“Yee-haw!”

Albion rode on the neck of the ancient sea serpent like an underwater cowboy. He has never ridden a horse before, but this was close enough… not really.

[Host seems to be acting a little bit childish. Goldfinger likes to remind the host that we are currently in the middle of a quest for survival.]

Goldfinger kindly reminded.

“Oh, give me a break. I have been isolated in the cold belly of a big snake without so much as a strip of clothing for the past two years. It’s fine if my breadstick grew from all that soaking, but no—it shrank so much I question whether it can still stand. Since I’ve regained my freedom of movements, I will enjoy myself a bit, else I’ll be bored doing nothing on this ride.”

[…]

Goldfinger silenced.

Albion naturally had not forgotten about something that could pose a risk to his life, but menially executing the task given by Goldfinger was too dull. He did not want to be a slave to the system.

He had been steering the ancient sea serpent in the right direction using force, and what used to be a terrifying menace of the sea had turned into his pet mount. It was actually quite pitiful.

Nevertheless, riding the ancient sea serpent saved him a great deal of effort. In fact, he was not entirely sure if he had the stamina to make it back to the surface on his own. The ancient sea serpent could be said to have been a great help thus far.

‘Hahaha, I am an evil genius.’

Albion silently praised himself with self-satisfaction.

In this regard, Goldfinger was rather speechless as the scene unfolded. Albion did not follow the convention of other hosts. Perhaps, its host does not know the benefit of being a Hunter yet.

[Goldfinger suggests the host kill the ancient sea serpent when the host can. Killing powerful creatures will allow the host to become stronger.]

Goldfinger informed.

“Huh? You can say some pretty awful things, you know that? Don’t you see how hard-working Pompom is? Besides, killing just because you can, is wrong. We should be merciful when we can. Otherwise, we will lose our humanity. Don’t you think so, Pompom?”

Albion patted the ancient sea serpent that he had unwittingly named Pompom on a whim.

The ancient sea serpent shivered. It did not know what he said but nodded its head vigorously in agreement for fear of being beaten.

[Host does not seem to be aware of the benefits of being a Hunter nor the situation on the surface yet, so allow Goldfinger to explain. Each time the host kills a monster, the host will gain…]

After a lengthy explanation, Albion gained a full understanding of how the hunter system works.

In short, every time a monster is killed, the hunter absorbs a portion of their attributes in the form of EXP.

Each unit of EXP gained is equivalent to a 1% overall improvement to the hunter’s body’s base attributes. As such, muscular bodies receive more significant improvements than weak and unfit bodies.

For example, a person capable of lifting 50kgs will receive a 0.5kg improvement while a person capable of lifting 100kgs will receive a 1kg improvement.

The difference was quite clear.

This explains why he was surprised by his own strength.

The 200% bonus for being a Lv.2 Hunter allowed him to have the strength of an early-stage Innate rank 3 despite being at the early-stage Innate rank 1.

Only 100 EXP is needed to level up each level. However, the EXP requirement increases tenfold while also decreasing the overall improvement value of EXP to a tenth after every 10 levels.

In other words, Hunters need 1000 EXP to reach Lv.11, 10000 EXP to reach Lv.21, 100000 EXP to reach Lv.31, and so forth, but the overall improvement is guaranteed to always be 100% per level.

Despite learning all this, Albion remained calm.

[Host has extraordinary self-control to remain calm in the face of such apparent temptations and did not give in to one’s greed. Goldfinger is impressed.]

Goldfinger praised.

“If you beat your meat daily and forced to abstain for 2 years and 3 months, I’m sure you will also have extraordinary self-control.”

Albion rolled his eyes.

[…]

Goldfinger was speechless.

“Of course, that was a joke. I might not be smart, but I am also not stupid. Pompom is obviously more useful to me alive as a mount than it is dead. It also gives me more cards to play in the face of unexpected dangers. Are you trying to help me or harm me by tempting me to kill my own ride to the surface?”

[…Goldfinger was testing whether the host is worthy of Goldfinger’s full support. Congratulation, you have passed.]

“…”

Albion could not be bothered with Goldfinger as his eyes narrowed on a source of light up in the waters ahead. The light came from the sweeping beams of a high-tech submarine cruising the deep waters in search of something.

His lips slowly curved up.

It was too much of a coincidence to find a random high-tech looking submarine in this region of the Ganymede Ocean. It must be one of the Dark Emperor’s generals searching for him.

He had long anticipated that Kasin would search for him when he cannot use the Ashura Ring. After all, the Ashura Ring was the lifebound treasure of the Dark Emperor. He might not be the real Dark Emperor, but he had inherited everything.

There was also a chance that the one searching might not be Kasin, but Polemos, the most loyal of the four generals.

Nevertheless, Albion had no intention of approaching the submarine even if it did belong to Polemos, who may have been faithfully searching for him all these years.

If he does not want to be betrayed again, he should not put himself in a disadvantageous position that permits betrayal.

The four generals were already powerful cultivators capable of blocking bullets with their bare bodies. Now that it has been 2 years into the Apocalyptic era, they can only be much stronger since then.

In other words, there was a high chance that they now wield sufficient power to kill him with their own strength.

Everyone was allowed to become stronger with the existence of the system. However, he did not doubt that the worldly powers mostly remained the same as it was before.

The weak can become strong, but the already strong will become even stronger. Just like in the past, the rich got richer while the poor remain poor. Nothing has changed; only the bar was raised.

He would be a fool to think otherwise.

Albion patted his pet mount, and they swam towards a different direction to avoid the high-tech submarine’s detection.