The Matriarch's body jerked back. An arrow pierced her left chest. She cried out, gasping for air as she tried to muster the strength to stand.

  That did not kill her; was it because of their level difference? Perhaps it was… Suna drew another arrow.

  The Matriarch held up a hand–a final act of desperation, sweat running down her forehead. Still, she tried on one of her sultry smiles, “Human, vey en nenh”

  Suna shot, the arrow slammed into her abdomen. She gasped, her breathing chortling. She growled at him, her eyes now holding no deception; they shone with hot anger.

  “You don’t understand me?” In a way, that made Suna relieved; this meant he didn’t need to interrogate her.

  Suna let out arrow after arrow; his hand moved like he was stroking a guitar. Five arrows impaled the matriarch all around her left chest. She wailed–body jerking from each force, and her words soon turned into begging.

  “Vey!, En Vey!” She begged. The Drow even managed to get into crawling position, she grasped the bed cover and tried to prostrate herself.

  But Suna had none of it. He released another arrow. This time, he held it for a couple of seconds and let it fly. The arrow pierced down her shoulder. The Drow Matriarch fell, her hair spiraling over the fur cover of the bed. An arrow pushed in from her chest, and blood started to seep into the beautiful bed.

  [You Have Slain Drow Matriarch lvl 15]

  [Feat Gained] [Slayer of Leader(1)] – You have slain a leader figure and taken down her entire organization. Such a feat requires strength and incredible skill. + 30 Strength.

  [Level Up]

  [Level Up]

  [Level Up]

  [Level Up]

  Suna slid off his knife and harvested the Rune.

  [Rune Of Skill]

  [Drowfication] [Rare] – The Drow poison has been called various things. Nefarious, Corrupt, Domineering. All of which are true. But their relentless pursuit of strength has perhaps been overlooked. Drowfication offers a short burst of power, even an ignored sense of pain, in exchange for the drastic cost of Mana. Drowfication scales with Arcanery. [Sealed Skill].

  Suna left the corpses, and guilt did not set in like earlier. He looked around the room and found an armor stand with black leather similar to his own.

  Does she wear the same crappy armor?

  Suna reached for it, and it was the same jerkin her soldier wore. He was not even going to remove it.

  He looked out of the stained window. The city sprawled with ashen snow, each rooftop was covered with white fuzzy hair. He made out that each tall tower has an open circle around it where no house touches.

  This plaza, the Tiefling talked about, must be around one of these towers.

  So naturally, his eye darted to the tallest tower, which was quite far away. The falling ashes made it hard to even decide how far it was.

  Before Suna left the floor, he made sure to search around, the drawer beneath her bed. Inside were five health potions and a blue one—also five of them. Suna grinned.

  [Mana Potion] [Common] – Mana is the very source of wonder. Refill Mana with a mana potion.

  This was quite a find, and considering there are also three Drow whose potions he hadn’t taken, that brought his Potion count to eight.

  He opened a wardrobe filled with weapons. Inside were two crossbows, the same ones as her soldiers. But the sword, though. It was sleek instead of overbearing like the glaives or the Saber. And it was quite short too, with its steel probably as long as Suna’s upper arm only.

  [Curved Obsidian Sword] [Uncommon] – Wrought from obsidian, this sword is smithed with endless tears and frustration. Toughness is a given, but the sharpness and weight were kept in mind during the smithing process. A combination of might and speed was something many swords lacked, but not this one.

  Without even a second thought, Suna threw away his Saber and switched it for this obsidian sword. He took the sheath and strapped it to his hip.

  And some arrows too, they were laid neatly next to each other inside the weapon wardrobe. He decided the Drow quiver was larger than his own by a small margin. He swapped them and took all of the arrows with him.

  He was far from done yet; there were two Drow whose runes he hadn't harvested. So Suna decided to hold off on examining his status. He stopped by the fifth, where the half-Drow was still chained.

  Suna let him down and rested him against the flooring. But, he decided, might as well make it comfortable for him. He carried the corpse to the Drow Matriarch’s room.

  After dumping the Matriarch corpse, he lay the half-Drow on the luxurious bed and covered him with a blanket.

  It was a useless gesture, but one that felt right for a moment.

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  In his hand was the half-Drow white cloak.

  [Cleric Cloak] [Uncommon] – Unblemished and pure, this cloak reflects the promise of healing. When worn, healing effectiveness will increase.

  So it's not the cloak that would heal the bearer, but it made healing much more potent.

  His Ranger cloak did not offer any effect like this. Suna swapped them, and he made his way down. He needed rest so badly. From the battle high, to almost dying, then seeing a human's disfigured remains. It's enough to make anyone just want to close their eyes and forget about everything.

  Suna went back to the torture floor, and his eyes landed on the Cleric Staff.

  [Cleric Staff] [Common] – Healing is and always will be the most noble act. Cleric staff will lessen Mana usage for healing.

  This will be a great item… but considering Suna did not have any healing skill, and the length of it… It might not be wise to take.

  But it's just such a waste to leave it. He decided to take it down to the first floor before deciding.

  He went out and pulled in all three corpses of the Drow Warriors and the Drow Ranger. Suna laid them next to each other. Four of them sprawled, and two he hasn't harvested yet.

  Suna drew his new sword and began harvesting.

  [Rune of Dexterity]

  [Rune of Dexterity]

  Name: Suna Amor

  Level. 6→11

  Class: [Archer]

  Rune: 4→9

  Feat: 2→ 4

  Mana: 135/150→135/200

  Class Skill (3/8):

  - Archer Sense [Common]

  - Archer Backstep [Common]

  - Mana Arrow [Uncommon]

  General Skill (1/5)→(2/8):

  - Quick Draw [Common]

  - Drowfication [Rare]

  Strength: 97→127→140

  Dexterity: 85→145→195→225

  Vitality: 15→20

  Arcanery: 15→20

  Sense: 31→45

  "Number goes up..." Suna muttered absentmindedly as he lounged against a wooden chair, it almost betrayed him by plopping back, sending his heart leaping. He stomped his foot down and let out a shudder.

  Even the chair is trying to kill me.

  The Drow's corpses were still pooling blood around their wound, it was a sight that he knew he would see again in the future. In this new world.

  Suna stared at them, thinking maybe it was better to get himself used to this. What they’d done to the [Cleric] had desensitized Suna from the guilt. One regret he had was that he couldn’t arrive much faster, though he was not sure whether that would help. Maybe it was just his mind trying to find something to occupy itself.

  In the corner of his eye, lying around the circular wall, was a futon-like bed with a blanket on each of them. There were about seven of them. If he included the very first encounter… it sank into him that he had killed seven of them, including the Matriarch.

  He really should move now. Suna rose, walking to the door. He stared at the blanket and back at the bodies.

  It might be suspicious if he covered the bodies. One thing he knew about the Drow was that they were cruel creatures. He should even replace all arrow wounds with bolts, just to make it more believable.

  In the end, though, Suna left the tower with all the Drows' corpses covered with a blanket. Even for the Matriarch, he had climbed up and torn the red luxurious blanket for her.

  Suna settled in a house, still near the tower. Perhaps it was a risk, but he would rather have his eyes on it than worry if another Drow came back.

  Sitting on a bed, he let himself sprawl on it. He blew his hair from his eyelids, and finally decided to take in all the Level up and his new skill. Drowfication.

  He read over its description.

  [Drowfication] [Rare] – The Drow poison has been called various things. Nefarious, Corrupt, Domineering. All of which are true. But their relentless pursuit of strength has perhaps been overlooked. Drowfication offers a short burst of power, even an ignored sense of pain, in exchange for the drastic cost of Mana. Drowfication scales with Arcanery. [Sealed Skill].

  Poison? What does that mean? Of course, Suna knew what poison was, but… reading the description, it was as if describing Drow as a virus.

  “It's not a race, but a virus?” Suna mumbled.

  Did the tutorial create them? He had been suspicious because of their level, which was quite low. As if they meant to be hunted by him. If the war of towers had been taking place, then surely they should be stronger than their current level.

  But, this description implied there’s a lore and origin of the Drow.

  And perhaps more importantly, there was this Sealed Skill. Did that mean he couldn’t use it?

  Suna tried to access the skill, trying to activate it like he had done with Mana Arrow. But there was nothing there.

  Why does it still take a skill slot then!

  Ridiculous.

  [To access Drowfication [First Stage], you need to survive the Dream of Drow]

  “Explanation!” Suna demanded. “Information?” He grunted. Nothing more came, just a prompt of yes or no.

  [Yes/No]

  This might be stupid, especially after he saw the [Cleric] becoming a Drow. And Suna thinks that Drow was some kind of virus that can affect you and make you subservient.

  But, maybe a stupid but. The System only rewarded him if he sought danger. For example, if he had not shot the first Drow he encountered, then he would have been frozen inside that house and stayed level one. Perhaps immediately captured by trying to talk to the Drow after.

  If this skill is in any way granted by the tutorial, then taking it should grant Suna some kind of advantage. Besides, he still hadn’t forgotten about the dead woman and what the creature of white said.

  That the Woman and her unpicked class shall appear in some kind of advantage for them.

  Maybe this was it?

  Yes.

  Suna's mind blanked, his body fell into the soft bed.

  And he fell into a deep slumber.

  He opened his eyes to a sky choked with smoke and residue of death.

  Around him were hundreds… no thousands of armored Drow Rangers. Their armor was a sleek black plate that seemed like it jumped out of a thousand years in the future. It was sleek like a polished dark ice, hugging their body tight but still somehow allowing them to move freely as some took cover under a gargantuan rock and shot a bow straight at an army of white armored bowmen in light contrast to the Drow’s armor.

  Wait, how did he know how it felt…

  He looked down, and he was encased in it. In his hand was a bow with a body of obsidian-like steel; the string was not a string but electricity–zapping and crackling.

  Suna let out a cry as it zipped around him, but he did not even feel a prickling.

  “Shoot! No standing around!” A Drow screamed. He raised his bow and stood on a small ledge. He drew his dark gauntleted hand, and an arrow made out of electricity manifested. He let it fly, and a burst of energy rippled through the air in front of him. It shot like a sonic wave, and Suna couldn’t tell if he hit anyone. Probably he did, considering the thousand that charged at them with a spear…no trident.

  They’re fighting.

  The opposite army held a trident and shot a beam of red that pulverized a Drow near him into a molten red.

  Suna crouched; the heat seared through his face.

  “Shoot!” The commander bellowed again. Through the half visor they wore, he could see the desperation under his face.

  Suna took cover in a dug trench. Around him were lines of Drows, hundreds of them, firing at will. Electricity zipped as they released the strange power.

  He stood and decided to try it. Suna drew the electricity like a string.

  His Visor lit up, and two choices appeared in red letters.

  [Voltaic Bolt/Nano Pulse]

  System… not like the one that appeared like bizarre magic, this was an actual system installed with technology.

  Suna focused his eyes on Voltaic Bolt.

  [Output: 89%]

  [Suit Output 92%]

  An arc of electricity came alive in his fingertips. They manifested into three arrows with a crackle of blue. Suna sensed their power, the slight thrumming on his arm. He trembled, but his gauntlet kept him steady; it heavied his grip automatically.

  Suna marveled at it. As he was about to release it, a shadow rose from the gargantuan stone.

  A battleship rose into the smoke-churned sky, trying to outdo the sky itself.

  The spear-shaped Dreadnought aimed countless endless, almost infinite turrets.

  Suna did not even have time to admire the sight before a bright beam of red enveloped his whole body, killing him.