CHAPTER 63: LEVEL 15!

But when it struck—there was no Leon in front of it.

Its eyes darted left and right, a deep snarl rumbling from its throat, but Leon was nowhere to be seen.

How? Its speed was slightly faster than Leon’s—by all logic, the moment it turned, it should have caught him. Yet Leon had simply... vanished.

Now, the wolf knew it was at a huge disadvantage. It couldn’t see its opponent, couldn’t predict where the next strike would come from.

It turned to check behind—still nothing.

The fact that Leon had tricked it sent its fury boiling over.

Yes, it had predicted the plan... but it hadn’t realized the plan went far beyond what it could see.

This human had calculated every possibility, considered even the smallest details, and left no gap in his execution.

It had underestimated its enemy, and now it was paying the price.

If it wasn’t careful, that single mistake could cost it its life.

And in its anger, it forgot to check one place—above.

It had scanned left and right, but not once had it thought to look upward. That blind spot would cost it dearly.

"Hiiyaaaah!!!"

The sudden cry from above made its eyes widen in shock.

The sound was familiar, but the dagger descending toward it was far more terrifying—its saw-like blade coated in glowing blue mana, radiating a thick killing intent and bloodlust so heavy the wolf felt a chill run down its spine.

Leon was above it, diving headfirst like a predator. His expression was cold and sharp, but the wolf caught the faintest trace of a smug smile.

It was being mocked.

Snarling, the wolf raised its paw to block the strike.

"Too late," Leon muttered.

When he had passed the wolf, he had activated Mana Jet, blasting himself upward before the beast could counter. Within seconds, he had soared fifteen meters into the air, then cut the skill, letting gravity pull him down like a spear.

As he dived, he activated Mana Jet again, doubling his falling force.

Both daggers were clenched tightly in his grip, mana flooding into them, hardening and sharpening the blades even further. This strike was meant to kill.

The wolf finally looked up—and saw its death rushing toward it.

But just as Leon’s blade was only five inches from its neck, realization struck him.

The wolf wasn’t blocking.

It was attacking.

A wave of killing intent surged from the beast.

It knew it couldn’t stop the dagger in time, so it chose to slash where Leon’s leg would land. It had already calculated that Leon couldn’t change direction mid-air—this way, even if it died, Leon would be severely injured.

Leon’s eyes narrowed. He poured mana into his leg, reinforcing the limb, while simultaneously strengthening his mana barrier.

The wolf already understood—Leon’s strike could kill it, so it met that deathblow with one of its own.

If it was going down, it would drag him with it.

An eye for an eye.

A tooth for a tooth.

It was payback time.

The wolf wanted its death not to be in vain.

Meanwhile, Leon saw that paw, but he knew there was nothing he could do right now.

It was too late to retreat, and despite knowing that he would be injured severely, he still did not regret his recent action.

Even if he went back in time, he was sure he would do the same thing again, as this was the only way he could think of.

This was the best way to increase his attack power.

He watched as the cold blade of his dagger reached the neck of the beast, and at the same time, the paw of the beast reached his knee.

The paw shattered the barrier as if it was nothing.

Then, with a sharp slashing sound, the dagger cleanly sliced off the head of the wolf.

And with a loud bang, Leon was sent flying back fifteen meters from where he and the beast had been standing.

He was flung like a wet rag, his weightless body making it even easier for the force to toss him away.

He tumbled and rolled over the snow before losing enough momentum to stop abruptly.

The power of a level 15 boss beast was not to be underestimated—it was more than five times stronger than the first boss beast (Raven) Leon had fought.

So, even with the mana barrier and all the protection Leon had prepared, his left knee was barely intact.

His knee was dislocated and bent at an unnatural angle.

The pain of the dislocation was making his mind a little hazy.

"Aaaaargh!!!" Leon roared in pain, his voice overshadowing the sound of blood spurting out from the vein in the wolf’s neck.

The wolf hadn’t even been able to howl or grunt in pain before its life came to an abrupt end.

Ignoring the sound, Leon tried to stand up, but it was not easy—the burning pain from the dislocated bone was driving him crazy.

Now he truly understood how dangerous his plan had been. He had thought he had calculated everything, believing he would be fast enough to kill the wolf before it could react. But now, he realized just how much he had overestimated his ability. This was the consequence of acting rashly.

The fact that there was no one to help him made things even harder.

After struggling for some time, grunting in pain every so often, he finally managed to stand up.

’This is serious... how will I heal it? It would be crazy for me to fight beasts with a broken leg.’

’If I could enter that mysterious pool again, then this problem would be solved. The healing ability of that pool would restore my leg as if nothing had ever been wrong with it!’ Leon thought as he carefully examined his injury.

’System, is it possible for me to go to that pool again?’ he asked, as that was the only solution he could think of.

He knew that the place couldn’t be accessed until he reached the next Nightmare Mode dungeon—the Level 50 Dungeon.

But still, he wanted to see if there was even the slightest chance.

’Don’t even think about it,’ the crystal replied almost immediately, completely shattering his hopes.

Sigh.

Leon had been expecting an answer like that, but it would be a lie to say he wasn’t disappointed.

With a weary expression, he watched as the wolf’s corpse dissolved into what looked like glowing pixels before dissipating into the air.

No matter how many times he witnessed this, it never ceased to amaze him. That sight lightened his mood a little.

Replacing the corpse was a pair of weapons.

Seeing them, he felt a rush of excitement.

He staggered toward the spot, ignoring most of the pain out of pure anticipation.

He picked up the weapon and examined its features.

He eagerly traced his fingers along the blade, feeling its sharpness.

Present time

Leon looked at the weapon.

It was entirely made of metal, with four steel claws protruding outward.

The weapon was designed to fit over the knuckles, or under and against the palm.

It looked domineering and dangerous.

But as he examined it, his light blue eyes suddenly lit up as he remembered something. Without hesitation, he quickly stored the weapon inside his spatial ring.

"Aargh, I’ve leveled up to level 15! Now I can check my stats!"

In a dark place, the crystal muttered to itself, "He hasn’t found out yet... Uurgh, this is boring. I want to see his first fight with cultivators. Let him get out of this dungeon quickly."

┏━━━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━━━┓

Supreme Thief System

•─────⋅☾ Host’s Details ☽⋅─────•

Name: Leonel Dragovic

Title: Supreme Thief

Fame: 56 (in this world)

Physique: Supreme Thief Physique

Level: 15

HP: 8500

MP: 9000

•─────⋅☾ Stats ☽⋅─────•

Strength: 95

Stamina: 95

Agility: 95

Defense: 80

Intelligence: 95

Perception (Hunter’s Instinct): 80

Luck: 5

(Available points to distribute: 0)

•─────⋅☾ Hall of Skills ☽⋅─────•

Hall of Skills (6) (unchecked)

Skill Points: (0)

•─────⋅☾ Dungeon and Shop ☽⋅─────•

Dungeon (Host is in the Dungeon)

Shop (Unlocked) (Check and get unique products at a...)

•─────⋅☾ Missions ☽⋅─────•

Tap to see more (One mission has been completed!)

•───────⋅☾ Rewards ☽⋅───────•

Mission of Wise Brain has been completed!!!

Check and claim your rewards!

┗━━━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━━━┛

"Level 15 at last... phew," Leon said with joy, not even noticing that he had completely forgotten the pain in his knee.

Things had been hard for him—he had faced two life-and-death situations more than once already.

He was now more mature, more cautious, and more calculative than when he had first entered the dungeon.

’It hasn’t been long since I was at level 1. Now everything feels so fast... it’s all because I don’t check my stats every time I level up.’

’Well, it’s a good thing I don’t check them often—it’s such a hassle.’

’I can’t exactly check my System panel in the middle of a fight, can I?’

He was very happy right now, and it was deeply satisfying to see the fruit of his labor right in front of him.