"Abel, people are currently underestimating the current situation," Jacob warned again, "Like I said before, after 1 month, the world will turn upside down. Just imagine, unlike us humans; animals will not rest and will continue killing and getting stronger, especially those who live in free places, full of prey that can make their strength greater."
Jacob continued, "Unlike us, they obey instinct more. Because of these instincts, many of them have noticed the flow of what is happening and will seek more strength, as it is something addictive. You yourself may have already experienced how satisfying it is to level up. I think it shouldn't be worse for the animals, or it might even give them an even greater pleasurable feeling. So don't relax. If you keep wanting to get stronger, dad and mom should go with you, you understand?"
"Of course, I understand all this," Abel frowned, "This fucking world is going to be in chaos, yeah? Things are going to get ugly if it's like you said, and we need to stay strong if we don't want to die, and we might run out of food, yes? Shit, I understood all of that, but still, I didn't want to worry about it now." She ruffled her hair.
It was hard to imagine such vile words coming out of the mouth of a sweet and lovely girl with a sweet and cheerful disposition.
"Here, take this and share it with Mom and Dad. It's a special fruit that gives EXP, although it's only able to give EXP to tamed animals. It's good enough, however, to get more companions to fight alongside you." Jacob transferred to her 50 fruits comprising apples, bananas, and oranges.
They were the three types that had been picked by Yuki and Aurora, and like Jacob said, they were only able to give EXP to the tamed animal type.
"My God, you even have something like this?" Holding the big bag of fruit, Abel asked curiously, "Where did you get this? Is it just any old fruit, or is it found in some special location? Did you buy it at that store in the Labyrinth?"
"This is something I got as a reward. Remember what I said about winning a place to put my pets with whom I had formed a contract? They're the ones this fruit comes from." Jacob didn't hide anything from her.
It was good that she knew how magical the world had become and that he had that kind of thing. If necessary, she could go to him to get more fruit. Maybe in some situation it might become necessary; there could always be some mission that he didn't know about.
"Thanks, Jacob." Abel was no fool. She could imagine that not just anyone would reveal so much of himself. She also knew Jacob well enough to understand his intent, and knew that if it had been anyone else, he wouldn't have given out so much important information, even private information about the things he'd gotten so far.
"Do not worry about it. I am your big brother. Of course I will help you." Jacob smiled and then added, "I don't want to lose any of you."
Jacob touched Abel's head and rubbed gently. He was being very sincere. Although in his memories his family survived in the beginning, they were still killed because of his weakness...
Even though it was just memories of things that happened in a different world, Jacob didn't want that to happen again. If there was a way to survive, there was hope, and in this rapidly evolving world, he wanted his parents and sister to survive.
"Jacob... Do you think there will be different monsters besides the ones transformed by the system?" Abel asked, showing off anxiety on her pretty face.
"Perhaps..." Jacob knew that only dungeons would appear at first, however, there was no way for him to explain that kind of information, at least not now, so he said, "However, although I believe that it is good to think that there can be and be cautious about it, we shouldn't overthink it and get paranoid."
A valid observation, since many people became paranoid about this and even avoided empowering themselves, choosing safer places. Because of that, they were either taken advantage of by someone or they were killed.
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As time would pass, 'good people' would cease to exist. Only a few in his last life had been willing to help others later on, however, without any return, hardly anyone would help those who chose not to evolve in the beginning.
Not all normal jobs continued. If someone wasn't going to adapt now, it would become too late...
The two continued talking for a while longer. After hearing a lot of information from Jacob, Abel sighed, "Jacob, would you be willing to come back with me now?"
"No, it's not yet time for me to leave here. I have something I need to do and I can only do it in this city, but I promise to come back as soon as I finish doing it." Jacob hugged her.
-
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Half an hour later, Abel went home in a taxi. She still had to inform their parents, as well as adjust all future plans, despite wanting to spend more time with her brother.
'Unexpectedly, she achieved many good things...' Jacob smiled at the thought of Abel's unbelievable luck.
Going down to the 15th floor, she got almost a complete set of armor and a pair of weapons, being a short sword and an ax from the boss. She wanted to leave it to him, but Jacob refused.
At the time he told her, "I'm already strong enough, besides, you're going to need this to help Mom and Dad."
He also reminded her to let their parents use the equipment when entering the Maze, one at a time.
'With this, I don't have to worry about them for a while,' Jacob muttered in his mind before preparing to advance to the 20th floor.
His real intention was always to get past the 20th floor, where he would unlock the three starter mounts that become accessible for purchase in the Labyrinth. Each Labyrinth mount merged with the body and increased all major stats by 1. It may seem simple or too minor of an increase to most, however, this was an eternal and cumulative increase. As long as it was not the same type of mount, he could fuse several battle mounts with his body.
The main point was to be able to have a means of locomotion at high speed. With a mount, he could even move at over 50km/s through the jungle. Even if he used a horse, although it drew a little attention, it was not much different from land horses. The horses sold in the shop were unnaturally larger than ordinary horses and very powerful, impact-type horses.
"Don't overthink it. Just do it..."
Muttering these words, Jacob donned his set of gear and entered the Maze once more. After a long night of sleep, Jacob's thoughts were more in order. Before, he was still adapting and he was still wavering over the foreign memories.
In the Labyrinth on the next floor were four minotaurs. The only difference from the ones before was that these minotaurs were a little bigger and used better weapons. Of course, there was also the question of the level being higher.
Jacob touched his chin while thinking. 'All four are at level 22. With my current status, I can get past them, but they shouldn't be a problem so long as I'm very careful.'
The sword category of weapons would be released on floor 20. Although they started out as just a low quality sword, it could be upgraded with items gained from floor 20 onwards.
'I think I can make it to the 21st floor. If I remember correctly, the boss is a big Minotaur at level 26.'
[Hasten]!
Jacob moves at great speed.
[Cold Breath]!
Three minotaurs were frozen solid.
Without pausing, Jacob dodged the fourth minotaur's club. His feet crossed and he came back with a spin. Lifting one of his feet, he kicked the minotaur, and without giving it time to recover, he backed up and attacked with three quick punches.
Jacob's movements were smooth and deft. He attacked a few more times until he stopped when he saw the system message.
[Experience gained: 44]
[Bonus experience gained: 22]
"Wow!"
To Jacob's great surprise, the instant the minotaur disappeared, many gold coins were left behind. There were so many coins that they scattered across the floor, shining like a small golden sand pile.
'There must be more than 5,000 gold coins...'
Despite wanting to collect the gold coins now, the three other minotaurs were unfrozen and roared furiously.
...
A few minutes later, Jacob defeated all the minotaurs with few injuries. They were, however, nothing serious, something that would only need a few minutes for his current level to recover.
Besides 20 more gold coins, the miniatures had dropped two items: a medium quality hatchet and a low quality cloak. The first minotaur, being the boss, had dropped a whopping total 10 thousand gold coins!
Jacob appraised the cloak.
__
[Lesser Cloak - made of Mighty Minotaur leather (Low Quality)]
Strength +3
__
Jacob didn't think too much and donned the cloak, then assessed the hatchet.
__
[Quick Hatchet (Medium Quality)]
Attack +50
Agility +30
[Special Skill:
__
'Not bad,' Jacob nodded with a smile as he held the hatchet in his right hand.
The increase in attack and agility was good, and the skill too. Although he could lose the hatchet when using the skill, depending on the situation, this skill could become very useful.
Edited by: Azurtha