From what the brat told him, monsters only required half the exp to reach the same level as a human. On top of that, when killing other monsters, and humans, they earned double exp! That was basically a leveling curve 4 times faster than humans! And that applied to all monsters!
No wonder the Deer King was so high level already!
It didn't need to kill hundreds upon hundreds of monsters necessarily to reach that level, it probably only only needed a few dozen to a hundred or so at most! When calculating it, to reach level 10 for a human, it took a minimum of 5,405 experience with monsters only needing half of that, which was 2,702.5 that was always rounded up to the whole number.
So monsters only needed 2,703 exp total to be level 10, which still seems like a ton at the current stage so how did the Deer King become the Deer King? The answer was: it was a boss monster.
The system said it randomly gives out the title of boss monster when a monster completes an achievement, similar to his First Awakened title. That achievement usually gives the monster some sort of boost, whether it be a skill, a stat boost, or even a chunk of exp. Those were the 3 main things the rewards turned out to be, and while there were more hidden ones, the system said it couldn't say since he was human.
It did say however that the Deer King got the chunk of exp, a massive one, which shot it straight from level 4 before the achievement, to level 10 after. The system even praised the Deer King for being so lucky, but it also laughed at it for being unlucky enough to run into Leon not long after.
Leon didn't know how to feel about this information at the time, since it was huge news and could cause a huge panic among survivors but then he remembered something important.
He was alone.
There was no one around to share this information with, as he was the only human in the area, and maybe in the Mountain Range entirely since it was monster territory.
On top of that, the bratty system also talked more in depth to him about the cons of monsters, and the pros humans specifically had against monsters, and how it was a very good advantage to have.
For the cons, in exchange for having low exp thresholds and an easier time gaining exp against other living beings, monsters had a tough time learning skills. They could not learn skills through repeated actions like humans could. They could only earn a skill after each level up, if they even chose it.
Monsters were given a few choices when leveling up and it was similar to the rewards for them getting an achievement, just on a smaller scale. When leveling, monsters would be able to chose instinctively whether they wanted another +1 to all stats, a skill, or a skill upgrade.
They didn't have the option to choose an exp package since they had just finished leveling up, and because monsters lost their sanity more than humans do when leveling up, they often weren't consciously thinking about what they want to get, even if they had a pretty high intelligence stat.
Like with the Black Bear he would end up killing, monsters could choose to receive a skill and that was what Kona meant when she said that her "mother taught her." It was most likely her mother telling her to choose that over a stat boost from the decision they got as a level 1.
How Magic Bolt was even an option and how her mother knew what it was, was a mystery, similar to how she acquired Brilliant Mind in the first place.
+1 stats were straightforward, and was what the Deer King probably ended up choosing for all 6 levels that he jumped. It may have also been a combination of skills and stat increases, as well as a skill upgrade due to it already being level 4, and having an F and E rank skill.
The end result however, was that the Deer King had +7 to all his stats, while the remaining 3 level up rewards were used to get skills. That was why it was so tough, because it was an actual monster that forced its way into E rank quickly and didn't grab too many skills.
More often than not, monsters chose the stat boost instead of a skill, since it was difficult to consciously think about using a skill for them. Monsters of the same level will generally be stronger than a human of the same level, while humans would have more skills than a monster at all times... generally.
This also bleeds into the pros for humans against monsters, which is that we keep our rationality in the face of the system. That wasn't the truth for everyone, as the system said there were billions of humans that succumbed to something called "mana poisoning" and "died", but that he would see the results of that mana poisoning when and if he eventually left the mountainside.
It was a very ominous prenotion but he moved on, as he didn't care much about others and what happened to society.
The pros humans had were the facts that they could stay rational in front of the Universal Law, had the cognitive ability to think and adapt like normal, which made humans to be considered "super predators" in the first place, and the most important: equipment.
Like the leather armor he was wearing and the sword he was swinging, humans could create weapons and armor to attack and defend themselves. They did not have the natural physiology like most animals do to survive out in the wild only with the skin on their backs.
Humans adapted, learned, and used tools to help them survive. And in this new world governed by Universal Law, they could used these same techniques to make new weapons and armor to have a fighting chance against monsters that would normally overwhelm them with their physical power.
By making use of skills and using the corpses of monsters that have been killed, humans can make new or better weapons and continue to fight back against monsters. Granted it isn't perfect, as with a cognitive mind and emotions like humans have, they are often overcome by their own minds and aren't able to fight back effectively.
This would undoubtedly lead to a lot of deaths, but that was not the case for people like Leon who could keep a straight head on, or crazy people who were waiting for anarchy to strike.
Humans may be on the losing end right now, but once people's situations stabilize and they begin to make better equipment and understand the system, they may be able to come out on top against monsters by the end of terraformation.
To make his situation specifically even better, Leon now had a monster that had the ability to level insanely quick. The look her Master gave her at that time scared the crap out of Kona, literally, and would forever scar her for the rest of her life...
With all that information, he planned a lot for the future, with most of it surrounding Kona. He now knew deeper into the reason why Monster Taming was so hard to accomplish and why so few weren't willing to hand over their secrets to other beings.
He was mostly likely the only human on Earth that knew this information right now and he was going to continue to covet it, especially now that he made a new goal. That goal was related to the next Main Quest he received not too long after he finished the survival main quest.
*ding!* [You have received the next Main Quest! Main Quest (2) - Growth, is now active!]
[ { Main Quest (2) - Growth: Congratulations! You have finished the Main Quest - Survival (F)! However the dangers are not gone, in fact, they're growing. All Living Beings can grow through the Universal Law System, meaning you have to contend with them all, even your own kin.
- Survive for a month (0/30) days
- Kill at least 20 monsters (0/20)
- Kill at least 1 monster the same or higher level than you (0/1)
- Learn a skill (0/1)
- Use a skill to kill a monster (0/1)
- reward: (E) rank item x1 or (E) rank skill x1
- Failure: Death
- Bonus: Kill at least 10 monsters higher level than you (0/10) and reach level 5 (4/5).
- Bonus reward: option not chose from the main quest reward
- Hidden -
- {Hidden} - } ]
When first receiving the Quest, it seemed very easy to Leon, as all the requirements for completing it he had already been doing. As long as he continued hunting and living the same way as normal, he would be fine.
The only frustrating part was the month long duration but he was most likely in the top 1% of people who thought like that. The vast majority of humans probably barely killed 1 monster. Many probably didn't, resulting in death and more probably died trying to kill one.
There would definitely be a lot of rotting corpses around the city streets of major cities but Leon could care less. If they weren't willing to do whatever it takes to live, then they were wasting their life. Just because they were scared, doesn't mean you should let fear control you.
He had been letting it control him for 20 years after ascending this mountain but he didn't want that any longer.
He was finally going to try to meet someone.
Well... eventually.
He didn't give himself a hard deadline, but eventually....
In the meantime, he figured the best way to spend the next several weeks was to train up Kona to be able to fight, upgrade as many of his skills as possible, upgrade his equipment again if possible, and then figure out the other hidden quest as one had already revealed itself to him once he thought of it...