Chapter 12 - Record. (Patreon)

There were three of them again. Kael felt as though the world were conspiring against him. His bad luck certainly wasn't normal. The moment he encountered the group of three monsters, he teleported thirty meters away.

The monsters didn't seem to have noticed his presence, which was a good thing.

Watching them from a distance, Kael thought, 'If I teleport quickly enough, can I kill all of them?' He had done it against a single War Shadow when his stats were slightly lower.

Would it be possible to kill all three of them that way?

Was it worth taking the risk?

After all, each of them would give him 64 EXP. He could earn the same amount by killing monsters that were alone rather than in groups.

After thinking for a while, Kael came to a decision.

'I want to try.'

He knew he could run away if necessary, so he was willing to take the risk.

After taking a deep breath, Kael gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and vanished into thin air, reappearing directly above the three War Shadows.

The monsters didn't notice him immediately.

Gravity did its work, and Kael's body plummeted downward. He pointed his sword at the ground and, using his entire body weight, drove it into one of the monsters' heads. His sword pierced it with ease.

The blade entered through the top of its head and pierced its entire body until it reached its chest.

The War Shadow's body exploded into particles of light and disappeared, along with Kael, who had already teleported away.

It was a cowardly fighting style, but do you think Kael cared about that? Of course not.

He began using his ability repeatedly, teleporting around and slashing the monsters' bodies while they struggled to figure out what was happening. No matter how violently they thrashed about, swinging their arms in every direction to try to hit Kael, they couldn't inflict any damage on him.

The Teleportation ability was incredibly powerful.

And then, all three monsters died.

And Kael? He didn't feel tired at all.

"My Magic stat only increased a little, yet it made such a huge difference." Kael tossed the magic stone from the third War Shadow he had killed into his bag and then closed it. "I'll keep exploring this floor for now. 64 EXP is a good amount."

Besides, he knew he could handle the monsters on that floor with ease.

And so, several hours passed.

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By the time he left the Dungeon, his bag was full of magic stones and even a few monster drops. Kael opened his status to take a look.

Name: Kael

Title: Teleporter

Familia: Hestia

Level: 1 (4,250/100,000)

Strength (STR): I 64 (109)

Endurance (END): I 53 (92)

Dexterity (DEX): I 66 (87)

Agility (AGI): I 72 (118)

Magic (MAG): I 60 (88)

Abilities: Teleportation (EX) LV2 / Swordsmanship LV2

Even after killing a large number of monsters over several hours, he still hadn't accumulated a particularly large amount of EXP, which left him a little discouraged.

'But as they say... Haste makes waste.'

Kael headed toward the Guild, and as soon as he entered, he went to find Rose. When she saw the number of magic stones and monster drops Kael had brought back, she asked, "Don't you think you're overdoing it a little?"

"Overdoing it? Of course not. I think I explored the Dungeon for six hours at most. I'm a little tired, but I'm definitely nowhere near my limit."

"That's surprising..."

"..."

"Someone with a Falna like yours never brings back this many magic stones at once. Especially not in a single day."

"I guess I'm special."

"Just like that girl," Rose said.

Kael heard her words and asked, "Girl?"

"Yes, the other member of the Hestia Familia. You know her well." Rose gave him a rare smile.

"Hmm... I've never seen her fight before, but I know she's quite talented."

"Talented? That girl is on an entirely different level. She was the fastest adventurer ever to reach Level Three. Not even Orario's strongest adventurers reached Level Three that quickly."

Kael had thought Rose wasn't the kind of person who talked much, but he had been mistaken.

"How long did it take her to reach Level 3?"

"She reached Level 3 in less than three months."

"Three months..." Kael murmured.

He opened his status again right in front of Rose. She even felt a little intimidated by the look on Kael's face, thinking he was staring at her.

'Three months... I think I can reach Level 3 even faster than that, can't I?'

After doing some calculations in his head, Kael concluded that if he started exploring the seventh floor of the Dungeon, where each monster gave 128 EXP, he could reach the next level in no more than two weeks.

'However, I don't know how much EXP I'll need to reach Level 3.'

"Ahem... ahem..." Rose coughed, drawing Kael's attention.

"Is there something on my face?"

"No, no. I was just thinking about a few things."

"Here's your money. Keep up the good work. Just don't overdo it, all right?"

"Don't worry."

Kael left the Guild thinking about Bella and her record.

'Should I try to beat her record? Being the fastest adventurer to reach Level 3 would be a pretty impressive title...'

He smiled.

With a bag of money in his hand, Kael arrived at the church.

As soon as he entered, he found no one inside.

Kael took the bag of coins and placed it on the small table in the middle of the room. After that, he left the church and headed to the inn to take a bath and get some rest.

After bathing, Kael lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.

"This is fun," he said before falling asleep.

And then, an entire week passed.