The beast let out one last growl, shock filled her eyes. The human she preyed upon two lights ago had just landed a killing blow upon her. It was shocking how someone who barely survived their previous encounter had suddenly became a powerhouse to which it could not hope to defeat.
Truth be told, her death was a release. After her whole tribe died to the Grey Savages long ago, she had lost her will to live. It was only to honor the dead, and the unlikely chance to take revenge on her nemesis did she even tried to survive for so long. Her last vision was the human standing over her, pulling out the long spear he had stabbed onto her. If it was him, perhaps he can do it. Then she was alive no more.
Ken felt a surge of energy entered his body, representing the experience he received as reward for the kill. The feeling was exceptionally pleasurable, comparable or even better than beating his own dragon. Ken could imagine people getting addicted to killing, simply because they wanted to experience this pleasure over and over again.
Sadly, it barely lasted a moment, as his body had absorbed all the experience he received. Ken then focused onto the blinking dot on the top left corner of his vision. His four minutes in tweaking with the system had resulted in a more subtle notification. The dot expanded into a now semi-transparent blue screen.
You have slain a LV8 [Wood Tusker], 80 experience acquired.
Level Up, +3 free attribute points.
“Status”
Name: Kendrick Keen (High Human rank 1)
Level: 4 (40/100)
Class: None-
Title: Earth’s pioneer, Outworlder
STR: 8
DEX: 6
END: 8
VIT: 6
INT: 5
WIL: 8
Free Attribute Points: 10
Skill: Observe lv4, Spear mastery lv2, Sneak lv2, Ambush lv2, Dodge lv1.
Looking at his improved status, Ken saw that he had made some significant progress, especially toward his strength which increased by a whole 3 points. Although he had to give credit to Lev who kept replenishing his stamina with her spells, that was still from just one day of training. Ken even considered staying in Lev’s cottage and trained for another day.
The idea was shut down by Lev, who stated that only the early numbers could be increased by training. According to her, the attributes growth would slow down significantly after it reached 10 points. Which by then would require several days of training or even weeks of training to increase it by a point.
His skills were all acquired by some simple repetitions and trainings. Only simple skills such as these are able to be learnt easily, as they belonged to the Basic Skills category. The Uncommon Skills and the rarer ones are harder to get by, as it required proper mentoring or learning it by using a skill book.
Closing both the status and the notification screens, Ken noticed that there was another notification blinking about. As he had changed the attribute increase and skill level up notification to manual inquiry, he was curious as to what the notification was about. Ken then shrug and opened it.
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You have received a new quest.
Avenge the Wood Tuskers Pack, Hunt down members of the Grey Savages tribe. 0/10
Reward: 12000 Experience, Unknown.
Failure: None.
Tooltip: 0/30 days remaining.
The new quest confused Ken. He was the one who killed the boar, so a quest that told him to avenge it made no sense to him. He also knew nothing about the Grey Savages tribe, and for the first time ever, his inquiry was ignored by the system. The good news was that the quest was optional, with no repercussion toward failing the quest.
Dismissing the quest screen, Ken checked one last time for another notification. When he found there was none, he crouched and touch the boar’s body. The beast shimmered into small lights particle, then disappeared, leaving only its horn on the ground.
Taking the horn, Ken noticed it was several inches longer than the boar’s horn, making it one foot long. From his own experience, ken knew how sturdy the horn was. Holding it in his hand, Ken felt the horn base fit perfectly in his grip. Thinking it may be used as an emergency weapon, Ken tossed it into the skin sack he got from Lev.
Satisfied with his last performance, Ken began looking for another foe. He had a deadline to chase, and a quest to complete. The day was young and the jungle residents were not safe just yet.
Ken heard the sound of a stream. By the sound he heard, it was several hundred meters away to his west. Recalling his path, he had walked about 2-3 kilometers north from Lev’s cottage. Ken had gone the way he came from two days ago, as he had previous experience in the area.
The prospect of clean and fresh water reminded Ken how thirsty he was. The water sack he brought along had been emptied some hours ago, not that it was his fault, the sack could barely hold half a liter of water.
Ken began walking toward that direction, while for his own safety keep marking a tree every some ten or so meters. The mark was simple, just some random scratch from a stone he found nearby was enough of a sign for him.
As the sound got louder, Ken was sure he was close to the stream. Unable to contain his thirst any longer, he started to jog. Careless as he might seemed, his eyes were still darting left and right, skimming for any danger lurking in the woods.
Arriving at the small river safely, Ken unconsciously smiled. The water was clear, evidence of the lack of pollution. If he were still on earth, most of the water bodies he had access to would be black or brown, filled with human’s garbage or factory waste.
Not bothered to waste any more time admiring the mother nature, Ken plunged his face into the water, as he saw no creatures lurking under the water. Only after he gulped down several mouthfuls of fresh water did he finally pulled his face back out in satisfaction.
Ken then took off his back sack, taking out the smaller sack meant for water. Removing the stopper on the sack, Ken hummed happily as he leaned toward the water to fill the sack. The movement might had just saved his life, as he heard something zooming past his back, and hit the ground not far away from him.
Suddenly alerted, Ken dropped his water sack and hurriedly picked up his spear and skin sack, which was in the form of a back-string bag. Then he made a sprint toward a big rock which about 5 foot tall. Having ensured of his immediate safety, Ken take a peek at his attacker. It was, no, they were a pack of monkeys. Making a quick count, he found 5 of them, all standing or sitting on top of the trees.
With their brown fur and height of about two feet tall, the monkeys were somewhat similar to the monkeys he saw on earth. What distinguish them from their earth-bound cousins was that their eyes were far more feral and wilder. When one of the monkeys shouted something which he believed was an order to kill him, he noticed another differentiating feature, which was their teeth. Ken knew from a glance that a single bite from one of them was enough to tear a piece of his body apart. Ken’s observation yielded him a system generated information, which he quickly opened.
Name: - (Blood Jaw Ape)
Level: 6
Class: Grunt
STR: 5
DEX: 7
END: 4
VIT: 4
INT: 3
WIL: 4
Observing the other apes, Ken found they were all level 5 or 6. Sensing the dangerous situation he was in, Ken’s mind quickly put itself to work. The sheer number of opponents was enough to kill him several times over.
He knew it was no longer time to hoard his points. Ken quickly opened his status screen and split most of his points between strength and endurance, leaving the last few for dexterity. Then he steadied his spear for a bloody battle.