Fortunately, Marcus didn’t remain confused for too long and forced himself to adapt to the situation.
In a world like this, where it was either him or the monsters, he certainly hoped it would be the monster lying in a pool of blood and not himself.
The road ahead would likely present many more similar scenes, so he needed to adjust quickly.
After regaining his composure, Marcus noticed the option to broadcast his achievement server-wide.
"So, I was the 1st to kill a monster?"
Marcus didn’t feel like he had been particularly fast—he’d even spent extra time in the first underground cavern searching for hidden rewards.
Could it be that others hadn’t explored the underground caverns?
Or maybe they were just lucky and hadn’t encountered any monsters?
Unable to figure out the reason, Marcus decided to accept his luck graciously.
"Yes, there’s nothing to hide," he thought.
Marcus quickly made his choice. According to the rules, players were unlikely to encounter each other at this stage, so revealing his achievement wouldn’t matter much.
Plus, it tickled a faint sense of pride within him.
As soon as he chose to disclose his accomplishment, a voice echoed in the minds of all players.
[Player “Marcus” has achieved the FIRST MONSTER SLAYEER, earning the title of Pioneer. Let this be an example for everyone to bravely challenge themselves and explore the unknown.]
[Player “Marcus” has achieved the FIRST MONSTER SLAYEER, earning the title of Pioneer. Let this be an example for everyone to bravely challenge themselves and explore the unknown.]
[Player “Marcus” has achieved the FIRST MONSTER SLAYER, earning the title of Pioneer. Let this be an example for everyone to bravely challenge themselves and explore the unknown.]
The announcement was repeated three times as if worried someone might miss it.
In another underground cavern, a man named Winston held a wooden spear and thrust it through the throat of a mutated rat.
At almost the exact same time, he heard the announcement about Marcus’s first kill, and it left him seething with frustration. He stabbed the already-dead rat several more times. Even though the system indicated the rat was already dead, he couldn’t stop himself.
“So close!” Winston exclaimed angrily. “Just a few seconds more, and I would’ve been the first to kill a monster! If it weren’t for the time wasted crafting this weapon, the Pioneer title should’ve been mine.”
He had been lucky enough to find a crafting recipe for a wooden spear in the first cavern, but making it had cost him valuable time, which resulted in missing the title.
In truth, nobody knew the first kill would award a title. If they had, Winston would have prioritized exploration.
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“Marcus, huh? I’ll remember you,” Winston muttered, his eyes filled with malice. His dissatisfaction over missing the title turned into resentment toward Marcus.
Apart from Winston, many others found themselves in similar situations. Several were in the middle of fighting monsters, on the verge of their own first kills.
In the end, Marcus’s achievement was partly due to sheer luck.
The world chat channel exploded with discussions about Marcus. People speculated about who he was, what bonuses the title might provide, and most people were still begging for food and water.
"Marcus, you're awesome! Does anyone know who this guy is?"
"Boss, please, give me some water. I'm dying of thirst."
"Big brother, do you need a companion? I just turned eighteen!"
"Can you spare some food? I’ll work as your slave in return!"
"Don’t believe it. The person above is a fraud—a cross-dresser with a bigger…you-know-what than you."
Amidst this chaos:
"By the way, does anyone have extra clothes? I’m freezing here."
…
Marcus, however, was oblivious to all this.
He wasn’t checking the world chat but instead reviewing his spoils.
The first thing he examined was the Pioneer title.
[Pioneer]: Luck +1. As a trailblazer in exploration, the gods are moved by your courage.
Luck—an attribute that hadn’t appeared on the stat panel—seemed to be a hidden one.
Opening the attribute panel and examining it further, Marcus found the hidden attribute section. Among the attributes, Luck stood alone with a value of 1, while the others were all at 0.
"So my initial Luck value was 0," Marcus realized. "No wonder I couldn’t find any water even after opening several rewards."
He then moved on to the other rewards.
His experience points had increased from 0/10 to 1/10. Killing nine more mutated rats would allow him to reach Level 2.
[Tier-1 Magic Crystal]: A rare drop from monsters corrupted by magic energy. Magic crystals serve as a monster’s energy source and have numerous uses. With the right method, you could even absorb the energy to level up. Alternatively, you could use them as currency. It’s said that merchants in black cloaks are particularly interested in these.
[Mutated Rat’s Fangs]: The mutated rats, altered by magic energy, have sharp and deadly teeth. If you find an enchantment altar, you may be able to enhance your equipment’s attack power.
“Killing the mutated rat yielded quite a bit,” Marcus thought as he stashed the items in his inventory.
The former seemed akin to in-game currency, while the latter was material for enchanting equipment.
Both items would likely remain valuable from the early to late stages of the game.
Marcus quickly realized that after securing basic survival needs, his main focus should be levelling up and gathering magic crystals.
After checking the loot, he turned to the rat’s corpse.
“Rat meat is probably edible, right? And maybe the blood too?”
The bold thought crossed his mind, but he hesitated after noticing the rat’s blood wasn’t bright red—it was somewhat blackened.
“Could it be poisonous?” Marcus wondered.
Then, he noticed a Disassemble option on the rat’s corpse.
Focusing on the button revealed a system prompt:
[The rat’s entire body is contaminated by magic energy. Consuming the infected flesh and blood may cause magic contamination. The system’s disassembly process will remove the infected parts and extract useful materials.]
So, the flesh was indeed poisonous and consuming it could lead to contamination.
Clicking on Disassemble, Marcus watched as the system swiftly completed the process in under a second.
[Disassembled mutated rat corpse x1: Obtained 100g of clean rat meat and 1 rat skin.]
Surprisingly, some edible meat remained. In this environment, no one would care about the fact that it was rat meat—they’d only see it as a much-needed source of protein.
‘At least I don’t have to worry about food for some time! But I would rather not eat it meh!’
Although Marcus had no intention of eating it himself—at least not while other food was available—he stored the clean meat in his inventory. The thought of eating rat meat made him feel queasy.
Within the cavern were also four thorny bushes, two on each side.
Marcus couldn’t identify the plants but noticed that their dense thorns likely made them an unlikely hiding spot for monsters.
Still, ever-cautious, Marcus used his shovel to prod each bush.
His caution proved fruitful: the first bush on the right concealed four small mutated rats.
These rats, about ten centimeters long, appeared to be the young offspring of the larger rat Marcus had killed earlier.
For a moment, Marcus understood why the mother rat had fought so desperately—it was protecting its young.