Chapter 38: Farming Red-Eyed Serpents
Once they entered the dungeon, Ken said to Lucas, "Just so you know, we won't be touching the monsters unless you're in danger. You want to level as quickly as possible, right? If we help you, the experience you gain from the monster will be shared with us."
"That's perfectly fine." Lucas calmly nodded.
Thus, Lucas began wandering the dungeon with his sword ready to strike at any moment.
As for Ken and Cherry, they followed behind Lucas as though they were taking a stroll. However, their eyes were full of alert, and they were prepared to jump in at any second to save Lucas.
"Is he really going to be okay? What level is he?" Cherry suddenly asked.
"Last time I checked, he was level 13."
"Thirteen?! Why the fuck is he training in this dungeon that's meant for high 20s and low 30s?! This is too reckless!" Cherry was shocked to learn that Lucas was not even level 20.
"I know it sounds crazy, but he's a unique one." Ken shrugged.
"Unique my ass! You're sending him to his death! If he gets struck by a Red-Eyed Serpent, even antidotes won't save him!"
"I think you're misunderstanding something here. It wasn't my idea to bring him here— it was his own idea. The Team Leader was also reluctant to approve of his request, but he insisted."
"Why is he so desperate to level up? That shit won't matter if he's dead!"
"You can ask him that after we leave the dungeon." Ken shrugged again.
"Hell, where did you even get such a newbie?"
Ken proceeded to tell Cherry about Lucas' recruitment, and sure enough, it left Cherry speechless.
While the two experts talked to each other, Lucas suddenly stopped when he noticed a shadow on a tree in the distance. After his first encounter with the Red-Eyed Serpent, he learned to pay more attention to the trees.
The other two stopped talking when they noticed Lucas' movement— or lack of movement.
The Red-Eyed Serpent also noticed them, and when that happened, it slithered down the tree in a confident manner.
However, when it got down the tree, the Red-Eyed Serpent realized that the weak-looking Lucas had suddenly disappeared.
And before it could even react, it felt a sudden and sharp pain coming from its right eye.
This pain continued to penetrate deeper into its eye until it reached its brain, and at that moment, the Red-Eyed Serpent had died before it could even understand what had happened.
All of this happened and ended in the blink of an eye.
Lucas had, without hesitation, used Vanishing Steps the moment the Red-Eyed Serpent came down from the tree, appearing right beside the monster before stabbing his sharp sword into its right eye and then into its brain, instantly killing it.
"Un-fucking-believable... Are you sure he's really level 13?" Cherry mumbled in a dazed voice after witnessing Lucas kill the Red-Eyed Serpent with seemingly no effort.
"Uhh... He probably increased his level a few times since then, but he's definitely still under level 20." Ken said.
[You have leveled up]
[You have acquired 5 Stat Points]
[You have leveled up]
[You have acquired 5 Stat Points]
[You have Plundered the ability 'Poison Immunity' from your victim]
[Your ability 'Poison Immunity' has gained some experience]
Lucas gained two levels after killing the Red-Eyed Serpent, reaching level 19, and seeing that he has 60 Stat Points to spare, he invested 50 of them into Intelligence, increasing his base Intelligence to 100, giving his mana pool a huge boost to over 1,000— 1,150 exactly if one included his bonus mana from his equipment and bonus Intelligence.
After putting 50 Stat Points into his Intelligence, Lucas could feel his body suddenly surging with energy.
Even Ken and Cherry noticed a change in Lucas' aura, which had suddenly doubled in size.
People naturally release their mana, which forms an aura around them, so most people can gauge someone's strength by their aura alone. However, this method isn't always accurate.
After standing still for a couple of moments, Lucas began moving again to hunt his next prey.
A few minutes later, they encountered an Earth Hog. However, Lucas decided to avoid the Earth Hog like before, as he'd rather kill Red-Eyed Serpents, which were easier to kill.
"I have never seen anyone purposefully choose to fight Red-Eyed Serpents over Earth Hogs." Cherry sighed after seeing Lucas avoid the Earth Hog.
"I told you he's a special one." Ken smiled.
The three of them continued to wander the dungeon in this fashion for the next few hours.
After spending a couple of hours in the dungeon, Lucas became so confident and familiar with the place that he'd stopped walking slowly and started power walking, allowing him to encounter monsters at a quicker pace.
During these hours, Lucas' had encountered many Red-Eyed Serpents, but after he reached level 20, it took three kills to level up once.
At level 21, it took him four Red-Eye Serpents to level up.
At level 22, it took five Red-Eyed Serpents.
In the end, Lucas stopped farming Red-Eyed Serpents at level 23, as it was getting dark outside. Moreover, his Poison Immunity had ranked up to level 2 after killing over a dozen Red-Eyed Serpents, which further strengthened his resistance to poison.
While Lucas wanted to continue hunting even if it was getting dark, Ken didn't want unnecessary risks and decided to leave the dungeon for the day.
"What level are you now?" Ken asked him after they left the dungeon.
"Level 23," he responded calmly.
"..."
Lucas' response had left the two men speechless.
Neither Ken or Cherry have personally seen someone level up so quickly before. Lucas' growth was simply ridiculous and even a little scary if they had to be honest.