Evan instantly took several swings with his sword. The icy blade sliced through and severed the monster's flesh, leaving it no chance of survival. A few seconds later, the monster's massive carcass collapsed.

The young man slowly approached the monster and pulled the green crystal from its chest with one precise cut.

"Monsters cores

" were worth good money, so Evan wasn't going to pass them up.

Evan thought, reaching out his hand for the spheres on the monster's paw. He was sure it was also something precious and could be worth a lot, but...

Crack.

Thirty seconds after the monster had died, the red spheres cracked and shattered into shards. They couldn't exist outside the monster's body or if it was dead.

"Alright, there's nothing I can do about it. Now I have to deal with the most formidable foe there is.

" Evan muttered as he stared at the unusual monster.

Its roar made Reykar step back. Evan had never seen monsters like this before, for its entire body burned with bright flames.

Evan used the

"Eye of Truth,

" and when he saw this monster's

"Pillar of Soul,

" he became wary.

< The first rank monster with one flame on the platform and two evolutions...>.

If a monster's 'Pillar of Soul

" has one platform and one flame burning on it, it means that its strength is roughly equal to a mage at the

"One-Pointed Star

" stage with one broken

"Barrier.

" But, evolutions give the monster much power, especially because of the gained abilities.

In most cases, if a magician at the

"One-Pointed Star

" stage meets an evolved monster of the first rank, he will lose. A magician can win only if his arsenal has powerful spells or magical artifacts. Otherwise, it's doubtful that the magician can survive.

Evan's spells got stronger, but so far, he didn't know any first rank spells. He was at quite a disadvantage, but his sword balanced the scales.

Evan held the sword out toward the monster and cast

"Magic Missile.

" Two dense white beams flew swiftly toward the monster.

The fire monster didn't dodge. Instead, it opened its mouth wide, and its roar shook the whole forest.

It was so strong and loud that Evan had to cover his ears. What's more, it wasn't just a loud sound, but real waves that brought down the

"Magic Missile.

" The spell flew off into the crystal rock and destroyed part of it.

Evan frowned. He hadn't expected the monster's roar to be able to throw his spells aside.

"Magic Missile

" hasn't worked, then the

"One-Eyed Raven's Beam

" won't be able to break through that roar, either. I think it's time to do it...>.

Evan thought and canceled the

"Ice Veil

" The monster realized that Evan was about to attack and decided to do the same. Its claws glowed, and the wind swirled around them. With each passing second, the wind grew more vigorous and more furious until it became a tornado.

On the other hand, Evan quickly cut his palm and sprinkled the blade of the sword with blood. This sword was the weapon the demon had given him as payment for a year of his life. So, in addition to its extraordinary sharpness, it had other abilities.

When the drops of blood fell on the blade, they quickly evaporated, and a purple liquid flowed out of the sword guard. It spread all over the edge, causing it to take on a purple hue. It was a deadly poison that could easily kill most creatures in this world. Evan would only have to make one attack, and his opponent would die, but the sword would be destroyed after that. The poison was so strong that it would gradually corrode even metal.

By the time Evan finished his preparations, the monster had already attacked. It created a terrifying whirlwind that mixed with its fire and turned into a flaming whirlwind. The monster opened its mouth wide, and with its furious roar, the whirlwind headed towards Evan.

The vortex was approaching swiftly, but Evan had no intention of retreating. Unlike the previous time, he didn't have to get close to the monster to attack it now. Evan slowly raised his sword above his head and swung it up and down with an icy gaze.

In the same instant, the sword blade shattered, and a wave of venom headed toward the vortex. Poison was liquid, and the fire vortex should have vaporized it, but it was too weak to withstand such a powerful attack.

The wave of venom sliced the vortex in two and continued flying toward the monster. The fire monster began to roar, but even that could not destroy the venom wave. It sliced the monster in two, and its body parts immediately rotted away. Nothing remained of it but a single green pebble.

This attack was deadly. It killed not only the monster and destroyed the vortex but also poisoned all the nearby vegetation. The grass had changed its color from deep green to purple, and some of the trees were dried out and broken. It looked as if a wave of death had ravaged the area, taking all the lifeblood of the plants.

Evan watched with a calm gaze as the remains of the sword slowly crumbled. You could tell that this attack alone had cost him a year of his life, for that was the main strength of this sword.

"Great, there were quite a few monsters, though, but when I dealt with the strongest of them, they decided to run away.

" Mumbled Evan and headed for the corpse of the fire monster.

He took the

"Monster Core

" and called out to his comrade,

"Reykar!

"

The one-eyed raven quickly flew up to Evan and infiltrated his

"Nirvana.

" He was exhausted and needed to rest, and the same could be said of Evan. Immediately after the breakthrough, he had to fight, and he used two sigils at once, so he had almost no strength left in him.

"Well, today is definitely a productive day, I need to head to the library finally. There's a lot I want to learn about, and given recent events, I need to choose the right spells.

" Said Evan and headed back home.

One of the topics he was most interested in right now was the longevity of mages. After recently giving up one year of his life, Evan felt that it had become less important than before. That could only mean one thing - his lifespan had increased.

It was no surprise though, Evan already knew that the stronger he became, the longer his body would be able to last in this world. He wanted to know exactly how long his life would last.

A few hours later, when the sun was about to set, Evan returned to town. Evan walked leisurely towards his house, walking through the busy streets of the city.

Evan thought as he entered his house. Today was one of the most important events in his life, but he did not have the energy to rejoice. He wanted to relax and not think about anything and just relax.