Chapter 39: An Unexpected Encounter with Reina

"Mmm..."

Claire slowly opened her eyes and found herself in an unfamiliar place.

An endless grassland stretched as far as the eye could see. Beyond the sea of green, there was nothing else in sight.

"A grassland?"

A moment later, a black panel popped up in front of her, stating the rules for the third mission.

After reading it, she finally understood.

"So that’s how it is..." she murmured with a slight nod. "But now I’m stuck in a place like this. How do I get out of here?"

She looked around again, but there was nothing but grass as far as the eye could see.

"Huh..."

She sighed.

"At least I’m safe for now."

With no better option, she began walking, hoping to find a way out.

...

"Ugh..."

Rose groaned as she clutched her head.

The pain faded a moment later.

When she opened her eyes, she froze.

"Where am I?"

She slowly scanned her surroundings.

A vast, mysterious hall stretched out before her.

Crimson pillars towered toward the ceiling, and the walls shared the same fiery red, making the entire hall seem like a sea of flames.

Several statues, each nearly seven meters tall, stood about twenty meters away.

Every one of them looked terrifying.

Just looking at them sent a chill down her spine.

As she was taking in her surroundings, a black panel appeared before her.

Rose spent a few minutes reading it before finally understanding the rules of the third mission.

"Killing a Level 1 monster gives ten points, huh? The competition’s going to be brutal."

Fortunately, only the top two hundred groups had to survive. She wasn’t worried about that.

GRRR!

A deep growl echoed from behind her.

Rose quickly turned around and saw several shaggy tigers stepping out from behind the towering pillars not far away.

Each one stood nearly two meters tall, with ugly, terrifying faces.

They looked almost identical to one of the giant statues behind her.

[STATUS!]

Name: Fire Tiger

Age: 100+

Level: 9

Description: Fire Tigers are monsters that inhabit the Hall of Fire. There are only five at any given time. However, whenever one is killed, two more take its place.

"Oh? What an interesting monster."

Rose raised an eyebrow as she read the description.

It was the first time she had encountered a monster with such an ability.

At the same time, she realized she was inside the Hall of Fire. No wonder everything was the color of flames.

"All right..."

A confident smile spread across her face as she drew her short sword.

"This is the perfect chance to see what I can do after awakening my class!"

...

"Raven!"

The moment Reina spotted him in the distance, her eyes lit up. She hurried over and stopped right in front of him.

"Thank goodness..."

She let out a sigh of relief, patting her chest.

"I was so scared. The third mission started out of nowhere, and I still haven’t awakened my class. Talk about bad luck..."

Raven chuckled and gently ruffled her hair, making her smile.

"I didn’t expect the mission to start this soon either. I promised I’d help you level up, but I couldn’t keep that promise. Sorry."

Reina quickly shook her head.

"Don’t worry! It wasn’t your fault!"

[Ding! Gained 3 Affection Points!]

The affection gauge above Reina’s head rose to 83.

A faint smile flickered across Raven’s face before he quickly hid it.

"By the way, I guess this is fate. I was planning to find you while I was hunting anyway."

He snapped his fingers.

Instantly, hundreds of bat carcasses appeared behind him.

"I need you to extract experience stones from all of them. Can you do it?"

Reina’s eyes went wide as she took in the countless monster carcasses spread out before her.

"R-Raven... where did all these monsters come from?"

She swallowed hard before crouching down to inspect one of them.

"And they’re still fresh... It’s like they were killed just moments ago."

Raven gave her a casual smile.

"I have my own ways. Sorry, but I can’t tell you."

Reina looked surprised for a moment, but then she nodded.

Everyone had their own secrets, so she didn’t ask any more questions.

"I can do it," she said with a firm nod as she slowly got to her feet. "But it might take a while. Is that okay?"

"That’s fine. The third mission has only just begun, so there’s no need to rush."

Reina smiled before getting to work, extracting experience stones from the bat-monster carcasses.

Raven stood behind her, quietly watching with a thoughtful expression.

"Her extraction ability is incredible. That damn Leo was really lucky to meet her first and make her his party member," he muttered with irritation.

If only he had met Reina before that bastard, his level would already be above Level 15.

However, Raven knew that was impossible. According to the system, Leo was a hero, or rather, the "main character."

Their encounter had most likely been orchestrated by the gods.

An hour passed, and at last, every bat monster carcass had been successfully converted into experience stones.

Raven picked one up and crushed it.

A warm sensation instantly spread throughout his entire body.

He then opened his status panel.

[STATUS]

Name: Raven Draxel

Age: 27

Nickname: The Most Disgusting Bastard in the World

Level:11 (100/27,000)

Talents: Strength (B), Endurance (B), Intelligence (S), Magic (D), Agility (C), Speed (C), Charisma (S), Vitality (A)

Class: Necromancer

First Awakening: None

Second Awakening: None

Third Awakening: None

Skills: Gluttony (F) 800/5000, Appraisal (S), Shadow Movement (F), Slick Tongue (A), Woman Satisfaction Technique (S)

Storage: One box of XXL Condoms, Class Awakening Key

Love Points: 9,000

Description: You have begun your journey as the most terrifying bastard in the world. Your very existence is an anomaly that should not exist. Your future is bleak, and no one can see it—not even the gods.

The moment he saw his level, his eyes widened.

"Level 11?"

He remembered that he had been level 10 before.

At the time, he still needed around four hundred experience points to reach level 11.

But now, he had broken through. What’s more, he still had one hundred experience points left over.

That meant a single experience stone had granted him five hundred experience points.

"Damn... The Life Force Extractor’s ability is absolutely terrifying!"

Just one experience stone extracted from the carcass of a Level 8 monster had already given him that many experience points.

If it came from a Level 9, Level 10, or even a Level 20 monster, the amount of experience gained would surely be far greater.

Suppressing his excitement, Raven looked up and smiled at Reina.

"Your ability is amazing, Reina. Thank you."

A shy smile spread across Reina’s face as she lowered her head.

"You’re welcome," she replied softly.

This was the first time someone had genuinely appreciated her ability.

Not even Leo had done that.

He only praised her when he first saw her ability.

After that, he became arrogant and started taking her for granted, acting as if her ability was nothing special and that serving him was simply her duty.

That was why Reina hated him so much.

"By the way, let’s split them. There should be about five hundred experience stones, right? Take two hundred and fifty. It’ll help you level up faster."

Before Reina had a chance to object, Raven turned around, picked up a few experience stones, and absorbed the experience stored inside them.

Reina stood there, frozen in disbelief.

"I... get a share too?" she murmured, unable to believe what she had just heard.

Because of the way Leo had treated her, she’d gotten used to handing every experience stone she extracted over to him.

But Raven was different.

He didn’t treat her that way.

Warmth filled her heart, and before she realized it, tears were already streaming down her cheeks.

[Ding! Gained 10 Affection Points!]

Raven simply smiled and ignored the emotional Reina behind him.