My strength is 2 to the power of my level

The excited Mordred Blackwood was completely oblivious to the flickering flames burning with increasing intensity in the eye sockets of the "mutant" skeleton before him.

The closer Ares got to Mordred Blackwood, the stronger his murderous intent became. Ares's consciousness waged a fierce battle against the mysterious force holding him back.

Unfortunately, Ares lost the struggle. Again.

But he could definitely feel that after his bone sword's upgrade, the mysterious force's grip had loosened, just a tad.

"Could it be… the stronger I get, the weaker its hold becomes? Maybe soon, I'll break free…" Ares couldn't speak, but his thoughts raced, forming a plan.

He forced himself to suppress his murderous urges towards Mordred Blackwood, focusing his attention on the crocodiles ahead.

Once the suppressing force subsided, Ares, propelled by Mordred's necromantic staff, shuffled towards the nearest crocodile.

A level 5 skeleton soloing a level 7 crocodile? Normally, a laughable notion.

But Ares had infinite HP. He couldn't die!

Coupled with his 11 attack points, the 70 HP crocodile didn't stand a chance, quickly becoming another corpse.

Mordred Blackwood's eyes practically bugged out.

"Sweet! Such attack power! This one's a keeper!"

"I gotta nurture this one! Make it my ultimate weapon!"

Mordred Blackwood excitedly waved his staff, directing the other skeletons away, so they wouldn't steal Ares's precious experience points.

That's right, his summoned skeletons could level up.

Every time a monster was killed, he received the experience, and his skeletons got a tenth of that, split between them.

The more skeletons attacking, the thinner the experience spread, the slower the growth.

But if one skeleton hogged all the experience… well, that's a different story.

So, Mordred Blackwood, ignoring whether Ares could actually withstand the crocodile attacks, sent the other skeletons off to swarm different crocodiles.

Ares heard the notification. Killing the crocodile netted him 0.7 experience and 1 Evolution Point.

Before he could check his panel, he felt compelled by Mordred, who used his staff to make him attack another crocodile.

He'd planned to let the other skeletons tank the damage while he snagged the last hits, hiding his infinite HP.

But his power-up had made him the center of Mordred Blackwood's attention, turning him into the tank.

"No biggie. He can only see the summon's duration and basic stats, not the special stuff. He'll just think I'm tougher, not that I have infinite HP."

Ares shrugged mentally and continued the slaughter.

After each wave of kills, Mordred Blackwood would retreat with the skeletons, taking them out of combat.

Out of combat, the Necromancer had a special ability to rapidly heal his skeletons, topping them off in seconds.

It was so fast that Mordred Blackwood never noticed Ares didn't need healing.

This gave Ares an opportunity.

After killing six crocodiles and gaining 6 Evolution Points, Ares used the brief respite to upgrade his bone sword.

[Ding!]

[Level 2 Bone Sword successfully evolved!]

[Acquired Level 3 Bone Sword *1, equipped!]

[Attack +10, Current Attack: 21]

A golden light flashed across Ares's bone sword, adding another intricate rune to its surface.

At the same time, golden light shimmered around the other skeletons.

They leveled up.

All to level 6.

They'd evolved from [Undead Skeletons] to [Undead Skeleton Soldiers].

Not much change visually, just slightly longer bone swords and 1 extra attack point each.

Mordred Blackwood let out a satisfied cackle and excitedly opened Ares's panel.

"Let's see… what are your stats now, my mutant slave?… Huh? You didn't level up? Why hasn't your experience bar moved?"

Mordred Blackwood's smile froze. He opened and closed the panel repeatedly, in disbelief.

But the experience bar remained stubbornly static.

Ares, also watching his own experience bar.

This was the price of the [Infinite Evolution] talent. He got 0.7 experience per kill, but only 0.007 actually counted towards leveling.

Level 6 required 60 experience points. The other skeletons needed to kill 86 level 7 crocodiles. He needed 8,572!

The 99.99% reduction was brutal.

Mordred Blackwood stared at Ares's experience bar, his expression darkening.

But then, his gaze fell on Ares's attack stat. His brow furrowed, then relaxed.

"Oh? No level up, but that attack power! More than three times the others!"

"Maybe that's the trade-off for the mutation? Possible."

"Now, can he attack on his own?..."

Mordred Blackwood was finally satisfied.

Ares was satisfied too.

His theory was confirmed. The stronger he got, the weaker the mysterious force became.

Just now, during his resistance, he'd managed to lift his right arm… two whole inches!

Small progress, but a huge morale boost.

Ares stopped resisting Mordred Blackwood's commands, even actively seeking out monsters to kill.

Mordred Blackwood wanted him to do it anyway.

Ares slaughtered crocodiles, constantly testing his limits. As long as he didn't harbor murderous intent towards the Necromancer and stayed within his control range, his autonomy remained unaffected.

He went to town.

Four sword strikes to kill a crocodile, four more for another Evolution Point!

Go, go, go!

For freedom!

Ares's excitement grew with each kill. Before he knew it, he'd single-handedly wiped out over half the crocodiles in the area.

Another 32 Evolution Points acquired.

His level 3 bone sword needed 100 Evolution Points for the next upgrade.

Once the bone sword reached level 5, he could unlock the next body part for evolution.

This meant more monsters, more Evolution Points.

So, without waiting for Mordred Blackwood to move, Ares charged towards the nearest level 8 monster – a Bone-Eroding Scorpion!

[Bone-Eroding Scorpion: Level 8]

[HP: 80]

[Attack: 10-40, with poison effect, -5 HP per second for 3 seconds]

[Attack Interval: 3 seconds]

Mordred Blackwood checked the scorpion's stats and paled.

This mutant skeleton is extremely rare. If it were killed by the scorpion, it would be a huge loss, as he could only summon a regular level 5 skeleton again.

"Damn it! Autonomous attacking isn't always a good thing!"

Seeing Ares get stung, Mordred Blackwood bolted in the opposite direction.

This was a game mechanic. If he moved far enough away, his summoned skeletons would abandon their current target and automatically follow him.