Still in the clearing of the marsh in the swamp biome after devouring the heart of the kelpie I was looking over my stats.
Many new additions were made as my power level was constantly improving but another big improvement had nothing to do with my prowess.
What I was currently looking at was the insane amount of SP I had saved up.
I had just made my second irreversible change in the novel as I took the power of the kelpie and made it my own rather than leaving it to whoever was supposed to discover it in the future.
Nonetheless, I didn't feel bad as I was willing to do whatever it takes to guarantee my survival. Even if that meant spelling the end for others.
Staring at the number I now realized that I could once again create another ability. However just because I had the SP to do so I unfortunately still couldn't as I was only allowed to have one.
Still, I didn't regret getting 3rd Person POV because it had already paid back its price by saving my life many times over.
While I was finishing looking at the last of the changes to my stats there was one more thing that I questioned.
Looking at one of the notifications I received after eating the heart of the dead kelpie I noticed that there was an increase to the element of water.
However, I had never heard of such a thing and nothing new popped up like when Aether did which made me wonder how important it was.
Yet I had no way of getting an answer so I pushed that fact to the back of my mind as I now had two options to choose from.
Since I defeated the boss I wanted to beat and got the reward I technically had no reason to stay in the dungeon.
Yet I could continue onward and keep exploring and hunting more monsters if I wanted to.
The benefits of doing such a thing were to gain more fighting experience while also getting materials from the monster to sell and make a profit.
My spatial ring already had quite a bit of unique body parts of creatures but getting more wouldn't hurt.
But if I wanted to leave it was probably a good time to do so as the weekend was coming to an end out in the real world as there was still much I had to prepare.
Weighing the options I eventually decided to start making my way back to leave the dungeon.
Although I wasn't moving deeper into the dungeon I still wanted to hunt all the monsters I could find on the way back. After all, it was never a bad thing to have too much money.
Like that, I made my way out of the marsh and left the swamp killing a few monsters that got in my way.
Yet before entering the desert I decided to sleep since it was relatively safe and it would most likely take another day to travel back.
After setting up camp, getting a bit to eat, and taking a nap I set out again in the morning.
I made my way back through the desert, dark forest, and plains while killing a dozen more monsters without suffering from a single wound.
Something I noticed was that thanks to my high magic stat when I used the first rune of Nightfall's it was much more potent and powerful.
The white energy that emitted from it was much denser and allowed me to cut through any monster that got in my way with ease.
Another thing I noticed was how much my perception increased. I could sense things further away than I had been able to before and I noticed more details about things that were closer.
That's also how I managed to discover that there were no shadows following me. Although their stealth skills were incredibly strong with how high my magic stat was I should have been able to spot them easily.
Due to this, it was clear that something happened to them but I also had my suspicions because no other shadows showed up when the female one was mesmerized by the mythical kelpie.
They wouldn't have let her die without doing anything and the mind hex should have also affected them but even then no one else showed up.
Then after the monster died I stood out in the open and no one attacked when they had the chance to steal the heart.
Finally, my thoughts were confirmed when I traveled back through the jungle and found one of the dead bodies of the shadows.
I made sure to check the body and I realized it was the gloomy shadow that was always talking about death.
It seemed that his worries came true as his lifeless corpse hung from one of the trees.
I figured that the other shadows also died even though I didn't recover their bodies.
Although it's true they could have run away it wasn't in their natures as I, the author, described them as being extremely loyal and that they would never give up on a mission.
Taking the clothes and any valuables from the shadow I threw them in my spatial ring as the corpse would not need them.
After that, I returned to the place we first entered.
On the ground was a small circle covered in runes.
I didn't have to read them to understand what the circle did. As soon as I stepped on it my body vanished and I appeared back outside.
As soon as I came back to my senses my mind was assaulted with pain and my wrist buzzed a few times but I ignored it for the time being.
Turning around I looked at the ominous portal that was still swirling around encased inside a stone frame and sighed.
"Well, that was quite the adventure."
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶