After killing the first cocoon, Levi didn't stop—he continued killing one after the other. However, as his hunt progressed, he encountered several problems.

Firstly, his weapon—a crude spear made from a wooden stick—couldn't withstand the power of the essence he was imbuing it with. After just two uses, the stick would snap or break, forcing Levi to search for another. This constant need for replacement slowed him down and added frustration to the already taxing task.

Secondly, his essence was meager. Levi hadn't yet formed a core, which meant the amount of essence he could store in his soul sea was very limited. Whenever he used all of it to cover the stick and attack, he had to rest for thirty minutes to recover what he had lost.

Although Levi tried to limit his essence usage, the power of the throw wouldn't be enough to pierce through the cocoon if he didn't use all of it on the stick. This forced him into a cycle of brief bursts of activity followed by long periods of rest.

Thirdly, the process of using his essence to coat the weapon and kill the cocoon was exhausting, making him hungrier by the minute. The silver lining was that the bird meat, though undeveloped and barely substantial, provided enough nutrients to sustain him.

And that's what he was doing right now.

In one corner of the strange landscape, where he had killed almost all the cocoons, Levi now sat in front of a makeshift campfire. Gathering dried wood in this desolate land wasn't hard, but making fire had taken a bit of time. Nevertheless, he now had a way to roast the bird meat.

Though the birds were underdeveloped and had little meat, Levi managed to make do because there were so many of them. As he sat in front of the fire, looking up at the red sky that didn't seem to change, he let out an exhausted sigh.

"How can my luck be this shitty?" Levi complained, glancing at the twenty or so cocoons that lay at his side. He had been hunting the cocoons for more than ten hours now, slowly becoming more proficient at it.

Using essence, which had initially seemed like a Herculean task, was starting to feel just a bit more manageable. But what worried Levi the most was the absence of even a single artifact after killing nearly twenty cocoons.

He had known his luck wasn't great; after all, even after killing hundreds of larvae on the first floor, the only artifact he had received was the Essence of Lunacy, which was consumable. But Levi was somewhat relieved—Essence of Lunacy had helped him a great deal. Without it, he wouldn't have learned Lunacy, defeated the Lunacy Incarnate, or controlled essence as he had.

Although the drop rate of artifacts seemed very low, as long as he could get another artifact as useful as the Essence of Lunacy, Levi was satisfied. But that didn't stop him from complaining. The sheer grind of the task and the lack of immediate rewards weighed heavily on his spirit, leaving him to wonder just how long his perseverance would hold out in this desolate place.

"It would have been great if Ian was with me," Levi muttered to himself, the thought of his old friend bringing a pang of nostalgia to his weary heart.

Ian was the friend he had made in the slums. Like Levi, Ian had no one to rely on, but his situation had been a bit different. While Levi's parents had died, leaving him an orphan, Ian had been abandoned in the slums with his younger sister. The poor boy didn't even remember his parents' faces, and even if he did, Ian had no desire to go back to the people who had forsaken him.

Ian would have entered Paradise with Levi if it weren't for his sister. Though his parents had abandoned them, Ian was unwilling to abandon her, even if it meant giving up on his dreams.

"Dreams are a funny thing," Ian used to say. "People like us can't afford them, Levi. Surviving is the only thing we can dare to dream."

Remembering those words left Levi feeling bitter. He had made a contract with the Demon King, become a follower, and even joined the Mercenary Federation—but what had really changed? He was still struggling to survive, just like before.

A defeated smile appeared on Levi's face as he recalled Ian's parting words when he told him he would go to Paradise.

"You go on. I'll pray to the gods that you become a follower—don't forget us then."

There hadn't been a trace of jealousy in Ian's words, it was as if he had accepted his fate of living in the slums. And somehow, that made Levi angry. They were both in similar situations, but they had chosen different paths, driven by different values.

"Once I get out of here, I'll bring them to live with me," Levi resolved.

There was a simple reason why he hadn't gone back to them after making the contract—what would it change? He didn't have money, he didn't have power, and more than that, he was a demonic follower. What if he was discovered and the siblings got dragged down with him? He wasn't ready to take those risks, at least not then.

But once he got out of here, Levi would make sure Ian and his sister were safe and by his side.

"Wait for me, Ian," Levi thought, his gaze landing on his status.

[Demonic Essence: 93/200]

Absorbing 20 demonic crystals had brought him close to halfway in filling his dormant core. With more than a hundred cocoons still hanging around, Levi was confident that fully filling his core wouldn't be a problem.

He still had a long way to go, but with each step, he was one step closer to evolving—and that thought kept him sane in this strange place.

---***---

Bonus Chapter for 50 Powerstones!

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