Tob Forest.
Within the lush, deep forest, the sounds of beasts, birds, and various other animals echoed from time to time.
In the dim environment, the entire forest exuded an unsettling sense of danger.
However!
Facing the great forest that was full of danger for ordinary people, at this moment, both Lyle and the Ghost Hound showed comfortable expressions on their faces.
"Woof." The bony chains on the Ghost Hound's body swayed continuously, its beast eyes filled with excitement.
"It still feels comfortable here.
Lyle even spread his arms wide and took a deep breath of the jungle scent, which was moist, with a hint of freshness and decay.
The matters on Renners's and Imina's sides had been arranged, and no other arrangements were needed for a short period. Therefore, after leaving the capital,
Lyle once again came to the Tob Forest. The main purpose this time was naturally to raise his level.
The Katz Plain, with its large number of Undead creatures, was also a good place to level up, but the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Bahaus Empire were currently at war.
It was not suitable for leveling.
Of course, besides that, Lyle also intended to explore the Great Marsh and the Angelic Mountain Range beyond the Tob Forest.
"Only 2 Tier 3 Angel Scrolls are left, and Tier 4 Angel Scrolls haven't even been crafted yet."
Lyle shook his head: "Even the magic reserve in the 'Orb of Death' only has about 40 points of magic left."
"Besides leveling up, replenishing scrolls and storing magic are also top priorities."
!
Lyle's gaze lifted, and an iron sword appeared in his palm. He tossed it backward, throwing it forward.
Thud!
The force of the iron sword easily penetrated the branches and leaves ahead, impaling a wild rabbit ten meters away to the ground.
He lifted his foot.
The 'Forest Traverse' magic item hanging on Lyle's arm shimmered with magic, and the lush branches, leaves, and bushes in the forest automatically parted, clearing a path.
He walked up to the wild rabbit.
Lyle pulled the iron sword from the ground. The wild rabbit, impaled on the sword tip, still twitched its hind legs reflexively, but its head had been pierced, making it utterly dead.
"In the forest, there's no need to pretend to be a Magic Chanter."
Lyle flicked his wrist, swinging the blade, and threw the wild rabbit, impaled on the sword tip, to the Ghost Hound beside him.
"Woof."
The Ghost Hound immediately opened its mouth, bit the flying wild rabbit, and swallowed the seven to eight jin fat wild rabbit in two bites.
"No experience points."
Lyle glanced at the attribute panel, and this thought flashed through his mind: "As the level increases, the experience provided by low-level creatures indeed decays to a certain extent."
He remembered very clearly.
When he was leveling to 20, the last bit of experience was provided by killing a wild rabbit.
This situation was somewhat expected.
When he first entered the Tob Forest, he had killed many insects casually, and those insects had not provided any experience.
It was evident.
The acquisition of experience points was not only related to the level of the killed creature but also had some relation to his own level.
[Experience Slot: 30998/10000]
"Over 30,000 experience points, I wonder if I can raise 2 levels in one go." Lyle suppressed the slightly restless emotions in his heart.
This concerned whether he could successfully obtain the special class he had previously speculated about.
The advanced class 'Cursed Knight' had not consumed experience points, but had forcibly increased its level to 3Lv by absorbing cursed energy.
This resulted in the experience slot's upper limit not increasing.
This method of leveling up gave Lyle a glimpse of the possibility of reducing the massive experience demand in the later stages.
He withdrew his gaze from the attribute panel.
"In any case, let's proceed according to the plan." Lyle raised his head, looking at the deep forest before him.
His current location was in the center of the Tob Forest, belonging to one of the three rulers of the Southern Demon Beasts,
the territory of the Forest Sage King, Hamsuke.
Of course.
The other party currently did not have the name "Hamsuke"; this was a name given by the Bone King in the future.
A thought flashed through Lyle's mind, and he raised his arm, waving it forward.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Accompanied by five dull thuds,
five Ogre corpses were thrown out of the item box, crashing onto the ground.
"Undead Control." Lyle chanted in a low voice.
Invisible magic fluctuations spread, enveloping the five Ogre corpses. In the blink of an eye, these five Ogres wobbled and stood up from the ground.
Immediately after.
Under Lyle's control, these five Ogres uniformly began to move forward. The intricate forest environment and the obstruction of branches and leaves ahead were easily pushed aside by the Ogres' strong bodies.
Rustle! Rustle!
The huge commotion startled a series of bird calls.
Along the way, some wild beasts attacked the Ogres that had intruded into their territory, but they were quickly and easily killed by the Ogre corpses.
"Gained experience: 37"
"Gained experience: 51"
"Gained experience: 29"
He simply scanned the acquired experience points, looking at the green labyrinth-like forest world before him.
The once lively jungle suddenly became quiet, with only occasional bird calls still audible from afar.
Lyle's face wore a serious expression as he constantly observed his surroundings: "Pay attention, listen for approaching movements."
The territory of the Forest Sage King Hamsuke was indeed more complex than that of the Ogres.
Goblins eat everything, after all.
"Woof." The Ghost Hound stayed close to Lyle, its ears perked up, letting out a low growl.
As the five Ogres advanced roughly, the commotion they caused grew louder, and the air became increasingly quiet.
Even the chirping of insects disappeared.
These animals were clearly not afraid of Lyle's group intruding, but rather afraid of attracting a more terrifying presence in the forest.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Suddenly, a tumultuous sound came from the forest in the northwest, but then it quickly disappeared, returning to silence.
"Roar."
The Ghost Hound sensed something immediately, its fur bristled, and it couldn't help but let out a roar.
"Has it arrived?" Lyle's eyes lit up.
He summoned five Ogres and made such a big commotion not to gain experience, but to lure out the Forest Sage King, Hamsuke.
The Tob Forest was so vast that even with a magic item like 'Forest Traverse,' gaining experience was still too slow.
Furthermore.
The previous massacre of a large number of Goblins had caused quite a stir, even prompting the Adventurers Guild to send people to investigate, which served as a reminder for him.
At least for now, when his strength was insufficient to deal with most troubles, Lyle didn't want to attract too much attention in this regard.
Rustle.
Rustle.
A huge creature quickly swept across the ground, and the sound of it rubbing against grass and branches came.
What was peculiar was that
the direction from which the sound came was not fixed; instead, it began to emanate from all directions, centered around Lyle's position.
"Circling to approach?"
"This speed is a bit fast!"
Lyle gripped his iron sword tightly, his legs spread and slightly lowered, his gaze continuously shifting in the direction of the sounds.
Indeed!
Both in terms of level and overall strength, the Forest Sage King Hamsuke, as a demon beast, was stronger than the other two jungle rulers.
But that magic had to be acquired for his subsequent ideas to work.
Boom!
Suddenly, a black shadow flashed by from the left. More than half of the Ogre on the far left instantly disappeared, falling to the ground.
Immediately after!
The massive black shadow continuously flickered through the dense forest. In just a few breaths, all five Ogres scattered in front were dealt with, their broken, bloody flesh splattered everywhere.
"Growl."
The Ghost Hound cowered, its body low, almost prostrate on the ground, trembling all over.
"With the Forest Sage King Hamsuke's size, moving quickly in a dense forest environment like this surprisingly didn't cause widespread destruction of the lush trees."
"The opponent probably also possesses a similar ability like 'Forest Traverse.'"
This thought flashed through Lyle's mind.
Even more troublesome than expected!
In the anime and novels, although the Forest Sage King Hamsuke didn't display much magical ability, it actually revealed eight magical patterns on its body, similar to a racial talent.
Eh?!
Lyle's gaze suddenly narrowed, and he quickly looked straight ahead. He saw a silver-white figure stopped about twenty meters away from him.
Because of the obstruction of trees, branches, and leaves between them, he could only vaguely make out its massive size.
Lyle was the first to reach out and grab the bony chain on the Ghost Hound, throwing it behind him to remove it from the battlefield.
Thump!
The silver-white figure moved.
Even though dense trees and bushes separated them, these plants offered no obstruction at all, as if they didn't exist.
In a single breath,
the massive silver-white figure transformed into a shadow, enveloping Lyle. At the same time, a sharp, piercing sound exploded in mid-air.