?Reaching the end of the lengthy tunnel, Evan and Lirian approached a sharp bend in their path.


    As they turned the corner, their eyes were met with a zing inferno of radiant light that flooded their vision as if the sun itself had descended upon them. The source of this scorching congration was none other than the malevolent kobold mage lurking within the dank tunnels.


    It had been lying in wait like a devious predator with a lethal surprise in store for its unsuspecting prey.


    Without warning, the wicked kobold mage brandished its staff, its twisted fingers crooked around the gnarled wood, and pointed it directly at the intruders.


    In response, a searing fireball surged forth from the tip of the staff.


    Whoosh!


    It hurtled towards Evan and Lirian with blistering speed, leaving behind a trail of fiery embers in its wake.


    "Energy Barrier!"


    Lirian instantly drew upon the deep reserves of soul energy in his soul pockets and soulwork thaty within him, summoning forth a formidable shield from his right palm.


    The invisible barrier coalesced around himself and Evan, emanating an otherworldly power that seemed to repel the very air around it.


    Bomb!


    A deafening explosion shook the tunnel as the fireball collided with the energy barrier, causing a cloud of dust and smoke to rise up in its wake. For a moment, it seemed as if the very walls of the tunnel might crumble and copse under the sheer force of the st.


    As the dust began to settle, the kobold mage could scarcely believe its eyes.


    It had expected to see the lifeless bodies of its enemies lying before it, consumed by the mes of its powerful attack, but instead, the intruders stood unscathed as if they had been immune to the raging inferno that had just engulfed them.


    Not a speck of dust or grime marred their pristine appearance, as if they had just emerged from a peaceful slumber rather than a cataclysmic explosion.


    The Kobold mage gazed in utter disbelief at the sight before its eyes, its reptilian features twisted into an expression of sheer shock and awe.


    "What...how is this possible?" it stammered in elvish, its voiceced with incredulity. "Your...your bodies are unscathed...how did you withstand my attack?"


    As the energy barrier erected by Lirian was made invisible by the special effect of his soul te, the kobold mage couldn''t see it, and its senses weren''t sharp enough to feel it.


    Thus, It was bewildered, unable to understand how they''d survived what had killed many in the past.


    Lirian and Evan didn''t look surprised at all as they heard it speak in Elvish.


    Mages, even if they were monsters, were spiritual beings with intelligence that no normie could match.


    Learning anguage wasn''t too hard for them.


    "An attack of that level can only work against weaklings." Lirian retorted in elvish.


    ραпdα n?νa| сom As a soldier of an intergctic empire, he had been to manys and interacted with different kinds of people, so naturally, he picked up severalnguages, each one widely used in the ck Eye Gxy.


    There were, of course, devices that could trante the manynguages spoken by different races in the gxy; However, neither Lirian nor Evan had brought anything like that, as such devices could be hijacked, and the one thing they didn''t want to happen was for their location to be tracked.


    The Kobold mage bristled at Lirian''s words, its pride wounded by his taunting smirk.


    "Hmph!" Its nostrils red, and its eyes narrowed to slits as it snorted. "Don''t get too cocky, human. You''ve only faced my weakest spell. You have yet to experience my full power."


    Frustrated and enraged by its failure to vanquish its foes, the kobold mage readied another attack.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Who said you have the time to prepare your spell?" Lirian said calmly and resolutely as, with a deft motion of his finger, he dissolved the energy barrier that had protected them and dashed towards the kobold mage, closing the distance with supernatural speed.


    The kobold mage didn''t think the gap would be covered. Lirian was 12 steps away, and it needed only a moment or two to power up its spell. It already seemed to see them getting turned into ashes by the spell it was about to release.


    However, Lirian vanished from sight, reappearing before the mage in a fraction of a second, startling it. It was still a second away from realizing its spell, but Lirian had already covered the distance between them.


    Bam! Crack! Crack!


    Its wish remained unfulfilled as, in a single, fluid motion, Lirian delivered a devastating blow to its gut.


    Its rib cage broke, and it doubled over in agony, its staff ttering to the ground.


    "Step aside," Evanmanded Lirian coldly and resolutely before Lirian couldnd the finishing blow. "This prince wants to deliver the coup de grace."


    "As you wish."


    Without hesitation, Lirianplied, moving to the side as Evan took aim at the kobold mage.


    With a flick of his wrist, Evan unleashed a frigid bullet that tore through the air, striking the kobold mage squarely in the head with chilling precision.


    With a hole in its head leaking blood, It slumped to the ground, lifeless and defeated, as the echoes of the st faded away into the darkness of the tunnel.


    [Ding! You have in a level-4 Kobold Mage! You have gained four experience points, and your soul energy reserve has increased by 4 points!]


    Evan suddenly felt that his first soul pocket had undergone a transformation.


    Its size increased by a small amount.


    Before, it was only able to store a 100 units of soul energy, but now it can store four more units than that.


    He was taken aback.


    ''It''s too heaven-defying.'' he thought with narrowed eyes.


    In the game, yers could increase their energy bar by killing spell casters and other magic users.


    However, they had an energy bar, while Evan had a soul pocket.


    The two were not the same!


    Thus, he didn''t think that killing mage-type enemies would benefit him.


    But now he was proved wrong!


    He could widen his soul pocket and increase his soul energy reserve by killing magic-type enemies.


    It was simply wonderful.


    After all, it was considered impossible to increase the size of one''s soul pocket in the Sun Moon Empire.


    Something like this has never happened before.


    All those who tried died from their soul pocket exploding!