"Tch... this guy is still unconscious. How are you going to form a beast contract if you can’t even wake up?"

Soren couldn’t help but mutter as he stared down at the sprawled lizard, its eyes shut tight.

At a glance, it looked like it was simply sleeping. But the faint, uneven beat of its heart told a different story.

It was already so weak that it felt like it could stop at any moment.

’You are lucky I awakened Fortune Sight recently, otherwise...’

Soren frowned, placed the Albino Lizard down, and took out a dark orb from his inventory.

This was the Soul Orb given to him by Isabella through Principal Logan’s hand.

To be honest, he should have absorbed it yesterday, but that Hidden Lore kept him busy all night.

Now, it seemed useful to revive this weak guy instead.

Really lucky indeed.

’Hope you won’t take much, otherwise...’

This was related to his unique dungeon after all. If not for that golden aura around it, Soren would never give it to anyone else.

Soren quickly sat cross-legged on the ground.

Currently, he was inside a hidden cave near the location where he met Elise earlier.

It was remote enough to absorb the Soul Orb and help the little guy, too.

After sitting cross-legged, Soren gripped the Soul Orb in his hand before closing his eyes.

Then, he extended his faint mental power, directly engulfing the Dark Orb completely, just as advised by Professor Logan last night.

*Swoosh!*

The moment his mental power made contact with the Orb, it shook violently in his hand before stopping abruptly.

Then, in an instant, Soren felt a rich energy seep directly into his body and soul.

It was warm yet overwhelming. His mind blurred for a second as if something vast had pressed into it, but at the same time, a strange clarity rose from within.

His heartbeat stuttered as his senses dulled, then sharpened sharply, as if his entire being was being reshaped from the inside out.

To be honest, the clarity he felt was so refreshing that he almost forgot about the lizard and absorbed all the energy inside the orb.

’Sigh... little guy, you better be worth the investment.’

This was the third time Soren felt the lizard was luckier as he slowly guided a faint transparent energy into the Albino Lizard, letting it absorb.

Then, he used the evolved Artemis’s Sight to carefully monitor its body.

Although he couldn’t see its soul state, he could feel its changes. He wasn’t going to waste more soul energy than necessary.

’Now...’

The moment Soren felt the Albino Lizard’s heartbeat stabilize and its condition improve, he immediately cut off the supply before absorbing everything for himself.

In an instant, the Dark Orb in his hand turned crystal clear before shattering on its own, its fragments dissolving into the air.

’Hah... damn, that was refreshing.’

But its work was already done, as evident by the bright glow settling across Soren’s face.

How could it not, when Soren could clearly feel something within him growing stronger, and it wasn’t physical attributes like agility or strength.

It was his soul, something completely invisible to his senses before.

Now, though faint, he could sense it.

’Let’s see my status. Did it... change?’

Soren suddenly thought, a bit nervously.

To be honest, he had a strange suspicion about his variable attributes after he became able to use Elise’s skill before.

After all, if he could use her skill through Link, then could he also gain stats unrelated to the Archer class?

More importantly, could he increase them with his free stat points just like other normal stats?

Otherwise, how was he going to use Aria, Sylvia, and even Aurelia’s skills later?

’System, show me my status panel.’

This question was so important to Soren that he quickly ordered his system, only to see a transparent panel appear in front.

But he immediately ignored everything else, focusing on the specific part he cared about.

---

- Attributes -

> Strength: 106

> Agility/Dexterity: 206

> Intelligence/Mental Power: 137

> Endurance: 105

> Charm: 302

> Mana: 141

> Luck: 100

> Soul: 10

> Free Stat Points: 95

---

’It really appeared...!’

Soren’s heart skipped a beat the moment he saw another attribute in his status panel.

More importantly, it was placed above the Invariable stat.

’Gulp... system, use 10 points on Soul stat.’

But he didn’t immediately rejoice.

Instead, he ordered his system and immediately noticed his free stat points had decreased by 10 while his Soul stat increased to 20.

’Damn... so it is indeed possible?’

Only then did Soren’s expression brighten.

However, just as he was about to rejoice, though, he found that his entire body suddenly stiffened.

All because he felt a sudden surge of soul power rush through him all at once, far too fast for his body to adjust, making his limbs feel heavy and strangely unresponsive.

It was as if his soul had taken a step forward while his body was left behind, creating an uncomfortable pressure from within.

---

Ding!

[Warning: Severe Soul-Body imbalance detected.]

[Host is recommended to increase his Endurance stat immediately.]

[Do you want to use your free stat points?]

---

Fortunately, his system gave him the solution on time, making Soren breathe a sigh of relief.

’Use it.’

What else could he do?

To be honest, Soren was already thinking about increasing his Strength and Endurance before, as they were needed for his S-rank class state, and also while using Link.

He delayed it until now in case something happened. It seemed he was right, as something did happen.

Although it was more due to his stupidity in his excitement.

---

Ding!

[You have used 85 points of Free Stats on your Endurance.]

[Your Endurance has been increased to 190.]

---

’What?’

Only... Soren never thought that the system would directly use all his free stats, not leaving a drop behind.

"Ugh..."

But he quickly realized why it did so as he felt his body change rapidly.

His muscles tightened, and his breathing steadied as his body adapted to the sudden strain.

His frame grew more resilient under the pressure, easing the overwhelming sensation building within him and gradually reducing the sense of being overfilled until it finally stabilized.

Really, increasing the Endurance stat by a whopping 85 points at once changed his body far more than he expected.

’And even then, this stuffed feeling isn’t gone completely. No wonder System used everything I had.’

He really made a mistake in treating Soul as simple as other stats, didn’t he?

Still, he wasn’t regretting it, though.

Not when he found that his soul sense ability had gone further.

Now, not only could he feel his soul inside clearly, but he could even feel the soul of the little guy below, who was still unconscious.

’It seems to have completely recovered. But... why is it still down?’

Soren frowned and didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t use a healing potion for a soul injury, could he?

’Maybe it will wake up soon?’

In the end, he just shrugged and decided to wait for a while.

In the meantime, he took out the dark compass that this guy had given him before from his inventory.

It also had the Golden Aura surrounding it, meaning it was a good fortune.

’Let’s see what it is then.’

Soren thought with glee before using ’Eye of Insight’.

---

[Artifact: Abyssal Soul Compass]

[Rank: A]

[Origin: A relic forged from a crystallized fragment of Abyssal essence, shaped by unknown forces to track distortions between realms.]

[Effect: Allows the user to detect and locate areas where the boundary between the world and the Abyss is weakened, including active, forming, or dormant Demon Gates.]

> Abyss Detection: Automatically points toward the nearest Abyssal disturbance or Demon Gate.

> Hidden Breach Sense: Reveals concealed or inactive Abyss Gate locations that are not yet visible.

[Limitation: Accuracy decreases in areas with multiple overlapping distortions or strong interference.]

[Note: The compass resonates with Abyssal energy. Higher affinity with dark or void attributes may improve precision and expand detection range.]

---

’This... why is this here?’

Soren suddenly froze, shock written all over his face. His hope for another great find vanished the moment he saw the name of the compass.

In fact, he was so shocked that he abruptly stood up, as if deeply shaken.

’Isn’t this... the thing the "Knight" used in the game to open the Demon Gate a month later?’

And his shock was justified.

All because this compass was an event item. One that was destined to be found by Evan later, after the brief invasion of the demons.

’This is bad!’

But somehow, Soren got it ahead of time, out of nowhere.

To be honest, it was an A-rank item, a very valuable find. But Soren couldn’t feel happy.

After all, the appearance of this item here meant...

’The invasion is about to happen.’

"Gulp!"

Soren visibly gulped, looking down at the Albino Lizard, finally realizing why that golden aura might have surrounded both of them.

’No, I cannot stay here any longer. Let’s go find Professor Lyra immediately.’

Soren forcefully calmed himself down and grabbed the lizard by the neck once again, before using the Dimensional Anchor once more.

*Swoosh!*

In an instant, he was teleported to his tent inside the camp of the Elite Hunter Academy.

Then he quickly left his tent, intending to find Professor Lyra. After all, the appearance of the Abyssal Soul Compass meant the invasion was about to happen.

He didn’t know why it got pulled forward so much, catching him off guard, but he had to warn them somehow.

Otherwise, things could get bloody pretty quickly.

’Damn... just when I was about to relax, this had to happen suddenly. What bad luck!’

He couldn’t help but curse, feeling a bit wry.

Sometimes luck and bad luck seemed separated by a thin line, didn’t they?