The goddess Artemisia rose her hand from the screen it was ced on and picked up some popcorn, tossing it into her mouth before taking a sip of her drink that was floating mid-air.


    ''I made the wraith queen stronger than usual and messed with his party member''s perceptions, but to think he ended up creating a skill instead.


    The ''system updates'' I installed would have only let him do that at Level 100.''


    Her thoughts revealed the reason why the wraith queen was far stronger than usual, having the mana to summon wraiths almost endlessly.


    She turned her gaze to another screen that was floating in front of her with a raised eyebrow.


    ''Really?! I take my eyes off that empire for a day and they want to start a war!''


    She stood up from her seat and took onst look at Evan as she thought to herself.


    ''Vortex, huh? Brings back memories.''


    ◇　◇　◇


    "U-m."


    The voice of the second priestess in the group rang out, drawing Evan''s attention to her. Sadly, he did not care to remember her name as he didn''t nned on conveniently forgetting her existence soon.


    "Y-your sword, what i-"


    "Hey, didn''t I tell you all not to ask?"


    She was about to ask about his sword before being stopped by the group leader, apparently, he had told them not to ask questions about his weapon.


    However, some of the group members were clearly dissatisfied.


    "Leader, I''m with her on this, we can''t keep partying with him. Didn''t you feel that scary aura earlier, who knows what that weapon is?"


    "Maybe it isn''t the weapon, but actually the one wielding the weapon?"


    Evan looked at the group who began to voice their disagreements about partying with him and sighed.


    Their reactions were normal, they had only known each other for a few days, it was impossible for them to befortable with him using a weapon like that.


    The only reason they had attempted to protect him earlier was because of the Wraith queen''s reaction.


    She had considered whatever he was doing as a threat and they, who were here to kill the wraith queen, decided to protect him in their best interest.


    Evan held back Ka who was getting increasingly annoyed and spoke up towards the party members who were ufortable with him.


    "Haa~ let me get this straight.


    You guys think I''m some sort of ''Evil'' being cus of my sword and don''t want to party with me, right?


    Fine with me, I''d go. I was gonna leave Luka soon either way, you just gave me a reason to do so earlier."


    He swept his gaze around them all as he murmured to himself.


    "Probably gonna forget you all soon, except Eliza that is. She''s the only one of you who''s slightly useful."


    Although his voice was low, the people in the boss room with him were all beings over level 30. They had superior senses than ordinary people so hearing his murmur wasn''t hard for them.


    "Huh? What''s that supposed to mean?!"


    "YEAH, and don''te around Eliza anymore. Who knows what you''ll do to her?"


    They voiced their dissatisfactions at his words, some even said he should not speak to Eliza again, causing Evan to actually begin to get pissed off.


    He decided to mess with them a bit and grinned evilly as he ced his hand on his sword hilt.


    "You should be more concerned about what I''d do to you. Don''t forget we''re in a dungeon, you can''t beat me alone, much less the spirits with me."


    The leader who had been silent realised something wrong with Evan''s words.


    ''He said ''spirits''? That means there''s more than one?''


    He hurriedly spoke up to keep the other party members from aggravating Evan any further, the look on Ka''s small pretty face was also giving him chills.


    She looked like she wanted to kill them all and was only holding back if not for Evan.


    "Stop it you all. If you want him to go, that''s fine, but don''t restrict him from talking to Eliza.


    You''re also restricting Eliza too, she''s our genuine party member, why would you speak up for her when she can do so herself."


    Evan looked at the leader andughed upon realizing why the leader spoke up to shut the rest up. It was because he figured out that antagonizing Evan further was a stupid and pointless decision.


    While he didn''t have any problems with Evan besides the scary feeling he got from the sword, he had to consider his party member''s feelings when making decisions.


    "Alright, Lets go Kuro."


    Hearing the strange name Evan called out, they tilted their heads in question but not for long.


    One of them traced Evan''s line of sight and saw him looking at the party leader''s shadow, they wondered why he was doing that until Kuro came out of his shadow.


    "A-another spirit?!"


    [Shut up already]


    Kuro said with annoyance and jumped on Evan''s arms, he then looked at the party leader and spoke in a voice filled wit obvious disdain.


    [You''re lucky, you''re all lucky.]


    Hearing the words spoken from the being that looked like a cat sent chills down their spines, they finally realised part of why the leader tried to shut them up earlier.


    Before leaving the dungeon, he looked at the floating notification board in front of him before turning to Eliza and speaking.


    "If a group of knightse over and ask about me tomorrow, tell them I went south. Also tell them I told you where I went and said you should inform them."


    He then walked out before she could reply to his words.


    ◇　◇　◇


    As heid his eyes on the forest in front of him after exiting the dungeon, Evan thought about the ''Spider Nest'' dungeon that was in a city quite far from Luka.


    It was also along the border like Luka was, nevertheless, it would take Evan at least two weeks to get there on foot.


    ''Guess I''d go to the ''Spider Nest'' next.


    If people from the dungeon''s previous Location, the Beta continent were able to kill the dungeon''s final boss like they did in the game, it should have appeared in the Alpha continent by now.


    As no one knows what''s in it, they''d be scared to go in, its perfect for me


    I should also train my bare-handedbat there too, hopefully I meet a good team.''


    The ''Spider Nest'' was a mobile dungeon in the southern part of the great western Empire, it was a new dungeon that was going to be attacked first by a party of C rank Adventurers.


    Evan nned to be in that party, he also decided to hide his identity this time to prevent getting found out easily.


    As there were other cities with single or double floored dungeons on the way, he nned to take a lot of quests and clear those dungeons, making himself strong enough to face the boss of the ''Spider Nest'' by then.


    ''At least, Level 75-80, so that means 30+ levels in two weeks. The boss of the dungeon should be level 100 but I''d be able to take it after leveling up from killing its guards.


    Though I hope I can resist its initial mental attack.


    That''s normally not possible as it gets harder to level up the higher you are, but for me that has the ''system updates'''' boost, it would be smooth sailing.


    For now, at least.''


    Evan fantasized about bing Level 500 soon enough due to the system''s boost. He believed he''d get to unlock more things that came with these ''updates'' as he increased in level.


    At level 500, one began gaining stats on the SS- rank and above, it was very difficult to achieve this as merely leveling up was not going to be enough.


    S rank was like a wall, the path before and after were smooth, but if you could not break that wall, you would never get to the other side.


    If he seeded in breaking the wall that is S rank, then it''d be easier for him to increase his stats afterwards.


    ''At that time I''d consider myself a true power house.


    Oh! My birthday ising soon too, finally gonna be 11 again huh?''


    He thought of random things as he walked back to the guild to report his dungeon clearing quest to bepleted.


    By the next morning, he was gone from Luka.


    In the afternoon of that same day, a group of Knights arrived at Luka, looking for Evan.


    ◇　◇　◇


    Royal Pce, Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    May 9th


    Year 1051


    "So, you''re telling me to call off the search party after Evan?"


    "Exactly."


    Laurene replied to her father, Emperor Rudeus as she looked through the catalogue of magic catalysts ced in front of her.


    "In return, I''d give you information about those symbols you''ve been researching."


    Emperor Rudeus narrowed his dark gray eyes at his daughter, wondering how she even got to know about the research.


    He felt she had changed a lot in the past few months but still felt that she was the same ''Laurene Hayes'' he had known for the past ten years.


    "And who would you get this information from?"


    He asked while paying close attention to her, studying her every move, even the actions she took unconsciously.


    Laurene on the other hand, calmly dropped the catalogue on the desk in front of her and snapped her fingers, the illusion magic on her face being dispelled as Rudeus'' eyes widened in surprise.


    "For someone with the power to see the ''Truth'' about things, i seem to be a bit too proficient in hiding stuff."


    She spoke with a chuckle as she looked up to meet her father''s gaze, the mystic eye crest in her pupils glowing with a golden light as she continued.


    "Now, about that search party..."