For the rest of his second day, Alexander furiously hunted the vampire rabbits.
He used the same plan as before: scout, wait, fireball, kill, eat. Most of the time, the new and improved fireballs from his elemental affinity level up were able to kill the rabbits with one shot, although it took two shots if he missed a vital organ. He had a few close calls, but with the increased casting speed of the fireball (Also a perk from leveling elemental affinity), he was able to easily conjure up a new fireball to kill the injured rabbits that attempted to charge at him.
In addition, it seemed that the new level up in elemental affinity allowed access to a new element: water. He tried a few water balls on the rabbits, but it wasn't nearly as effective as the fire. The water mostly just knocked back the rabbit a few feet and got them wet and even more enraged. Although that did weigh them down, they still had two powerful back legs. There were some close calls when he shot a water ball and the rabbit charged, but they were wet so his fireball spell did little damage. Luckily, he was able to hit the rabbit in the eyes so it was blinded. Alexander was then able to wait for his mana to regenerate so that he could cast another fireball and kill the rabbit for good.
He also saw a few new monsters which looked like downsized komodo dragons. They had thick skin and a large maw, but they were pretty slow-moving. Unfortunately, they were still too large for Alexander to fight; their body was about twice the length of the small slime. He was pretty sure that his measly fireball would do nothing to the large lizard, so he avoided them and focused on the rabbits.
[You have slain the infant vampire rabbit. You have gained 10 Exp.
You have gained 1 stat point from the infant vampire rabbit.]
[You have slain the infant vampire rabbit. You have gained 10 Exp.
You have gained 1 stat point from the infant vampire rabbit.]
[You have slain the infant vampire rabbit. You have gained 10 Exp.
You have gained 1 stat point from the infant vampire rabbit.]
[You have slain the infant vampire rabbit. You have gained 10 Exp.
You have gained 1 stat point from the infant vampire rabbit.]
[You have slain the infant vampire rabbit. You have gained 10 Exp.
You have gained 1 stat point from the infant vampire rabbit.]
During this time, Alexander realized that he could regenerate one mana point every half hour, so that means that he could cast one fireball spell every hour. This was an extremely slow speed, greatly reducing Alexander's hunting efficiency. He had to hide for an hour or two every time he killed a vampire rabbit because, if he was found, he would have no way to defend himself.
Alexander looked at his skills for anything that might help him and found a skill that he had overlooked before: increased mana absorption. That might just be the fix for his terrible mana regen! The skill made him go into a deep meditative state which allowed him to focus solely on absorbing mana into his core. Here, he could regenerate mana twice as fast, so one point only took him 15 minutes! Unfortunately, it would be impossible to use this skill whilst hunting because he could easily be snuck up on and killed.
As the day was nearing its end, Alexander stumbled on a new kind of rabbit. This rabbit looked much scarier than all that he had previously fought. It was almost twice as large, and its fangs extended three times as long as the other rabbits. This particular rabbit had graduated from munching on grass. Beneath it was what looked like the remains of a baby lizard monster. It was fiercely ripping apart the baby lizard with its giant fangs, fresh blood coating its muzzle. When it looked up, Alexander could see blood dripping from its fangs and staining its coat a deep red.
This new rabbit had to be the adult version of the vampire rabbit! Alexander was feeling very confident. After the first rabbit, none of his other kills were able to even touch him, so he felt that he could take on the adult vampire rabbit.
Alexander knew that the simple fireball spell would not be able to kill the rabbit, it was too large to be affected by the small ball of fire. He had been practicing with fire magic for the entire day now, and he felt that he could do something a little more advanced than the fireball spell.
This was his chance; the rabbit was completely focused on the infantile lizard carcass in front of it. Alexander started to draw mana out of his core and direct it to the space in front of him. Because he had been practicing with his mana all day, he had attained a greater understanding of the substance and was therefore able to have more control over it.
The mana from Alexander's core began to condense in front of him, but he continued to pull more and more until his mental strength gave out. At this point, he had drawn more mana into one spell than he ever had before, and the mana whirled around in a large ball in front of him. He could barely keep the amount of mana contained. With a herculean effort, he started to shape the mana. It stretched and stretched until it was about 2 feet in length and as thin as the barrel of a sniper rifle. He then set the mana on fire. He would call this spell fire lance!
Alexander built up pressure at the back of the lance and released it, rocketing the lance towards the unsuspecting rabbit. It was a direct hit. The lance pierced the neck of the rabbit and severed its brain stem. The rabbit was dead before it hit the ground.
[You have slain the adolescent vampire rabbit. You have gained 20 Exp.]
What power! The fire lance is extremely effective! Sadly, it takes a while to gather the mana and shape it, so it would be challenging to cast it in the heat of battle. He rolled up next to the rabbit's body and consumed it. Unfortunately, the baby lizard did not have anything left on its body to consume.
[You have gained 2 stat points from the infant vampire rabbit.
You have consumed a new specimen: +1 stat points.]
Heck yes! 3 more stat points! But this is only an adolescent!? He hoped that he never encountered the mature vampire rabbit.
It was time to reap the rewards of the day. He rolled back to his small cave and covered the entrance with an inconspicuous layer of dirt. Home sweet home.
"Bucephalus, open status."
[Name: Alexander
Species: Lesser Slime Lv. 1 (80/100)
Body:
Toughness: 1
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Int: 10
Wis: 5
Luck: 22
HP: 1/1
Mana: 0/5
Stat Points: 10
Skills:
Increased Energy Absorption- 1
Gluttony- 2
Mana Sense- 2
Elemental Affinity- 2
Roll- 2
Squish- 2
Dig- 3]
Alright! 10 stat points! This was a big haul. Also, the new values next to his level must be his experience. If he had 80 Exp out of the needed 100, that means he only needs 20 more Exp to reach level two!
First order of business, get enough HP to not die from one attack. The only reason that he was able to survive the attack from the first rabbit was because its blunt head had been reflected by squish. If the teeth had even touched him, he would have died.
"Bucephalus, put two points into toughness."
[Toughness: 1 -> 3
HP: 1/3]
Nice! Once his HP regenerated, he would probably be able to survive at least one bite from the infant vampire rabbits! Next, he will need some agility to dodge, just in case his initial attack fails.
"Add one point in agility."
[Agility: 1 -> 2]
Alexander now had 7 stat points left. He planned to use them to buy a few skills he had noticed last time, but right now, he was exhausted. He settled into his pancake shape and drifted away, forgetting about the vampire rabbits that he had been so focused on today.