While Arthur had leveled up, Eight Large Dire Sewer Rats were still something he would have a hard time dealing with. It wasn't even a question about stats, but numbers and the area that he was in.
'If this was an open field, I could kite them, but the sewer tunnels are far too narrow for that. I don't have extra torches to distract them either.' Arthur thought to himself while hoping that his plan would work.
The only thing he needed to avoid at all costs was dying. If he died, it would mess up the next few steps and prevent him from fully carrying out his plans. He would also lose a great advantage.
Arthur's frantic steps echoed in the tunnels while the Large Dire Sewer Rats chased after him. The distance between the two parties was hard to estimate, but from the rats' sounds, Arthur estimated them to be ten seconds away.
He ran with all his power, while his stamina kept on depleting.
[Warning: Stamina at 30%]
Arthur heard the notification but didn't get distracted. Sprinting like this consumed higher amounts of stamina and he had already known this. He also knew how much stamina was consumed while sprinting.
This was why he wasn't worried about draining too much stamina either.
'Thankfully I got the level up just before this and that restored my Stamina. Otherwise I might have been cutting too close…' Arthur thanked his luck.
[Warning: Stamina at 10%]
The second warning for stamina drain came just when Arthur saw his goal.
"There it is!" Arthur almost shouted.
He was in a circular junction to which several tunnels connected. And at the center of the junction there was a depression. Usually this would be filled with water and was one of the central reservoirs for overflow.
But now that Arthur had released the sluice gate, all the excess water had flowed out leaving this place empty.
And it was in this empty reservoir Arthur's goal laid: A skeleton!
It seemed to have been here for a long time and was wearing an old tattered robe. The rest of its clothes had also rotted away but there was one thing that was still intact, a sheathed sword.
Splash!
Arthur jumped into the wet floor of the empty reservoir before rushing to the skeleton. The Large Dire Sewer rats were now close, and he didn't have much time. He grabbed the sheathed sword before drawing it out.
"Inspect!" Arthur used the skill.
~DING~
>Inspect Successful!<
——
Name: Black Tear Short Sword
[Attack: 8-12] [Durability: 90/100]
[Equipping Requirement: Level 4, No class restrictions]
Info: Allows the user to increase their swinging speed by 10% for thirty seconds while increasing Stamina usage by 50%.
Cooldown: 2 minutes
——
This was the weapon that Arthur had been desiring. It was one of the best weapons one could get in the village and could actually be used by players till they reached level seven or even level ten.
It was intended to be used by a player of that level anyways, as getting to it was quite difficult and the Dire Sewer rats would make it hard to do so if they didn't have the stats to back it up.
The only reason Arthur could even do it was due to the fact that he had experience from his past life. For new players that knew nothing about Morpheus Online, this would be an impossible task.
"This will work perfectly!" Arthur put away his Old dagger and switched to the Black Tear Short Sword.
He then chugged the Flask of water, restoring his stamina before assigning his free stat points.
>Player Status<
——
Name: Arzhur
Level: 4
Class: None
Title: None
***
HP:100%
MP: 100%
Stamina: 10% -> 50%
Hunger: 100%
Experience: 100% -> 10%
***
Strength: 4 -> 5
Toughness: 4 -> 5
Agility: 2 -> 4
Dexterity: 2 -> 3
Vitality: 3
Wisdom: 1
Intelligence: 1
Will: 1
——
This time Arthur chose to improve his agility as the main as he needed the extra speed. He also increased his Strength, toughness and Dexterity too as general growth.
And just as he finished doing this, the rats had also arrived.
SQUEE!
Splash! Splash! Splash!
They jumped into the empty reservoir, blocking Arthur's path. There were eight large Sewer rats with all of them being level 3.
"Looks like this'll be our arena… Perfect!" Arthur wasn't discouraged though.
Splat!
The first to move was Arthur as he slashed at the nearest Large Dire Sewer rat.
[-80% HP]
"Ahahah! Perfect! Even a basic attack does high damage." Arthur was pleased with the short sword.
Not only did it improve his attack power, it also increased his reach simply due to the length of the weapon.
The Old Dagger was small and forced him to get close to the enemies. But now, it was barely a matter of few strikes before they would be dead.
[-80% HP]
[-80% HP]
>Large Dire Sewer Rat has been killed!<
[Critical Hit!]
[Fatal Hit!]
[-100% HP]
>Large Dire Sewer Rat has been killed!<
[-80% HP]
[-80% HP]
In less than ten slashes, Arthur had killed off five of the Large Dire Sewer rats. And all this was before any of them even had a chance to attack him.
SQUEAK!
But one of the large rats finally got the chance and it pounced at him.
'Won't work now…' Arthur simply leaned back before kicking upwards.
Thud!
[-5% HP]
The rat that had tried to attack him got hit and was knocked back while also suffering some damage.
[-80% HP]
[-80% HP]
>Large Dire Sewer Rat has been killed!<
Arthur killed the two remaining Large Dire Sewer Rats before the final rat returned for an attack.
Unfortunately for it, that was just pushing its death closer.
[-100% HP]
>Large Dire Sewer Rat has been killed!<
>Experience obtained: 40%<
"Hah! Already halfway to the next level." Arthur was pleased with his progress.
This was certainly the fastest any player had possibly reached level four, and it had been less than four in game hours since its launch!