Level Up
Arthur's actions were no less than shocking to the players as he was quite literally the first player to have gotten a kill.
And this kill might have been the first kill of the entire game!
But it didn't slow down Arthur at all. No, he was ready to kill more of them.
"Inspect!"
~DING~
>Inspect Successful!<
——
Target: Grey Plains Rabbit
Rank: Common
Level: 1
HP: 100%
MP: 2%
——
He quickly found a suitable target and pulled its attention which was easy as the rabbits would attack the closest person. Arthur's sudden interference made the original attackers confused and made them lose focus.
THWACK!
Unfortunately for them this also meant getting hit.
The player's HP fell to 0 and he let out a scream.
"AH! Why you fuc—" Before the player could curse, he was sent back to the respawn.
"Phew! Thanks for taking the hit." Arthur thanked before lunging forward with his dagger.
Being a starter weapon, its reach was meager and was one of the reason why the players were having such a hard time killing the Grey Plains Rabbits. But for Arthur, this was something he was very familiar with and used the dagger with great skill.
Each attack struck the rabbit precisely, cutting off chunks of its HP.
[-20% HP]
[-10% HP]
[Critical hit!]
[-70% HP]
>Grey Plains Rabbit has been killed!<
>Experience obtained: 10%<
In just twenty seconds, another rabbit had been killed and Arthur's experience bar rose again. Without even stopping for a moment, he inspected the next Grey Plains rabbit that was out of MP before attacking it.
One by one, the corpses of the Grey Plains Rabbits started littering the area.
The players watching it all were helpless as their targets kept on disappearing.
"How is he even doing this?"
"Yeah, he was hit three times but his HP is still at 70%. How's that possible?"
"Didn't the other players' HP fell to less than 50% with that many hits?"
The players had still not understood the method that Arthur was utilizing. Though it could also be said that he had taken advantage of the players in a way. This was also the reason why he had gone to take the quest first.
It was simply the more efficient option rather than to just wait in the field. That way, he had obtained the quest and also let the players deplete the MP of the Grey Plains Rabbit.
'Am I reaping the fruits of other's labor?' Arthur wondered momentarily, before pushing the thought out of his mind as a new notification popped up.
>100% Experience obtained<
>Player Arzhur has leveled up!<
>5 Free Stat points obtained<
>HP, Stamina and Hunger have been replenished!<
This was exactly what Arthur had been waiting for and he was prepared for it too.
"Alright, time to get stronger!" Arthur opened his stat screen.
>Player Status<
——
Name: Arzhur
Level: 2
Class: None
Title: None
***
HP: 70% -> 100%
MP: 100%
Stamina: 39% -> 100%
Hunger: 91% -> 100%
Experience: 100% -> 0%
***
<Physical Stats>
Attack: 1-> 3
Toughness: 1-> 3
Agility: 1
Dexterity: 1
Vitality: 1->2
<Non-Physical Stats>
Wisdom: 1
Intelligence: 1
Will: 1
——
Arthur picked his attack, defense and vitality as the stats to be increased. These were the ones that he needed the most as of now.
The other players might not make the same choice as him though. Since they were unable to keep up with the Grey Plains rabbits, it would make sense for them to pick Dexterity and Agility as the main stats along with either defense or vitality.
They knew the starting mobs were weak, and could die in few hits. It was just that they were a little too fast for them and they needed to match that to be able to touch them.
For Arthur though, keeping up with the rabbits wasn't as much of an issue. He could already track their attack patterns and only needed to dodge beforehand. And even if they did strike him, the weakened attacks would only take 10% of his HP.
This was tolerable and wouldn't matter much to him as he could easily cover it with a level up, which he already had now.
'This should make things easier…' Arthur quickly scanned his surroundings finding that there were still plenty of Grey Plains rabbits left.
He turned to the right and rushed towards an empty spot between a Grey Plains Rabbit and two players. The two players were seemingly trying to do a pincer attack on the Grey Plains rabbit, but now there was a third factor coming into the mix.
Piii!
"What!?" The players were stunned upon finding Arthur appearing in between.
His attack accurately struck the rabbit on its back, making it cry in pain.
[-35% HP]
'Good, the power has certainly increased.' Arthur was pleased with the damage he had dealt.
"Hey! He's stealing our mobs!" The players were certainly not pleased with him though.
Thwack!
Unfortunately, the player didn't realize the Grey Plains rabbit had bounced back and hit him from the back.
"Argh! No…"
>A Player has died<
Since the player was struck from the back, the rabbits attack had resulted in a critical hit that killed him instantly.
'It'll take them quite some time to learn battle focus.' Arthur fully intended to take advantage of the weaker opponents and unskilled players.
The other player jumped back seeing his companion die from the Grey Plains rabbit and wanted to retreat.
"Shit! Fighting one rabbit with two people is already tough, forget me alone." The player cursed to himself. 'But how the hell is he able to kill them?' he thought upon seeing Arthur kill the rabbit.
>Grey Plains Rabbit has been killed!<
>Experience obtained: 5%<
'The experience gain has reduced by half… I'll barely have enough for another level up after killing the mobs here.' Arthur counted the Grey Plains Rabbits, finding there to be twenty two of them left. "Just the right amount for me…" he muttered and rushed to another target.
Arthur had to be fast and kill as many rabbits as possible as he knew the players would soon figure out his method.
It wasn't hard in the first place and only involved letting the rabbits deplete their MP. And once even a single player leveled up among them, they would be able to flip the odds very quickly.
>Grey Plains Rabbit has been killed!<
>Grey Plains Rabbit has been killed!<
>Grey Plains Rabbit has been killed!<
>Grey Plains Rabbit has been killed!<
Arthur was like a wolf among the rabbits, killing them with ease. Three hits was the maximum he needed to kill them and two was the average. With the increase in his attack stat, his critical hits were even enough to kill them in one strike.
His experience bar kept on rising and ten minutes later, Arthur had killed most of the Grey Plains Rabbit on the field.
"I did it!" But he wasn't the only one who had succeeded at killing.
"HAHAHA! I KILLED IT!" Another player had managed to kill a Grey Plains rabbit.
'So it starts…' Arthur quickly pulled up his stat screen.
>Player Status<
——
Name: Arzhur
Level: 2
Class: None
Title: None
****
HP: 90%
MP: 100%
Stamina: 54%
Hunger: 81%
Experience: 95%
——
"One more… I need one more." Arthur looked around for another rabbit.
"We need to wait target the rabbits who have been fighting for a while! They get weaker then." The players spoke to each other.
This confirmed Arthur's thoughts, and he knew he wouldn't be able to hunt here much longer.
"There, that should be enough." Arthur finally spotted a rabbit that had just spawned at the corner.
The respawn of the Grey Plains Rabbits was not triggered before this since there were a set number of them and none of them were killed. But with Arthur's slaughter, they were finally respawning.
'Perfect timing too.' Arthur broke away from the crowd, much to their surprise.
"Finally, he's leaving."
"Yeah! Now we can hunt in peace and not get our kills stolen."
"Stolen? We weren't even able to damage them once before. Can we really say stolen?"
The players were relieved seeing him gone.
Rustle~ Rustle~
A bush at the corner of the area moved and a Grey Plains Rabbit jumped out of it.
[Critical Hit!]
[Fatal hit!]
[-100% HP]
>Grey Plains Rabbit has been killed!<
>Experience obtained: 5%<
>100% Experience obtained<
>Player Arzhur has leveled up!<
>5 Free Stat points obtained<
>HP, Stamina and Hunger have been replenished!<
As soon as the notification rolled in, Arthur immediately left the area. He didn't want others to notice him any longer. After all, he had already become the center of attention for quite a lot of people now.
He wouldn't be surprised if news about him would be seen tomorrow.
Arthur simply went back to Kestrel Village and entered an empty alley.
"Now let's see…" he pulled up the stat screen again.