Chapter 7 First Battle 2
POV Blaze
Location: Marcoon City, Dark-shaded Forest Hunting Grounds, 1:25 PM
There was no reason not to hunt more goblins; I was underlevel and had low stats. I may not get random stats, but I'd get at least one free stat point per kill, so why not hunt like crazy, right? That feeling as if I was doing something wrong wouldn't leave me, but I pushed forward regardless.
I continued to use the stealth of the forest to take down more groups of goblins, stocking up their bodies and hearts for now as I killed over 4 groups of three goblins, all LV 4. Finding a safe spot, I took the hearts out, eating them all as my body shook like crazy from the overwhelming bloodlust filling me as I struggled to get it all under control, panting out roughly as I brought out the bodies, eating away as it helped me calm down just enough to shake it off.
"F-Fuck, that was way too much... I need to hurry up and finish this quest before the bloodlust drives me mad," I said, panting out as I brought up my system, as I managed to hit level 2 from all the hunting as I had multiple pop-ups.
~User has hit Level 2, gained 3 stat points, 2 skill points, as well as the skill [Digestion LV:1(F-)]~
~[Digestion LV:1(F-)] allows the user to eat hearts to gain random stats in tottal of the hearts level...it Has a higher gain then [Devour]; however, it's random and can lead to rasing stats not needed to the user cannot be used If hearts have already been made into free stat points via [Devour] amd vice versa so choose wisely
So I also have a new skill, so basically every heart I get from the quest will be [Digestion] working and not [Devour], it seems. ok lets put all these points away and move on. thank god level up full restores your HP and MP.
HP:1000/1000>1200/1200
MP:90/90>130/130
Str:8>13 Int:9>14
Agi:12>17 Con:10>12 Stat points:17>0
Skill points:3>5
_Status_
Blaze Nights
Lv:2
Race: lower werewolf
Bloodline:-----
Exp:355/500
Gold:300
_Stats_
HP:1200/1200
MP:130/130
Str:13|Int:14(+2)
Agi:17(+4)|Con:12
Luck:19
Stat points:0
Skill points:5
I saw quite a few more groups of goblins as I approached the lake. I avoided them for now because I wanted to finish this quest as soon as possible, and it would be a waste of my time since I needed to join a guild as soon as I could so I'd have some protection from slavers and unwanted eyes. There was also the benefit of buying better gear, skills, and the ability to take better quests, most things a freelancer and low-level basic user needed more access to.
The requirements to join a guild were LV30 for basic systems and LV10 for elite systems, but for named systems, guilds were throwing themselves at these users, for they flipped the script regarding the strength they could possess. They also brought in lots of publicity so that the guild could prosper and be the first to pick raid quests as well as others.
I was avoiding the goblins because the bloodlust in me from the first taste of hearts was driving me mad. I knew only the taste of a different one would ease it enough to keep my sanity. Still, the system was pushing my body and mind to get stronger, to crave the very thing that could give me what I wanted. Going on a mindless killing spree would only get me killed if I lost my reasoning.
I may be stronger than most lv1-5, but I was still a low level and solo, making my easy target to a group if I was paying no attention to what was happening. Snapping out of my long train of thought, I stopped by the rushing riverbank, weapons drawn, keeping my eyes peeled as any Fishman could jump out to try and ambush me, so I had to stay vigilant.
I kept pacing around slowly, doing a 360 every 2 seconds, when suddenly I was launched onto the ground from my ass. I dropped my knife and was tumbling, stopping soon after as I saw a large, scaly red salmon, Fishman, with long webbed, finned hands and feet, screaming at me, trident in hand. Scrabbling to get up, I spit out some blood from my mouth as I saw water around me; whatever that was that hit me was deadly and made of water.
-450 HP
~HP:750/1200~
I was ambushed by a sudden assault that struck me forcefully in the ribs, resulting in them cracking as my chestplate took most of the damage, as it was barely holding on at only 10 points of durability. Despite the trident aimed towards my face, I held onto my sword firmly and successfully blocked it at the last minute. The adversary, a Fishman, was robust and effortlessly pushed me backward. However, I was able to rotate to my left and disengage from the confrontation.
I managed to inflict a wound on its side, but the fish escaped with just a tiny scratch on its scales and no bleeding. I found myself facing a formidable opponent in the form of a fisherman. Its strength was undeniable, as it moved with a speed and agility that exceeded my own. I soon realized its defense was equally impressive, making it a formidable foe.
Suddenly, it launched a powerful water bullet in my direction, which I could not avoid despite my best efforts. In an attempt to turn the tide of the battle, I countered with three weak [Claw slash], hoping to gain the upper hand, not poring to much mana into the slashes from my sword and knife to save mana.
-10 MP
-10MP
-10MP
The first two were enough to disperse the water bullet as the last slash hit it head-on in its chest, knocking it on its back. It screamed as it drew a large gash of blood on it, but nothing too crazy of damage. Using [Appraisal] quickly.
[Lv 10 Fishman hunter]
I saw it was lv10. "Fuck!" I shouted. I'd expected a Fishman to be fast, but its level was at least 7 or 8. Seeing it jump back up about to launch another bullet, I had to pull a Hail Mary, as any slip-up would get me killed, or I would kill it, but with a low mana tank afterward. Rushing it as I stayed in straight sight, I gritted my teeth hard as it finally launched at me. Putting all my skill points into three skills.
[Predator's body lv:1>4]
[Sword mastery lv:1>2]
[Aura chains lv:1>2]
I could see and feel so much more; my senses were far sharper, letting me move as it shot out the Water bullet as I moved before it left its mouth, just barely dodging the hit coming to my face; a large gash left bearing the pain. Casting both [Aura Bind], keeping it in place as its limbs and neck were bound by dark gray ethereal chains long enough as it was pulled to the ground, as I shot in front of it with [Quick Step], using all my mana to keep its mouth wrapped and bound. swinging my sword at its neck as I could feel my grip on my sword, my hands making slight adjustments to the slash to better drive the strike into one that would kill.
-150 HP
Its body was thrashing and struggling to break free, before the last thing it knew, my sword slopy yet on the mark plunged into the neck as the blade crached all over from the hard scails and low durability as I grit my teeth, letting out a primal roar of defiance, as the blade shatrred in half as I sent its head spiraling into the air as the chains faded away, dropping the body.
~~lv 10 salmon Fish-man killed gained 100 EXP~~
Putting the body and weapon in my [Storage], I quickly retrieved my knife and booked it back to the cover of the trees, away from the lake. Breathing hard from adrenaline, my body buzzed as soon as fatigue overtook the numbing sensation. Leaning on a tree surrounded by many others gave my covering to catch my breath as my stamina and mana were low, opening my system to see how bad things were, cursing this damn luck of mine.
HP:600/1200
Mp:10/130
"Fuck my mana is low as hell. Thinking this would be easy to hunt some low-levels with my past experience hunting these mobs, yet I've burned through both sets of potions I had on me..., but I'm still not used to this system. I was a dumb-ass, and my luck made it so I would always be on my toes." The only good thing was that not only did I kill an LV10 monster, but I also got its body with me, as its scales can be used to make armor and accessories, as well as its trident, which was in perfect condition at that; maybe this luck isn't so bad.
Taking its body out of the somewhat cozy nook, a thought crossed my mind. My storage never did state I couldn't store living objects inside. Thinking hard about wanting to enter my storage, both I and the body were sent into a dark purple space. As I fell onto the floor of the purple mass. I laughed madly when I saw the carcass and the looted weapons inside. I had my own pocket space, which would be invaluable to me as the applications would be endless.
Carving out the heart in the safety of my space, I looked at it as the heart was blue and much smaller than a human's or goblin's, popping it into my mouth before eating it, letting out a deep animalistic murring of pleasure, my tail wagging happily.
~~User has devoured an lv 10 salmon Fishman heart and gained +3 Agi, 5 Int, 2 Str, as well as obtain one of the three skills of the user choosing [Water Bullet lv1], [trident Mastery lv1],[Natural Hardness lv1] When the user gains a skill from eating, use restrictions are ignored, and perfect integration of the skill is learned~~
Agi:17>20
Int:14>19
Str:13>15
~~[Water Bullet(D)] conjures a 10-inch water bullet from the user via magic. Added ability to shoot from the mouth or to be channeled out from hands or a magical medium; costs 15 MP and can be infused with Aura as well~~
~~[Trident Mastery(E+)] allows the user to use and know basic trident weapon skills and proficiency instantly~~
~~[Natural Hardness(C)] grants the user natural skin and bone structure to harden to become a natural form of armor and grants a +5 Con, 2 Def per every skill level, making the user able to resist more damage~~
After reading all the skills, it was clear [Natural Hardness] was the best skill to take over the other two as the only other contender in my eyes was the [Water Bullet] spell, seeing the damage it could do firsthand, but since I preferred to be a more agile fighter having natural armor would be the best as I could wear light armor and less constricted actually, this skill itself could remove the need for me to wear anything more than maybe a chest plate in the future.
~~User has selected [Natural Hardness] due to the user's physique of their race, and the skill's capability; the user will evolve into a new werewolf race due to this new racial trait~~
I've once heard skills can invoke or allow a new race evolution. Still, I would never have thought this would do just that for me in the future, kneeling over. I yelled out in pain as I felt my entire body burning from the inside out. My bones felt like they were constantly breaking and reforming over and over again. In contrast, I could feel my muscles and flesh melt away, only to pass out from the pain itself.
Waking up three hours later with a harsh gasp, I looked at my hands to thankfully see the skin was still there. I thought I was hallucinating, only to see clumps of burned, dead flesh around my body as my broken ribs no longer ached. If anything, my entire body felt better than ever. I was hungry as hell, though. I practically jumped onto the dead fish's body, ripping its arm clean off as I ate away, including the bones, as I did not want to ruin the body too much to be able to sell later.
After finishing, I opened up my system, swiping away the 50 EXP bonus as I couldn't care less. Seeing all the changes was much more critical, but I was surprised at the +400 healing from eating.
Seeing how multiple things have changed, I was happy. Not only am I now a hardened werewolf, but [Quick step] hit level two and went from 3 meters being my limit to now 5. Also, being unconscious for a few hours allowed me to regain some mana. My ribs healed somewhat from that hellish reforging and the added benefit of gaining health back from eating. Exiting the storage, I saw it was about late afternoon or around 6 or 8 p.m.
Thinking of what I could hunt next to complete this quest and get out of this Forest, only my nose twitched as I stayed still, getting low as my senses found the scent I caught.
Seeing a black-horned rabbit blending into the darkness, I smiled wide as this would more than definitely count as horned rabbits; like many monsters are capable of using spells, let alone having systems of their very own.
Slowly drawing my knife as I got low, I used [Appraisal] to see it was a [lv 5 Midnight Horned Hare]. Readying my blade, I let it fly through the air as my new stats allowed it to shore home before it could jump away, impaling it mid-jump into a tree.
~~ lv 5 midnight horned hair killed gained 50~~~
Pulling my knife free, I picked up the bloody hare, eating it all, heart and all, leaving the horn for spoils.
~~Devoured the heart and flesh of a level 5 midnight hare and gained +5 AGI and 25 bonus EXP. Hidden quest completed; awarded 500 EXP bonus reward; gained the item Aura manual. The user is now lv 3 and gained ten stat points and 2 skill points, as 5 are additional to the quest reward ~~
I walked out of the Forest and training grounds, heading to the city center, ignoring the looks of disgust from people as my ears and tail gave away my werewolf race. That and all the blood on my mouth and shirt told many I clearly ate something alive as I wore this bloody smile with pride, as others didn't even bother to care.
With some understanding, I had quite the hunt. They gave my thumbs up as I headed to the best guild in my city. The Daylight Martyrs. Pushing open the doors with a big show as multiple of the guild members looked over the doors, shooting open. As I took a deep breath
"I'm joining y'all's guild....IM BLAZE HOPE NIGHTS A NAMED SYSTEM HOLDER!" I yelled out.