Epilogue

Underneath the wooden, almost rotted trunk of a large tree, in a hollow space barely big enough for a person to crouch in, a man was seated there. With a mask so white, and a coat so black, one might find his appearance – no, his very presence ominous.

In his hands, he held a dagger. It was unassuming; a steel blade with a length of around twelve or so inches, with a comfortable leather grip, dyed black.

But that was where its normal, unassuming appearance deceived the eye. The very end of the handle opposite to the point of the blade, was a small, silver pommel. But it could be unscrewed to remove it, and peeking within the pommel revealed that it was hollow.

Yes... The hollow pommel could be filled with poison. And such thing was vital for its function, for the blade had an intricate tunneling, hollowed out system which allowed the poison to flow from the pommel into the blade whenever the dagger was thrust into something – human bodies.

And even if he already knew the function of this particular dagger, he couldn’t help but scrutinize its purpose on a much... deeper level.

A level that most people wouldn’t be able to understand.

“Analysis.”

And at his words, in the air in front of him, a large panel of light manifested itself.

[Snake’s Fang]

[Type: Dagger]

[Tier: Epic]

[Condition: Ragged]

[Long ago, an Alchemist worked together with a Blacksmith

to forge such a blade. Complicated, precise, and specific in its

purpose, this Dagger is used to contain and instantly secrete stored

poisons when blood is drawn. How it ended up in that Wyvern’s lair

is a mystery that nobody would be able to figure out...]

[Special Ability: Snake Bite

Passive Ability

The moment you inflict wound damage to a target,

they will be poisoned with whatever Poison is stored

within the pommel-container of this Dagger.

Current Poison: Deathcap Toxin]

[Damage (Dagger):

45 Physical Damage (+35% STR) (+110% DEX) (Thrust)

35 Physical Damage (+65% STR) (+40% DEX) (Slash)]

He smiled at the panel; This was an [Epic] Dagger, truly! He had nothing to fear, then.

His victim, that abyssal-eyed girl, would be dead sooner or later. And when she does... He would become stronger once more.

How fortunate that he was able to tail that suspicious boy with the dark-blue coat, along with the matching colored scarf. When he first arrived, he was only Level 56; an obvious indicator that he was an Adventurer of sorts, but nothing too suspicious about that.

He was definitely going to be a good source of [Experience] later on when he got the chance, but that was until his [Stats] actually spiked the next time he saw him.

Not just the subtle +1’s or +2’s that people with Stat-lines of 10’s or so might achieve after a few days of intense training, but his [Stats] literally spiked upwards the very next day.

And then, he immediately began to think. How was he able to bear a [System] which functioned and allowed him to increase his [Stats]?

And so, he reached a conclusion. That blue-coated man... He had a [Keeper] somewhere, didn’t he?

Yes... a [Keeper]. It had been so long since he had ever met one before. So he stalked this newfound discovery.

And joy behold, he managed to stab that girl – the [Keeper]. His [Analysis] told him so that much. But a quick glance into the room while he did so, and he found that the other white-haired girl was also...

A [Keeper]! How fortunate! But he would return for her later, when he stocked up on enough [Experience] to make such murder worthwhile...

[You have slain Keeper – Clara (LVL 26)]

[You have gained 24,860 (+6,215) Experience!]

Speaking of [Keepers], his victim just died in that moment. What a joy!

The [Experience] he gained was surprisingly hefty; [Keepers] only usually had around 5,000 or so to spare... But that wasn’t even the most important part of this murder.

The next Panel of Light was the one that revealed the true treasure; the reason why he was so happy with this discovery to begin with.

[Title: Keeper Hunter Conditions, fulfilled!]

[You may now Level Up (One Session)]

And of course, if this [System] was graciously offering such thing to him, who was he to deny that?

“Status.”

Another Panel of Light greeted him, but he had already memorized his own [Stats] at this point, so he only scanned them but didn’t pay any attention to them.

The most important parts he wanted to see were at the very top and bottom of such Panel.

Experience: 26,655/125,930

[...]

Free Points: 85

He grinned once more. It seemed like his accumulated [Experience] allowed him to [Level Up] a lot more than he expected.

...

And when he was finished allocating all of his Points, he smiled to himself. His muscles felt like they tensed and strengthened, and he understood why that was the case.

It seemed like he was reaching the physical limits of the [Human] race. Now, how could he [Evolve] this race and breakthrough to new limits – new numbers...?

No, in order to do so, he should probably increase all of his [Stats] to their absolute limits. That was his new goal, and the white-haired [Keeper] should be able to help him achieve his goal, then.

But for now, before anything else, he needed to hunt down [Monsters] and grind out a lot of [Experience]. Most Humans weren’t very rich in those, and the ones that had good [Experience] were a pain to kill, after all.

And when he felt like he had earned enough [Experience], that boy, no... That man who had injured him and managed to drive him back that one night...

His name was [Tobias], wasn’t it?

“Ha... Haha... Hahaha!” As he laughed to himself, his [Epic-tier] Dagger glinted and flickered ominously.

Why was he laughing? It was because he only knew one thing, and only believed in one thing his entire life: Numbers were absolute.

Numbers were law.

And his [Stats] had higher numbers.

That only meant [Tobias] would stand no chance.

Epilogue: A Subversion of Everything you had come to expect [from this story].

Path of Salt: Volume 1 – END.