Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

A deep, drooling growl came from the shadows ahead of Ian.

Immediately afterwards, a twisted figure crawled out from behind the archway.

That thing... could still be vaguely made out as human, but its skin was bluish-gray and covered with festering pustules and proliferating tumors.

The limbs were twisted at bizarre angles, the fingers became thin and long, and the nails were black and sharp.

It has no nose on its face, and its mouth is split to the roots of its ears, revealing sharp, serrated teeth inside.

In his eye sockets, only two burning, eerie green flames remained.

It lay on the ground, on all fours like a wild beast, making strange "hoarse" sounds from its throat.

His eerie green eyes were fixed on Ian, filled with greed and violence.

Aberration.

In Li Xing's fragmented memories, these monsters are the nightmare of this world and the source of his most direct fear.

Creatures corrupted and twisted by the abyss have no reason, only the instinct to devour and destroy.

One, two, three... a total of four, crawled out of the shadows, forming a fan shape, and slowly approached Ian.

They emitted a strong stench of decay and chaotic energy fluctuations.

Roughly equivalent to... the peak of the Nascent Soul stage? Or just entering the Awakening stage?

Ian has a rough idea of ​​the power dynamics in this world, but he can sense the danger.

With his current severely injured body, he has awakened to 63% of the intermediate level.

He even lost an arm... A head-on confrontation would be certain death.

run?

He glanced behind him; there was even deeper ruin and denser darkness. Who knew what lay hidden within?

He can't run, and he can't run fast either.

Then... the only option is to kill him.

Ian's eyes turned cold.

He slowly reached his right hand toward his waist, where a sword was hanging.

The scabbard was made of ordinary leather and was badly worn.

"Clang."

With a soft sound, the sword was drawn half an inch from its sheath.

The sword was an ordinary iron sword, with many small nicks on the blade and dark red scabs on it.

Ian gripped the hilt of the sword, feeling its cool touch against his palm.

He took a deep breath, enduring the excruciating pain throughout his body, and pulled the sword out completely, holding it horizontally in front of him.

The sword was very heavy, and in his current weakened state, he struggled to even swing it with one hand.

But he had no choice.

"bring it on."

He spoke in a low voice, unsure whether he was speaking to the four mutants or to himself.

The first mutant couldn't contain itself and let out a sharp screech.

With a sudden burst of energy, it pushed off the ground with its limbs, like a maddened hunting dog, and pounced with a stench!

It moved extremely fast, leaving only a blur in sight.

The eerie green pupils rapidly enlarged before Ian's eyes, and the foul stench almost hit his face.

"Now!"

Ian stepped back half a step with his right foot and turned his body slightly to the side. He did not block directly, but instead pulled.

【Star Step】! Beginner level 41% rune skill activation.

His footsteps traced a barely perceptible arc on the gravel ground, and his body narrowly missed the oncoming mutant by the slightest margin.

At the same time, using the momentum of his body rotation, he swung his iron sword diagonally upwards with his right hand.

The target is the exposed side of the neck of the deformity.

laugh!

The blade cut into the flesh, the initial sensation was one of stiffness, then suddenly it slid!

The foul-smelling, black blood splattered out, covering Ian's face.

The mutant lunged forward with undiminished momentum, taking a few more steps before crashing to the ground.

Its neck was cut open, and its eerie green eyes flickered a few times before going out.

One blow kills.

But Ian wasn't having an easy time either.

The forceful exertion aggravated the internal wounds, and a sweet taste rose in his throat, almost causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.

His left shoulder was so painful that his vision blurred and his hand holding the sword was trembling.

Basic swordsmanship proficiency +0.2%

[Star Step Proficiency +0.1%]

A notification flashed across the panel.

Before he could even catch his breath, the other three mutants pounced on him simultaneously.

One attacked from the front, while two others attacked from the left and right sides.

All opportunities for dodging have been blocked.

Ian's pupils contracted sharply; they were too fast to dodge!

He gritted his teeth, drew a semi-circle with his right hand on his iron sword, and parried the one that was lunging at him head-on.

clang!

The crisp sound of metal clashing against metal rang out, the sword vibrated violently, the tiger's mouth split open, and a trickle of blood flowed down the blade.

The mutated creature's claws were blocked from the front, but attacks from the left and right sides were already upon them.

On the left, jet-black fingernails clawed at his ribs.

On the right, a twisted mouth bit towards his neck.

The aura of death enveloped him instantly.

Ian's mind went cold.

"How could I die here!"

At the same time, an extremely strong obsession emerged.

He had just arrived, the contract hadn't been fulfilled yet, his younger brother hadn't been found, and the revenge for his family hadn't been taken...

How could I die in a place like this!

"roll!"

He let out a low growl, but it wasn't Li Xing's voice.

Rather, it belonged to Ian Marcus, the savagery from the depths of a first-order wizard's soul!

Almost instinctively, he frantically poured the extremely thin, pale golden spiritual energy in his spiritual sea into the iron sword in his hand!

He didn't know exactly how the "starlight" or "elemental energy" of this world worked.

But he knew how to enhance weapons with mental power, which was a basic skill for wizards.

hum!

A faint, almost invisible silver light suddenly appeared on the blade of the ordinary iron sword!

Although faint, it carried an indescribable sharpness and weight!

[Starlight Perception] activated automatically, and that faint light resonated once again with the Starfall Core in his chest.

A faint gravitational field spreads out from the sword's blade!

The two mutants that were attacking from both sides suddenly stopped moving.

It was as if they had suddenly fallen into an invisible quagmire, slowing their scramble.

"Now is the time!"

Ian's body suddenly leaned backward, almost sliding across the ground.

The sharp claws on his left side grazed his clothes, tearing a gash.

The mouth on his right, biting down, was less than three inches from his throat.

They escaped, but the crisis is not over yet.

The mutant that had been parried in front of them pounced again, and the other two recovered from their brief moment of hesitation and turned to pounce once more!

Ian rolled on the ground, half-kneeled to his feet, panting heavily, his face ashen.

That sudden burst of mental energy almost drained the little bit of strength he had managed to recover.

The wound on his chest reopened, and blood gushed out.

The three mutants surrounded them again, their eerie green eyes filled with rage and bloodlust.

As the mutant approached, Ian felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

"It's over..."

He gripped the sword hilt tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

Am I really going to fail here?

No.

His eyes sharpened as he looked at the pendant on his chest.

There, the core of the meteorite clung tightly to the skin, radiating a warm, gentle heat.

In Li Xing's memory, this thing was a family treasure, containing pure stellar energy.

This is also one of the reasons why the brothers have been constantly on the move.

"Whatever... let's give it a try!"

With a determined look, Ian directed the last wisp of pale golden mist in his mind's eye to flow into the sword instead of into the Starfall Core in his chest.

Communication! Resonance! Guidance...

Get out here!

hum! ! !

The core of the meteorite trembled violently.

A surge of silver energy, far purer and more powerful than before, rushed into Ian's body like a flood bursting its banks!

Wherever it passed, the excruciating pain was instantly replaced by coolness, the parched meridians were forcibly opened, and the severely damaged internal organs were rapidly repaired by this gentle yet immense energy.

[Status: Severe Injury → Moderate Injury (Under Repair)]

[Realm Stage: Mid-Awakening (63%) → Late-Awakening (67%)]

The data on the panel was changing rapidly.

At the same time, Ian felt that his "perception" had changed.

It's not a visual change, but a more mysterious ability to "see" the faint, flowing silver specks of light in the surrounding space.

He could even vaguely sense that deep within the earth beneath his feet, there seemed to be some slow yet powerful "pulse" beating.

"This is... a star vein?"

The three approaching aberrations seemed to slow their movements by half a beat in his current state.

The chaotic and murky energy fluctuations emanating from them appeared particularly glaring and... fragile against the backdrop of the pure silver starlight around them.

Ian was blessed with a profound spiritual awakening.

He stopped trying to cut with his sword and instead let the extremely faint silver aura in his hand spread out along the blade.

There's no need to strike with all your might, just... pull and disturb.

The tip of the sword traced an extremely subtle, rhythmic arc.

In the surrounding space, the faint silver specks of light seemed to be attracted, and they moved slightly along the trajectory of the sword tip.

The three mutants that had just pounced on them all suddenly swayed to the side.

The force of their own attack and the slightly disturbed "force field" in the surrounding environment create a kind of disharmony, leading to an imbalance.

Although the imbalance was very slight, it only caused them to stumble slightly.

But for Ian, that was enough!

His body snapped open like a taut bowstring, shooting out like lightning from the gaps exposed by the three unbalanced mutants!

The sword flashed like a venomous snake's tongue, striking precisely at the back of the neck of the first unbalanced, deformed creature.

That's where the energy fluctuations are most chaotic, and also where the defenses are weakest!

laugh!

The sword tip plunged in without any resistance, shattering everything!

The eerie green light went out.

Without stopping, using the momentum of his forward charge, he slashed horizontally with his iron sword, cutting across the ribs of the second deformed creature that had been exposed due to its loss of balance.

The skin and flesh rolled back, and black blood splattered.

The second one collapsed to the ground with a pitiful howl.

The third one finally regained its footing, turned around in a rage and pounced, its sharp claws whistling through the air as it aimed for Ian's face.

Ian neither dodged nor evaded, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes, as he swung his iron sword upwards with his right hand!

clang!

Swords and claws clashed.

This time, Ian was not knocked back.

The energy of the meteorite core was still flowing within his body, granting him temporary strength beyond his injuries.

He let out a low growl and pressed down with all his might.

"Break it...!"

Click!

The sickening sound of bones cracking.

The mutant's claws were forcefully deflected, but the sword's momentum wasn't over; it slashed across its chest, cutting a deep wound that revealed the bone.

Black blood spurted out.

The mutant staggered backward, and for the first time, a feeling akin to "fear" appeared in its eerie green eyes.

Ian stepped forward, his sword tip moving swiftly like a shooting star, piercing its eye socket.

puff.

The last glimmer of green faded away.

Three twisted corpses lay in the ruins, black blood pooling on the ground, emitting a nauseating stench.

Ian, leaning on his sword, knelt on one knee, panting heavily.

His chest heaved violently, and every breath carried the smell of blood.

"Phew! We've finally gotten through the toughest part."

"Phew! We've finally gotten through the toughest part."

Ian, leaning on his sword, knelt in the ruins, panting for a full two minutes.

The smell of blood, the stench of decay, and the rusty, sweet metallic taste in my throat all mixed together and rushed straight to my head.

His vision blurred, and his ears rang as if someone was hitting his head with a hammer.

But we cannot give up yet.

Are there any other mutants around? Will the commotion from the fight attract more monsters?

He gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand up.

My left shoulder hurts so much I can barely lift it, and my ribs are burning; I guess I cracked them again from straining too much earlier.

But at least, the bleeding from the internal organs has been mostly stopped by the cool energy from the Starfall Core.

"First... let's find a place..."

Ian dragged his iron sword, moving step by step deeper into the ruins of the observation platform.

Those four mutants just now crawled out from behind the archway, which should be relatively hidden.

He circled around several collapsed stone pillars, stepped over a pile of broken bricks and tiles, and finally found a corner that was barely enough to shelter him behind a half-collapsed wall.

In the corner were some broken wooden boxes and stone slabs, covered with black vines.

Ian swept the vines away with his scabbard, and the vines quickly curled up as soon as they touched the scabbard.

Seemingly somewhat afraid of the starlight energy, it revealed a small space behind it that was barely big enough to crouch down in.

He bent down and crawled inside, leaning against the cold, damp stone wall, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

It's safe now... for the time being.

He closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the sea of ​​his mind.