Oliver's face brightened with curiosity at the notification.
"Minor evolution," he repeated to himself, looking at the Dark Crow with growing interest as it flew off his hand and landed on the blood-stained floor.
It stood there for a moment, its physical body suddenly crumbling into dark smoke. The smoke trembled violently, whirling and twisting as though it possessed a life of its own. The process lasted only a few seconds, yet those seconds felt strangely heavy.
The smoke twisted violently before compressing inward like a collapsing storm, then feathers burst out of the darkness one after another as the creature reformed itself.
This time, it reformed into a much larger crow—a twenty-inch dark crow with a bulkier frame and far more imposing presence.
Compared to what the Dark Crow looked like earlier, this new form was unquestionably that of an apex predator.
"Now this is looking more like a summon," Oliver whispered to himself with a senile grin stretched across his face.
[Ding!]
[Evolution has granted you 2 skills]
[Short Bursts: User sprint speed will increase by 20% for a brief moment. Duration of skill: 1 second. Cooldown: 10 seconds]
[Eye of Another: A scout is always a useful tool for every Assassin. This skill allows you to see through the eyes of your summon. Weakness: While using this skill, your own vision will be discarded for the duration of the usage time.]
Oliver's expression grew more satisfied the longer he read through the notifications.
The Short Burst skill was perfect for pairing with his stealth ability.
While using stealth, combined with the Short Burst skill, he would be able to finish off enemies quickly before his stealth ran out.
Even without the stealth pairing, he would still have a much higher chance of killing monsters with the Burst skill alone.
"Sure beats being exhausted from using even a little amount of Ki," Oliver chuckled to himself.
Ki was certainly a useful ability, but the way it consumed stamina was unnecessarily brutal. Unlike his first life, where he could generate that stamina back almost instantly, in this life he had to be far more careful.
More weary.
Moving on to the Eye of Another skill.
Seeing through the eyes of the Dark Crow was extremely useful, especially during dangerous conflicts or reconnaissance.
'Who would suspect a crow flying over their heads?' Oliver smiled at the many diabolical revenge plans that skill alone could initiate.
Caw! Caw!
The Dark Crow shook its head at its master's increasingly nefarious expressions before flying down to the Hobgoblin's corpse to have its fill.
"Sissy!" Oliver insulted jokingly as he summoned his system status page to check his overall progress in the Goblin Cave.
---
[Stats]
[Name: Oliver Mori]
[Exp: 20/100]
[Level: 5]
[Talent: SSS Rank Summoner]
[Attributes]
[Strength: 7]
[Agility: 12]
[Senses: 6]
[Mana: 6]
[Stat Points: 3]
[Karma Points: 79]
---
Oliver, from experience alone, could tell these were impressive stats.
Not just from his regression knowledge either.
To achieve something like this so early, by the standards of the current world, his feat would be considered impossible.
Or pure suicide.
Too bad the world rarely paid attention to trash like him.
Actually, what Oliver had done wasn't even particularly difficult. It was something many others could accomplish.
There were far more talented Awakeners out there who could have leveled the entire cave with a single devastating spell.
But the reason none of them did…
Was fear.
They had the resources.
But who would ever graduate from the academy and proudly declare that they wanted to solo clear a cave filled with vile beasts?
No one.
Unless they had been pushed into a corner with no other choice.
"The strong will always take the resources of the weak. That's the difference between having power… and knowing how to use it."
Oliver whispered to himself as he stared at his stats.
He had reached Level 5, and this was where things would begin to grow harder.
The higher one climbed, the stronger the beasts required to level up.
So this was the brutal end of goblin hunting for him.
He needed to level up fast.
Not gradually.
'A stat point to all attributes every time I level up, and three extra points I can invest myself… I'll keep those for later,' Oliver thought, dismissing the idea for now and focusing on the section he considered most important.
[Karma Points: 79]
Karma Points were the foundation upon which this world functioned.
They were the currency of the Game, yet they also held great influence over real-world economics.
The main use of Karma Points was simple.
Purchasing extra lives.
"With my current amount I can only buy about four lives, which won't be enough for the kind of leveling method I'm placing myself in."
Oliver frowned slightly.
"Perhaps I can solve that problem when I return to town."
He swiped his hand through the air, dismissing the status screen with a casual gesture.
"System, show me my Loot Box."
[Loot Box]
• Goblin Skin (Type: Common) ×15
• Hobgoblin Fangs (Type: Common) ×3
• Battle Skill Book (Type: Common) ×1
[Slots: 19/20]
"Perfect," Oliver exclaimed with a dark smirk spreading slowly across his face.
He walked over to the Hobgoblin's crude throne and sat down comfortably, leaning back like a king who had just conquered enemy territory.
"Summon Scale of Judgement!"
At his command, a digital apparition of a massive scale appeared before him.
The scale resembled the scales of justice—but something about it was wrong.
It looked damaged.
Battle-worn.
Cracks ran across its surface like scars from ancient wars, and the structure itself leaned slightly to one side, crooked and unstable.
"Did it get damaged from the regression?" Oliver wondered aloud.
"It never looked like this before..."
He stared at it quietly for a moment before shrugging.
"Well… it's time to recover."
"System, assign all Goblin Skin to the Scale as sacrifice!"
[Sacrifice accepted]
The Scale trembled violently, it cracks visibly reducing across its surface like lightning veins as the two plates tilted unevenly.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—
[Scale of Judgement has judged your fairness]
[You have received a Blessing]
[Blessing: Evolution Karma Points]
[Description: Player can upgrade any skill of their choice using these points, improving the skill with either minor or massive changes depending on how many points are invested.]
[You have received 5 free Evolution Karma Points]
"I wasn't expecting this Blessing… however, this is an incredible bonus."
Oliver mused internally with satisfaction.
A small smile slowly formed across his lips as he rose from the crooked throne and dismissed the system notifications floating before him.
He yawned and stretched lazily.
"It's time we return to town."
He gestured toward the crow, which was still diligently tearing apart the Hobgoblin corpse.
Caw!
The Dark Crow flew up from the corpse and landed comfortably on Oliver's shoulder.
Oliver's smile darkened.
A dangerous glint flashed across his eyes.
"Now that I'm finally at a decent level for the Beginner's stage…"
He paused, his expression growing colder.
"It's time to get some well-deserved revenge."