He walked into the forest on the village's outskirts looking for prey. There were a lot of players hunting down small animals from foxes to rabbits trying to increase their level. He ignored them and kept on going deep into the forest.
He had a lot of basic magic skills in his armory right now covering all the basic elements. Even though he was still at level 0, with his wide range of skills and high intelligence and mentality state, he was sure he could take down at least a level 3 animal.
He took a look at his skills as he nodded in satisfaction, spending a week at the library was worth it!
Skills
Fire ball - lvl1
Water stream - lvl1
Earth pillar - lvl1
Lightning blast - lvl1
Insta heal - lvl1
Earth wall - lvl1
Water shield - lvl1
Fire slash - lvl1
Mining - lvl1
Herb picking - lvl1
Forging - lvl1
Cooking - lvl1
Tailoring - lvl1
Even though skills like Tailoring and herb picking were of no interest to him, it was handy to have them.
As he was musing over his skills, he heard the sounds of a battle nearby.
'I suppose it wouldn't be bad to check it out' he thought as he silently walked over.
It would be bad to antagonize whoever it was in case they thought he was out to kill steal. As he neared the area, he hid in a screen of bushes to avoid being seen.
He saw a team of three, two boys and a girl fighting a bear. Bears were level 5 animals and possessed incredible strength and defense. The bear was a huge black thing standing almost 2 meters tall on its hind legs.
It was swiping angrily at one of the boys as he dodged and slashed at the bear's stomach with a sword. It left a deep cut that further enraged the bear and it brought down its paws quickly to try and smash the boy to a pulp.
Instead, it got interrupted by a ball of flames that hit its face leaving a scorching burn mark. It howled furiously as it turned its attention to the girl at the back. It went down on all fours and charged at her only to meet the punch of the second boy right into its face which sent its whole mass flying back into a tree and snapping it in two.
'They're really good', Rastel thought silently to himself.
Looking at their skills, the first boy was a warrior, the second a monk and the girl was a mage. They had excellent coordination with each other as they basically toyed with the bear.
Rastel watched as the monk jumped into the air and landed a hard kick on top of the bear's head which seemed to finish it as it slumped on the ground never to rise again. The monk boy walked to the corpse and tapped on it saving it into his inventory, he could sell it for its skin and meat later in the village.
"That's enough for today." he said as he faced his companions, he seemed to be the leader among the three.
"That was amazing Gai, you're really strong!" the girl screamed happily.
"Yeah man, you're getting better at this game by the day, you're already at level 5 while we're still stuck at 4" the swordsman nodded.
"It's because you guys are not taking the game seriously enough." Gai said coldly.
"It doesn't matter anyway, we'll just stick by you as you grow stronger. We'll be by your side as you conquer this game and obtain first in the rankings!" the second boy said as a little enthusiasm flashed in his eyes.
"That's still far off, come on let's go Marco, Ann. We'll sell off the things we got and then log out."
"Alright Gai, let's go"
Rastel watched them as they turned to leave. As they were about to leave the clearing, he saw Gai turn slightly and look towards his direction for a moment before eventually leaving.
"He has such high perception?" he said to himself as he came out from the bushes.
'A monk skill maybe?'
DING!
"Oh, a new skill?" He swiped the notification as he checked the new skill.
New skill acquired - Stealth
Be able to sneak up on enemies by hiding your presence to avoid detection.
"Quite the useful skill" he nodded appreciatively. Muans had a weak physical constitution anyway, it would be good if he could escape some enemies using Stealth.
He kept on walking towards the forest until finally, he saw a bear roaming about aimlessly.
"Can I do it or should I just let it go" he mused.
Skipping five levels was an almost impossible concept at his level. Just the bear's high defense was a problem without even mentioning the level suppression. One swipe from the bear would probably kill him.
Rastel thought as his eyes roamed about, looking for something that could help. His eyes landed on a thick long Branch on the floor as his eyes flash with inspiration.
'It sounds stupid but that could work' he smiled grimly.
Meanwhile, the bear Rastel saw was busy walking around looking for food. It had been hungry for a while now and needed something to eat quickly. It turned its head to look to its right when it sighted the creature. Some weird tall dark-skinned being with a tail. The creature looked at it for a minute before pointing his palm towards it and sending a huge fire ball.
WHOOSH! BAM!
The fire ball landed on its face and the scorching burn drove it crazy. It roared in pain as it charged the foreign being that assaulted it.
Rastel saw the bear running towards him as he fired off another ball of flames. The feeling of using magic was exhilarating! So much power!
The bear roared in pain but continued charging, it must kill this being today!
Rastel turned around as he ran through the trees. He had accounted for his slow speed and knew the bear would reach him anytime soon. He kept on running at full speed until he heard the thumping of the bear's paws on the ground getting closer and closer.
"Fuck! So fast!"
He dived to the ground and felt the wind of the bear's paws passing by his previous position.
Even with his quick reaction, the tip of its claws still managed to swipe at his back as he tumbled to the ground and landed at the base of a tree.
He sat upright only to see the bear looming up to him on its hind legs aiming to strike!
"Earth pillar!" a towering column of Earth erupted beside him and slammed into the bear sending it flying.
His high mentality and intelligence gave him an incredible boost in casting speed and attack. He sent another earth pillar to the bear as it tried to get up sending it flying once again. He stood up slowly as he cast Insta heal multiple times on himself.
"Damn I almost died!" he said as he watched his HP bar refilling slowly. This Insta heal was quite handy.
The bear stood up and roared crazily as it charged him once again. This time, Rastel stood his ground as he fired a water stream at it which only made the bear tumble a bit but kept on coming.
What pathetic attempt was that? Did this being think he could stop it with just a blast of water? The bear was irritated.
It rushed forward and was about to attack when Rastel suddenly smiled. That was close enough!
"Lightning blast!" a blast of lightning came out of his hands electrocuting his surroundings and the bear with it. The water all over its body serving to double the effects of the lightning.
Its body felt numb as it froze in mid-air stunned. Before it could fall, Rastel sent an earth pillar to its side blasting it over to another direction.
The bear stood up slowly as the effects of the lightning slowly left its body. It saw the dark being walk towards its direction and rage-filled its eyes.
"It took so much effort just to bring you here you know?" Rastel said as he walked towards it
The bear roared in rage as it stood up and started charging him again.
"Now die for me!" Rastel said sinisterly as two earth pillars came out from either side of him and slammed into the bear hard!
He didn't stop there and sent out two more and this time, the earth pillars slammed the bear straight towards a thick sharpened branch bound tightly to a tree!
"Roar!!!" the bear roared painfully as it looked at the branch sticking out of its chest pinning it to the tree. It struggled as it tried to pull out the branch with its claws to no avail.
It roared with a mixture of panic, rage, and pain as it saw the dark being loom over it with a smile on his face.
Rastel's plan to kill an animal 5 levels above him was a simple straightforward trap!
"See you in hell big guy" he smiled as he pointed his hands towards the bear's face and blasted a multitude of fire balls at it until it died.
DING! DING! DING!
"Nice! I leveled up!" he leveled up twice up to level 2 and his proficiency in earth pillar and fire ball went to level two also.
"This is just as fun as I thought it'll be" he smiled as he saw his notifications.
"Now, let's continue hunting shall we?"