She didn't find a cave but found a small stream. She squatted down near the stream and washed the blood on her body.
After getting rid of the stickiness on her body, she spotted a tall and thick tree with dense branches near the water stream.
She took out the crossbow and knocked on a bolt. She aimed at the tree trunk slightly above the ground and pulled the trigger.
Half of the bolt was embedded in the thick tree trunk at an angle of 160. She stepped on it and put her entire weight on it, but the bolt didn't budge.
She nodded in satisfaction and inserted many bolts in the tree trunk on the left and right side with a gap between each of them, to climb the tree trunk.
After she was done with her work, she put the crossbow in the inventory and climbed the tree trunk while stepping and holding on to the bolts.
She selected a thicker branch and sat down while leaning on the tree trunk. She looked below and saw the clear stream not far away.
Water meant that monsters will come here to quench their thirst, and from up here she could hunt them easily. She kept the Map panel open and closed her eyes to rest.
'System, remind me if any red dots appear.' She asked her companion.
The system that was silent out of consideration showed its presence at this moment. 'Okay, host, don't worry, I will keep an eye out.'
…
Sitting on a high tree branch, she held an opened fish can in her hand and slowly ate the fish.
It has been three days since she came into this dungeon in an entirely different world. She lived on the tree for the past three days and hunted down any monster that came near this part of the stream.
After killing the monster, she would go down to collect its body after taking out the mana core from its body.
Due to haste, she didn't have the chance to take out the mana cores of the wolves before. In the past few days, she had plenty of time to go down when no monster was around and take out the mana cores from wolves carcasses.
After opening and closing her space pocket she will feel sluggish because it will drain her mana which was already very low.
Today, she decided to increase her mana quantity. After finishing her meal, she took out a mana core and held it in her hand to inspect it.
It looked like a red crystal, the length of a pinky finger. The size of the mana core depended on the rank of the monster. The one in her hand was the smallest one, coming from the corpse of an E rank monster.
According to the memories she received, mana cores could be found inside the dead bodies of monsters. Mana core had mana stored inside it, which could be absorbed by any Ranker to increase their mana reserves.
That's how a Ranker could grow in rank, but this was not the only criteria for upgrade in rank. The other requirement was to have a good grasp over their magical ability.
After she had enough of watching it, she tentatively used her mana to connect with the mana inside the mana core and try to suck it in her body.
She succeeded in her first try because it was not a difficult process to begin with. The mana core turn to dust in her hand before disappearing.
Ding…
Polluted mana detected inside the host's body.
Initiating the filtration process…
Filtration has been done.
+5 MP
She was stunned at the notification, the entire process barely took a minute or so.
She asked in surprise, 'This can also be done?'
'Yes, usually it will take half an hour for a Ranker to absorb the lowest level mana core, but you are not just any Ranker. You have me, don't you? I can filter all the impure mana for you and the process will take only a minute. The timing will increase for the high-level mana cores, but it will only increase a couple of minutes for each level.'
'If you absorb a large quantity of high-level mana cores, your rank will increase in a short period of time. So work hard, dear host.' The system explained to her how he could assist her.
She rubbed her chin thoughtfully and teased her companion. 'You said you didn't have any other functions, but it seems to me that you are not all useless.'
'Of course, although I cannot provide you with any active help, I can assist you from the side. For example, I can check your health by scanning your body, I can also appraise Items for you. I can record any important event around you, and I can also tell you whether the food you are eating is poisoned or not.' The system said proudly.
'Wow, you have so many functions, such a powerful system, I have.' She praised without any hesitation.
'Hun-hun, now you know how powerful I am.' If the system had a tail, he would be wagging his tail right now.
She nodded in a serious manner, agreeing with his statement very much to make her companion happy.
She then proceeded to absorb all the mana cores in her possession, which amounted to several hundreds.
It took her several hours to absorb all the mana cores. After absorbing the last mana core, she checked her status.
Status
Name: Gu Yuxi (Aaira Alastair)
Age: 17
HP: 120
MP: 1610
STR: 12 INT: 11
AGI: 12 SPIRIT: 6
DEX: 12 MIND: 6
VIT: 12 LUCK:3
CHA: 9
Attribute Points: 0
System Points: 1700
Skills: Professional Gamer (High)
Special Abilities: Photographic Memory, Space Manipulation (Low)
INVENTORY
SHOP
MAP (1.5 km)
TASK BOARD
Her mana increased significantly in a short period of time, and she now had 1700 SP.
Ding…
A side task has been issued. Please check it out on the Task Board.
She was startled at the sudden new task and opened the Task Board. There lay a new task along with her ongoing main task, she opened it.
Side Task: Survive and conquer this dungeon.
Rewards: 5k SP, 1 AP, D rank dagger.
"Nice" She couldn't help but speak out loud because the rewards for completing this task were a lot for the current her. Not to mention a D rank dagger, just the reward of 5k SP and 1 AP were enough for her to be happy.
After closing all the panels except for the Map panel, she climbed down the tree and stretched her body. She has been staying on the tree for the past three days, now it was time to move.
She took out her dagger and held it in her hand while looking at the Map panel. When she found no red dot around her, she relaxed and walked towards the stream.
After reaching the stream, she squatted down and touched the green plants near the water that looked similar to normal grass.
'System, you said you can appraise items, right? Tell me what this is?' She asked while plucking out a plant with her left hand.
'This is Vitality Grass. It's the main ingredient in making the Healing Potion.' He replied after a moment.
Her eyes shone after hearing his answer, and she looked at the plant in her hand. 'You mean there is a recipe for Healing Potion?'
'Yes, it's in the Shop. But you can't afford it with your current SP, he-he.' System made fun of her.
She ignored the jab at her and asked another question. 'If that's the case, then there should be recipes for mana potion and other potions too, right?'
'Of course.'
'Alright, can you inform me whenever I encounter any useful ingredient for any of the potions?' She asked expectantly.
'Yes, leave it to me.' He seems to pat his chest, if he had any, to get ready for the job.
'Ah~ my system is so kind.' She praised him.
'Hun-hun'
She looked at the plant in her hand that she had cut from the bottom of the stem and wondered whether she had harvested it right. Not knowing it, she asked her system.
'Dig them along with their roots, such herbs should be harvested like that. And don't put them in your space pocket, they will lose vitality, unless you can control the time in there. Use the inventory to store them for now, where time is static.' He patiently explained to her.
'Okay, thanks.'
She threw away the wasted herb and squatted down to harvest the Vitality Grass.
She put down the dagger and moved the soil around the plant with her hands. After most of its roots became visible, she pulled it out of the soil and immediately stored it in the inventory. After harvesting one, she moved on to the next one.