New Skill and... HELP!

"Fourteen automatically distributed status points and five more free ones..." Luke thought aloud to himself. His body lay in the middle of the grassy clearing, too exhausted to move. Luke had already previously resolved to fully invest status points into only strength and agility. With the two recent battles however, he wondered whether or not he should consider placing some points into defense or health. "Hah... My brain hurts." Luke groaned as he lifted his body into a seating position, staring at the floating screen. With a final sigh, he quickly invested all five free status points into his strength stat. No change. At least nothing he could feel.

Quickly shrugging his shoulders, he slowly stood up, stretching his muscles to make sure they were well enough to move again before heading off into the forest for his next prey. After a few steps, he noticed a glint of light in the corner of his eye. Turning he noticed that there was a hidden object within the dead wolf's mouth. Luke bent down besides the wolf and pulled open it's jaw.

[Starstrike Claw Necklace]

[Grade: F]

[Description: Increases Strength and Agility by 10%]

Luke carefully lifted the necklace over his head, feeling a soft spark of heat as the necklace firmly adjusted to his size.

[You have equipped Starstrike Claw Necklace]

Not deciding to leave the wolf carcass to waste, Luke hesitated before he opened his inventory and attempted the position the screen at the wolf's tail.

[Would you like to store Starstrike Wolf Carcass in the Inventory?]

[This will use up 4 slots]

To his delight, when the fur tail touched the screen, another screen appeared for him. Nodding his acceptance, he watched the body of the Starstrike Wolf slowly break down into gold dust before being sucked into the [Inventory] screen like a whirlpool. Satisfied with his work, Luke headed deeper into he forest.

It was only a few minutes later that Luke came across another monster. In fact, if he hadn't been carefully searching his surroundings, there was a high chance that he would have missed it. It's dark green scales allowed it to perfectly blend into the thick undergrowth that covered the forest floor. Despite having stared at the monster for a minute, he could still not clearly identify the shape of the monster and he dared not startle it without certainty of its abilities Looking through his memories of the encyclopedia, Luke identified the camouflaged monster.

[Leaf Lizard]

[Title: None]

[Class: Soldier]

[Description: Hides itself in leaves and ambushes its prey with traps]

[Abilities: Leaf Trap]

[Weakness: Leaf Trap is its only attack]

Instantly, Luke grew wary of his nearby surroundings. According to the Encyclopedia, any leaves could become a trap for the Lizard. The traps themselves would hold onto its victim and slowly drain their blood, growing stronger and stronger, until finally the lizard would come and collect the blood from its traps. Luke was sure that he would able to instantly kill he lizard with his knife if he could stab it with the help of his ability [Hidden Edge].

Luke carefully circulated through the bushes and low hanging trees, his eyes searching for a trap. He had no way of reaching the Lizard and no way of properly looking for traps other than carefully looking for any differences in the leaf formations of the plants around him.

It wasn't long before Luke began to grow frustrated at the fruitless search. Finally, he decided on another method: Knife Throwing. This was already a skill that he had been decently well at on Earth but he had never tried it with his new stronger body. After making his decision, Luke slowly backed off from the Leaf Lizard to test his new theory with a bit of practice.

His first priority of business was to make his way back to the clearing in which he had slain the Starstrike Wolf. The surrounding trees and space would be decent enough for him to work with. Luke also made sure to make small markings in the trees on his way back to ensure that he could find the lizard whenever he wanted.

Soon, the sound of metal striking wood began to slowly echo throughout the forest. Luke himself was surprised at the incredible success rate despite possessing a new body. In fact, he could estimate that he was better than he was on Earth! Once more Luke carefully held the tip of the blade in between his thumb, index finger and ring finger, the knife pointing in the direction of his index finger. This time, he drew his arm back completely before swinging the blade as hard as he could towards his practice tree.

Luke's jaw dropped as he witnessed the sight of his knife fly bury itself straight into the tree before stopping at the hilt.

[After repeated actions, you have unlocked the skill: Blade Throw]

Luke pumped his fist in excitement at the thought of having another hidden card up his sleeve.

Half an hour later, Luke was once again camped a set distance from the Lead Lizard. Despite knowing where it was, he could still not determine its exact location due to its amazing camouflage and the perfect lush environment it had chosen to live in. Luke slowly let out a log deliberate breath before he sprang up from his crouch, snapped his arm back behind his shoulder and launched his knife. The knife whistles as it sailed through the air with the head of the Lead Lizard as its destination.

At that moment, the Leaf Lizard's eyes blinked open before it rapidly began to curl in on itself to protect against the knife, knowing that it could dodge in time. Luke sneered as he saw the Lead Lizard attempt to defend against his knife. With his combined strength of 48 and [Hidden Edge] Luke was certain that this low defense monster was dead the moment it had failed to dodge his knife.

[You have gained a level]

True to his estimations, Luke was soon standing besides the carcass of a Lead Lizard. It was only after standing near the Lizard was he able to realize how big the lizard actually was. Its head was about double the size of his fist whilst the rest of its body was, in fact, about the size of a normal dog. He estimated that it could even reach his knee whilst standing on all fours. Luke, however, was more concerned with the drops he had received than anything else.

[Toxic Lizard Bile]

[Grade: F]

[Description: used in the creation of some potions]

"Interesting," Luke of course, knew the uses of this particular item from his new knowledge but he was surprised he had found one this quickly. The item itself wasn't very rare however, it was only a common drop from stronger monsters. For [Soldier] grade monsters, this was pretty impressive. The ranking of the monsters were [Soldier], [General], [Commander,[King], [God] and all the higher extreme pinnacle monsters that had immeasurable power were given the rank [Higher God]. All monsters from the [God] level and higher would receive a title that reflected their power and status within the Monster Kingdom. According to the Encyclopedia, these were bestowed upon them by the "Heavens" itself. Luke however knew that it was likely some programming by the designer.

Luke carefully extracted his knife from the body of the Leaf Lizard before placing that in his [Inventory] as well. It was time to head home now.

Whilst journeying home, Luke began to vaguely hear the sound of footsteps approaching him to his left. From the sound of it, they were definitely being chased and still unaware of his presence. Before he could be seen, Luke scaled a tree and crouched on a branch, ready to leave if the situation became unfavorable. Not long after, he witnessed a small figure dressed in a full set of armor rush under the branch he was perched on. Behind him, a large pack of wolves followed.

Without a second thought, Luke turned away from the scene. He could count almost ten wolves chasing the heels of the person. "Wait! Please! Don't leave me!"

Luke, doubting his ears, slowly turned his head back to discover the figure running back towards him. The man's fave was full of fear as he began to bear Luke's tree.

"Just hold them off for a little while! I have potions on me! I just need to... I just need to drink some potions!" The man was panting, sweat pouring down the sides of his head. He had climbed onto the lowest branch of the tree but the armor was weighing him down. Luke could see that the man was barely hanging onto that branch whilst the wolves were howling underneath aware that the man was going to drop anytime soon.

"What's in it for me?"

"What!" The man screamed at him, spittle flying out of mouth. "You- How can you say that while seeing me in this position?"

Luke didn't waver. He had learned on Earth that the world would never be fair to you. People such as this man could betray you the moment you acted to help him. "If you still want to negotiate I'm more than happy to talk."

The man glared at Luke. "There's a Moonlight Orchid growing to the west. My party attempted to take it but we have all been separated after fighting with the wolf pack that guards it."

Luke quietly watched the man as he quietly thought about the truth of the man's words. "And if you're lying?" Moonlight Orchid was an extremely rare plant that only grew in clearings where it could absorb the light from the moon. It was extremely sought after due to its ability to buff two stats of a player by a fairly large amount. For low level people who had just started, this was like receiving 20 levels worth of exp.

"You son of a!" The man'e face was bright red at this point as he desperately clung to the branch with all his strength. "We dug up some Star Grass near there! You should still be able to see some of it sticking to my clothes! Now help me!" At these words, Luke was able to confirm that the man was telling the truth.

Luke vaulted downwards landing on the head of the highest wolf of the group before he plunged his knife into its body.

[Poison Touch has activated. Target has been poisoned]

[Weapon's effect has been activated. Target will slowly bleed]

At the sudden attack, the wolf he had landed on bucked under his weight before immediately shaking in an attempt to knock him off. Luke hurriedly extracted his knife before leaping off its back and onto the branch that the man was hanging off. The large wolf, seeing a new enemy began to growl softly. It felt that this prey wasn't going to be as easy as it's initial prey.

Luke saw the head of the large wolf suddenly lift up and knew that it was going to call its tribe over. Without a second thought, Luke instinctively swung his arm and activated his most recently earned skill. The wolf was completely unguarded as it watched a flash of silver entering its mouth and leaving out the back of its head, killing it before its head could touch the ground.

At the sudden death of it's leader, the surrounding wolves became unsure of what to do as they began to slowly back off from the motionless human perched on the branch. Finally, one wolf turned tail and ran off, immediately followed by the remaining eight.

"Hup!" The hanging man, seeing the lack of danger, dropped onto the ground and then stared at the figure in the branches. "You're a new kid right? I heard it in your voice. You got a head on your shoulders kid. Thanks." Just like that the man ran off into woods. Luke silently watched the back of the armored man recede into the distance. Maybe his judgement of the man was incorrect after all?

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Luke looked up at the sky. It was getting dark but he was clearly not going to head home after hearing of a new treasure close by.