CHAPTER 48: SILVER RANK

Max didn’t waste a single second and rolled sideways to avoid the silent attack. He didn’t see it, but he felt the danger from it.

If it had landed on him, he might have had a deep gash on his shoulders.

’Damnation! A Silver-Ranker!’ Max cursed under his breath and quickly made a decision. ’Big Sis! Rank me up!’

[You sure about that?]

’Yeah! I’ll deal with the aftermath later,’ Max thought, as Everform transformed into a dark, dull blade.

In the next second, he parried an incoming dagger, feeling his bones screaming at him under the impact.

Knowing that he couldn’t defend it head-on, he began to deflect the other attacks while getting pushed back.

Then, he kicked his opponent when he saw an opening.

The dark figure backed away and looked at Max with its dark eyes. There was a hint of intrigue in his eyes, but mostly it was murder.

All of a sudden, Max felt a warm current washing over his body, repairing the minor damage he had received and making him stronger than ever.

While leveling up gave a minor strengthening effect, ranking up was entirely different. It gave a much higher boost, making the person feel like they had been reborn.

Every muscle and bone in his body felt rejuvenated, brimming with a power he had never known before. He also felt a slight connection with his surroundings, as if there was something new around him that he couldn’t perceive before.

’Ah! This is the best feeling,’ Max relished the sensation, as he also noticed the dark figure standing there with a stupefied look in his eyes.

However, he quickly recovered and rushed towards Max with an inhumane speed. It looked as if he had just blurred a few times before appearing behind Max with his curved dagger thrusting into his back.

Unfortunately for him, Max was also now a Silver Rank and was much stronger than before. His perception and reaction speed had also received the boost, giving him enough time to sense and dodge his attack.

Max didn’t back away this time and followed up with his own attack. His blade tried to slice his opponent in the ribs, but a piece of metal blocked it.

Max pressed on his advantage and sent a barrage of slashes at his opponent, giving him no time to counterattack. However, his attacks were full of holes so none of them actually landed on the dark figure properly.

Each attack from him was slightly off, as if he couldn’t control the power he put behind them. Sometimes, he swung it too fast and sometimes too slow. Sometimes the force behind his attack was enough to make his opponent’s hand tremble and other times his attack just bounced off even while hitting his body.

The dark figure noticed the problem and tried to use it to his advantage, but found himself unable to do that.

His eyes suddenly widened when he noticed that the attacks were beginning to get better and the force behind them was slowly being balanced.

His momentary shock allowed Max to strike at his liver, drawing crimson blood on his dark clothes. He grunted and swung a mana-powered kick at Max, who swiftly dodged it and backed away.

The two remained standing at a short distance, observing each other in silent judgment.

’He is good but why isn’t he using any skills?’ Max thought, feeling the mana coursing through his veins.

He noticed some problems with the flow and knew it was because of his blocked Mana Veins. But it wasn’t a time to focus on it.

What he did notice was how the flow of mana was getting more and more familiar to him. His newfound strength was also slowly coming under his control.

He was assimilating with the gains of ranking up rapidly, and it was all because of his adaptation skill.

Max knew he would still need to work on his control over his mana, but his adaptation skill and the fight allowed him to gain some valuable experience.

"Time for round 2," Max muttered before launching himself towards the dark figure, who did the same after slapping a bandage on his wounds.

Sparks flew around as the blades met, affecting the air around them. In just a few seconds, they had exchanged tens of moves, growing more and more powerful with each one.

Max didn’t mind prolonging his battles as that would allow him to adapt to the death battles even more and give him more experience.

Sadly, he was short on time so he needed to finish this match early.

All of a sudden, he missed an attack and lost his balance. His body began to fall because of the momentum as a terrified look appeared on his face.

The dark figure didn’t let the opportunity go to waste and used every ounce of his strength to thrust the daggers into Max’s head.

But before they could reach his skull, he coughed up blood and his grip loosened on the daggers before they completely fell from his hands.

He looked down in horror at the black blade penetrating right through his heart. Somehow, Max’s blade had traveled from his right hand to his empty left hand.

"Bingo!" Max muttered as he took out the sword and then slit his throat, cutting the windpipe to kill him for good.

He gave a look at his twitching corpse and held back the urge to look away. He didn’t find pleasure in killing people, but he needed to get used to it.

[You have slain a Level 1, Silver Rank Human. Gained 8 EXP!]

Max rolled his eyes upon seeing the notification. He was once again reminded that he wouldn’t get too much EXP from the same level opponents.

’It was so good when I reached 60 EXP from a Bronze Rank,’ Max sighed and left the area.

If there was one guard, there might be more, and he didn’t want to fight more Silver-Rank Hunters. His luck was good that his opponent didn’t use any skills; otherwise, he would have been dead ten times.

As for why Max didn’t use any skills, it was mostly related to his control over his mana and his own body. Using a skill in such conditions would have produced worse effects.

’She should have fled by now!’