Rise of the Blood Sovereign

Chapter 24: System Limits and The Midnight Dagger

The night was still young, at least for Lyle who only planned on returning to the city in the morning. He guessed that he had about 2.5 hours before he would need to go back to the city in order to return at the right time so that he could get back in his room without being seen by the staff or other guests.

The inn he was staying at right now was located at an even better spot compared to the previous one that he choose without thinking too much as he didn't plan on staying long in the city anyway.

There were other buildings, alleys, and trees around the inn, which made it incredibly easy for Lyle to sneak in and out of his room.

He took a short break atop another tree. The sound of monsters growling and fighting each other reverberated through the forest as, just as he had guessed, they had arrived at where the battle between him and the other monsters happened and was starting to slaughter one another.

One thing surprised Lyle as he had managed to get about 200 meters away from the area as the system notification hit one more time.

Ding!

[ The battle has been concluded collecting soul power … ]

-Lvl 5 Toskar killed, 25 soul power gained

-Lvl 4 Toskar killed, 20 soul power gained

-Lvl 5 Toskar killed, 25 soul power gained

-Lvl 12 Eijas killed, 250 soul power gained

-Lvl 11 Eijas killed, 200 soul power gained

-Lvl 14 Demon Boar killed, 350 soul power gained

-Lvl 15 Demon Boar killed, 400 soul power gained

-Lvl 9 Wolf killed, 90 exp gained

…

- Rank E Iron Dagger acquired

- Rank E Rough Leather Boots acquired

…

[ Due to the host being 5 levels above some monsters, the soul power has been halved, if the host is 10 levels higher than a monster, he will not receive any soul power. ]

[ The host has earned 1 520 Soul Power and 14 S Coins ]

[ Soul Coins or S Coins for short are the currency upon which the system and most organizations in the galaxy operate, unlocking more functions of the system will cost the host and the other hosts of the planet S Coins and contributions which can be earned by slaying monsters, leveling up, completing certain quests or challenges that the system gives and more. ]

[ Buying items from the system, initiating contact with beings outside of the planet, having any craftsman outside of the planet make items for you, and using the services of buildings and organizations that have spawned on the planet will all need S Coins. ]

Finding out that there was a currency that the system used and that it was used outside of their planet was a big shock to Lyle.

He had already had thoughts that life outside of the planet existed, hell, it was almost certain as the top powers of the planet had already managed to find planets that had mana on them.

They were even close to creating portals that would lead them there, but Lyle was unaware if they were successful with that or not.

Another finding was that any enemy that was 5 levels below Lyle would give only 50% of the soul power and that 10 levels lower meant no soul power at all.

It made sense since weaker people could simply stay in the safer areas and hunt monsters to level up, and more powerful beings that could level an entire city with their spells and attacks could increase their soul power very quickly if such a limit didn't exist.

Lyle didn't really care for it, as an assassin he was used to killing people that were stronger than him and didn't have a wide repertoire of skills that could be used on multiple opponents, making the limits not really unfavorable to him.

They would certainly crush the dreams of many, however.

The existence of items being suddenly spawned after a battle was another thing that surprised him.

Since he couldn't see anything that the system mentioned, he had even gone back a bit in order to check if the boots and dagger were in the place he had previously fought the monsters, and his thoughts were correct.

He could see a simple dagger and rough boots that farmers would usually wear on the ground. He didn't really care for them as the gear he had on was much better so he simply left.

Still, knowing that he could actually get gear just from fighting monsters was an incredible thing. He had no idea what the rank was and how many there were, but he guessed that he would learn in the future.

That was before the system had seemingly read his thoughts and answered.

[ The ranking for abilities and items goes from F to Z, with the full ranking being F – E – D – C – B – A – S – SS – SSS – Z ]

Lyle simply nodded his head, grateful to know the rankings.

He was now aware that his ability to control blood was not a normal one at all, as it was ranked at S, which was on the higher end of the spectrum.

After dealing with all of that, Lyle stood up from the branch before heading deeper inside the forest.

Since weaker enemies now barely gave him any soul power, he needed to go and fight those that were at least level 10, otherwise gaining levels would take too long.

He ran through the forest at full speed, alerting a couple of monsters that were nearby. He could hear the monsters charging and running after him, but instead of feeling intimidated or concerned, he simply smirked before continuing to run.

After some time, Lyle suddenly sped up before jumping on a tree and going back.

The monsters who were suddenly left without a target were confused. They all looked around, only finding other monsters that had been charging at Lyle with them.

The monsters were quickly alarmed and started growling at each other, but not attacking.

The more powerful monsters had some intelligence and wouldn't simply jump to battle right away.

But Lyle was, of course, aware of that.

He grabbed two of his throwing knives before throwing them at two groups of monsters. There were 5 groups in total, and upon being injured, the monsters that belonged to the two groups that Lyle had targeted stared at the others in fury before attacking.

Even though they had some basic intelligence, it was still not even close to a human's.

The monsters started a bloodbath while Lyle observed from above. He waited until the number of monsters had thinned down and they were injured before dropping down with his spear and killing one.

He used the same tactic as before.

Instead of simply charging in and fighting a group by himself, Lyle could manipulate the monsters to fight against each other and tire themselves out before interrupting the fight and claiming the benefits.

His spear punctured the bodies of the monsters easily, and even though Lyle was not that proficient with the spear, he was still better compared to an average spearman. He only used it for a bit before throwing the spear at a monster and quickly drawing out his daggers.

So far, Lyle was too weak to even try using any of the skills that he had created or learned from the organization. There were some that he used, but they were more movements and subtle twists and turns of the body, legs, and arms than real skills as those were usually learned when one was close to reaching the realm of Knight.

That was how it was done in the organization, however, other organizations had different methods of teaching.

The organization that Lyle was a part of, The Midnight Dagger, operated differently from others.

They believed that the fundamentals should be practiced till perfection before an assassin should start learning and creating skills of their own. Movement, throwing skills, close-quarter combat, stealth, and anything one could do in order to help become a better assassin was learned in the beginning.

That was why in the early stages, the new recruits of the Midnight Dagger were weaker compared to most organizations, but after the recruits matured, they were above most, especially when reaching Tier II and higher.

Lyle was using all that he had learned back then in every single battle. He didn't even think about it, he just did it as it was a part of his daily life at this point.

But the skills would only be available later as Lyle would definitely suffer from exhausting his mana if he tried to use any now.

Lyle flickered around the area as he battled against the monsters and used the surroundings to his advantage. Many times would the monster charge at him, only to be met with a tree, rock, or another monster when Lyle dodged.

He picked them apart methodically and barely suffered a scratch from the battle. His stamina was a different story, however, as he was slowly starting to get tired.