‘Holy shit. Who the fuck made this forest. How are there so many King beasts. I’ve yet to meet a normal beast. The only good thing about this is that I can get more experience. The bad thing, I’m surrounded by mutant bunnies.’
Surrounding Kal were four creatures that looked like Labrador sized bunnies. The disturbing thing about the bunnies though, were the fact that their front fangs extended over their bottom jaws, reminding Kal of the sabre-tooth tigers from the past.
Identifying them, he saw the following:
King Sabre-Tooth Rabbits
Health: ???
Level: 4
This species of rabbit is native to the Aleran forest. These beasts travel in packs. Why packs and not herds? They are most definitely not herbivores. These bunnies will attack almost any creature that wonders into its path as long as they do not cause them fear. These sabre-tooth rabbits are all Kings, thus making their stats much greater. You are advised to fight them with a party of 7 to 10 people who are at least 2 levels above the highest rabbit.
Your Identify skill proficiency is too low for more information.
‘Fuck this place, good thing I made sure to relearn some of my magic skills as I will really need them. I can’t believe I got into this bind. Thinking back, I was a bit too reckless.’
----------------------------------------
2 hours earlier
‘Ahahahaha, I am unbeatable! Well as long as the beasts are low levels.’
Kal had just gained 7 new skills, all of them magic based.
Skills Gained
Fire Ball
3%
Fire Arrow
2%
Fire Shield
4%
Ice Magic
5%
Ice Ball
2%
Ice Arrow
4%
Ice Shield
3%
‘Fire ball, fire arrow, fire shield, ice magic, ice ball, ice arrow and ice shield. They will keep me safe till I get to level 10 and can get another 2 elemental magic skills. Ice and fire covers all the basics. Time for me to go out and hunt some more.’
Heading towards the area in which he killed the King Woodland Boar the day before, Kal started to explore. After 5 minutes of stealthily going around, he had discovered nothing of note. Finally, he chanced upon a plant that he recognised.
‘Potatoes!’
Yes, he had found potatoes, and he promptly dug them up. Having stored the ones he found, he searched for more. Following the potatoes, he realised that the section of woods he was in, was a bit different to the one the boar lived in.
‘I’m probably in some other beast’s territory, time to hide again.’
Just as he was about to enter stealth, he realised that a set of eyes were staring right at him.
The current situation was reached. Kal was surrounded by the four bunnies. Two were level 3, one level 4 and one level 6.
Knowing about their aggressiveness, Kal decided to strike first with a fire arrow. Chanting under his breath, he released the arrow directly into the head of the closest rabbit.
‘It’s so annoying that I can’t multi-cast, insta-cast, or chantless-cast. Plus, my accuracy is pretty poor right now. And that bunny is the only one within my accuracy range right now.’
Having said this, the rabbit he had aimed at was still a good 20 metres from him. The arrow hit it in the middle of its forehead. Due to Kal’s high intelligence and wisdom, he had spent a few extra mana on the arrow to make sure it would penetrate. Due to this, he managed to instantly kill the level 4 rabbit by frying its brain.
Drawing his sword, Kal cast a fire shield between himself and two of the rabbits. Doing such, he managed to isolate the remaining level 3 rabbit. Knowing that his shield should hold for at least 15 seconds, Kal rushed at the rabbit. The rabbit in turn leapt directly at Kal, its fangs aimed at Kal’s throat. Ducking and moving diagonally, Kal swung his sword in an overhand swing at the back of the rabbit.
The rabbit though, managed to twist in mid air and took the hit directly with one of its fangs. Unfortunately for it, its fang was completely severed, and the pain caused it to lose its bearings. In this time, Kal had pulled out a throwing knife using his left hand and launched it into the rabbit’s chest. He then took a step forward and decapitated the rabbit with a single swing.
By the time this had finished, his fire shield had expired, and the other two rabbits were hurdling towards him. Knowing he couldn’t avoid both, he decided to take the impact from the lower levelled rabbit. Chanting ‘ice shield’ under his breath, he formed it just on his arm and used it to deflect the rabbit, while at the same time dodging the higher levelled rabbit entirely.
He sheathed his sword while the rabbit was trying to break his shield and drew another dagger from his belt. Using this dagger, he stabbed the rabbit in the abdomen and disembowelled it. After shaking it off, he backed away quickly and gained some distance from the final one. Having taken out three rabbits already in quick succession, Kal was starting to get tired, and that was not taking into account that he had used a lot of mana, leaving him with mental exhaustion as well.
Trying to finish the fight quickly, Kal drew his sword once more and rushed the rabbit. The rabbit did not change its approach and jumped at Kal. Kal decided to go under the rabbit this time and dragged his sword the length of the rabbit’s body. Once again, Kal backed away and created space. Instead of taking a risk to finish off the two rabbits that were lying on the floor and bleeding out, Kal just stood there and waited. After about 3 minutes, both of them had breathed their last.
Having regenerated enough mana to be back in decent condition, Kal quickly cleaned, skinned and stored his kills. After that he made his way carefully back to his camp. Lying down on his back, he reflected on his fight.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
‘That was a bit too risky, I’m very lucky that I managed to come out completely uninjured. It all only happened because I lost concentration. If I had kept stealth and discovered them first, I could very easily have finished the fight. I could have shot the highest level beast using magic from under cover and potentially have used a throwing dagger on the second most powerful one. That would have left me with only the two weakest ones left. They could be further separated using a shield spell and taken out individually, thus minimising risk. I need to pay attention if I’m to survive and get more powerful. At least I got a lot of experience.’
Kal then started to go through his notifications.
You have killed 1 level 6, 1 level 4 and 2 level 3 King Sabre Tooth Rabbits
164 experience gained
213 exp gain with title effects
‘It’s a good thing that they all counted as happening in the same battle. That gives me a few extra experience and every little bit helps.’
Level Up – Level 3 reached
‘My levelling is going good as well. I’ll try and grind some skills and experience over the next few days then.’
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4 days later
‘Finally back.’
Kal had been hunting during daylight for the last 4 days and grinding his skills when it was dark. In this manner, he had collected the souls of another 35 beasts. With his stealth skill active, he was able to sneak up behind his unsuspecting prey and kill them or cripple them with his surprise attack.
Using this method, he had gained enough experience to get to level 6. Fortunately, due to the level of the monsters found in the Aleran forest, he was able to get through the bottleneck of the 5th level pretty easily. The bottleneck was caused by the fact that to get from level 5 to level 6, the experience required was the same that was required to get from level 1 to 5.
He had not gained any new skills in this period and had instead focused on increasing the skills he had. He had made pretty large gains in his skills. He had also been able to train his body and mind to increase his stats. His status was as followed.
Name
Kallok Glaur Thanatos
Level
6 (312/1200)
Race
Human/???/Demon(inactive)
Age
18
Profession
-
Title (Active)
The Progenitor
Health
250/250
Mana
870/870
Strength
43
Agility
51
Vitality
25
Intelligence
87
Wisdom
59
Mana Regen
29.5 (per min)
Charisma
62
Luck
130
Free Attribute Points
0
Beasts
2
Skills
27
Titles
7
Skills
Taming
25%
Identify
2%
Mana Manipulation
6%
Unarmed Combat
17.5%
Sword Mastery
10%
Dual Handed Combat
8%
Armed Combat
15%
Dagger Mastery
9%
Evasive Manoeuvres
12%
Tricking
9%
Free Running
12%
Throwing
23%
Jumping
10%
Running
11%
Footwork
13%
Body Control
9%
Stealth
13%
Skinning
9%
Cooking
8%
Fire Magic
11%
Fire Ball
12%
Fire Arrow
15%
Fire Shield
11%
Ice Magic
10%
Ice Ball
9%
Ice Arrow
9%
Ice Shield
13%
Seeing as he had enough meat to last him for the next few weeks due to having caught and killed a few more boars, Kal decided to get rid of some of the rabbit bodies he had left. Placing them side by side, he had 17 rabbits that he no longer wanted.
‘I offer these back to you, to the realm upon which we walk, take back their bodies and the exchange shall be made.’
What Kal had just done was known as the oath of exchange. Where the killer of the beast would take what he needed and then offer the rest to the realm itself. In exchange, the realm would exchange items and money that are judged to be equal in value by itself. It also takes into account the difficulty of killing the beast as a level 500 killing a level 100 beast and a level 20 killing a level 100 beast is vastly different.
A flash of light occurred and the bodies on the ground disappeared, only to be replaced by a pile of gold and silver coins as well as some equipment and a few books.
‘Wow, you really do get a lot more money for trading in King beasts than normal ones. The equipment doesn’t look half bad either. But those skill books are what I’m excited about.’
Checking them, he found the following skills: Diamond Body; Elemental Chains; Origin of Flight and Assassinate.
Diamond body was a body tempering skill that would increase his stats as the proficiency went up. When it reached 100% it would increase vitality by 50 and strength by 25. Unfortunately, it could only be learned at level 10.
Elemental chains was a skill that could be used to immobilise his opponents using an element under his ability. It would get stronger as the proficiency and power levels of its user increased. It had a level requirement of 20.
Origin of flight was a skill that would eventually allow him to fly by using mana. The flight height and duration depended on the proficiency and the users power. It required the jumping skill to be at 100% before it could be learned.
Assassinate was the only skill that was immediately available for him to learn. It would increase the damage caused when he attacked an unsuspecting victim. The attack would be more powerful as the skill proficiency increased.
Learning assassinate immediately, Kal had a big grin on his face.
‘All of these skills are ridiculously expensive if I wanted to buy them, and both Origin of Flight and Elemental Chains are almost impossible to find. I’ve only heard of a handful of people who know either of them. Thank you, luck, for getting me these.’
‘Now that I’ve been working like mad for the last few days, I’ll take tomorrow of to make some more plans and to let my body adjust to all its changes. I might also try and explore that pond over there as I have no idea what’s in it yet. Time for some sleep.’
Saying such, Kal did his regular routine and then promptly fell asleep in his tent. Never knowing that the beast moving in his direction would get here sometime tomorrow. A day in which he planned to stay at camp.