Chapter 158 - 153 : Improvements || Astral Blade

Deep within the mountain that housed Black Grill's Cave unbeknownst to any player, a battle was undergoing between a party of 7 players and a patrol squad of originally 15 kobolds, at a deep level that no other player(s) has yet to reach.

The team looked like your average player party and had almost no special feature about them except being only slightly bigger. But if one were to pay attention to them properly, they would begin to notice more 'special' characteristics.

*Clang* *Clang*

"Growl!" 

[Taunt]

"Over here!" 

"Growl!" A kobold that looked a bit different from the rest growled with anger as it stared at the full armored player that yelled at it. It wasn't the only one that did so as the remaining 8 Kobolds copied its actions.

"Xue Yan, Fudo. Now!" A masculine voice rang out.

"Haha. Die!" With a chuckle, a slightly plump player garbed in a fiery mage outfit worked together with a female player dressed in a similar fashion and pointed his staff at the group of Kobolds that headed over to the armored player.

Combo style, double [Fire Ray]!

*Boom*

Torrential surges of mana burst out from the two mages, dashing over to the kobold group. With a loud boom, the fiery fire beams struck the group and light an almost devastating explosion. Circulating the entire area were large swathes of flames that possessed inundated more than a 3rd of the entire place, raising the room temperature distinctly by more than a few degrees.

"Kraw!!!"

"Growl!"

Accompanying the increasing temperature and resounding boom were the cries of the Kobolds as they quickly began to burn under the heat while a strange scent of roasted meat wafted slowly through the entire place.

The flames lasted for 8 seconds before they went off as the mana powering them returned to nature's embrace. Even with the terrifying heat and flames, the Kobolds were still alive but not without repercussions as their HPs were low and most of their flesh burnt black.

"Lu Zhen! Yato!" One of the players yelled while dashing at the half-dead kobolds.

"On it."

"I know."

Two distinct replies came in as two players sprinted into the kobold herd from different directions.

As the 3 players dived into the kobold herd, a slaughter began as they ceaselessly attacked the kobolds without care nor compassion. Added to the mix was the armoured player from before, who ran around the place swinging his great-sword at the Draconic descendants. 

"Kraw!" The unique kobold got slashed by one of the attackers but it managed to ignore the pain before swinging the bone sword in its arms at the attacker.

'Damn.' Because he wasn't expecting it, the player was too slow in reacting and looked to be doomed. But at that moment, an arrow whizzed from a distance, lodging itself at the shoulder blade of the monster, thereby impeding its retaliation.

"Kraw!!"

The monster roared in anger as pangs of pain and sweat constantly inflicted it. It had unknowingly let go of its sword as the weight was too much for its injured arm to bear.

"Now die." 

Taking the opportunity when the kobold was down, the almost doomed player tightened his grasp on his sword and slashed at the kobold.

[Horizontal Slash]!

One hit to seal the deal!

*Splash*

*Bang*

With one slash, the player decapitated the injured kobold, ending its miserable life in an astonishing fashion as blood ostentatiously splashed on the floor, giving the dull-colored ground a vibrant red design.

At almost the same time, the other kobolds were being ended quicker. The reason was none other than the timely assistance of the [Ranger] from before. 

In less than 30 seconds, all of the kobolds were sent to a possibly better place. From an original lineup of 15 kobolds to 0 remaining and all these were done by a party of 7 players. If this news were to be made known to the public, they would be surprised and wonder which top guilds expert squad had done it. However, this was no expert squad of a top guild; it was just a bunch of close friends who formed a party of their own. Yes, this was Sato's team, the unnamed squad[1]. 

"Ha. This was a bit tough. I almost got injured." Fudo sighed exasperatedly. Listening to his tone, one would notice that he actually didn't take this battle seriously.

"Hmph. All you did was to hide behind while we took the full brunt of their attacks." Yato grumbled.

"Hehe. Who told you not be a mage?" Fudo snickered.

"Enough. We all know that we decided on this in order to increase the number of Experience points we gain. If we kept taking on only 5 or 7, the gains won't be worth it. Attracting a whole bunch makes things better and faster." Katsuo said. 

Unlike the Katsuo from before, he had gone through an entirely different experience. Not only had his level increased, to level 6 at that, but also his equipment and weapons had been revamped to a whole new different level. This was nothing more than the result of the 'seclusion' they had gone into. Having battled monsters way higher levelled than they were, everybody had improved and gotten stronger than they were 2 days ago.

In order to cater to everyone's needs, Sato had used the extra 3 [Teleportation runes] on Seiichi, Yato, and Katsuo, sending them to the Middle region's 5th floor. They began their training from there, battling level 6, 7, and 8 kobolds, Rock Golems[2], Earth golems, Ground Rats, and so on. The worst of them was the Ground Rats which had the highest population in the entire Middle region, second only to the Rock golem species [2]. Despite so, the team still forth their way to the lower levels while gaining massive improvements and rewards.

Katsuo and Yato were both the ones with one of the most impressive improvements, going from level 0 to level 6. The best part was that they were just a tad bit away from level 7. 

Xue Yan and Seiichi had gotten to level 7 a day before and were currently progressing to level 8, having gone through the halfway mark a while back.

Lu Zhen had become a level 8, making him one of the top levelled players currently.

As for the two dragons, Sato and Fudo, they had both become level 9! And this was with them having only reaped a bit from the battle. In order to help Katsuo and Yato to level up quicker, they had both stayed their hands from the last kill, leaving it to the two. Even at that, their effort in the past fights was well noticed by the System earning them their good share of the experience points, letting them keep their unofficial titles as the highest levelled players worldwide in Infinite Realm!

When the team had begun reaping their benefits and increasing in levels, Sato and Lu Zhen had gone back to town in order to procure a new set of equipment and weapons for those who needed it. This lead to Katsuo having a whole new set of armour, his very first at that, with Yato being geared head to toe and also Xue Yan experiencing a change of clothing. Lu Zhen, Seiichi, Fudo, and Sato also weren't left out as they replaced their novice equipment for new ones which were at the very least Low tier Mortal rank. 

Of course, these revamps cost a lot as not only did Sato and Fudo ended up spending a lot but everyone did too. Since it was weapons and equipment meant for them, they obviously had to take a share of the burden. In the end, everyone was left with less than 50% of their initial wealth while Sato and Fudo lost the most, turning from rich 'gold-naires' to regular silver coin users.

While everyone got new gears, Sato had used his reward from defeating Sygrart to create a new sword for himself. The reason was simply that he discovered that his reward could only use himself as a comparison to create the weapon[3]. Surprisingly though, the created masterpiece was a level 9 weapon! It was a known fact that weapons in Infinite Realm were ranked in the 5s. So it was either -5 or -0 and nothing else. Sato had been astounded after he figured this fact out. 

Since the weapon was beyond Yato's abilities, he had no choice other than to buy him a new sword that was also an Upper-tier Mortal rank. With that, Sato had finally replaced his companion blade, the [Bandit's Sword], with the new sword he christened [Astral Blade].

[[ Astral Blade : Upper Tier Mortal Rank : Level 9 : Durability 35

Requirement : Level 9 || 11 [Agility]

[Strength] +10

[Physical Attack Power] +25

[Attack Speed] +12

Skills :

Astral Blessings : Passive : If used under the skies with the stars as the canopy, user's attributes increase by 5%. Also passively gather energy from the stars.

Astral Might : Passive Skill : One's aura becomes as overbearing as the stars affecting the combat abilities of their opponent. Effect differs based on difference in user and target's level, [Endurance] and [Willpower].

Astral Blade : Active Skill : Using the energy gathered from the stars, unleash an attack with devastating might.  Cool-down : 10 astral points

System description : The blessings of the stars are upon you. Shine on, hero! ]]

When Sato had shared the stats of his weapon, everyone gave off one word, OP. 

Having seen the benefits, Fudo had hurriedly used his reward and gotten a level 9 staff too. He ended up giving Xue Yan the [Black Alder Staff] and kept his for himself. This act increased the overall strength of the group as most of their firepower lied in Xue Yan and Fudo, the two fire mages. Mainly because the Rock golem species had an absurd resistance to physical attacks but were weaker to magical ones especially fire-type spells.

With everyone having new gears ready, levelling up became faster and they easily reached the 9th floor on the second day. Now they were approaching the exit of the 9th floor, according to Xue Yan's map.

"After this, the next should be the boss huh?" Yato rubbed his chin.

"I wonder how strong a World class boss would be.. Thinking of facing such a monster is making my blood boil."