Chapter 197: [197] Garden Of Flesh And Bones

The combined spell had left a deep scar in the dark forest, and due to the large absence of trees, cold air that would have been blocked by the trees flowed freely through the space.

Ark took a moment to enjoy the breeze. He knew it was too late to save the adventurers that had been killed by the mimic, but he felt good to have wiped it off the world as well.

But he did not get to enjoy his moment of peace. They were still in the dark forest, after all. And in the dark forest...

The cold air carried with it a cacophony of growls.

...There was no such thing as peace.

Multiple eyes began to appear, nestled in the darkness all around them, each one glowing like miniature stars.

Ark tried to count them but gave up when he crossed seventy.

It seemed the explosion had been so loud that it had practically woken up the entire forest, and now the monsters had gathered to find out the source of the disturbance, only to find dinner.

Of course, they were ecstatic. Ark could feel their excitement from where he stood.

"You would think that ruthlessly murdering one of their own would teach them not to mess with us..." Olivia frowned as the first monster stepped forward.

She had no idea how high up the mimic was on the food chain, but considering that they were in the outer part of the forest, it had to be high.

And yet, the monsters were not dissuaded.

The first monster stepped through the thick darkness, and the darkness clung to its body just before it burst out into the clearing.

Its teeth were light blue, like the sky, and its eyes bore the same colour. They were sharp with predatory intent, each move executed with the precision of a seasoned hunter.

Behind him, a few more monsters began to emerge, circling around him.

[Threat detected! Shadow Panther, Level 23 x 15!]

Seeing the panther’s audacious move, the other monsters grew bolder. Ark watched as goblins, rock bears, forest thralls, as well as a host of other horrid beings slipped out of the forest.

The panther stood right in front of them, clearly the one running the show.

’Is it stronger than the mimic?’ Ark had no idea, but it seemed the panther was sure he had trespassed into its territory, and so it was here to execute justice.

There was only one problem with the panther’s reasoning.

From the moment Ark laid foot in the dark forest...

Darkness suddenly surged out of the ground below his feet, followed by a shockwave that cut through the forest.

One by one, his summons appeared, surrounding him on all sides, and then, in front of him, twin salamanders stood, their golden eyes locked on the panther.

... it had become his property. They were the trespassers.

The panther roared loudly, its voice booming through the atmosphere.

But Tai and Kenny were not interested in introductions.

Without wasting a second, they responded in the language everyone could easily understand.

Violence.

"Are you tired?" Ark glanced at Olivia as his summons lunged forward.

She shook her head, a wild smile appearing on her face as she dashed forward.

"I’m just getting started!!"

[Harvest successful! You have successfully received 2 Mana points!]

[Harvest successful! You have successfully received 1 Mana point!]

[Harvest successful! You have successfully received 2 Strength points!]

[Harvest successful! You have successfully...]

As Ark read through the dozens of notifications that appeared in front of him, Tai jogged up to him and placed a bloody head next to his feet, the head of the panther.

Ark patted the salamander’s head, and the salamander melted into his hand the way a cat would often do.

"Good boy."

He then noticed Kenny watching them from a distance. "Come over here, you did well too."

The black salamander’s body blurred, and she was next to him shortly after, almost tackling him to the floor.

Ark laughed as he patted her head as well. "Yeah, yeah, you both did great!"

When he finally managed to get them off him, Ark got to his feet and was dusting his body when he laid eyes on a monster he had not used Dark Harvest on.

It looked like a rock bear, but it must have been a different species because instead of ashy fur, its fur was dark red.

He placed his hands on it and activated his ability.

[Harvest successful! You have successfully received 2 Strength points!]

’No skill again?’ Ark wondered how terrible his luck was that day to not have gotten a single skill from the monsters.

He was about to stand up when another screen appeared in front of him.

[Your comprehension of Dark Harvest has improved!]

[Your ability grows stronger!]

[Dark Harvest has evolved!]

Ark immediately jumped to his feet, unable to believe what he had just read. Of course, it was natural for abilities to grow stronger; it was the same with skills...

But not once, not even by mistake, had he ever imagined that Dark Harvest could also evolve!

__

—Dark Harvest: Evolutions

Player will now gain 2 stat points per harvest, instead of a declining number, totalling 14 stat points per ten harvests.

The threshold for extraction from the same species will now reset on a weekly basis.

Player will gain 0 points from monsters lower level than him.

—

There were only two upgrades, but those two changes drastically changed everything.

In the past, Ark could only gain a total of 7 stat points from a specific monster type. Meaning it did not matter how many goblins he fought or if he came back to fight them the next year...

It would always be 7.

That was why he had not gained much from revisiting the hell-level tutorial.

This made farming stats more difficult because Ark always had to find new monster types to beat up.

But now, not only would he gain two times that amount, which was almost the amount of stats Olivia gained from levelling up, from just ten monsters...

He would now be able to wait a week and proceed to continue his stat farming! It was a complete game changer, and with this, Ark was sure to see drastic improvements in the coming weeks.

Next, Ark decided to summon his evolution tab. He was now a skeleton shaman, and his plan was to begin working towards the next evolution.

__

[Next Race Evolution: Lich]

Requirements:

Reach level 40 (20/40)

Mana: 4000 MP (2000/4000)

Defence: 100

Advance five Dark Spells (2/5)

__

’Lich? Now we are talking!’ Ark nodded, smiling internally. Skeleton shaman was good, but when it came to pure aura, everyone knew liches took the cake.

But the requirements were pretty steep... five thousand mana points was already a steep requirement, and yet, Defence was part of it...

Ark had first thought defence was useless for mages, but he had been very wrong, and he only realised it recently.

Spells used the body as the base from which a spell was cast. You wouldn’t notice much strain with lower-tier spells, but as you begin dabbling into higher-ranked spells, the effects begin to become more noticeable.

This meant that depending on the nature of the spell, a mage could be putting extreme strain on his body.

This was why mages used magic staffs. When casting with a staff, the staff becomes the base of the spell, reducing, or in the case of powerful staffs, completely cancelling out the load on their bodies.

But since Ark often fought with his sword while casting spells, it meant his body was often left to absorb the pressure.

That was why Defence was important.

’How long will it take me to get to five thousand mana points—?’

"I’ve managed to wake Rodolph up..." Olivia muttered, interrupting his thought as she pulled the driver along with her.

Rodolph’s eyes were wide as he stared at all the shattered bodies that were already around them.

"W-wh— what happened here?!"

Ark stretched, his eyes sweeping across the forest. There were chopped limbs, shattered skulls, and broken bones lying in every direction.

The Dark forest had been transformed into a garden of flesh and bones...

He shrugged. "It’s nothing much... just a little redecoration is all."

"Redecoration?" Rodolph smiled nervously. "Ahh, I see... re-de... corat—"

And just like that, he collapsed once again.