Chapter 24: Legion Growth

After leaving the village, Ethan continued along the road toward the nearest city.

The journey was fairly quiet at first. He occasionally came across small groups of beasts wandering near the road, but none of them were strong enough to cause him any trouble.

Whenever they appeared, his Shadow Wraiths dealt with them quickly.

After several encounters, Ethan had gained a fair amount of experience from the beasts he killed. The experience slowly accumulated as he continued along the road.

He was about to exit the forest when a familiar voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

[Congratulations!]

[You have reached Level 8.]

[Panel]

Name: Ethan

Race: Human

Level: 8

HP: 200/200

Profession: Legion Summoner (EX)

Innate Talent: One Mind, One Legion

Title: Hell Slayer

Attributes

Strength: 335

Agility: 336

Constitution: 335

Spirit: 445

Unassigned Attribute Points: 250

...

Ethan nodded as he looked at the panel.

This was only the third day since they had arrived in Elyria, yet he was already Level 8.

That was much faster than his previous life.

His attention then fell on his unassigned attribute points.

Without much hesitation, he opened the attribute panel and put all 250 points into Spirit.

[Spirit +250]

[Spirit: 695]

Ethan had been putting all of his free attribute points into Spirit for a reason.

Spirit was important for mages, summoners, and other professions that relied on spiritual power. It affected things like mana, spell power, and the strength of summoned creatures.

And his profession was a Legion Summoner.

If he guessed correctly, raising his Spirit far above his other attributes should give him a pretty good surprise.

"Let’s see if I’m right."

Ethan opened the Profession section of his panel.

This time, something he hadn’t noticed before caught his attention.

[Profession: Legion Summoner (EX)]

[Current Legion: Shadow Wraiths]

[Capacity: 800/6,400]

[Note: Legion Capacity doubles with each level during the First Order only.]

[Legion Growth Path]

[First Requirement: Reach Level 10]

[Second Requirement: Summon 1,000 Shadow Wraiths]

[New Legion Unlocked]

[Summoning Requirement: Spirit 1,000]

The last notification caught his attention.

A new legion?

That was unexpected.

His gaze settled on the requirement.

[Summoning Requirement: Spirit 1,000]

"Looks like I was right."

Now there was another reason to keep raising it.

Still, the Growth Path was just as interesting.

[First Requirement: Reach Level 10]

[Second Requirement: Summon 1,000 Shadow Wraiths]

"Growth path..."

So this was how his profession would develop.

Reaching Level 10 was only a matter of time. As for the second requirement, he already had eight hundred Shadow Wraiths and a current capacity of 6,400.

He only needed two hundred more.

"That shouldn’t take long."

Ethan closed his panel and continued down the road.

The forest was almost behind him now. The trees were getting fewer, and he could already see the city walls in the distance.

Then he heard the sound of fighting.

There were shouts ahead, followed by the sound of weapons hitting each other.

Ethan walked toward the noise and soon saw five masked men surrounding a young man beside the road.

The young man had no weapon.

He was fighting with his bare hands.

One of the masked men rushed at him with a sword. The young man quickly moved to the side, then punched him in the face before he could turn around.

"Get him!"

The other four rushed forward.

The young man stepped back as a sword came toward him. He raised his arm and blocked it, then punched the man in the chest. The man stumbled back, giving him just enough room to deal with the next attacker.

A fist hit his shoulder from the side.

He grunted and turned around, catching the man’s arm. With a quick pull, he brought the man closer and hit him in the stomach with his knee.

The man fell to the ground.

The other three stopped for a second.

The young man wiped the blood from his cheek and raised his fists again.

"Come on."

One of the masked men cursed and charged.

This time, the young man rushed forward too.

He avoided the first swing, stepped inside the man’s guard, and punched him twice in the chest before sending him down with a final hit to the jaw.

The last two men looked at each other.

The young man took a deep breath.

"What’s wrong? Where did all that courage go?"

Neither man answered.

The young man grinned and raised his fists.

"You’ve been robbing people on this road for long enough. You should have known that someone would eventually stop you."

Ethan watched from the edge of the forest.

The young man had a Boxer profession

A simple combat profession that focused on fighting with the fists. It wasn’t a high-ranked profession, but a skilled Boxer could still be dangerous in close combat.

The young man certainly knew how to fight. He also knew how to talk like a hero.

Ethan had no interest in getting involved.

He continued down the road, only to realize that the fight was happening right in the middle of it. If he wanted to reach the city, he had no choice but to pass through them.

As Ethan approached, the young man noticed him.

"Hey! What are you doing? These guys are mine!"

Ethan stopped for a moment.

Mine?

He glanced at the five masked men, then at the young man.

He was only trying to get past them.

Without saying anything, Ethan continued walking.

The young man’s face darkened when he saw Ethan ignoring him.

"Hey! I’m talking to you!"

Ethan didn’t answer and continued walking.

"Fine."

He reached inside his clothes and pulled out something. It was a variant Essence Buff with the image of a fist surrounded by flames.

He crushed it.

Flames immediately covered both of his fists, but they didn’t burn him. Instead, they made his punches much stronger.

The young man rushed toward the remaining bandits.

He attacked with everything he had, throwing one punch after another. The flames struck their bodies with every hit, dealing more damage.

He was clearly trying to finish them off before Ethan could get any closer.

The bandits tried to fight back, but the young man kept pressing forward. He forced one of them back with a heavy punch before turning on the next, not giving them enough time to surround him again.

The last two tried to run, but he chased them down and killed them before they could get far.

By the time Ethan reached the road, the fight was already over.

The young man stood among the fallen bandits, breathing heavily as the flames around his fists slowly disappeared.

He turned toward Ethan, his face still showing clear annoyance.

"Hey! Were you trying to steal my kills just now?"

Ethan gave him a puzzled look.

"Steal your kills? I was just trying to get through. You were blocking the road."

"As if."

The young man clearly didn’t believe him. He walked a few steps closer, still looking annoyed.

Ethan understood what he meant.

The Reputation Pact was a common rule among the newly awakened professionals. It had been created because reputation was important to them, especially during the first few weeks after awakening.

If someone took on a group of bandits or another task that could earn reputation, others were expected to stay out of it. Anyone who joined halfway through would have to share the reputation earned from the task.

That was why they usually formed teams beforehand. At least that way, everyone knew who they were working with and who would get the credit.

Only then did Ethan realize what had happened.

The young man had mistaken him for another awakener trying to interfere with his hunt.

Ethan wasn’t bothered by it. He had already wasted enough time standing around.

Without saying anything else, he walked past the young man and continued toward the city.

"Hey!"

The young man turned around after him, his face turning red.

"You can’t just walk away like that!"

Ethan didn’t stop.

"I’ll report you to the academy! Let’s see what the academy’s senior students have to say about someone who ignores the Reputation Pact!"

The young boxer stood there for a few seconds, clearly annoyed that he wasn’t getting a reaction.

"Hmph!"

He turned away and stormed off in the opposite direction.