Holy Crap! My stats skyrocketed just by reaching level 5! Isn't this kind of broken?!
Also, it was now that I finally sorted out my thoughts, but Earth didn't have monsters. However, I had clearly just killed 3 of them.
"Am I still on Earth?
….
I guess not, huh…"
It all came down upon me after that sudden realization but I was in a much bigger pinch than I had originally thought. Not only was I in the center of a forest that had monsters, some of which might be even stronger than those goblins, but this forest wasn't probably even on the same planet or perhaps the universe as mine.
My heart rate suddenly spiked. I started getting mild anxiety attacks and my mind started becoming hazy.
How did I end up getting here and how will I go back home? Those were the only two questions I had in my mind at that moment. And there was no solid plan in sight to escape and survive. I didn't even know how far this forest spread. And even if I found civilization, will there be humans like me? Will they accept me? Or will they capture me and research my body or just straight-up kill me? What followed the existence of a monster in a fantasy-like world was a multi-racial civilization that had swords and magic in it.
After having mild panic attacks, I finally took a few deep breaths and calmed my head.
I still had the Katana in my hand.
I was not completely defenseless. And my stats seemed to have risen quite greatly from that single fight. I didn't know what were the average stats of monsters in this world but surely I wasn't absolutely weak comparing my current stats with the goblins'. Well, goblins were small fry but I was trying to be optimistic so I didn't focus on things that made me feel depressed.
Besides, all my fears were rooted in my own imagination so far. I might find humans. That loli, Zeno, was human and even Entranos had a human-like appearance, albeit with horns and tails. It's only natural to assume there will be normal humans in this world.
Yes! I am not going to break down so easily yet. I have the power of video games and anime on my side! That, and a badass Katana and useful abilities.
With my newfound motivation, I once again started headed in the east direction as originally planned.
My journey was filled with walking around in a straight line, more or less, while checking my map for some things of interest. I found some strange mushrooms which were quite colorful and eye-catching so I tried appraising them and found they were called Hue Mushrooms and had medicinal purposes. I took about 70% of the small bunch, about 4 of them, growing there and kept it in my inventory. Since the description said it's edible after cooking I could use it as an emergency source of food if I couldn't find any fruits and wild berries.
I also encountered 2 wild wolves. Their fur was dark greyish and their eyes were bloody red. Even the Goblins I met had red irises, or what I assumed were irises, so I came to a rough conclusion that monsters generally had red eyes. As normal, I tried appraising one of them.
Name: Noname
Age: 2 years
Gender: Male
Race: Grey Wolf
---
Level: 16
HP: 120
MP: 0/0
---
Stats:
STR: 56
DEX: 34
DEF: 20
AGI: 59
VIT: 46
INT: 10
Luck: 0
---
Abilities:
Dash I, Bite I
***
Grrrr!
One of them somehow found my presence and plunged at me at about thrice the speed of the goblins, it made me flustered, but I had also leveled up and with my stats now its speed seemed to have slowed down in my head to a great degree. I felt like I could run and slash it in two without using any ability but for safety purposes, I still used my trusty Sword Technique II and launched my attack simultaneously as the wolf tried to perform his.
It ended in an instant. My blade sliced the wolf in practically 2 halves horizontally. Furthermore, it only took me a single slash to do so. The growth in my strength was pretty obvious.
[You've leveled up!]
My level also went up from this encounter but I didn't have leeway to check it out as I could feel I was still not alone. There were sounds of roaring and bushes bustling around me. Soon after, the rest of the pack started showing up. They were all showing their sharp fangs to me who had killed their pack member.
"It wasn't exactly my fault, you know."
I tried to reason with the wolf monsters.
"This guy just came attacking and I had to do it in self-defense. How about we let this incident be an accident and pretend we never met? I'll just be on my way in that direction. I'm not exactly enjoying the whole fight for survival thing, you know."
I was talking to the wolves even though I knew they didn't understand anything I said.
Grrr… Awwooo!
Their mouth grew wider as they started to approach me.
Guess a fight is inevitable. Then, Appraisal!
From what I saw, most of them were Male wolves about 2-5 years of age and the highest level among them was level 23 which was probably the pack leader since he looked scarier than the rest and had skills implying so.
There were some females as well but most of them were on the backside. I didn't see any wolf kids around. Other than the leader himself, the rest of them had their stats from level 7 to level 16 so they didn't seem very threatening. But the problem was their numbers.
They could easily pincer attack me from behind while I'm concentrated on those in front. I could try running and jumping on a nearby tree and wait for them to go away but they didn't seem like they would leave me alone so easily. And I didn't want to spend my entire morning and afternoon stuck here.
If I couldn't find a settlement or a road in time, I would have to spend the night here and I knew from common sense that I didn't want to spend my night in such a monster-infested forest. What spawns Goblins and wolves in the morning, might spawn more terrifying monsters at night. Not to mention I had no way to start a fire and my food and water problems were still there.
I once again tightly gripped the handle of my now unsheathed Katana and resolved myself.
Alright me, just do it one more time. It's a fight for survival. But I have the advantage.
My plan was to use my superior AGI and STR stats and slice them as soon as possible. If they saw the clear difference in strength, they might lose their motivation and scatter away once their comrades are killed.
Just as the wolf leader howled, signaling the start of their attack, I jumped at full speed with my Katana and used the Sword Technique II on the nearest wolves. The first 3 strikes cut 3 of them who were standing close.
All right! That's 3 down!
Continuing on my attack, I moved towards the wolves on my left and with 3 clear strikes cut 3 more wolf heads.
Their blood spilled on me in the process but I didn't have the leeway to worry about that. Right now, about 20 seconds must have passed but 6 wolf bodies were lying dead. The other wolves also saw that and backed down a step or two, but the leader released a long scary growl and came forward to face me.
Guess now it is a duel?
"Why are you so stubborn, you stupid leader? Can't you see I'm strong? I don't even like killing you guys since you resemble wolves who are ancestors to dogs. And I like dogs."
He showed no signs of retreat. His bloodlust was constantly directed toward me.
I sighed and checked his stats again.
Name: Noname
Age: 5 years
Gender: Male
Race: Grey Wolf
---
Level: 23
HP: 240
MP: 0/0
---
Stats:
STR: 72
DEX: 45
DEF: 30
AGI: 68
VIT: 52
INT: 20
Luck: 0
---
Abilities:
Dash II, Bite II, Howl I, Pack Leading II
***
Its stats were indeed a cut above the rest but it still failed to compare to my now 3-digit stats.
I took the fighting pose and waited for it to make the first move.
As it took a leap and came with its open jaws showing pointy canines, I was ready to slash but I soon felt a presence on both my sides and noticed two other wolves running towards me.
"So it wasn't a duel after all! You cheater!"
Damn, this guy is smarter than the rest. It's planning to put me in a pinch from three sides.
Now, normally I should have jumped back and tried to get the wolf on the left or right but I held my Katana with both hands, twisted my body to the right, and carefully waited for them to come in range. All three were pretty much the same distance from me and would reach my range at the same time.
Right when the one from the left came in my attack range, I released my body and using the momentum from the spring motion, swung my sword horizontally. It sliced through the face of the left wolf and then did the same to the wolf leader and the right wolf. All three were perfectly cut as I had hoped and I took a step back to avoid the collision with their flying bodies that were still in the air and hadn't lost their momentum. The dead wolf bodies collided with each other where I was initially standing and stayed there, motionless.
That's right! Don't underestimate a pro gamer! You have no idea how many game moves I have seen!
I looked at the rest of the wolves that were all moving away in an arc and whimpering. They had lost a bunch of their members and even their leader was now dead. They shouldn't have any reason to fight anymore.
I pointed by blood-stained Katana towards the hesitating wolves and they finally scattered from the place. I finally leaked a sigh of relief.
[You've leveled up!]
[New Abilities have been acquired!]