
[Intelligence +1] [Intelligence: 81]
The shackles on his spells had been broken once again.
With a grand wave of his hand, he raised the proficiency of all three spells to the limit.
[Meditation Proficiency +10] [Fireball Proficiency +10] [Freezing Spell Proficiency +10]
Standing up, An Kai opened his newly improved attribute panel.
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