Chapter 3: Extraction Talent Usage, The Alchemist’s Request

It was the first time he was using magic since he had been used to swinging a blade, but it still felt strangely familiar to Alex.

Was it because of the years of experience? Or because his SSS talent helped him out?

And talking about his talent, would it activate after he killed the monster or during battle?

So many questions, so little answers, and so all he could do was fight to see.

Fwish!

Fireball!

He waved his staff in the rat's direction, and a fireball shot out, perfectly hitting the demonized rat.

-17 (10 damage for fireball + 100% spirit damage which is 7 right now)

The rat let out a high-pitched scream as it was engulfed in flames, its body twitching before finally getting up and charging at the human.

"Strike!" the demonized rat was way faster than Alex, but thankfully enough, the 3-second cooldown passed quickly and he sent yet another fireball at it.

Boom!

-17!

He repeated that once more and so the 'Demonized Rat' fell to his spell, burning to ashes as its 40 health points dropped to 0.

"…"

[Killed level 1 Demonized Rat, gained 10 experience points.]

The leveling in this game was horrible as well, or more like, extremely difficult, taking 10 of those things most people struggled against to level up once.

Alex was pretty much the only one that managed to kill a demonized rat alone, all the others struggling to swing their weapons or even cast their spells, missing them even at point blank.

[Please choose something to extract from this monster.]

But this time, something unusual happened: a new panel appeared before him.

[Rusty Sword (Common)

Black Rat Helmet (Common)

Beginner Backpack (Common)]

All these things are items, and ones that you would usually have a hard time dropping from such beginner mobs!

And yet, now that he had the SSS-Level [Extraction] talent, Alex could choose.

He couldn't see the description of the items, but the 'common' beside their names should be an indicative, right? Meaning they weren't that rare.

[Please choose to extract, or close the panel to choose nothing.]

Alex clicked on the backpack option since it was the most obvious to pick.

Ding!

[Beginner Backpack (Common) has been selected!]

And suddenly, a light appeared above the demonized rat's body.

"Holy!"

"Is that an item?"

"We've killed 4 rats, how did we not get any?"

People immediately looked in Alex's direction, envious of his luck.

Alex picked up the item, and just as expected, it was a very small brown backpack.

[Beginner Backpack (Common): Able to hold 5 Common/Uncommon items inside.]

This was fair, and so he put it around his shoulder and carried it, this could be useful to store the other items for later.

"Let's go," Alex turned around and aimed his fireball at another demonized rat, carrying the same process from before and not allowing it to even get close to him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

-17! -17! -17!

It fell as well, and so Alex yet again went up to its body, expecting to be able to pick another item.

But this time, the panel strangely didn't appear.

"…?"

[Not all monsters can be extracted, only 20% do when using your talent at its current level.]

'…Of course', Alex's talent was powerful, and so as a countermeasure it restrained him to only 20% of monsters being able to extract, though that meant he could choose the extracted drop he wanted!

He didn't bother to care much more than he did, and so he continued searching for lone [Demonized Rats] to kill.

…

[Killed level 1 Demonized Rat, gained 10 experience points.]

Ding!

[You have leveled up to level 2, all attribute points have been raised by 5, and you have 4 free attribute points to assign as well as 1 skill point!]

The notification finally flashed before Alex as he finished off the last demonized rat, and he immediately put all his free attribute points in Spirit.

[You have completed the quest "The Beginning of it All", return to the silver-skinned elder for your reward!]

'No list on this one either,' he mumbled as the rat he just killed didn't drop anything.

After battling 10 rats, only two of them had dropped an item: the backpack was obvious, as he had picked it, and the second item he picked was the [Black Rat Helmet (Common)].

[Black Rat Helmet (Common): put it on your head to increase your physical resistance by 2 (not the vitality stat, only the resistance).]

And so on his head he now carried a small helmet made out of the rat's fur.

People around Alex were yet again flabbergasted as he magically got another item, while they hadn't gotten anything.

Some bold players did approach Alex though.

"Hey, man, how about we form a team together? We can fight the rats and gain experience when the time comes! I'm not demanding too much, just a helmet!"

"Dude! Look at me, look at me! I'm a mage, and my output is high! I'll even give you money once I get some!"

"Hey, can you take my sister with you?" and some were even giving him… weird offers.

All the men and women nearby wanted Alex to group with them, because apart from anything else, getting a free piece of equipment is a bonus people were willing to take.

It can greatly improve their abilities in combat after all.

Plus, as the rules stated, this is a game that affects reality, so if there is an opportunity to improve, people won't miss it.

Facing the crazy players, Alex felt a little numb.

Especially the women who were running around.

He took a look and found that some of them were really good-looking.

But these girls were only trying to make a mess of his pure mind (not so pure)!

He had completed his quest, so all he wanted to do was leave.

He struggled to squeeze out of the encirclement then shouted: "Don't worry, if there is a lot of equipment, I'll try to take it to the village and set up a stall!"

After saying that, Alex ran toward the east entrance of the village.

He wasn't planning to form a team for the time being, as it was useless in the beginning stages.

Many people, though, did form guilds: they were organizations in the game that people could join to compete against others.

The [Guild Ranking] was one of the main perks, as the top guilds were featured and thus gained more popularity both inside and outside the game.

Right now, though, there weren't this many guilds, only three people figuring out how to create one.

[Guilds Ranking:]

[Top 1: Overlord Guild]

[Top 2: Striker Guild]

[Top 3: Shadow Blade Guild]

But this wasn't the only ranking the world of Universal Descent had in store.

They weren't revealed yet to the public as it only happened one week after the game was launched, meaning when the [Novice Assessment] was finished, but for now he simply needed to keep going.

…

"Thank you so much for your help, you aren't as bad as I thought you were," the elder beside the entrance sighed.

Ding!

[You have completed the quest: The Beginning of it All, and your reputation among the villagers has increased by 50.]

This meant that he was now able to discuss with some of the villagers and even access the [Alchemy] and [Items] shop.

Usually, you would need to upgrade your reputation to the max to be able to talk to the [Village Chief] and receive a powerful reward, as well as information.

But Alex already knew everything, so he just did that to leave quickly.

And he also knew of the S-Level secret quest that was hidden in the forest around the novice village.

But first of all, he headed toward the [Alchemy Shop].

[Novice Village Reputation: 50/100]

"Oh, hello, player," the silver-skinned alchemist greeted Alex as if they had known each other for months.

"Hey, do you need help with anything?" Alex wanted potions, as he could now store them in his [Beginner Backpack], and so this was the best solution to both level up and increase his equipment.

"Now that you say it…" the alchemist mumbled, "I need a few [Blood Rabbit's] fur to make a potion… if you bring some to me, I'll exchange it to you for other goods."

[You have triggered the E-Level novice village quest: Alchemist Ingredients. Bring 5 "Blood Rabbit Fur" in exchange for some potions and +25 reputation.]

He was now ready to move to the next area: the forest.