"Show me the notifications," Ben commanded in his mind while still following behind the silver-haired girl. A holographic blue screen appeared before him, indicating his kills from previous battles.
...….
7 Basic Tie Monsters: Goblins Killed
Exp: 97/100
Normal Tier Soul Essence Obtained: Wind-Born Shoes
...…
Ben, without hesitation, tapped on the info button next to the wind-born shoes to see their properties while still keeping an eye on his surroundings using his blood vision.
...….
Wind-Born Shoes: Basic Tier (Grade 1)
Defense: +5 when equipped.
[Ability: Wind walk] ( Grants the user a +3 increase in agility once activated. Lats for 3 minutes.)
«STATUS»
Name: Ben Franklin
Race: Vampire
Evolution: Evo 4 Level: 4
Exp: 97/100 HP: 97/100
MP: 000/000 B.E.: 73/100
Strength: 24
Agility: 31
Stamina: 26
Free stats: 0
Active Skills [i]
Passive Skills [i]
New Form: LOCKED (reach level 10 to unlock)
....
"Should I be happy or disappointed? I don't even have any idea what to do right now, tsk." Ben scratched his head as he walked along the village boundaries. "By the way system, when am I going to unlock my new blood skill?"
[ At level 5, Ben. You can unlock a blood skill. ]
After a short discussion, he and Freya had concluded that Freya would guard the boundaries while Ben would try to find some more beasts and obtain beast crystals for some unknown reasons.
...…..
You shouldn't be a happy host, as your previous experience with goblins barely gave you a few experience points, and since goblins are moderate creatures, they don't have a mana core as well. My suggestion is that you should find another beast to hunt.
...…..
"I guess you are right in a way; earlier, I didn't want to hunt in the city ruins because of the intermediate-tier wolf, but it seems like a no-risk, no-reward game," Ben stated, adjusting the leather armor on his body.
"Although, I still don't understand why you want me to collect beast cores," Ben asked, genuinely curious.
Host: For a demonic creature to gain magic, they eat beast crystals from other animals. [While humans can increase magic with practice and age, the same isn't true for your host. ]
In short, you can absorb 1 normal tier crystal to get 1 MP in your status. Upon getting 100 of those points, you can unlock an elemental affinity and learn magic.
"So basically, I need to kill some monsters." Ben was dumbfounded; if gaining magic was this simple, the system could have said it from the very beginning.
"Well, then, if this is what it needs to be, I know exactly where to find some prey." Ben grinned as he stood up and jumped over the top of the outpost to have a better look at the village.
Blood Vision
Ben activated his passive skill, and soon the world around him was colored black, white, and red. He looked at one side of the village, where there were the ruins of the previous city, and a sharp smile appeared on his face.
Active Skill: Wind Walk
Ben jumped off the outpost tower as two feather-like silver lines appeared on his brown leather Windborn shoes. In the next second, he dashed towards the village ruins like a wild cat running towards its prey.
His heartbeat sped with excitement, a natural feeling he was getting exhilaration of the fight as he locked on a few beast's energy with his crimson-glowing red eyes. Even Ben's sprinting speed was easily above 50 km/hr, yet his steps were light, barely making any sound as he ran.
With a feat that a normal human can barely think of achieving, Ben was running toward his target like a tiger running toward a deer.
With a swift motion, he unsheathed the 'Grass Cutter' blade from his back, which he picked up from Ray's warehouse along with the leather armor. He commanded the system to merge the Inferno Stringer into the Basic Tear Sword.
[A/N: Grasscutter is like a katana, but straighter and thinner, i.e., sharper. ]
Ben jumped over the ruined buildings without any slowdown in his speed; the sword in his hand slowly turned red but wasn't covered in flames like his earlier weapons. A visible limit of the inferno stringer.
In the ruins of the city, a group of a few basic tier wolves was sleeping in a circle when suddenly one of the wolves noticed a slight moment. He raised his head, searching for his enemy, but before he could perceive anything, a metallic sound reverberated through the air as a burning feeling ran through his neck.
Ben was already standing on the other side of the circle; a cold expression covered his face as the wolf's head fell to the ground, and blood gushed out of its body like a shower.
╬═«Quest Update»═╬
Normal-tier grey wolves killed
No soul essence was obtained.
Exp: 5*5 (+25)
» Exp [122/100]
Leveled up to level 5,
All Stat: +1 Free Stat: +1
------------------------
The gushing noise was enough to wake up the whole group of wolves. Realizing what had happened to their partner, they looked at the ominous figure with a red sword in his hand. Despite being one of the top predators in the food chain, there was this instinct telling them.
"RUN OR DIE"
"Once a great man said, not every dialogue has a meaning; some are just to increase screen time." Ben muttered, formulating a quick plan in his head, before he launched towards the second wolf.
Angered by their friend's death, the wolves jumped toward Ben. But with a swift motion of Ben's blade, the wolf paw was cut in half, leaving it streaming blood as it struggled to find balance.
Ben jumped and seized the opportunity to land a jab on the wolf's face from his right while he prepared a sword strike from his left.
Even with superhuman agility, his inexperience with swords was visible like a pineapple on pizza.
With another swing of his blade, there was a deep wound through the gray wolf's body; it fell lifeless to the ground.
╬═«Quest Update»═╬
Normal-tier grey wolf killed
»No soul essence was obtained.
» Exp: 47/250
With two consecutive kills, Ben's confidence was all-time high. He dashed towards another wolf, but only to be caught up in a sonic attack.
While Ben was busy dealing with the second gray wolf, the other wolves strategically surrounded him from all four sides and launched a high-frequency howling sound toward Ben.
This was very similar to Ben's first encounter with the wolves. But unlike the first time, I had a clear plan to counter this situation.
[ HP: 91/100 ; BE: 70/100]
"Darn it.." Ben gritted his teeth as he looked at his falling HP. The only way out of this situation was to use a long range skill and break their formation.
"Blood Bullet"
Ben chanted as a bullet of crimson red shot towards one of the wolves and hit its jaw, piercing through it and penetrating the body. The sheer impact of the attack threw it to the ground.
[ HP: 89/100 ; BE: 65/100]
With the broken formation, it was a little struggle for Ben to jump out of the attack range and head towards other wolves.
Seeing their enemy breaking out of sonic waves, all three wolves jumped towards Ben, engaging in close combat (3 vs. 1). With quick thinking, Ben slid onto the ground and narrowly avoided two claw attacks towards him. Popping himself back up, he used all his strength to thrust his sword into the wolf's head.
With his strength and the inferno stringer's enhancement, the sword easily went through the wolf's head, piercing its brain and further pinning it to the ground.
╬═«Quest Update»═╬
Normal-tier grey wolf killed
»Soul essence obtained: ░░░
» Exp [97/250]
"That's what you call a good kill." Ben grinned internally as he tried to pull back the sword and attack the enemy behind him, but even with his strength, he couldn't pull out the sword from the ground.
"Holy Fuck!!" Ben cursed as he saw a wolf approaching. He used all his strength to shake off the sword, but it remained frozen. In the last moment of desperation, Ben let go of the sword and dodged the coming attack.
A sharp cut was made on his sholder, burning but still no demage.
"Summon: Ancient Spear"
He threw the spear as soon as it was summoned. The spear hit the wolf's back , but before the creature could react, Ben grabbed the other end of the spear and swung it along the wolf.
Thrown along with the spear, the wounded creature hit its companion, both falling to the ground.
Seizing the moment, Ben again threw the spear towards the wolf with all his might. While the wolves were still unorganized, the spear went through both of them, killing them in the process.
╬═«Update»═╬
Normal-tier grey wolf killed
»Soul essence obtained: ░░░
Seeing all of his enemies killed, Ben sat on the ground. Killing all those basic-tier beasts at once wasn't an easy task for him either, but since they were lower-basic-tier beasts, Ben was somehow able to pull this off.
One thing that he found clear in this battle was that he could use soul weapons better than normal weapons.
[Indeed, Ben, that's because the soul weapon is linked directly to your subconscious mind, so you must feel like they are just another extension of your body.]
"Makes sense." Ben thought, as he stood up and went to grab his sword back, "Show me the new soul essence I got."
-------------
New soul equipment obtained, x2]
Fang of the Wolf: Basic Tier Equipment; Type: Necklace
New blood skill unlocked: Crimson Veins
Attribute: The fang of the lunar guardian provides the user with 5% of all stat boosts when in the presence of the full moon.
Exp: 172/250
--------------
"Talk about a damn cool design, only if it worked as good as it looks." Ben chuckled, fairly disappointed at looking at the soul essence bathed in the etheric moonlight.