[You have leveled up!]

...

[ Name: Moon ]

[ Level: 39 ] [6%]

[ Lives: 215,998 ] [Super Lives: 0]

[ Strength: 159 ] [ Agility: 219 ] [ Constitution: 181 ] [ Mana: 261 ] (+20 to all stats)

[ Attribute Points: 10]

The dark organization’s attempt at draining the lives their fighters could pay out had failed to fully protect them. Moon had still walked away with a considerable haul. More than eighty thousand lives across the entire engagement.

What the organization couldn’t touch was the experience and spiritual energy. That came directly from the kills themselves, unaffected by whatever tribute their leader had drained beforehand. Moon’s level had climbed and he was on the road to level forty, once reached, he would earn himself an additional five attribute points to place wherever the moment demanded.

His gaze moved across the battlefield, searching for his next target.

At the same time, he was making up his mind on the next evolution.

He had yet to touch Life Burn. The skill would consume a massive chunk of his pool, and burning through unused lives before activating it was waste he wouldn’t accept. Everything he had should go to work first. Then, and only then, would he light the fuse on the trump card.

His gaze fell on the skill he had just used moments ago.

[Bird’s Dance]

[Order: First]

[Rank: Epic]

[Level: 15] [Evolve]

[Details: Unleashes a rapid, flowing sequence of slashes that mimics the unpredictable flight patterns of birds. Attack speed +150%. Attack power +150%.]

’Time to evolve.’

[Level 15 → 16: 2,048 Lives]

[Level 16 → 17: 4,096 Lives]

[Level 17 → 18: 8,192 Lives]

[Level 18 → 19: 16,384 Lives]

[Level 19 → 20: 32,768 Lives]

[Total Consumption: 63,488 Lives]

[Lives: 152,510]

[Your First Order Skill Bird’s Dance has evolved to Second Order Skill: Tempest Symphony]

Knowledge poured into his mind. His sense of the space around his own blade heightened, and stances he had never knew became known to him.

He pulled up the evolved skill, curious to see its full effect.

[Tempest Symphony]

[Order: Second]

[Rank: Epic]

[Level: MAX]

[Details: A storm of sword strikes that overwhelms opponents with a flowing blade symphony. Attacks come from unpredictable angles. Special Effect: Phantom Strike, illusory strikes accompany your own. Attack speed +300%. Attack power +300%.]

Moon’s smile widened.

The evolution was worth every life he’d spent. Attack speed and power both doubled, and the skill had picked up a new effect on top of it.

Phantom Strike.

It fit the skill’s nature better than anything else could have. Tempest Symphony was already a rapid combination, dozens of strikes flowing into each other from angles that threatened defense.

Layering illusory strikes on top of the real ones meant incoming attacks were paired with fake ones. Opponents would have no way to tell which cut was real and which was hollow. Blocking a phantom meant leaving the real strike open.

Moon flexed his fingers around the hilt, eager to test the new skill.

Luckily, there was no shortage of training puppets in an arena filled with scum.

His gaze settled on the earth mage from earlier, the one he had held the silent treaty with during the tournament round. She was on the brink of death now. Three enemy Evolvers of the same rank had converged on her position, and even her defensive element wasn’t enough to hold against a three-front attack.

Her walls were cracked and blood ran down the side of her face from a huge cut across her temple.

Moon sprinted forward, casting [Minor Mend] on her.

She felt the healing spell, and thanked the person internally, unable to express her thanks outwardly because of the pressing attackers.

The three elites had their backs to Moon. Their focus was locked on breaking her defenses down, none of them expecting a threat from behind. Moon closed the distance at full stride, his sword rising, his mana already flowing into the new skill.

’Tempest Symphony.’

Moon struck the closest one before the man had time to respond.

Each slash transitioned into the next without a single moment of reset. Moon’s sword danced more gracefully than it ever did, attacks coming from all angles. His flexibility seemed to have greatly increased during the skill usage, and the rhythm was like that of a tempest storm, ruthless and filled with power.

The first strike opened the man’s back from shoulder to hip.

The second split him across the ribs before his body absorbed the shock of the first.

Once Moon finished his combo, the man was dead before he hit the ground.

The other two spun around at the same instant.

Moon was already moving, activating the skill once again.

What was impressive about skill, was its unpredictability. The phantom strikes turned out to be random rather than fixed. This made it incredibly more valuable than a fixed phantom strike rate, which could be read by a powerful opponent.

The nearest attacker raised his blade to block a horizontal cut coming at his throat.

But his sword passed through empty air.

His eyes widened. The cut he had blocked had never existed.

The real one rushed from below, opened his stomach in a clean line before he could adjust his attack.

"W-What—"

Moon’s blade came around again. Two strikes at the man’s chest, one at his shoulder, one at his hip. The man raised his sword desperately, catching the shoulder cut on his guard. The chest cut hit him at the same instant.

Once again, he hadn’t blocked the right one.

Blood sprayed from the wound.

"Help me!" His voice cracked in pain. "Help me, he’s, I can’t see them, I don’t know which ones are real!"

The third attacker charged in from the side, attempting to strike Moon.

Before he could get close, earth spike shot up from the ground beneath his foot.

The spike caught him at the knee, punching through his leg and pinning him to the rubble in a single motion. He screamed, his attack dying mid swing as his body twisted around the impaled limb before he collapsed sideways onto the broken stone.

Moon glanced past the second attacker’s shoulder.

The earth mage was still on her feet, helping Moon in stopping those that tried to reach him.

Although he didn’t need it, he was still grateful for her help. "Thank you," Moon flowed into the second attacker.

The man tried to swing. Moon’s blade sliced through the arm holding the sword before the swing finished. Another wall rose from the earth mage’s side, closing off the man’s retreat, funneling him into Moon’s cuts.

"Damn y—"

Moon didn’t hear his last words. Tempest Symphony didn’t slow down, six more strikes landing on his target, two of which turned out to be phantom strikes.

The man’s guard collapsed because of the ones he didn’t recognize as real, and Moon’s sword took him at the base of the neck on the tenth cut of the sequence.

He fell...dead.

[You have gained 3250 Lives]

Moon lowered his blade.

The third attacker was quickly dealt with too.

Moon stepped over to him.

Three notifications flashed across his vision.

He glanced up.

The earth mage stood ten meters away, breathing hard, her wall still up between them. Her eyes met his across the top of the stone.

"Thank you..."

Moon nodded back.