Penetration Resistance reached level 10.

You have become 5.5% Resistant to getting penetrated by a physical object.

You have 9 IP remaining.

What should I do with my remaining IPs?

After he reached level 10 in Penetration Resistance, he didn’t invest anymore point on it. He saw no meaning behind dumping all his points just to get a measly 0.5% increment. It would be better to divert those points elsewhere.

Should I level up Stiffness Resistance?

Stiffness Resistance had a practical and almost instantaneous effect on him. It upgrades his reflex. Unlike his Special Ability’s temporary increment, it was permanent. Aside from that, he discovered Stiffness Resistance also works in all situations, not just on his reflex.

The description’s ‘stiffness type control abilities’ was actually a very ambiguous term. It didn’t explain about the abilities that could be considered a stiffness type. It depends on Andel to find out.

Defense +2

Constitution +5

Before he completed making the decision, two new notifications popped up.

Defense and Constitution! Nice.

It was a welcomed growth. As non-upgradable attributes, Andel’s physical stats could only be increased by indirect means. And the improvement of his constitution affected his HP. To Andel, this was even more useful than increasing his reflex or defense stat.

“Invest all my remaining points to Stiffness Resistance.” He decisively commanded the system in a low voice.

Affirmative!

Stiffness Resistance reached level 10.

You are have become 5% resistant to stiffness type control abilities.

Reflex Bonus +5%

Stamina +1

The process of upgrades only lasted for a minute. During that time, Andel sat next to Paul and pretended to be tired. The latter was busy regaining his depleted ki while lying face down.

Unlike magicians, ki users couldn’t restore ki by meditating. They either need food, rest, or Nutrient bars, made from extracts of demon beasts. The most popular choice was food and rest, as not everyone had the capital to afford the expensive Nutrient bars.

But, unexpectedly, this Paul had one of those bars.

“I didn’t expect you to be this rich!” Andel said in a surprised manner. After all, the first impression Paul gave him wasn’t exactly a rich practitioner should have.

Chewing on the golden-colored cylindrical bar with half the width of his index finger, Paul nodded his head and said, “I am rich, yeah. But I don’t like to show off!”

“Are you?” Andel smiled. His impression of the delinquent-ish guy improved a lot. “Anyway, thanks for helping me get rid of these pigs. As a gift, I can give you some of these horns.” Out of courtesy, and as a partner in crime, Andel felt it wouldn’t appropriate to pocket all the spoils.

“I want half of it,” Paul said seriously. He was still unable to move from his position.

“Half! Isn’t your appetite way too big? It's me who killed them all. You will only get a few.” With his lips stretched to a downward curve and eyes narrowed, Andel retorted.

“But it was me who played with my life on the line and became a decoy,” Paul argued back.

There was a brief silence hung between them.

Cough!

It was broken by Andel with a fake cough.

“Aren’t you rich? Why are you so greedy?” Andel complained sourly.

“Just because I am rich doesn’t mean I give up the money I earned. You should know how expensive it is for a ki practitioner to level up.” Paul explained.

“Expensive!? Don’t you mean hard?” Thinking that he had said it wrong, Andel asked for confirmation.

“Not hard, it's expensive. If you have money, there is no need to train day in day out. You can always hire a ki practitioner to overload your system with ki and forcefully open your Ki Circuits. Then you can use medical supplements to heal the overloaded circuits. Isn’t that easy? But expensive as hell!” Paul explained the whole process, leaving a flabbergasted Andel in the wake.

“What the fuck! No wonder your actual battle prowess doesn’t match your ki realm. You basically power leveled without taking time to earn it.” Andel cursed at the rich idiot. Even he, who could never wield magic or ki, knew the negative impact of this kind of powerup.

This idiot is destroying his future! Overloading his body with foreign ki to forcefully leap up a level, and then using medicine to repair the damage. He is basically burning away his body’s potential as well as his life span. Does he not know if he keeps this up, he might not live past 30?

With squinted brows and twitching lips, Andel kept looking at the back of the idiotic guy as if he discovered a new element.

The method used by Pual was very popular not only in Warren but also everywhere in the territory of the Slovac Dynasty. Basically, the rich upstarts, who possess a bit of talent but too lazy to train, use this method a lot.

After all, not everyone has the guts to go and fight with their life on the line to stimulate their body’s potential.

“Paul, just because you helped me kill all these tuskers, I am telling you this. If you keep doing this, you will die before reaching thirty years old.” Andel advised before standing up and stretching out his joints.

“What?” As if he got struck by a lightning, Paul stood up with his back straight and looked at Andel with his eyes opened wide. “What did you say?” He grabbed on Andel’s shoulders and started to squeeze it harder, “I will die before thirty? But why?”

Gently removing Paul’s hand from his shoulders, Andel rolled them to relive the squeezed muscles and nerves.

Damn, even if he is a fake level 6 Warrior, it's still not something I can handle without tapping into Frenzy.

Andel reevaluated Paul’s strength as a level 6 Warrior.

“The strain you put on your body every time you forcefully level up, to alleviate that strain, your body uses your life force to mend the damage. In the end, the amount you gain couldn’t keep up with the amount you lose.” Andel explained what he learned from the books in their family library.

“B, but they said it's absolutely safe!” Paul, with a cracking voice, asked.

“Well, I don’t know if this is safe or not. But I have read it's not safe on a few books.” Andel replied.

“T, then, what should I do?” Paul was horrified.

“You can consult people of our dojo. They might have some way to help you out.”

It took a while for Paul to calm down. After he did, they retrieved all the red horns before distributing them among themselves. With six pieces of red horns in his hand, Paul was ready to walk away in the dark of the night.

“Alright, let’s meet at the dojo. By the way, you never told me your name!” Paul suddenly realized he didn’t know this kid’s, whom he dubbed as a devil, name.

“Riley,” Andel said the fake name chosen for him by both his mom and dad.

“Alright, Riley, I’ll see you later.”

…

The whole warren was declared Emergency not long ago. If the enforcers catch them, it would be troublesome.

Andel gathered the seven pieces of horns, rolled it up nicely with his shirt before following the path taken by Paul.

For a brief moment, he deliberated if he should go towards the Exon’s Armory to see the source of the fire. Ultimately, he gave up on the notion. He was dead tired at the moment, and that place was the ground zero of this tragedy. He didn’t want to be anywhere near that place for the time being.