Chapter 156: No Turning Back

Luke walked among the corpses of the Renegades. These were the last of them. There were still thieves and fugitives scattered from the chaos at the Safe Zone, but Luke had no interest in chasing them down. His focus remained on those closest to the core of the Renegade faction—the originals. None of the founders survived. They had entered Bastion and never came out. Bartholomew and his men killed them all, proving their strength once and for all. And now, after gaining the experience points from Marshall and his soldiers, they had become even stronger.

Since he and Charlie started hunting the remaining Renegades, they’d made some progress. Charlie began at race level 13, with her Death Knight class at 23 and her second class, Pugilist, at 6. Now, she had leveled up — race 14, class 24, second class 8.

He wanted her to become truly strong—strong enough to face whatever waited beyond the gate at the end of the Wild Zone. And to make that happen, he had to become even stronger himself.

He rarely used his kukris in these fights. Instead, he relied on his fists, his stamina control, and a growing understanding of his own attributes. With every punch and dodge, Luke was studying the limits of his body—and more importantly, the limits of his mana. His goal was to wield mana with the same natural ease he had with stamina.

One of his current challenges was learning to use Wraith Form in a more advanced way—partially. Instead of turning his whole body into mist, he wanted to phase out specific parts, like just an arm or a leg, while keeping the rest of his body solid.

He had already done something similar in the past—back when he killed the Midnight Warden. Back then, he had shaped a decoy out of fog that resembled himself, using it as a distraction. At the perfect moment, he materialized his real arm through the mist and struck. It worked. But in that case, the fog was separate—a construct. The arm he used was still physical.

What he wanted now was far more difficult. He wasn’t trying to fake a part of his body with mist—he wanted to become mist. Specifically, to make his real arm vanish completely into fog while the rest of him stayed physical. That meant partially shifting his body out of the physical plane and triggering Wraith Form in just one region, without affecting the rest.

It was like trying to split his presence between two realities. And it wasn’t easy.

Luke knew he was holding back his class advancement by avoiding the use of his kukris. Still, he earned enough experience to keep leveling his race—and he could feel level 15 drawing near.

As he crushed enemies with brute force, he also continued collecting soul fragments, though he had no idea what they were for or what would happen once he reached the thousand-mark threshold. Right now, he had gathered sixty-one.

Now, standing in the shadow of a twisted tree, he opened Charlie’s system interface.

Name: Princess Charlie
Level: 14
Rank: F
Class: [Death Knight (Lvl 24)]
2nd Class: Pugilist (Lvl 8)
Race: Skeleton
Titles: [Servant of the Dark Lord]
Health Points (HP): 1093/1140
Mana Points (MP): 438/700
Stamina: 1263/1350

Stats:
Strength: 133 (203)
Agility: 77
Endurance: 95 (135)
Vitality: 114
Perception: 58
Intelligence: 70
Free Points: 2

Class Skills: [Basic Weapon Handling (Common)], Heavy Strike (Common), [Basic Spectral Charge (Rare)], [Razor Blade (Uncommon)], [Whirlwind Strike (Uncommon)], [Spectral Chain (Rare)], [Spectral Barrier (Rare)]

Second Class Skills: [Advanced Hand-to-Hand (Uncommon)], [Steel Fist (Rare)], [Stunning Punch (Uncommon)], [Battle Roar (Uncommon)], [Concentrated Kick (Uncommon)],

Race Skills: [Demonic Servant Perception (Uncommon)], [Basic Bone Regeneration (Rare)], [Bone Endurance (Rare)], [Iron Bones (Ultra-Rare)]

Rune Skill: [Berserker Flames (Rare)]

“You started this journey back in that dungeon with just forty HP,” he said, remembering. “I just hope what you’ve got now is enough to handle whatever’s waiting on the other side of that gate.”

Luke allocated both of her unassigned points into Vitality.

Stats Updated (Princess Charlie):
Vitality: 114 -> 116
Free Points: 2 -> 0
Health Points (HP): 1093/1140 -> 1113/1160

Then, he opened his own interface.

Name: Luke
Level: 14
Rank: F
Class: [Demonic Assassin (Lvl 28)]
Race: Half-Demon
Profession: –
Titles: [Dark Lord]
Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Dark Demon]
Health Points (HP): 1188/1260
Mana Points (MP): 879/910
Stamina: 491/600
Soul Fragments: 61/1000

Stats:
Strength: 141
Agility: 134 (184)
Endurance: 40 (60)
Vitality: 126
Perception: 145 (155)

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Intelligence: 86 (91)
Free Points: 4

Class Skills: [Basic Blade Handling (Common)], [Profane Knife Throwing (Uncommon)], [Twin Blade (Common)], [Basic Dark Dash (Rare)], [Basic Blood Regeneration (Rare)], [Assassin’s Mark (Rare)], [Demonic Blade Dance (Rare)], [Wraith Form (Ultra-Rare)], [Force Infusion (Rare)]

Race Skills: [Identify (Common)], [Demonic Perception (Uncommon)], [Dark Blood (Uncommon)], [Meditation (Common)], [Demonic Endurance (Uncommon)]

Bloodline Skill: [Servant of the Dark Lord (Unique)]
Servant: [Princess Charlie (Skeleton) – Lvl 14]

Luke decided to invest his points in Strength and Endurance.

Stats Updated:
Strength: 141 -> 143
Endurance: 40 (60) -> 42 (62)

There was one last thing he had to do before vanishing from this place for good. He needed to stop by his hideout in the Safe Zone.

***

Luke moved through the Safe Zone, staying in the shadows. Over the past few days, Bartholomew’s soldiers had ramped up their patrols. Constant sweeps, men on rooftops, eyes on every corner. Luke didn’t know if they were specifically looking for him or just on high alert after the Renegade attacks—but he wasn’t going to take chances. He preferred caution. He preferred to be invisible.