Chapter 10 - The Festival(3)

I walk into the forest, dagger in hand. My body is tense as always when surrounded by monsters. I'm constantly looking around for monsters even if I know they're nowhere near me. Every small sound forces me to look in a different direction and preparing me for a fight to the death, only to find nothing.

I'm still not used to fighting these monsters. Theoretically, I'm more than ready and even have experience. Realistically, I've only been doing this for around a week, I can't expect to adapt so quickly.

My brain is still trying to figure out ways to run from any potentially dangerous situation rather than face it head-on and get hurt. I'll need to power through it which can cost valuable time in a life-or-death situation. 

"No use thinking about it. I can't stop it without fighting." It's true, my brain will adapt the more I fight. The more contact I have with monsters and life-or-death situations, the more rational I'll become.

I make my way deeper into the forest, the trees blocking most of the sunlight and giving off an eerie atmosphere. It edges me... wait, no, I mean it puts me on edge! My head snaps to the left where I hear a pained howl.

My eyes adjust to the rapid turning of my head to the side and find an injured wolf. Its fur is black, It feels like the light around it is being absorbed by the fur. Its eyes are red, and scarlet, looking close to blood and its teeth, which are the same colour, can tear through me. The teeth are white but with the blood covering its mouth and fur, the maw looks red.

It's missing a leg as well as an eye, it looks badass. I don't think I'm strong enough to beat it in its proper state. It's injured now and can barely move so I should be able to beat it. Should I take the chance? On the one hand, it's extra XP... on the other hand, I may not be able to beat it in my current form. Ah, fuck it. It's a canon event.

I approach the wolf and its head turns toward me. I flinch, not used to seeing such grotesque features. The wolf glares at me with its one good eye and does something similar to a sigh, no hint of fear in its eyes. It seems like it has already accepted its fate. It doesn't resist when my sword goes through its head, nor does it resist when I pull it out. 

[Congratulations! You have killed a Level 9 Black wolf. XP increased]

[You have killed a monster three times your level. XP increased. Currency increased]

[You have received a level 9 core. System Experience increased]

[You have reached Level 5. Rewards are being allocated]

[Level 2 system restored. MANA collection enabled] 

"What?" No damn way, this one wolf got me to level up twice! "status!" 

===============

Name: [Seth]

Level: [5] 

Experience: [384/800]

System restore: [2/10]

Experience: [103/1000]

Ability: [Passive Collector - CON - MANA]

Currency: [143]

Guild ID - 2987 credits|

Savings - 10 962 credits

Status: [Physical: Rested/Mental: Exhausted]

Health Points: [100/100]

Mana Points: [60/60]

Strength: [6]

Dexterity: [6]

Constitution: [6.76]

Intelligence: [6]

Wisdom: [6]

Charisma: [6]

Mana: [6]

SP: [15]

Skills: 

[Combat - Due to having multiple skills related to close combat weapons an enhanced skill which allows you to wield all types of weapons in close combat has been created.]

[Ranged Combat - Due to having multiple skills related to ranged combat weapons an enhanced skill which allows you to wield all types of weapons in ranged combat has been created]

[Cooking - You have been able to cook for yourself and only been poisoned a few times]

[Survival - You can create a fire, hunt for food, etc]

[Reading - You read and understand fast]

[Comprehension - You can understand difficult concepts which are foreign to your previous self]

[Parkour - You move weird]

SP : [10]

Inventory: [Unlock: Level 25]

[1/20]

Quests: [Unlock: Level 10]

Shop: [Unlock: Level 50]

===================

"The system is at level 2. Mana is doing its thing now. I can't believe I got so strong after fighting my first monster! Wait, no, calm down. You only got this far because the wolf was on the verge of death. You can't beat it with your current strength. I might be six times stronger now but I can't be too careless." 

You may be wondering why all my stats suddenly jumped by 5 points. The reasoning is simple, it happens every 5 levels. After five levels all stats will increase by five, it's an achievement or something. To survive making it five levels entitles you to bonus stat points. It's a lifesaver for low-levels like myself but when you reach higher levels, they don't mean much. I'm actually much weaker than normal level 5s. It's because I haven't spent a single stat point. It's not because I'm hoarding it but I want to save it for an emergency situation... maybe saving all of it isn't a good idea though. 

Ah, I'll think about it later. I want to unlock the quest panel and see what I can get from there. I store the corpse of the wolf in my rented spatial ring and keep walking. It isn't long before I find more creatures to kill. They are mostly under level 3 so they aren't difficult to deal with. I stay on the edges of the forest since the monsters are higher level the deeper you go. Eight hours later I'm heading back to the guild. I killed 30 goblins, none of them over level 3, 17 wolves, none of them over level 4 and 23 kobolds, none of them over level 3. 

The basic monsters are on the outskirts of the forest. When you travel deeper, you'll find stronger and more diverse monsters.

===========

Name: [Seth]

Level: [6] 

Experience: [1035/1600]

System restore: [2/10]

Experience: [528/1000]

Ability: [Passive Collector - CON - MANA]

Currency: [213]

Guild ID - 2987 credits|

Savings - 10 962 credits

Status: [Physical: Tired/Mental: It is what it is]

Health Points: [102.6/102.6]

Mana Points: [60.3/60.3]

Strength: [6]

Dexterity: [6]

Constitution: [6.84] +0.01 

Intelligence: [6]

Wisdom: [6]

Charisma: [6]

Mana: [6.08] +0.01

SP: [18]

====================

Slowly but surely my stats are increasing. I walk back to the guild and hand the receptionist the ring. He looks at it and takes it in the back. Probably to count the corpses.

"I did not expect you to have hunted so many monsters." I see surprise and shock across his face. He asks for my guild ID and he scans the credits into it. 

Guild ID: 2987>37815

That's a huge amount. The guild pays based on the level of the monster. The higher level a monster is the more resources it can be used for. The wolf can be used to make potions, weapons, food, furniture and a lot more things while the goblin at most, can only be used to make food or potions and even then the food won't taste very good and the potions won't do much either.

I walk back to the house. It's been around 4 days since I came to the city and so much has happened. Tomorrow is the festival of Inari. I hope nothing happens to ruin it or the experience. Inari, please don't bring the bastard Millers near me. Please grant this wish of mine or there's gonna be murder at the ball... Um, what does that mean?