Hunting Spoils

Returning to level 1 was a relief to Klaus Park, but this was still far from the ideal level for venturing beyond the walls of Holinda City. Klaus felt that if he took a single blow from any monster or player, he would probably instantly die, as he did when he fought Elfire Waylan.

Anyway, he also felt he was beginning to get habituated to using <Telekinesis >, which was comforting, but he still didn't know the limits of this Inherent Skill. Because of this pending questioning, Klaus decided it was time to do some small tests.

After spending the last arrow in his quiver, he hid for a while, but he did not stray far from where the corpses of the last Black Vultures he had killed fell.

'There are three corpses, and they are together. If I can use all this remaining MP to get them all at once, that will be ideal.' Klaus thought, and from behind a tree, he stretched his right-hand forward, stretching his fingers tightly.

A greenish blue aura enveloped the three bird corpses and lifted them up, but the novice saw his fifteen mana points quickly deplete.

"Shit..." Klaus uttered, disappointed, and as his MP zeroed out, he felt a sudden utter despondency and weariness.

Each of the Black Vultures was about a foot tall and appeared to weigh at least something close to ten pounds, so it was understandable for Klaus not to be able to carry that much weight with the first Skill he gained. However, since Klaus didn't keep any spoils when killing the monsters, he probably needed to touch the bodies or something. If that was the point, the bodies of those birds could probably contain excellent drops for the early game. For that reason, Klaus didn't want to leave them behind.

'Carrying three corpses that big isn't possible yet, but maybe carrying just one is.'

With that thought, Klaus devoured the second of the three loaves of bread the game provided for all beginners and watched his mana points rise rapidly.

This was one of the many advantages of feeding and hydrating in Rise Online; in addition to regenerating MP faster, HP and stamina were also regenerated. Obviously, it wasn't instantaneous like using a revitalization potion or an energization potion, but it was already something remarkable, not to mention that the mental dejection generated by depleting mana had been extinguished in the same hour.

"One more round." Klaus Park uttered.

Again, Klaus stretched his right-hand forward and focused his vision on the body of one of the dead birds. The corpse of the Black Vulture trembled and rose into the air, enveloped by the same aura as before. At that moment, Klaus looked at the MP bar on his HUD and noticed that the MP had dropped only five points, leaving twenty-five remaining.

Moving his right index finger, Klaus brought the Black Vulture's corpse closer and closer, repeating the same motion as if he were pulling a thread with his finger.

One of the Black Vultures flying over the area thought for a second that he saw movement on the ground below, but when he actually looked down, he saw only the still trees and a lot of fog.

Mentally, Klaus once again thanked the developers for creating a place with such a dense fog and then lifted the bird's body again with his mind, finally managing to bring it to himself.

"Urghh! That stinks." Klaus spoke spindly as soon as the corpse got close enough, covering his nose with one hand.

That Black Vulture's body stank of carrion, like meat forgotten under the ground for three whole days. It was unpleasant, and Klaus could not tell whether it smelled so bad because Black Vultures ate rotten meat or because the decomposition process was also an existing feature in Rise Online. Maybe both alternatives were correct.

Fortunately for Klaus, he would not need to dissect the monster. All he needed to do was to touch the Black Vulture for several warning monitors to appear before him.

[You obtained 'Reinforced Black Feathers' (4x).]

[You obtained 'Normal Black Feathers' (10x).]

[You obtained 'Black Vulture Flesh' (2x).]

[You gained +60 XP.]

Klaus Park was glad to gain so many items, although he didn't know how much each one was worth, nor precisely what they were for.

He then opened the inventory to read the descriptions of each of the items. This was crucial for him to decide whether it was worth it to already go back to the city or not.

Sliding his index finger across the system screen with normality, Klaus said to himself:

"Got it. With the feathers, I can both make arrows and sell them to merchants. Is the meat also... saleable?"

When Klaus Park clicked on the meat icon, the thing materialized in the palm of his left hand, and he could feel how rubbery the meat was.

"It will definitely lock up my intestines if I eat this thing."

The steak-cut meat was not red, nor was it pink. In fact, the tone of the beef was somewhere between brown and black, which bothered Klaus a little, who soon put it back in his inventory.

Since Klaus Park was waiting for the MP to naturally regenerate a little more before he pick up another Black Vulture corpse, he decided that it would be a good idea to use the moment to also read the descriptions of the items Huko's Arrow and Fire Stone I, which he received when picked up the belongings of Magma's group.

However, at that very moment, he could see something moving in the mist in front of him through the semi-transparent system window.

Klaus immediately stood up, and not knowing for sure what the Huko Arrows were capable of, he squirted them into his previously empty quiver.

'I'm sure I'm not crazy. I saw something in the mist.' He stated to himself as he positioned one of the green-tipped arrows on the string of the Old Bow.

With his eyes closed, Klaus intently stared into the fog for a few seconds.

'I wonder if it was just an animal? A squirrel?' wondered Klaus.

Just as Klaus was about to distend the bowstring and stow Huko Arrow in the quiver, a black silhouette moved behind one of the dry trees before him. Alerted, Klaus immediately lifted the Old Bow and shot in the direction of the tree in which the silhouette was hiding.

The Huko Arrow flew even faster than ordinary arrows, producing a unique whirring sound, but when the arrow reached the halfway point, it suddenly turned to the left and hit a tree that was not the target.

*Boom*

The arrow's impact caused such a massive explosion that it reverberated throughout the Cloudy Woods, which caused the Black Vultures to start crunching relentlessly, alerting all monsters, animals, and players throughout the region.

Luckily, Klaus had shot the arrow and then ran, so he wasn't caught in the blast radius, but having the monsters throughout the forest on high alert was just as much of a problem.

'I couldn't hit the person, or whatever that was, otherwise I would have received the experience notification for the hit.' Klaus concluded with a serious look on his face, running as fast as he could be away from that spot.

As the noise produced by the birds in the sky did not cease, Klaus had to look back to see if any monster was chasing him. To his surprise, the tall silhouette not only managed to survive the explosion from earlier, but was right behind him, running at a frightening speed.

'What's that!? A Specter!? Shit! This is a horror game and no one warned me about it?!'

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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