From Aiwass's perspective, tiny white light dots gradually emerged from the corpse and flowed into his own body.
[Killing a second energy level Transcendent, gained 14 free experience]
Aiwass showed a delightful smile, relishing the moment.
"Let me steal a kill, thank you."
Although direct experience from killing monsters in "Ring of Ouroboros" was rather insignificant, leveling up mainly depended on quests, crafts, buying and reading books, and the daily dungeon's reward experience... but every little bit adds up.
Not to mention, his level was low. The benefits of consuming free experience to level up were still pretty substantial.
These 14 points of free experience, along with the 24 points provided by the counter-kill of the Demon Scholar before, if distributed evenly over the Demon Scholar's three skills, would almost suffice for a four-level increase.
He could also allocate some experience to his Priest profession, reaching second level to access a Path. Then he could give three levels to the Demon Scholar – this was the plan that would yield the greatest short-term benefits.
Alternatively, he could hold off a bit, learn other skills from the Path of Devotion such as "Rite of Fire," "Illumination Art," and "Blessing" – these were more useful than "Prayer" and harder to level up – and then spend the experience points. These points could at least bring the Priest class directly up to level five. This was the most cost-effective promotion method in the long term.
After all, "Demonology Knowledge" could be steadily improved simply by reading mystical demonology books; "Basic Prayer" guaranteed steady progress as long as you prayed twice a day, three minutes each time; and "Demonic Pact" would even passively grant him slow strength replenishment from the Shadow Demon.
Only "Basic Ritual" was a bit of a hassle, mainly because of the "basic" in its name.
It was too low-ranked. The rituals Aiwass used to create "Blade of Shadows" were too high-leveled and it didn't even gain experience. Aiwass truly couldn't remember such low-leveled rituals – the ones worth memorizing were either frequently used by him or were formulas that could be sold for a high price.
From this perspective, the Demon Scholar could level up without any effort. However, improving the Priest profession would be much more difficult and could only progress slowly.
If he could quickly promote the Priest to the second order, he could prove that he was "a person willing to devote."
Otherwise, how could he have progressed so smoothly on the Path of Devotion?
"Do you have a higher level in the Path of Devotion than I do? If not, how can you say I'm not a good person?"
That would be an unbeatable card for survival! He could also naturally become a key student and gain access to the Theological Seminary's resources... That way, he wouldn't be seen as "the bad student who took a three-month leave at the start of term," but rather as a "frail yet devout and talented genius."
But then, these 38 experience points seemed a bit insufficient...
Aiwass's mind raced, and in a flash, he pondered new schemes.
Hayna stared at the corpse, somewhat dazed. Clearly, she wasn't as composed about killing someone as she claimed to be.
Before she could react and question why Aiwass suddenly decided to kill the man,
Aiwass accused before being accused, asking first, "Why didn't you just behead him? He wouldn't have been able to stop you."
Hayna's mind glitched for a moment, then she explained softly, "Because he was much weaker than me. I saw that he had already lost the ability to resist, so I thought maybe we could capture him alive..."
Indeed, her combat instincts were quite precise.
Aiwass quietly agreed with Hayna's reasoning.
If things had ended there, they could have just taken the captive Evil Bartender and closed the case.
But Aiwass couldn't really let the Supervisory Bureau interrogate him—what if he gave Aiwass away?
Although the Moriarty Family had some influence, if there was definite evidence, Aiwass, the adopted son, wasn't sure he wouldn't be convicted.
So, Aiwass shifted the topic and sternly said, "Did you notice? When he saw you display the Path, his first reaction was to resist, even to attack you.
"What does this represent? It means that he had no intention at all of confessing and submitting to the law!"
—Ridiculous, a desperate villain with blood on his hands and a lethal weapon, who would face the death penalty if caught, how could he just surrender when he suddenly encountered a cop all alone? Even if he didn't counter-attack, at the very least, he would try to escape.
Aiwass mused internally.
But his face showed no signs of doubt.
He continued, emphasizing each word, "If from the beginning you could tell, even without lifting a finger, that he was far weaker than you, then wouldn't he know it too? Knowing this, yet he still actively resonated the Path and attacked you—what does this indicate?"
It indicates that he knew he couldn't outrun you and in his desperation, he had to fight for his life.
Aiwass thought to himself.
"...What does it indicate?"
Hayna was somewhat hesitant.
Her mind felt blank—if it was on an exam paper, she believed she could come up with a perfect answer after serious thought. But now, the fresh corpse was giving off the scent of blood, and she felt her heart was in disorder.
"Think about it," Aiwass suddenly changed his tone, "At first he said that the food here was expensive, trying to dissuade us. This shows that he didn't want to confront the Supervisory Bureau directly..."
"But later on, I just asked you to draw your sword, without even attacking—and under these circumstances, he dared to attack you instead of running away or lying. Why did he dare do that?"