The next few hours were dedicated to hunting down an increasing number of crustacrawlers. They roamed in packs of at least three to as many as ten individuals; some even when overboard in gatherings of more than two dozen — including their vulnerable younglings which had yet to grow their shells.

Our primary objective was to get stronger and enhance our combat prowess, and the matter of gathering source crystals was secondary. So, after observing their behavior and studying their composition, we strategically targeted the most formidable groups.

And now, before us was a cluster of approximately twenty crustacrawlers. What made them different from the ones we encountered so far was their leader at Second Order. Unlike the ordinary crustacrawlers, this one had a pair of razor-sharp pincers protruding from its body, looking like it could tear through solid steel.

“Maxim, I call dibs on the leader!” Tuilë declared, pointing at the imposing figure of the Second Order crustacrawler. Her eyes gleamed with determination, gripping her massive wrench tightly.

Finding that persuading her otherwise would be futile, and aware that she needed this stimulation, I acquiesced, “Sure, Luna-1, and I will handle the rest. Just make sure that we start simultaneously.”

“Aight! Count on three. One… two… three!”

In an instant, we launched ourselves into the midst of the pack to begin our synchronized assault.

Tuilë, in particular, already raised her wrench overhead, prepared to strike the Second Order crustacrawler. In contrast, Lunaria and I were focused on clearing a path so her duel with their leader wouldn’t be disturbed.

As I closed in on one of them, I manifested my source-bound weapon and let it take the shape of a pair of gauntlets. Against these adversaries that prioritized defense above all else, sharp weapons proved ineffective, whereas blunt force worked wonders in shattering their hardened shells.

I quickly lowered my stance, circulated my source energy on my fist, and swung it straight to the closest crustacrawler’s muzzle. The force behind my gauntlet-clad fist proved too much for its carapace as it shattered into fragments and sent the creature crashing to the ground like a discarded doll, lifeless in an instant.

“How ‘bout Tuilë?” I peeked to the side.

To my surprise, the pack leader was decisive, as it sacrificed one of its sturdy pincers to block Tuilë’s incoming wrench. Though its pincer was destroyed, the creature survived the blow and retaliated with its remaining pincer aimed at Tuilë.

Not bothering to pay more attention there, I repeated the process two more times, dispatching additional crustacrawlers swiftly. But as time went on, more and more crustacrawlers were closing in on us. Without Tuilë to lighten the pressure, Luna-1 was unable to protect my rear alone.

Their shells were tough and required me to spend additional effort to kill them… How annoying.

“Shoot! There are too many of them! Gotta use magic — {Air Pistol}! {Air Pistol}!” I cast continuously, deftly evading the creatures’ relentless attacks. With each spell, pebbles from my backpack soared through the air, slicing through the horde of crustacrawlers with deadly precision.

The projectiles whizzed through the chaotic battlefield, finding their mark and slaughtering the crustacrawlers in droves. By the second, I was culling down the crustacrawlers, leaving none of them alive.

Drenched in sweat, I lay on the ground, exhausted. “Huff… Whew… I never know that fighting these creatures is more taxing than facing those crimson draugrs…”

“Well, adult crustacrawlers are way stronger than those crimson draugrs, after all.”

“That’s true.” I turned my face toward the sky, feeling the tension on my shoulders vanishing.

“Aren’t you forgetting about someone?” Lunaria chimed in.

“Oh yeah, Tuilë!”

I immediately rose to my feet and inspected the battleground. Luckily, nothing bad had happened, but she was still in the middle of battle. The enemy this time proved to be a tough opponent.

No injuries could be seen on Tuilë though, unlike the Second Order crustacrawler, which had numerous cracks scattered across its carapace and was missing both of its pincers. It appeared Tuilë had been using it as a grindstone to improve her strength further instead of finishing it off right there and then.

As a matter of fact, she tossed aside her massive wrench in favor of using her fists. Lightning crackled on her hands, transforming them into the fearsome, purple-colored claws of a beast. With a powerful leap into the air, she brought down her right fist, aiming to deliver a devastating blow to the crustacrawler.

I’d hoped the attack would be the deciding factor, but the crustacrawler not only had a tough defense but also seemed to be resistant to the Electro element. But a damage was a damage after all, evident from the creature’s motionless body convulsing with static electricity.

That last attack proved to be the final straw that broke the camel’s back. The already cracked carapace, barely holding itself together, completely disintegrating into countless fragments. The innards and the goo of the insect painted the ground green. Gross…

I clapped my hands slowly and called out to the perpetrator, “Tuilë, you done there?”

“I am! And I think I’m about to break through… But it feels like I’ll need tons of source crystals.” Tuilë stretched her arms and grinned at me.

“Take as many as you need,” I said generously. “But we’ll need to gather the source crystals from these monsters — especially the pack leader that you just killed.”

“Mhm.”

We sliced open each and every dead crustacrawler on the ground, sparing no one. One thing I found after dissecting dozens of them was that, strangely enough, their source crystals were located on the back of their heads. Once done, I gave Tuilë all the source crystals gathered from the mutated monsters until now, which totaled seventy-eight First Order and one Second Order source crystals, and less than two dozen additional First Order source crystals I brought just in case — most had been left in the airship.

We then searched for a secluded place thereafter. It just so happened that an area right beside us contained multiple buildings where many untouched valuables were, according to the map and the information from the little peddler.

After killing the mutant cockroaches and rats occupying one of the buildings, we occupied the highest floor — the one that looked to be an office building. Interestingly enough, there was a lack of mutant people in the area because most were eaten by the crustacrawlers, apparently.

Tuilë sat cross-legged on the floor and began absorbing the few dozen or so source crystals scattered around her. I didn’t know the exact condition to reach Tier-3 enhancer besides the accumulation of source energy inside the body… All I knew was that Tier-3 and stronger source users would be able to manipulate their surroundings using their respective source elements, bending nature to their will.

Seeing that this would require some time, I explored the area outside a bit. This area here looked to be formerly a shopping center with stores aplenty. Even a large supermarket existed not too far away, though I bet almost, if not all, everything inside had spoiled away by now.

“Wait… is that a jewelry store?” There was a store adorned with a sparkling diamond logo filled with glass-encased shelves right across the road.

The drone, Luna-1, which was hovering beside me, had its lenses contracted as it was accompanied by Lunaria’s voice. “Are you trying to do what I’m thinking you’re going to do?”

“Huh? How do I know what you’re thinking? But if it’s robbing the store, then we’re on the same page.” I chuckled softly, shrugging. “I suppose the old adage ‘finders keepers’ fits the situation quite nicely, don’t you think?”

Lunaria's voice took on a disapproving tone. “Are you seriously going to use that nonsense to justify your action?”

“Lunaria, get off my back, will ya? I’m trying to get us rich here.”

She sighed. “Well, not that it matters anyway, considering the owner of this store should have passed away long ago.”

“Then, what are we waiting for? Let’s do a heist!” I hoisted my source weapon that had long turned into a battleax.

To be completely honest, there wasn’t a particular reason to rob a jewelry store except to kill time… Well, the jewelry here was definitely included as shiny objects, and who would want this for a high price except for that little furry guy?

I broke the locked glass door with my weapon and vaulted inside. Normally, this would be when an alarm would sound, and the police would come to apprehend me. However, no one would care about such a place in this day and age except for some passing scavengers, which I hadn’t seen yet. Probably the reason that no scavenger had gone to this place was because the road was littered with mutated monsters. This was definitely one of the perks of living in a post-apocalyptic world while possessing sufficient power.

Disregarding any locked glass-encased shelves, I meticulously shattered the barriers of the remaining ones, carefully selecting and collecting an array of exquisite jewelry, such as necklaces, bracelets, earrings, watches, pendants, brooches, and what have you. Among these treasures, one could find glistening diamonds, lustrous pearls, captivating emeralds, radiant sapphires, enchanting rubies, and an array of other precious and semi-precious stones, including some catalyst stones of all basic elements.

Alas, there were only so many that could fit inside my backpack. Even though some gemstones and pearls had deteriorated throughout the decades, the quantity was still too much for me to carry… Such a waste.

“If only there were a miraculous bag capable of compacting large objects into a small space…” I wouldn’t even have to worry about storing all these things. Heck, even the carcasses of those crustacrawlers lying on the street wouldn’t need to be left behind.

“It’s not that it’s implausible to create such a magic item. Just that you’ll require an extremely rare Cosmic catalyst stone and materials…” There was pity in the tone of Lunaria’s voice as the drone buried itself in the pile of jewelry inside my backpack.

“Ooh! Really?”

“Yup… I can’t make it with my current power though.”

“You can’t now doesn’t mean that you can’t later. I’ll keep your words for now.” I snapped my fingers in anticipation.

Like a bolt from the blue, a faint pushing force appeared out of nowhere, causing the source energy inside my body to tremble. Tracing it through my heightened sense, the origin of this came from the building where Tuilë was — nothing needed to be said about what was going on here.

In haste, I rushed inside the building and straight to the top floor, but then halted and restrained any unnecessary noise, aware of the gravity of the situation. There, Tuilë sat with her braided snowy hair being swept into the air by an unseen force, even her usually weighty tail was not exempt from its effects.

I might have seen a similar scene once when Spitzek was breaking through. But seeing it up close? This would be the first time.

“Do you know that as you progress in Tier as both an enhancer and evoker, the longer your lifespan is,” explained Lunaria.

I contemplated for a moment and remembered hearing a similar notion in the past. “Yes, I believe Spitzek mentioned along those lines.”

“Mm. For Tuilë, if we equalize the natural lifespan of her race to that of a human, it would be effortless for her to live for at least 120 years without any modifications to her body.”

“O-Oh, I see…” Modifications? Are you suggesting turning her into a cyborg or something?

It was too far-fetched of an idea in this other world that was both fantasy and sci-fi to have developed such technology. Maybe what she meant was something entirely different altogether, but I didn’t bother to delve into the topic right now.

As we made our conversation, the intangible force around Tuilë calmed down and returned to its tranquil state as it had never been there in the first place as all the source crystals on the ground disintegrated into dust. And soon enough, she opened her eyes.

Strange. Something felt different. The atmosphere around Tuilë was on another level entirely than before, like I was facing a ferocious beast.

“Maxim? Guess what?! I totally did it! I become a Tier-3 enhancer! Can you believe it?!” She raised her arms triumphantly; a wide grin spreading across her face and almost split it in half.

Now that she mentioned it…

Tuilë

[…]

Source Level: Tier-3 enhancer | Tier-1 evoker
Source Element(s): Electro | Pyro
Vocation(s): [Mechanical Prodigy]

Stats:

• STR: C- (58 → 63)
• AGI: C- (61 → 65)
• VIT: D+ (55 → 60)
• SRC: E (33 → 35)
• SPR: D+ (59 → 60)

Accumulation Points: 46 → 71 [D+]

“Congrats!” I clapped my hands and gave her a thumbs-up. “So, what can a Tier-3 enhancer do that Tier-2 cannot?”

“Do you just wanna know or really wanna know, hmm-hmm?” She teased.

“On a high horse, are you? Just spare the jokes, I really want to see it.”

“Well, watch this.” She strode toward the nearby wall — her determined gaze fixed on her target — and threw a powerful punch.

With a bang, the wall collapsed into debris that cascaded onto the road below, some even colliding with the streetlights and adding to the spectacle.

“…” I could feel my jaw dropped in awe, my eyes widening at the incredible display of strength. In the past, it took her a lot of effort to break a steel door even while utilizing her source element.

“And that’s not all!” Suddenly, arcs of lightning erupted from every inch of her body, crackling and enveloping her in a radiant electric aura. In a matter of moments, the lightning coalesced into full-body armor that encased her form.

“Holy smoke!”