Glancing at the single drop of essence hovering above her palm, Liora flicked it with her fingers, flinging it right into her mouth.

At the same time, she began using the Nightreaver Knight Technique, dividing the essence into two streams of energy. Half of it poured into her body, and the other half into her Life Force.

When the streams of energy were fully absorbed and nothing of them remained, Liora noticed that her strength had improved, albeit negligibly.

'Although this beast is many times more powerful than the Knight Apprentice Twilight Wolves I previously swallowed, the improvement it brought is minuscule in comparison.'

'Part of this is because my strength has improved since then, but the most significant reason is that the peacock's essence is simply not as useful as that of a Twilight Wolf.'

Liora couldn't help but click her tongue. Twilight Wolves truly deserved to go extinct.

It was as if their race had been cursed by the Gods, becoming supreme elixirs for the Knights of this world.

If Knights didn't target such a weak but valuable race, who else would they hunt down?

Shaking her head, Liora pushed those thoughts aside. She shifted her focus back to herself.

Taking a look at her Life Force, which had by now become solid and was coursing throughout her body, she subconsciously recalled the information that she had read.

'The practice of Knights is the continuous transformation of one's Life Force. From mist, to liquid, and finally to turning solid.'

'For a Knight to advance further and become a Great Knight, they have to transform their Life Force into a seed.'

The method to do this was quite straightforward.

All a Knight had to do was gather their freely flowing Life Force into their abdomen and "press" it together.

'This can be accomplished through hard work, but it can also be achieved utilizing external forces.', Liora pondered as her gaze fell onto her abdomen.

There, about five percent of her total Life Force had appeared, merging together as if it were about to transform.

'Judging by my current progress, I only need to devour about twenty True Knight-equivalent beasts. Thankfully, the Ancient Beast Wilderness seems to be filled with these things.'

Thinking of this, and considering that her battle with the peacock might have alarmed other beasts, Liora didn't choose to stay here.

After waving her hand and eliminating the evidence of her having ever been here, she swiftly left this place.

Her goal was clear. To continue searching for the stronghold, while at the same time, using this time as an opportunity to slay a few more beasts.

She believed that it would not take her long to achieve either of these.

--

Unfortunately for Liora, she soon realized that she had been gravely mistaken.

She initially believed that it would only be a matter of time to find the hiding place of the Necronomicon Sect since she had narrowed down the scope of her search.

Yet, she was proven wrong.

Despite searching for more than half a day, using her consciousness all the time to investigate the area around her, she failed to discover any traces of humans, much less the stronghold itself.

Even worse, since her encounter with the peacock, Liora had yet to sense the traces of any other beast.

Therefore, it seemed as if she was wasting her time.

Though Liora knew that one should always be patient and half a day was a pretty short amount of time, she simply could not afford to keep wasting her time like this.

She had not forgotten that the Necronomicon Sect was targeting the Bloodshield Baronry, and the Holy Church the Black Tulip Earldom.

If either of these parties chose to strike while she was missing, there would be no one there to stop them.

With that in mind, Liora no longer hesitated.

'I was planning to save my Evolution Points for later. Now, it seems that I can no longer wait.', she realized.

Then, with a move of her mind, she summoned the long-lost System.

...

[True Name: Liora Veythalis Dranthera Vexira...]

[Rank: Lesser Devil (Sealed) | True Knight]

[Race: Unknown Bloodline]

[Strength: 59 (135)], [Agility: 59 (140)], [Vitality: 59 (150)], [Mana: 59 (145)]

[Abilities: Myriad Devils Body (Partially Unsealed), Shadow Manipulation (Partially Sealed), Void Whisper(Partially Unsealed), Spear of the Blighted Sun(Partially Unsealed), Silent Domain(Sealed), ...]

[Evolution Points: 4520]

[Current Absorption Efficiency: 25x (Normal Devil = 1x)]

...

Glancing at her information—which had changed a lot since she last saw it—Liora's gaze alternated between two columns: Evolution Points and Base Stats.

'If I were in the Demon World, raising each of my base stats to 60 would only cost sixty Evolution Points. But in this world, it's going to cost 600.'

'In total, 2400 Evolution Points are needed to bring all of my Base Stats to sixty...'

This was exactly the reason why Liora had refrained from doing so.

In her opinion, each Evolution Point was extremely valuable. Rather than consuming them to enhance her base stats, it would be better to keep them until she saved enough to create a new ability.

After all, a new ability would be helpful even after her return to the Demon World rather than only in this world.

Unfortunately, sometimes, there were things that went beyond one's control.

No matter how clever one was and how much they analyzed a situation, they were bound to make errors.

A gap in their knowledge, a leap of logic in their thinking process, or even external elements influencing their plans...

Thus, though disappointed that her savings were about to go to "waste", Liora remained calm.

With a move of her mind, she clicked on the (+) buttons behind each of her Base Stats.

Instantly, the panel flickered.

Her Evolution Points decreased at an alarming pace, while her Base Stats turned from 59 to 60.

However, Liora paid no heed to this.

The moment she confirmed her decision, four streams of energy materialized within her body, enhancing her Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Mana, respectively.

The streams were small and were consumed in a blink of an eye, but their mere arrival seemed to have shattered the shackles limiting Liora.

Continuous popping sounds echoed as her muscles flexed and her blood raged, while her aura grew stronger at an astonishing rate.

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