Inside the Contract Space, Yina, who had been soundly asleep within a colorful bubble, suddenly shimmered with a dreamlike, colorful light.
"Eh?"
She opened her eyes, emitting a soft sound of surprise, and stretched out her fair, small hands, feeling her strength swiftly restored by a significant margin.
Yina quickly realized that this must be due to John's level increase outside, which had reverberated to her.
With a flash, she instantaneously appeared on John's shoulder.
Her sudden emergence startled John.
He asked in astonishment, "How did you come out?"
Yina had been severely injured before, and coupled with the restrictions posed by John's power level, she spent most of her time in a deep slumber.
Furthermore, given her critically low HP, which seemed almost on the brink of death from a mere touch, John rarely allowed this Stellar God to wander out.
To his surprise, she had taken the initiative to come out today.
Perched on John's shoulder and yawning, Yina said, "Just came out to see what you were doing."
Then, her curious gaze surveyed the surroundings.
The sky roared with tempestuous winds, and the deep, dark forest echoed with the howls of beasts, resembling the wails of ghosts.
Yina's face paled, and she instinctively shuffled closer to John.
Noticing the scorn in John's look, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she hastily justified, "I'm not scared, I just... just felt a bit cold, yes, that's it. It's just too chilly!"
With those words, she even rubbed her hands together for emphasis.
John looked at her as if she were a fool, saying, "I never said you were scared. Why the rush to defend yourself?"
Yina's actions froze, and she became somewhat infuriated with embarrassment.
She glared at John with annoyance, exclaiming, "You are really annoying!"
After scolding John, Yina huffed back into the Contract Space, presumably to go back to sleep.
John's lips twitched.
He wondered how Yina ever came to be the sovereign of the Stellar Realm.
Not only was she lazy and incredibly weak, but she also seemed to lack intelligence and courage...
It felt like a disgrace to the dignity of deities...
Shaking his head, John cast aside these thoughts and did not delay any further.
He needed to hurry and complete the realm to secure the highest clearance rewards.
Just as John was preparing to continue leveling up, Yina suddenly ran out from the Contract Space again.
She mumbled to herself, "I was so angry at you, I almost forgot the important stuff."
Before John could even ask, she quickly tapped him with her small hand.
Instantly, colorful lights illuminated from John's body, accompanied by a notification that appeared before him:
[You have received the "Blessing of Stellar God"!]
[Your attributes have increased by 20%!]
[The experience you gain has increased by 20%!]
...
Staring at the notification, John was astonished.
This type of blessing wasn't new to him.
During his time in the Crimson Realm, the Crimson Demon had bestowed upon him a similar blessing.
However, John hadn't expected Yina to possess this capability as well.
It was somewhat beyond his expectations.
Yina, the seemingly foolish mascot, might warrant a reassessment in John's eyes.
Within a few breaths, the dim sky was dotted with small fireballs, blazing like stars.
The monsters in the forest had by now noticed John's presence.
Witnessing the sky ablaze with flames, fear was evident in the eyes of many monsters.
John, of course, showed no mercy.
With a vigorous swing of his staff, the myriad of small fireballs plummeted like a torrential downpour, as if a meteor shower had suddenly descended from the heavens.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom!"
The dense fireballs exploded among the monsters, bursting like brilliant fireworks, illuminating the dark forest with their radiance.
"-3868!"
"-5252!"
"-4173!"
...
A flurry of damage numbers rose up.
The sounds of explosions, mixed with the monsters' roars and screams, echoed throughout the entire Slaughter Forest.
After unleashing Pyrokinesis, John did not cease his actions.
His eyes gleamed with a black light as a rich aura of darkness erupted from him.
"Dark Marsh!"
A vast expanse of black marsh appeared upon the earth, enveloping all the monsters within its grasp.
Black, withered arms stretched out from the marsh, seizing those monsters attempting to flee.
Despite their desperate struggles, they were powerless.
"-13947!"
"-15873!"
"-12759!"
...
Another series of damage numbers ascended.
Kill notifications simultaneously appeared before John.
[You have slain a lv18 "Demon Monkey (Normal)", earning 25000 experience points!]
["Blood Absorption" activated, you have gained 0.2 spirit attribute points!]
[You have slain a lv16 "Four-Winged Bat (Normal)", earning 19000 experience points!]
["Blood Absorption" activated, you have gained 0.1 spirit attribute points!]
[You have slain a lv25 "Giant Wood Serpent (Elite)", earning 63000 experience points!]
["Blood Absorption" activated, you have gained 0.5 strength attribute points!]
...
In just a moment, more than half of the twenty or so monsters had perished at John's hands.
A torrent of experience flowed into his body, his experience points skyrocketing at an alarming rate.
[Your level has increased to lv21, you have received 20 free attribute points!]
The familiar level-up notification appeared before John.
He glanced at it and realized that with each level, he now required over five hundred thousand experience points.
As his level increased, the required experience would become increasingly daunting, and the monsters progressively harder to slay.
For many high-level awakeners, it might take years to advance even a single level.
However, for John, such hurdles were naturally not an issue.