My dad nodded and my comment and looked over at my mother. They both exchanged worried expressions but nodded as well. he let go of my shoulder showing that I could go ahead. With a deep breath i selected my first target. it was a kobold about 15 feet away just off to the left. It was nibbling on a few pieces of rock that laid on the ground. I used Identify on it and it had a CP of 30 with health of 20 and defense of 3. With my magic and it's defense taken into account, I could take it out in two shots of my bullet skill or 1 if I got a critical. I gripped the staff tightly and raised my left arm, palm outward facing the creature. I activated the bullet skill. the mana coursed through me, through my arm and out my palm. The bullet formed almost instantly and I fired it at the unsuspecting beast. In an instant, the bullet hit it in it's shoulder and pierced through. I saw its HP value take a plummet by more than half. it let out a roar of pain as it was knocked to the ground. Before it even hit the ground, I already launched a second bullet. It hit the target again, completely emptying it's HP. The corpse dissolved into particles. As it did, I looked to see if it dropped anything. Unfortunately it did not. As it died, I heard a ding sound in my ears and a notification pop up in front of me.

Kobold defeated. Gained:

+15 XP

+7 system points

+3 Gold

Quickly closing it, I looked around seeing if the other kobolds noticed one of their own die. They did. Of course they did as it's fallen brethren let out a death roar essentially. They were all looking toward the source of the roar. They hadn't noticed me yet, so I focused on a kobold that was closest toward me. I launched a bullet at it targeting its legs. I decided it since there were too many and I didn't want to be surrounded when they notice me, I would cripple their movements or slow them down. The bullet landed true. the left leg of the beast buckled as the bullet pierced through it. Not wanting to waste time, I aimed at another. At that time though, they noticed me. They all roared and started to charge toward me. With the distance between them and me as well as their speed, it would only take a few seconds for them to be on me, so as I backed up, I launched bullet after bullet at the kobold's legs. As I had a higher agility, none of them were able to catch me. 18 seconds later, they were all on the ground with a hole in their legs roaring in pain. some tried to get up and approach me with snarls, but I put them down for good with another bullet. for the rest, I did not want to waste mana so I used the staff and crushed their heads with a swift blow from my staff. I didn't look at my notifications as I killed them. I only took a look at my rewards after finishing the last of them and got a bit of rest.

20 kobolds killed. reward:

+310 XP

+155 system points

+77 gold

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With the XP I gained from this floor I reached levels 2 and 3 and received a total 5 stat points. I assigned 3 to wisdom and 2 to intelligence. With this new damage I could 1 shot these bastards and fire a total of 28 bullets before my mana ran out.

That was not the only gain I got from the fight. My bullet skill also leveled up to 2.

Bullet: Level 2: Shoot a bullet of mana from the palm dealing 75% magic damage. Ignores 20% of defense. Infuse elements for increased effects. Cast speed: Shoot 2 bullet / sec.

Cost: 1 mana/ shot

As for materials that dropped, only a half dozen dropped something, and it was the same thing, a kobold skin, which could be used to make f-rank armor. it was worth next to nothing, but I would take what I could get and put them in my inventory. Thankfully duplicates of materials were stacked and occupied 1 space. Once I was finished with everything, I walked toward my parents. my dad had a look of approval in his eyes.

Dad: "Good strategy. Taking out their legs so they couldn't get close and using your advantage in speed to keep the distance. Smart. Now, if you are done here, let's head to the next floor."

I nodded and went to the entrance for the next floor. It was a set of a dozen or so stairs. I went up them, followed by my parents. After the last steep, I took a couple steps in and took a look around. it was the same environment as the first floor. the beasts were the same as well, except this time, there only 10, but their CP was higher, ranging from 45 to 55. It would be a bit tougher fight, but not by much. With their higher HP, I would still need two shots to kill each one, but with my new stats and leveled up skill, I could kill one in a second. I immediately picked the closest one and began the slaughter. I followed the same strategy, cripple the legs. the fight went as smooth as the first floor. As I fired my bullets, I moved away to keep the distance. However, at one point I noticed that the weird energy was a bit stronger than the first floor. it wasn't much, and didn't distract me too much but I still noticed it. I am sure my parents did as well. The fight didn't last long at all, it was even shorter than the first floor. I was done in less than 5 minutes. I got to sorting the rewards and the drops.

10 Kobolds defeated. Reward:

+280 XP

+140 system points

+70 gold

It was bit less than the first floor but it was still progress. Neither my skill or me leveled up. maybe I would on the next floor. After, I picked up the two drops, I walked over toward my parents to talk to them about that energy I noticed.

Dad: "Yeah. We noticed as well. However, I have not seen any change to the monsters. The higher floor monsters might be effected though if the trend continues. We need to be more vigilant. This could be a more serious problem than we initially thought. Rest now, and we will continue when you are ready."

I nodded and sat down to rest. My mana was a bit less than half full. With my mana regen being at just over 1 per minute, it would take just about 15 or so minutes before it refilled completely. As I was waiting, I took at my stats.

Name: Aug Ulrich

Combat Power: 155

Rank: E-rank

Race: Low Tier 1 Human

Bloodlines: None

Elemental Affinities: All

Class: None

Level: 3 (290/300 XP)

Stat Points: 0

System Points: 295

Stats:

HP: (STA x 2): 34

Mana: (WIS x 2): 32

Strength: 19

Intelligence: 20

Agility: 19

Defense: 11

Wisdom: 16

Stamina: 17

Phy. Att (STR x 2): 38

Mag. Att (INT x 2): 40

Dam. Red. (DEF x 1): 11

Rec. / min

(STA x .1): 1.7 HP / min

(WIS x .1): 1.6 Mana / min