“Hiss!!!” With the world working in Valyr’s favor, the spear he firmly gripped pierced through a certain part of the serpent’s back with great ease, as if the coating of Shadow Energy surrounding its body had never existed in the first place.

“…” Continuing to maintain a tight grip on the spear, Valyr eventually landed on solid ground, prompting him to put his entire weight and strength on the spear as the pitch-black circle remained within his field of vision.

Due to the peculiarity of how Hunter’s Tracking Eyes, the young man had the ability to peer through the insides of any item or being he deemed as a target, allowing him to see what specific part of the serpent had been deemed by the skill as a vital spot.

‘A sac… no, sacs filled with Shadow Energy.’ Looking at the exact spot his spear had pierced through, Valyr saw what looked to be a sizable lump near the Shadow Serpent’s heart. However, as he peered closer into this lump, he noticed that this lump was made up of hundreds of smaller lumps, all of which radiated an aura that was incredibly familiar to him.

“Hiss…” Writhing in pain, the serpent wanted to make use of the remaining energy it had to attack the human on top of it, whose attention was fully focused on the spear it pierced through its body. Unfortunately, within seconds, the serpent fell its strength gradually weakening as the coating of Shadow Energy surrounding its body dissipated into thin air.

“Hiss…” Letting out what seemed to be its final hiss out of indignation for its fate, the serpent eventually breathed its last, prompting Valyr to retract the spear and affix it to his back once he was certain the serpent was dead.

Ding!

“It’s finally over.” Hearing a series of notification sounds resound in his mind, Valyr got off the Juvenile Shadow Serpent’s fresh corpse before lying down on the ground, the toll of physical and mental exhaustion finally affecting him. Nevertheless, a proud smile adorned the young man’s face, feeling immense joy at the fact that he was victorious.

“Who knew the difference between a Mythic and an Ancient Elite tier monster would be this large?” Finally allowing himself to take a rest, the young man thought about the monsters he had fought so far, realizing that there seemed to be a large gap in strength between monsters in certain tiers.

“In any case, I’ve finally completed the quest Elder Noel gave me.” Though curious as to whether or not there was more to it than he realized, Valyr discarded such laborious thoughts in his mind for the meantime, chuckling as he recalled his fight with the serpent once more. “I can finally put all of my focus on preparing for the inheritance.”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

However, just as he was about to close his eyes as he knew that Noel was going to arrive at where he was laying down, Valyr noticed that the Shadow Energy the serpent had cultivated began to seep out through its properties, accumulating a meter or so above its corpse to form the largest cloud of Shadow Energy the young man had seen so far.

Swoosh!

Then, without any warning, this cloud of Shadow Energy zoomed towards Valyr, flooding the entirety of the young man’s insides as they forced their way to the small black mass near his heart.

Ding!

Hearing a couple notification sounds resound in his mind, the young man decided to look at it once he had finished absorbing the serpent’s Shadow Energy, feeling slightly bloated from having to absorb so much Shadow Energy at once.

Then again, it only took a couple of minutes for the young man to finish absorbing all of the Shadow Energy, finally giving him the freedom to take a look at the notifications he had just received.

“Huh.”

Your Shadow Energy stat has improved by 5 points.

As you have absorbed the Shadow Energy of a Shadow Serpent, you have improved the innate quality of your Shadow Energy, awakening some of the latent properties that slumber within.

As you have absorbed the Shadow Energy of a Shadow Serpent, you have awakened the property of Shadow.

𝗈𝓥𝐿xt.𝗰𝓞𝓜

As you have absorbed the Shadow Energy of a Shadow Serpent, you have awakened the property of Energy.

These properties can be found in greater detail within the skill ‘Shadow Energy Mark’.

Closing the screen he had just brought up, Valyr’s curiosity was at its peak as he wondered what the system meant by awakening the Shadow Energy’s properties. After all, all he knew so far and from his past life was that Shadow Energy was a type of energy similar to mana, but was just more destructive.

With that, he decided to command the system to bring up the description of Shadow Energy Mark in front of him. However, before he could do so…

“I’d suggest you save checking those skills of yours at a later time.” Noel had appeared in front of him, looking at him with a stern expression.

Faintly curious as to why Noel had given him such advice, Valyr softly tilted his head as he stood up, consuming both a health and mana potion to make sure that he was in the best condition he could achieve currently.

Luckily, before he even had to ask a question about it, the old man gave him the answer, grinning from both sides as he told him, “After all, that skill of yours would change once you obtain your new subclass.”

“I didn’t expect you to actually kill the first Shadow Serpent we’d encounter, brat. You’ve definitely given this old man here quite the shock.” Letting out a cackle filled with glee and pride, Noel looked at the young man in front of him with the same grin from earlier, recalling the words the young man had told him back when he had asked Valyr if he wanted the subclass.

‘A risk that I won’t ever regret, huh.’ Inwardly chuckling as the words came to mind, the old man took a deep breath as he composed himself, prompting Valyr’s expression to become solemn. ‘I gotta give it to him.’

‘He hasn’t made me regret the decision at all.’

“Because of what you’ve shown me, I’ve decided that I’m going to improve the rewards you’ll receive from my quest.” As Noel said these words, a look of slight surprise appeared on Valyr’s face, only for it to be soon replaced with faint excitement not long after. “It’s the least I could do, especially after seeing how much effort you’ve put into killing that serpent.”

“Come closer.” Hearing these words from Noel, Valyr faintly nodded as he took a few steps forward. Then, out of nowhere, Noel placed both of his hands on the young man’s head, circulating his Abyssal Energy through them not long after.

“You know, I’ve thought about it for a bit while I watched you fight that Shadow Serpent.” As the old man planned to accumulate Abyssal Energy in his hands, Noel took the time to give Valyr more insight into what the elder’s improved rewards could be. “Would the Shadow Serpentine Lancer subclass truly be useful to you?”

“From one perspective, that may be the case.” Just as Valyr was about to respond to the question, Noel interrupted him, causing the former to realize that the latter was narrating his thought process. “After all, you’re a spear user.”

“However, with the curse inflicted on you more or less hindering you from using your spear all the time and having to rely on magic instead, the question came to mind,” said Noel. “Eventually, I came to the conclusion that the subclass would still help you out, but not in a way that you could fully make use of it.”

“With that, I thought about ways I could work around that curse of yours,” he continued, his gaze focused on the Abyssal Energy accumulating in his hands. “Perhaps a subclass that would allow your magic to also benefit from its specialties.”

“And that’s when it dawned on me.” At these words, Noel flashed a grin at Valyr as he released the Abyssal Energy in his hands, enveloping Valyr’s entire body with it.

“There was a way to do that.”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Telling Valyr to let the Abyssal Energy surrounding him do its thing, Noel began to manipulate the Abyssal Energy in a way that cleansed the young man’s body both inside and outside, making his senses more perceptive in general.

“I used to have a disciple that was incredibly talented in magic, but had to pick up the spear due to her parents,” said Noel as he continued to manipulate the Abyssal Energy. “Back then, I asked myself the same question I was asking myself earlier. Unfortunately, I did not have the capability to act upon it at the time.”

“But now… that’s not the case.”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

After making the young man’s senses more perceptive, the Abyssal Energy Noel used to envelop Valyr soon made its way to the young man’s mind, inundating it with a plethora of information regarding the Shadow Plane, as well as Shadow Energy.

“Rejoice, Valyr,” said Noel with a grin, retracting the Abyssal Energy after seeing that its work was done. “From this point onward, you are a Neophyte Shadow Serpentine Lancer no more.”

“Instead, you are the first of its kind. The first to receive this new subclass. The trailblazer of a new path I’ve just made a reality.”

“Valyr Zeihardt, you are Veldanyr’s first ever…”

“Shadow Serpentine Manalancer.”

Ding!