In the north-east region of Kentel forest, there stood a lonely hill, pensive and drowned in its slumber. At the peak of this hill the guardian of the forest can be found. Thus its name: The Guardian's Hill.
By interacting with the Guardian, Alex would be able to trigger the event to fight the Tyrant of the forest. This is his goal.
After all, the Item that the Tyrant would drop after getting defeated was what he needed as a safeguard before challenging the First Floor dungeon.
Since Kentel forest could only be entered through the south, the journey through the forest was rather fruitful in terms of EXP gain.
***
Ding!
[You've reached Level 5]
As the grey infant dematerialised in light blue pixels, Alex let out a soft exhale.
After traversing through the thick and cranny forest, fighting off Monsters and killing any sleeping Beast he could find, Alex finally reached his destination.
To be precise, the foothill of it.
In front of him, a giant, lush green and dry- yellow hill stood eerily. The foothill was crowded by upright pillars of rocks each varying in shape and sizes, blocking any straight route towards the hill.
It was a mini puzzle of sorts, and rather easy to solve even by beginners.
The 500 Beta-testers had no trouble with it either, in fact, a few even mentioned that it was too easy.
'Talk about luck, I could definitely use a Skill.'
Alex's attention, however, was directed towards the further end of the foothill, a land free from the crowding of the pillars.
Instead of the vertically inclined foothill, a giant, black cave could be seen.
This den had a rather low spawn rate due to its reward but, what truly made Alex feel lucky was that he found it during night-time.
Increasing his pace, Alex entered the cave without hesitation and was immediately greeted by utter darkness. A heavy smell of moisture reeked into his nose…virtual nose.
In his right hand, a white, yellowish eyeball materialised. The pupil of the eyeball was dull red in colour, indicating its lifelessness.
[You've consumed D-rank
As the name suggested, Alex got this Item after he shot down an Owl that was sitting on a tree branch while ominously staring at him.
"Ughhh!"
Alex's face contorted, perhaps because he liked the taste of the eye.
'Like burnt rubber grinded together with lemonade…how did I even come up with this?'
[You've been inflicted with
At the very least, he could now see inside the dark cave.
The path was rather wide, around 2 meters in width and 4 to 5 meters in terms of height. With each of his steps, the gravel beneath crunched.
The silver stone walls were covered in soaked moss, indicating the existence of a water body somewhere close by.
Alex lifted his gaze, the tiny holes at the roof of the cave catching his eye. Occasionally, small droplets of water would fall from them, one even landing right at his face.
'Man, what a genius I am.'
Giving himself a light pat on the back, Alex continued.
Soon, he found his target.
A few meters away, Alex saw a giant wolf covered in black fur with a stripe of red running through its coiled tail. The Beast was sleeping—as any Beast would during nighttime.
At night, it was the Monsters who walked and ruled the land while the same role was held by Beasts during the day.
[You've used {Aspect}: {Omniscient Thread}]
Three different lines of thread appeared in Alex's vision, connecting his right hand to the Beast.
This was the Title feature, something original to this version of the game.
Like Alex, people who possessed Titles were referred to as Main casts and each Main cast had Titles unique to themselves.
[You've equipped Common D-rank
Swiftly closing the distance between him and the Beast, Alex followed the path of the thread in his vision, piercing the sleeping hound right between its temples.
[You've inflicted Major Effect: 3rd Level Injury]
[Class Special: 10% True Damage has been inflicted]
The hound instantly shrieked in pain while lifting its heavy body, her bloodshot yellow eyes dazed in confusion and anger.
Then, she saw it—The back of a man with jet black hair running towards the entrance of its den.
Had this been an open area, Alex would've instantly been lunged at. But due to her size and the height of the cave, the only choice the hound had was to chase after him.
[You've equipped Common D-rank
A black pistol materialised in Alex's hand as he aimed it carefully, making sure to follow along the thread that connected to the pistol and the approaching hound.
Bang!
The thread allowed him to know exactly which part to aim for to deal a Minor or Major Effect.
[You've inflicted Minor Effect: Bleeding]
The 3rd level Major Effect that Alex inflicted at first was worth a whooping 60% of its existing HP.
It was a large number, especially considering the fact that it dealt true damage. However, Alex also knew that at that time, he was just lucky.
'I need a bit more practice.'
Even if he knew where to attack, attacking accurately to the point of perfectly following the line of a thin thread was far too difficult.
Bang! Bang!
That's why he didn't follow the line of the thread and instead, he shot at the two front legs of the running hound.
This much he can do. With ease at that
The hound whimpered and staggered, stopping dead on its track while trying to balance its body however—
Bang! Bang!
[You've inflicted Major Effect: 1st Level Injury]
It was consecutively shot right at its chest.
The hounds mighty body fell down, creating a light reverberation across the cave.
"Let's finish this with a headshot."
Bang!
[You've inflicted Major Effect: 2nd Level Injury]
Slowly, the hounds body dematerialised into light blue pixels. Throughout this whole battle, Alex didn't even lose a single HP or was ever in danger of getting hit.
If it was the latter, his Omniscient Thread would've let him know.
Ding!
[You've slain D-rank
[40 EXP has been gained]
[Common D-rank
Ding!
[You've gained Common D-rank
Ding!
[Congratulations! You've reached Level 6]
As the system notification rang in his head, Alex began to exit the dark cave.
'I almost forgot.'
Ding!
[CHARACTER PROFILE]
Name: AL_EX_81
Class: Fighter
Level: 6
Balance: 80 Cheng
Title: {The Artist}
STR: 17
SPD: 13
END: 15
INT: 10
Stat Points: 1
[Class Special:
[Title Property: {Analyze} The Cast is capable of scanning any player and obtaining basic information about them (Can be used on Monsters and Beasts).]
[Title Aspect I: {Omniscient Thread}
Title Aspect II: {Locked}
Title Aspect III: {Locked}]
[Skills (1/5):
'Let's make my speed reach fifteen first.'
Thinking so, Alex assigned his one stat point to speed.
Each level up grants the player with a stat point while also increasing each stat by one point.
Plus, the Fighter class granted an extra five points to strength and endurance to the base stat point of five for each stat. These factors resulted in Alex's current stat.
Putting the character profile window away, Alex hummed lightly on his way to the exit.
For a second, he considered consuming another Nocturnal's eye due to his Night vision effect reaching its time limit.
For a second that is. Just remembering the disgustingly sour yet somewhat lukewarm, greasy taste of the eye was in itself painful to Alex.
Stumbling on his way twice or thrice, Alex was finally able to exit the cave.
"Ho?"
A few distance away, near the foothill of The Guardian's Hill where he once was, Alex saw something.
"That was fast." He muttered.
It was another player.