As Leon walked around, he immediately noticed a change in his movement. By increasing the sensitivity, walking became smoother, causing him to feel agile. The enhanced senses were almost too sharp, but it was better than the previous sluggishness that he had felt while moving around.
Movement was incredibly important in the game, especially during combat. Feeling sluggish or weighted down was a surefire way to die, and those who noticed it early would have the advantage. Leon knew this from reading the original novel, and Rose knew it from experience.
He avoided crowded places, preferring the quieter areas. The last thing he wanted was to feel overwhelmed while playing the game. The noise and bustling of crowds often felt like too much. He passed simple shops and stalls selling basic foods, and even a few blacksmiths, noting the clang of metal against metal and the scent of burning coals better than most would.
Leon stopped as he looked into another alleyway, one that extended deeper into a part of the village he was familiar with: the slums. Slums were everywhere, including in Souls Online. The game, modelled after observing human behaviour with some fantasy elements, included them based on innovative AI predictions.
He felt oddly at home in the slums. Beggars glanced at him as he walked by, but did nothing. Leon looked the part, and nobody batted an eye at the malnourished kid with a curious look.
Leon knew better than to underestimate the slums. After learning about a near civil war event from Rose, he understood that deeper in the slums, organised crime thrived. Men in expensive suits carrying firearms were common. He was lucky to live on the outskirts.
“Oi, kid!” a rough voice called out. Leon turned, surprised to see a well-dressed man in the slums.
“Y-Yes?” Leon stammered, avoiding eye contact.
The man looked at Leon. “You looking for something?”
“N-Not really…I’m new here, so I guess I need information.” Leon answered, unsure how to communicate with what he assumed was a member of a crime organisation. The man’s attire was too nice for the slums, confirming Leon’s suspicion.
The man smirked at Leon. “Info, huh? They got maps for sale up the road. Plenty of ‘em,”
“I don’t have any money,” Leon admitted, feeling it was obvious. He hated the uncertainty in his voice, wishing he could speak as confidently as the NPCs around him.
The man eyed Leon’s dagger. “Well then, can you handle that blade?”
“I can try,” Leon replied, trying to sound confident despite his uncertainty. He repeated the phrase internally, grounding himself.
“Alright, kid. Head over to Jack the Butcher, and tell him Moe sent ya. Let’s see what you’re made of.”
A notification popped up in Leon’s interface: [Normal Hidden Quest: Moe’s Test. Accept or decline?] Leon quickly accepted the quest.
Quest Detail: Moe Highman has noticed you walking in the slums. He’s given you a chance to prove yourself. Objective: Go to Jack the Buchter at his address. Player Level cannot exceed 0.
A Hidden Quest!? Already? Leon was a bit stunned at the sudden hidden quest he had got. “O-Okay, where can I find him?” He asked, and he soon got given directions by Moe.
“Am I about to enter organised crime?” Leon muttered as he walked across the slums. He didn’t know how to feel about that. On the one hand, he really didn’t want to mess with crime. Crime was always a big risk-reward situation where the risk was almost always death. Crime also didn’t appeal to Leon.
However, this was a hidden quest. Quests were divided into different types; Continuous, Normal, Hidden and Storyline. Guilds had special quests, but Leon wasn’t thinking about joining one. He preferred to stay by himself. Quests also had difficulty going from Easy, Normal, Hard, Extreme and Hell. Of course, with added difficulty came better rewards.
This being a hidden quest meant Leon had to activate certain conditions before he could’ve got this quest, and he had a feeling looking like a starving kid and walking around in the slums had to be it.
Despite his nerves, he followed Moe’s directions to Jack the Butcher’s place. He tried to predict what type of task he would receive, though he was sure it wouldn’t be good. He mentally ran through all possibilities, seeking comfort in the predictability of his thoughts.
He soon arrived and knocked on the door. A massive man in an apron opened it, and a coppery scent hit Leon’s nose, causing him to wince slightly. “What do you want?” Jack’s gruff voice demanded.
“I-I was sent by Moe. He said you could give me information for something,” Leon said, mustering as much confidence as he could without making eye contact.
Jack’s eyes narrowed, flicking to the dagger at Leon’s waist. “Can you handle a blade, or are you just bluffin’?”
“I can try.” Leon’s lack of confidence was clear, and he mentally kicked himself for it.
Jack grunted. “Fetch me ten rabbits from outside the village. Do that, and I’ll tell you what you wanna know.”
[Quest Updated: Bring Jack 10 Vicious Rabbits] popped up on Leon’s interface. “Huh? I-I mean, okay!” Leon blurted out, surprised by the simplicity of the task.
“Don’t disappoint me, kid,” Jack said before shutting the door.
This definitely wasn’t in Leon’s predictions. He was sure he would have to stab someone or rob a place that he didn’t even consider a simple fetch quest. In hindsight, would they really send a kid like him to kill someone? He still wasn’t sure that this wasn’t some ruse to get him to do something extremely drastic later.
Moving through the bustling streets and avoiding the masses, he soon got to a gate where he quickly passed the guard with little trouble. He came to an open field with a lot of players already there. There were also a lot of small white-furred rabbits hopping around. They looked quite cute, but Leon noted one jumping at a player and taking a bite out of their thigh.
Vicious Rabbits were, as their name implies; vicious. Dangerous even. Rabbits were usually herbivores, but these were clearly omnivores. As Leon watched, a shocking realisation came to him. This was the first time since he came to this world that he had seen an animal!
There were no animals in the lower colony, not even pests like flies or mosquitos. Leon never noticed that Mr Palmer used no pesticides or had to get rid of birds that would steal his seeds.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Shaking these thoughts, he looked for a clear spot with not too many people. He didn’t want to be distracted by too many people around him. Leon found a suitable spot and assessed one rabbit in front of him.
[Vicious Rabbit] (Common)
Level 0
HP 25/25
The rabbits wouldn’t attack unless attacked. If they all crowded Leon as soon as he stepped onto the field, then he would die in an instant. He took a few deep breaths, calming his nerves, and grabbed his dagger. He mentally made many predictions to prepare for this fight.
Leon suddenly shot forward as the rabbit turned away for a quick second. He stabbed his dagger forth and mentally activated his ‘Stab’ skill. He could feel a faint invisible hand guide his dagger as it shot forth. *Puchi!* The dagger stabbed through the rabbit’s right hind leg, making blood spatter when Leon pulled out the dagger.
-13
When Leon stabbed, he saw a displayed damage number. A message popped up in the corner of Leon’s vision and he looked at it for a moment. [Stab Skill Completion 55%, Tutorial bonus 5%, 65% of the skill’s power displayed. Mastery +1.]
It’s not that great. Leon thought, but that was to be expected. With no combat experience, he had still taken out half of the rabbit’s health in one attack. Speaking of the rabbit, Leon felt a massive pinch in his leg as he noticed the rabbit had bitten his leg during his distraction.
-8
Leon took in a sharp inhale through his teeth as the pain felt a little too real. He pushed aside the thoughts and let adrenaline fuel his mind for now. At first, he tried to shake off the rabbit, but when that didn’t work, he stabbed forth once again by swinging down the dagger.
-6
The stab connected through the rabbit’s shoulder, but it felt incredibly clunky compared to his first attack, but it helped in making the rabbit let go. The rabbit hopped back and looked madly at Leon. Leon’s blood in its mouth was a wake-up call to Leon as he deeply breathed in and out to calm himself.
He could smell the coppery smell of blood in the air as he looked at the rabbit waiting for it to make the first move. Blood was also pouring out of the rabbit.
The rabbit, knowing that it couldn’t wait any longer, lunged at Leon. With one last powerful jump, it opened its mouth to bite off Leon’s face. Leon quickly ducked and activated the ‘Stab’ skill, once again thrusting forward.
-6
The dagger pierced through the rabbit’s body. It went limp, giving Leon the same message as before. Another message quickly popped up: [Level 0 Vicious Rabbit killed. Obtained 15 EXP.] Leon would need 100 EXP to level up, gaining 15 was a good number.
Leon huffed as he tried to calm down from the adrenaline. As soon as he calmed down, he felt queasy as the realisation hit him he had just killed a rabbit. It was the first time Leon had ever killed something in two lives combined.
Leon forced himself to calm down again and picked up the rabbit. It disappeared into Leon’s inventory. The inventory was strange. It could currently store 20 items, but Leon knew he could upgrade it later. NPCs wouldn’t react strangely to players randomly taking out items from thin air, as Leon assumed that was Gaia’s doing.
[+2 copper coins] Was another message he had received. Money came in various currencies. First was copper, 100 copper made 1 silver, and 100 silver made 1 gold. 1000 gold, however, made 1 platinum coin.
“That was only one small rabbit and I’m already struggling,” Leon muttered as he reviewed the fight in his mind. He had a good initial strike, but he got bit because he momentarily got distracted. He even panicked and tried to shake off the rabbit instead of stabbing it first thing. And finally, he had to admit he got lucky with that last hit.
But one can learn all of this through experience. The first thing he had to do was learn from his mistakes, luckily he had some help in that regard.
The Tutorial was exactly that help. It was the perfect learning tool and with it, Leon could increase his skill rate. He looked at the spot where the rabbit had bitten him and noticed that it had already scabbed over. Players’ bodies would recover based on vitality, and in the slight pause that Leon took, he had nearly healed to full.
He glanced around to look at his surroundings, making sure not too many people were around him before finding a new rabbit. Once again, he mentally went through many predictions and even tried to fix a few problems he found during his review of his first fight.
Leon activated ‘Stab’ again as he got even closer to the rabbit. The difference was apparent as Leon was closer and didn’t have to overextend for his first attack. With the invisible hand guiding him once again, his dagger quickly found the rabbit’s abdomen.
-26 Weak Spot!
[Stab Skill Completion 60%, Tutorial bonus +5%, 71% of the skill’s power displayed. Mastery +1.] The message came as a sign of Leon’s progress, making him feel like he was on the right track.
[Level 0 Vicious Rabbit killed. Obtained 15 EXP.] As for the rabbit, it slumped while still on Leon’s dagger, as he had luckily struck a weak spot.
Everything had a weakness, that was nature. Humans also had many weaknesses: the eyes, the lungs, the heart, etc. The rabbits were the same as humans in that regard, as the heart and lungs were also weak spots.
A blue light came into Leon’s corner vision as he picked up the rabbit. He looked over to notice a young woman with long brown hair standing next to a now glowing rabbit. Everyone in the area looked over-interested in the event. The woman was hesitant about the event but didn’t move.
A small green orb came floating out of the rabbit and shot towards the woman. She was so surprised that she didn’t even react until the orb was in front of her. She quickly pulled her arms up to block the ‘attack’, even closing her eyes. The orb, however, got absorbed into her body as soon as it touched her.
The woman opened her eyes, only to find she was fine. What she didn’t see was that a new pair of rabbit ears sprouted from her head. She zoned out for a second, checking her character sheet, and she quickly found out what happened to her as she touched the ears.
Lucky for her, she got a Transfigure Soul from the rabbit. Leon thought, as he was well aware of what happened. When killing enemies, players could collect dropped souls. The chance to get one was so insignificantly small, however, that one shouldn’t count on it even if they did nothing but kill rabbits for an entire week.
Class Souls were grey, Profession Souls were white, Ability Souls were blue, Transfiguration Souls were red, and Enchantment Souls were yellow. There’s also that hidden golden one, but it won’t be for a long time until that one comes into play. Leon noted the sixth hidden soul, but he quickly dismissed the thought. He only knew it because of reading the novel.
He glanced at the woman again, who moved around as she did some tests. “Seems like her agility increased a little.” Leon whispered. Suddenly, the woman’s head shot at Leon with a surprised look on her face.
Leon quickly looked away and tried to calm down the sudden spike of anxiety he felt from the woman, and a massive increase in hearing. He noted mentally as he tried to act like nothing ever happened.
Luckily for him, the woman didn’t seem to mind Leon’s strange actions as she continued to test a few things out. Leon let out a silent sigh of relief as he calmed down and focused on the rabbits. He still had to kill 8 of them for Jack.
Leon quickly got to work and killed 7 rabbits, gaining 105 EXP and 11 copper coins. The EXP allowed him to go from level 0 to level 1. Levels gave players attribute points. With each level, he would gain 4 attribute points to spend on his five basic stats.
Strength was simple. It increased how much damage he would do with a physical weapon. It also increased how heavy of an object he could pick up. Agility increased his speed, allowing him to move faster but also attack faster. It also helped with his dexterity and overall hand-eye coordination.
Intelligence increased his magical power. It would also help in understanding magic and Leon knew he would spend a lot of his points in the future on that stat. Wisdom gave him Mana and would help in regenerating that Mana over time, supposedly it should also help Leon when he would cast magic in the future, but he didn’t know how yet.
Vitality was his health, it also was the passive regeneration of said health. It also gave him some resistance to negative effects. Sadly, with his current body, it was by far his lowest stat.
Leon thought about it for a moment before adding two points in Vitality, giving him 80 HP and one point in intelligence and wisdom. He needed health desperately, and he wanted to carve a good foundation for magic in the future.
Unsurprisingly, he had got a little used to killing rabbits, so he didn’t have to rest for a moment after he killed one. Suddenly, he spotted a larger rabbit hopping around mixed in with some regular ones. Intrigued, Leon got a little closer until he could assess the rabbit.
[Vicious Rabbit] (Elite)
Level 3
HP 40/40
Elites were a class higher than the common monsters and their power was much higher, but with the increased power came an increase in drops as the chance to get a soul or even a special drop would increase massively. Leon gave a glance in the area and noticed no one paying him any attention. He now had a decision. Would he take on a tough fight for a chance at something good? Or would he take the safe option?