Jake finished wiping the last of the sticky mucus from his boots and finally straightened up.
A faint, satisfied smile slowly spread across his face as he looked out at the dark waters where the sea beast's corpse was already beginning to sink.
That single strike…
The feeling of the red-thunderous aura exploding through his sword, the way the world had slowed down.
The clean, overwhelming cut that severed the monster's neck in one motion... it all lingered vividly in his mind.
And in that moment, he finally understood.
...He now understood why the price for upgrading a skill was so ridiculous.
Now, after experiencing the difference with his own body, it made perfect sense.
Even a single level of growth in a high-grade skill wasn't just a small improvement.
It was a qualitative change.
The density of the aura, the sharpness of the slash, the way his body moved with instinctive precision... all of it had jumped to another level.
