CHAPTER 35: CONSIDERABLE PROGRESS

Other than the finals that stubbornly remained in his mind, porn tags for when he has some quality time, and fun facts about graves and dead people—Deklan’s mind was practically empty. So much so that if a scientist cut open his head, there would be a fresh, unused brain greeting them.

Not to flex, but the painful process of learning this new skill didn’t hurt him at all.

In fact, it took Deklan only a minute for his mind to process the new information.

Astral Strike.

An offensive skill that allowed him to shoot a dissonance wave with a successful attack.

It’s incredibly effective against Ghost, and useful against Exorcists.

Deklan approached the closest tree to him to try and use the Astral Strike skill.

He raised his hand and coated it with the remaining mana he had—then, he looked at the tree trunk and karate-chopped it. Before his eyes, the moment his hand struck the tree, a pulse of mana spread across its entire surface.

"I can even control how strong the dissonance was? Nice... This is going to be useful."

Even though he had tried his new skill, he’s not satisfied.

Deklan wanted to see it in action.

Somehow, his eyes fixed on Marsha, who was humming pleasantly as she gathered the Dusk Fragments.

I shouldn’t do this... I’m a better man than this.

Deklan wasted no time approaching Marsha and poked her back with his index finger.

Of course, he didn’t forget to use the Astral Strike skill.

"Kyaaah~!"

Marsha yelped as her entire body tensed up, almost like she was being electrocuted.

She looked over her shoulder, only using her eyes, staring at Deklan in disbelief.

On the other hand, Deklan crouched down to inspect her reaction and rubbed his chin, "Hmm... It works exactly like a taser. But a taser has a constant current; this skill is not, but it seemed she couldn’t move at all, regardless. Interesting..."

It doesn’t look painful either.

Marsha might be staring at him in shock, but there was no pain on her expression.

She was only stunned.

And about five seconds later, her body finally loosened up again as she gasped for breath.

"Young master! I can’t believe you. Why are you being mean to me?"

"Hahaha... I was trying something out."

"At least warn me next time, young master. I almost peed!"

"I got too excited. I’m sorry, I’m sorry..."

Marsha shoved Deklan the Dusk Fragments she gathered and walked away, angry that Deklan did that.

For a second there, his intrusive thoughts won.

But then again, Marsha’s angry face was so cute that Deklan couldn’t help but tease her.

Of course, he wanted to butter her up a little so that she would not be angry at him, but stopped when his eyes caught something in the distance. Deklan’s eyes narrowed. He thought that he was seeing things, but even after he rubbed his eyes, he still saw it.

Oddly enough, Deklan saw that the deeper forest was somewhat glistening.

It sparkled and seemed to be distorted.

Deklan moved closer—and soon realized the shimmering haze was a distorted barrier, arcing across the entire forest in a vast, curving sweep. He reached out—cautiously, and the moment his fingers brushed the surface, a chilling cold seeped straight into his skin, burrowing deep like winter’s breath.

And more than that, there seemed to be immense mana contained beyond this distorted barrier.

"What is this...?"

"It’s the barrier separating the outskirts from the central area."

Marsha said from behind, slightly uneasy about even nearing this distorted barrier.

Nobody has ever tried to cross over to the other side, and frankly, nobody could because of the barrier.

"As young master might already have heard, there was an outbreak of Null Zones in the past that ransacked the forest and beyond. Dangerous Null Zones were already defeated, but the clean-up wasn’t thorough, and there are still strong Ghosts from those powerful Null Zones left behind."

"And somehow, this barrier was formed?"

"Yes... Nobody knows exactly when, but the barrier appeared out of nowhere."

Deklan brushed his fingers against it, somewhat feeling attracted to it or something beyond it.

He tried looking through it, but he couldn’t see anything.

"Nobody has ever been to the other side?" Deklan asked again, still in a daze.

"Yes," Marsha nodded. "But the people who saw what was inside described the place beyond as akin to a Ghost kingdom. Unlike the outskirts, there are more Ghosts inside, and there were also sightings of a few powerful Alpha Ghosts."

"Sightings...?" Deklan turned to look at Marsha in confusion. "How did people know?"

Marsha told him earlier that nobody had ever been to the other side.

So how come there are sightings?

"Sometimes, the barrier cracked, and a few Ghosts managed to escape."

"Hmm... So that’s how."

Even though the central part of the forest sounded dangerous for most people—Deklan found this place to be extremely tempting. His aim was to become stronger, so a place where a lot of Ghosts roam is basically a hunting ground to his ears.

Not to mention, Marsha also said that there are powerful Alpha Ghosts inside.

It was exactly as the Pale Night Lady said.

If Deklan wanted to add more proper Ghost Residents, then those Alpha Ghosts are a prime candidate.

Moreover, I can even encounter the Cursed Wraith Tree on the outskirts, and it gives me 200 Spooky Dollars and a C-rank skill. Just imagine what treasures lie inside—the central part. I can’t wait to get in there and start grinding.

As someone who liked to grind in games, this was a chance he couldn’t miss.

He was planning to get stronger quickly and learn more about his family in this world and find a way to exploit them, but this made him change his plan. Instead of rushing to meet his family, he’d stay in this forest for a bit longer.

But before even thinking of going inside, I need to reach the Bronze-rank first.

Deklan turned around and looked at the battlefield.

A sigh escaped his mouth as, other than the Dusk Fragments, he couldn’t retain any carcasses at all.

It would’ve been far simpler for him to undergo the Awakening Ritual and become an Exorcist as well—but wraiths like these Gloomy Wraiths were useless to him. What he needs are Ghosts like Pale Draggles that have a concrete, physical body.

Only when he amassed a lot of carcasses would the Awakening Ritual be worth it.

"In any case, we’re going to go into the central part soon," Deklan stated as he walked past Marsha.

He was going to collect the remaining Dusk Fragments scattered on the ground.

"Eh...?" Marsha blinked in surprise, and then chased after him in worry. "Are you really going to try and go in there, young master? I heard the Alpha Ghosts are at the late stage of the bronze-rank, or even in the silver-rank already. It’s very dangerous..."

"Are you backing out, Marsha?" Deklan raised his brow teasingly and then pressed the back of his hand against his forehead like a dramatic queen. "It’s alright, let me face the danger alone. Don’t be sad when I don’t come back, but you’re not allowed to have any man until the end of your life, okay?"

"Young master, stop teasing me..." Marsha’s face reddened, but then, she clenched her fist above her heart with determination. "Don’t worry, young master. If you’re going, then I’m going. I would be too worried if nobody were there to heal you."

"That’s my girl," Deklan laughed aloud. "Now, let’s get stronger first!"

"Yes!"

In the next few days, Deklan and Marsha started their new daily routine.

Both of them would wake up early to eat and exercise, then go around the forest to hunt down Ghosts until noon, and then return to rest and also absorb their haul for the day. And during the night, the two would also go for their second hunt of the day.

Considering Deklan was stronger physically during the night, they were going harder during the night than during the day.

Of course, in his free time, Deklan also didn’t forget to play with Pumple.

Nothing changed about Pumple after devouring the Night Pale Lady, but Deklan noticed that the persona that had been inactive all this time was active again, and that led him to believe that the inactive persona was tied to one of two things.

It’s either it has a cooldown, or it exhausted Pumple, so he has to eat.

Either way, Deklan was now assured even more—as he could transform into Agna the Red Scarecrow person if he ever got into—a difficult situation. He wouldn’t need to be worried about meeting a bronze-rank Ghost, too, with the persona in his belt.

And by the end of the week, Deklan and Marsha had made considerable progress.

Swish!

Deklan’s body pulsed with a surge of energy that was strong enough to fling the window open.

[Notice: the host’s rank has increased!]

[3-star Iron → 5-star Iron]

[All stats have increased slightly!]

Once the mana surging inside him finally calmed down, Deklan opened his eyes and looked at his hand with a big smile on his face. He had been absorbing the Dusk Fragments and the fruits from the Ward, and he finally reached the late stage of the iron rank.

Just one more breakthrough and he’d enter the bronze rank.

"I can feel my heart beating stronger now," Deklan rested his hand above his head, feeling the beating that was now accompanied by mana, showing the maturity of his Paranormal Heart. "I wonder what kind of Minor Presence I’d develop. It’s going to be tied to the sixth sense, that’s for certain."

Deklan was growing stronger steadily.

His rush to grow stemmed from wanting to go home, but he would be lying if he didn’t enjoy the feeling of becoming stronger and stronger. It felt the same as working out, but more real—as the mana inside his body was growing faster than his muscles could.

Right now, he was confident he could take out three Pale Night Lady at once.

Other than growing stronger, by hunting the Ghosts around the hamlet, he also now amassed a good amount of Spooky Dollars. Just as the system advised, he was going to upgrade his Ward—and unlock more powerful fruits, but he was curious about something.

[Expansion]

"I wonder, can I expand the Ward’s influence with this function?"

Out of the system’s functions, this one was the last one Deklan hadn’t tried out yet.

And now, he’s going to see what it was for.

Upon mentally clicking on the function, another panel was opened.

[Choose the expansion target:]

[Slosa Hamlet — 250 Spooky Dollars]

"Oh...?" Deklan was intrigued, and without thinking much, he purchased the Slosa Hamlet. "System, buy it!"