Chapter 5 - Encountering a Bandits

Zack cursed the system, he never thought that his plan didn't work.

boom-

The Ant Queen slammed its feet towards him, he quickly jumped backward using his small feet.

'Sh*t that was closed.' he cursed inwardly. Zack runs out quickly through the cave while the Ant Queen's feet was still stuck to the ground.

'Sigh, Thank God ' he sighed in relief, "Maybe the Ant Queen doesn't go out to its nest, that's good".

Zack opened his status window and pondered deeply, "Mmmm, I need more 350 exp to level up, but the small mobs like ants have only 1 exp, so basically I need to kill at least 350 more ants, but I've wiped out all those in these past days." Zack touch his chin, and suddenly his eyes lit up.

"Yeah, there are other monsters in the forest, although they are mostly low-level, even so, I can still gain an exp of it, that's it" Zack rubbed his two hands- I mean his two paws and started to find some monsters.

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In the Northern part of the forest, two kilometers away from Zack's location, there's a group of 8 men surrounding the campfire. They seem to be celebrating, some of them are eating and others are laughing while drinking.

They're wearing leather armor made from some kind of monsters, from head to toe, their necks are full of bone accessories, and around their hips are weapons made from metals, some are crude daggers while the others are crude swords.

"Hey Bebee, don't snatch my food, we have the same share" one of the men shouted.

"Brother Lomple, I didn't snatch your food, I'm just eating here peacefully," said the man named Bebee.

"Hmph, I just saw you earlier that you snatch my food and put it in your mouth," said the man named Lomple.

"I'm telling the truth brother Lomple, I didn't snatch your food, even if you ask Boss Sarttin, right boss?" said Bebee.

The man named Sarttin gulped his ale while laughing, "Now you two calm down, you don't have to fight over food, we're celebrating now for catching a big prey today." he said while picking another chunk of roasted meat.

"Big Brother is right, we're celebrating now so you two don't need to fight over food," said the other man beside Sarttin while beckoning the others to pick a slice of roasted meat.

"The both of you, listen to Brother Sabkin, if not for him, we might not catch a big prey today, and also the food you eat will not be in front of you right now." said a squared face man beside Sabkin.

"Yes yes Haha" the group laugh simultaneously.

"Right Boss, what do we do about our prey?" Lomple asks while pointing to the cage not far away from them.

"Hmm, we sell it to the black market, I think there's a nearby city not far away from here," said Sarttin while chewing the meat.

"As expected to Boss, you are knowledgeable," said Lomple.

"But first, I will reward you my brothers for your hard work today," said Sarttin, while clasping his arms. "There are two prey, I give you the one so that you can enjoy to your heart content and experience a pleasure tonight, and the other one, of course for me Hahaha"

"Cheers for Boss Hahaha," said the group while laughing together.

Meanwhile, in the cage, there are two female humans currently locked inside of it. Amidst the laughter of the bandits, these two girls were crying while hugging each other.

"Miss, don't cry, I know that reinforcements are coming here right now so don't cry alright?" said the girl wearing the maid attire, she looked like 16 years old, she has a pretty face with a cold demeanor, and her hair color is brown.

"No, there is no reinforcement coming here. They didn't know that I'm here, and also you're telling me to stop crying while you're also crying wuhuhu" said the other girl, with blonde hair, she looked like 14 years old, she has porcelain white skin, and she wears an emerald blouse, an expensive clothes that only noble can afford.

"Miss, let's have some faith, maybe there's someone who happen to pass by and saw us, maybe we can call for help." said the maid.

"It's no use, this place is full of groves, I think we are in the deepest part of the forest, and there's only a small probability that someone will pass by here. I'm sorry Christina, because of me, you- Whuhu" said the girl while crying.

"It's not your fault Miss, it's my fault for not being able to protect you." said the maid name Christina. "Don't worry miss, if they do anything to you, I'll fight them to death."

"Christina you-"

"I'm gonna save you no matter what Miss, so don't worry," said Christina in a firm tone while she clenched her fist.

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[You killed a Rock Beetle]

[You gain 5 exp]

Phew~

"That was the seventh Rock Beetle, but there's still no crystal core. But it's okay, maybe I can sell its corpse, its shell looks so hard that it can be used to make armors or something." Zack said while keeping the Rock Beetle corpse in his inventory.

"I'll rest for now before continuing my hunt, I'll also want to count my gains too."

Zack jumps from one tree to another, then he found a thicker branch of the tree to lie down.

[INVENTORY]

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White Crystal Core x135

Red Metallic Ant Corpse x129

Twin-Headed Boar Corpse x12

Rock Beetle x07

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"Well, it's quite a lot of gain," Zack said while smiling, he was happy because he imagine that if he sold these monsters' remains, he'll earn a big amount of money, much less a complete intact corpse, he couldn't imagine it, he almost drools when just by thinking about that.

"No, there's no help in thinking about that, right now, the most priority is to become stronger." Zack stood up, maybe he was stimulated to become stronger.

Zack look at the map and decided to go to the Northern part of the forest.

A few moments later, he saw 8 red dots and 2 green dots on the map. He walk closer to the location and saw a group of men.

"Maybe they're bandits, based on the system map, red dots mean enemy and also based on their clothing attire, I'm sure of it, they are bandits," Zack said while spectating the group above the tree.

He glanced at the corner of the tent and he saw a cage, with two girls inside of it.

'I guess they're the hostages' he said inwardly.

Then Zack looked at the group of bandits while licking his lips, he is like a tiger eyeing its prey. He was excited that the only thing that was left on his mind is-

'I guess it's time for me to acquire a human form

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NAME: ASTERION

LEVEL: 09

EXP: 210/500

Age: 0

Race: ???

HP: 18/18

MP: 25/25

STA: 16/21

AGI: 4 (+3)

DEF: 1

LUCK: 4

CHARM: 4 (Based on the user's form.)

AVAILABLE STAT POINTS: 35

ACTIVE SKILLS: Conversion (Lvl: 01), Dash (Lvl:01), Head-Thrust (Lvl:01)

Conversion: can convert anything and can be used to change from one form to another.

NO MANA CONSUMPTION

NO STAMINA CONSUMPTION

SKILL DURATION: Based on the user's target and level.

COOLDOWN: Available for Use

DASH (ACTIVE LVL: 01): this skill can double the user's speed to quickly move in the target direction at a distance of up to 5 meters.

STAMINA CONSUMPTION: 5 points

DURATION: 3 seconds

COOLDOWN: 1 minute

HEAD-THRUST (ACTIVE LVL: 01): this is a modified version of Headbutt, it deals with thrust damage which can cause fatal damage to the target.

STAMINA CONSUMPTION: 3 points

DURATION: 2 seconds.

COOLDOWN: 1 minute, 45 seconds

PASSIVE SKILLS: Compatibility (Lvl:01), Fast Movement (Lvl:02)

Compatibility: a unique skill that matches the conversion skill, this skill can make the holder compatible with any kind of form it takes.

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FAST MOVEMENT (PASSIVE LVL: 02): this passive skill will permanently add +3 stats to the user.

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CURRENT FORM: Horned Rabbit

AVAILABLE FROM: 1