Chapter 145

[You have gained 102,400 EXP, etc.] 

[Gunner has gained 102,400 EXP, etc.] 

[You have leveled up x51! You are now level 20(+111). You have gained 5.1 Ability Points and 5.1 Skill Points to spend as you wish!] 

[Gunner has leveled up x51! He is now level 20(+107). He has gained 5.1 Ability Points and 5.1 Skill Points to spend as he wishes!] 

It seemed they had crossed a great amount of their target, Since the cap was +200, they were both slightly more than halfway there. Either four more small battles or two more large battles and they would reach the cap. 

Darius decided to accumulate the remaining points before bothering to allocate them. He was also pleased to note that the duo of undead had reached level 35 after this battle. Still, they needed stronger foes to allow them to grow faster. 

As such, he directly unsummoned Mikey and Joneson, then nodded to Gunner. The large lad nodded back as the duo began blink-leaping forward again. 

They covered a great distance much faster than usual thanks to Gunner's increased Endurance. Over the next hour, they crossed almost 500 kilometers of the Journeyman band, nearly reaching the edge of the Adept band. 

Here the duo stopped because they saw enemies ranging from level 35-40, which should be perfect for the two undead. As such, the fellows were dragged out of their rest by Darius and made to engage foes. 

Gunner had to put his Engage skill to use, though the sheer power of undead in the last Journeyman stage was quite arduous for him to tank with ease. Luckily, he put the so far largely ignored Elven Boots of Speed to good use. 

It increased his speed by 50% in exchange for 50% more of his stamina. Since Gunner was not using Explosive Strength - as the goal was to tank and not deal damage - he could easily handle the cost. 

Mikey and Joneson realized that they could not use AOE due to Gunner's proximity to the enemies except as an opening salvo, so the duo resorted to casting Shadow Blades from afar that rushed to pierce their chosen targets. 

Darius was the highest damage dealer here, as he continually used the Heal spell to debilitate foes. Most of the Journeymen undead had more than 600 points of HP, requiring Darius to hit them with the Heal spell more than once in order to vanquish them. 

What was strange was that every time he did so, the nearby undead would break from the battle and try to escape. This could only be mitigated by Gunner who would use Engage to bring them back, creating a cycle of torture for these undead. 

If they could, it was likely that they would shed tears due to the circumstances. However, they could not resist the almost absolute effects of the Engage skill, so they were forced to fight unwillingly and die tragically. 

Darius wanted to reach the cap as quickly as possible so the rest of the farming could be left to the two undead, while he and Gunner could enter the Adept band to investigate in order to verify how well Darius's plan had worked out in terms of messing the area up. 

After three small-scale battles, Darius finally got his wish. 

He called up his and Gunner's character sheets to see how much they had. 

[Name: Darius Stone 

Race: Human 

Class: Itemancer 

Sub-class: Magus 

HP: 360/360 

MP: 1,000/1,000 

Level: 20(+200) 

Experience: 2000/2000 

Strength: 18 

Agility: 20 

Endurance: 20 

Intellect: 50 

Charisma: 15 

Luck: 50 

AP: 14 

SP: 14 

Skills: Analyze - Lv.5, Skinning - Lv.1, Butchery - Lv.1, Cooking - Lv.1, Washing - Lv.1, Basic Lancer Arts - Lv.4 

Spells: Sparks - Lv.20, Ember - Lv.4, Heal - Lv.9, Blink - Lv.10, Spawn - Lv.15, Purify - Lv.1, Adjust - Lv.3] 

[Name: Gunner 

Race: Half-Human, Half-Giant (Royal Blood) 

Class: Vanguard 

Sub-class: Open 

HP: 480/480 

MP: 700/700 

Level: 20(+200) 

Exp: 2000/2000 

Strength: 24 

Agility: 15 

Endurance: 20 

Intellect: 35 

Charisma: 16 

Luck: 20 

Physical Status: Healthy 

Mental Status: Calm. 

Affection: Friendly lvl max 

AP: 15 

SP: 15 

Skills: Engage - Lv.4, Earth's Guardian - Lv.20, Earthen Stomp - Lv. 1, Berserker's Rage - Lv.1, Earthen Punch - Lv.3, Basic Martial Arts - Lv.1 

Spells: None.] 

Darius had one less point in both categories compared to Gunner, but it made sense since he reached level 20 long before the fellow did. Now that they had both reached the cap, it meant that, for the first time, they were on the same wavelength. 

Given how their experience would be divided up permanently in the future, this would likely remain the same up until they both reached the Grandmaster stage. 

Without wasting time, Darius placed 2 points into Endurance as well as Strength and 10 points into Agility. This brought the stats to 22, 20, and 30 respectively. Darius sighed with pleasure as he felt the weight of the world weakened on him so greatly with 10 points. 

He felt like he could outrun a cheetah at its top speed with difficulty. His steps were lighter and by consequence, quieter. 

In terms of spells, Darius thought carefully before placing 7 points into Heal, 5 points into Spawn, and 2 points into Adjust. This brought the spells to level 16, 20, and 5 respectively. 

Currently, the spells looked like this; 

[Heal - Level 16 Spell 

Cost: 40 MP 

Description: Channel mana into the body of any living being to bring replenishment to their lifeforce. This restores 80% of a target's total HP.] 

[Spawn - Level 20 Spell 

Cost: 5 MP 

Description: Channel the purest death energy through your body to form undead servants that do your bidding. Only two undead Vampires are summoned at this level.] 

[Adjust - Level 5 Spell 

Cost: 2 MP 

Description: Control the fundamental force of the planet that retrains all beings to its surface. This spell increases or decreases the user's weight by 25%.] 

While their casting costs had increased, their power had jumped to a whole new level of existence.