Ling liked to ask the number 9 NPC Falcon why he had two unique passive skills instead of one. Supposedly all the players should have one unique passive skill at the early stage, and the rest of the passive skills could acquire depends on how they played their character.
But before he could ask, Falcon sent the players to the location where they can obtain a QUEST and EXP that helped them to improve as rankers.
...
Thud!
Rnn...
His face landed on the firm surface and was brushed by gleaming small grasses. When he recovered, he leaned his back against the 15-meter-tall tree, waiting for the distorted lights that affected his vision to fade away caused by the teleportation.
"What's the deal with this game? It kept me bringing in new different places that gave me some pain." He grumbled as the distorted lights let him feel that someone was pinching his head.
If his intuition was right, he was already teleported into this game three times.
To begin, he opened his eyes and discovered he was in the middle of a vast green forest. There were 15-meter-tall trees and bushes around him, as well as cliffs 500 meters away from his current location and a yellow-orange sky as the sunset. Through this, it appeared the timeline in this game was the same as the real world.
Luckily, he was well informed this place was the location where he have to fight a monster in order to gain EXP and other items.
Ding!
[Welcome to the Akigayama forest!]
It was an E+ forest that was concluded of different types of monsters, mostly first evolution monsters or could be higher.
[Quest!]
[Kill three monsters!]
[Progress 0/3]
[Rewards]
•+110 EXP
•+3 Attribute points (AP)
•+1 Skill point (SP)
"Monsters killing quests? I thought I'm going to receive my skills before anything else-?"
Ding!
Unexpectedly, a dinging tone went to ears and followed up with a new gaming interface.
[Class: Rogue]
[Weapon mastery: 0 (1500/1500)]
- you have to use your knife 1500 times before acquiring the weapon mastery.
[Rogue's skill(s) section]
[Dash]- by running continuously within the 7 distance increase your movement speed by 30%. Cost: 5 stamina.
[Stab]- one-handed or two-handed. Stabbing your opponent can deal +55 basic damage up to +65 damage when the attacks are critical. Cost: 6 stamina.
Ling quickly scanned all the screens, noticing there was no other skill that can consume his mana poll. Hmm... Maybe new rankers don't have a magic skill from the time being since they were beginners unless they belonged to the Cleric class and Mage or Arcane class.
"Inventory!"
He said this word and another screen popped out.
[Beginner's knife]- it can deal +25 damage.
[10 Health potions](Low-grade)- consuming the health potions can replenish your health power by 40%]
[5 Mana potions(Low-grade)]- consuming mana potions can replenish your mana pool by 30%.
As he settled all the things he needed to do before hunting some monsters, Ling removed the screen and continue his quest. Then, clicked the knife inside his inventory and said this word.
"Equip".
A metallic knife that had a leather handle appeared in his grasp. With its sharpness and size, he can easily tell it was enough to damage the monsters that would appear.
"This is amazing... By just simply clicking the item in my inventory and saying the word Equip, the item will directly appear in my hands."
He said inwardly, at the same time, can't stop thinking about the 1500 times using his weapon to acquire the Knife Weapon Mastery I.
[Weapon Mastery or Magic Mastery]. It's the ability when the player should be accustomed to how to utilize their weapons and expands their abilities.
Well, that was self-explanatory and the only thing he should do was to wield his knife 1500 times. "I must not bother myself with this."
He placed his hands on the grassy surface and pushed himself into a stood-up position. Then, he looked at the sky with amused eyes.
"This is a good place, but It's getting late, I should finish this game before 7."
If he logged out in this game by 7 o'clock, he would have an extra one hour to prepare himself for his part-time job. Working at the grocery store had a minimum time of eight hours to fulfill, probably, he can come back home at exactly 4:00 AM.
To be honest, Ling had 3 hours of sleep every day and the main reason why he looked so gloomy. Plus, the exhaustion he gained from his house, school, and his part-time. But what he could do? In order to have a better life and to support their living expenses, he should work double times, no, three times.
...
Keek!
After wandering in the Akigayama forest for nearly 15 minutes. Suddenly, he paused for a second as he heard a suspicious sound in his behind and felt someone was watching him.
First, he slightly tilted his head to the right side, then glanced in the corner of his eyes at the area where he heard the sound.
"There's nothing here, but I'm sure I heard something." He said in a cautious tone while seeing the yellow-orange straight path as the sun's light illuminated it.
Keek! Keek! Keek!
An unfamiliar tone went into his ears once again, so he immediately looked at the place where the sound originated. This time, he spotted the one-meter bush uncontrollably moving and based on its movements the air was impossible to push air.
"No, the air is also touching my body, so I can say the solid bush can't push by normal air." He watched the area for at least 20 seconds before adding these words. "There's something inside this bush... I'm sure of it."
To be prepared himself for the unexpected scenario that might happen, he grabbed his knife and pointed it in front of him. In his opinion, with this fight composure, he can damage the monster that would appear.
His distance within the moving bush was around 12 meters, close enough to reach the area in just a second.
"I don't care if there's a person behind this bush, I'll just swing my weapon to protect myself." He murmured.
It seemed Ren has enough courage to do it so.
This is just a game...
Without making any second thought, he picked up the long stick on the ground and used it to swipe to see the real deal inside.
Eehk! Eehk! Eehk!
Ling sighed of relied upon after seeing a green creature that looked eating something. Of course, he was surprised to see that creature since who would expect that there was a green existing in this world.
Green rabbit? Where on Earth could find something like that? Yet, it was a game, they were allowed modified places, things, and even animals.
"You scared sh*t out of me," Ling said in a sweet voice as he found out the green rabbit's outward appearance was adorable.
It had thick fluffy green fur, violet eyes, and had the same size as the natural rabbit in the real world.
"What are you doing here, Rabbit?"
When the moment he calmly approached the rabbit and tried to hold its body with his bare hands. And all of a sudden, the rabbit widely opened its mouth and could see the numerous razor teeth.
Chomp!
The sound of the sharp teeth hitting each other was perceived by his ears. Luckily, the rounded marble stones that rolled under his left foot made him fall to the ground and dodge the upcoming attack from the monster.
[Veronous Rabbit]- it's an aggressive type of monster that can transform its body. Rabbit's claws can deal +43 basic damage, and its razor teeth can deal +65 basic damage.
Somehow, he was enlightened by the information provided by the system.
Ling pointed his knife toward the monster that magnified its arms into sharp claws while its fluffy fur before turned into a spiky one. After he noticed that, he regained his foot, knowing that he can't able to win against the rabbit in this fighting stance.
Grr...
The rabbit groaned aggressively after it reached its true form. Also, it looked like the monster was ready to fight him.
Swoosh!
In the vast area surrounded by tall trees, boulders, and thick bushes. The monster immediately charged into Ling's location while revealing its claws.
Well, he wasn't afraid of the aggressiveness given by the monster. To be exact, he was just shocked that the cute monster earlier can be like this. On top of that, one of the rules in this game to earn money was to fight monsters.
Swish!
The monster swung its right claw horizontally, so Ling was forced to do the same thing to block the attack.
Clang!
The sound of two metals was screeching with each other transpired in the place.
Swoosh!
He stepped back a bit, knowing the monster could use its other claw or teeth to inflict higher damage to him.
Swish!
The claws nearly hit his chest, but he managed to dodge them.
"I feel my body is so light..." Even though he was clueless about how he can catch up with the pacing given by this monster. Still, he decided to not lose his focus on this fight.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The two were exchanging blows for the past minutes, and he noticed in terms of their physical strength and speed, that they were the same.
"The heck? It's hard to predict what is the next attack of this monster." Ling uttered, then swung his knife upward as the monster seemed to try to snatch his weapon.
Unexpectedly, he destroyed the monster's defense by that attack since its hands were flying in the mid-air.
"This is my chance..."
He stepped forward his right leg, then swung his knife with both hands directly to the monster's neck.
[Stab!]
After casting the skill, he discovered the huge changes in his physical strength. "What is this? Why do I feel gain more power with my hands?"
Splash!
Green blood was splashed on his face while the monster's head was slowly elevating in the air.
[Veronous rabbit HP: 0/100]
To explain what was the main reason why he killed the monster in one swing even the [Stab] skill had +55 damage. It was because Ling aimed the monster's vital points.
[You've received 100 EXP from killing the Veronous Rabbit!]
[Level up!]
+1 to all stats
+2 attribute points.
The monster's corpse vanished in front of him just like a bubble and dropped a red crystal on the surface.
"Monster's core-?"
After he picked up the core and hid it inside his inventory. Suddenly, he looked at his surroundings as he heard multiple footsteps that seemed coming to his location.
"Don't tell me, those monsters are heading to my location?"