Maybe because Alexei was hunting low-level monsters, most of the drops were useless or of poor quality. Some had dull edges. Some had nice sheen on them but showed signs of breaking due to questionable materials or designs. Time and time again, he was dismayed but he still keep everything in his inventory in hopes that these things would have uses in the future.
How unfortunate but good items were hard to find since those things only came from powerful monsters. Bosses were guaranteed to give nice drops which he learned thanks to Mikaela who hunted one on the day they entered the Tower. But Alexei was currently alone and he was not yet conceited enough to challenge Boss-level monsters of Floor 1.
He knew his only merit right now was understanding how to use the Gift bestowed to him and being familiar with some of the patterns of the monsters lurking on this floor. When it comes to personal strength, Alexei did not really want to talk about it now. He was aware even ten of him would not be able to defeat any Boss monster here.
Right now, he was very thankful in his heart that elite mobs had a small chance of dropping good stuff. It gave him hope and made him more passionate about hunting them. Every battle would leave him exhausted and wounded, but whenever he chanced upon fine weapons or magical relics, he would jump like a fool. He would then will it, to make the items spawn in his hands, excited to touch the thing in person.
And yes, the invisible inventory bag was truly that magical and convenient.
He could store items inside and the capacity was quite large. Of course, there was a limitation in that only weapons or mystical stuff dropped by monsters in the form of semi-glossy cubes could be kept. But even that was amazing enough. Who else had storage like this?
Whenever he wanted to take out an item, he would only need to mentally select it from the catalog that would pop up in his mind. Then, if he wanted to put the item away, he would only need to will it too. The summoned item would automatically disappear into the inventory.
Of course, the prerequisite was that there were weapons to take out.
"Thankfully this is the abyss. Weapons from weaker mobs easily break. But the quantity makes up for it since monsters are essentially everywhere."
Alexei consoled himself with these words when he finished looting the bunch of green skin monsters before him and got nothing useful out of them. He sat down opposite the pile of carcasses to rest.
He used the long sleeves of his dirty but dry tunic dress shirt to wipe the beads of sweat on his face and neck.
"I'll keep training on this floor using these mobs until I become confident of hunting a Boss. If a good weapon or relic drops, I would consider ascending to the second floor. Otherwise, I'd move on to the next monster type until I hunt their leader. Then pray that second Boss would give me something nice."
While absentmindedly looking at the dark uneven ceiling of the cave, Alexei murmured to himself the plan he formulated. In this plan, even after days had passed, looking for a human companion never crossed his mind. He liked the current situation better.
As he was still weak, he could not risk anybody knowing about his ability, especially since he had a feeling that others could use the items that he could loot. Alexei did not want to bet that those who would know of his secret were not malicious people who would exploit him for his ability. The idea itself was terrible considering the fact that this was the center of the Abyss, a place where deceit, massacre, betrayal, malice, and all negative stuff thrived.
After resting for some time, the youth stood up and climbed out of the narrow cavern. What greeted him outside was a vast expanse of greyish lands that looked as dead as the rocky region outside. Food was scarce. Plants had become the stuff of legends. Alexei survived by eating monster meat. His Gift provided him with the much-needed drinking water. He was really thankful that elemental power could be harnessed in the abyss because if not, he would definitely have ended up dehydrated or forced to drink black waters from mob-infested swamps.
"What next?"
He did not ask the question because he did know what to do after annihilating a small group of goblins.
The question left his wryly smiling lips at the sight of black dust flowing like clouds on the horizon that were gradually approaching his location. Alexei hurriedly bolted towards the left. He did not believe that the group of monsters would change direction just to hunt him. The problem was the time it would take to completely go out of their way.
'Go back into the cave? No... I hear howling sounds. It must be a moving pack of abyss wolves or hounds. A few would definitely detect the scent of blood and leave the group for it.'
Even while running for dear life, Alexei never forgot to observe his surroundings, and even though he realized things were not looking good for him, no sign of panic showed on his face. He forcibly suppressed the fright he was feeling inside as he knew if he let it consume him, it would impede his judgment and make him commit mistakes.
'A full hundred meters... This is a really huge group...'
Every cell in his body seemed to be screaming as he put all his strength into his legs. In just five seconds, the frontline of the stampeding pack would collide with him. The only hope he found to avoid death was the protruding rock several dozen meters above his head. But would he be able to scale the cliffside that fast to get on top of it?
Alexei took a deep breath before a ruthless glint flickered across his eyes.
Growls and howls reverberated. The shaking of the earth became louder and louder.
When the youth was only two meters away from the fierce hounds about to jump on him, he unhesitatingly pulled out all weapons he had hoarded. Everything gained in the past seven days, he willed his inventory to rain then all upon the charging monsters.
A peculiar sight took place a moment later. Weapons in all forms and sizes appeared midair, right above the red hounds. These weapons ruthlessly descended with a momentum that could match the speed of light.
None of the mobs managed to react on time. Those that were about to stomp and bite Alexei to death ended up skewered, nailed to the ground, or cut in half by the sharp blades that dropped on them. Collective whimpers of pain rang from the mortally wounded hounds that somehow survived. Albeit these cries were still drowned out by the loud noises of the other hounds.
The culprit had long taken advantage of the gap that formed amidst the monsters. At the same time that his inventory opened, Alexei climbed the cliffside with the help of daggers created through his Gift.
...
3 minutes passed. Because Alexei was actually very reluctant to leave his loots just like that, he began playing dead behind a boulder on top of the cliff, praying no monster would detect him.
He saw that a few of the hounds running underneath broke away from the pack to drag the goblin carcasses out of the cave. But that was it. The rest did not stop. Their actions puzzled the youth as they looked like they were fleeing from something.
But what could terrify a huge pack of more than five thousand? Was he just not aware of an aggressive water-related specie living nearby? Or was it a boss-level monster from a hostile race?