When Neo stepped into the apartment, it gave the feeling that this was the home of a single person. The living area was cozy, with a comfortable armchair and a small sofa arranged around a coffee table. The walls were adorned with paintings, and a bookshelf in the corner held a small collection of books and knick-knacks.
To the left of the living area was a compact kitchen, with a stove, refrigerator, and sink all neatly arranged against one wall. A small table with two chairs was pushed up against the opposite wall, creating a cozy space for meals or working from home.In the back corner of the apartment was a bedroom, with a queen-sized bed pushed up against one wall and a dresser and nightstand on the other side. The walls were painted a soft blue, creating a serene and calming atmosphere, and a small window let in a bit of natural light.The bathroom was small but functional, with a shower stall and toilet tucked into one corner and a sink and mirror mounted on the opposite wall.Lying on the chair, Neo took out the spheres that he got from the green monster bodies. He played with them as he laid back, thinking about what to do with the problem of not having been able to share the experience with his party members. He tried going solo but level 8 monsters were too much for him as he couldn't even last one minute without buffs and might die.There were other options available that could grant him a temporary boost to help him stand his ground against those monsters.Neo wanted to get one, but he didn't have enough money or to say that in front of that staggering cost, he got nothing at all. He tried making some by helping other parties in clearing the dungeon and today was the eighth one he joined, but the result was the same as no one wanted to go on further than the first floor because of insane difficulty, and honestly he didn't blame them as he would also hesitate and think twice before proceeding further.As for these spheres, during one dungeon run, he accidentally found these spheres that dropped from the monsters. None of his party members cared about it. They said it was a useless material which held no significance other than as a decor in jewelry.Still, Neo held onto them as he was curious by why they were present in the monster's bodies and not every monster had it, so it only fueled his curious mind.Knock* Knock*Someone knocked on the door and brought Neo out of his thoughts. He put the spheres on the table and got up to answer the door.Opening the door, he found a girl his age standing in front of her.As she barged into the apartment, one couldn't help but notice the striking, flowing brunette hair and toned, athletic build. Her posture exuded confidence, and she moved with an effortless grace that seemed to draw everyone's attention.Her well-defined figure, accentuated by a form-fitting blouse and jeans that hugged her curves in all the right places. She carried herself with poise and grace, her movements fluid and effortless.But what struck most about her was the warm and welcoming smile that lit up her face as she greeted those around her. Clearly, her beauty was matched by a kind and generous spirit, making her even more captivating.She looked around, checking something. Upon seeing that the stove was not lit, she sighed a breath of relief and turned toward him."Neo, let's go."Neo looked at her with a wry smile, as this was usual for him. The girl before him was of the same age as him, but she was one of those geniuses or monstrous geniuses as she awakened at 2 years of age and had been trained by many masters. Even those masters had nothing but praise for her.Now many would wonder why such a figure was hanging around Neo. Honestly, he also wondered sometimes, but there was nothing that came to his mind. Oh, by the way. The name of this brunette was Bella.One day, he suddenly got her as a neighbor, but whenever she got free time, she would barge into his apartment and talk about different stuff and tell him what was going on in the tower and the world. About different alliances/guilds and who to look after or how to get interesting quests.He was thankful to her for such knowledge, but he had no way of repaying her.This woman was a genuine genius in a world full of magic and wonder, with a mind capable of processing even the most intricate spells and incantations. Her mastery of esoteric wisdom was unrivalled, and her comprehension of the workings of magic was unrivalled.But it wasn't just her intellect that distinguished her. In her quest for knowledge and power, she was also a master of combat, having captured many dungeons and slain countless monsters. Her sword skills were unrivalled, and her strategic thinking allowed her to outwit even the most clever opponents. Her own guild has appeared on NEWS from time to time, as people admired her efforts on clearing the floors and opening the way for humanity.Despite her terrifying reputation as a fighter, she remained humble and kind, willing to learn and develop. Her bravery and tenacity impressed people around her, and many regarded her as a role model.And he also found out from her own mouth that she was now the vice-guild leader of one of the famous guilds [The Knowledge Seekers] Neo didn't know how famous or how great it was because he spent most of his time training.He might look a little carefree and an easygoing person, but he didn't slack in his training as he felt that if he did that, his core formation might slow down. That was also the reason that his strength and vitality stats were higher than a normal person, as he always kept himself in tip-top shape.Looking at Bella hopping around in his apartment, he asked, "Why are you eating out?""Me? No, not me, us. We are eating out, and the reason is that I just cleared one more trial."Bella flashed a smile as she showed him two notifications.『 The Trial of Merlin has been successfully cleared.』『 Received: The Knowledge of Merlin.』Neo looked at this with surprise and said with a smile, "Congratulations." Bella wasn't letting him go with just that as she shook her head and dragged him out of his apartment, saying, "No, mister, just congratulating me is not enough. Let's go, we are going out for a meal." Neo shook his head helplessly and told her to at least let him lock the door, to which she nodded, but was still not letting him go like he might run away at any moment. Neo found her antics a little funny as he chuckled and locked the door. Bella dragged him to the parking lot as a vehicle was waiting for them there. Bella came near the car. The door moved up and welcomed them. Neo looked at the car, but then shook his head as he sat in the passenger seat. The car floated a little and zoomed from the car park as it moved toward the restaurant that Bella had already told the super AI about. She then brought her attention to Neo, who was looking out, appreciating the scenery that was constantly changing as th
Neo felt his belief in humanity slipping as he inwardly calculated the price and sucked a deep breath and when he heard her saying two of each, he just was left speechless. "Who can finish this much?" He muttered slowly, but Bella still heard him as they were the only two in the room and that Bella was a Ranker. She puffed her cheeks and said, "Are you calling me fat?" Neo was stunned by her question and inwardly thought, '𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯?' But he didn't utter that. Instead, he said, "I think we might end up wasting too much food, and I am not that hungry. How about you cancel one portion?" But Bella denied him strongly. "No, you need these nutrients as you are going to form the core and if you don't have a healthy body during the last moments, the core might end up being faulty with cracks in it." Neo smiled as he saw her concern for him, but still tried asking her to cancel at least some of them. She didn't budge one inch,
Neo said his goodbye to Bella, who informed him about the time before which he should be ready for the party."Remember to be ready before 6 pm. We need to reach there before 6:30. "Neo nodded as he opened the door and entered the apartment. He put down the shopping bags on the table and opened the log as looked at the notification that had appeared after he ate at the restaurant.『 You consumed a high nutrient meal. 』『 Strength +2, Vitality +4 』He stared at the extra stats for a while, before going to take a bath to freshen himself. After which he just went to his bed and slept soundly....Next morning:Neo opened his eyes as the morning sun shone over his face. Looking at the clock on the nightstand, he found it was 6 am. He got out of the bed and washed his face before exercising for a while.After sweating a little, he stopped and took a bath. Preparing breakfast for himself, he returned to the living room to enjoy the meal as he turned on the TV, which showed the hos
Neo gulped the potion. The moment the potion entered his body, he felt a soothing feeling and new found power waking every pore in his body. Neo clenched his fist as he felt he could crush a boulder, but that was just him overestimating himself. He looked at his new stats.『 StatusName: Neo OrpheusClass: NoneLevel 1 (0/100)Title: NoneHp: 190/190 ➠ 890/890Mana: 60/60 ➠ 760/760Strength: 14 ➠ 84 Agility: 9 ➠ 79Stamina: 10 ➠ 80 Intelligence: 6 ➠ 76Vitality: 19 ➠ 89 Luck: 7』No change in the [Luck] stats was not surprising to him as he knew that only [luck booster potions] could do that and those things were several times more expensive than the potion that he had just consumed.After confirming that everything was ready, Neo peaked from the crack to see what the monsters were doing. He didn't have the inspection skill and could only discern with his eye whether the monsters were the buffed up version of the monsters or not.The hall was dimly lit with
"This is strange." Neo said as from what Bella told him, every player only receives unallocated stat points after they level up and the number of free points depends on their potential. Bella received 16 stat points with each level up, that she told him herself."I'm receiving 12 stat points with each level up, but why are they getting allocated by themselves?" Neo said to himself as this was too strange for him and the more baffling this was that even his luck stat increased.This was quite impossible. Bella told him that other than some special items, it was impossible to add points to that stat and everyone was born with a fixed amount."Let's think about this later. " Neo squatted down and tore open their chests to find the spheres. He was quite lucky, as he found 4 of them. Putting away the spheres in his pocket, he said to himself, "I should have brought a bag."He decided to consult with Bella about this problem as she was the only knowledgeable person he knew.He arrived
Neo kept looking at the core to confirm what he thought was correct and only after confirming that was the case did he move his attention away from the mana core. He checked the increase in stats after he "absorbed" the "soul of the Goblin Elite". He found that there was indeed an increase in his stats. Neo felt the need to hunt more monsters to see why that happened. He butchered a lot of the monsters on his way to the boss's room, but none of them gave him any increase and why he didn't "absorbed" their "souls". He tore open the boss's chest, and he found the sphere in its body, but it was slightly bigger than the spheres he collected so far, red in color. "Might be because it's an elite monster or a boss monster." He had no time to think because he had wasted a lot already and the potion might not hold on before he could complete this dungeon. Neo put the sphere in his pocket and walked past the throne. The stairs came in his view. "Crossing this, I'll be eligible to access th
This floor was a maze-like structure filled with tougher and more aggressive goblins than those found on the first floor. These goblins were armed with crude weapons, such as spears and clubs. Neo came before one of them and used his only skill."Inspect."[Goblin WarriorLevel 10Health 1250/1250Mana Nil]The inspection worked and he got the information on the monster, he was just testing its effect. Neo lunged forward and pierced the goblin with his sword through its chest and damage appeared over its head.-1100He could one-shot a goblin, that he had just learned, but then he knew that as he beheaded many before. With his 80+ points of agility, he was fast and goblins couldn't keep up with his speed and were getting butchered left and right. Time was tight, so Neo decided to not care about the spheres for now and was cutting down the goblins as he navigated through the maze. It took him over 20 minutes to come out of the other side of the maze as a colossal door appeared befor
Neo stood before the door, his one hand on the door while the other was gripping the sword to protect himself from any surprise attack. If the goblins from before had been more intelligent and had slowly and stealthily closed the distance on him, the result might have been different.So, Neo couldn't be reckless and careless just because he was short on time. He opened the door and entered the room, where he was greeted by the floor boss. The goblin boss stood before Neo, wielding a massive battleaxe with both hands. Its beady eyes glared at Neo with an intense hatred, and its muscles bulged beneath its green skin. Neo could see that this goblin was much larger and more muscular than any of the others he had encountered so far."Inspect."[Goblin BruteLevel 13Health 2500/2500Attack: 290~310Defense: 190~240Magic Defense: Nil ]The goblin jumped in the air and brought the axe down, trying to split Neo in half. Neo dodged to the left, and the Axe embedded itself into the ground. Gob
He strolled with Selene, empty streets, crickets chirping, a peaceful wind blowing and the stars and moon in the sky gave the whole stroll a romantic feeling. Neo and Selene kept walking as he held her hand, a sweet smile on Selene's smile, which could melt even the Nether Iceberg. Neo felt a strange peace and said to her, "Thank you." They arrived at a small hill, waves crashing against its foot. Selene used her hand and slowly put the waving hair behind her ear, asking, "What for?" "Everything." "Didn't you already thank me?" "But it's still not enough." Neo sat down. Selene followed as she grasped his shoulder and put his head over her lap. A smile followed as she used her hand to massage her head. "You charmed me with this." A small chuckle left her mouth as she laughed lightly. Selene was a person who was conservative and that followed with her emotions as well, as she showed too little of them to anyone unless she was alone with Neo, as a smile could always be observed wh
"Kyrie, we need some information." (A/N Kyrie [Κύριε] means sir in ancient Greek.)"What would you like to know about?" Nikolaos asked as he took them to his house. His wife was preparing a meal for them as they sat down.Selene offered to help with preparing the meal, but Nikolas’s wife refused to let her do by telling them that making the guests work was frowned upon in their custom, which let her stop insisting."Is there any ship that sails to the depths?"Nikolaos smile vanished when he heard that and looked at Neo with a creased forehead, lines forming over it. He wanted to ask if Neo was joking, but seeing his calm face, which showed no lack of confidence; it showed no sign of any joke; he was serious."I don't think any ship here would even think about going to the outer circle, let alone the deep.""Why?”Neo asked; he became curious now. There were a lot of anomalies here, like everyone he met or saw till now were non-evolvers. Even the guards patrolling the area were only o
"Man, it's been over a year now." "Well, that's to be expected from that kind of difficulty." "Still, to challenge 10 Fables and still survive till now is unbelievable." "We are talking about the White Devil. He's bound to be that powerful." The blond guy with a giant sword on his back took a drag as he puffed the smoke out and said, "He wiped an entire household in one night. Staying alive should be easy-peasy for him." "I don't understand. From what the reports and news says, he is only a first rank evolver." "And?" "How can someone who just started learning the ropes could kill people from the family that have evolvers of stage 3 and 4 protecting them?" The other guy, who was wearing a hood and a pair of daggers on waist, said as he took a sip from the bottle. He still felt that the story was full of holes. "I don't know, man, but I heard he had an item that could change the shape of his weapon on his command plus the skill that caused white and red smoke coming out of his
『 Ninth Fable: The Fortunes of Serendipity.』『 Ninth Fable has been changed to: Deal with the Devil.』{I knew it, there really was something strange with that Fable.}『➠ The Serendipitous Invitation/Deal with the Devil [Complete: Grade AA+] 』『➠ A game with the Devil. [Complete: Grade AAA+]』『➠ A game against the Devil. [Complete: Grade AAA+]』『 Special Completion: Eliminate the Devil.』『 Special Completion: Connect the Veresa node to the Tower.』『 Final Grade +2』『 Final Grade: AAA 』『 Increasing the final grade by +2』『 Final Grade: S 』『 Contribution Points: +2,000,000』『 Current Contribution Points: 8,503,000』『 Special Reward: The Luck Arena.』Neo turned to his wrist and saw the value changing from 『 VIII / X 』 to 『 IX / X 』This was his first S grade Fable. His attention was quickly grabbed by the connection of the Veresa world, or the Veresa continent, whichever it was, to the tower.{I don't remember doing anything like that.}'Might be that the Tower used us to connect to tha
Selene looked at Michael's frenzied look and then toward Neo, who was also looking at him with furrowed eyebrows, and said, “This would’ve been me if you weren’t there.” Selene remembered Neo’s anger when he grabbed a person by the jaws and tore his lower jaw before grabbing his spine and tore it out of his body. She shuddered when she remembered the bloodbath that took place at the Oswald household. A hand grasped hers, and she felt a warmth spreading through her body and came out of her thoughts. "Thank you." A smile appeared on her face when she heard that. Bang* Michael was finally sent back as Gresda took hold of his fading consciousness and used everything to get him off of his chest and panted, his head regenerating back. Even if he was immortal, he still felt pain. "You bastard! How are you still alive?" He looked at Michael. That bullet could've easily killed him in a matter of seconds, but just like Neo, he was also alive, which was impossible as the bullet was infuse
“Papa!” A little girl with twin-tail hair, big doll-like eyes, adorable dimples, and a beaming smile rushed to her father, Michael. He, too, smiled warmly, reaching out to lift her off the ground and twirl her around, making the little one laugh out loud. Her infectious laughter filled the cozy little house as they shared this joyful moment together. They kept on going until he heard a rebuke from Emma, making him stop. A warm smile was present on Emma's face when she saw the father-daughter duo playing and laughing. She walked slowly toward them as she saw the little girl getting down from Michael's embrace, still dizzy, but then ran around with Michael running after her as her giggles echoed in the house. She then hid behind her as she laughed and looked at Michael sneakily, who also stopped before Emma and gave her a warm smile, Emma picked the little girl and brought her in front of Michael as she asked, "So how should we punish her? Should we summon the tickle monster?" "Noooo
Seated upon the broken throne was a man with golden hair and eyes that seemed to glimmer with an otherworldly light. He gazed around, his expression unreadable, as if contemplating the echoes of an era. "Ugh, why did I have to agree to such a long period? I was already done in the first ten." He sat there, looking at the monster moving around mindlessly. "I wonder how high my view count is?" After entering this world, not only was his level suppressed to Level 99, he also lost contact with the other side. He knew it would happen, but he was bored now because his competitor died the moment he entered this continent, while the other one could not wake up unless someone opened the box. He had put a formation in that box, so if anyone opened it, he'd know. "This is boring." He said, slumping down on the throne with a lazy expression on his face. "Oh really? Let's make it fun then." A voice came next from the throne. Before he could do anything, a foot landed on him and he felt som
Everyone was looking at the beauty that just killed the "immortal" like it was an everyday walk for her, along with the words that she uttered while doing so cemented this thought in their mind."Where is he?"Selene asked Kenneth, who was also looking at her, taking some time to close his mouth, that was opened wide, and this was the first for him. He reeled in his astonishment and knew what the lady was asking about. He pointed toward a carriage, and the next instant that carriage blew into pieces and a body appeared before everyone. It was Neo's body that was suspended in the air with an old man sitting next to him, who was just as confused and was about to take action, but stopped when he heard the beautiful lady’s voice."Thank you."Selene said as she put her hand on Neo’s body and could feel a pulse so weak that it felt like it would go out in the next instant.She smiled ruefully. One can see her hands twitching when she put them over his heart and could feel a bullet penetrat
A warm light embraced their lost companions as they started disintegrating, and the golden motes of light started moving up, dispersing into the air.Kenneth looked at the dispersion motes of light before moving away toward the gate. He put his hand over it, trembling a little. Even a sturdy tree would shake when the strong winds blowing.He took a deep breath and focused. He could feel a dense amount of death energy in the room.Likewise, he started mumbling as he chanted in a low voice, and after its completion, he could see what was inside the room.What he saw made him raise his eyebrow in surprise as the room was fully covered in ice, like they entered an ice palace and in the center of the room was an ice coffin. He tried looking into the coffin, but his spell couldn't penetrate it, but he found the thing that they were looking for."How is it?"Emma arrived next to him, followed by Maria, Seth, Michael, and others."The Lich is not inside."This made them heave a relieved sigh,