Cole slowly made his way out his apartment building to the streets below. He saw a smaller sized beast that looked like a larger tiger seen in zoos and the jungle, except this tiger was the size of a truck and it was entirely red and had white stripes and seemed to be leaking a red colored smoke that covered it's entire body.
This was a chance to try out another skill to see if he should run or fight. He will have to fight eventually, to gain combat experience fighting these beasts, so unless it's entirely out of his league he would still fight it. He had asked the system earlier about ranks as he was heading down to the bottom floor of his building and it said that the beasts are seperated into different Ranks.
It has E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, EX, and these are just the ranks that the system said I might encounter in the first few years of this apocalyptic event. Although the system will answer any and all questions I have it'll only do so until the next year ends. It also said that I am not likely to encounter anything over Rank C in these areas as the more powerful beasts already headed towards places they intend to make into their territories.
Cole activated his Inspect skill he was given when he received his system, to find out if this beast in front of him is something he can take on with his current capabilities.
"Inspect"
{Stats}
Name: None
Species: [Infernal Tiger]
Rarity: [Uncommon]
[Rank: E]
[Level: 7]
[HP: 200]
[MP: 0]
{Attributes}
[STR: 26
[AGI: 23
[INT: 22
[END: 12
[VIT: 20
__________________
{Skills}
[Slash] (Active) Uses large claws to slash at prey. Has 3% chance to inflict 'Bleed' on target.
[Dash] (Active) Increases speed by 10 points when activated and also increases chance to evade attacks.
[Frenzy] (Passive) When enraged, increases stats by 10% for 2 minutes. Will enter weakened state for equivalent time after duration ends.
Cole was shocked at how powerful the skills for the skills of beast were. Then he remembered the other piece of information the status panel of the beast had on it. Rarity: [Uncommon].
Cole asked the system about the significance Rarity had in terms of the beast's strength. The system stated that the Rarity of the beast would determine if the beast is stronger than other beasts of the same rank. The system also told him the first couple ranks which were Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Ultra Rare. The system said that there were still Rarities above the ones he mentioned, but it did no good for Cole to know them at this point in time because he is not strong enough to handle even the gaze of the Rarity above Ultra Rare.
Cole had a look of realization on his face and felt that the rewards for defeating this beast would be amazing. Even though this beast was 6 levels above him, he had the stats of a level 3 at least on top of battle experience. He believed he could beat it as long as he was careful. While Cole was waiting he also practiced making daggers and controlling them to float around him as he found he could control the weapons he created from his [Umbrakinesis] skill as long as they were within 10 meters from him. This gave him a lot more versatility, and he could add ranged attacks to his repertoire. The distance would increase with his mastery of his skill.
Cole was also able to discover the reason behind his lack of MP and intelligence stat. His [Umbrakinesis] skill is an inherent skill, that requires no need for mana to be used. As long as he has darkness he can use his skill. Although the strength of the skill is proportionate to his mastery and control, which is already pretty good despite never having used anything like a skill before.
Until he aquires a skill that uses mana, or he adds to his intelligence stat he won't have any way to use MP. He could get a skill either from a beast after it is defeated from a dropped skillbook. or he can create them himself but that takes twice the amount of time and is difficult for most to do, as it takes repeated practice to even make the skill.
'Okay, time to start the battle. He who attacks first, wins.'
Cole created the max number of daggers he currently could make because despite his low mastery, he has years of combat experience. He was able to understand some fundamentals of the skill itself. He could currently create 5 daggers of darkness, and he immediately conjured 5 daggers and launched them at the beast while it was busy eating some fallen humans. Cole controlled the daggers and three went towards the beast's neck and two towards it's eyes.
The beast sensed the daggers coming and was able to dodge so the two aiming for it's eyes and only one dagger hit it's neck. The dagger was stuck in the side of it's neck and it was bleeding a lot. The tiger turned and saw a tiny human standing with a black spear that was smoking with a black smoke just like the dagger in it's neck that was inexplicably giving it immense pain and immediately knew who dared to injure it.
The tiger ran towards Cole and used it's Slash skill, the beast managed to narrowly miss Cole and he twirled his spear while simultaneously slashing the beast in it's face aiming to slash it's eyes. It is always a vulnerable spot for enemies made of flesh and blood.
Cole managed to slash it's right eye and the beast howled in pain. It felt the familiar pain it felt in it's body from the dagger and immediately used it's Dash skill, it was now only 3 points slower than Cole, and he was having a tough time avoiding it's strikes so he kept his distance with his spear and kept throwing daggers at it as it seemed to be hurt a lot by his weapons.
Cole didn't understand why his conjured weapons hurt the beast so much but he didn't really care at the moment. He didn't care where he threw the daggers either, as long as it hit the beast. He kept running and hitting it with daggers and then just when the beast seemed to be getting sluggish, it activated it's last and strongest skill [Frenzy].
The 10% boost was no joke Cole was put on the defensive and he knew that he was barely holding on so he did something that he should've thought of earlier and just released darkness in a smoke screen like a smoke grenade to obstruct the vision of the frenzied beast. Cole used this time to make distance between him and the beast and he decided to make his same spear but 10 times the size and waited for the beast to escape the smoke and as soon as he saw the beast's red eyes he launched the giant Spear.
The smoke fully cleared and Cole, who was breathing heavily saw the barely breathing Infernal Tiger with the giant spear going through it's body, stopping half-way into it's body. Cole looked around and didn't see any other beasts so he walked over to the beast. He dispersed his weapons and after a couple seconds he got a notification and a couple screens popped up in front of him.
[Congratulations you have leveled up, you have achieved 5 Attribute points....]
[Congratulations you have leveled up, you have achieved 5 Attribute points....]
[Congratulations you have leveled up, you have achieved 5 Attribute points....]
The level up screen showed up until level 10, which shocked Cole. He asked the system why he got so much exp. The system replied,
[Player has recieved extra exp for deafeating an enemy over 5 levels above the Player.
Cole finally understood that there were bonuses for doing great things in this new game world. He kept reading the messages and the last couple shocked him.
[Congratulations Player for obtaining achievement 'Underdog'. Gives Player passive skill [Overcome]. It is given to the first Player to defeat an enemy that exceeds them by at least 5 levels.
[Congratulations Player for obtaining your first Title. You receive Title 'Undefeated'. This Title gives the Player 5 attribute points per level instead of 2
[Because the Player defeated a stronger enemy unaided they achieve passive [Solo].
Cole focused on his two new passive skills and their information appeared in front of him in another message.
[Overcome] (Passive) When fighting stronger enemies, gain 5% boost to all physical stats, and 0.5% increased chance of critical hit.
[Solo] (Passive) When fighting alone receive +5 to all stats.
"Does this system want me to fight all by myself? If I keep getting boosts like this I might just become a Solo Player."