It's the final day of the mission where we have to survive in the forest for a week, and it has been hell so far. At first I thought I was in a somewhat safe place, but that was just my imagination. The amount of monsters I have encountered over the past week have amounted to over 500!
My body is full of scars from injuries I sustained during my fights and sneak attacks from the monsters overt he past week. At least, it isn't all bad for me.
My skill at using the spear has increased significantly during this week, and I can do more than just thrusting and sweeping. I can change the direction of my stabs by twisting the spear, and I can target vital points easily now.
I just finished eating my breakfast, which was meat from a weird dog creature, which tasted like shit. I put out the fire and nimbly jumped through trees while looking around nervously. I found that during the past week, if there isn't many monsters in an area, it is because there is a very strong monster that has claimed the area.
And I am in such a spot. I don't know what monster claimed this area, but it has to be strong for all the other monsters nearby to leave the area. If I could increase my stats and level during this week, I could probably kill it easily, but since I can't, it will be hard for me.
I jump through trees and bushes while continuously looking around for any trace of the monster. I don't want to find it by doing so - I want to go in the opposite direction of it. I was about to jump to another tree when I felt danger behind me, so I dropped to the ground.
The tree I was just on got crushed by something large, so I nervously look up and I nearly curse aloud. The thing that just crushed the tree is a very large snake, which is obviously the strongest monster in this area since I can feel immense danger from it.
The snake coils around another tree and stares at me, while I stare back. I so want to run away right now, but if I turn around for even a second I am gonna die. I was so nervous that I slightly stepped back, which causes the snake to jump at me from the tree.
I barely dodged it's open mouth that was heading for me. If I didn't, I would of lost my entire left side of my body. Knowing that causes cold sweat to pour out of my body, but I don't stop moving. Since the snake already attacked, the fight has started.
I swing my spear at the snakes spine, but it twists it's body and dodges it easily, which is pretty good for its large body. I don't stop attacking as I thrust my spear, sweep my spear, and twist my spear at it constantly. I do manage to hit it a few times, but they just left small wounds on it's body.
The snake sends it's tail flying at my chest, and I barely blocked it with my spear, but I got sent flying due to the force behind the attack. I smacked into a tree and spat out a mouthful of blood, but I quickly stand back up without cleaning the blood coming from my lips.
I don't have the time for that. The snakes wide open mouth crashed against the tree I was leaning on a second earlier and took a giant chunk out of it, causing the tree to crash down. The tree conveniently landed atop the snake, so I took the chance and stabbed out a few times with my spear.
I hit it's spine 3 times and head twice, but the piercing power of my spear isn't enough to truly damage the snakes skin, so I only do light wounds on it again. Although they are light, I did still hit vital points on the snake, so it is somewhat damaged now, not that it helps much.
I keep dodging and attacking for a minute while I try to come up with an idea. I can't damage it's body due to it's scales and skin, so I have no choice but to attack from the inside. I clench my teeth and made up my mind. When the snake attacks me, I don't block it but I dodge to the side.
The snakes mouth misses my body, but my left arm is still caught in it's mouth, which is what I wanted. I use the spear that is still in my left hand and stab upwards - towards it's brain. I could feel the spear stab into the snakes inner skin, and easily cut through it upwards inside it's head.
I could tell that I stabbed it's brain by looking at the reaction of the snake, so I was happy. But that didn't last for more than a second since my left arm is still inside it's mouth. The snake knew it was going to die, so it wanted to at least damage me heavily.
It closed it's large mouth and bit off my left arm leaving only a bit lower than the shoulder of it left, causing me to scream out. I move back and lean against a tree while holding my lacking left arm tightly, gritting my teeth and moaning out due to the pain.
I force down the pain and pull of my shirt and tie it around the remaining parts of my left arm, since I would die if I bleed too much. I can't do anything about the wound now, but hopefully I don't have to wait too long before I leave the forest so I can buy something from the shop that can act as a bandage.
I also lost my spear, so I don't know if I can even live long enough to get back there, since I don't know how long it will take for the screen to teleport me back. I grit my teeth and pick up the single scale that I managed to hit off of the snakes body and shakily head away from the area.
I quietly and slowly move away from the area while keeping my attention on my surroundings, just in case a monster comes at me, since I will die if I get attacked right now. I manage to reach a small hole in a tree which I created before and I get in while covering the hole off with rocks and tree bark, and sat down heavily.
I could feel myself getting faint due to the loss of blood, and the snake might of had a slow acting poison on it's fangs, which doesn't help. I don't know how long I sat there for, but the white light shone on me finally.
I squint my eyes slightly and found myself in the private room that the screen gave me before, so I let out a light breath of relief. I was about to open the shop and buy something, but the screen started talking.
[Mission completed~ Congratulations to you 53 people who survived the fourth mission! There is more than I thought, so I am happy~ Here are the rewards!]
[You have cleared Mission #3, Survival in the Forest.
-You have gained 100 points.
-You have gained 100 xp.
-You have gained 5 stat points.
-You have killed 128 normal monsters.
-You have gained 350 xp.
-You have killed 6 Sector Leaders.
-You have gained 550 xp.
-You have killed the Forest King.
-You have gained 1000 xp.
-You have gained 500 points.
-You have gained 1000 Karma.
-You have gained 3 regeneration potions.]
[You have leveled up~ You gained 2 stat points~]
[You have leveled up~ You gained 2 stat points~]
[You have leveled up~ You gained 2 stat points~]
[You have leveled up~ You gained 2 stat points~]
I blankly stare at the screens that popped up for a few seconds before looking down at the three bottles that fell in front of me. I pick one of them up and see red liquid inside of it, so I slowly take the top off of the bottle and pour the liquid into my mouth.
I instantly felt pain and itchiness all over my body, causing my body to curl up into a ball. A few minutes later the pain disappeared, but the itchiness is still there on my left arm. Wait, left arm? I look at the place where my left arm is supposed to be and see a perfectly fine arm, and I stare blankly at the empty bottle in my hand.
I thought I would lose my left arm permanently due to this mission, so I didn't expect I could heal it back like this. I was stupefied for a few seconds before I began laughing aloud. I got my left arm back! This is just great! Now I don't need to worry about losing a lot of my strength due to only having one arm! Laughing happily, I brought up my status.
[Name: Zhao Feng
-Age: 16
-Gender: Male
-Race: Human
-Level: 9(10/700)
-Strength: 5
-Agility: 7
-Dexterity: 6
-Intelligence: 5
-Wisdom: 4
-Vitality: 3
-Endurance: 2
-Charm: 1
-Luck: 5
-Stat Points: 13
-Skill Points: 0
-Points: 755
-Karma: 1450
-Skills: N/A]
Looking at the 13 stat points I have, I put 3 into endurance, 5 into vitality, 4 into strength, and one into dexterity. I found that I didn't have a good enough body, so putting points into endurance will increase my bodies defensive powers, while putting points into vitality will increase my sustain abilities. I got up and lay down on the bed and fell asleep instantly, not even bothering to look at the screens that came up.
I didn't know how long I slept, but when I woke up my body was completely refreshed and felt nice. I sat up off the bed and stretched my body slightly and looked at the screens that came up before I fell asleep.
[You have 24 hours for a break this time~ Mission #5 will start then~]
[Items have been upgraded within the shops~ Check them out~]
[You gained the second right for the Hidden Throne!]
That last one caught my eyes instantly. I got the second right during the time I was sleeping, so I don't know how I got it, but I am sure it isn't due to anything I did. The only thing I can think of is due to me using a regeneration potion to heal my arm back, but that shouldn't be right.
Ah whatever! The screen said that the items in the shops got upgraded, so the weapons should of, right? I brought up the shop and checked it out.
[Steel Dagger: 50 points.
-Steel Sword: 120 points.
-Steel Spear: 150 points.
-Steel Halberd: 200 points.
-Steel Axe: 140 points.
-Compressed Bow: 400 points.]
Everything upgraded from Iron to Steel, huh~ The power increase should be nice. Even the bow got upgraded as well. I should buy a spear again since I got used to it, but I just don't feel that using a spear is what I should do.
Although I can use a spear good, my body feels weird when I do, so I should try out other weapons to see if they fit with me. I look at the weapons and decide to buy a sword first, which costs 120 points.
[You have purchased a Steel Sword for 120 points~]
I look at the average looking sword that popped up from nowhere and picked it up. I hold it like how I have seen in games and stuff and swung it a few times. I swung the sword clumsily and staggered forward a few times, which causes me to be thankful nobody is around.
I look at the timer and it says 8 hours, which means I slept for about 16 hours, which surprised me. I am completely not tired, so I decide to train for these 8 hours. I look at the training dummy that appeared last time, and I trained using it.
I slashed, stabbed, blocked and pierced it with my sword for the next few hours. By the time I was done, I could already feel that I was as good at using the spear after 8 hours as I was using a spear for a week, so I knew I was right.
The spear just isn't for me. I am not sure if the sword is the right weapon for me, but it is clearly a better choice for me than a spear. I look at the 1 hour left on the timer and sat my tired body down on my head. I found that I needed an armor for myself, so I brought up the armor shop.
[Chain-mail Breastplate: 150 points.
-Chan-mail Leggings: 150 points.
-Leather Gloves: 50 points.
-Leather arm-guards: 50 points.
-Leather Shoulder-guards: 50 points.]
I don't know how many points I actually have since I didn't look clearly before, so I look at the armor for a few seconds and bring up my status again.
[Name: Zhao Feng
-Age: 16
-Gender: Male
-Race: Human
-Level: 9(10/700)
-Strength: 9
-Agility: 7
-Dexterity: 7
-Intelligence: 5
-Wisdom: 4
-Vitality: 8
-Endurance: 5
-Charm: 1
-Luck: 5
-Stat Points: 0
-Skill Points: 0
-Points: 635
-Karma: 1450
-Skills: N/A]
635 points, huh. I look at the armor shop and decide after a few seconds. I bought a Chain-mail Breastplate, Leather Leggings and Leather Gloves. I somehow put the breastplate on properly and swapped my pants for the new ones, since they are more useful, and I also put the gloves on.
I put my sword on the belt of the pants and put the few daggers I have into a few weird pockets that are on them. I move around a bit and found that I didn't slow down from the weight of the armor, so I am pretty happy about that.
By the time I am done everything, the timer has already ran out, and I got covered in a white light and got teleported somewhere. I open my eyes and look around slightly and notice it is just the large room from before, so I relax my guard and look around.
The screen said there was only over 50 people that survived the forest mission, but there is around a thousand people here, so I guess it got new people here. I was a bit surprised, but that is only because all these new people have nothing but rusty daggers.
Did they just complete the first mission? What the heck. All these newbies are looking at me and the others who survived the forest mission in surprise and confusion, which makes sense. They just completed there first mission and barely survived, but there are a few people with armor and good weapons, so they are confused.
[Hello everyone~ As you can see~ The mission isn't normal~ There are people who just completed their fourth mission here~ And those who just completed the first~ You will all be put into the same mission, so the difficulty will be changed~ Here you go!]
[Mission #5, Collection.
-Time Limit: 3 days.
-Description: There are a horde of similar monsters collected in a single area and they all have a single horn. Your mission is to collect at least 100 horns before the time is up. Collecting more will grant extra rewards. Collecting less will result in a failure penalty.
-Rewards: 100 xp. 100 points. 5 stat points.
-Failure Penalty: Death.]
The screen gives a description now... Convenient. There screen didn't say how to collect the horns, which means you can attack other people and take their horns, which is going to cause a slaughter. I don't need to attack other to collect horns since I should be strong enough on my own, but the others won't be.
The thousand or so people who just appeared here just completed the first mission and are weak as hell, so they will probably not be able to kill many monsters and will have to team up. That's where the problems arise.
There is only one horn per monster, and there will be multiple people per group, such greed will appear. They could give 1 horn to each person per kill in a rotation, but most people won't do that and will get greedy, causing fights within their group to happen.
As a result, most of them will die to other people rather than monsters, which is probably what this screen wants. Not that I can complain much since I would probably kill whoever I see if they have enough horns, since there is an extra reward for the more horns I get.
The screen only gave us 5 minutes to get ourselves ready, and we were teleported back to our private rooms. Those new people just got their room so they won't have anything in anyways, and I already have the most important things on me. I am not bringing the last 2 regeneration potions just in case something happens and I lose them, so I will keep them here so if I need to, I can use them when I get teleported back here.
When 5 minutes are up, I get covered in a white light and get teleported somewhere else. I open my eyes and am pretty surprised at where I found myself this time.