Durgan blinked when he realized what had happened, looking closer to him. He just thought the boss was tired, but this...

"What…" he paused. Did he really upgrade already? Well, when he was watching earlier, he knew there was something happening, but his upgrade looked a bit different from what he had seen.

It was more…quiet, internal. More… solid.

Finn was unaware of the thoughts running in Durgan's head. He just went straight to look at his stats.

[Status]

Name: Finnick Altheus Solthar

Race: Human

Class: Innkeeper, Chef

Level: Awakened Tier 3

Awakening Type: Physical

Affinity: Fire, Earth, Wind

…

VITALS

HP: 261/500

Mana: 320/500

Stamina: 210/500

Wallet: 501Gold

Hearth Points: 1869 Points

…

Skills:

Active: [Ingredient Scan] [Dish Analysis][Heated Arc] [Farming] [Assessment] [Feather Step] [Sticky Soil]

Passive: [Blade Proficiency - Growth Type (Lv 2)] [Monster Instinct]

[Strong Stomach] [Improved Palate] [Foraging] [Fire Resistance]

Condition: Normal]

Obviously, every upgrade, even if it was just a tier upgrade, stamina and HP would get consumed. Fortunately, he had such a good place to upgrade. It was really relaxing. He was one with nature and the source of the essence cores, while not worrying about his safety at the same time.

Hey, maybe he could someday market this place as a 'place to upgrade' to those at the peak of their tier.

His business mind was already thinking of set packages when he heard steps coming toward him.

Tumble sensed gossip in the area and immediately ran to them. "Whoa! Upgraded already! Boss is awesome! Wow! Wow!"

Pang nodded. "Impressive. Hard to believe you just upgraded to Tier 2 a few weeks ago."

Durgan gaped. "A few weeks ago? Impossible—"

Staying in the Awakened Rank usually lasted years!

"Well, upgrading to Toughened would definitely require much more."

Finn didn't seem to think too much about it. "Technically speaking, I'm just catching up to the level of people my age," Finn said. "Aren't people my age around this level?"

"Ah, that's true…" Durgan mumbled, though inside he was still shocked. It wasn't polite to appear like that for long when the person involved was nonchalant, so Durgan quickly moved on.

And it was indeed true that changing ranks required much, much more. The difference was vast because cores were formed and solidifying while gathering energy at this stage.

As for gaining new skills, he didn't rush into it. For one, he had yet to try out the ones he had already received. He needed time to absorb them first.

The next days would be as usual, with some staff in charge of beautification of the inn, while Finn was focused on training and food/recipe development.

There were the occasional toughened monsters, which appeared every two days or so, which was odd, but Finn had no plans to investigate. Durgan and they just said that toughened would often venture farther from the portal, either because of some disturbance there, or while running after targets or sensing huge caravans.

In the latter sense, it wasn't entirely a bad thing because…customers!

The monsters always came in small groups, too. Fortunately, he had Durgan and Katnia to help him out; otherwise, the barrier's defenses would have lost a hundred or so points by now.

Speaking of Durgan and Katnia, they really were quite impressive. Durgan was already at the peak of the toughened level, so it was obvious what it was. Katnia, on the other hand, was already at the toughened level at the young age of 20, which was a few years ahead of her peers. Not to mention, because she had beastkin blood, she was physically quite stronger than humans.

For example, she could take down a toughened monster on her own and without equipment. She did not use weapons either, her claws, hands, and feet were enough. It seemed like they already had some penetrating properties that human weapons had.

The petite catwoman avoided its attacks skillfully, kicking its jaw with her shin, and then clawing it down with strength that actually imbalanced the monster as big as a bear.

While Durgan dealt with the other two Toughened monsters with his short sword, and the barrier, weakening them with every strike, Katnia was jumping around and using the terrain and trees so the monster couldn't follow her movements and could only accept her barrage of attacks.

The only challenge was that the monsters' skins were really tough, and she could not penetrate areas that were not weak spots. Katnia was a talent, though, and she soon determined its vulnerabilities by trial and error and pure instinct.

This was the eye, under the chin, and the underbelly. After several minutes of pummeling the monster, it finally lost strength and fell to the side.

Finn watched as she literally punched into the carcass' heart, rummaged in it, and grabbed the blood-covered core.

His eyes twitched, a bit terrified, but he was thankful she was an ally who was obviously fond of him.

"Finn! Finn!" she yelled, running to him, and the next thing he knew, she already embraced him. Then she handed the bloody core in his hand.

"..."

"For you! Are you happy?!"

"A-Ah…" he cleared his throat, awkwardly patting her head. "By the way, what are you planning to do now?"

Wasn't she in a hurry before to find her brethren? Of course, it seemed like she calmed a bit after hearing the poison wasn't deadly, but shouldn't she still be looking for them?

Then again, what could she do out there on her own?

That said, even if they wanted to help her, they had no clue where to go either, so it was too risky going out blind.

"They will be fine," she said, confidently. "You told me I am fine, then they are too."

Well, they did have stronger physiques. Perhaps that "faux" poison was only legitimately dangerous if a human ingested it. Who knows.

Anyway, the cat was definitely not in a hurry to find her friends and family. On the contrary—

"I want to stay with Finn…" she said, burying her face on his chest.

Finn sighed, feeling awkward at the unwanted attention. At the same time, the dripping blood from her claws made him want to be careful about what he said next.

What should he do now?

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