Jumping, Jake avoided both Guards trying to get him from behind, focusing his attention on the Protector in front of him. It leaped up to chase him, making Jake kick off a platform of condensed mana to clash with it again. However, he didn’t make it a competition of pure power this time.Rather than block, he dodged in mid-air, using Eternal Hunger to stab it in the side three times. It turned to try and catch him, but Jake was faster, vaulting on top of it and stabbing into its abdomen with both katars while pushing mana into them. Two explosions resounded within the Protector, yet despite the obvious pain, it spun its body, throwing Jake off.He was forced to teleport away before he could land, as more Guards tried to pin him down. Teleporting three times in a row, Jake got quite a distance into the cavern and found a good spot. Whipping his body around, his bow appeared and he started blasting, having decided to get rid of some of the guards.Nocking an arrow, he drew the string an

Each level in C-grade mattered far more than those in D-grade. It was just simple math, really. However, there was still one thing that could make up for this gap in stats: titles. Jake had over 70% more in all stats just from title increases, and this was not counting all of the pure stats he got from some of them.Jake also had a pretty damn good class in D-grade and an excellent profession. The Malefic Viper skills added even more stat points, allowing Jake to truly stand out from nearly any other newly evolved C-grade. All of these advantages had already meant that Jake outclassed a level 239 Hive Queen and her Protector by quite a bit, but this Hive Queen was 272, with an even more powerful Hive King at 272. When he last visited, Jake had estimated the Hive King to be quite far into C-grade, but not mid-tier C-grade. That meant it had probably gotten over forty levels since his last visit. If that speed could be sustained, the Hive King and Hive Queen could be in at least the lat

The cavern was still, entirely blanketed in silence. There were no plants, no movements, and seemingly no life. Save for one creature.A large Hive Queen stood in the middle of the grand cavern, looking tired. As she began moving, a second figure also made itself known. Cracks spread all over a statue of a smaller termite, the Hive King wrestling itself free from the petrification.This was naturally to be expected. As the spawn of the Hive Queen, the Hive King was nearly immune to her magic. The fact that a layer of rock had still covered the King’s body was proof of its power. It was a spell the Queen had used to slay many whenever she delved deeper with the Hive King to conquer more territory for the hive. However… it had not been enough.The Hive Queen sent a mental command to the King to find and kill the human. The lack of notification was proof of life, even if his survival surprised her.A shame, the Hive Queen thought. The seed of a powerful human such as him would have helpe

Jake’s second nap of the day was quite a bit longer than the first one. He ended up sleeping nearly ten hours straight, the longest in a while. And yes, he still categorized that as a nap.Honestly, sleeping at higher grades was a weird thing. You didn’t need to sleep, and Jake had heard that some races just straight up couldn’t, but those who’d started at lower grades—where sleep was a necessity—still retained this ability. As you then evolved, sleeping changed from a physiological need to a hidden skill of sorts. During sleep, one regenerated resources far faster, even when compared to meditation, and it especially helped refresh mental energy. Finally, and perhaps most importantly… sleeping was just nice.Waking up, Jake struggled to get out of bed—not due to his body still being weak, but the allure of just lying there five more minutes. Alas, he had to get moving, so he got up and did some unnecessary stretches. Looking over his own body, he found most of his armor still in shamb

"Not quite as I had hoped," the old swordsman said, smiling to himself and shaking his head. It had been difficult, but in the end, he had done it. The spirit of competitiveness had truly fueled him once he became aware that Jake had gained a mythical skill from his Patron, Aeon. It had pushed his old bones further than he thought they could handle, and his desire had intertwined with his competitiveness and Transcendent insights, giving him what he wanted.[Mythical Prodigy] – A genius ahead of the curve, not even the mythical deluding you. It feels as if your Path has barely begun, yet you refuse to be confined to the expectations of your station. Creating a mythical skill while below C-grade is no easy feat, and the feat of a true myth in the making. Be proud. +100 all stats, +20% all stats.Prodigy, as a word, still felt odd to Miyamoto. It felt like a title reserved for the young. He knew that in a multiversal context, he was actually considered young, and that both the former Mo