Undying Warlord

After Dilan handed the corpse of the Thunderbolt Eagle to Old Jeff, the old blacksmith disappeared as well.

Several Ascenders followed him because they were interested in the Thunderbolt Eagle. The hide of monsters was easier to remove from a corpse but one could still tell how strong the monsters were when they had been alive.

There were a bunch of blacksmiths in Old Jeff's group, a few leatherworkers, a few Survivors, who focused on producing arrows, and so on.

The fight between the women and Dilan was over and everyone, who paid enough attention, realized that Vampires were not a race one should underestimate.

Victoria might look as if she was obsessed with loving and caring for others right now but it was not as if the earlier fight was already forgotten. Her change of appearance after the use of her stat-amplifying occupational ability was something that had been imprinted in everyone's head, and that was frightening enough for most to realize that it was time to become stronger.

Their group's meeting was not yet over and it was necessary for them to create a proper plan on how to become stronger. Dilan and Victoria gauged that they roughly had, at least, a week to become stronger.

After that week, the first groups of Vampires should have reached the Sanctum and found their way to Shiron. In a matter of three weeks, all the groups of Vampires would have reached them provided Dilan would stay at the exact same place for the following weeks.

That wouldn't happen but it was not bad to know about certain possibilities.

"Dilan…where did you find that ability crystal?" Yvonne suddenly asked. She was still caught in Victoria's arm, which made it difficult for her to move. However, the ability crystal Dilan had thrown toward her not too long ago attracted her interest.

[[Death Curse] Ungraded ★ |Growth Type|

Requirement: Ability related to -Undead Summoning- or -Control of the Undead-

-Ability 1: One Unit of Mana will be used to enhance the stats of One Undead under the host's control by 1%.

Duration: 60 Seconds.

Remark: The Ability cannot be used on the same Undead monster several times in succession.

-Ability 2: [Locked]

-Passive Ability 1: The difficulty to control resilient Undeads decreases.]

"Isn't the ability great? I took it from the Blue Star camp's treasury. They won't miss it," Dilan said lightly with a smile on his face before he added, "It can grow strong as well, though I don't know how to make use of the 'Growth Type' tag."

Yvonne could tell that the Death Curse ability was great and she had bound it to herself without hesitation. However, the biggest question in front of her still was how to improve it.

"Oh?" Yvonne suddenly exclaimed as she was flooded with all the necessary information about the ability crystal that crumbled in her hand.

"Growth type abilities require Essences to advance! You can just feed them Essence crystals by thinking about feeding them," Yvonne muttered when she digested the information.

'Essences? That is a pretty interesting way to increase the strength of an ability…' Dilan thought while his mind drifted away.

It was pretty interesting if one thought about it. Upgrading one's abilities was certainly not easy and using Essence crystals could be said to make things quite a bit easier.

Yvonne could hunt hundreds of monsters in a short period just to upgrade her ability to a much higher star rating.

'Maybe I should get a Growth type ability as well?' Dilan thought for a moment before he shook his head.

'I would rather focus on procuring abilities that are of exceptional use to me. My abilities should be related to my Origin ability and my occupations…or at the very least, my future abilities should allow me to become much stronger and amplify my other abilities, whether that is in a direct way or indirectly!' He added inwardly as ambition gleamed in his sky blue eyes.

Yvonne was still trying to wriggle out of Victoria's hold, who snuggled up to the little helpless woman.

"We should enter the Pagoda of Time again. It is about time that we procure more whetstones and other treasures, and I need more Dungeon Points to buy something in the Taurus shop. There should be something we can use to fight the Vampires with much more ease.

Furthermore, I need Essence crystals to exchange them with Lightning attributed Bronze Essence crystals, otherwise, I will never be able to upgrade [Thunder Step] again…" Dilan spoke in a serious, yet somewhat light tone as he mentioned the Pagoda of Time.

Kathrine and Yvonne didn't really have a problem with the Instance Dungeon or the Pagoda of Time, but many Ascenders around Dilan felt a sudden shudder spreading through their entire body.

Victoria noticed this, which was why she turned serious. She stopped squishing Yvonne's cheek and started to intently listen to the murmuring that went on around them.

"The Pagoda of Time is it?.... Well, if you go with others it will be fine. But aren't you already at or above level 15? You cannot enter the Pagoda of Time in that case…" Williams suddenly said. He was pretty sure that Dilan's level exceeded 15 by now.

He had absorbed a huge number of high-quality Essence crystals, including the Bronze Tier-2 Essence crystal of the Thunderbolt Eagle.

"I'm still at Level 14, which is why I can still enter the Pagoda of Time. I will pick out a few Ascenders to enter the Pagoda of Time soon. Though, I don't really need any help to clear it. I just need them for their numbers," Dilan knew that the Pagoda of Time's group modus operandi was a lot different than the Duo or Solo mode.

However, that didn't really matter because the only thing that would vary as the number of monsters and not their strength. The strongest monster was still the Gold Tier-1 Minotaur leader, which was why Dilan could easily use the Blazing Serpentine Blade to kill all the monsters, except the Minotaur with it.

For the Gold Tier-1 Minotaur, Dilan could still use the last CrimsonClaw dagger he had. Thus, Dilan was not worried as long as the other Ascenders were not stupid enough to die while simply standing around instead of fighting.

"You're at Level 14? I thought you would be close to level 25…." Victoria blurted out all of a sudden. She stared at him in confusion and her shock made her loosen her grip on Yvonne. This allowed the young woman to escape the Vampire's clutches. She fled and hid behind Kathrine, who could only smile weakly.

"I need more Essences than others to level up. But there is no need to be worried about this. Even if there will be more Tier-2 monsters or even Ascenders, I can still kill them after Old Jeff creates proper weapons out of the Thunderbolt Eagle's talons," Dilan was quite nonchalant with the truth. It was nothing new for the others to know that Dilan needed more Essences than them.

The only reason for Williams to ask about the Pagoda of Time was the fact that there weren't many powerful Ascenders below Level 15. Most had already crossed that Level and the remaining Ascenders, who Dilan could take with him were either scared of the Pagoda of Time, or they were not focused on close combat.

"Okay…if you say so, Darling," Victoria nodded her head, believing everything he said. Kathrine's fists were shrouded in currents of electricity the moment she heard Victoria call Dilan 'darling' but she calmed down quickly.

"Dilan, do you need help to upgrade [Thunder Step]? I have enough Mana to roast…I mean help you…" Kathrine's eyes gleamed dangerously but Dilan ignored the jibe and nodded his head.

"I only need more Lightning attributed Bronze Essence crystals for now because the Thunderbolt Eagle struck me quite often with its bolts of lightning. But once I upgrade [Thunder Step] it would be great if you can help me advance [Thunder Step] to Tier-1!" He said with a bright smile, acting as if the dangerous gleam in Kathrine's eyes wasn't directed at him.

"He really loves to play with fire…That's so hot~!" Victoria exclaimed in delight before she appeared right behind Dilan to hug him in the same way she hugged Yvonne.

"Fortunately, I love to play with fire as much as you do~" Victoria whispered in Dilan's ear before she smiled provokingly at Kathrine.

"Y-You…bitch!" Kathrine screamed at Victoria as a bolt of lightning appeared in between her hands. Dilan frowned when he saw this.

"Have fun~" Victoria mumbled and she disappeared just before the bolt of lightning was fired. It hit Dilan instead of Victoria, who had long since escaped to a safe spot behind Kathrine, whom she began to touch as well.

"What a cute and lovely psycho you are, Kathrine~"