The next morning began with a dry calculation. Sebastian laid out everything he had on the bed. Besides the eight hundred credits from Bruno, he had some small change left. In total — barely a thousand.
He felt his body differently now. His movements were more precise, and his senses were sharper. But for a serious hunt, this was not enough. The news said that professional hunters spent tens of thousands on gear alone.
"Four hundred experience points to level four," he calculated. "If a level two monster gives about twenty, I need to kill two dozen more of those creatures. Or forty rats. This will take days of monotonous work."
He knew he needed a new weapon. His knife was too light for Strength 8. Under such pressure, the metal could simply snap in his hand during a fight.
—
He went back to Bruno. This time not to sell, but to buy. The old hunter was looking through some reports on a terminal when Sebastian entered.
"I need a C-12 alloy knife," the boy said shortly.
Bruno raised an eyebrow. "C-12? That's heavy steel for those whose Strength has passed five. Are you sure you can hold it, kid? It costs five thousand credits."
"I have some of it now. I'll bring the rest tomorrow," Sebastian laid the money on the counter.
Bruno huffed but pulled a massive dark metal dagger from under the display case. "Fine. Take this one, it's damaged, so I'll give it to you for fifteen hundred. But if you break it, I don't want to hear it."
Sebastian took the weapon. The weight was perfect. He felt his forearm muscles tense, easily balancing the knife. Now he was ready to return to the depths.
—
The sewer greeted him with the usual stench. Sebastian didn't waste time on small Slimes. 10 XP per kill was no longer worth the risk of dulling his new knife. His target was deeper — the lower collector, where the purple light was coming from.
Mana Resonance highlighted the walls, which were covered in a strange residue. He approached a rusty hatch. In the darkness, something powerful was pulsing.
[Target: Swamp Crawler (Level 4)]
The numbers inside the monster were "heavy." This meant its strength was almost equal to the Brute Sebastian had barely defeated earlier. Но the experience for it should be worth it. Sebastian gripped the handle of the C-12. The monotonous grind was just beginning, and every second was a balance between rapid progress and death.