Many Days Later...
'WHEN WILL IT LEVEL UP!?!'
Roland had been at it for more than 5 days now, constantly using his skills and trying to level them up. He had finally gotten mana manipulation to level 9, yet none of his skills went any further than that. It was as if his skills were unable to get to level ten.
Annoyed that his effort was wasted, he had continued to use them, but with no further results.
'It seems this is the best I can do for now.'
He had wanted to get his skills to a higher level first, but it seemed he had no choice. The quest had a time limit of ten days and there were only a few days left now. He wanted to have some of that time as a buffer period in case he was held back by that creature again.
Rolling up to the wall, he flew back over it, landing on the other side. Constantly using his mana sense, he checked the surroundings cautiously. He didn't know if the cat-like creature would still be around. Although it was unlikely since it was now morning, he wasn't completely sure of when it woke up. Soon, he was rolling towards the marker on the map. Opening the quest, he checked to see the amount of time he had left.
[Quest: Obtain the item]
[Requirements for completion:]
[Obtain The Unknown Energy Source]
[Rewards:]
[System upgrade]
[Time Limit: 3/10 Days]
'That should be enough,' he muttered to himself, closing the system. Getting to the area where the marker was by midday, he looked around. He was in a small grassy ditch, and there was a small cave in front of him where the marker was pointing to. It was covered by many vines and a few grassy fronds. Slowly, he went inside, looking for the item. Strangely, there were many large, florescent gemstones embedded into the walls. They all glowed with an eerie green light, showing the interior of the cave.
However, the light also showed a familiar figure in the darkness. It was the creature that chased him a few days ago!
Immediately, he stopped, looking at the still figure.
Was it asleep? Slowly, he rolled around it, getting closer to the quest marker. Where the marker was, he could see another one of those gems, but this one looked a lot brighter compared to the others. It was held in the creature's paws. Suddenly, the cat moved. It walked around unsteadily in the cave, leaving the gem lying on the ground. Roland felt his heart was going to leap out of his chest, but then the cat settled down in a different position.
Roland didn't know why it moved, but he didn't miss the opportunity to roll towards the unprotected gem.
'How am I supposed to get this out?' he wondered.
Just as he said that a bright white light enveloped the gem before it suddenly disappeared.
"Ding!"
[Quest Completed]
Seeing that the job was done. he decisively decided to leave the cave. That's when he heard a strange sound behind him.
Instinctively, he rolled out of the way, heading for the exit. The cat had woken up due to the bright light when the system took the gem away!
'Are you trying to kill me you dumb system!'
Immediately, he dashed away into the surrounding trees. He still didn't know why it was so adamant on chasing him, but the gem was probably very important to it, so he didn't dare stay any longer.
As he flew away, he could hear agitated meowing before he saw a dark shadow burst out of the cave's entrance.
'Did that thing get faster?!'
Attempting to speed up his pace, Roland increased the amount of mana he used on telekinesis. The creature must have been playing with him during the previous chase, which allowed him to get away. Controlling his speed so he didn't crash into a tree, he turned around a corner, following the path he took earlier to get here. The cat had started going faster, Roland noticed as he continued on the path. Even with his level 9 telekinesis, the creature was still catching up. As he went around another bend, he saw the creature leaping in front of him to block his path. Unfazed, he rolled between its legs, continuing forward. Seemingly annoyed that it had been ignored, the cat went even faster, catching up to him in a few minutes. This time, it leapt toward him, its claws out-stretched. Immediately, he rolled out of the way, but he didn't notice the other paw coming at him from the other way.
'Argh!'
Feeling the claws scrape over his body, he knew he wouldn't be able to escape this time around. Hardening his resolve, he spun around to face the creature. Dodging another paw, he knew he had to find a way to fight back.
Rolling all over the place, he evaded the frenzied barrage of attacks from the creature. Eventually, he thought of something.
'I'm a rock!'
Rather than a weak, fleshy body, he was currently a rock. This meant that his current body was very hard, so if he rammed himself against the cat, it should do some damage, right?
Testing his hypothesis, he used telekinesis again, propelling himself towards the creature at breakneck speeds.
Slamming into its shoulder, he knocked the cat back. The cat meowed in pain in response to his attack. Emboldened, he flew towards it again, attempting to hit the same spot.
Noticing his attack, the cat leapt out of the way, before agilely leaping forward to bite him.
Flying out of the way with telekinesis, he noticed a small bruise on the body of the cat, slowing it down.
Seeing this, he continued fighting with it, leaving large wounds all over its body. Another hour later, it lay limply on the ground, unable to stand back up.
'Whew,' Roland was exhausted. Not just physically, but mentally. There were too many close shaves where he was nearly hit by it. He was grateful for the temporary respite. Flying over to the creature lying on the ground, he wondered if it was still alive. A moment later, a notification from the system told him it had died.
"Ding!"
[You have slain Speedy Cat Lv. 7]
[50 System Points Obtained]
[Achievement Completed]
[400 exp Gained]
[You have levelled up]
[You have 3 bonus stat points]
[You have levelled up]
[You have 6 bonus stat points]
[You have levelled up]
[You have 9 bonus stat points]
When he saw that he was dead, he relaxed a little. However, when he saw the name of the thing he had killed, he was surprised.
'So it really was just a cat?'
'Whatever,' he muttered to himself, starting to leave. Suddenly, he saw the dead body enveloped in another bright white light, similar to the one when he completed the quest. Just as he thought, the corpse had disappeared within a few moments. After watching this happen, he checked the quest to see if he was done.
[Quest: Obtain the item] [Completed]
[Requirements for completion:]
[Obtain The Unknown Energy Source] [Done]
[Rewards:]
[System Upgrade]
[Time Limit: 3/10 Days]
[Collect Rewards]
Before collecting the reward, he wondered what the level thing was about. Could he level up just as his skills did? Opening the system, he noticed quite a few new things on the status screen.
[Form: Rock (Unidentified)] [Lv. 4]
[EXP: 100/300]
[System Points] [58]
[Stat Points] [9]
[HP: 20/20]
[Def] [2] +
[Mana] [1] +
[Skills]
[Mana Sense Lv.9] [Telekinesis Lv.9] [Mana Manipulation Lv.9]
The system now showed how many system points and stat points he had, and was now a button to add stat values for defence and mana power. He did wonder why there was no speed or attack stat like in the games he used to play, but decided to ignore it for now.
Seeing that there were now points he could add into the stat values, he unhesitatingly used them all on defence. He had realized the importance of this when he fought the cat. As soon as he did that, he felt an itchy sensation all over his body. He could see through his mana sense that his body had taken on a metallic sheen, almost like a metal. He knew that if he fought the cat again, it would likely be unable to make any decisive hits on him, and would barely be able to make a mark on the tough rock.
Besides that, he had gained another 50 system points just from killing it! Although he couldn't use them now, he would be able to get another skill soon.
Now that he noticed it though, the damage he had taken from a few days ago had healed! It was probably because he had levelled up.
In addition, he now had a value for level, which hadn't been there previously.
Now that he had the time though, he should probably leave the forest before collecting the reward.
A bit later...
'I'm finally out!!' Roland never wanted to go back to that place again! It was just too traumatizing! As he went out, it was as if all the animals in the forests were after him! One second he would see a huge beetle chasing after him, but before he knew it, it was held in the claws of a giant crab! Right after that, the crab would be grabbed by an even larger bird, which brought it away into the darkness! Moreover, every plant in the forest seemed intent on not letting him escape, getting in his way and tangling him in their leaves! Eventually, he managed to fly all the way out.
After being blocked by the wall, they all camped next to it but left as soon as the sun was up.
'So they're scared of bright lights?' Roland wondered as he watched this happen.
Feeling as if a one-ton weight had been lifted off his back when they left, he opened the quest again. It was finally time to collect his reward.
'Collect'
[Quest Complete]
[Collecting reward]
[System Updating]
[Approximate Update time: 3 days]
'Well, this is gonna take a while.' He thought