Standing within the safe zone, Jay spotted the Horned Joey grazing by its border. It had a brown fur and was about 3 feet tall. A foot taller than average adult rabbits. Soon a purple alignment marker appeared in Jay's vision, overlapping on the monster and locked on it, showing that he could use the 'Astral Hack' skill on the Horned Joey. He intently observed the monster, making sure its attention remained focused on the grass before he used Astral Hack on it. He did not want to get caught defenseless when using his skill.
Soon a distinct purple hue enveloped the monster, forming intricate patterns of light and code around it. The Horned Joey seemed to be unaware of this and continued to graze. As the purple hue's brightness gradually intensified, the monster's body showed subtle digital distortions and glitches. Finally, when the purple hue vanished and glitches settled, Jay received a system prompt:
[System Notification:
> Hack Succesful! You have used Astral Hack to hack into a Lv2 Horned Joey.
> You have triggered the maximum crit rate on the unit.
> You can now access the unit's entire information.
> All your attacks on this unit for the next 10 minutes will have a maximum critical rate.
> The hacked unit will drop a reward card if killed in the next 10 minutes.
Monster Race: Rabbit (♂) Monster Class: None Monster Level: 2 Monster Title: none Monster Domain: Horned Joey Dungeon (0-Grade) Monster stats: Health: 100/100 Power: 15 Spirituality: 2 Mana: 1 Skills: i) Leap: The monster performs a nimble and agile leap, evading ground-based attacks. It may occasionally startle the opponent, causing them to flinch. ii) Jump Kick: The monster leaps high into the air with remarkable agility, delivering a powerful kick with its hind legs. This move combines the force of its jump with the impact of its kick, dealing significant damage to the opponent. When the attack misses, the monster may crash and take recoil damage. ii) Tackle: The monster charges forward with formidable speed, its sharp horn gleaming. It strikes the opponent with its horn, dealing damage with increased force. Its horn is strong enough to pierce a tree truck, if there is enough force in the tackle. Monster Insider: i) Horned Joeys are near-sighted and have limited visual field, leaving them vulnerable to attacks from behind due to blind spots. ii) The players can domesticate them by feeding them sweet things. Note: i) Horned Joey are docile and make a good domestic animal. ii) Domesticated Monsters will not drop reward cards and will not vanish after death. Note: i) The level and skills might vary for different Horned Joey> ] Jay was shocked to learn that for 10 minutes all his attacks on the hacked Horned Joey would have a maximum critical rate. But his mind was blown away when the system gave him tips to domestic Horned Joey monsters. Not to mention that it guaranteed a maximum drop rate. He was starting to realize that his innate skill was a lot more broken than he had initially thought. Having learned that the Horned Joey had a limited field of vision, Jay silently backed away and slowly reapproached it from behind. Tightening his grip on the knife, he stabbed the monster. Landing a critical strike, he instantly killed the monster. The Horned Joey which was blissfully enjoying its grass died before it knew it, dropping a bronze card. Picking up the card Jay returned to the safe zone to read the system prompt he received: [System Notification: > You have killed a Lv 2 Horned Joey and gained +50 Exp. > You have completed the quest: First Hunt > You have been rewarded +100 Exp and a 0-grade random resource card. Note: i) A new quest has been added. Please check the quest board for details.] Jay looked at the three bronze cards in his hand, two he gained from completing the quests and one dropped by the monster he hunted. Two of the three cards were 0-grade random resource cards and the last one was a 0-grade random aesthetic card. Each card had a purple alignment marker locked on it, showing that he could use the 'Astral Hack' skill on them. Wondering how the 'Astral Hack' skill would help him with the random reward cards, Jay used the skill on the random recourse card he got from killing the monster. When the purple hue covering the card vanished and digital glitches settled, Jay received a system prompt: [System notification: > Hack successful! You have used Astral Hack to hack into the 0-grade random resource card > You have triggered the maximum crit rate on the unit. > You can now access the unit's entire information. < Unit name: Random resource card Unit grade: 0-grade Unit effect: Randomly give the player one of the following resources, i) Horned Joey dried meat x1 ii) Horned Joey horn x 1 iii) Horned Joey fur x1 iv) Horned Joey fermented blood x1> > You can now select one of the following resources as a reward from the hacked unit…] "I choose the Horned Joey dried meat," Jay declared, feeling hungry. Killing players and monsters left and right had worked up an appetite. As he finalized his decision, the random bronze resource card turned into a bronze resource card with an icon of meat inscribed on both sides. Understanding that he would need to visit the Astral beacon to redeem the card, Jay sighed in annoyance. Then he decided to collect a few more resource cards, head back to the domain, fill his stomach with dried meat, quench his thirst with fermented blood, and return to clear the dungeon. Pocketing the cards in his pant pocket, Jay checked the dungeon map for his next prey. He only selected the monsters close to the safe zone, planning to venture further into the dungeon only when he had leveled up a few times. [You killed a Lv2 Horned Joey and gained +50 Exp] [You killed a Lv3 Horned Joey and gained +70 Exp] . . . [You killed a Lv2 Horned Joey and gained +50 Exp] Picking his prey wisely Jay continued to hunt down about six Horned Joey not far from the safe zone. He did not forget to use the 'Astral Hack' skill on them. Hence he added four new 0-grade random resource cards and two 0-grade random item cards to his collections of reward cards before he returned to his domain, Arstal Ark. However, despite gaining considerable experience he showed no sign of leveling up. Which was a matter of concern for Jay.