Seed of Titan-Chapter 151: One Level After Another

The next day, Drai went out to search for the herd again after filling up his storage with stew, for which he had to use several water sacks to make up for the lack of pots and bowls.

He was now a bit more proficient in sneaking, so after successfully locating the herd, he spent less time reaching the nursing mare. Interestingly, the foal seemed to be waiting for him, as it automatically stopped suckling when it noticed him and approached voluntarily, nudging him enthusiastically with its head.

After laying a few bowls on the ground for the eager foal, he went straight to work and attempted to grab the teats with various methods that mostly involved hand-speed. During this, he had to occasionally lay another set of bowls and pots or refill them to stop the foal from bothering him.

Almost two hours later, he finally left. He had run out of stew and the foal kept nudging him for more.

Drai used the rest of his day to hunt for more ingredients, train, and gather essence before returning to the camp quite late. He then cooked more stew with Max’s help before eating another set of delicious food and drink, courtesy of Madeleine, and went to bed.

He repeated this entire routine for several consecutive days, and on the fifth evening, he leveled up after assimilating the various essences he had collected.

[Assimilation complete.]

[Experience and skill points acquired.]

[User has leveled up. Stats have been adjusted.]

[Strength +4.4]

[Constitution +4.1]

[Agility +2.4]

[Dexterity +3.2]

[Intelligence +0.4]

[Transcendence +0.1]

[SP +5]

Drai stared at the notification screen with a slightly perplexed look.

’My agi and dex went up that high? I didn’t even train them much. But looks like there isn’t any new skill, huh? Well, I did say I wanted to save up SP, and I can’t expect to keep getting new skills with each level up, especially after wasting plenty of time chasing those nipples—

’Wait... Was that why I got these many agi and dex points?’

Drai’s eyes widened in realization. He had been trying to improve his accuracy and movements in grabbing the mare’s teats, which had directly translated into an increase in agility and dexterity.

’I guess I did train my agi and dex quite intensively after all. Heh, so I didn’t just waste time, huh?’

This realization rekindled his spirit that had started to waver after his countless failures. He then continued to train until it was time for him to go back to Misty Forest.

Moments later, upon arriving at the camp, a small surprise awaited him, as Madeleine was there, chatting with Max beside the warm fire pit.

"H-hi..." Drai greeted with a hesitant smile, feeling rather awkward after seeing the woman for the first time in nearly a week.

Madeleine responded with her usual smile before getting up from the wooden bench. "It seems like I’ve lost track of time. I’ll let the two of you rest now. Thank you for the company, Max."

Max nodded and smiled at her.

Suddenly, Drai scratched his head in slight embarrassment and spoke up. "Madeleine? Uh, collecting your milk was harder than I thought... Would you mind waiting a bit longer?"

"It’s fine. You’re the one who’s losing out anyway because I was planning to give you the cake," she said with chuckle before disappearing from sight.

Drai heaved a heavy sigh of relief before sitting down by the fire.

Inspecting him, Max remarked, "I thought you finally got your milk since you look brighter than usual. I guess something else happened."

"Yeah, I leveled up. And turns out I wasn’t just wasting my time selfishly—my agi and dex went up by quite a lot because of the task," Drai replied as he massaged his tired legs.

"So what level are you now? Seven?"

"Eight."

"Hmm... It won’t be long until you get offered your next set of classes. I wonder how strong you’d be then."

Max’s words pushed Drai into contemplation. He had never thought about his next evolution, but he was now wondering what classes would be available to him or if he would even receive multiple class-choices. After all, his current class seemed to be very linear—if not for Ravi’s research, he might still be stuck with just three class-specific skills.

"By the way," Max continued, "why haven’t you used force? Shouldn’t the task be a piece of cake if you just transform?"

Pulled out from his pondering, Drai replied, "I’ve also thought about it, but I think doing it this way will be beneficial for me. My agi and dex won’t be able to keep up with my strength, so this is a good a chance to reduce the gap a bit. I think I’ll also be upping my training to cover these areas more after I’m done with the task since I realize I’ve been neglecting them somewhat."

Max nodded. "I think that’s a right move. But your negligence is understandable—we naturally focus on the few things we’re most interested in, and you can’t expect to be overpowered in all aspects. But are you sure you want to delay contacting your parents?"

Drai lowered his head, smiling wryly. "I’ve been thinking about it these past few days. It’s not like it was possible in the first place without Madeleine’s help, and it’s been more than a month since the attack—if the Crimson Order really went after my parents, they likely would’ve done that already, so a week of delay probably wouldn’t matter much aside from comforting them."

Drai’s slightly trembling hands didn’t escape Max’s notice, so he patted the lad’s back and reassured him. "When we escape, let’s head straight to your hometown. And if, god forbid, anything is amiss, I’ll get my family to help you out. So just focus on your progress and don’t worry too much."

Drai looked at Max and nodded, silently appreciating the offer. He then stood up and went to the butchering area, preparing tomorrow’s batch of stew.

***

At her house, Madeleine was in the secret chamber, sitting on an office chair and facing an unusually large device. She had just sent her reports and was waiting for confirmation. Her silence was accompanied with a steady faint buzzing that filled the stone chamber.

Shortly after, a new message appeared in her inbox, which she immediately opened.

<Your report has passed the preliminary assessment. Thank you for your excellent work. Speaking of which, has a problem occurred by any chance?>

The unexpected question stunned Madeleine, but she quickly recovered and wrote back.

<No. Why are you asking? Is there something wrong with my report?>

It didn’t take long for the other party to reply.

<Not at all. As aforementioned, it’s excellent as per usual. However, we’re seeing an abrupt decline in your submission rate for the past few days, hence the inquiry. Could you enlighten us on the reason for this sudden decline?>

Inside her head, Madeleine’s cogs turned rapidly as she spouted out an impromptu excuse.

<My apologies. I’ve been slightly preoccupied with activities in which I recently took an interest. I hope this won’t be problematic.>

It took about a minute for the reply to arrive.

<Rest assured; it won’t. Similar happenings have been prevalent among those on significantly extended assignments. It’s just that you have managed to maintain a relatively consistent submission rate for so long, which prompted our response. Please don’t mind this and continue with your admirable work, Ms. Hamilton. Have a nice day.>

After replying with a few words of courtesy, Madeleine fell into contemplation and quietly sat there, seemingly unbothered by the faint buzzing that kept echoing throughout the chamber.

***

Another week had passed, and Drai was still unsuccessful in his attempts to grab the much needed teat for the milking process. However, he had taken his crawling to a whole new level, enabling him to seamlessly slither through the tall grass whenever he entered or exited the herd. He actually enjoyed his newfound maneuver, occasionally letting himself crawl for hundreds of meters more until he eventually reached his usual training spots, usually at one of the small hills that were sporadically located in these meadows.

In addition, the foal had become so accustomed to him that it had started rubbing itself all over Drai whenever he was about to leave, seemingly cherishing his presence—or perhaps just the gallons of stew he supplied every morning.

Strangely, the lynx had ceased hunting the horses. Drai suspected that it could somehow sense his presence there and didn’t want to risk getting slapped again, but he wasn’t too sure about it, as it was also possible that the feline had found another source of meat or that there was actually a long interval between its hunts.

And fortunately for him, the Sky King never appeared anymore, though he was slightly hoping to see the grand figure again to entertain his unlikely dream of making the majestic bird his private jet.

At this moment, Drai was relentlessly dashing in short bursts below the nursing mare’s underbelly, his hands barely visible due to his constant grabbing attempts. At the corner, the foal was busy filling its juvenile belly, occasionally casting curious glances toward its personal stew churner that couldn’t keep still.

Just then, Drai felt a familiar sensation within him. He immediately halted his movements and opened the System screen.

"Finally, a ’natural’ level up," he muttered. "It’s been two days since I went through another assimilation, so I think I’ll get more stat points this time. Let’s see..."