Chapter 5: Chapter 5: The Experience Crystal
His mage robe suddenly shone with golden light, and a fiery red protective shield appeared, enclosing him within.
The skeleton soldiers and vampire bats lunged at him, but their attacks failed to breach the shield.
"Stop wasting your energy. Your summoned creatures are too weak to break through my flame barrier."
"I was thinking of making your death quick, but now I've changed my mind. I'm going to break your limbs, then slowly bleed you out, attracting goblin-headed creatures, and let you experience what it's like to be eaten alive by them," he sneered cruelly.
A sickly grin appeared on He Yun's face, a cruel glint shining in his eyes as he stared at Su Mu. The fire element gathered on the staff in his hand, forming into a massive fireball.
Hearing this, Su Mu's eyes flashed with a sharp gleam, and a murderous intent surged to its peak. He suddenly placed his hand on the Undead Staff, triggering its equipment skill—Undead Enhancement.
A purple glow shot out, entering one of the skeleton soldiers. The bones of the skeleton cracked and expanded with a series of popping sounds, growing into a towering five-meter-tall skeleton giant.
Its long sword transformed, becoming a massive two-meter-long cleaver, the bone blade shimmering with a cold light, and its imposing size gave a tremendous visual impact.
[Undead Enhancement skill successfully used. Skeleton Soldier's level increased by five, evolving into a Bone Giant. Duration: 1 hour.]
[Name: Skeleton Giant][Level: 7][Strength: 55][Agility: 50][Constitution: 50][Mentality: 20][Skill: Heavy Slash (The skeleton soldier leaps into the air, wielding its bone blade, delivering a heavy slash that can deal triple its attack power and has a defense-breaking effect.)]
The level-seven Skeleton Giant, an elite of the Skeleton tribe, was vastly stronger than when it was at level two in both attributes and sheer size. More importantly, it now had a skill with a defense-breaking property.
Seeing the Heavy Slash skill in action, a smile curved Su Mu's lips. His thoughts triggered the giant to leap into the air with tremendous force, sending a gust of wind that blew away surrounding trees.
Leaping twenty meters into the air, it then came crashing down, its enormous bone blade glowing with golden light. The sharp, oppressive aura it radiated shot out as the cleaver descended with tremendous force, slashing directly at He Yun's protective shield.
He Yun's expression darkened the moment the Skeleton Giant appeared.
Seeing such an overwhelming attack heading his way, he finally couldn't maintain his usual arrogance. Panic spread in his eyes as he desperately shot the fireball at the Skeleton Giant and tried to escape.
Boom—
The bone blade cleaved through the fireball effortlessly and continued its relentless descent, landing with a thunderous crash against the protective shield.
The flame barrier, which He Yun had once been so proud of, shattered instantly. The bone blade scraped past his body, creating a massive fissure in the ground that stretched for ten meters.
A gust of wind slammed into He Yun's body, throwing him like a ragdoll. He crashed to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Su Mu casually grabbed the long sword from a nearby skeleton soldier and walked toward He Yun, looking down at him from above.
At this moment, He Yun no longer displayed the arrogance he once had. His injuries left his face pale, drenched in sweat, veins bulging on his forehead, in immense pain.
When He Yun saw Su Mu walking toward him with the sword, fear overtook him. He frantically looked around for an escape route.
Unfortunately, the skeleton soldiers had already surrounded him, and even if he grew wings, he wouldn't be able to escape.
Realizing escape was hopeless, He Yun's mental defenses finally collapsed. He fell to the ground, terrified, trying to crawl backward.
"No, you can't kill me. My father is the head of the defense department in Cloud City. If you kill me, you'll have no place to stay in Cloud City."
"Oh? No place to stay?" Su Mu's voice turned cold as he replied, "Didn't you say, if you die here, even the king wouldn't find out?"
"No, no, please, I beg you, spare me. If you let me go, I'll give you money, equipment, skills—anything you want! Just name your price, I'll agree to it."
"Heh, these terms are tempting," Su Mu said, a smile curling on his lips before his expression abruptly turned cold, "But, it's too late!"
Whoosh—
Without hesitation, Su Mu swung the sword, sending He Yun straight to hell.
"Next life, remember to keep your eyes open," Su Mu said indifferently, pulling the sword out without changing his expression.
As a strong person, being ruthless was a necessary trait, and Su Mu naturally possessed this characteristic.
What's more, he was killing a scumbag, so he had no psychological burden.
After dealing with He Yun, Su Mu searched his body and unexpectedly found an Experience Crystal. He couldn't help but marvel at the "killing brings riches" saying.
[Item: First-Level Experience Crystal][Category: Item][Rarity: Rare][Effect: Use to gain 100 experience points (Effective for players under level 30).]
The item classifications were quite simple: Ordinary, Rare, Perfect, and Unique.
The Experience Crystal had a straightforward effect but was incredibly rare, and its value was probably higher than the Hero's Emblem Su Mu had just obtained.
Since it was a freebie, Su Mu didn't hesitate to use it. The Experience Crystal, about the size of a baby's fist, shattered in his hand, turning into glowing fragments that entered his body.
[Ding, Player Su Mu used the Experience Crystal and gained 100 experience points. Experience full, congratulations, Player Su Mu's level has increased to Level 2. Mentality +10, gained 10 Free Attribute Points.]
With his level now up to level 2, Su Mu added the 10 free attribute points to Strength and opened his status panel.
[Player: Su Mu][Level: 2][Class: Abyss Summoner (S-Class)][Talent Skill: Abyss Summon (Communicate with the Abyss to summon Abyss creatures for battle. The strength of summoned creatures is determined by the player's power. The stronger the player, the stronger the summoned creatures.)][Current Summon Limit: 20][Class Equipment: Undead Staff][Strength: 30+10][Agility: 22][Constitution: 20+10][Mentality: 50]
The attribute growth of an S-Class job was astronomical compared to ordinary jobs, and Su Mu was well aware of the differences with regular professions.
A regular F-Class job, when advancing, would receive an all-attribute increase of +1, with subsequent level-ups mainly focusing on attribute increases of +1 or +2, and an additional free attribute point for each level.
But Su Mu, as an S-Class Summoner, directly received a +10 increase in all attributes, and every level-up granted +10 to each attribute, plus 10 Free Attribute Points. This gap was staggering—completely outrageous.
This immense difference, combined with Su Mu's rapid summoning growth, allowed him to quickly pull ahead of 99% of his peers in this world.
One step ahead, a thousand steps ahead. As long as Su Mu didn't do anything stupid, with his S-Class job and his game knowledge, he would surely rise to the top.
Moreover, once he completed the main quest, the S-Class Abyss Summoner would upgrade to SSS-Class.
With such terrifying stat boosts from an S-Class job, the SSS-Class would undoubtedly be unimaginable.
The boost in strength gave Su Mu newfound confidence, and his level increase also raised his summon limit.
With a wave of the Undead Staff, nine more skeleton soldiers emerged from the vortex.
And then, a hexagram appeared within the vortex, from which a black figure jumped out.
Roar—