Chapter 54 | Meeting With Leon, Explosive Trap
After meeting with Leon and speaking to him for a while, the two managed to catch up with everything they had done since their time in the secret realm.
Leon had actually entered the First Layer only a few days after his return from the Initial Stage, wasting no time in continuing his journey.
It truly seemed like his advancement task was something fairly easy, only that he couldn’t complete it in the Secret Realm due to the unique circumstances.
As a result, it meant that he was level 15 already, three levels higher than Alicar, who had spent a month grinding for Evolution Points.
Though of course, unlike Alicar, Leon was actually sent toward a normal area at the start, which is why he leveled up much more slowly and safely.
He wore a pair of Red Wolf Gloves to boost his strength as well as some decent-looking armor that offered solid protection.
"That’s all I could afford for now," Leon grinned, flexing his gloved fingers. "I’m aiming for a pair of boots and a few more items once I get more money from hunting."
The two also added each other using their phones, meaning that Alicar could officially contact him now whenever he needed assistance.
"Well, keep up the good work," Alicar nodded, a hint of approval in his voice. "I plan to head back, where are you located currently?"
"I’m in a level 10-15 base called Stormhaven in some kind of plain outside the forest, it helps me get by without too much trouble."
"Hm, alright," Alicar replied, committing the name to memory.
Alicar asked Leon if he had more money so he could buy a spatial ring, but as the man had just bought a few potions, he was all out unfortunately.
But still, Leon wasn’t completely empty-handed.
"Here," Leon tossed a [Healing Potion (E-Rank)] and [Stamina Potion (E-Rank)] toward him, the vials glinting in the light. "They’re really useful, especially the stamina one when using Demonic Arts! Trust me, you’ll need it."
"Thanks," Alicar nodded as he stored the two items in his storage ring, grateful for the gesture.
It felt great to receive such items for no reason, Leon was a companion after all, not just some random stranger he had met by chance.
’I only need Iris and Viktor’s contacts now, and it’ll be much easier to coordinate,’ Alicar thought, a sense of satisfaction washing over him. ’Good.’
But he didn’t immediately head toward a First Layer gate directly, instead Alicar returned to his apartment to sleep and recover his strength.
And only upon waking up at 8 am did he finally leave his home, feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead.
He reached one of the plazas for the First Layer gate, paid the small fee, and entered it without hesitation.
Fwoosh!
[You have entered the First Layer.]
Alicar landed onto the ground with a heavy thud, in the very same spot he had been in a few hours ago before he left.
But the very instant Alicar entered, he felt something in the air, and a deep feeling of unease crept into his heart, his instincts screaming at him.
He looked around, but noticed that the three Crimson Tuskers’ corpses were gone, their bodies completely vanished from the clearing.
’This is... Someone has been here, or something ate them,’ he thought, his eyes scanning the surroundings carefully.
Either way, this didn’t seem good for him, as Alicar didn’t know what could happen in such an environment, or what kind of threats lurked nearby.
He wouldn’t have been able to carry them over in his Small Storage Ring due to its limited capacity, but even the fact they were gone made him alert and cautious.
Alicar planned to find the Stormhaven Base that Leon talked about.
He summoned his Cinderwood Staff in hand, its familiar weight comforting, but right as he took a single step forward...
BOOM!
An explosion erupted as a trap had been set off beneath his feet, hitting Alicar directly and making a wall of thick mist appear around the area.
"Haha, we fucking got him!" a rough voice shouted from somewhere in the mist.
"Good thing you set those weak traps while we made the better ones, they should be enough to kill a level 12 player~" a female voice replied, dripping with satisfaction.
Two Strays appeared from behind a tree, their forms emerging from the shadows, they had been tasked to observe this spot to wait for Alicar and also set out the trap to catch him off guard.
---
[Name: Marcus Vane]
[Race: Human]
[Level: 16]
[Potential: Meh...]
---
[Name: Eliza Croft]
[Race: Human]
[Level: 15]
[Potential: Bad.]
---
There was one thing that people needed to know when it came to killing in the Eternal Realm: stealing items from other awakeners was absolutely possible.
That is, unless they were in the Storage Ring of said individual, because Storage Rings couldn’t be stolen from a dead body.
The moment the owner of a Storage Ring died, the ring would shatter completely, meaning that whatever was inside would disappear into the void forever.
That is why some Strays and other criminals force their victims to let all their items out before killing them, to ensure they get the loot.
It didn’t seem like they considered Alicar to have anything of importance beside his staff, which they had their eyes on.
Yet as they were about to approach the spot where the explosion had hit to grab the staff and get out of here... a figure emerged from the mist, bloodied but standing.
"Holy shit," Marcus mumbled, his eyes wide with disbelief. "But how? Did you not set up the explosion correctly?"
"I’m pretty sure I did..." Eliza replied with a cautious expression, grabbing a knife in her hand, her posture shifting to a defensive stance.
Of course, the reason Alicar survived was because of Platinum Body, the legendary skill that made him incredibly resilient to damage.
And though he was alive, it was obvious he was still relatively injured, blood trickling from several wounds on his body.
Seeing him bloodied, the two Strays gained more confidence as they got ready to battle, their fear replaced by greed.
Meanwhile, Alicar simply stared at the knife in the woman’s hand, his eyes locking onto the blade with keen interest.
’I need that knife,’ he thought, his mind already calculating. ’It should be strong enough to cut corpses and extract cores properly.’