Bassel's {Flaming Punch} meets with the stone on the head that is full of cracks. A small explosion ensues and blows away the stone, revealing the soft scale underneath it. The attack is immediately followed by a small black dagger that makes the snake's head freezes in place when it successfully penetrates the head. Two arrows that are emitting a purple glow and a wind blade collide with the swinging tail that is coming towards a youngster holding a katana while standing on the snake's head. The tail changes direction due to the collision and misses its target. The youngster stabs the katana downwards into the snake's skull. It manages to penetrate the skull in one move. The snake collapses into the ground, followed by the sound of notification in the heads of its killers.

"Congratulations, you have killed the . You have earned 18 credits."

Alex and the other party members sit down to recover while confirming their future plans.

"We are close to the area now. If we rush, we will be able to enter Gaia City in 2-3 hours," Bassel starts the conversation.

"After we separate, we will meet again in Gaia City in 5 days, right?" Alex asks.

"Yes. We have been in this forest for 30 days. We have gathered more than 3,000 credits from this one month. This is a good time to rest and improve our fighting power before executing our next plan," Bassel replies.

"Can't we just charge straight into the dungeon you mentioned. You said it is one of the easiest dungeons, didn't you?" Carina asks.

"Yes, I said that. But, we shouldn't underestimate even the easiest dungeons. Our skills and equipment won't be able to hold out for long against the Elite creatures in the dungeon. Alia and I entered the dungeon with our party at that time. The other 4 people in the party had better equipment and skills compared to our current party and yet we still struggled," Bassel frowns while answering Carina's question.

"Bassel's right. We should use the credits we earned during this one month to improve our fighting power before we enter the dungeon. We have only killed 12 Elite creatures in this one month, and we even had ample time to rest between each fight. This will not be the case inside the dungeon. We might face one Elite creature after another without much rest. We have to be extra careful," the usually cheerful Alia also frowns while explaining about the dungeon.

The other members nod with serious expression when they see Alia's expression. This girl is usually a playful girl. The only times they could see this girl frowns was when they were in a battle. Hence, seeing the frowning expression on Alia's face when they are conversing normally make them realize the seriousness of the situation.

After spending two and a half hours rushing back, they finally arrive at Gaia City. Each of them go their own ways after promising each other to meet at the square five days from today.

Alex commands Fay to send him back to his personal space. In the personal space, the first thing he does is to retrieve the E-ranked {Evolution Potion} that he hasn't used. He has gone through one month of intense battles, which means that his body is now ready to use the {Evolution Potion} again. The {Evolution Potion} can't be used consecutively without letting the body adapts to the previous use. The potion works by digging through one's potential power hiding inside their body and push it to the surface. After one use, there will be less hidden potential left for the next use. The best way to build up hidden potential is through constant battles. Physical training can do it too, but it's much less effective than life and death battles.

Alex uses the {Evolution Potion} once again. He comes out of the capsule feeling much stronger than before. He uses [Observe] to check his evolved stats.

>-----Name: Alex Volff

Age: 15

Race: Human

Rank: E*

Credits: 3,258

>-----Basic Stats:

- Strength: 125 (+42)

- Speed: 115 (+38)

- Agility: 118 (+39)

- Endurance: 132 (+44)

- Spirit: 225 (+75)

- Mana: 189/189 (+63)

>-----Skills:

- Energy Manipulation (E)

- Lightning Strike (E)

- Ice Dome (E)

- Detection (F)

- Energy Arrow (F)

>-----Kill Count: [318 F] [139 E* - Normal] [12 E* - Elite]

Achievements: 1

Records: 1

>-----

The corners of his lips rise to form a big smile while he clenches his right fist and punch it to the empty air in front of him. He can feel the new strength coursing through him. He gains the best possible effect from his first E-ranked {Evolution Potion}. All of his stats increases by 50%.

As he calms down from the excitement, Alex walks into the holographic computer and starts searching the store. He needs a better weapon if he wants to do well in the dungeon. After thoroughly searching the weapons he can buy with his current amount of credits, he notices one specific weapon.

{Crimson Katana}

{A katana made from the material Crimson Ore. Its toughness is rated in the lower end of E-ranked metals, but its ability to conduct spiritual energy makes it very suitable for casting weapon-based skills.}

The toughness of this item is in the lower end of E-ranked metals, but the phrase "ability to conduct spiritual energy" makes him curious. Spirit is his highest stat right now and the one thing he can say he's better than most Defenders of his level. Previously when he was researching the ring, he only searched for items that could increase spirit, so he didn't notice this katana.

"Fay, what is this phrase means?"

"It means that casting weapon-based skills on items made from this metal will be more effective than using other metals. For example, the skill {Shadow Bind} your teammate used was cast through the dagger. If the dagger was made from this metal, the skill {Shadow Bind} will last longer than usual," Fay replies.

He doesn't have any weapon-based skill right now, but he has the {Energy Manipulation}. Will he be able to use it with this weapon since that skill relies heavily on his spirit?

"Fay, will I be able to use {Energy Manipulation} on this weapon?" Alex asks Fay once again.