Chapter 276: Hunting time (4)

[THE FIRST KILLER title activated: Skill got from defeated foe.][New Skill gained: Summon: Mana-Forged Dreadmaw.]

[New Skill gained: Dreadmaw’s Corrosive Mist.]

[LEGENDARY HUNTER ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Apex Toppler]

[First System User to defeat a Colossal-Classification Monster (Level 300+).]

[Reward: Title - "Titan Breaker," +500,000 C.L.A.S.P. Points, +200,000 Survival Points]

[Achievement Reward Applied: Title Gained—"Titan Breaker"]

[Achievement Reward Applied: +500,000 C.L.A.S.P. Points]

[Achievement Reward Applied: +200,000 Survival Points]

[Titan Breaker: grants +30% damage against enemies larger than the user and +15% Physical Resistance against impacts from massive entities when equipped.]

[RARE MASTERY ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: The Hollow Commander]

[Successfully maintained combat operations after depleting 100% of Mana reserves and sustaining 90% summon casualties.]

[Reward: Title—"Mana-Forged Will," +10000 Maximum Mana]

[Achievement Reward Applied: Title Gained—"Mana-Forged Will"]

[Achievement Reward Applied: +10000 Maximum Mana]

[Mana-Forged Will: increases mana regeneration by 50% when current mana is below 10% and grants summoned monsters +10% durability when the caster is exhausted.]

Reidar glanced at the System notifications. The harvest was satisfactory—two new titles, two new summon skills, and a pile of points that would have made him grin if his body wasn’t reminding him of every bruise and burn he’d earned in his entire life.

He focused on the titles for a moment. Titan Breaker and Mana-Forged Will. Both were situational, but given the state of the world, with monsters the size of buildings crawling out of Rifts every other week, they’d see use. More use than he’d like, probably.

Mana-Forged Will was suitable in every situation. The achievement reward itself had given him 10,000 mana, which was a solid chunk that brought his reserves to a higher point, and not a simple one.

More than that, though, was the title’s passive effect. When his mana dropped below 10%, his regeneration would spike by 50%. If he managed it right, if he didn’t burn through the last dregs too fast, he could stretch a fight longer than he had any right to. Not indefinitely. That was wishful thinking. But long enough to matter.

Reidar wondered if Jake and Lena got the two new titles too—the Titan Breaker and Mana-Forged Will. The skills from the First Killer title, though? Those were his alone. They didn’t have the First Killer title, so they wouldn’t get the summons.

Reidar turned his head toward Jake and Lena. Both of them were still catching their breath. He watched them for a second, taking in the fatigue in their postures, the way Jake’s shoulders sagged even as his eyes stayed sharp.

Lena stood straighter, but her hands were trembling at her sides. They’d fought hard. He knew that, but he needed confirmation. "Did you get the titles?" he asked.

Jake nodded, his eyes going wide in that way only an eleven-year-old could manage when something impressed him. "They’re incredible," he said. "Like, really incredible."

Lena nodded as well, though her expression was calmer. "They’re going to be useful," she said. "We got the rewards too; both of us got ten thousand mana. At least I did."

Jake nodded.

Reidar felt a flicker of something—not quite relief, not quite satisfaction, just... acknowledgment. The System didn’t hand out achievements lightly, and it sure as hell didn’t hand out shared rewards unless everyone involved had earned them.

That Jake and Lena had gotten Titan Breaker and Mana-Forged Will meant they’d pulled their weight. He already knew that, but the System confirming it was different. It was official.

"This is going to make things much easier," Lena said.

Reidar let that statement sit for a moment. Easier. Maybe. The mana boost alone was significant, since ten thousand points wasn’t something you stumbled into every day. But it was not going to be THAT easy.

For Jake, that kind of increase could be the difference between running dry mid-fight and having enough left to survive, especially considering he often augmented his skill so much that he could not do much.

Well, aside from observing the destruction unfold. For Lena, it meant more flexibility, more options when things inevitably went sideways, and more summons if she needed them. Longer invisibility.

And for him? It meant his army could grow much more. Which was good, because the last fight had shown him just how quickly he could burn through mana, and how easily killable low-tier monsters were for those at higher tiers.

Mana-Forged Will was the real prize. He nodded once. "Good," he said.

Reidar hadn’t pulled in a haul like this in months. But the frequency with which he got them bothered him. Achievements and titles were things that came from being first in doing that particular thing, most of the time.

First to kill something new. First to clear a specific threshold. First to survive something the System deemed noteworthy. And he hadn’t been first in months.

The Church had most likely seen to that.

That wasn’t speculation; that was a fact. The Progenitor alone could’ve taken the Dreadmaw without breaking a sweat if he grew as fast as he did when he got told he was level 250 by Morv’axil, and Reidar wasn’t stupid enough to assume otherwise and to think the dude had been sitting on his ass.

But it wasn’t just the Progenitor. There were others. Silas, for one, who was at a level Reidar didn’t want to think too hard about. The progenitor likely had a plethora of individuals like Silas and Aaron who had claimed the easy achievements long before Reidar even knew they existed.

His thoughts went to Jorik and Mara.

<I wonder what those bastards are doing.>

The Church had the numbers, the levels, and the infrastructure to lock down anything worth doing. They had more people, higher-level fighters, and organized teams that could claim achievements before anyone else even knew they existed.

If there was a "first" to be had, they’d already taken it, and that explained why Reidar wasn’t getting something new this often.

Their network was too large and too coordinated. That left scraps for everyone else. Smaller fights. Lesser monsters. And scraps didn’t come with titles.

<Well, at least I’m the first dude to kill these giants.>

Reidar glanced at Jake and Lena. They’d earned their share. That was enough for now.