BXBX NOVEL Chapter 71: Level up... Twice!
As he entered his room, everything seemed in place at first glance—his books scattered across the table, his katana hanged on the wall.
Void curled on the bed, sound asleep. His eyes darted at the food pack on the desk—completely empty. It looked like a lot of effort was made to not leave behind any food particles.
Kyle knelt beside Void, watching the slow rise and fall of the dragon\'s chest.
He could feel that something was wrong. Something felt off about Void.
Kyle couldn\'t take it anymore.
\'Pet\'s Status!\'
|Void|
|Race: Omni Drakkon|
|Level: 4|*
|EXP: 6100/8000|*
|HP: 260|*
|Energy: 560|*
|MP: 530|*
|Agility: 50|*
|Strength: 50|*
|Vitality: 130|*
|Stamina: 280|*
|Intelligence: 530|*
[Skills: Lightning Breath, Lightning Dash, Invisible, Phase]
As he read the information displayed on the panel, Kyle\'s eyes widened in shock.
Void had leveled up—twice!
Level 4.
"How...?" Kyle muttered, staring at the status in disbelief.
Void had been at level 2 just the other day, right before the Electives Battle. He was sure of it.
But now, the dragon had not only gained one level, but two. And that meant... Void was now stronger than him.
Kyle\'s mind raced. He didn\'t know how Void did it. Did he consume anything? He looked around the room to confirm nothing looked amiss.
To gain two levels in such a short period of time. No—not just two levels. 12000 EXP!
Kyle looked back at his companion that lay on the bed.
\'I have to confirm,\' he decided, beginning to call out Void\'s name.
Void stirred slightly at the sound of Kyle\'s voice but didn\'t wake.
"Alright, enough sleeping," Kyle muttered, reaching out to shake Void gently.
Void let out a small grunt and his golden eyes slowly began opening. The dragon blinked a few times.
"Ugh... what do you want, Kyle?" Void grumbled with a groggy voice. "I was having a good dream."
"Bro, you leveled up. Twice."
Void puffed his chest out in pride and said:
"I know."
"You\'re now level 4, Void. That\'s higher than me," Kyle said with a tinge of grief in his voice.
Why won\'t he feel sad when his pet that started cultivating the last day took a just a day to surpass him?
"How did you do this, Void? Teach me your ways!"
He knelt on the floor, bending his head low and clasping his hands, proving how desperately he was to improve his cultivation speed.
"Hahaha!" Void laughed hard at Kyle, seeing his posture. "There\'s nothing to worry about, Kyle. We OmniDrakkons usually have a faster than average speed."
Kyle felt defeated and could only reply, "Ohh, okay."
Kyle sat back against his bed, the sound of Void\'s snoring was the only sound in the background.
Void had laughed himself back to sleep after his plea foe tips and now Kyle was left to his thoughts.
He thought about cultivating, he couldn\'t keep waiting for Mana cores now he didn\'t have enough credits.
He remembered that his companion who had only begun his path of cultivation the day before, had already surpassed him.
Kyle shook his head, suppressing a wave of frustration. He didn\'t have the luxury to dwell on it.
He stood up, glancing at the clock. 4:04 PM. "Might as well begin," he muttered.
He sat cross-legged in the center of the room and focused inward, feeling the familiar pulse of mana deep within his core.
He began to draw in mana from the surrounding atmosphere as he had done hundreds of times already, but today, something felt different.
It was more difficult to focus, but his mind quickly adjusted and he eventually got immersed in cultivation.
For hours, Kyle pushed himself, cycling his mana and cultivating as best as he could.
When 7:00 PM rolled around, Kyle finally opened his eyes. He glanced at his progress.
[EXP: 1792/4000]
"Still not enough," Kyle muttered%% in disappointment.
Standing up, he stretched his limbs to rid out its stiffness when Void\'s voice broke the silence.
"I\'m hungry."
Kyle froze mid-stretch. "What? You just woke up right now, and the first thing you\'re thinking about is food?!"
Void wagged his tail lazily before he opened his eyes halfway and let out a yawn.
"I need sustenance, Kyle. It\'s your job as my caretaker to provide it... Nothing big, I\'ll make do with some mana cores."
Kyle glared at the dragon. "No. No more mana cores for you. You can cultivate on your own."
Void snorted, clearly unimpressed with Kyle\'s reasoning. "Fine, fine. Just get me something else then."
Kyle shook his head, letting out a sigh. "Hmm. Okay."
"So, food?"
"Yeah, let\'s go."
With that, Void retreated into the system space, but Kyle could still hear his voice immediately filling the mental connection between them.
[Remember, nothing too cheap. We\'re celebrating my level up, after all.]
Kyle rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we\'ll see about that."
[No vegetables either. Meat. Lots of it.]
Kyle ignored him as they made their way toward the cafeteria, Void\'s voice continuing to offer endless opinions on the food choices.
[That chicken looks dry. Don\'t even think about it.]
"Shut up, Void."
By the time Kyle had finished grabbing enough food to feed an army, he was down 190 credits. He stared at the total, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Thank you for all this," Kyle muttered.
[You\'re welcome.]
With the food packed up, Kyle made his way back to the dorm. Upon entering the room, he wasted no time laying everything out on the table.
"Alright, Void, you made me purchase this much food—don\'t leave any of this uneaten. You hear?"
Void\'s laugh echoed in Kyle\'s mind.
[Haha! You\'re hilarious. Leave some? You should be hoping it\'s enough.]
Kyle glared at the dragon as Void popped out of the system space and, true to his words, devoured almost everything in an few minutes.
He was left with barely enough to satisfy his own hunger, shaking his head in resignation.
"Unbelievable," Kyle muttered, watching the once filled table.
*Burp!*
"Thanks for the meal, Kyle, that should be enough... For now."
"What?! What do you mean \'for now\'? That\'s enough food to last me a week!"
"Haha. We dragons have a large appetite... As my owner, it\'s your job to fill me up."
Kyle chose not to reply, signaling him to come upstairs for a bath.
After a quick bath, the two of them settled into bed, Kyle still fuming quietly while Void drifted off, content and full.
***
The next day, Kyle found himself in the coliseum once again, standing on the grounds.
Void had decided to remain in the system space, claiming that cultivating was "too boring" for the day.
"I wish I could cultivate even half as fast as you," Kyle grumbled, glaring at the empty space. But there was no time to dwell on it now—he had a battle to focus on.
This was his final match of the group stage. With 6 points under his belt, he had already qualified for the knockout stages, but Kyle wouldn\'t like to leave things unfinished.
He was planning on going into the battle with the intent on securing all 9 points, and in less than ten minutes, it was over.
His opponent barely stood a chance. The fight wasn\'t even worth describing—it was simply another step forward in Kyle\'s journey.
As the battle concluded, Kyle exited the arena, brushing off the light layer of dust on his clothes.
He stood among the other contestants, waiting as the final few matches wrapped up.
His eyes scanned the crowd, picking out familiar faces here and there, but his thoughts remained elsewhere.
Instructor Dan\'s voice boomed across the coliseum once every contestant was assembled, calling everyone\'s attention.
"Alright, listen up! Now that the group stages are finished, we\'ll be moving on to the knockout rounds. There are 64 of you left. The tournament will follow a tree structure—two sides, leading to the finals. Matches will be drawn shortly."
Kyle felt a small rush of excitement as Dan explained the next steps. The knockout rounds were where things really heated up. There would be no second chances, no safety nets. Every match could be his last.
He clenched his fists, he was close to wining and it all began here. He wasn\'t planning on losing any time soon.
The drawing for his next opponent was just moments away, and Kyle was ready for whatever came next.
It didn\'t take too long before the matches were drawn, showing Kyle the potential matches and opponents he could face before reaching the finals.
He observed the tree intently, trying to see if they were any worthy opponent at his side of the tree, and he saw some few.
\'Milo, Zack, Orion... This should be interesting.\'