Atlas surveyed his surroundings and caught sight of a glimmer not far off. Intrigued, he made his way toward it. As he got close, he discovered a small black marble-like object smaller than a golf ball.
He picked it up and studied it curiously before activating Void Sight.
[Monster Cores: This can be sold to merchants for profit or used to refill your mana pool. Amount varies on the Core's Rank]
[Monster Core - Rank G]
Taken aback by the unexpected discovery, Atlas scanned the area and collected five more Cores, stashing them all in his pants pocket. When he finished inspecting the Monster Core, he continued Southwest through the snow-covered forest.
It finally stopped snowing, but a thin layer remained on the ground, making some parts of his walk slippery. After an hour of trekking, he stumbled upon a bone-strewn clearing. While standing there, a vile odor assaulted his senses, making him recoil in disgust.
However, his inner goblin couldn't resist the temptation of potential loot when he noticed swords scattered across the ground. Atlas started to scour the area, using his Battle Staff to shift some of the remains.
Amidst the debris, he uncovered a beautifully crafted dagger that looked like it wasn't meant to be there but felt right once he picked it up. He decided to scan it.
[The Starfall Dagger]
[Rank: Uncommon]
[Level: 4]
'This is beautiful,' Atlas thought while inspecting it.
The dagger's curved blade reminded him of the one from the game Prince of Persia he played in the orphanage on Earth. After admiring it, he slipped it into his waistband before continuing his search.
After ten more minutes of searching, he found a pouch filled with coins. Opening it, he examined a copper piece with an elven face stamped on one side. Not bothering with it anymore, he counted what he had.
'Atleast I got some funds to get some food when I reach civilization,' he thought to himself.
Ten copper and three silver coins were inside, igniting a spark of excitement within him. Without hesitation, he pocketed them and resumed his journey, oblivious to something watching him from the nearby bushes.
Atlas pressed on through the forest, feeling the weight of dusk settling around him. With nightfall looming, he sought out a place to rest. After a time, he stumbled upon a secluded grotto nestled beside a cascading waterfall.
Climbing up to its entrance, he found comfort in its shelter. He cautiously entered the cave and settled in once inside. Atlas made himself comfortable, peering out into the forest beyond as the cold bit into his skin, causing him to shiver.
Darkness covered everything, cutting off his sight and blocking his view of the outside world. After that, he decided to settle down for the night while staying aware of anything that could sneak up on the cave.
Atlas fell asleep while curling into a ball to keep the cold away. The following morning, an earth-shaking roar woke him in a panic, causing him to jump up and hit his head on a protruding rock, ''Ow!''
He rubbed his head before sticking out of the cave he was hiding in. Looking around, Atlas saw nothing and climbed out. When he touched the ground, he sank into the remaining snow as the cold washed over him.
'Damn, my feet will get wet now,' he internally complained before continuing on Southwest as the snow caused him to shiver.
As he journeyed, Atlas reached a point where a river barred his path, forcing him to seek a way across the rushing water. He followed the river until he discovered a way to cross while scanning the landscape.
While doing that, something inside him told him to jump to the side just as a web-looking material hit the ground where he was. Atlas quickly recovered and scanned his surroundings, but he couldn't see any more monsters until activating his Void Sight.
His skill allowed him to finally spot the creature creeping toward him, causing his heartbeat to quicken in fear. 'Oh no!'
[Snow Widow]
[Rank F]
When he read the notification, a shiver ran down his spine as his gaze fixed on a giant, white spider, its unnaturally pale form hiding amongst the snow-covered bushes. Its body was the size of a large dog, and its eight spindly legs seemed to stretch endlessly.
He noticed each leg was adorned with sinister-looking barbs. In alarm and astonishment, Atlas watched the Frostfang Spider release a menacing hiss as it charged toward him, frighteningly fast for its size.
'Luxia! Why throw me into a horrifying forest like this!' Atlas thought to him while watching the Snow Widow.
The sudden movement caused Atlas to yelp and quickly jump to the side just in time to dodge one of the spider's sharp legs, allowing him to cast three Void Arrows into the monster's body, causing it to roar in pain.
Atlas kept casting the arrows into it until he felt his mana drop below half. The Frostfang Spider collapsed to the ground, its body littered with over a dozen sizzling holes, which caused its glowing white core to roll out.
He slowly approached the corpse, gagging at the smell, before snatching up the core and fleeing the area in case more of the nightmare on legs appeared, which freaked Atlas out as he didn't want anything to do with them.
Atlas looked around the clearing and saw nothing, but he still became creeped out, which caused him to start running through the forest, 'I hate spiders! But that was a monster that belonged on a movie screen.'
When getting far enough away and seeing no more monsters, he sat down to catch his breath and wanted to check his status.
[Experience: 300/1000]
[Experience Gained: 100]
[Core Points: 400→500]
[Core Points Gained: 100]
[Strength: 70→72]
While studying his gains, Atlas grew curious about the Core Points, so he selected them, which gave him a small information window.
[Core Points allow you to raise your Core Rank, which comes with a jump in stats and many other benefits]
Upon reading, Atlas focused on the Mana Core information, swiftly skimming its contents.
[Mana Core: A core dwells within the soul of the being and activates when the user reaches level 10. It grants benefits and upgrades, which will be revealed as you level up and grow]
Atlas's curiosity peaked, but he decided to continue leveling up and see how powerful he could become. While checking that, a twig snapped behind him, causing him to jump forward without thinking as a wolf flew over his head.
He quickly turned around when recovering before aiming his hand at the Frost Wolf that lunged from the brush and cast Void Arrow. A glowing blue projectile penetrated the wolf's right front leg, causing it to yelp.
Atlas tightened his grip on his Battle Staff as the monster lunged at him again. He sidestepped the attack before bashing the creature on its head, which emitted a loud bonk, earning another pained growl.
His strike caused the wolf to wobble, allowing Atlas to rush forward and hit it again. The staff slammed into its eye this time, leaving it half-blind as it tried to back up to get out of his reach.
Atlas felt confident and charged again, getting ready to attack. However, he was taken by surprise as a smaller wolf appeared out of nowhere and bit into his left arm, causing him to scream in pain as its fangs sank deeper into his flesh.
Panicked, he placed his right hand on the monster's head and blew it off using Void Bullet. The creature dropped dead, but he swung his hand toward the first wolf while casting the same spell again that blew the monster apart that lunged at him.
Its corpse collided with Atlas, hurling him to the ground with the monster on top. With a sickening crack, he hit his head on the ground, knocking him out cold. The body hid him from the surrounding monsters scared off by the wolf's scent.
While unconscious, the forest around him came to life, with birds chirping and howling. By the time Atlas woke up, the stars were shining overhead, causing him to grow confused as he didn't know where he was until he felt something heavy pinning his body to the ground—shaking his head before the memories flooded back to him.
'Oh, I remember now,' he thought while pushing the wolf's corpse off him.
While sitting up, Atlas was startled by a creature standing a few feet to his right, causing him to jump when spotting it. The new monster appeared to be a hybrid of a dog and a hyena, with dark fur and eyes glowing with malice.
It was snarling at him, getting ready to pounce. Puzzled by this unexpected encounter, he quickly scanned the creature to check out its Rank.
[Grimclaw Hyena]
[Rank: E]
'What is this strange Australian creature,' Atlas thought while raising his hand and casting Void Arrow.
The azure projectile sliced through the air quicker than a bullet and slammed into Hyena's head, causing it to explode before it could realize what had happened. Atlas watched the monster's body drop alongside the Frost Wolves he had killed earlier.
After the creature was dead, Atlas exhaled deeply, his hands trembling from the intensity of the encounter. Gradually, his nerves subsided, and the rush of adrenaline diminished, leaving him vulnerable to the returning pain from the wolf's bite.
"Damn, it hurts," Atlas muttered to himself through gritted teeth as he scanned the surroundings of the Battle Staff.
Spotting it nearby, he wasted no time retrieving it and three Monster Cores before collapsing to a seated position while sighing. He started catching his breath and easing the pain coursing through his body.
Atlas pulled out the five Rank G black cores and studied them before noticing each one glowed differently but looked similar. The Frost Wolf cores were white, while the spiders and Grimclaw hyenas were orange.
He internally mused, 'The other Ranks must have different-colored cores, which is interesting.'
Holding up the white core, which was a bit bigger than the black one, and shimmered as the moonlight hit it, Atlas mumbled, ''Beautiful.''