Jack had his feet planted in the wet grass. Ready for the next fight that would test his strength.
Each footstep that echoed ik the hall made Jack's heart skip a beat. He was tense, nervous, but also excited.
He found a large patch of grass that he could hide in while he waited for his prey.
'Analyze'
Jack started scanning everything in the dungeon to see if there was anything useful around.
Stomp! Crunch!
A dire wolf was bigger than anything Jack had seen before. It stepped forward, crushing the dead bodies of the dead wolves.
A three meter-tall dire wolf stepped into the little light that shone through the ceiling. It was burgundy red and had a large, sharp, spiral horn on its head.
[System Update!]
[WARNING!]
[You have encountered an Elite Pes]
[Fire Wolf: Level 10]
[Rank: Elite Pest]
[Hp: 500]
[Mana: 300]
[Strength: 50]
[Agility: 20]
[Affinity: Fire]
'It's going to get hot in here. Allocate all free stat points into strength.'
[8 stat points added to strength. Strength is now at 28.]
Jack decided that his best chance at survival was allocating all stat points into Strength. When looking at his skills, he realized that spear toss damage calculation had been upgraded.
Instead of it being strength × 2. It was now strength × 2.5. That meant if he could land 6 spear tosses at the Fire Wolf, he could amass 570 damage. With the 5% increase he just earned, it would go up to 599 total points of damage.
Thundershock was too risky a plan if he couldn't get close enough.
Jack's grip on his spear tightened as his palm got sweaty.
When the Fire Wolf turned its back, Jack launched a javelin directly into its back left ankle.
"Grwahhhh!"
The Fire Wolf growled as it scraped its claws against the stone floor.
[You made it, angry congratulations.]
At that moment, the Fire Wolf roared, causing 5 mini fireballs to orbit its horn.
'That's not good.'
Grrr!
The Fire Wolf charged at Jack and swung its right claw at Jack's torso. Jack ducked, but at this moment, the Fireballs began shooting smaller Fireballs at a steady pace.
The huge Fire Wolf was furious at being harmed, but the javelin didn't slow it down at all.
What a terrifying monster!
"Lightning Steps! Lightings Embrace!"
Jack teleported underneath the beast and managed to hit the large beast twice.
Jack smiled as he realized he might have a chance to take the beast. 'A few hours ago, I wasn't sure if I could kill a monster. Now here I am risking my life to prove myself.'
The moment was short-lived as the beast turned around and the speed of the fireballs increased.
A fireball grazed Jack's arm.
[Notice: -15 HP.]
'Ah, that's hot!'
Jack backed off and continued to run around the dungeon looking for an opening.
The Fire Wolf charged recklessly after Jack. Running into walls and causing debris to fall from the ceiling.
In that instant, Jack dove out of the way to avoid a falling pillar. Three falling pillars fell from the ceiling, but the beast was so concerned with Jack that it didn't see the debris.
One after another, the pillars fell. Each pillar struck the beast from head to tail. One pillar that fell caused the beast's horn to crack.
[-50 HP]
[-50 HP]
[-50 HP]
[Prepare yourself, Jack.]
'What do you mean, prepare yourself?!'
Roooaaarr!!
A large howl came from the beast. Fire erupted from its horn. Fireballs began to shoot sporadically as the beast turned a darker red. It clenched its jaw together and was visibly angry.
[WARNING!!]
[Fire Wolf has entered an enraged state. All stats +50%. Defense has increased.]
'Oh, you've got to be kidding me. System, why don't you tell me these things?'
Jack hurled a spear, and it stuck directly into the beast's chest.
[-49 HP]
[Enraged Fire Wolf]
[HP: 106/500]
[You never asked Jack.]
'From now on, tell me important things like this before it's life-threatening.'
Jack's forehead and palms were getting sweaty. His boots were covered in water from all the running she was doing. Making it easier to slide and lose your balance.
'This beast is just flailing around with no sense.'
Jack decided to take advantage of the situation. He grabbed 2 javelins and threw them quickly.
The wolf was moving faster now. Jack aimed at its chest, where there was more of a target to aim for.
But one of the javelins missed the intended area.
[-49 HP]
'Damn it! I'm almost out of mana.'
The Fire Wolf locked eyes with Jack. Scraping its claws against the stone. In that moment, it charged, trying to hit him with its massive paws.
It was a desperate attempt; Jack charged directly at it, getting ready to throw another javelin. He lost his footing and slid toward the beast.
'Oh sh....'
Just as the beast was about to pin Jack. He used Lightning Steps to get onto the beast's arm and then launched himself on top of its head.
Jack grabbed its horn so he wouldn't fall off.
Surprisingly, no fireballs were being hurled at Jack.
Jack gripped his spear harder than before and lunged repeatedly with his spear into its head.
Blood spattered over Jack's Armour and face.
Grrrr! Eeekk! Yelp!
The horn broke, and Jack lost his balance, falling off the beast.
Thud!
Bang!
The beast fell to the ground.
[Congratulations, you have slain an Elite Pest.]
[Congratulations on slaying your first Enraged Monster.]
[Congratulations on slaying your first Elite Pest.]
[Reward: 1000 EXP.]
[Reward: 500 EXP.]
[Reward: 500 EXP.]
[Conquer a Dungeon Floor. Complete.]
[Reward: 500 EXP.]
[Reward: 2 Reputation Points.]
[You have leveled up! You are now level 3 (300/400)]
[Reward: 5 Stat Points]
[Congratulations | Class: Lightning Mage has reached level 6 (0/10,000)]
'Why is the EXP gap so high after level 5?'
[Class Ranks caps at rank 10. More benefits come with increased Rank, so the difficulty to level up spikes in return.]
--
"Well done, Jack, you managed to complete the Dungeon Floor on your first try. Your father will be proud!"
"Let's return, I need to relax."
The Kaiser family loves Jack, but they have high standards for what they expect.
"Yes, let's go, young master."
--
'System status update.'
[Status Update.]
Jack Kaiser: Level 3 (380/400)
Class: Lightning Mage (Rank 6)
Strength: 28
Stamina: 20
Agility: 20
Vitality: 20
Endurance: 20
Magic: 20
Mana: 325
HP: 115
Skill Points: 60
Stat Points: 5
Reputation Points: 17
Magic Talent Rank: S
Martial Talent Rank: S
Affinity: Lightning
Blessings: Draven's Pendant
Skills: Scan (level 5), Polearm Mastery (level 5: 44%), Thundershock (level 1: 10%), Spear Toss (level 4), Lightning Steps (level 1: 10%), Lightning's Embrace (level 1)
'That was a fun day. Now to clean all the blood off of me.'
Jack washed his face off and took a bath to relax.
Jack realized that after relaxing and getting cleaned up, it wasn't past dinner yet. Time moved differently in a dungeon.
[Jack, would you like to see the rewards from clearing the dungeon?]
'What do you mean by rewards? I already got my rewards from beating the first floor.'