"Level 20! And a floor guardian! I'm only level 1. What the hell?"
Looking at the other small Gnomes, Kai used [Inspect].
{Garden Gnome}
{Level-10}
Looking at the forty or so regular Gnomes and the floor guardian, Kai began to feel hopeless.
"How could anyone possibly beat this?"
Just as Kai was about to give up, his eyes moved towards the hundreds of Green King Caterpillars.
"Maybe, just maybe, I could level up enough to fight the gnomes."
Kai had a huge grin, thinking of how much experience points he could get here.
Looking towards the nearest Caterpillar, Kai used [Inspect]
{Green King Caterpillar}
{Level-1}
"Only level 1?"
Looking at the other Caterpillars that were close enough to use [Inspect], Kai noted that they all were level 1.
"Maybe they are passive creatures. It would make sense why they aren't at a higher level."
Looking around for anything he could use to kill the caterpillars, Kai noticed a stream flowing on the garden's outskirts.
Kai encountered many Caterpillars going to the stream, but not one stopped eating to look at him. It was as if they didn't even acknowledge his existence, or perhaps they couldn't.
Once Kai got to the stream, he found many caterpillars drinking its water. Some even seemed to be sleeping. Although some looked toward Kai, none approached him like the last Green King Caterpillar did.
After a few seconds of looking at him, the Caterpillars would return to what they were doing.
"Maybe the last one was special, or perhaps something triggered it to come to me."
Although Kai couldn't think of why the last Green King Caterpillar took the initiative to come to him, it didn't bother him. It was better for him if the Caterpillars didn't watch him.
Looking around the stream's edge, Kai found a big rock he could use as a weapon.
"Better than nothing."
Take a few extra rocks with him, just in case. Kai set off towards the most isolated Caterpillar. The first one he killed didn't make any sound. Hopefully, none of the others would too.
Kai found a caterpillar at the garden's edge, eating a weird yellow plant. Approaching the Caterpillar from behind, Kai raised the rock and smashed it into its head.
~Crack~
Its head cracked, instantly killing it.
{Earned 14 Experience Points}
{Level Up!}
After leveling up, Kai felt a slight warmth covering his body. His skin gained more color.
"I could get used to that, ahh. Alright {Status}."
{Name: Kai Venator
Race: Human
Class: N/A
Level: 1/20 -> 2/20 - 8/30Exp
Hp: 45/100 -> 100/120
Mana: (Locked)
Magic: (Locked)
Mind: 11 -> 13
Vitality: 4 -> 5
Strength: 3 -> 6
Intelligence: 5 -> 6
Agility: 2 -> 5
Dexterity: 3 -> 5
Resistance: 2 -> 4
Attribute Points: 0 -> 2
Equipment: (Click To See)
Inventory: (Click To See)}
Looking at the improvements in his stats, Kai was pleased.
Previously Kai wasn't able to eat or drink much, and thus, his body was weaker than it should have been. The average points in every stat for a level 1 tier 0 adult human was 7.
"Should I use the 2 Attribute Points now or save them?."
After pondering over it, Kai decided to save them. What if he encountered something and needed a little extra strength or agility but already used his Attribute Points? Considering this, Kai couldn't let himself just use them without thinking it through.
Looking at the 2/20 on his level, Kai was confused, "I didn't think much of it last time, but is that my limit? Can I only get to level 20? The floor guardian was level 20; maybe that's when you get a class. Or some special condition needs to be met to continue leveling up."
After thinking about it, Kai still couldn't come to a conclusion. He would just have to wait until he gets to level 20.
"Two Caterpillars, I'll need to kill two more to level up again."
Seeing as the experience points needed to level up increased, it will only get harder for Kai to level up enough to fight the floor guardian.
Going through everything, Kai was confident that with the amount of Green King Caterpillars in the Garden, he would be able to get enough experience points needed.
Just looking at the dead Caterpillar, Kai's mouth was watering. How could Kai let it go to waste? Ripping apart the Caterpillar, Kai started his meal.
"Ahh"
After finishing his meal and drinking some water, Kai was excited, thinking about increasing his level.
"Alright, let's make a small goal of getting level 5 before resting."
There were six Caterpillars currently at the stream; although it wouldn't be enough, it was a good start.
After clenching his fist, with his new strength from leveling up, a smile crept on Kai's face.
Picking up two rocks, one in each hand. Kai headed for the nearest Caterpillar.
Drinking from the stream, the Caterpillar was enjoying its day. When it suddenly heard the sound of footprints, not paying attention, it continued drinking its water.
Just when the Caterpillar finished its drink, it sensed something above it; looking up, the caterpillar saw a pair of rocks heading straight for him. Before he could react, everything turned black.
~crack~
The Caterpillar's head was completely smashed in, instantly killing it.
{Earned 13 Experience Points}
Looking at the number of experience points he got, Kai frowned, 'Why is it lower than last time? Is it because I'm a higher level than it?' Thinking about it, that would make sense. Wouldn't it be unfair if he got the same amount of experience points? Wouldn't everyone be at a high level then? Why risk your life fighting high-level beings when you could farm low-level creatures like the Green King Caterpillar.
Although it was a slight setback, Kai wasn't too bothered. After all, there were hundreds of these Green King Caterpillars. Even if he continued to get less and less experience points, there would be enough for him to reach level 10. At that point, he could try to fight a Gnome.
Looking at the remaining Caterpillars, Kai let out a small smile, "With these five, I should be able to level up at least twice."
---
After only a few minutes, Kai had managed to kill the five Caterpillars.
Looking at the notifications, Kai grinned like a madman.
{Earned 13 Experience Points}
{Level Up!}
{Earned 12 Experience Points}
{Earned 12 Experience Points}
{Earned 12 Experience Points}
{Level Up!}
{Earned 11 Experience Points}
Kai managed to get two more levels from killing the Caterpillars. He was delighted with this. Now he only needed one more level to complete his goal of level five, "{Status}."
{Name: Kai Venator
Race: Human
Class: N/A
Level: 2/20 -> 4/20 - 11/50Exp
Hp: 100/120 -> 210/220
Mana: (Locked)
Magic: (Locked)
Mind: 13 -> 19
Vitality: 5 -> 10
Strength: 6 -> 13
Intelligence: 6 -> 11
Agility: 5 -> 10
Dexterity: 5 -> 9
Resistance: 4 -> 7
Attribute Points: 2 -> 6
Equipment: (Click To See)
Inventory: (Click To See)}
"Nice, very nice!"
After leveling up twice, Kai's stats went up a decent amount. Kai's body has also become much healthier than it used to be. Now looking at him, Kai looked like an average 12-year-old. Besides his torn cloth that he wore, though that could easily be fixed later on. And his slightly shorter height.
"Every time I level up, the experience points I get from the Caterpillars decreases by one. So at Level 15, would I get 0 experience points or 1? Either way, I'll have to find something with a higher level to kill to level up faster."
With a sigh, Kai looked around for three more Caterpillars to kill.
Going closer to the center of the Garden, Kai found a large group of Green King Caterpillars.
Not only will this group give him enough experience points to level up, but he could also test his new strength on them. Just before Kai started his assault on the Caterpillars, something caught his eye.
One of the Caterpillars was slightly bigger than the rest. The Caterpillar also had a bright blue stripe on its back and a blue antenna
"Is this a different kind of Caterpillar? {Inspect}."
{Mutated Green King Caterpillar}
{Level-1}
"Mutated? What does that mean? Is it super special, or does it give it some boosted stats?"
Looking at it, The Mutated Caterpillar didn't seem so great or special.
Thinking about it, stars formed in Kai's eyes, "Could it give more experience points? Does it taste better?"
Kai had to figure out it was different than a normal Green King Caterpillar.
Bringing his arm back with the rock in his hand, Kai threw the rock with all his might directly at the Mutated Green King Caterpillar's head.
~Smack~ ~crack~
The sound of something digging into flesh and something cracking came shortly after throwing the rock. Kai knew he hit it and killed the Mutated Caterpillar in one go because of the notification he got. A white mist enveloped the Mutated Caterpillar, moving around it only for a few seconds before disappearing like it was never there. The mist seemed to have taken the Mutate Caterpillar's antenna since it disappeared with the mist.
"Did the mist just steal my loot?"
{Earned 22 Experience Points}
{Obtained, Mutated Green King Caterpillar antenna - x1}
"My apologies, mist. Haha, but double the experience points. Not bad, not bad. So what do I do with a mutated antenna anyway?"
Nothing! He couldn't use it for anything. Kai felt like he could have gotten something cool from a mutated Caterpillar.
"haa, it is just a Caterpillar. It's my fault for expecting something useful."
{Level: 4- 33/40}
"Hahaha, only one more to go!"
Reaching the Mutated Caterpillar, Kai grabbed the rock that was embedded into its head. Taking this maybe once-in-a-lifetime chance, Kai also took a bit of it.
~Bulgh~
"Awful, awful. How could a mutated king taste so bad!"
After tasting such a bad thing, Kai wanted nothing more than to punch something. Luckily there were many things he could punch. Smiling, Kai looked at the Caterpillars around him, "Mahahah."
{Earned 11 Experience Points}
{Earned 11 Experience Points}
{Level Up!}
{Earned 10 Experience Points}
{Earned 10 Experience Points}
{Earned ...}
----
After 10 minutes of Kai punching the Caterpillar, they were all finally dead, a total of seven Caterpillars, including the mutated one.
"{Status}."
{Name: Kai Venator
Race: Human
Class: N/A
Level: 4/20 -> 5/20 - 5/60Exp
Hp: 210/220 -> 280/280
Mana: (Locked)
Magic: (Locked)
Mind: 19 -> 23
Vitality: 10 -> 13
Strength: 13 -> 16
Intelligence: 11 -> 14
Agility: 10 -> 13
Dexterity: 9 -> 13
Resistance: 7 -> 10
Attribute Points: 6 -> 8
Equipment: (Click To See)
Inventory: (Click To See)}
"Ahhhh, that felt good, I feel at peace. ~yaaawn~ I should take a nap."
Looking at his stats, Kai was happy he was getting stronger. The higher level someone was, the more points they would get in each stat after leveling up.
Deciding he was done, for the time being. Kai headed toward the flower forest. He was scared to sleep in the Garden because the Green King Caterpillar didn't seem to mind him killing their kind. But Kai didn't want to sleep in the Garden because of the Gnomes.
After reaching the area where the flower forest and Garden mix, Kai got behind a flower and rested his head against the stem; closing his eyes, he drifted off to sleep.