"Make way!" A loud shout rang through the tunnels, loud enough to be heard even atop the indistinct sound of the trainers in the dungeon panicking and the almost rhythmic tremors that shook the dungeon. "Call all full-fledged cultivators! Better yet second grade! A second grade beast is discovered in the lower floors!"
Second grade meant that it would need at least ten second grade cultivators or more than 50 first grade cultivators to safely kill the creature. Fighting in odds that were worse than that was simply having a death wish-- but having more cultivators join the fray isn't exactly good either. Because the only thing that gave benefit to cultivators were the flux cores, and the person who'd deal the killing blow would receive the flux core.
The more people there was in a fight, the higher the chance that some random person would snatch the flux core.
Still, a chance was a chance, and Ranfel wasn't about to let such a good chance go.
"Leave this place now." He told Darren, raising his voice a little so he could hear.
Darren understood that what was happening was dangerous. Just the scene of dozens of young men and women rushing out to the dungeon's exit made it obvious, so he didn't hesitate and immediately opened his mouth to voice his agreement, only for a panel to appear before him.
▬▬▬Quest▬▬▬
Instant Quest: First Assist
Help slay a monster via an injury
Rewards: 1000% EXP gain for the Assist
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Darren froze as he read over the lines of the new quest as two things came to his mind: one, quests still arrive even though the System is offline; two, this was an extremely bountiful quest.
He already knew what the system meant by 'assist,' and what factors decided how much EXP a creature was going to give.
First of all, a 'Kill' will give the user a certain amount of EXP and can be triggered by any event of killing a creature by the user's own hands. While 'Assist' will give the user less amount of EXP, and will be triggered if a monster that the user damaged is killed by someone else. As for the EXP gain factor, it depended solely on how dangerous the creature is.
"What are you waiting for?" Ranfel asked Darren who seemed to be in a daze, "Get out of here!"
"I'm-- Um, I'll stay."
"What?! We're going to face a sec--"
Ranfel wasn't allowed to finish what he was saying when a rampaging rhino entered his line of sight, turning his expression into one of shock. However, he wasn't shocked because the rhino was terrifying-- it sure was, yes, but that wasn't why Ranfel was shocked.
Rhino flux cores that were used to enhance the outer layer of one's existence affected one's skull. People who refined a rhino flux core might find their skulls much harder, and might get the ability to grow a single horn upon transformation.
And while Ranfel wanted to be a stealthy combatant, he also wanted a good enhancement type flux core. And if he could get a second grade flux core right away, then that would be extremely lovely.
Seeing as there were already other cultivators intercepting the rhino beast, Ranfel had no time to waste. That flux core was going to belong to him.
Ranfel's usually tired eyes were full of conviction, as he whipped his arms forward as he activated flux core transformation, prompting sharp scales and spikes to protrude from his arm, and his hand morph into a long blade, also full of green blades.
His arms like of a praying mantis and his eyes faintly glowing green, he looked at Darren and said, "Get. Out."
Darren bit his lip and clicked his tongue, before sprinting away from the would-be battlefield. He didn't plan on getting out of the training dungeon, but only keep his distance so that he could maybe find a chance to injure the rhino.
Ranfel instantly felt relief when Darren backed away, and he started dashing towards the rhino and join the few other cultivators attacking it. While he was only a first grade cultivator at the moment, he wasn't a newbie. If luck was on his side, then he would get that flux core.
When Darren was a good distance away from where Ranfel and him were earlier, he looked back and saw cultivators rushing up to the beast one by one, his heart continuously sinking lower and lower as the chances of him completing his quest diminished.
How the hell, in this chaos, could he even get a hit on an bus-sized beast while a swarm of other powers attacked it? At the moment, he was even less experienced than a fortress student that had only studied for one year.
Darren watched as more and more cultivators ganged up on the now pitiful beast, whose roars were getting more frequent as wounds appeared all over its body.
'What do I do . . .' Darren didn't want to let this chance go. He just had to think of something, but that something better come up soon, or else the chance really would go to waste.
As the rhino's roars began to weaken, Darren let out an enlightened yelp, slightly annoyed at himself for being so dumbed as to not realize it. He didn't need to go and throw himself into the pot to damage the creature. He just needed to attack it from a distance.
And while he didn't have any ranged weapons, blades could be thrown too.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Darren retrieved the basic knife in his inventory and began running nearer towards the battle. Ranfel noticed Darren's dangerous actions and screamed at him, "I said get out!"
Darren heard Ranfel's shout and knew that it was him he was pertaining to, but he pretended to not hear it and continued running, all the while gauging the closest distance he could get while staying safe. And when he thought that his distance was ideal, he stopped and held his basic weapon, holding it by its blade with his thumb and pointing finger.
The others who watched the fight noticed the untransformed human holding a laughable weapon and couldn't help but react.
"Applaude the man for his bravery and wit! He plans to deal the killing blow to the beast from a safe distance!" Someone shouted, prompting a bit of laughter to erupt around the man. Luckily, Darren wasn't close to them enough to hear it.
"Is he a student?"
"He looks kinda skinny, don't you think?"
"He's so opportunistic it's hilarious!"
There were also a few cultivators who noticed his approach and took the effort to shout.
"By the gods, get away from here if you don't want to die!"
"He's trying to steal the flux core!"
"I'd actually want to see how he could though."
"Focus on the f*cking fight you snouts!"
And this time, even though Darren heard them, he ignored them and continued on searching for a moment where he could get the blade through the cultivator's onslaught and damage the rhino beast even by a little bit.
His heart was racing as he tried to ramp up his focus. He was rapidly blinking and his eyes jumped from place to place, trying to figure out the perfect and flawless timing for him to attack.
He felt awful as the roars of the beast repeatedly rang, but he only had one weapon. One chance. He had to make sure he was going to hit-- not to mention he wasn't very confident in his knife throwing skills.
And after a few seconds of observation passed, Darren sort of found the formation of both the beast and players become favorable for him, and his arm automatically flung the knife forward, making it spin in the air as it shot towards the rhino beast.
"He threw it!"
"He's definitely attempting to steal the core."
"But his timing is completely off, idiot."
"I know that. What I'm trying to say is that the guy over there is an idiot."
But among every other sound, one dominated Darren's hearing. "Conditions met: Proficiency Tab unlocked."
Darren became curious about the unlocked tab, but he had other things to worry about at the moment. He just held his breath as he watched the blade disappear into the chaos. There was no way to know about whether he managed to injure the beast or no, so he took a deep breath, glanced at the battle one last time, and retreated into the distance.
The others who stuck around to watch the battle approached him. Some joked with him in a sort of polite manner, while some just straight up mocked him. But Darren just chuckled everything off and patiently watched the battle come to an end.
"Assisted in the extermination of a beast. You have gained 510 EXP."
At the same time the announcement rang, a quest panel appeared before him.
▬▬▬Quest Complete▬▬▬
Instant Quest: First Assist
Help slay a monster via an injury
Rewards: 1000% EXP gain for the Assist
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
"It . . ." Darren began to say as cheers rang from all around him, '. . . worked.'
Everyone rushed towards the dead body of the rhino as they all chattered among themselves, wanting to know who was the one who got the flux core. But for Darren, he didn't really care.
After all . . .
"User has leveled up. Awarding 5 Stat Points and 1 Skill Point to the user."
Darren wanted to shout out loud, 'Yes!' but he didn't want to seem to weird. As such, he just clenched his fists tightly and pressed his lips together, savoring his gains thoroughly.
"It really worked . . ." He whispered, but another announcement rang in his head. "User has reached level five."
Again, at the same time, a panel popped up into view.
▬▬▬Notice▬▬▬
User has reached LVL 5.
From this point onwards, the daily quests that ensure one level-up per day will no longer be available. Instead, the [Roam] tab will be unlocked.
The [Roam] tab will allow the user to go to other worlds at limited durations. Notice that monsters from this world will currently not give anything but EXP and potentially, coins. However, monsters from other worlds may drop items, skill runes, and other items.
Current Roaming Duration Rates:
Cooldown: 7d
Duration: 6h
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