Loki walks up to the commissions board again and starts looking for D rank or lower quests. From the looks of it, there are only small gathering quests for E ranks with D-ranks getting Boar/Bear hunting quests for their meat and skin.
Loki thought to himself 'I've already fought boars and a bear, so maybe I should stick to it and try to reach at least level 5 by the end of today too!'
Loki looks at the 2 quests for boar fur and bear hide he wants to take;
[Quest: Deliver 5x boar fur]
Req. Rank: D
Reward: 25 gold
[Quest: Deliver 2x bear hide]
Req. Rank: D
Reward: 55 gold
Loki finds quests that are rather easy. 'For so much gold!! I already have the boar fur after defeating 10 of them not too long ago, I just need to fight 1 bear.' Loki thought to himself
Grabbing both quests, hoping he can do 2 at once, heads over to Estrella and learns that adventurers can accept up to 4 quests at a time from C rank or lower. So, he grabs one more quest to pad his pockets:
[Quest: Deliver 1x Wolf Fang]
Req. Rank: D
Reward: 50 gold
'This new quest will let me stay outside a little longer and get a chance to fight against a different enemy.' Loki excitedly thinks about it as he returns to the counter to accept this quest.
Finally, heading out to the forest once again, he only needs to defeat 1 bear and 1 wolf. Sounding easy enough, he heads straight in to find his prey. Locating an enemy, it turns out to be a boar. Loki being louder than last time, the boar is already locked onto him.
"Damn it, I was rushing in excitement forgetting there are other monsters in here. I guess I'll just have to fight them all, maybe get level 3 today!" Loki said with a frown, however turned into a grin at the thought of getting stronger.
Two hours later, after fighting multiple enemies and almost reaching level 3, Loki finally reaches his new target, a wolf. The wolf has silver fur large paws with claws that look like they could slice through his armor with ease. Sneaking around to get a better look to inspect the wolf, he realized he should've grinded more.
[Wolf]
Level: 5
Attack: 26
Defense: 8
HP: 400/400
Loki, a little fearful, takes note of its high defense for such a slim monster, but it was also a higher level than he was by 3 levels. This means he can only do less than 25 damage to the wolf. However, However, Loki finally took into account the attack stats and cursed internally 'sh*t, that thing only needs to hit me 6 times and I'll practically be 1 hp, while I need almost 3 times the hits?'
While Loki contemplates the fight with a frown, a feeling of weakness rises in his chest, not against the wolf but against himself. He knew the wolf would be harder, but he still should've killed a few more boars to get that 3rd level in hopes of having a better chance at winning.
He knows that all he can do now is run at that thing with all his might and dodge till he can't feel his legs. Loki stops all thoughts on rushing in right away and remembers something. 'Wait, I have a skill, let me use that and test it out. I've never had to use it so I don't even know how I'm going to fare, but it seems good.'
Loki with his sword ready to bring the fight to the wolf says one word "Enhance"
{Skill: Enhance} - When activated, the user increases strength and agility by +5 for a short period - Duration: 3 minutes; Cooldown: 2 hours.
'With the additional stats from the skill, albeit only for 3 minutes, allows me to move 50% faster and now I can do 5 more dmg, making my odds better' Loki feels elated upon the thought and use of the skill and proceeds to fight the Wolf with a newly acquired courage.
Dashing in with his new agility, he feels on par with the speed of the wolf. Which makes it much easier to dodge and jump around the wolf to counter attack. Dancing around the wolf and slashing where he can, he's dealt 178.2 damage after hitting it only six times. Unfortunately, taking a hit himself, Loki checks the wolf's health and his own.
[Wolf: 221.8/400]
[Loki: 125.4/150]
'Man, this is not easy, I can already feel my stamina running out and I'm not even halfway' Loki cries internally while gritting his teeth. Stealing his resolve, Loki goes back in after a moment of just him and the wolf staring at each other, assessing their foe.
With only 2 more minutes left on his ability and what feels like half of that stamina left, Loki pushes himself further. He only needs to hit the wolf 8 more times and it seems easy enough if he pushes himself to the limit.
-29.7
-29.7
-29.7
.
.
.
{Defeated 1x wolf}
+100 exp
+ 1x Wolf fang
+ 1x Wolf claw
+ 1x Wolf Fur
After what seemed like ages of running around and stabbing, slashing and slicing. Loki moved his sword in new ways because the wolf would keep dodging his attacks. Thankfully, he heard a notification, although not the one he was thinking of.
*ding* {Basic Swords Mastery ranked up!}