'Experience has reached the required level. Level 6 acquired.'

Name: Miles Ires

Class: Wild Mage

Level: 6

Titles: None

Skills: Long Range Spell

Stats:

Strength - 15

Stamina - 15

Defense - 15

Intelligence - 63

Luck - 45

Mana 521/630

Unassigned Points - 0

The time it takes to level up is getting quite high. Thanks to my increased mana I can hunt for much longer but firing random spells at these Horned Rabbits isn't going to help me advance, I should try to find somewhere with a stronger monster.

Saving my mana and heading straight to a new hunting ground seems like a good idea. The System Association website has a map of all gates in my area. I could choose to go to a few local gates but most wouldn't be suited to my abilities as some are meant to be tackled in a small group and With the unreliable nature of my skills, I don't think I would be very helpful in a group.

Solo hunting is the best for me but I shouldn't take any risks so the best gate would be the Armored Rhino gate.

According to the System Association website's encyclopedia, the Armored Rhino is a highly aggressive monster with a thick, strong hide. Its hide is quite valuable however the cores cost only a little more than the Horned Rabbits. Since they have a tough hide they aren't a popular monster to hunt. Despite not having a platform or anything set up like the previous gate it's still quite safe as they don't roam in groups, preferring to be alone and their horns emit a dim glow. When attacking their horn brightens and releases a quiet humming sound which tends to alarm their target so there's plenty of time to get out of the way of their charge. Another aspect of the dungeon is that I will have to manually collect both the cores and their hide. Luckily they allow you to rent a piece of storage equipment so you can collect the bodies of the Armored Rhinos and then pay another small fee to have them butcher them. Even with the fees I would be earning much more if I can hunt even half the amount.

I check my phone before I arrive.

'Balance: 5760'

Maybe if I get enough money from these rhinos I could try buying some equipment or a skill book so I have something I can use more consistently.

The storage bracelet seems like it can hold about 20 Armored Rhino corpses before it's full.

Stepping into the gate with the bracelet adorning my wrist I look around for anything indicating where I should go. The inside of the gate seems like a forest. The gate is in a small clearing, trees surround the area with a few dirt paths disappearing into the forest. I should be careful to remember the direction I came from so I don't get lost.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Picking a path at random I start walking, making sure to scan my surroundings every so often. In the distant fog I start to see a slight glow emerge, this must be the horn of an Armored Rhino.

I slow my approach, crouching low and checking my surroundings before peering through a small bush that I chose to be my cover.

The rhino stands in the middle of a clearing, pulling away at a tuft of grass.

'Long Range Spell activated: Mind Reading'

'Grass grass mmm hungry grass'

I fail to keep myself from letting out a laugh. Although cut short as I covered my mouth, the rhino was still alerted to my location, snapping my attention back towards it.

'Long Range Spell activated: Ice Hawk'

A hawk appears in my palm, the creature made of pure ice. It shoots forward towards the rhino before it even finishes turning towards me.

My vision stifles, a view of me rapidly approaching the rhino takes over my vision, getting closer and closer until I smash into the rhino, my body shattering.

My eyes return to normal, taking a moment for my eyes to focus.

'Share your senses with a hawk made of ice that shatters upon impact.'

The rhino clearly isn't happy at having some shards of ice sprinkled over its steel like hide. Its charge begins, darting towards me. I should be able to jump to the side before it reaches me so I can try to fire one more spell before then.

'Long Range Spell activated: Ice Trail'

Ice surrounds my feet, shooting forward, drawing a path along the floor towards my target. When reaching the target the ice erupts, lifting the rhino into the air, encasing it within the ice. The beast clearly tries to move away but the ice captures it too quickly leaving it as no more than a strange looking sculpture.

Well I guess that works. I lean against the sculpture and take a moment to catch my breath, waiting for the rhino inside to die. Despite the increase in my luck my spell doesn't seem to give the desired effect any more than before. It kinda makes me wish I had invested the points elsewhere.

I turn back towards the ice and raise my hand, willing it into the spatial storage. The sculpture disappears, filling a portion of the bracelet.

Let's look for the next target. I returned to the path and carried on forward. Hopefully that Armored Rhino will sell for a good price since its body is in such good condition.

A slight humming sound starts to ring to my left. Cranking my head towards the sound I see a rhino begin charging. Without hesitating I raise my hand to fire a spell.

'Lucky effect triggered. You will receive the desired effect.'

'Long Range Spell activated: Black Flame'

A small flame, no bigger than the flame of a candle, appears in front of my palm. The black flame feels almost cold near my palm. It slowly wafts away from my hand, almost as if being pushed by the wind. The flame dithers along at its own pace, not worried about the urgency of the situation. Out of fear for the rhino I leap to the side, a bush cushioning my fall. I roll over to watch the rhino bolt past me but as the black flame makes contact with the tip of the rhino's horn it causes the rhino to turn to ash in a near instant.

Watching closely I could see a thin layer of black fire spread over the beast but as the fire touched the rhino it took less than a second for it to turn to ash.

A pile of ash sits on the floor ahead of where I previously stood. An orb sits atop the pile. Picking up the orb to inspect it I realize it's the beasts core. I suppose I won't be getting anything for this one body but at least I still got the core from it.

Anyway that lucky effect thing was new, so i guess thats what my luck does? Maybe it only works if I'm in danger? Only time will tell.

I've still got over 500 mana so I can hunt for a while longer. I should make sure I stay on the path though, lest I get lost.

*****

'Experience has reached the required level. Level 8 acquired.'

Perfect. With that level up all of my mana has been drained and I'm not too far from the exit to the gate. Looking towards the bracelet which contains the 17 corpses and single core I can feel the smile on my face. This should get me a nice amount, some of the bodies are in really good condition, others not so much but I just hope that they don't question it too much.

Returning to the normal world outside the gate, I approach the warehouse that sits beside the gate. I'm ushered towards the long table and asked to empty the contents of my rented storage artifact. One by one I pull out the corpses, letting the worker inspect them each before he orders some men to come carry them away. Most have normal piercing marks from things like earthen spikes, icicles and other similar marks. A few have portions of their hide melted, making them less valuable. Next comes the core of the beast that I turned to ash which catches me a curious glance but the man quickly regains his composure. Lastly, I removed the ice sculpture from the bracelet. The ice is half melted but still clearly retains its shape. The man looks at me and then back towards the workers that have been carrying off the corpses after they get graded.

"Is this in perfect condition? I can't find any wounds on the beast."

"Yeah it is, I managed to encase it in ice when it charged at me. It took up twice the space in my storage bracelet though."

"This is amazing, I will give you a bonus for this one, and any others you manage to catch without any wounds on them."

He goes to his clipboard and scribbles a few things down before lifting his head and asking, "So 20 credits per core for 18 cores comes to 360 credits. 1 hide with E-Ranked quality is 25 credits.

3 hides at D-Rank quality are 75 each making it 225 for the 3. 2 C-Ranked hides at 100 credits each is 200 credits. A total of 8 B-ranked hides which are 200 credits per so for 8 hides that would be 1600 credits. Then we have 2 A-Ranked quality beasts that are 300 each meaning that's another 600 credits. And finally we have the one trapped in ice, which is of S-Ranked quality. Those cost 500 credits so all together that's 3510 credits. Will that be alright?"

The amount seems astronomical compared to how slowly I was earning money at the Horned Rabbit Tower. Before it would have taken me days to earn that but here I did it in just one hunt…

I accept the money and thank the man, giving a big handshake before skipping away.

Before Returning him I should stop by the market and see if there's any equipment or skills I could get that would help me.

END OF CHAPTER 5