However, his excitement was crushed when the purple turned out to only be a tiny fragment of a Pathstone. He touched it, then used [Objectify].
Epic Pathstone Fragment: A Pathstone Fragment that forms a random Pathstone when one has acquired all the pieces.
Just from the size of it, he could only imagine how many he needed to turn it into its real form. Was it six, eight, or twelve? He wasn’t sure.
He had never seen the fragments before, so it was obviously yet another new addition to the System. Although he was a bit disappointed it wasn’t a full Pathstone–no doubt an Epic fragment was still rare. Noah sighed. Well, at least he could collect them, but the words “random” left a sour taste in his mouth. It could be anything. Hell, it could be something related to chimney sweeping for all he knew.
Next, he moved onto the blue Skill Essence from the mission reward. It depicted a monstrous shout with a humanoid holding a weapon in front of it.
Rare Willpower Path Skill Essence - Pact of Two: Your tamed monster fills your body with a beastly strength. In a small area around your pet, you duplicate half of its stats and add it to your own. Due to the lack of Pathstone, you are unable to currently learn the Skill Essence.
Shit, a Rare Skill Essence. Noah’s hand trembled as he held it tightly within his grasp. Was his luck going to change in this world? The fact that it gave him half of his monster's stats was incredible. The stronger his tamed beast was, the stronger he would become. Even though it was just a Rare Skill, the impact it would give him was enormous. It felt more like an Epic Skill than anything, or for him specifically, it was like a Legendary Skill. It was truly a hallmark skill of a tamer that focused on a hybrid assault, one that they would all froth at the mouth to obtain. And he had it.
His head darted around before carefully tucking it into his pocket. He had no use of it yet without the Willpower Pathstone. Noah understood the importance of keeping Pathstones and Skill Essences a secret at all times, unless one wanted it taken from them. Next up was the Common Pathstone.
You have obtained the Common Skill Essence - Spear-Proficiency. Do you wish to accept it? Y/N
“Yes,” Noah said.
As he accepted, there was no pain, nor a force that sent him back, only a heat that seeped into his skin. He seethed in a sharp breath. It was like someone had pierced a needle into him and injected some sort of boiling liquid. It travelled through his bloodstream and into his head where information popped up
You have gained the Skill Spear-Proficiency.
Spear-Proficiency - level 1: Damage you deal with spears has increased. Incremental gain each level up.
Noah brandished the spear and thrust it forward. Unlike before, it was a little faster and he could tell that it packed more power than before. It was basic, but anything that increased his power was welcome.
The last was a Common Pathstone. It had the image of a pointed hat with a ball of fire in the background. Touching it, information just like the other times flashed in front of his eyes.
You have obtained the Common Magic Pathstone - Fire: Enables the user to unlock magical Skills with the attribute of Fire.
| Stats per Level: Magic +1
Magic. Noah smiled at the Pathstone he had obtained, but he shook the thought of accepting it from his mind. It wasn’t what he needed to survive. He needed the physical Stats in order to battle the monsters in the jungle, and to survive the gruelling environment.
Noah decided to keep it for later. Who knows what survivor he would run into, if they were interested in the magic path–Pyromancer–then they would need this stone.
Next, his vision peered at the new spear from the kobold.
Level 3 - Common Kobold Spear: A makeshift spear crafted from a strip of hard jungle wood, and a tip created from the sharpened hard shells of a Gleskyx.
| Dex +1
With his new mission reward, the newly gained spear was immediately made redundant. He was given a choice of weapon, but he knew what he was going to choose. The king of the battlefield, the spear.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
You have chosen the Common weapon, Spear.
With the System message, the weapon dropped down in front of his feet seemingly from nowhere. It was as if it spawned from nothing, but he didn’t care. He took hold of the weapon and used Objectify.
Level 5 - Common Spear: A common spear made of common materials granted by the System.
| Str +2, Dex +1
It was a lot smoother in his hands, and the point was far more accurate than the hastily, hand-crafted Kobold spear–and especially his hand-made one that was pretty much useless.
Noah clambered back up to his feet. He heaved in gulps of air from his short fight with the beast. He wasn’t unfit, quite the opposite as his stats were evidence of that. But the alien-like humidity made everything a strenuous activity.
The corner of his lips turned upward. With his hands, he touched his mouth. I’m–smiling? Shit, this is way more exciting than dumb fights in the streets.
He gazed at the injured kobold and pointed to the red vial on the ground. Drink it. Noah ordered within his mind and listened to the command.
Noah stood still for a second before picking up the spear. His bloodied hands trembled from the adrenaline from the previous fight. Biting his tongue, he looked into the jungle with his spear at the ready and waited for any noise. Once nothing came out, he took a deep breath to calm down then picked up his own potion.
Uncommon health potion: Restores basic wounds.
He uncorked it and swallowed the contents within. The bitter taste almost made him vomit, but he fought back the bile. A warmth bubbled within his stomach, then he felt it move towards his hands. He watched in amazement as the wounds were restored. Flexing his hands, the pain had mostly gone.
Guard the treeline. Noah ordered.
The kobold nodded. It picked up its own spear and with a hop in its step, shifted itself into the treeline.
Noah looked in amazement as the monster listened to his commands. Why couldn’t Hank listen like that? With Krall tamed, his survival chances had increased dramatically.
Next up was taking another mission. He skimmed past all the others, until his vision landed on the next stage of the Monster Taming mission line. It seemed he wasn’t high enough level for it yet as it was currently greyed out.
[ Locked - Level 5 ] I - Kill 15 Kobolds with your tamed monster.
| Reward: Common armour piece.
| Grants Common Willpower path Skill Essence: Kill Command.
I need to quickly reach level five before anyone else and achieve the world first reward. An itch appeared in his palms.
The sun was becoming more intense from every second that passed. He clicked his parched tongue.
I need to find water. With that thought in mind he gazed at his pet kobold.
“Water, find it,” Noah commanded.
The kobold nodded with a toothy grin and walked forward into the tree line. It was strange interacting with it, it felt like trying to train Hank all over again, but it was far easier than with his dog. Did Krall have a susceptible mind from his Taming Skill, or was he just that good?
Shaking his head. Noah carefully continued deeper into the jungle with his pet kobold.
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They passed a palm tree. He wasn’t sure if he was dehydrated, but his vision had turned hazy. Maybe it’s a mirage.
Just as he took another step, the kobold clicked its tongue and hissed.
Noah heard a click and a thick, elongated log tore past the front of his body. Narrowly missing him by a single step. He felt the humid air swirl past his head, followed by the sound of leaves and twigs being crunched.
It was a trap.
Holy shit, that was close. He nodded to Krall.
The sound of sudden thumping forced him to find cover behind a tree and peeked behind its sturdy bark.
Three reptiles scampered into view. Their heads rotated, their nostrils twitched, they looked right at Noah.
Fuck, they can smell me. Noah’s heart rate jumped, he could feel it beating against his chest. Calm down, they have no ranged weapons; two have daggers while the other holds a shield and some sort of wooden club. Two versus three, I can do this. Remember your training.
Noah took a deep breath, then stood out from the tree. He couldn’t allow them to flank him.
“Krall, flank the left,” Noah said.
Krall listened and scampered to the left, behind a group of trees.
Noah stretched out his spear at the ready as the kobolds screeched and dashed toward him. The fallen leaves from the jungle foliage were kicked underfoot.
“C’mon you scaly bastards!” Noah screamed out a crazed laugh as adrenaline took over his body.