He made his decision and began ting.

  “Blessed light, mend the wound, restore the flesh!”

  Instead of direg the spell at himself, Mikael aimed the healing light at the woman. The moment it touched her, she let out an ear-pierg scream, her tone now filled with pain rather than mockery.

  “SHRRIIEEEK!”

  Seizing the opportunity, Mikael unleashed another Bde Tempest. The surprise attack struck true, dealiating damage. By the time the woman mao escape the onsught, she had lost an arm, signifitly slowing her movements.

  From that point onward, the fight was one-sided. Mikael alternated between casting Minor Heal to exploit her weakness and using Bde Tempest to deal heavy damage.

  Finally, the battle came to an end.

  [E+ Rank Boss Monster – Possessed Woman killed: 100K XP received x1]

  Mikael g the notification and sighed, a mix of relief and disappoi. ‘That was the boss? All this buildup, the creepy ambiance, and she was that easy to beat? Maybe I’m being harsh—I wouldn’t say it was easy, but fighting the three ghouls earlier felt harder. At best, this was the same level.’

  He paused, residering. ‘Then again, if I didn’t know light magic, I wouldn’t have been able to exploit her weakness. The fight would’ve been much tougher without that.’

  Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought and approached the boss’s remains to check for a core. Unfortunately, she didn’t have one.

  With nothing else to gain, Mikael turo the glowing blue portal that had formed over the pentagram, now dimmed and lifeless. Without hesitatioepped through.

  He appeared outside and received the dungeon clear quest pletion notification aook the same quest.

  He felt gazes on him, seemingly incredulous. No one had expected him to leave the dungeon alive, let alone pletely uninjured—especially given how uhis dungeon was. Yet, there he stood, without a scratch.

  Ign the stares, he reehe dungeon. This time, he followed the same path as during his first clear, but he moved faster, knowily what to expect.

  By the time he had killed all the wraiths in the hall, the ghoul in the corridor, and was clearing the loop corridor rooms, he received a pleasing notification.

  [Css: Neophyte Mage has reached level 50 (MAX)]

  He paused to check the unlocked css, which was Mage, but he didn’t choose it. By the time he’d max out a Tier 2 css, he could have already maxed several Tier 1 csses, even with the increasing XP requirements. The cost for maxing his first Tier 1 css was 1 million XP, the sed required 2 million, the third 3 million, and so on. Even with the rising costs, it was still faster than the likely astronomical XP needed for a Tier 2 css.

  He sed through the list of unlocked csses:

  [Selectable Csses:Tier 0: Gunner, Hunter, Cartographer, AdvehiefTier 1: Martial Master, Hunter (Aedris), Newbie Array User, Apprentice WarriorTier 2: Sword Fanatic, Mage]

  After reviewing the options, he made his choice:

  [Newbie Array User 0/50Tier 1 Css

  Description: A plete novi the path of arrays, but one who has taken their first steps.

  Stats per level: +4 PER, +3 INT, +1 SPI

  Perks:

  Easier time creating arrays

  Enhanced uanding and memorization of array-reted knowledge

  All arrays created by the user are 20% more powerful

  Increased array talent (Perma).]

  With this css selected, Mikael cleared the dungeon for the sed time with extreme ease. Maxing out his Mage css had multiplied his SPI stat, greatly amplifying his strength.

  As he exited the dungeon for the sed time, he felt the same gazes as before, but this time they were even more astonished. Clearing this dungeon solo once was already an incredible feat. Clearing it a sed time, and again without injury, was almost unbelievable.

  Mikael ighe gazes, fog instead on a strange sensation—a feeling of danger lingering around him. He felt as though someone was watg him, not an ordinary observer, but someoh killing i.

  He chose not to react, instead pretending he hadn’t noticed anything. Calmly, he sat on the ground, retrieved a water bottle from his ste ring, and began drinking. All the while, he subtly monitored his surroundings for the source of the danger.

  Drinking his water with an air of apparent carelessness, Mikael remained pletely on guard. Once he finished, he pulled out some sandwiches and begaing, maintaining the ruse of being rexed while staying alert for any sign of an attack.

  Minutes passed as the nearby ranker casually rexed outside. While eating, he watched a group of four ehe portal and disappear. He felt an urge to marvel at the dungeon, but the danger he sensed around him kept him from allowing his thoughts to drift too far.

  As Mikael he end of his meal, still unprovoked by whatever was watg him, he frowned. ‘The question is, what’s watg me—monsters or humans? sidering they’ve been me for a while without attag, I’d lean toward humans. But who is targeting me, and why?’

  He pondered some possibilities. ‘I would guess that assassins are after me, but the reason eludes me. It could be anything—from me being a strong oo my looks, or the most likely reason, which is my close retionship with Amelia.’

  He kept a watchful eye on his surroundings from the ers of his vision. ‘The real question is, what is their strength?’ he thought. ‘Hmm, sidering they haven’t attacked while I’m he rahey either don’t have the strength to kill all the people around me, or they don’t want any witnesses left.’

  Mikael stood up. ‘No matter what the case is, it’s time to tinue my dungeon-clearing escapade. If they are really assassins after me—which I’m irely sure of, but it’s probably the case—there’s a ce that when they die, someone will find out through some kind of magic. I don’t want to be around when reinforts are sent.’

  With that, Mikael ehe duo tinue his grind, ‘ign’ the nearby enemies. He decided to use this waiting time to farm LP and grow stronger.

  He tinued clearing the dungeoedly for nearly aire day before deg to stop. A typical ranker wouldn’t be able to dungeon dive for more than 24 hours without succumbing to fatigue and needing sleep.

  Mikael had iionally pushed himself to his ‘limit’ because he khat the moment he left the dungeon's viity to rest at a hotel, he would likely be attacked. After dealing with that, he would o return immediately to the Academy, f him to prematurely end his dungeon exploration.

  Still, even with just a little over a day of tinuous dungeon diving, he had made incredible progress.

  [Maxed Css: Tier 0:Martial Artist, Swordsman,

  Tier 1:Sword Master, Neophyte Mage, Newbie Array User, Apprentice Warrior]

  [Name: Mikael AngeliniRace: Human (Dirarnia World)Lifespan: 21/99Overall Power: Tier 1Military Rank: Recruit 0/10 MP

  Global Level Tier 1 Race: 50/50Experience: 91K/91K XP

  Css: Hunter(Aedris)Level: 0/50Experience: 0K/100K XP

  Stats:Strength: 460(147) → 500(MAX)Agility: 500(132)(MAX) → 500(MAX)Endurance: 463(149) → 500(MAX)Vitality: 500(162)(MAX) → 500(MAX)Perception: 500(163)(MAX) → 500(MAX)Intelligence: 129 → 500(MAX)Spirit: 71 → 500(MAX)

  Energy:Aura (Dirarnia World) F- Tier 526/526 → 534/534Mana (Dirarnia World) F- Tier 519/519 → 527/527

  Active Skills:

  Active/Passive Skills:Body Refining Teique(Unon): Tier 0, Level 3

  ed Sword Style(Rare): Tier 1, Level 2

  Aura Threads Creation and Manipution(Unon) - Tier 1, Level 3

  Mobile Meditation(Unon): Tier 1, Level 1

  Passive Skills:Unarmed Martial Arts Mastery(on): Tier 0, Level 4Footwork Mastery(on): Tier 0, Level 46th Sense(Unon): Tier 0, Level 3 → Level 5

  Life Points (LP): (3920) 5230]

  Seeing the enormous progress he had made in such a short time, Mikael couldn’t help but feel impressed and ready to face the nearby enemy.

  He had already removed the limiter on his stats before cheg his status, and now he repared to leave the dungeon. Just before exiting the boss room, where he had defeated the boss yet again, he deliberately adopted an ‘exhausted’ and ‘tired’ expression.

  As he stepped through the portal, he quietly exited the walled area surrounding the blue portals. He could sense a few people following him, but he acted as though he hadn’t noticed and tinued walking along the small forest trail leading to the nearby city.

  “This damn rat made us wait for him!” said a man’s voice from the side.

  Mikael turoward the source of the void saw two figures, presumably men judging by their builds. They were dressed in bck clothing and wore bck masks that covered their entire faces, leaving only small holes for their eyes. Each was cloaked in a faint aura and wielded a sword, their cold gazes fixed on him.

  The sean, who had been silent until now, addressed his panion. “31, take care of him.”

  “With pleasure, 30. I’ll make him suffer for keeping us waiting!”

  “W-who are you?” Mikael asked, his expression feigning fear and his voice trembling as though in panic.

  31 seemed to revel in Mikael’s apparent terror, slowly walking toward him. “You crossed someone you shouldn’t have, and now we’re here to make you disappear. But me? I’ll make you suffer first!”

  Mikael’s expression shifted to one of shock. “What! Who sent you?”

  31 let out a cold chuckle. “The dead don’t o know!” He tio approach, his swlinting ominously as if sav Mikael’s fear.

  When 31 was only three meters away, a sharp glint passed through Mikael’s eyes. ‘These assassins aren’t stupid enough to reveal who hired them, so they don’t o live anymore,’ he thought. Without hesitation, Mikael summoned his two swords, ected them with an aura thread, and cloaked both himself and his bdes in a thick yer of aura before ung his attack.

  ed Sword Style – 1st Form: Bde Tempest

  Though Mikael’s movements seemed to take time, they occurred ihan a tenth of a sed. The assassin only managed a slight recoil before the onsught struck him.

  The power of Mikael’s aura, amplified by his 500 SPI, was no joke. Taken pletely by surprise, the assassin suffered multiple deep gashes. He didn’t even have time to scream before a fatal cut appeared across his neck, instantly severing his head from his body.

  The sed assassin, 30, had been watg the se unfold with disi, clearly uimating Mikael. After all, how could an F- raand against two trained D+ rank assassins? He hadn’t even sidered Mikael a threat. But when he saw his partner effortlessly decapitated, his casual demeanor turo shock. Even so, he didn’t panic—he was an experienced assassin and ner to bat.

  As soon as 31’s head hit the ground, 3 into a, rushing at Mikael with blinding speed, appearing as little more than a blur. Despite the speed, Mikael reacted swiftly, redireg the target of his Bde Tempest to intercept the charging assassin.

  30 didn’t take the attack lightly. He intensified his aura cloak, which mitigated the damage, leaving only minor cuts on his body as he closed the distance. In an instant, he on Mikael.

  ‘Got you,’ 30 thought as he sshed with all his strength. Mikael barely mao raise his swords into a defensive position before the blow nded.

  “Argh,” Mikael grunted as the force of the attack sent him flying several meters through the air. He flipped mid-flight, nding on his feet with a practiced backflip. He stared at the assassin cautiously. ‘What is this strength and speed? Even with my 500 SPI, he’s strohan me? If I hadn’t leveled up, I wouldn’t have been able to read would’ve been killed instantly,’ he thought, a chill running down his spine. Yet, unknowingly, a battle-hungry grin spread across his face.