Finally Out

In a blink of an eye, the light dimmed, and a new object appeared in Alexander's hand. The light has turned into a sword. It looked like a standard issue military sword, one-edged black straight blade made out of composite alloy, an ergonomic handle, and a carbon composite sheath.

[Mk.IV Standard Issue Sword "Wolf's Fang"]

[Grade: Common]

[Attack Power: 11]

[Armor Penetration: Up to Level 18]

[Bonus Stats: N/A]

[A lightweight and sharp sword. Excels at slashing attacks.]

"Am I still inside of an illusion?" Alexander asked himself as he took another look at his hand holding a beautiful black blade. He shook his head to drive away such thoughts and got up.

"Now I guess I need to get out of here." Alexander walked over to the edge of the lake. "Thankfully this sword doesn't weigh much."

Without further hesitation, Alexander dived into the lake and swam towards the entrance he originally came from. It did not took him too much time to backtrack and come out of the cavern. By the time he did it, the sun was already beginning to set down.

Alexander quickly made his way to the body of the hotel demon he defeated before and immediately inspected it, but unfortunately, he didn't find a crystal this time.

'So they won't appear on every strong demon I defeat...' Alexander thought while frowning at this new piece of information. 'Or someone else got it while I was away.'

He looked up at the cliff walls surrounding him.

'Time to get out of this hole.'

Alexander took one last look around him before beginning to scale the cliff walls. He climbed carefully, one move at a time. Eventually, after several minutes of climbing through sheer rock faces with only narrow ledges for handholds available for him to climb on top of, Alexander finally reached higher ground. He took a look around and recognized a few of the hotel decorations laying in the rubble around.

"Is the rest of the city also in this shape?" He asked himself worriedly as he carefully made his way towards the place where the hotel entrance used to be. "Either way, I need to find an obelisk... and some food."

Soon enough, he walked out to a street in front of the hotel. He saw that several other buildings had collapsed, but in general, this earthquake was a mostly local occurrence. He closed his eyes and focused on the direction the calling was from. After getting his bearings, he began to walk.

Not even ten minutes passed before he heard a sound of a fight in the distance. The direction of the sound was coincidentally the same direction that he was going, the direction of the obelisk. Not only that, but he also felt several mildly threatening auras moving in the same direction, as well as a couple of them already in the direction of the obelisk.

He hesitated for a moment, but before he could consider his options, he heard a noise from his right side. Relying on his instinct, he stepped back, as a big reddish brown shadow flew in front of his face. Alexander immediately drew Wolf Fang and prepared for a fight. Just a moment passed, but the shadow was already flying towards him again. As soon as Alexander saw it coming closer, he swung Wolf Fang upwards towards its right side with all his might! After hearing several loud cracks when it struck its target and sent several pieces flying off its body along with blood splattering all over him, Alexander was able to make out what had attacked him.

[Mutated Cat Level 4 Defeated]

[Accumulated Soul Force + 288]

[Reminder: Level Up Available. It is recommended to find the closest obelisk for the best level-up conditions. Otherwise, the host is advised to find a safe place and initiate level up.]

'Even cats are dangerous monsters now...' Alexander looked at the corpse. 'Did it drop anything?'

To his dismay, there was nothing.

'That voice also spoke about leveling up...'

He quickly concentrated on his mind's eye, and in a blink of an eye, a familiar panel appeared.

[Name: Alexander Hart]

[Rank: 0]

[Level: 2][Level Up available]

[Classes: Martial Artist]

[Strength: 2.91]

[Agility: 2.01]

[Vitality: 3.14]

[Energy: 2.54]

[Magic: 3.00]

[Soul Power:3.99]

[Accumulated Soul Force: 1412]

'Hmm, my stats did grow substantially. But my level did not increase... Are there multiple ways of gaining strength?' Alexander wondered for just an instant before realizing what had happened to him.

'The smartwatch did show me at a 2nd Pillar realm. Did the increase come from that?' He looked at the smartwatch on his left wrist. He closed his eyes once again and focused on the Level Up Available part.

Right away, the whole screen in his mind had changed. A line of text appeared.

[Level Up options:]

[1. Immediate Level up upon reaching the soul force quota.]

[2. Soul force stockpiling.]

[Warning. The host is recommended to seek out the closest obelisk for optimal leveling conditions. If one decides to level up without the obelisk's assistance, they would be able to only distribute four growth points out of a total of ten. With obelisk's assistance, it is possible to freely distribute all ten growth points.]

Alexander took some time for the information to sink in.

'Of course, full customization of the growth points would allow me to specialize better, but...' he looked in direction of the calling. 'If I want to go there, it seems I need all the strength I can get... The first one it is. Even with four points, I will be able to steer my development in a direction I want.'

Alexander quickly surveyed his surroundings. There were no creatures nearby, and he did not feel any threatening auras nearby. If there were a safe situation, it was now.

'Well, now or never! Option 1!'

[Are you sure?] A line of text appeared.

'Yes, I am sure!'

Alexander gave his consent and gritted his teeth preparing for the level-up procedure.