[Legion: 1]
Kyle stared at the message for several seconds, unable to believe what his eyes were seeing.
"What? It increased... How?" he whispered under his breath before turning to stare at Lord Roach. After a moment, his gaze drifted toward the corpse of the Cave Ogre.
’Could it be...?’
Kyle accessed the system once again, and another series of glowing runes materialized before him.
[Legion: 1]
[Only the First Companion has the authority to accept other slain beings into the Legion.]
He slowly turned to Lord Roach, his expression caught somewhere between surprise and utter offense.
"The Tusked Abominations didn’t seem to get your attention enough to be added to the Legion. But the monster that almost killed me did?" Kyle frowned. "How convenient."
Lord Roach simply tilted its head as though mocking him before casually turning away.
Kyle grumbled under his breath before returning his attention to the floating runes.
[SSS-Rank Soul Devourer System has taken effect...]
[Cave Ogre has evolved to its apex form.]
[Stone Giant]
Kyle raised an eyebrow.
"Stone Giant?" he muttered to himself.
He lingered for a moment, contemplating the notification before lowering himself onto the ground.
Then he stretched out a hand and willed the system to summon the creature.
It responded instantly.
Waves of ethereal light blossomed into existence, flooding the surrounding space with shimmering particles. The lights twisted together like streams of living energy, weaving themselves into a towering silhouette that gradually solidified.
A massive figure emerged.
It resembled the Cave Ogre he had fought...
Yet at the same time, it looked like an entirely different species.
Its once-bloated physique had transformed into a body packed with dense, chiseled muscle, every movement radiating overwhelming strength. Veins of crimson energy pulsed beneath layers of stone-like flesh.
Jagged plates of dark-red carapace covered most of its body like natural armor, each piece glowing faintly with scarlet lines that ran across its surface like molten cracks. The armor looked almost cybernetic despite being completely organic.
Only fragments of its original rocky skin remained exposed around the joints of its gauntlet-like forearms, shoulders, and neck.
Its head was carved from coarse ash-colored stone.
Two enormous tusks jutted from its lower jaw, while a pair of crimson eyes burned within empty sockets devoid of emotion.
There was no rage.
No hatred.
Only silent obedience.
It stood there like an ancient executioner awaiting its master’s command.
It was...
Strange.
Kyle scratched the back of his head.
"Whoa... This is..." He slowly looked toward Lord Roach.
"Wow... Compared to this guy, you really pale in comparison, Roach."
The roach turned toward Kyle, its mandibles clattering together for a brief moment before it deliberately looked away again.
Kyle chuckled before shifting his attention back to the Stone Giant.
"Not only have I added more than twenty Soul Fragments to my core... I finally got the first member of my Legion..."
Kyle fell into silent thought.
If this continued...
There was a very real possibility that he could hunt alone and grow immensely stronger without ever needing a team again.
The thought nearly made him leap into the air in celebration.
But he restrained himself.
His excitement quickly gave way to reason.
’Hunting alone still comes with consequences. And with my current condition... that’s not something I want on my plate.’
Kyle rose from the ground and dismissed the Stone Giant.
As the massive summon dissolved into countless streams of light, a story one of his academy instructors had once told resurfaced in his mind.
The teacher had always stood out.
A long, jagged scar ran from the bridge of his nose all the way to where his left ear should have been.
The ear itself...
Was gone.
According to him, he had become intoxicated by the overwhelming strength of his Talent after entering the First Floor.
Believing no one could keep up with him, he abandoned his team.
Without companions to split the loot with, his growth became astonishingly fast.
He conquered monsters.
Gathered treasures.
Became stronger with every expedition.
Until...
During one of those hunts...
He encountered a Faceless Man.
At that point in the story, the teacher had fallen completely silent.
His eyes drifted somewhere far away, as though he were staring into memories he desperately wished to forget.
His entire body had trembled.
He never revealed exactly what had happened.
The only thing he ever said...
Was that the creature had crippled his Talent...
Taken his face...
Taken his hair...
And stolen the life he had built.
Reducing one of the academy’s strongest instructors into nothing more than...
An ordinary human.
Whatever had done that to him...
Was still somewhere on the First Floor.
Waiting.
Searching...
For its next victim.
Kyle returned to the Safe Zone, entering the bustling city alone.
Before reaching the crowded streets, he dismissed Lord Roach, knowing it would only create unnecessary trouble if he walked into town with a summon that resembled a monster.
Although...
Kyle honestly wasn’t sure what people would fear more.
The fact that Lord Roach was a monster...
Or the fact that it was an oversized cockroach.
He was willing to bet on option B.
Moving through the busy streets, Kyle eventually found an Exchange Shop.
He reached into the Tower’s default storage and retrieved several trophies from his recent hunt.
Three tusks from the Tusked Abominations.
Six massive teeth from the Cave Ogre.
Thankfully, every player was granted a basic storage space by the Tower.
Still...
Kyle couldn’t help but regret not owning a proper storage ring.
If he had one, he could have brought back the corpses of every monster he had slain.
Those alone would have fetched an enormous amount of credits.
The NPC inspected each material carefully before smiling politely and giving Kyle a respectful bow.
A notification immediately appeared before his eyes.
[Tusked Boar Tusks ×3... Three hundred Credits.]
[Teeth of Cave Ogre ×6... Six hundred Credits.]
Kyle’s eyes widened.
His jaw slowly dropped.
’Just six teeth sold for this much...?’
He went pale.
’If I had known... I would’ve dragged the entire corpse back.’
For a brief second, he imagined himself desperately trying to haul the Cave Ogre’s enormous body across the wasteland.
The image alone made him sigh.
He forced a crooked smile before leaving the Exchange Shop and making his way toward his next destination.
The equipment store Reed had brought them to earlier.
Looking down at his current armor...
There wasn’t much left that could even be identified.
His chestplate had been shattered in multiple places, barely staying together after enduring repeated charges from the Tusked Abominations.
His gauntlets were in an even worse state.
One had been reduced to little more than a strip of battered metal hanging loosely around his wrist like a crude bracelet.
The other was cracked from end to end, caked in dirt, dried blood, and deep scratches.
As for his dagger...
The blade had chipped beyond repair.
He had simply left it lodged near the Cave Ogre’s corpse.
This time...
He intended to purchase equipment that would actually keep him alive.
"And maybe..." Kyle muttered with a grin.
"...something that won’t make me look dirt poor in front of the other three."
Just as he was about to push open the shop’s doors...
A glowing rune suddenly materialized before him.
[Ding!]
[Reed: Where are you? We’re back on the First Floor.]
"..."
Another message appeared almost immediately.
[Reed: There’s a secret hunting site we’re going to check out. Killing beasts there gives double Soul Fragments... Hurry before this shit gets crowded.]