CHAPTER 43: RANK C!

The goblin stumbled back, its fiery aura flickering as it struggled to maintain its strength. Xavier saw his chance. He stepped inside the goblin’s guard once more, delivering a powerful upward slash that severed the goblin’s arm at the elbow. The severed limb fell to the ground, the goblin screaming in agony.

Xavier didn’t hesitate. He lunged forward, his dagger piercing the goblin’s chest. Blood sprayed out, coating his blade and arm. The goblin let out a final, gurgling roar before collapsing to the ground, dead.

Xavier stood over the fallen goblin, breathing heavily. The rush of battle slowly faded, replaced by the ache of his injuries. He wiped the sweat and blood from his face, feeling the weight of what he had accomplished. He had not only survived—but had mastered a new level of his abilities.

Despite the pain and exhaustion, Xavier felt a surge of confidence. He had faced a formidable opponent and come out on top. He had learned to harness the mana within him and discovered the true value of his skills.

At that moment, the monotonous voice of the system resounded in his head once again.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

[You’ve slain the Dungeon Boss. You’ll be granted the ultimate skill: Blitz.]

•──────────────────•

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

[Your Existence has been strengthened.]

[You’ve broken through to the next threshold.]

[Congratulations upon reaching C - Rank.]

[Next Threshold: 2500]

[Current Existence Value: 1250]

[Existence Value: 1250/2500 to Rank B]

Xavier felt a surge of power course through him as his existence was strengthened and the new skill took root in his being. His breathing steadied, and the ache in his muscles faded, replaced by a sense of invincibility. He had conquered the dungeon boss and emerged stronger than ever.

He looked around, surveying the battlefield. The forest was eerily quiet, the only sounds being the faint rustle of leaves.

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BLITZ

[A skill acquired from the essence of the powerful Goblin Dungeon Boss, granting you unparalleled speed and offensive capability.]

•────⋅☾ Effects ☽⋅────•

— Surge of Speed: Temporarily boosts your movement speed by 30% for 10 seconds.

— Rapid Strikes: Increases your attack speed by 20% during the Blitz duration.

— Evasion Enhancement: Grants a 15% increase in evasion rate, allowing you to dodge incoming attacks more effectively.

— Burst of Power: Adds a 10% damage boost to all attacks while Blitz is active.

— Adrenaline Rush: Successfully landing attacks during Blitz increases your adrenaline, granting a stacking damage bonus of 1% per hit, up to a maximum of 10%.

— Frenzied Assault: Successfully landing attacks during Blitz generates a stacking buff that increases your attack speed by 2% per hit, up to a maximum of 20%. Stacks reset after Blitz ends.

•──────────────────•

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

Xavier’s eyes gleamed with excitement upon seeing the effects of the skill [Blitz].

"Nice!"

More prompts appeared in front of Xavier...

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

Congratulations on clearing your first dungeon Solo... You’ve been granted the perfect gift...

•──────────────────•

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

You’ve been granted Inventory... It allows you to store anything you want in a personal storage space.

•──────────────────•

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

Xavier smiled at the prompt, then picked up the short swords and brandished them for a few seconds. The quality was definitely superior to that of the other weapons wielded by the goblins he had fought; he could feel it. The blades were lighter, sharper, and felt perfectly balanced in his hands, almost as if they were forged just for him.

A prompt appeared before him at that moment...

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

Goblin King’s Twin Short Swords (Rank C)

A twin short sword that the Goblin King wields, possessing a magical effect that makes it a more formidable opponent...

These daggers are granted to him to slay intruders to the dungeon and, when time is ripe, exit the dungeon and conquer the world (Dungeon Break).

•────⋅☾ Effects ☽⋅────•

[+5 Agility stats, boosting your speed and agility...]

[+5 Strength stats, boosting your strength...]

[These two give you +5 Attack Power, increasing the damage you can inflict with every attack...]

•──────────────────•

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

"What a cool short sword, too bad its name is lame," Xavier muttered as he stored the short swords into his inventory.

At that moment, Lily spoke to him, her voice resounding in his mind, ’Xavier, it’s known that beasts of D-rank and above have a beast core. The beast core can be located in any part of their body. For this goblin, it’s located right in front of its brain—crack its skull to get its beast core. And also, that ball-sized green diamond-like stone that directed you to this location... it’s the dungeon core of this dungeon. Harvest it. With it, you’ll be able to access this dungeon space whenever you need, it’s yours to keep.’

’Thanks for the information, Lily.’ Xavier replied then moved to harvest the goblin’s core. Upon cracking open the goblin’s hard skull, he brought out a small, spherical, glowing green stone.

’Hmmm... There’s still the goblin commander that’s D-rank. It should have its own core too...’

Xavier stored the goblin core in his inventory.

Then he moved to the Dungeon Core. It was exactly as it had been before—a large beam of green light shooting out of it into the sky.

Since Lily didn’t say anything, Xavier concluded that the beam of light was not harmful to him.

So he dipped his hand into it. It felt strangely warm and reinvigorated his hands. Some kind of warm energy coursed through his hand from the light.

’Mana. Thick, enhanced mana...’ Xavier thought as he held the rune stone and dragged it out of the beam it was emanating from. It resisted slightly... but he brought it out nevertheless...

Once it was out of its former position, the beam of light dimmed, disappearing instantly. It was magical—but Xavier didn’t think much about the phenomenon, storing the Dungeon Core in his inventory.

After that, he walked back in the direction he had come from, planning to loot everything he had missed on his way back to the stream of water and bridge—the exact point where he had entered the dungeon.

And also, there’s the Goblin Commander that was D-rank. It must have its beast core too. While its beast core can’t compare to the Dungeon Boss core—as the Dungeon Boss was C-rank—but still, it’s the perfect stuff to use to buy back his freedom. Heck, it’s even worth more than his former worth as a slave...

The next ten minutes were spent looting the goblins’ weapons he had missed and also the goblin core of the Goblin Commander.

After that, Xavier moved to the village, looting each and every house and settlement there. He was able to find some bronze and gold coins, which surprised him, as he didn’t expect to see such monetary stuff in this dungeon.

A minute later, he was ready.

"System, teleport me back."