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Path to Prosperity - B2 Chapter 2
🕑 Added 2024-07-28 10:00:06 +0000 UTCA silver arc swept across the Inferior Ogres’ neck, beheading the monstrous creature. A fountain of blood spurted from the monster’s neck as the disproportionally huge Ogre head landed on the ground with a loud thud.
Percy breathed heavily, but the corner of his lips tilted upward. Three Ogre corpses sprawled out around him, and two more Ogres charged him to break his bones and mash his body. But it was a good thing Percy wasn’t alone. Hyean blocked the initial charge of one Inferior Ogre. The Gnoll Warrior was an Elite Monster with decent combat prowess, but that wouldn’t have been enough to stall an Inferior Ogre. Fortunately, Hyean possessed the [Blade Mastery] and [Basic Strength Boost] Augmentations.
The Augmentations pushed the summoned Monster’s strength and weapon mastery to another level. Hyean blocked the Inferior Ogre’s initial charge and spun around. The Gnoll Warrior used his accumulated momentum to pierce the Gnoll Blade in the monster’s armpit. The Gnoll Blade enchanted with [Sharpness], cut deep into the monster’s armpit, but the damage was not enough.
The Ogre’s flat hand crashed heavily into Hyean, hurling the summoned monster through the air.
You are too aggressive, Hyean. Didn’t we go through that hundreds of times already?
It wasn’t easy for Percy to control his summoned monsters precisely. Sometimes, the Gnoll Warrior felt like a puppet, which he could control with simple commands, but there were also times when Hyean was controlled by its wild instincts and bloodlust.
When a blue flash whisked through the air, the Inferior Ogre was about to charge Hyean to end him. A screech resounded right when razor-sharp talons dug into the Inferior Ogre’s left eye. The Ogre roared in pain and flailed its hands, ready to throw some fists. It flattened the pesky attacker or tried to, only to strike its head with the flat hand.
Percy watched the Blueflame Hawk dive to its target, squish one of its eyes with its sharp talons, and return to the safety of the sky before it could be struck. He evaded the other Inferior Ogre’s charge and responded with a quick attack. His enchanted sword glowed pristinely when the silver blade dug through the Ogre’s foot, severing its tendon.
The Ogre tried to stand on both feet and hurl around to attack Percy, but its leg foot twisted. Blood gushed out of the wound as the creature collapsed to the ground. Once it hit the ground, Percy had enough time to slit the monster’s throat.
Percy turned back to the last enemy, where he saw Hyean and the Blueflame Hawk. The Gnoll Blade stuck deep in the Ogre’s remaining eye, permanently depriving the Inferior Ogre of its eyesight.
Can they handle it? Ogres heal quickly, but their eyes should take longer to regenerate than normal wounds. Still, Hyean has only the Gnoll Blade to inflict damage, and the Gnoll Blade is not exactly…amazing. Maybe I should ask the Glacia Knights for a new weapon to prepare Hyean.
The Gnoll Warrior was strong and exceptional at wielding bladed weapons. It understood tactics as well and transformed into a valuable asset in combat. Percy should nurture the Gnoll Warrior and provide more armaments to protect his summoned monsters and increase their combat prowess with external means. Relying on his Ego to strengthen the Monster Cards might be good, but there were other means to unleash his monster’s potential. Other than Prosperity, of course.
Percy activated the Silvron Sword’s [Sharpness] enchantment and charged the blind Inferior Ogre. It was busy finding the Gnoll Warrior, who’d pounced on the Ogre’s back to reach and claw its throat. Unfortunately, the Gnoll Warrior wasn’t able to inflict anymore injuries. Even with [Basic Strength Boost], Hyean could not dig through the Ogre’s thick hide.
But it could only distract the Ogre. Hyean mastered this task, creating several opportunities for Percy to strike. That was exactly what Percy did. He kicked the ground hard to close the distance and pierce the Ogre’s heart when the time was ripe. The perfect opportunity unfolded before Percy, and he thrust his blade forward, hitting the targeted area with deadly precision.
The blade penetrated the Ogre’s hide with a faint screech and dug deeper. Percy felt some resistance, but it wasn’t enough. The Silvron Sword pierced the Ogre’s heart cleanly.
Let’s make sure you will never get up again.
Percy twisted the blade in the Ogre’s heart before pulling it out again. Only then did an interface pop up, reassuring Percy.
[Inferior Ogre – Mature – 15,152 Prosperity]
“Is everyone alright?” Percy asked instinctively, his attention pulling to Hyean and the Blueflame Hawk. The Blueflame Hawk landed on Percy’s shoulder with a satisfied screech while the Gnoll Warrior retrieved its weapon from the Ogre's corpse. It looked at the Gnoll Blade for a while but grunted in satisfaction at how much blood they’d shed on the battlefield.
“I take that as a ‘Yes, we are perfectly fine.’” He chuckled and activated [Consume] all five Inferior Ogre corpses. A familiar mass of darkness filled Percy’s view. It gushed out of his palm, expanded rapidly, and split into five streams heading for the Ogre corpses. Once the abomination reached the corpses, it revealed its rows of elongated teeth. Today, they looked like massive fangs as the mouth snapped close, enveloping the Ogre corpses to devour them in one go.
[Five Inferior Ogres have been consumed. 73,432 Prosperity has been added.]
The abomination finished its designated task and returned to its origin: Percy’s insides.
Percy still had no idea what the abomination was or how it related to his Ego, the Coin of Prosperity. Were the Coin of Prosperity and the abomination one and the same, or were they separate entities? Percy didn’t know. He was interested in learning the truth, but it wasn’t like his life depended on it. Percy was only an Ego for a few months. He had decades to discover the secrets of the Coin of Prosperity.
I will be fine. Now that Hyean is a Gnoll Warrior, he can stall stronger monsters. Even Inferior Ogres are no problem anymore. If I prepare a Silvron Sword Artifact for Hyean, we might as well have no problem hunting larger groups of Inferior Ogres.
A smile crept up on his face, and he looked at his status interface.
『Percy 』
[Ego – Coin of Prosperity]
[Tier] – [Elite-3]
—
[Gnoll Warrior (Elite –⭐) – [Blade Mastery⭐⭐⭐],[A Hunter’s Smell⭐], [Minor Strength Boost⭐]]
[Blueflame Hawk (Elite – ⭐) ]
『Coin of Prosperity』
Prosperity: 105,246
➛Consume
Strengthening the Blueflame Hawk should be the most important for now. My Sword Artifact might have some fancy runic enchantments, but strengthening the Blueflame Hawk will simultaneously increase the Monster Card and Cardist. I shouldn’t miss much Prosperity to unlock [Hawk Eyes].
Percy licked his upper lip and nodded slowly.
It’s not too late yet. I should have a few hours before it’s too dark to hunt. That should leave me enough time to collect enough Prosperity to unlock [Hawk Eyes]!
He clutched the Silvron Sword Artifact tightly and turned back to the Moonlight Forest.
So what if I cannot participate in the Imperial training? I can still hunt the monsters of the Moonlight Forest to succeed all of you!
**
A young man covered in fresh blood emerged from the densely grown undergrowth of the Moonlight Forest and stepped into the Wintermoon estate’s clearing with heavy strides. His chest heaved up and down slowly, but the young man never stopped. He walked to his destination, leaving behind a trail of blood as he closed in on the Wintermoon estate.
Percy’s appearance attracted some attention from the camps around the Wintermoon estate, but nobody rushed over to check on him. But that wasn’t needed. Most of the fresh blood wasn’t his in the first place.
He sustained some injuries, but they were minor or mild wounds, in the worst case. However, the reason nobody checked on him was probably the vibrant smile on his face. Nobody with enough working brain cells would be stupid enough to approach a vibrantly smiling man showered in blood and gore. That was a major black flag.
Percy ignored the gazes lingering on him and walked up to the Glacia Knight Order’s camp. He greeted some Glacia Knights, who fell from their chairs when they saw their young friend. Even Ulfhar and Knight Liam stared at him with slightly widened eyes when Percy appeared before them.
“What in the seven hells did you do in the woods? I expected you to be back much earlier.” The old knight scrutinized Percy and retrieved an ordinary healing potion from his storage device with a sigh.
Percy accepted the potion with a smile and emptied the content at once, “I encountered some Inferior Ogres, a unit of Kobold Hunters, and it looks like Blueflame Hawks don’t like their kin being summoned. They attacked my Blueflame Hawk tirelessly, forcing me and my Gnoll to intervene. Dealing with winged monsters is still a little…difficult.”
After dealing with a dozen Blueflame Hawks, Percy discovered some flaws in his fighting style. Fixing these flaws was going to take a while, but it wasn’t like Percy lacked time. If he had anything to spare, it was probably time.
Ulfhar had remained silent since Percy entered their camp. He studied the youth, his attention lingering on Percy’s azure eyes.
“You unlocked [Hawk Eyes], didn’t you?” The Glacia Knight Captain asked, to which Percy responded with a knowing smile.
“I did, and I understand why everyone likes this Augmentation so much. [Hawk Eyes] is amazing!”
