Rowan’s kill count climbed steadily. His lives counter continued to rise, so did his experience.
Eventually, he leveled up to forty-seven.
Moon stopped him near a small stream after the level-up notification.
"How far are you from Three Stars now?"
Rowan paused, feeling his own power.
His face darkened after a moment.
"It’s a little difficult. I have a Fair Grade Spirit Art. I filled my last available acupoint during the alpha fight. To advance to Three Stars, I need to evolve my last skill to second order, and I’m still missing around ten thousand Lives."
Moon’s expression didn’t change, but internally he cursed himself.
’Shit. How did I forget.’
He had, for some time, unconsciously calibrated his expectations around his own group’s abnormal foundations.
His own acupoints produced the combat output of a Five Star Evolver with only eleven filled.
Rowan didn’t have that advantage.
Rowan had a Fair Grade Spirit Art, he could only open twenty five acupoints.
His acupoints produced a little over ordinary output for their tier. He needed nearly fifty filled acupoints to reach the baseline that Moon had achieved with eleven.
For Rowan, reaching Three Stars was harder than Moon had assumed.
"We need to get you an Excellent Grade Spirit Art next. This isn’t sustainable. You have the talent to grow much faster than your current Art allows. Keeping you on a Fair Grade would be criminal."
Rowan nodded.
"I’ll figure something out."
Moon shook his head lightly.
"Okay. You can try to find one yourself. But if you can’t, or if you run into pricing that’s beyond your means, tell me. I’ll sort it out for you. And don’t delay it. Two days maximum for you to try on your own. After that, tell me and I’ll handle it. Don’t be shy about it. This is your progression. Delaying it hurts the base as much as it hurts you."
"Yes, boss."
"Alright. Let’s continue until you gather the ten thousand Lives you need. Next targets are body refiner beasts. They give the most Lives per kill at your tier."
They set off through the treeline.
♢♢♢♢
"Boss. I’ve reached Three Star Evolver power."
Rowan’s announced with excitement blended in his tone. He had leveled up to forty-eight during the hunt, and the additional Lives from the subsequent kills had let him evolve his third skill to Second Order. The change in his aura was now visible, his presence much sharper.
Moon smiled.
"Good, you can now hold yourself against most beasts on the Island in solo combat."
Rowan nodded his head. He estimated that if he fought a Cragbrute by himself now, he would deal with it without much trouble.
"Let’s head back to the base."
The two of them turned and began the trek back toward the base. The Underground Bat followed silently overhead.
Back in the base, Moon walked through the main chamber and let his eyes drift across the new subordinates who had joined the compound during his absence.
’My cooldown has reset. Would be ideal if I could learn a new skill. Preferably an assassin one.’
His Classless class copy was ready to fire again. An assassin class would round out his kit nicely, especially since his fighting style had been trending toward higher mobility.
He scanned the room.
His Eye of Truth swept across the various fighters going about their business. Warriors in reinforced armor. Mages in lightweight robes. Rangers with bows slung across their backs. A wide cross-section of Evolvers had joined the base during his absence, and the diversity gave him plenty of options.
His eyes landed on a specific figure near the eastern wall.
Dark clothing with two daggers strapped along his hips. His presence was also subtle, nearly invisible in a way.
Moon activated Eye of Truth.
Ordinary Assassin class, nothing exotic, no unique variant. His skill selection was equally standard. But one skill in the list caught Moon’s attention immediately.
His Classless skill activated.
The transfer completed cleanly.
[Class Slot {1/1}]
[Class: Assassin]
[Skills: Camouflage, Dagger Strike II, Dagger Mastery II]
[Duration: 24 hours]
[Camouflage]
[Rank: Rare]
[Proficiency: 0%]
[Details: Mask the user’s sensory footprint from external detection. Suppresses scent, sound, mana signature, and visual presence. The user does not become invisible but their perceived presence drops to a level where normal detection methods will fail to identify them. Effectiveness depends on power differential and distance.]
[Dagger Strike II]
[Rank: Uncommon]
[Proficiency: 0%]
[Details: A focused dagger thrust that deals 200% Damage on impact.]
[Dagger Mastery II]
[Rank: Uncommon]
[Proficiency: 0%]
[Details: Intermediate mastery over the art of daggers. User can wield daggers for attack, defense, or parrying with above-average competence.]
Moon read through the three skills carefully.
Only one of them satisfied him.
The two dagger skills were essentially weaker variants of Weaponmaster. His existing Weaponmaster skill already covered daggers, at a significantly higher output tier and with broader weapon coverage. Adding Dagger Strike or Dagger Mastery to his kit was redundant. Neither skill would meaningfully expand his capabilities.
Camouflage was different.
The skill was something he had been quietly hunting for months. Not the very rare invisibility variant that unique assassins possessed, which was significantly more powerful. But Camouflage was still a solid detection-suppression skill, and it filled a gap in his current kit that he had not been able to address till now.
Every fight he had entered until now had begun with either an open confrontation or a stealth approach based on ordinary movement and timing. His personal stealth had been decent, but only decent. Beasts with strong senses had detected him from far enough away to prepare defenses. Human fighters too.
Camouflage would eliminate all of that.
The applications were significant.
Moon smiled to himself.
The copy had been worth it, even if only one of the three skills was truly useful to him.
’Seems like I need to get back to work.’ Moon thought with a wry smile.
"I will head back outside, you can rest for now."
Rowan nodded his head without asking questions, "Take care."
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