Lurking in a bush, Jules finally saw a rabbit pass in front of him, apparently unaware of the danger that waited.
He rushed at the animal and dealt it a powerful blow with his sword.
You inflicted 16 points of damage
The beast let out a high-pitched cry, unbecoming of a rabbit, and seemed seriously injured. Nevertheless, it prepared to counterattack.
You inflicted 9 points of damage
You received 4 points of damage
You inflicted 16 points of damage
You received 4 points of damage
The rabbit fell down dead. Another tough battle over. Another 10 XP gained. A strange gray stone fell from the gaping wound of the corpse. Jules watched it warily and, immediately, a window appeared with the icon of the skill Observation:
Mana Stone [F]
This stone contains the crystallized essence of a rank "F" monster. Maybe someone must know what to do with it?
What could it possibly be used for? He put it in his inventory and then, overcome with doubt, returned to the place where his previous victim lay. With a disgusted pout, but driven by the feeling that this could be important later, he rummaged through its entrails.
Quickly, he laid his hands on a second mana stone of the same rank. After getting rid of it in the inventory, he vigorously wiped his hands with leaves and grass to rid them of the abominable smell of blood and… the rest… He should try to find a stream…
Stopping his train of thought, he met the gaze of a rabbit that was passing by. Looking each other in the eye, the two fighters got into position, the rabbit in a surprisingly bipedal pose. Then the creature leapt into the air and Jules prepared to fight it. He decided to use his skill to learn more about the creature that was slicing through the air in his direction:
Wererabbit, Level 1 [Rank F]
Hit points (HP): 26/26
Vigor: 4/4
Abilities:
Strength: 3
Agility: 7
Stamina: 3
Intelligence: 1
Armor (natural): 0
Attributes (1):
Whiplash[1] (natural penalty) [It's still just a rabbit: Vitality (HP) halved]
Skills (2):
Leaping attack (F): (natural power) Allows you to chain two quick attacks together after a jump.
Good Vision [F]: (Natural Power) Allows you to see better and further, even in low light conditions.
“Oh, oh!” he said to himself. “A bonus when he attacks while jumping? That’s bad. I’ll have to prevent the next ones from benefiting from this advantage…”
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You inflicted 13 points of damage
You received 10 points of damage
With more caution, Jules redoubled his dodges and feints, often managing to deceive his opponent who then missed him. Unfortunately, this also disturbed the precision of his own attacks.
You received 4 points of damage
Having exhausted all their vigor, the two fighters caught their breath a few steps apart. A tree barely separated them, blocking the possibility of a leaping attack from the monster. The rabbit still had half of its life, or 13 points of life, compared to Jules' 22. The potion was essential. Taking advantage of the break, he opened his inventory, took out the potion, removed the cap and drank in one gulp, putting the empty vial back in his storage.
You regained 10 points of life
The maximum! How lucky!
Encouraged by this circumstance, the fighter rushed to the assault with more enthusiasm... without much success for this first pass of arms:
You received 6 points of damage
The rabbit seemed to snicker, certain of its victory... No: probably a hallucination... It was only a beast, right? With only one point of intelligence. This was not the time to think.
You inflicted 11 points of damage
Critical hit: x3 damage
30 damage inflicted!
OVERKILL!
That last hit had scattered pieces of rabbit-confetti… Literally! How could a sword swing do something so absurd? A really rotten sword, at that.
Quickly, he picked up the mana stone that had fallen to the ground and hurried to take cover. He had as many hit points as one of those damn rabbits: it was better to surprise them than to find yourself confronted by them in open space.
If, like him, other humans had been sucked into this damn "Tower", how many had survived? And this was only the first trial! But after all, maybe it was a kind of elimination and the next ones would be easier? No: he couldn't even convince himself of that, so that couldn't be the case...
Suddenly, a shiver ran down his spine and he curled up in his hiding place, his eyes focused on the beast that was coming, his Observation skill active.
A tiger! A monstrous tiger was advancing cautiously, sniffing the air frequently. He seemed covered in scars and limped, but he was no less formidable. Already, on Earth, such a beast would be a mortal danger but here, he was the king of this first floor:
First Floor Boss
Shakan the lame
Tiger, Level 1 [Rank F]
Hit points (HP): 58/58
Vigor: 8/8
Armor: 3/3
Abilities:
Strength: 11
Agility: 8 (-4)
Stamina: 8
Intelligence: 2
Armor (natural): 3
Attributes (1):
Lame (Natural Penalty) [-50% Agility]
Skills (2):
Fur Armor [F] (Natural Power) Increases armor by 3.
Born Hunter [F] (Natural Power) Bonuses to stealth, silent movement, and balance
His heart was beating so hard that he was afraid it would alert the monster. This animal surpassed him in every way, except for the intelligence that it had superior and the agility that the tiger's limp made equal. If he had a hard time facing the wererabbits, he knew that the tiger would undoubtedly kill him in the event of a fight.
Frozen with terror, he watched the tiger's meal, gorging on the remains of the rabbits at a pace that seemed infinitely slow to him. Its stomach filled, or at least its meal finished, the beast set off again with a more or less brisk but silent step. Jules nevertheless remained motionless for a long moment, until a cramp forced him to stand up.
Pulling out his cell phone, he noticed that more than two hours had passed since the last time he had checked it. He estimated that one of them, or more, must have been spent hiding. Looking at his stats again, he noticed that his life points had gone up slightly: by two points. A small request for help brought up a window confirming this fact: Hit Points were regenerating at a rate of 1 per hour. This score increased to 10 when sleeping, but he did not feel able to fall asleep in such a dangerous environment.
He resumed his ambush until another rabbit passed within his range. Previously, in his terror of the tiger, he had let many passes. Now, he would count on the surprise attack and his growing understanding of the use of a weapon to eliminate the vermin.
Two sword blows and it was over. The beast hadn’t even had time to fight back effectively: he was getting better.
Another rabbit dealt him 4 points of damage before dying, the next one was killed in one hit by a critical hit, a third suffered the same fate. He suffered ten points of damage from the next rabbit and began to wonder if he wouldn’t be better off taking the risk of falling asleep.
He had 16 Hit Points left and he was exhausted from chaining ambushes and suffering injuries. His First Aid skill allowed him to stop bleeding, to the detriment of his clothes, but did not systematically grant the bonus of 1 Hit Point announced in its description.
However, there were only two rabbits left to complete the quest…
Exhausted, he finally decided to climb a tree. Maybe rabbits and tigers were unable to climb so high? In any case, they would spot him less easily since he had chosen a tree with very dense foliage.
He trembled at the thought of the possibility of discovering other monstrous animals in this treetop, but he went there anyway. Wedging himself as comfortably as he could between the branches and leaves that scratched him, he sank into a sleep troubled by bad dreams...
And that was only the first floor of this nightmare!
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[1] « Coups du lapin » in french (Rabbit blow ?)