"H-hehe?" Aether stood frozen, like a statue, unable to move an inch as he felt his blood turn cold. His heart almost stopped beating, the shock of seeing Ste being swallowed whole by the white snake paralyzing him momentarily.


    "~Hisss~" The huge white snake, now satiated and content after devouring Ste and the remaining Arcane Crystal, turned its gaze towards the neer... Aether.


    However, the snake sensed that it had already feasted enough for the day, especially after devouring a 2-Silver Star Crystal and some random low-aptitude Arcane Crystals.... It knew it was time to evolve, and so it ignored Aether, considering his energy signature wasn''t potent enough to pique the snake''s interest for another meal..... slithered away slowly into the forest.


    ''Thud''


    Aether''s knees buckled under the weight of pain and anguish, etched clearly on his face.The memory of Ste''s sad smile lingered in his mind, haunting him.


    He felt his heart being torn apart as if he had lost something incredibly precious to him.


    ''Drip, Drip''


    Tears streamed down his cheeks, leaving a trail of sorrow in their wake. If only he had arrived a few seconds earlier, he might have saved her.


    Just a few seconds!!!.... He currently felt the weight of those few seconds.


    Aether''s lips trembled, his mind reying the single night he spent with a stranger.... a night that now caused immense pain in his heart.


    Aether felt as though he had just lost a wonderful, naive sister.


    "So, this is why you wanted me to seduce her, Log?... hehe" Aether muttered, his expression broken and filled with sorrow.


    "Y-You want me to have a m-mental breakdown, R-Right?" Aether asked again, but there was no answer.


    "ANSWER ME, HEHEHE... YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!" Aether''s shout echoed with frustration, loss, and anger, reverberating through the silent woods.


    ''Ba-Dump, Ba-Dump''


    Aether''s heart beat as faster than ever before, his ocean blue pupils partially filled with a mix of ck and white and slowly the ck started spreading around his eyes.His breath hardened as if something started to possess his mind....


    ''Blink, Blink, Blink....''


    At that moment, a series of rapid green blinks manifested before Aether''s very eyes.Aether blinked his eyes as his eyes turned normal and focused on the blinking green panel of the mission tab.


    "What''s that suppo--" His words halted abruptly as realization dawned on him, striking his mind like a bolt of lightning.


    "She is alive!" Aether whispered to himself as he observed the departing white snake..... His gaze then shifted to the affection points disyed on the interface.


    [Affection Points: 13908 (1000 Affection Points = 1 *any Attributes)]


    Without hesitation or meticulous nning, Aether murmured under his breath,


    "Increase Strength by 4 and Agility by 2"


    !~Ding~!


    [+4 Strength]


    [+2 Agility]


    [Strength: 10 ↑]


    [Agility: 10 ↑]


    "ssshhhhh"


    The air around Aether swirled in a silent dance, enveloping him as his body surged with a potent wave of energy and newfound vitality.


    The unknown energy surged through every inch of his blood and flesh, revitalizing him from within.


    ''Deep Exhale''


    With a profound exhale, Aether fixed his gaze upon the snake and then nced towards the nearby branches, contemting his next move.


    "~sssss~"


    The white snake moved happily toward its nest, deciding to take a nice, long nap. It knew that upon waking, it would have evolved into a 2-Silver Star-ranked monster.... Totally Cool!! It''s going to be King of the Forest very soon!!


    The creature''s joy was palpable as if it were soaring among the clouds on wings of bliss. Days of relentless pursuit had led to this moment. It had relentlessly tracked the elusive 2-Silver Star Orc, a creature of immense power that had nearly imed the snake''s life on two harrowing asions.


    Undeterred by these close calls, the snake bided its time, waiting for a more opportune moment to secure a sessful encounter.


    And then, fate intervened in the form of ke and his formidable team.


    "~HIisssss~" == [Humans are easy]


    The serpent''s hiss carried a tone of smugness, a testament to its confidence in preying upon humans, considering them mere ythingspared to the daunting challenges posed by the other monsters.


    "HHHIIIIIIIIISSSSSS!!!!"


    However, its triumphant reverie was abruptly shattered by a piercing shriek of agony, the result of an unexpected and painful intrusion as something sharp impaled its delicate tail.


    Turning swiftly, the white snake''s serpentine eyes locked onto a wooden branch impaled in its tail, blood trickling down in crimson rivulets.


    With a sudden, forceful tug, it ripped the branch free, though the wound still seeped with crimson evidence of its injury.


    "HISS!!"


    The snake''s hiss echoed with pain and frustration, its obsidian eyes scanning the surroundings for the unseen assant, yet finding nothing but the serene silence of the forest.


    Despite theck of visible threats, it remained vignt, honing its senses to detect any subtle disturbance.


    ''Tuck''


    "~HIISS~"


    A sharp hiss escaped as it swiftly slithered towards the origin of the sound, its instincts on high alert. However, upon reaching the spot....


    There was nought but old branches and sturdy stone, devoid of any living presence.


    Undeterred, the snake maintained its heightened vignce, sinuously weaving through the underbrush, keenly searching for any potential threat lurking in the shadows.


    A little further away, perched upon a sturdy branch, a figure observed the snake with a focused gaze.


    "It appears that the snake''s anatomy shares simrities with ours," Aether remarked softly to himself. With a swift motion, he selected another stone, tossing it near the base of a nearby tree. The stone struck the ground, eliciting an immediate response from the snake as it slithered towards the sound, arriving at the spot in a blur of motion.


    "Its speed is impressive," Aether noted, his brow furrowing slightly in contemtion.


    "Increase agility by 2"


    !~Ding~!


    [Error]


    [Limit reached ording to the Level]


    "Hmm?" Aether''s expression turned puzzled. He had just experienced a surge in power and levelled up, hadn''t he? His gaze shifted to the indicators of his Level and Magic affinity, and then it dawned on him, prompting a nod of understanding.


    "I see... tsk, It''s like this, huh..." Aether''s expression shifted to annoyance as he contemted the situation.


    It was a straightforward matter, unlike others who started with a Level 1 due to their skill points distributed at least minimally in every attribute, Aether''s initial stats were practically zero, with some even registering in the negative. Hence, it was no surprise that his Level remained at zero until his Magic Affinity finally reached one.


    Anyhow,


    "What should I increase?" Aether pondered aloud, his gaze fixed on the limited options before him. "Magic and charm..." he muttered, considering his avable choices.


    Of course, While increasing his Magic Affinity seemed like the logical choice, Aether hesitated. The knowledge he had recently acquired regarding spells and incantations was undeniably potent.... That''s Fucking Powerful.


    It appears that gaining Intelligence maxed out at Level 0 caused some sort of anomaly or perhaps a unique urrence... by his Luck?


    For instance, consider how mes typically arise.


    ''Puffff,'' like that, right?


    "PUFFFF!!"


    A small yellow me spontaneously erupted from Aether''s fingertip, devoid of any chanting or understanding of the fire''s concept.


    It was merely a product of his imagination: (Oxygen) acted as the medium while (Arcane energy) served as the fuel and Combine them then... V!!


    Fire!!!


    In an instant, he seemed to have transcended into a state of genius!


    What''s more, when he pointed his finger towards the sky, the me shot upward, apanied by a resounding,


    ''shhhh''


    "BOOM!"


    The fiery disy erupted into the sky like a grand spectacle of fireworks. The white snake, taken aback, nced upwards with a mixture of surprise and wry writ on its serpentine features.


    "Sigh... I''ve be OP now," Aether muttered with a tinge of sadness in his voice.


    No, he was happy he became an OP but regret lingered as he contemted how things might have been different if he had initially focused on increasing his Magic Affinity instead.... Perhaps then, he wouldn''t find himself in this challenging situation.


    It''s not like he didn''t want to increase magic... it''s just his hesitation, driven by the fear of being discovered by Mortimer... who knows what kind of cunning n he would make next.


    and yet,


    His hesitation had nearly cost not just his own life but also another innocent life.


    Maybe that''s how things would go...


    Anyhow,


    Until he tuned his control over the magic, He couldn''t even bring himself to use these powerful spells, knowing full well the devastation they could cause.


    The thought of identally harming not just the monster but also Ste, who remained alive within its stomach, weighed heavily on his mind.


    So, it was a bad choice...


    "What about charm?" Aether pondered briefly, only to dismiss the idea almost instantly, "It''s not like I can seduce.. the mons... tee... rr," his voice trailed off, his mind drifting towards a seemingly ludicrous thought.