Once the scorpion was dead and the reward for beating the dungeon was received, I left the dungeon as non conspicuously as possible - making sure to not get spotted by any of the students or even the teachers as I made my escape from there and into the nearby treeline. Once I was under the safety of the trees of the forest, I exhaled and coiled up into a small coil, sinking my head into my body.
I did it...
Barely - but did it.
Not going to lie - while facing that massive scorpion monster, I felt fear just rush through my body and adrenaline flow in my blood with my heart just beating non stop. I couldn't stop myself from feeling so, so afraid. It felt like just one wrong move and I would have been killed by that monster in a single strike...
It was unlike anything else I had faced up until then - none of the slimes or the direwolves, or even the Poison Lizards compared to that thing. It definitely was on a whole different level compared to everything else in that place. But even then - I managed to beat it.... Admittedly - not easily. Towards the end especially - I began to use every card I had up my sleeve, the greatest one being the accidental use of my skill 'Shadow Step'... or I guess 'Shadowman' now as it 'evolved'. As soon as that large spike had come close to colliding with me, I heard a voice in my head speak an announcement;
[Shadow Step] activated.
And then, before I knew what was happening, I just sunk into the shadows below me and entered this strange new 'world' which was just like the one I am in right now, everything simply was pitch black and the only splash of colour in it was a white 'sky' above me, that highlighted any silhouettes in the area around me.
Basically, I managed to become invincible and invisible for a few seconds - allowing me to get close to the scorpion and launch my finishing blow onto it. It was a scary move to pull off, but I managed to gather up the courage to pull it off - and luckily, that scorpion didn't see it coming.
"I don't want to ever fight in a battle that puts me that close to death ever again..."
I thought, exhaling before opening my eyes and sliding my head out of my body. I may as well take a look at the stats window while I am just sitting here... I mean, I have to figure out where to head to next anyway.
"Status Open."
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Name: Faofa Shin
Species: Lesser Serpentine
Level: 28
Rank: E
Stats:
Health; 9000
Strength; 1200
Defense; 1190
Magical Energy; 7100
Stamina; 1150
Intelligence; 200
- Overall Power; 3400
Skills:
-Speech; Active Skill
-Venom; Passive Skill
-Erudition; Rare Skill
-Devourer; Individual Skill
-Harvester; Rare Skill
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Oh wow...
My 'stats' - they definitely have gone up. And by... a lot? I think? I am not quite sure if the amount of increase to my stats is classified as a lot or not - maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I am not very educated when it comes to this stuff.
And my 'skill list' - or whatever else you could call it - looks much larger than before - I suppose gaining skills isn't too difficult. Though I still don't know what some of them do, I am learning rather quickly on how to use them and their functions, so I will probably grasp all their functionality with time - for now, they can sit in my stats window. I am in no rush to learn to use them. Exhaling, I closed my stats window and my expression turned a bit more serious.
I managed to beat the scorpion that was higher level than me and clearly more skilled than me when it came to fighting - however, was I strong enough yet to face off against that massive troll that I had seen hours ago? Sure, the troll at the time was lower level than the scorpion, but it has been a little while since I saw it. Even though it hasn't been anywhere near even a single day, who knows whether or not that troll had grown even more powerful since I saw it - I mean, with its size, growing more powerful probably wasn't that hard.
But then again...
If it was still at only level twenty one...
Then I would surely be able to take it down with not much problem? I don't want to sound or be arrogant right now, but I was at a higher level than it and even though the levels may not mean 'everything' when it came to strength, to me, they seemed as a good way to tell if something was strong or weak.
Hmm....
What should I do...
I thought about my next course of action for a bit - debating with myself about going off and searching for the troll and killing it, however after careful consideration, I decided against it. Instead - I thought of getting stronger for now, until I was at a level at which I would feel comfortable throwing myself against that massive beast.
So, I left my little rest spot and slithered off into the forest, beginning my search for monsters to hunt down and kill.... And maybe even eat - considering that I haven't eaten anything for a while and hey, since I am a snake now, even if I am not used to eating raw meat, being a non-human creature surely will make the raw meat of unknown and mysterious monsters taste... not as awful.
...Right?
One Week Later. . .
I slithered quickly across the ground, dodging incoming darts that hit the trees behind me and the ground that I managed to move off of. Currently, I was locked in a fierce confrontation with a small, short human-like creature that had red skin and a strange mask as well as quills, similar to a hedgehog, which it kept firing off at me like arrows.
Based on information given to me by 'Erudition' this creature was known as a Red Dart Badger and was a 'low' threat level monster, that possessed not very durable, but sharp and poisoned quills - the poison of which was able to affect even those with resistance to poison.
As I moved, I quickly leapt towards a shadow, sinking into and disappearing from sight. The Red Dart Badger looked around in paranoia and confusion, searching for me, turning all around the place - eventually giving me the perfect chance to sneak attack it, as I leapt out of its shadow and opened my mouth wide open as the creature turned around to look at me. I quickly bit into its neck, biting through the mask it wore and then biting off a chunk of its neck - causing the badger to wail for a moment in pain, before it collapsed to the ground, its body lifeless as it bled out from its neck - life disappearing from its body within mere moments.
Experience Threshold has been reached.
You have risen to level 37.
Another level secured.
I exhaled as I grabbed a hold of the dead creature's body and dragged it over to a spot underneath a tree. Once there, I coiled up a little bit, before taking a huge bite out of the dead monster's body - swallowing the chunk whole. Just as I had hoped around a week ago I believe, as I am a snake now - or I am a monster, I suppose - raw meat from other monsters doesn't taste as bad as I had imagined. Well, it tastes almost like nothing to be fair...
I was forced to remember that despite being a living creature, snakes actually can't exactly taste at all - they literally have no taste buds. So for all I know, these monsters I am devouring after killing them could taste god awful and like I am eating trash, but I just wouldn't know - because I am unable to taste them. Still, they soothe my hunger, so I won't complain or say much.
As I growled away at the badgers body, I opened my stats window - something I had learned to do without needing to say the 'command' out loud.
I have 'Erudition' to thank for that, as the mere presence of it makes learning things easier - I mean, I even learned how to use 'Shadowman' on command with a mere thought, to the point where it has basically become a sub conscious thing for me. If I just think of disappearing into a shadow, 'Shadowman' takes me into the shadow. It has made my hunts much, much easier as dodging enemy attacks and launching sneak attacks on them has become a thousand times easier than before.
Anyways, back to my stats window.
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Name: Faofa Shin
Species: Lesser Serpentine
Level: 37
Rank: E
Stats:
Health; 10200
Strength; 1500
Defense; 1490
- Overall Power; 4500
Skills:
-Speech; Active Skill
-Venom; Passive Skill
-Erudition; Rare Skill
-Devourer; Individual Skill
-Harvester; Rare Skill
-Venom Bullet; Rare Skill
-Trickster; Common Skill
-Presence Erase; Common Skill
-Shadowman; Rare Skill
-Beasts Will; Individual Skill
-Shadow Call; Rare Skill
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My stats have grown by quite a decent chunk even if I have only managed to push out nine levels in the span of this week. It still was a much better look than like one or two levels in a week - nine in a week is a significant improvement in my books.
I have also learned that 'Presence Erase' allows me to, as the skill says, 'erase' all traces of my presence for an indefinite amount of time - aka, as long as I stay still and do not move. As soon as I make a significant movement, it automatically deactivates the skill - which makes it a little less useful as I am unable to just keep it active and basically kill monsters without them ever even knowing I exist.
But then again, I suppose that would be a little unfair...
I had also managed to figure out what 'Beasts Will' does - albeit on accident. Around three days ago, I was in a tough spot where I got cornered by three Greater Direwolves that had been giving me a tough time over all. However, then in the moment that one of them sprung forward at me, I hissed loudly at it, which in return caused the skill to activate and sent out what I believe was a loud tremor that then caused all three monsters to fall to the ground - as if gravity had intensified on them, making them incapable of moving even the slightest inch.
After I had killed the three monsters, I managed to piece it together that 'Beasts Will' was like a stunning move that allowed me to basically 'paralyse' my opponents with a loud hiss in my case - which would render them unable to move.
It was a pretty useful skill all in all, however it had the drawback of only being able to use it once every few hours - as apparently the use of it rapidly could 'damage' my voice and potentially make it impossible for me to even let out a single sound from my mouth - which I definitely did not want to happen.
Anyways...
Right now, the only skills I had not figured out the function of yet were 'Shadow Call' and 'Trickster' - skills that I genuinely did not even have a single clue on the functions of whatsoever. I couldn't even get a rough idea based on their names, I mean, the names were ones that gave me literally limitless ideas of what they could possibly do.
Closing my stats window, I finished off the last chunk of the Red Dart Badgers meat, before knocking the bones of it to the side with my tail and then exhaling a little. I had spent another week of just hunting down and killing monsters to increase my level, simply because of my paranoia that I may not be strong enough to face that troll yet. But now, I have hit the level of thirty seven - surely now I am ready, right? Even if that troll was higher level than twenty one, I was in a rather comfortable spot with my level - even that scorpion inside of that dungeon wouldn't seem as scary now, I'm sure of it.
Taking in a deep breath, I looked off into the deep forest with a serious expression. Enough time I have had to prepare I believe - time to go and meet that troll and see, whether or not I can actually face it in battle.
If I remember correctly, I caught glimpses of it moving somewhere north - or what I at least assumed was north, based on some factors I was taught to look out for as a child in my previous life. After a moment of hesitation, I began to slither off into the forest, keeping my eyes wide open and my senses as keen as possible, to avoid getting ambushed by anything as I moved through the forest.
I did not want to waste time any longer - I wanted to fight that troll.
Moving through the woods, I eventually came upon a very good and bad sign - giant imprints in the ground, in the rough shape of a foot as well as trees that had been snapped and broken in half all around the place. However - these signs were also bad in a way - as it meant that it could be anywhere around here or even further down the path, if I followed the footprints and the snapped trees. That meant, getting ambushed was a possibility - as illogical as it sounds, considering the things massive size.
After another brief moment of hesitation, I began to follow the path of 'destruction' and began to possibly 'tail' the troll that had clearly moved through this area. I was going to kill it no matter what - I have steered that resolve already, no backing out for me now. After following the path for a while, I eventually managed to find the beast in question, resting by a large cave that was obscured by the trees around it. Just to not alert the beast, I activated 'Presence Erase' from my hiding spot, before using 'Erudition' on the monster.
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Name; Erv
Species; Greater Dark Troll
Level; 42
A Powerful version of the regular Dark Trolls, which specializes in the usage of dark and illusionary magic. It also possesses grand physical strength, however its endurance is mediocre at best - its spells can take a long time to cast with their incantations, however should the creature manage to pull them off, the spells could level down entire forest scapes. Proceed with caution.
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It was just like I had feared...
Guess my worries about it getting stronger were not misplaced - not only had this thing had gone from an 'Inferior Troll' to an 'Greater Dark Troll' - whatever that meant - it also had managed to gain a name and in terms of levels... it outlevelled me.
I smirked nervously, scuffing a bit.
And here I thought I was being smart by going around and killing things around the forest for a week to increase my level just in case... Looks like this thing will be harder to take down than the Scorpion that I faced in the dungeon after all. No big deal though - I knew it wouldn't be an easy step to take.
After a little moment of fear and hesitation, I shook my head, my 'Presence Erase' skill deactivating as I then leapt out of my hiding spot and fired off 'Venom Bullet' at the Troll, creating large, dark purple orbs in air, before large, arrow life shots fired towards the beast and collided straight with its chest, casting a sort of 'smokescreen' over the Troll as I sunk into the shadows cast by the treeline above. The Troll awoke, standing up with a loud roar, before lifting up the large club it had in its right hand and crashing it into the ground, right onto the shadow where I was in.
However, due to me being inside the 'Shadow' I managed to avoid all damage from the attack before I leapt out of the shadow and up towards the Trolls face, firing off another barrage of Venom Bullets at it. Once the bullets hit the monster's face, it stumbled back a bit, its mouth wide open.
"Perfect!"
I thought, before opening my mouth wide open and bit down onto its tongue, activating 'Harvester' immediately, allowing me to rip the tongue straight out of its mouth - practically disabling its speech. In one fell swoop, I had removed any way for it to cast a single spell against me - I was in a golden position right now.
Once I landed back onto the ground, I rapidly slithered away from the troll, creating distance between me and it, while the beast looked down at me with a furious gaze, before grabbing its club and lifting it into the air, sending it crashing down onto the ground again - with me barely managing to avoid being injured gravely and being only flung back against a tree, which did hurt a bit, but not enough to make me lose my game.
Without its tongue, the thing couldn't cast spells, as it couldn't talk - which meant all I had to ensure was to dodge its physical attacks and just aim to take it out as fast as possible. Now, I saw that the previous two Venom Bullets that I had fired off against it, despite its reactions to them, seemed to do practically nothing to it, which meant its skin probably was too resilient for the Venom Bullet to pierce. I probably and possibly was going to be forced to use 'Harvester' and bite my way through its skin.
After dodging a stomp that the beast attempted, I leapt onto its leg and quickly slithered up its body, as the Troll attempted to grab a hold of me with its large hands. Thank god for this slippery and slender body - if I didn't have it, I do not know what I would do right now.
Quickly making my way up to the Trolls head, I leapt towards its left eye, biting into it and then ripping it out, causing the beast to grab a hold of its head with its left hand before successfully grabbing me and tossing me towards the ground while it stumbled back. As I approached the ground, I sunk into the shadows, leaping out of them immediately afterwards, before turning to look at the Troll.
"So far so good! I just need to keep this up and this thing will-"
Before I could finish my thought process, a loud, loud howl echoed through the area, before the giant Troll was enclosed in a massive pillar of blue flames. My eyes widened in shock and surprise as I watched the Trolls' faint silhouette through the flames, practically pleading and begging for its life as the flames consumed it. Then, after a couple of seconds, the pillar of flames disappeared, and all that was left of the troll and the forest area that was also caught within the pillar was just a patch of ashes and scorched land.
My eyes were as wide as they could be, as a sense of fear and shock completely took over my body. That troll... it was obliterated in mere seconds by that pillar of flames... Just - what caused it?
Then, I heard a heavy foot slam down
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