Reclaimer (2)

[Ghouls killed: 12/12]

[Runner Ghoul killed! Exp +30]

[Ghoul's nails collected: 12/12]

[You've completed the side quest: Ghoul Hunter]

[You've completed the side quest within the time limit. Additional Exp will be provided. Exp +300]

[You've received a new title: Ghoul Killer. Please open your profile to equip the title.]

[You've levelled up! Current level: 7]

[HP has increased by 50 points. Current HP: 1850]

[Total Exp: 10/800]

Numerous notifications were flashing in front of Zaen. Yet, he paid no heed to them. He had finally finished the side quest, but he was tired. He was drenched in sweat and blood, both his and his enemy's. It had been a long and tiring battle but he did it. He wasn't in terrible shape, but to say that he was a wreck would be an understatement.

It took him a day to hunt down the ghouls and collect their nails. There was an annoying reason why it took him so long to complete a quest he previously thought to be 'easy'.

Zaen was theoretically, inside a game. And in any game, it was a foolish thing to assume that all mob monsters drop items after dying. Initially, Zaen thought he only needed to kill 12 ghouls and collect their nails and by looking at how quickly he dealt with three of them, he was filled with confidence that he'll easily complete the side quest. Well, fck what he thought.

Things didn't go down as he had imagined. As time progressed, Zaen realised things were not as easy as he thought they were. For starters, he summarised he'll have to hunt small groups of ghouls which was an easy task. But in reality, there was no small group of them. The smallest group he had encountered after taking down the trio consisted of a dozen ghouls. He somehow managed to kill them all while getting bit twice in the process. One of the ghouls even managed to dodge most of his attacks. In the end, however, he managed to overpower the ghoul and all was good. He had completed one half of the side quest, and now he just needed to collect the nails and be on his way to kill the boss.

As if it was going to be that easy. The moment he tried to get a nail from the closest ghoul, its body disappeared like the ones before. But it didn't leave a nail behind, instead, Zaen found a fresh water bottle in the ghoul's place. He then proceeded to collect nails from the remaining ghouls but the same thing happened over and over. However, not all ghouls dropped water. Some of them dropped food items, throwing knives, and even bandages. Even after hunting a group of 25 ghouls, he only got 3 nails.

In hindsight, however, he ended up getting some useful stuff. Especially the energy drinks which restored his fatigue like magic. An entire day had passed yet he didn't felt any need to sleep. Whenever he felt sleepy or tired, all he had to do was to pop up another energy drink and viola! He was as good as new. With the help of the energy drinks, he managed to kill over a hundred ghouls in 24 hours.

Thanks to the number of ghouls he slew, Zaen also ended levelling up quite a bit. Also, whenever he levelled up, his lost HP was recovered. This was the reason how he ended up having 32 bandages in his inventory apart from the 20 which he was given along with his other gears. He was, however, running a bit low on throwing knives with only 9 of them remaining.

"It's a game alright, an awfully realistic and fun one at that. I can't even remember the last time I felt such an adrenaline rush." He calmly mumbled while he popped open yet another energy drink, "Let's check out what the title thingy is and also use the nails to craft the necklace."

When Zaen reached level five, he unlocked a new feature: Crafting. The smartphone explained it to him in a long and complicated way but Zaen got the gist of it. The short version was, as long as he had the required raw materials, he could kind of trade them with the smartphone to get better items. Right now, he had his eyes on one such item: Necklace of vitality and he had just what he needed to craft it.

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Item: Necklace of Vitality.

Type: Accessory

HP: +300

Rarity: Common item

Durability: 250/250

Effect(s):

• Grants an Active skill, Ghoul's Mark: Regenerates 20HP/second for the next 15 seconds. Can be used when HP drops below 500. Has a cool-down period of 1 day(s).

• Increases the user's HP by 300 points.

• Increases the efficiency of healing item, restoring 10% more health.

• User's wounds also heal a bit faster.

Requires 10 ghoul nails to craft.

Craft this item?

Yes or No.

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Zaen didn't hesitate even for a moment and pressed yes. After battling the ghouls for a day he could more or less infer he would need whatever he could get to kill the boss, Charred Ghoul.

The next moment ten ghoul nails disappeared from his inventory and in their place, Zaen could now see a white, bony necklace. There wasn't anything particularly extraordinary about its looks after all it just looked as if the nails had been weld together on an iron chain.

He quickly equipped it and as he did that, he felt a wave of green light wash over him. Soon another notification popped up on the screen.

[Item is in effect. HP increased by 300 points. Current HP: 2150]

"That takes care of one thing. Now one last thing to do before heading into the park." Zaen mumbled and opened his profile page.

The first thing he noticed was the reduced durability of his dagger and armour. His dagger now had 375/500 durability remaining while each of his armour pieces was at 200/300 each, except the mask of secrecy which was at 400/500. It was given after all the fighting he did. Also, he got hit a lot and thus his armour's durability had dropped quite a bit while he had also been exploiting the dagger thus its durability had dropped even more than the armour.

"I need to find a way to restore their durability. It'll be a shame if the only gears I have, end up breaking." Zaen whispered to himself while playing with the dagger in his right hand, "I don't know how to do it right now, so I should move on. Hopefully, I'll find a way to restore the durability."

Zaen then selected the new shiny icon that had appeared next to his name. The moment he tapped on the icon, it opened a drop-down list in which a single option was available: 'Ghoul Killer'. He proceeded to select that option and a new window appeared in front of him.

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Title: Ghoul Killer

Rarity: Common

Damage: +20

Effect:

• Increases damage dealt to humanoid monsters by 5%

Do you want to equip this title? (Warning: Once equipped, you won't be able to change the title for the next hour.)

Yes or No

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"It's not like I have any other titles to switch to, so yes."

Zaen pressed the yes and he returned to the profile screen. This time though, the shiny icon had disappeared and in its place, 'Ghoul Killer' was written instead. Zaen, now being prepared to deal with the boss, quietly closed the screen and headed towards the park's entrance.

"I'll get you back, Aeron. Just hold on for a little longer."