Undying Warlord

'So fucking annoying…'

[5 <Silver> Tier-1 Essences, and 9 <Bronze> Tier-1 Essences have been absorbed → +0.9 Strength, +0.3 Health, +0.2 Stamina, +0.1 Agility, +1.9 Mana]

Dilan simply glossed over the additional status points he received by absorbing the 14 Essence crystals before averting his attention back to the large Gate.

'My Essence pool is filled by three quarters. That's fine then, I guess.'

It was not as if Dilan needed to level up right now. The only gain he made by leveling up were additional status points either way.

There were still 8.5 status points he had yet to allocate.

Not leveling up was thus not exactly a problem as he was already struggling with how to properly distribute the 8.5 status points.

Nonetheless, it was frustrating that so many high-quality Essence crystals had suddenly turned useless for him.

He could have nurtured new Survivors straight to level 10, with more than enough Essence to choose a Rare occupation with the Essence crystals he absorbed today, after all!

Smiling faintly to hide his pain, he issued a muffled sigh of relief when the two Bronze Tier-1 treasures dropped out of the Gate.

With a swift movement, Dilan picked them up. The items looked inconspicuous but a bright smile emerged on Dilan's face when he realized what types of items had dropped.

One was an ability crystal, and the other item was a pouch!

[Botanica Lexica Magica(Active)] Tier-0 ★★★★★

[[Penta Item Pouch] <Bronze Tier-1> treasure

Engraved with numerous ancient runes, the Penta Item Pouch can store an unlimited amount of five items!]

The description of the pouch was simple, but the meaning behind that one sentence was more than enough for Dilan's former frustration to be washed away.

He smiled foolishly as he kept looking at the pouch that appeared quite ordinary.

Not feeling like wasting any time, he used a trace of his mana to access the Penta Item Pouch before he attempted to store the Blazing Serpentine Blade inside it.

Under normal circumstances, it should be impossible to store the Serpentine Blade inside a pouch that had the length of an adult hand.

However, the moment the pouch opened, the inside of it looked like one would stare into the sky on a cloudless stary night.

Not even a second later the Blazing Serpentine Blade disappeared into the pouch.

But it was not hard to pull it out of the pouch as he could reach for it easily though that was not what Dilan planned to do.

He threw the ability crystal inside the pouch as well, before he started to collect some soil from the gorund.

After he stored it in the Penta Item pouch as well, Dilan's smile turned even brighter.

"So…'unlimited' was truly not a lie? That's fantastic! And the filter that differentiates items is not that strict either!"

The soil he stored in the pouch was coarse, and pebbles of various sizes had been mixed in it.

Yet, from the looks of it, the soil took up only a single spot in the five slots of the Penta item pouch!

"Storing hundreds of monster corpses of a single type should be possible now, right?"

Dilan's mind was rattling with the possibilities. He considered storing Essence crystals in his pouch, his weapon and other valuable things.

In fact, if it was possible to procure more Penta Item Pouches, there wouldn't be a problem with storing all kinds of things.

Just thinking about it was enough for a vibrant smile to emerge on Dilan's face.

Dilan took quite some time to come back to his senses. He recalled how difficult it was to find a large horde of Bronze Tier-1 monsters. As such, collecting a large number of Penta Item Pouches was not feasible.

Nonetheless, he was happy to have procured such a great item. Without hesitation, Dilan attached it to his clothes before expelling the soil he had stored within it.

Afterward, he recalled the ability crystal that had dropped from the Gate as well.

'To think that I can procure ability crystal in exchange for Essence crystals…interesting!'

It was not a reliable way to procure ability crystals but it was certainly an interesting way.

Dilan made a mental note about it while reading through the description of the ability crystal.

[[Botanica Lexica Magica(Active)] Tier-0 ★★★★★

[+5% Mana]

-Abilities related to the growth of plants, life and gardening are amplified by 10%!

Only the wisest of the wise know nature's value. Nature will always reign supreme until the end of time.

With the constant use of Mana, a tome consisting of the knowledge of a thousand gardening experts from all over the Universe can be acquired!]

Even if the ability was certainly not useful for him, Dilan couldn't help but feel that the ability crystal was perfect.

"As long as Mira learns this ability, and procured more information about the Stonemonkey Devial plant it might be possible to grow the plant again."

Dilan couldn't stop smiling. He even imagined that Mira might be able to go one step further and strengthen the Stonemonkey Devial plant with the knowledge she would get her hands on by using the Botanica Lexica Magica.

The gains he made from the exchange with the Gate were certainly satisfying.

They might not be useful in terms of revealing the secrets of the mountainside and the Sun temple but that was something Dilan could take care of in different ways as well.

Thus, he averted his gaze from the Gate and turned to a specific direction.

Several Krendels and horned rats, who had evolved several times, looked at him with uncertain expressions.

They were debating with themselves whether to attack him or not. Dilan had sensed their gazes and their killing intent a while ago.

He merely smiled in their direction, while the Blazing Serpentine Blade's hilt emerged from the Penta Item Pouch.

Grasping it tightly, Dilan pulled it out of the pouch, while starting to run to his prey.

[Thunder Step]!

From running calmly, Dilan turned into a purple flash. The ground gave in under his feet as he crossed several hundred meters in an instant.

He appeared in front of the closest five-meter-tall Warlock Krendel before slashing out with the flame-engulfed Serpentine Blade that expanded all of a sudden.

Not even a second later the Blazing Serpentine Blade had coiled around the huge Warlock Krendel like a living serpent.

The serpent's hissing was replaced by the flames that sizzled loudly.

A moment later, Dilan moved his hand back to pull back the Blazing Serpentine Blade, which resulted in the coiled serpent-form squeezing the Warlock Krendel.

Cutting through its hide and flesh hundreds of times in a second, the blade ate away at its flesh and it began to bleed severely at once.

The monster's arteries had been cut and so were its muscles, preventing it from towering above Dilan.

It slumped to the ground, bleeding out in the following seconds.

However, Dilan had already disappeared from his former location while reaping the lives of the other monsters that had been hiding in the darkness.

It was their misfortune to have revealed their intention to kill him, while simultaneously expecting him to be unable to spot them in the darkness.

Dilan had turned into the Grim Reaper, who decided over the life-and-death of the monsters he ended, only to disappear a moment later.

Several minutes passed, and every single best in his proximity succumbed to the fate they had chosen by not retreating and staying in his blade's radius.

His entire body was drenched in blood that trickled onto the ground, while the Blazing Serpentine Blade sizzled, evaporating the blood that touched its blade.

No excitement could be seen on Dilan's fully focused expression, but his heart was beating wildly.

'I almost killed myself!'

While fighting the last batch of monsters, he had overestimated his capabilities.

With a seemingly simple strike, Dilan had planned to kill a total of 30 monsters at once.

The 20-meter-long serpent form of the Blazing Serpentine Blade was more than capable of achieving this as long as it was controlled properly.

However, in his excitement to show off his control skills, Dilan had nearly cut off his left leg. It was a near brush and only a few millimeters would have made him go down in history as the one-legged idiot.

It was his fortune that nothing serious happened but even then Dilan reminded himself to act more carefully.

To calm his jittery nerves, he started methodically collecting the Essence crystals before storing them inside the Penta Item Pouch.

"So it's like that? What a shame…"