All he could hear was a thumping noise coming from the bodies. It attracted him more than anything he'd ever experienced in either life. Archer slowly approached it. While examining the dog's body, he realized the sound was coming from the beast's chest. ''Hmm, the heart maybe?''
He took out his knife from the Item Box and sliced it open. The thumping got even louder as he grabbed the still beating warm heart. He was pulling it out as blood dripped down his hand.
He brought it closer and examined it as he spoke to himself. ''Is this what's attracting me?''
His instincts kicked in and told him to eat it, which he instantly did. After finishing, he felt an odd feeling circling his body, and an explosion erupted inside him, sending Archer to the ground.
Archer felt his body was more robust as he was lying there, so he checked his stats.
'Status.'
[Experience: 500/1000]
[SP: 0>1]
[HP: 200/200]
[Mana: 610/800]
'I think killing them gave me one hundred experience each, and the hearts gave me one hundred as well as one status point.'
From the memories he had, he knew that whenever someone levels up, they get two stat points to upgrade each stat by ten. Some stats can be boosted higher, but that's a rare occurrence. After standing up, he extracted the rest of the hearts from the rest.
He also realized he wasn't hungry anymore. It must have been the heart he just ate. Neither he nor the old Archer knew anything about this. Archer started overthinking before shaking his head. ''I'll see if the guild has a library when I return.''
Archer shrugged and decided to think about it later. After collecting all the hearts, he ate the rest and felt the power boost flow from him after swallowing the last bite.
[Experience: 800/1000]
[SP: 1>4]
[Mana: 670/800]
Archer then spent two points on mana and strength to see what results he would get.
[Mana: 800>860]
[Strength: 45>65]
[SP: 4>0]
'Oh look at that, mana gets thirty per point, and strength got ten, that's good.' He thought to himself.
Storing the wild dog's bodies, he continued to explore the forest as he walked and began searching for more beasts.
He was leveling up and gaining experience, which made his blood boil. He wanted more of it. Like the beginning of something new, it felt beautiful and invigorating. He loved the feeling of experience flowing into his body. It felt like a drug he could never get sick of.
Archer pressed on with his first hunt. After a considerable walk, the afternoon sun stood prominently overhead. However, its warmth diminished as Archer ventured further into the woodland, where the trees grew taller and more substantial.
The familiar sounds of forest-dwelling creatures filled the air. At this moment, he detected an unexpected rustle just ahead of him. A surge of alarm gripped him, prompting Archer to leap to the side. Two crude arrows whizzed past his face.
[------ sense learned]
He looked baffled at the half-hidden skill he had just learned but noticed it had something to do with senses. Archer jumped forward but tripped as he landed. Turning around, he saw a small green humanoid lunging from the bush with a spear made from a branch.
That's when more walked out of the bushes surrounding him. He started to panic as he counted them. 'There are fifteen of them, fuck my life!'
He quickly cast the Cosmic Sword to fight back. It was a pitch-black sword that resembled a Kopis short sword from ancient times. Archer could feel that the sword barely weighed anything and could be wielded by him quickly.
It was also sharp enough to slice straight through the skin. ''Let's test it out, Hehe.''
He darted forward, shocking the goblins trying to surround the young white-haired humanoid in front of them.
Archer sliced at the closest goblin, who tried to block the black sword with its wooden shield. However, it sliced straight through the wooden shield without issue. It slashed the goblin's throat.
Kicking the dead goblin away, seeing its blood spilling out. He stood still as the other goblins surrounded him. He laughed manically while his eyes shone brightly as he began to quote something he had read in his past life.
''HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Let me tell you a quote I know!''
''Walls have ears,
Doors have eyes.
Trees have voices.
Beasts tell lies.
Beware the rain.
Beware the snow.
Beware the man.
You think you know!''
Archer quickly lunged forward while slashing at the closest goblin's neck. The goblin's head flew through the air. He pointed his small hand at a group of three goblins and fired a void blast at them.
He fired three Void Blasts at the two groups running at him from different directions. The seven goblins who were running towards him were sent flying when they got struck by the blasts.
Landing quite far away with heavy thuds. ''Hehe, six more to go.''
Archer pounced forward while slashing the two goblins standing close. He spun and shot forward quicker than the goblins could even see.
The last four goblins panicked and fired arrows at Archer, who cast Cosmic Shield around himself. The same violet-colored barrier appeared, grew around him again, and blocked the arrows before vanishing.
He Cast another Cosmic Sword so he could have two of them. That's when he plunged both blades into the goblins before him, staring into their eyes with a massive smile.
Pulling the blades out as the last two goblins attacked. Quickly deflecting one goblin's slash, he stabbed the other with his sword before he got to him.
Following that, Archer fired a Void Blast at point-blank range. It tore through the goblin, its body falling to the ground with a thud. Archer stood in the carnage while looking around at his handiwork.
Spotting a few goblins getting up from the groups that rushed at him at the beginning of the fight, he rushed forward and ended all their lives without missing a beat. He dismissed the Cosmic Swords as he sat down to catch his breath.
That's when he checked his status because he felt a similar feeling from earlier but stronger this time.
[Experience: 50/1000]
[Level Up: 0>3]
[Rank Unlocked: Novice]
[SP: 0>6]
[------ Sense Learned]
Examining the notifications, Archer realized he had leveled up and acquired an unfamiliar skill related to his senses. Excitement surged through him. Archer decided not to spend the points for now and wanted to hunt some more.
Standing up, he approached the bodies and started cutting out the hearts while storing them alongside the goblin bodies. Feeling the Item Box was nearly complete, he didn't bother about it and continued hunting with a smile.
Several hours later, he walked out of the forest. During his hunt, he managed to kill four forest wolves and ten more goblins.
'Status'
[Archer]
[Race: ----]
[Age: 13]
[Rank: Novice]
[Experience: 50/1000]
[Level Up: 3>5]
[SP: 6>10]
[Void Blast: 0>1]
[Cosmic sword: 0>1]
[Hp: 200/200]
[Mana: 860>880]
[Strength: 65>75]
[Constitution: 30>40]
[Stamina: 60>70]
[Charisma: 200>260]
[Intelligence: 80>90]
Archer got excited once he saw his status. He had gained a lot from all the hunting he'd done. All his stats increased a tiny bit, plus he gathered loads of hearts. He closed his eyes, thought about Item Box, and saw everything he had collected.
Twenty-four goblin hearts and their bodies, four wild dogs, and four forest wolf bodies. He inwardly congratulated himself. 'What a fruitful first hunt. Hopefully, they all go that way; I'll earn many coins from this.'
He remembered the currency from the old Archer's memories: 'One hundred copper is one silver, one hundred silver is one gold, one hundred gold is one platinum coin.'
Archer shook his head to clear his thoughts. Then he realized it was nighttime, and he couldn't continue to hunt anymore. 'Let's find a tree and get some sleep.'
That's when he went off to find a suitable tree to sleep in and found one not long after sitting at the edge of the forest. Climbing up and getting as comfortable as possible, he remembered he got his first rank earlier.
He summoned the pop-up window for his rank. 'Rank'
[Rank Unlocked: Novice]
Archer tried hard to recall the ranks and only had information until rank seven.
0-20 is a Novice, 21-40 is an Apprentice, 41-60 is an Adept, 61-80 is an Expert, 81-100 is a Master, 101-200 is a Magus, 201-300 is an Arch Magus.
That's all the old Archer knew about the ranking system. But he did know that status shows a person's overall power. But stats weren't everything, as people with lower stats could beat a stronger opponent if they were skilled and talented enough.
His understanding of beasts and humanoids was limited to their comparable power levels; he recognized that they were roughly on par in strength. However, he acknowledged that beasts tended to be slightly weaker, largely attributed to the intellect and cunning of humanoids.
After thinking to himself, his stomach growled as he leaned against the tree trunk on a branch. He pulled out a goblin heart and then started to eat it. 'The taste isn't bad, but it's not the best either,' he thought.
Archer sat there, consuming the hearts, as his gaze fixed on the grassy expanse. As the quiet took over, he started to overthink. Hoping that Alexa and his family were okay and managed to cope with his death better than he was.
He ate the rest of the hearts he'd gathered before falling asleep to the hooting of birds and the shrieks of some beast hunting.