Eradicator

Adam smirked at the system's notifications and their effects.

[Ding! You have earned the title: Wolf Eradicator, for killing several wolves. ]

[Wolf Eradicator: You adapt to the movements of wolves more easily in combat. Wolves give slightly more experience when killed.]

[Ding! You have earned the title Goblin Eradicator for killing several goblins.]

[Goblin Eradicator: Through defeating goblins numerous times, you are now able to defeat goblins slightly more effectively. Goblins give slightly more experience when killed.]

[Ding! You have earned the title Amateur Eradicator for killing a considerable number of monsters and beasts.]

[Amateur Eradicator: Through killing several monsters and beasts, you have learned how, with greater ease, deal with them. You earn slightly more experience when killing monsters who you hold a title for eradicating.]

Adam had lost track of time when he took care of the wolves. He was in a state of tunnel vision. Through the power of the necklace, he was in a flow.

Happy, he checked his status, and saw that he had leveled up twice.

Adam had reached level 23 now, 40 stat points in the bank.

He was progressing well.

Balling his hand into a fist, he quickly ate and went back to hunting.

When the gains were so good, it was easy to lose track of oneself.

Squeezing the green amulet lightly, he stared at the hills of the Marshlin Forest.

His hunt was far from over.

Though the lessons with Merandin were interesting, he could already feel the start of a growth spurt.

When his growth should have started to slow down, the eradicator titles and the heroic yield skill crushed his sense of stagnancy.

Smiling wide, he sprinted towards the mountains.

If he could, he would see about hunting rabbits.

A while of searching later, he found some.

While it was not part of a quest, he had to harden his heart, and make use of the time he had.

Adam thought: 'It was better for him than the goblins to deal with them.'

'Yeah, this hunting would nourish him, which gave him the energy to hunt the goblins.'

Increasingly determined, he was able to find a burrow in which rabbits resided.

The hunter skill aided him in locating them, upon noticing the traces of rabbit tracks in the dirt.

Brandishing the halberd, he sighed: 'To be a hero, I cant waste an opportunity.'

Thrusting his halberd, seeing a group of rabbits, he swept through the occupied burrow.

The agility of the rabbits allowed a few to escape, which worked in Adam's favor.

He just needed enough for the title.

As the number of rabbits was excessive, he would be able to earn the Rabbit Eradicator title quickly.

'Maybe one or two more burrows' Adam surmised.

The afternoon light spread across the sky, as Adam eventually found two more burrows which earned him the title.

He spent the next hour gathering the bodies of the rabbits.

Adam knew he would not be hungry enough to eat them all, so he decided to use them as bait.

With not finding any ogres yesterday, he imagined that he would have better luck if he cooked some rabbits to draw out an ogre or two out of hiding.

If he waited a day or two, with the loss of a food source, that might also bring them out.

Both methods were valid, and skyrocketed the odds that more than one ogre would come out.

If he still felt threatened by the ogres, which he very well might, he could raise his stats.

His strength and endurance stats were high. Maybe if no ogres came out he just wasn't appealing enough.

Still though, looks while helpful would not save him from being eaten.

It would more so have an effect, if he met someone that had some measure of interest in him.

But, at least in the situations Adam imagined from reading, Adam had no particular interest in such. He never cared much for harems or finding a "beloved".

Bluntly put, they got in the way of the growth of the main character.

Admittedly, looks didn't leave him unmoved.

Even then, with his new life in this new world attachments to specific people would make leaving if he ever got the chance in the future difficult.

Regardless, he didn't want to become someone he wasn't, because of feelings of lust, or love.

If it was love, like those cold cultivators, it may be fun to try rejecting it.

Sighing, he thought: 'Feelings were so strange.'

His thoughts returned to his appearance stat.

It was growing, as his physique improved. His hunting efforts, having raised his appearance by .1 for his exertion.

Nevertheless, it would be a while for anything to come of that.

It took only two hours for him to set the bait for the ogre.

While the smell of the cooking rabbits wafted around the forest, he would look for goblins to hunt.

An hour passed, and Adam had found a handful of goblins.

His luck in finding them was decreasing.

Adam was thinking of changing his targets to wolves back to wolves when a tremor rippled through the earth.

Looking over his shoulder, down the hilly area of the forest, he saw an ogre approaching the bait he set out.

Squeezing the haft of the halberd, he scrambled down the hill.

Adam mused: 'Ogre, oh ogre, are you ready?'

A few feet from the ogre, Adam looked up at it.

It looked down upon him, barely dragging it's gaze away from the cooked rabbit bait it stood by.

It was rubbing its bulging stomach, a shaky growl from its stomach echoed.

Its eyes dismissive as it swung down a fist.

Extending his arm, Adam pierced out with the halberd.

The blade punctured its fist, wailing, the ogre quickly tried to hit Adam with its other fist.

It had underestimated Adam.

By rotating 180 degrees and plucking out the embedded halberd's blade swiftly, he was able to thrust it into the arriving fist.

Both hands profusely gushing blood, the bones visible, the ogre screamed.

Not letting up, Adam dashed towards its knees and swung forward.

As Adam's halberd went all the way through, it fell to one knee, its balance deprived.

He with luck at level one was able to take down an ogre.

Level 23 now, with a much better weapon and set of armor, the ogre was his to slay.

The ogre's screaming was ignored as Adam jabbed up into the jaw of the ogre with his halberd.

Taking a breath, Adam watched as the ogre's eyes grew hazy.

It's last struggles faded into motionlessness.

The ogre collapsed to the forest floor, with a decisive thud,

Adam leaned his head back, facing the greying sky, he smiled triumphantly.