Into the Valley of Monsters
Noah continued on his journey, moving deeper into the valley. Then he opened his status window and checked the details of the skill that allows him to gain HP.
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| STATUS WINDOW |
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| Skills:
| - Heal touch [Common]
| - Blessing [Common]
| - Drain [Unique]
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|Details:
| Skill name: Drain
|Skill type: Passive
| Description: This is a unique skill that allows the player to gain health once HP drops to a threshold of 35% of his maximum HP. The skill will activate for the duration of 1 minute.
During that time, every time he successfully lands an attack, 100% of the damage dealt will be converted to HP.
Reed read the details of his ability, understanding how to fully utilize it. He turned to look at the dagger he held.
- Name: Gritfire Rune [Uncommon]
|- Weapon type: Dagger
|- Attack Damage: 10.
|- Durability: 45/100
Reed noticed something was off with his dagger. The rust on the blade started to come off, and the durability was dropping, yet it somehow got sharper.
He continued on his way, traveling down when he encountered a slime and a mushroom monster. Both were low-level creatures.
The mushroom had a red cap with white spots all over it. Its legs were made of mushroom as well. Then Reed remembered spotting something similar on the notice board in Tina's tavern.
A quest: anyone who could bring back five of these mushrooms would be rewarded with five silver coins, meaning one per mushroom. Truly, it was a monster worth killing.
Reed crouched behind a large boulder where he couldn't be seen.
He wanted to be cautious. He didn't know what would happen once he engaged the monster head-on. For all he knew, it could run away once it saw him or, even worse, spray him with some kind of deadly poison that caused a crazy debuff.
He didn't know how other players approached taking out this monster.
One thing was sure: he had to be cautious. He opened his status window, checking his current stats. Using his free stat points, he upgraded his agility stat.
[Agility: 12]
With a deep breath, he leaped out of his hiding spot, going after the monster. He immediately felt the difference in his body movement; he was quicker and more agile, going after the monsters as fast as he could.
The mushroom noticed him and immediately began to run. The slime saw him getting closer and decided to approach him.
Ever since Reed was young, he was a fast learner, picking up on things others found difficult. In this case, it was a move he saw.
The slime leaped towards Reed, about to pounce on him. Imitating Simon, he performed a downward vertical stab, instantly reaching the core of the slime with the attack.
The system prompted, signaling his victory: [player has slain a level 3+ slime, +75 exp].
The slime began to melt as its core was now damaged and broke in half. Reed quickly placed it in his inventory and went after the mushroom.
The scared monster ran for its life, its legs waddling up and down like a duck as if it knew why Reed was here. In the village, mushrooms were a delicacy, and no matter how they were cooked, they always tasted splendid to the villagers.
Recently, the supply of this resource dropped, making dishes with them even more valuable.
The living mushroom was desperate to survive, passing more slime monsters as it ran. Reed chased it from behind, ignoring the monsters he passed. The slimes, seeing Reed, couldn't sit idly by and decided to join the chase.
This was a somewhat mouse, cat, and dog type of chase. As they progressively went down the valley, the monsters got stronger.
It continued until Reed eventually reached the bottom of the valley. Down there, the mushroom was inevitably cornered.
Standing next to a huge slime monster, it was truly terrifying. The moment it tried to turn back, its head was met with Reed's dagger, stabbing it directly in its stem. His blade came out the other side. Pulling the dagger down, he split the mushroom in half. A brown core fell out of its body as it collapsed to the ground.
The system prompted his yet another victory: [player has slain a level 2 Red mushroom, +55 exp, player has reached level 3].
Reed stared at the massive slime monster that stood ahead of him. It was a field boss, its size comparable to twenty other slimes combined. Its name was displayed above it:
[Guardian of the Valley, Level 8 Slime Boss: Balance]
Reed knew it wasn't safe being that close and needed to retrieve his loot and leave as soon as possible.
Grabbing the core and the mushroom and placing them into his digital inventory, he was suddenly pounced on by the slime boss. Its aqueous, squishy body propelled him backward.
Reed, tumbling across the grass, eventually hit his back on a large rock with a resounding thud.
The system prompted, displaying the damage Reed had received: [Warning: player HP is down to 5%.]
The impact was sickening. Reed coughed out red particles; it felt as if his lungs were crushed from within. Truly, this monster was not to be trifled with.
The smaller slime monsters made their way closer to Reed, hopping gently, signaling Reed's demise was near.
Reed, with his dagger still in hand, grinned sinisterly.
[Player's HP has dropped significantly. Unique skill: Drain is now active.]
Red miasma once again seeped out of his body like a wild beast finally let loose. He slowly stood back up, regaining his bearings, for the battle was far from over and the victor was yet to be chosen.
Reed stretched out his arm, holding his dagger. The dagger reflected in the sunlight; most of the rust had peeled off, and a crack had appeared on the blade.
Reed entered a unique battle stance, stepping forward with his right leg as if he were on a sprint, and placed his dagger on his shoulder.
Fully prepared, he allocated his free stat points to his agility and dexterity stats. Looking ahead at the horde of monsters and the boss that stood behind them all, Reed couldn't help but smile, as this would go down in history of the game.
As the newbie who took on a horde of slime monsters without a single piece of armor.
"Ah, this will be fun," Reed muttered to himself.