I traveled to the canyon, all the way to the safe spot, and then set up my camp. I kept hunting for several days, clearing the dungeon, and killing the boss. Now, with the dreadnought class skills, the battle became way easier. I found a bit of pleasure in chopping that bastard to pieces.

Ki'rei showed up at some point and tried to persuade me to come to her masters, but I refused, telling her I'm still not ready, and there are a few things I need to take care of before. This made her stop. She hanged around for several days and then vanished again. She had to stick close since the poss kept respawning.

This cycle repeated itself several times. Each time she would tell me the same words, and I would repeat mine. That's how two months passed. I collected 93261 regular crystals, and 60 boss ones by the time I reached the cliff and camped there for the night. Then made it back to the city to finally get my shadow knight class and many more upgrades.historical

The city center was lively when I got there. I noticed several changes to the overall architecture. There were fewer ruins, and more nice, brick buildings. People seemed to be happy, spending time on the streets, drinking, and talking on this warm evening.

I grabbed a lot of attention because of my looks and the number of stones I brought with me. People started to point at me and whisper, so I wouldn't hear.

The device was occupied by a bunch of men, but they soon were down and I could finally sell my score for 93 861 000 points. Then I finally unlocked the Shadow knight. The skills it gave me were: 'Shadow fusion II', 'Void essence II', 'Void manipulation II', 'Void domain', 'Eyes of the Void'.

Without even thinking about this, I upgraded all of them to the fifth level, except the Void essence skill, because this one was a bit different. It could be upgraded two hundred times and each was 10 000 points.

Then I also upgraded every dreadnought skill to the fifth level, finishing the class and unlocking the second tier to buy for a hundred class points. The 'Armored drednought'.

I still had plenty of points, so I also fully upgraded the 'Shadow walker' class and unlocked the 'Shadow pilgrim'. I really wanted to buy this one, counting for something that would make my 'shadow walk' skill even better.

I also bought some new clothes and went to take a bath, relax some underwater, and end up in the cafeteria. Eating a nice warm meal, among many people sitting on the long benches, behind tables. Chatting, peaking at me, like I was some kind of local celebrity. Out of nowhere, Hatta joined me at the table.

- Welcome back, Peter - he said with a smile. - How was it?

- Hi. Terrible. I already have enough of that place, but I'm still going back.

- Another two months?

- Yes.

- I'm not gonna pretend like I know why are you doing this. Amit suspect you know something and don't want to share this information, that's why you are in such a rush.

- I told you. I want to scout part of the wastelands to see what is going on out there, so we had at least an idea, and I want to be strong to be able to deal with whatever is out there, or at least have a chance to run away from it.

He rise his hands in the gesture of surrender.

- I trust you. Amit doesn't.

- It's ok. I don't mind.

- So... when are you going back?

- Tomorrow. I want to sleep at least one night in a proper bed.

Hatta nodded.

- Ok. Then I'm not interrupting your rest anymore. Be careful out there.

- Thanks.

He left after that, and I noticed how many people were watching us talk. It wasn't good. They heard enough to start some weird rumors, but there wasn't anything I could do about that. I finished my meal and left.

I had this moment when I wanted to test out my new skills but because it was already dark outside, I decided to just wait, and to it tomorrow, during the travel, or maybe even when I set up the camp for the night. I returned to my room to sleep.

The next day, after the usual routine, I started preparations to depart. I packed my carts with food and drinks, then was on my way. Ki'rei didn't join me, and I eventually reached the neighborhood of the cliff.

Then I finally had some time to test the 'Void domain' and 'Eyes of the Void'. The first one changed the land around me in the proximity of around fifty meters. Everything got darker, the shadows expanded, and void essence started to slip through the air in the form of black smoke coming out of the ground. It wasn't much, but it was definitely noticeable.

Then I tried the eyes, and I got blind. Yes, blind. I immediately turned that skill of, because I panicked. After calming myself down a bit, I used it again, this time carefully examining the changes. I discovered that I not only got bling, but also my other senses got dulled, but in exchange, I gained another one.

I could feel everything around me. I knew exactly where the trees were. I knew about every single blade of grass around me. I could even feel the air moving. The more I focused, the clearer the feeling was.

I tried to move around like that, and perform an imaginative battle. It was awkward at first, but then I started to get a better and better grip on my surroundings. This was definitely a useful skill, with big potential. Now I didn't have to worry about light anymore. Well, with a bit of practice I wouldn't have to worry, because my movements now were still far from good enough.

The long period of time came to an end with 32 908 705 points remaining on my account, and twenty-two class points.