Granting his spells to Ocean zeroed out Alexander's growth points, besides costing him the spells. But this was an investment he was more than willing to make, since Ocean was worth much more to him than those things.

  With Ocean safely reaching her 1st evolution, Alexander took a break so they could eat a bit and drink water before continuing on their way.

  During their advance, they encountered other 1st evolution creatures, but Alexander no longer needed to confront all of them head-on, as Ocean became able to fight against some of them.

  Since they ambushed as many creatures as possible as they advanced, Alexander's skill |Run| and Ocean's skills |Ambush|, |Bite|, and |Claw Attack| leveled up, which made them stronger, but didn't change their descriptions much.

  When night began to fall, Alexander didn't need to try hard to find a place to spend the night. This part of the forest was full of small caves and grottoes.

  "What exactly is this forest?" Alexander asked himself while inspecting a cave. "Its terrain shows very great variation."

  Taking advantage that he had some free time before going to bed, Alexander used |Disassemble| on some creatures they had hunted, which made Ocean particularly happy, as she preferred fresh/raw meat.

  Alexander could feel this, but still continued to feed her more dried, or roasted, meat than raw. The reason was simple: it wouldn't look good to keep giving pieces of raw meat in the middle of a city, and she needed to eat.

  The following days weren't very different for them. The only difference was that the further they advanced, the weaker the creatures became.

  Excited by this discovery, Alexander advanced with even more momentum and fought with even more ferocity.

  During his advance, he noticed that although he couldn't see some of the skills Ocean gained during her evolution, she still possessed them.

  In the middle of one of the fights, when Alexander was about to cast a spell, Ocean went ahead and fired a jet of water from her mouth that looked very much like the spell |Water Jet|.

  Her attack was stronger than a |Water Jet (Advanced)| from Alexander, comparing to |Water Jet (Peak)|. If it weren't for the bonuses he gained when his class leveled up, these attacks could even match in destructive power, which in itself says a lot about the difference between a spell and a special skill, because Alexander's (Intelligence) attribute, which directly influences magical attacks, was much higher.

  The duo continued hunting 1st evolution creatures for a week, until, on a given night, Alexander began to assess their gains. "I finally reached level 17."

  "The amount of XP needed to continue leveling up is increasing a lot," thought Alexander. "Just look at Ocean. She gained 4 levels after her evolution, while I only leveled up 2 times because I already had a lot of pre-accumulated XP."

  Ding!

  [You leveled up. But due to the interference of the special skill |Attribute Control|, all your attribute increases upon leveling up were denied and converted into free attribute points.]

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  *[+30 free attribute points]*

  *[+1 growth point]*

  [You leveled up…]

  Ding!

  [Your familiar (Ocean) leveled up.]

  [Your familiar (Ocean) leveled up.]

  [Your familiar (Ocean) leveled up.]

  [Your familiar (Ocean) leveled up.]

  The next morning, the duo was ready to start all over again, but they couldn't find any more 1st evolution creatures.

  With not much to do, Alexander began using |Disassemble| on some small 1st evolution creatures, like the {Unicorn Rabbit}, while Ocean gently carried him and received occasional pieces of fresh meat.

  The day was so monotonous that, aside from the breaks for Ocean to rest, he didn't even see it pass. It was as if everything was the same all the time in the vastness of that forest.

  When the sun set, Alexander was still disassembling a last creature and, because of that, decided to continue advancing a bit more.

  Ocean didn't mind continuing, because the more he worked, the more meat she would get. What Alexander didn't expect was for her to stop mid-way and raise her head.

  Surprised by this, he focused on feeling what she was feeling and was perplexed.

  "Show me, girl," Alexander requested, while storing the creature he was disassembling and holding on firmly to Ocean, who began to run.

  Some time after they started moving, he began to hear the sound she was hearing.

  Alexander immediately asked Ocean to stop; used |Invigorate| to clean them as best as possible; returned to his human form; took his [Sturdy Iron Dagger] and the [Wooden Staff from the Mana Tree]; changed his rags for the clothes from the [Survivor's Set]; and activated his skill |Magical Body Strengthening|.

  Ocean didn't seem to mind or fear his change. She just began to circle him as if curious about how he did it.

  Being ready, Alexander began to lead the way as carefully as possible, because he recognized the sound. The sound she heard and didn't recognize was the clashing of metal against metal.

  Proceeding carefully, they finally arrived at a more open area, where a stone road passed through. The problem was that wasn't all, Ocean also began to smell blood coming from the left side of the road.

  Alexander thought for a bit and decided to check the situation from afar. But when he was about to leave, the cold night wind shook the branches of a tree at the roadside and the moonlight revealed a chest, which glowed as it reflected its light.

  Upon approaching the wooden chest, he noticed it had some broken parts, possibly due to a fall, and that luck smiled upon him, as the chest was full of gold, silver, shiny stones, books, and some metals he had never seen before.

  Faced with such luck, Alexander quickly checked his surroundings to confirm no one was watching, except Ocean, and placed the chest in his ring.

  As soon as the chest disappeared, Alexander became calmer. But his tranquility didn't last, because it wasn't long before he heard a male voice shouting in the distance.

  "Seize the women! Take the goods! And kill the others!"

  Upon hearing this, Alexander soon sighed exasperatedly for understanding what was happening. Some group was trying to rob another group.

  "We were going back. I don't want to get involved in this," he said to Ocean, who followed him into the forest. "Not to mention I'll be the prime suspect for the chest's disappearance in the eyes of the group that wins."

  As soon as they left the road and climbed a small elevation, which gave them a bit of cover, Alexander stopped moving away, as a line of thought took over his mind: "I can always come back later and follow this road to a city or village. But how would I get in and socialize?"

  "I don't have credentials, references, or even any information about this place… In the worst case, I might even be treated as a bandit."

  "Maybe helping the group being attacked isn't a bad idea… At the very least I should get a direction and some information."

  Changing his mind, Alexander followed the clashing of metal against metal. But always staying on the sidelines, to see what was happening before actually interfering in the conflict.

  Upon finding a good observation point, he began to see and appraise the whole situation calmly. And just as he thought, it was a merchant caravan being attacked by bandits.

  Observing the situation, Alexander realized the thieves would probably win, as they had an archer hidden in the blind spot of the group defending the carriage. But he also concluded it wasn't a lost cause, because the defending group wasn't yet at a great numerical disadvantage and seemed quite determined to survive.