"Heh..." Floating, the girl just chuckled at Eldric's question without any intention of answering.
"Well, at least you are somewhat knowledgeable and know your limits." With a nod, she floated near the ox before sitting on its back.
Eldric took a deep breath, looking at the ox who was unaware of the girl's presence on its back.
"So... How is it going to be?" With a playful smile, the girl patted the ox beneath her. "If you beg me, I can teach you something."
"No need. I can take care of myself."
Waving his hand, Eldric walked towards the nearest ox that was grazing the grass.
Seemingly aware of his presence, the ox just looked at Eldric once before getting busy eating the grass once again.
"What are you gonna do now? Punch it in the head?" The girl still had a smile on her face gloating at Eldric. Without even looking she already knew the results.
Taking a deep breath, Eldric ignored everything around him as his eyes concentrated on the ox.
Raising his hand, he slowly pulled it back before activating his skill 'swift strike'.
Soon a sense of power and weightlessness took over his arms as Eldric suddenly made his move.
His right hand which was still just a moment ago suddenly seemed to disappear before...
"BOOOOM."
"Crackkk...."
Two sounds simultaneously echoed throughout the grassland.
Without even waiting for the reaction of the ox, Eldric punched three more times in succession.
As soon as he did that, the head of the ox in front of him caved in before it fell to the ground; its entire body twitching continuously.
"What the..." The girl sitting on the other ox smiling while waiting for Eldric to embarrass himself suddenly let out a startled scream with wide eyes filled with disbelief.
Eldric on the other hand was silently looking at the dead ox on the ground which soon turned into light before disappearing completely.
And as soon as the corpse of the ox disappeared, a small window suddenly popped in front of Eldric.
[Red: 1 Point]
"Interesting." He narrowed his eyes and looked at the numerous Oxen scattered throughout the grassland before walking towards the other one.
Just now, Eldric used his skill to instantly kill the ox. But now that it was on the cooldown for the next three minutes, he wanted to see how effective his normal attacks were against these beasts.
Standing in front of another Ox, Eldric clenched his fist, carefully aimed at the head, and punched with every ounce of strength he had.
"DUUUMMM..."
Unlike the previous sound which was accompanied by the sound of skull cracking, this time the only sound that came after Eldric's fist hit the Ox's head was a loud thud.
"MOOO..."
With a voice that was filled with pain, the Ox was stunned for a moment before looking at the one responsible for hitting him.
Looking at the puny creature, it fumed in anger as its eyes suddenly began to glow red. Within a few moments, its entire body seemed to be covered in a layer of thin red as it rushed towards Eldric, intending to impale him with its mighty horns.
The girl floating beside her narrowed her eyes as she began to look carefully at the young boy who appeared unnaturally calm for such a dangerous situation.
Seeing the Ox rushing towards him in anger, Eldric stood still without any intention of moving.
And just when the horns of the bull were about to pierce his abdomen, he suddenly took a step to his left before his entire body moved, narrowly escaping the incoming impact.
Missing its target, the Ox was stunned for a moment before turning back and rushing towards Eldric once again.
But just like the previous time, Eldric moved at the last moment, narrowly missing the impact.
Instead of a student, he was looking more and more like a professional bullfighter.
This went on for a while before the thin red light disappeared from the Ox's body. But even when it disappeared, Eldric's punches weren't causing too much damage to it, and judging by it, he could roughly guess that it was going to take him a while to kill this beast.
It wasn't until the three minutes passed, that Eldric used his skill 'Swift strike' again to instantly bash its head in, completing his second kill.
"This is going to take a while." While it was possible for him to kill these beasts without using his skill, it would take him more than five minutes and a lot of effort to do so. Not only does he need to be dodging all the time, but he also needs to consume his stamina. He would be lucky to kill thirty beasts in a day much less complete the mission of killing a hundred of them.
Making up his mind, Eldric took a deep breath and sat on the ground, taking a short rest till the cooldown for his skill was over.
As soon as three minutes were over, he stood up, walked to the nearest Ox, activated his skill 'swift strike', and punched it to death before it could even react.
Leisurely walking around while reaping the lives of the beasts, Eldric didn't bother to kite more than one beast. He would take his time and only kill one beast in three minutes. After all, the skill could only be used for five seconds before it hits cooldown.
He even thought about aggroing two or more beasts, but after thinking about it, he decided not to. Why work in haste when he had plenty of time?
Thus began his monotonous task of hunting one beast at a time.
In the blink of an eye, more than five hours passed. And Eldric who was numb from killing suddenly felt the vision in front of him change.
Looking around, other than the figure of the little girl floating in the air, there wasn't anything else. The beasts that he was hunting seemed to vanish from the entire region.
"What the...?"
Before Eldric could say something, he saw the small msg in front of him.
[Red: 100 Points]
[Kill 100 creatures on the first floor: Completed]
Narrowing his eyes, Eldric hastily opened the auction only to see his remaining balance which should have been [28 Tokens] had now changed to [33 Tokens].
"Finally..." Breathing in relief, Eldric took a deep breath. Though it was easy for him to kill more than a hundred creatures, it was still somewhat tiring.
"Can I get out?" Since he had already gained more than the required number of tokens for his next purchase, Eldric wanted to see whether he could leave this place, and as soon as this thought came to his mind, a small window popped up in front of him with only two options.
[Exit] [Give Up]
Eldric didn't choose to give up. He wanted to see how different the upper floors were from the first floor.
Choosing to exit, Eldric felt his vision changing before he found himself back inside his room.
Changing into a new set of clothes, Eldric sat on his bed and opened the auction before purchasing the two items required to evolve his skill.
[Bought 1 x Fang of the Red Wolf]
[Bought 1 x Dawn Flower]
Buying the two items for a total of thirty tokens, Eldric looked at the remaining balance of three tokens with a smirk before shaking his head. The next upgrade is going to take some time.
Without any hesitation, he looked at the only skill he had that he wanted to evolve.
[Swift Strike: Strike with great power and speed, causing massive damage.] +
Touching the '+' sign with great expectations, Eldric saw the screen in front of him changing for a moment before a warm current spread throughout his body. Unlike the previous skill evolution that lasted briefly, this time, the skill evolution lasted for a much longer period.
Throughout the process, there wasn't any pain. Eldric only felt he was taking a comfortable hot bath in a cold wintery storm.
By the time Eldric opened his eyes, the screen in front of him had some changes.
[Name: Eldric Stormborne]
[Profession: Brawler]
[Vitality: 1]
[Power: 1]
[Agility: 1]
[Skills: Blitz Assault] +
Looking at the new skill, Eldric checked its properties.
[Blitz Asault: Unleash a rapid flurry of strikes to overwhelm your opponent.]
Touching the '+' sign behind the skill, a new window popped out, listing the materials required for the next evolution.
[1 x Fang Of The Grey Wolf]
[1 x Rossen Flower]
Without hesitation, Eldric checked the price for the two materials in the auction and after looking, breathed in relief.
[17 Tokens]
Both items require seventeen tokens. If he can complete the task for the remaining four floors, he will be able to buy at least one of the items.
"Now... Let's see how different the skill is?" Standing up, Eldric walked in front of the wooden dummy.
He still remembers that the previous value that he got after using his skill 'fierce strike' was [41].
Now...
Clenching his fist, Eldric activated his skill and the familiar sensation of lightness overtook his both arms.
Without any hesitation, Eldric waved his hand, punching as fast as possible.
"Tchhh...."
This was the only sound that echoed throughout the room as if a small rock hitting the floor.
[58]
[58]
[58]
[58]
[58]
Looking at the five values in succession, Eldric narrowed his eyes but didn't stop and kept on hitting the dummy.
Soon, ten seconds passed and the feeling of weightlessness disappeared from his hand and a numbness spread in his body.
Eldric didn't speak anything but silently took out the small paper and looked at the time. It wasn't until two minutes passed that the numbness disappeared, hinting that he could use his skill once again.
And with this experiment, Eldric finally understood the changes in the skill.
Unlike the previous skill which could only be used for five seconds and had a cooldown of three minutes, the newly evolved skill can be used for ten seconds and has a cooldown of two minutes.
Not only that but unlike the previous time when he could only throw three punches in one second, now, he could throw five punches in a second.
Satisfied, Eldric sat on his bed, wiping the non-existent sweat from his forehead. And it was at that time that he noticed the figure of the girl floating beside him silently, her pitch-black eyes looking at his every action with no expression on her face.
"Shit... Almost forgot about her."
Due to her absence during the past five days as well as his excitement to evolve his skill, Eldric almost forgot about the girl who constantly floated beside him.
He was still feeling somewhat complicated about this stranger. On one hand, he was hoping to learn something from her while on the other hand, he wanted her to just completely vanish, getting out of his life.
After all, with the ability to evolve his skill, he doesn't need her help. Sooner or later, he would reach new heights and even surpass her.
Thus, he couldn't come up with a firm decision and just looked at the girl with a complicated expression. Though he was worried about her knowing his ability to evolve his skill... there was nothing that he could do at the moment.
Both of them just looked at each other in silence. It wasn't until a few more minutes passed that the girl broke the uncomfortable silence by speaking first.