CHAPTER 27: ABYSS CREATURES [2]

Master Abe held a contemplative look on his face before continuing, "Beasts are the lowest class of the creatures found in God’s Abyss. They’re more reminiscent of the flora and fauna already found on Earth."

"Like the Veinback Rippers," Roy quickly voiced, remembering what the system called them when he finished them off.

Abraham nodded.

"Of the classes of abyss creatures, each is more cunning and magical than the last. And that is their order of rulership, too. If two abyss creatures were of the same threat level, the one of the higher class would be the overall leader, and the final boss of the Gate."

"Have you fought a demon or devil before?" Roy asked, seemingly interested in those two mentions.

"A weak demon, once. It was a black floating spherical creature, with a wide smile and spikes all over its body."

’...A wide smile?’ Roy felt chills run down his spine.

"What was its name?"

Abraham kept a nonchalant expression.

"I didn’t get to kill it. It latched onto my comrade and exploded. He died, of course." In other words, he couldn’t get the name from the system’s notification since he didn’t kill it.

Roy opened his mouth to say something, but immediately shut it. This mentor of his was a walking bag of trauma! Was this the life of an executioner?!

Master Abe, however, simply continued.

"All executioners must know their limits. An F-Class Executioner, for example, can easily kill weak beasts, monsters, and undead. But unless they’re really skilled, they will die at the hands of weak demons and devils. And at the same time, if mere weak beasts arrive in a tangible horde led by a strange beast, then the F-Class’s death is certified."

Roy sighed. It was true. Even an F-Class Executioner at Level 10 would’ve died at the hands of the pack of abysshounds led by the Strange Beast, Alpha Veinback Ripper; let alone a mere Irregular like him.

However curious, he asked, "And as a D-Class, what are your limits?"

Abraham glanced at Roy and uttered, "I am a C, not a D. I just never allowed the Association to re-access me."

Roy’s eyes widened in shock. "What?! That means you’re at... at least Level 31?!"

His mentor wasn’t just a mere D-Class anymore. This was a very pleasant surprise.

"I stopped signing in at Level 33," Abraham corrected.

"Yeah, Donny told me about that." Roy’s expression turned somber. "After your... last raid. Sorry."

His excitement caused him to bring up a topic he shouldn’t have. The regret he felt settled like ashes on his tongue.

"..." Master Abraham stared ahead and then muttered, "I had already stopped signing in before that happened."

’Wait... before it happened?’ Roy’s mind raced.

Why did he stop signing in, but didn’t stop going for raids? It surely couldn’t be that his current level boss was that hard to beat.

Regardless, this entire thing didn’t correspond with logic, considering this was an individual with a system named MATH.exe.

"Get back on track. My limit as a C-Class... isn’t the point of what I’m explaining to you. Your system is unique, as you level up without needing to sign in. You have to understand its intricacies to take full advantage of it. How many exp did you gain from killing each weak beast?"

Roy thought for a second and answered, "20 EXP."

"And for the strange monster, Spearhead Wyvern?"

"400 EXP."

Master Abraham then asked, "Do you see the structure?"

Whatever the executioner was seeing, Roy knew there was no way he could see it, so he didn’t even bother thinking and just said, "No."

"Did you even bother to think?"

"Nope."

Master Abraham sighed and squinted. He wanted to facepalm, but he just told himself that he had to give extra patience to the mentally inept.

"You’re thinking I’m dumb, aren’t you?" Roy frowned, having been used to seeing that face from a lot of people towards him.

"Yes, I am. If a weak beast gave you 20 EXP, how much would a strange beast give you? And if a strange monster gave you 400 EXP, how much would a weak monster give you?" Master Abraham posed a clearer question.

Roy rubbed his chin for a while and answered, "How much will a strange beast give me, when a weak beast gives 20? 200 EXP. While a weak monster will give me 40 EXP, the strange monster gave me 400!"

Master Abraham simply nodded.

"Good. Now, you should know exactly what you need to kill to level up."

"It’s true!" Roy exclaimed and began using his fingers to calculate as he added, "Two strange beasts, or one strange monster. And then, exactly four weak be—"

The C-Class Executioner raised his hand abruptly, prompting Roy to cut his words short.

Right then, they had arrived at the subway station where the Veinback Rippers emerged from.

Master Abe spoke in a lowered tone, "You’re my first student, kid. My way of teaching involves orchestrating situations you can use to prove yourself. If you hadn’t used your health item, I would’ve healed you myself. So don’t be afraid to take risks when fighting. As long as I’m there, you won’t die even if you tried."

Roy felt awkward at the moment, not knowing whether to thank him for the heart-warming words or just be quiet. However, he chose the hidden third option: be stupid.

"So I wasted my item for nothing?!" He grabbed his hair. That Apple was one of two, how could he ever replenish it?

"Goddammit," he said, sighing away his mistake.

Master Abe directly ignored Roy’s complaints and voiced, "Despite our mentor-student dynamic, we still have to work as a team to efficiently kill the abyss creatures. What are your starting skills?"

Still standing and watching the wide open, dark stairs leading underground, Roy glanced at Abraham and answered, "There’s only one, [2x Multiplier]. I guess I can multiply the effects of an attack or defense."

"Have you tried performing it?"

"Nope. I’ve never gotten the chance, and I don’t think I know how," Roy said.

"You do. But that’s not a concern for now," Abraham said, his eyes trained on the darkness in the subway. "You already know [Circle of Order], but slowing things down isn’t its only capability. I’ve already told you about [Solve for X], you’ve seen [Shapes] in action already."

"How does that last one work?" Roy asked, and a flat black circle appeared before Master Abe.

"Adding edges costs energy," he said, and the circle turned to a triangle, then a square.

"Also increasing length," with which it stretched into a rectangle but returned to a square.

"But I can add more edges," and then it turned into a cube, with twelve edges.

Roy’s brain was blown away. There were several manifestation skills displayed on the online forum, but this one was simple and quite effective in combat! Just look at how the C-Class Executioner practically owned midair battles with this skill.

"If you now understand, let’s go."

There was no time to marvel at anything; some killing had to be done.