Dustin made up his mind and steeled his heart. This was no longer earth; it was killed or be killed. Moreover, he's targets weren't humans, but monsters.
He activated he's skill, and immediately could sense the presence of some monsters nearby, just a few metres into the forest. From he's sense, he could count five. Coupled with the radar like map that detailed the location of nearby monsters, he could also sense the presence of monsters after activating he's skill.
He willed for them to come out, and as they did, he got a clearer picture on what exactly had attacked him. Under the dim moonlight, he could make out faint features. 'sure are goblins.' He consolidated on the system's identification from earlier as he looked at the humanoids before him.
Thanks to he's skill, the things before him didn't attack. He's plan was to get them to come to him, and then he would attack and kill them. But the problem was in the way he's skill worked. If he was to attack one of them now, the others might fight.
He's theory was possible, but it was also wrong as long as he hadn't tested it. Gritting he's teeth a bit, Dustin swung he's sword towards the one closest and farthest to his left.
He soon found out how skilful the girl from earlier must have been, as he's sword had only gone a way into the goblin's shoulder, steering away from its neck. The goblin winced in pain before letting out a faint, weird sound.
In panic of the other goblins attacking, or the one he had just tried to hack reacting, he pushed the goblin with he's foot and drew out the sword from its shoulder, taking some quick steps back.
Contrary to what he had thought would happen, the goblins remained unchanged and unmoved. The one he had hacked held it's shoulder, covering the large wound Dustin had caused. It's facial expression only clarifying just how much pain it was in.
He looked at the bunch for a bit, before coming to a conclusion. He would ask the system later. For now, he just wanted to take care of the problem before him.
With all the strength he could muster in he's hand, Dustin swung he's sword towards the injured goblin's neck, and managed to cut it halfway through. He wasn't able to make a clean cut even after three attempts, unlike the girl from earlier, but it was enough. As the goblin fell to the ground, he got a notification.
+7exp
"So killing one of these guys gives 7 exp huh? Not bad."
It was almost freakish the others stood by without doing anything but watching as he mowed down of of theirs. F rank sure was weak.
He went on and killed the other goblins as fast as he could. He didn't want to be lying amongst the corpses of goblins when a stronger monster was to appear.
He left the scene immediately, continuing forward towards the red dot.
After he was sure he had gotten far away, a considerable distance from the site where he massacred the goblins, Dustin slowed down to catch his breath. He had been thinking of some possibilities as he ran.
Looking at the map before he's eyes, he could tell that at most, only goblins populated the nearby areas of the forest. All the red dots on the radar were the same size, and from he's experiment back on earth, he knew what that meant. It either the detected monsters were goblins, or they were something similar in strength.
'If I was to seize this opportunity and kill as much goblins and level up, that would be golden.' "Hmm..."
Without a second thought, he jumped into the forest just by his side, and initiated his master plan.
Not minding only the ones closest, he drew towards him all the goblins that he could detect within the effective radius of he's skill, which at that time was around 20 metres wide, with him as the centre.
In an instant, all the red dots on the radar started moving towards him at an astonishing rate, like ants drawn to a candy. In only a few seconds, Dustin was completely surrounded by pairs of glowing eyes all around him.
The goblins were nothing less than 20 that had gathered, and just like before, he hacked them all down.
"With this much, I should be able to level up right?" He said as he began his levelling up ritual.
After some minutes had passed, the whole place could be seen littered with bodies, with Dustin at one side panting a little bit. Swinging the sword was no small joke, unlike he had thought. The movies and anime make it look so easy and effortless, in reality, he wished for he's hands to become Gatling guns.
Huff. Huff.
"Who knew swinging a damn sword was this hard?" Dustin exclaimed as he turned around to look at he's hand job.
He heard a level up notification earlier while proceeding his ritual, it seemed the ritual was successful, and he had levelled up. He excitedly hurried and opened his status window. As always, the system responded and brought it before him.
Level: 2 (117/150)
Name: Dustin
Title: Progenitor
Class:
Hp: 160
Mp: 110
[Stat]
Strength: 11
Agility: 11
Sense: 11
Vitality: 11
Intelligence: 6
Unallocated stat point: 8
[Skill tab]
Passive:
Active: Taming Master (A), Reality Manipulation (A)
"Hmm. I can see the changes, but I still don't quite understand how this works. System, explain the effect of levelling up." The system wasted no time answering this query.
..'After each level up, your hp is increased by 50, mp is increased by 50, you get 3 free distributable stat points, and each individual stat is increased by 1. Due to your unspecialized method, the system is unable to focus your growth on specialized aspects.' The system answered in a cool voice.
'Unspecialized method?'
Dustin who was listening to the system's explanation couldn't help but notice the difference in the system. The system, unlike before, now sounded significantly less mechanical and more human. It no longer addressed him as player. Instead it used words like you, personalizing him more unlike before.
'Did the system upgrade?' He thought to himself before coming back to he's senses as he looked around the body covered forest floor. "Let's move."
As Dustin left that spot, he couldn't help but be a little proud of himself. He also seemed to be getting a little better at disposing off the goblins the more he killed them. He was now able to take them down with 2 or less strikes.
Being an occasional gamer himself, he was quite familiar with the situation he was in now.
"It's grinding season. Heheh. Despite this horrid situation, I feel a bit glad that I have this kind of insane luck."
"That voice, the messenger, he said they had taken measures, and that only monsters of our level would appear throughout this period. If the monsters of our level are these low level F rank monsters, then I just lucked out. Before I arrive at the red dot, I will for sure do a lot of grinding, non-stop till I reach the destination." Dustin was happy as he walked forward.
No doubt in his mind. This was a good start for him. Just then while he was celebrating, he heard another notification sound pop into he's ears.
Beep. Beep.
..'Reward has arrived for your first level up.'