As he took a step inside the lush forest Elliot felt a chill down his spine, suddenly he had felt like he was being watched by a blood sucking beast but couldn't pinpoint exactly what or where it was. Even after checking thoroughly around himself he didn't find anything, he tried opening the map and although this forest had a fair number of red dots there was none around him.
'Was it my imagination?'
At that moment Elliot realized this forest might be more dangerous than he expected it to be and hesitated between staying and leaving. In the end he still cautiously walked further inside, there was no other reason to his choice but curiosity and greed, even himself couldn't escape from the human nature of always wanting more.
As he walked deeper inside the forest Elliot didn't feel that oppressive aura anymore and relaxed, he started to believe that his brain had played a trick to him.
Elliot decided to walk towards one of the closest small red dots to check what kind of monster it was, he walked as cautiously as he could while holding the scissors claw dagger in his hand because he knew that even if small a monster in this world could potentially be a deadly threat just like he had almost died the first time he met a scissors claw crab.
A few minutes later Elliot was standing behind a tree and peeked while trying to show as little of himself as possible.
He saw a big tree, it's trunk was as wide as a house while it towered so high that it's leaves were hidden amongst the clouds. There were no other trees close to it while a furry beast almost as big as the tree's width was lying down next to it.
The beast seemed to be a mix between a cat and a fox, it's fur was part orange part black, it had sharp ears pointing towards the sky and it's eyes lifelessly looked at the ground.
The first thing Elliot realized was that the beast wasn't sleeping, he looked at the ground that was drenched in blood and knew that this beast was about to die.
Did it have a fight with another beast ? Is there someone who can already hunt such big beasts ? Elliot couldn't help but wonder what kind of entity could do this to such a big monster.
'Is the dot so small on the map because it's almost dead ? Then the dots don't show the monsters according to their size but their actual strength ? That's even better !'
Elliot hesitated on what do to with the beast, he knew that if he gave it the last hit he might get the experience for killing such a huge monster but at the same time he wasn't sure if the monster could still manifest enough strength to kill him, at the same time there was a monster stronger than this beast somewhere around here, if it came back he would die without a doubt.
In the end Elliot still decided to try his luck, he walked slowly and silently behind the big tree and got ready for a sneak attack onto the injured beast. He was getting so close that he could hear it's ragged breathing, he believed it's lungs had been piercing by the whistling sound it made every time it inhaled.
'It'll only get weaker and weaker the longer I wait but at the same time it might die on its own and the beasts or whatever it is that did this might come back anytime, I can't waste any time.'
Finally Elliot made his mind, he didn't have the Explosive boost skill but still his agility stat was high enough for him to have an insane speed, he also had a lot of points in the strength stat which gave him a really explosive acceleration!
Strength started to gather into Elliot's legs as much as they could hold, this time he held nothing back and put every single thread of energy he had in this one attack. The scissors claw dagger was in his hand and completely ready to strike, his eyes went cold as he threw away all mercy he had for the beast.
He didn't doubt this beast would have eaten him already if it was in a better state so he didn't feel anymore mercy and
BOOOOM
He disappeared from the spot he was standing one and left only a cloud of dust behind him, in less than half a second he traveled the 5 meters that were between him and the beast and the dagger went into its neck so fast that Elliot heard the sound of bones cracking under the impact, he knew he would inflict lots of damages in one hit due to the momentum he had but didn't expect it to be that much !
NYAAAAAAAAaaaa
The cat-fox beast left out one last dreadful scream before falling asleep forever, the dagger had pierced its neck and the impact had broken its bones, added to the huge damages it had already taken It didn't have any chances of survival.
Weirdly enough this fight was the easiest Elliot had have since he came into this world, even though this monster was probably the strongest he had fought yet.
Slowly a white light started leaving the beast's body and formed a huge ball of white light above it, Elliot jumped on top of the body of the beast and instead of taking the soul he froze.
'Huh...?'
He looked inside the soul and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, he opened them again and there was still an item with the soul ! Without losing half a second Elliot grabbed both and left the forest like a lightning bolt, only 1 minute later he had already left the forest and he climbed into the grotto.
Finally he relaxed and looked at the pop up that had appeared earlier.
[Feline monarch soul has been absorbed.
Experience points +128900.
Level up.
Level up.
Level up.
Feline monarch's ring acquired:
Health : +400
Agility : +20
Strength : +5
Mana : +500
Mana regeneration : 5/second
"Spirit arrow" : an arrow formed by mana will be launched at high speed, the arrow isn't physical and cannot be stopped by basic shields or armors.
Attack power : 50 - 65
Mana cost : 100
Cooldown : 5 seconds]
Elliot didn't know how to feel.
'This item was definitely worth a lot more than the scissors claw armor that I sold, I'm afraid I might get in danger because of it.'
In the end Elliot put on his finger the beautiful ring, there was no way someone would recognize it as a treasure and it could save his life during dangerous moments, he hadn't decided to keep it forever but he wasn't in a rush to make money anymore.
'I'll sell it when I'm stronger.'
Just like this Elliot made his mind and opened the status page.
[ Evans Elliot:
Level : 12
Experience : 149450/204800
Race : Human
Title : Player ( Effects : decreased tiredness, increased focus and player system activated.)
Class : None
Stats :
Health : 831/831
Mana : 500/500
Strength : 27 (+15)
Defense : 18
Agility : 28 (+25)
Intelligence : 24
Wisdom : 26
Luck : 2296
Stamina : (+10)
Attack speed : +6%
Mana regeneration : 5 mana / second
Skills :
"Spirit arrow".]
Elliot had lost lots of stat points after taking off the scissors claw armor, both because of its own stats and also because the disappearance of the set effect but right after selling it he already had found something way better !
[ A quest has been acquired.]