CHAPTER 7: CHAPTER 7: VENOM CRYSTAL, KILLING THE SHADOW BEAR KING

Great Fireball!

–900!

A blazing orb of fire exploded from Stark’s staff and smashed straight into one of the poison snakes coiling near the party.

The creature had been hissing and spitting venom toward David’s group, too focused on its own attack to notice the incoming spell.

The moment the fireball connected, the snake’s body ignited in a burst of flame.

Its scales charred black, skin peeled away, and in less than a heartbeat, it crumbled into a pile of ash on the burnt earth.

---

[You have killed "Venom Snake (Level 2)"]

[You have gained 25 experience points.]

[You have gained 2 Lives.]

---

The sudden flash of fire stunned the monsters nearby.

They froze for a brief second, unable to understand what had just happened.

A predator from the shadows had struck, and they didn’t even know where it was.

While they were still confused, Stark acted.

He quickly extended his staff, activating [Hand of Avarice] in an attempt to grab more loot from the snake’s remains.

Beep!

[Hand of Avarice has failed.]

’Figures. Can’t expect it to hit every time,’ Stark thought.

The skill only had a fifty-percent success rate, and luck wasn’t always on his side.

At the moment, it was still stuck at rare-rank.

He would need five evolution points to push it to the next tier.

Meanwhile, David and his party had stopped mid-battle, still processing what they’d just witnessed.

The corpse of the snake was gone, reduced to dust, and the number floating in the air from Stark’s attack was absurd.

"What the hell was that damage?" one of them blurted out.

"Did I see that right? Nine hundred? That’s not... that’s not normal."

"A level 1 shadow wolf takes around five seconds for us to bring down, and you’re telling me a level 2 monster just evaporated?"

David snapped them back to focus. "Don’t lose concentration! Hold your ground!"

Great Fireball!

A second blazing sphere erupted from Stark’s staff, streaking through the air before slamming into another poison snake.

The impact lit the area in a fiery glow.

Another snake fell instantly, this time leaving nothing behind.

But the pressure on David’s team lessened dramatically.

Two of the snakes were gone, and that meant fewer threats to juggle.

"Hold out!" David shouted. "My skill cooldown is over!"

His eyes sharpened as he activated the signature ability of his [Holy Warrior] class: [Holy Barrier].

A golden light wrapped around his towering figure, forming a radiant shield that glimmered with divine energy.

For the next five seconds, nothing could touch him.

The massive shadow bear king slammed its claws into the barrier again and again, but each blow simply rebounded, sparks flying from the magical protection.

Great Fireball!

Boom!

–900!

A third snake burst apart under Stark’s magic, its corpse dissolving into ash.

This time, however, something caught Stark’s attention. A book.

A faint glow shimmered around it, and Stark’s eyes lit up.

He dashed forward, snatched it from the ground, and quickly retreated behind a tree before examining it.

[Skill Book: Poison Crystal (Common), Mage-type skill book. Requirement: Level 2.]

Skill books worked in a fair way in this world.

Most of the time, the book would match the user’s class.

That made sense, what was the point of giving a warrior a spell only mages could use?

But luck had failed him once before.

His first drop had been for assassins, completely useless to him.

This time, though, it was perfect. He didn’t hesitate.

Ding!

[You have learned the skill "Poison Crystal".]

---

[Poison Crystal (Common): Summon a small poisonous crystal that deals exactly 50 damage and applies the "Poison" status effect. 15 (7.5)-seconds cooldown.]

[Poison: Deals 10% of damage received per second for 5 seconds.]

---

He activated [Hand of Avarice] again.

Ding!

[You have gained 1 Evolution Point.]

’Perfect,’ Stark grinned, ’Even small fry can drop these.’

The system message appeared again:

[Do you wish to consume 1 Evolution Point to evolve "Poison Crystal"?]

"Yes."

Ding!

[You have evolved "Poison Crystal" (Common) → "Venom Crystal" (Uncommon).]

[Current Evolution Points: 1.]

---

[Venom Crystal (Uncommon): Summon a poisonous crystal that deals exactly 50 → 100 damage and applies the "Poison" status effect. 15 → 12 (6)-seconds cooldown.]

[Poison: Deals 10% → 15% of damage received per second for 5 seconds.]

---

’Now we’re talking.’

He immediately prepared to test it.

More skills meant more ways to keep attacking while other abilities cooled down.

At the moment, none of his abilities truly consummed high mana, which is why it wasn’t even shown, but he knew that wouldn’t last forever.

Higher-tier spells would demand heavy mana costs, he’d need to manage that carefully in the future.

And that also meant trying to increase his mana as much as he could.

After all, the second passive of his [Mage of Oblivion] class was to grant him 10 times the MP recovery.

One last Great Fireball took care of the remaining poison snake.

Then, the shadow bear king had already broken through David’s holy barrier, ready to again and kill, but Stark stepped forward.

Venom Crystal!

A green crystal formed at the tip of his staff, pulsing with toxic light.

With a sharp flick, Stark hurled it toward the bear king.

Fwish! Slash!

The crystal pierced deep into the monster’s side.

The bear king roared, staggering.

–1,000!

Stark’s grin widened.

His passive skill, tenfold damage to all magic, worked even on fixed-damage attacks.

The crystal’s base damage might have been 100, which would still be very useful to a new player, but here, it hit like a cannon.

And then came the poison.

–150! –150! –150!

Each tick drained 15% of the crystal’s original damage for five seconds.

The numbers kept stacking.

All told, that one cast had dealt 1,750 damage.

David’s team froze mid-fight, eyes wide.

They’d been grinding at the bear king for half an hour, barely scraping 5% off its health bar.

Stark had halved it in one attack.

The boss turned its fury toward Stark.

Its eyes glowed red, muscles tensed, and it charged.

"Heh," Stark smirked. "Come on, then."

Great Fireball!

Boom!

–900!

The bear didn’t even flinch at the blast, swinging a massive claw down toward him.

But Stark sidestepped effortlessly, spinning his staff.

Venom Crystal! Slash!

–1,000!

The crystal struck the bear’s head, punching through its skull.

The beast collapsed with a heavy thud, unmoving. The fight was over.

"This... this isn’t normal," one of David’s teammates muttered, "Is he even the same level as us? Could he be cheating?"

"Idiot. How would you even cheat here? We don’t even know if this place is... real."

Suspicion lingered, but relief was stronger. The danger was gone.

The boss’s corpse dropped piles of loot, shimmering with rarity.

But in [Eternal Soul], loot belonged to whoever dealt the most damage.

Stark had done more than ninety-five percent of the work. Everything was his.

---

[You have killed "Shadow Bear King (Level 2 Uncommon-Rank Boss)".]

[You have gained 500 experience points.]

[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 3!]

[You have gained 5 points in all of your attributes, and 5 free points to distribute.]

[You have gained 3 Evolution Points.]

[You have gained 7 Lives.]

---

Three evolution points from a single boss confirmed Stark’s theory, bosses guaranteed them, and in large amounts.

With four points now in total, it meant he only needed one more to upgrade one of his rare-rank skills.

For now, though, he decided to hold onto them.

He knelt beside the shadow bear king’s body, gathering every last piece of loot.

David and his party stayed silent, watching him with a mixture of awe and disbelief.

"Thank you, friend," David expressed his gratitude, "We wouldn’t have made it without—"

But Stark cut him off, "Don’t thank me, in this forsaken place, you shouldn’t trust others so easily."