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[Name: Romulus] — [Level: 15]
[Job: None]
[Title: None]
[MP: 110]
[BP: 8]
|Strength: 26 (130) | Defense: 25 (250)|
|Intelligence: 18 (90) | Agility: 27 (135)|
Skills: [EX-Rank Truck-kun's Retribution], [S-Rank Magical Eye], [S-Rank Minimap], [D-Rank Pearlescent Cleaver (Lvl 2)], [E-Rank Frost (Lvl 3)], [F-Rank Roll (Lvl 4)]
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After perusing his system interface, Romulus leaped off of the small pile of monster corpses. He had the urge to become even stronger; what he had was not anywhere near enough.
He sauntered deeper into the fog and saw many of the flashing green and yellow system tags dart in his direction. 'I have no idea just what the difference between a green and a yellow system tag is, but I have a strong feeling that I will soon figure that out,' he thought, his eyes temporarily closing.
A few minutes ago, he figured out that the five senses of a human body were both working with each other and holding each other back. He then thought to shut off one of those senses, and just as expected, his other senses were enhanced and elevated. After taking it a step further and cutting off his connection to all senses but one, that single sense was vastly improved.
As a result of this experimentation…
[Ding! You have received the C-Rank Skill |Sixth Sense (Lvl 1)|]
As soon as this system notification rang out, Romulus felt his ability to focus increase by a few times what it once was. He immediately honed in on the Skill and activated it to its fullest capacity. The approaching green and yellow-tagged monsters were subsequently thrown into a scene where it looked like they were moving in slow motion. To him, this was an opportunity, and as such, he wished to move fast — faster than even the speed of lightning.
[Ding! You have received the B-Rank Skill |Lightning Burst (Lvl 1)|]
With the acquisition of this Skill, a cold gleam flashed past Romulus's gaze as he bent down low to the floor and stared at the closest attacking monster. Lightning sparked by his face as it empowered his entire body, causing lightning to course through his veins. Then, with a sudden crackle, his figure flashed forward, appearing like a streak of thunder.
He materialized in front of a Lvl 19 Zombie within an instant, and in that same instant, he slashed out with his Pearlescent Cleaver. The zombie's tough, rotten skin was penetrated almost immediately, causing a bit of greenish-red blood to burst out. But before the liquid could even make a nasty squelching sound, the Pearlescent Cleaver continued to dig deeper and deeper into the Zombie's body. Then, with one final push, the sword reached its internals and then straight out the other side.
Blood slowly dripped off the sword's edges as its user moved quickly and slashed out, splattering the blood off its shimmering surface. As soon as this action was performed, time sped up all at once. The Lvl 19 Zombie was cleanly cut into two, and all of its experience was transmitted to Romulus.
[Ding! You have killed a Lvl 19 Zombie and received 6,300 EXP!]
[Ding! You have leveled up!]
[You have reached Level 16!]
[You obtained 3 Stat Points in all of your main attributes!]
[You obtained 3 BP!]
Following these system notifications, more of the Ghost Town monsters leaped out of the thick fog and slashed out with both their claws and teeth. But as if he were a trained veteran who had been hunting monsters for hundreds of years, Romulus rolled out of the way before transitioning into a triple backflip.
[Ding! You have received the E-Rank Skill |Backflip (Lvl 1)|]
[Ding! You obtained 2 permanent Stat Points in Agility!]
Briefly putting these pop-ups to the back of his mind, Romulus focused on the battle. To his left side were six Zombies, most green-tagged but some yellow-tagged. Above him was a pair of Building Crawlers, both yellow-tagged and dearly hoping to swallow him whole. Off to the right, however, were a few new monsters called 'Wayward Wendigo(s),' and they ranged from Lvl 21 to Lvl 23.
Their arms were large at the shoulder socket area, but as one looked further down them, they became skinnier and skinnier. Yet, at the very end of these weirdly-shaped arms, there was a pair of large claws — deadly protrusions that made their already odd arms appear even freakier. Add that to their skull heads and long, sticky tongues, and true night terrors came into creation. But to top it all off and add to the horror, they were well over 9 feet tall and loomed over any average human being like giants.
In terms of the kingdom's rankings for monsters, they were considered to be very high up among the Low-Rank Monsters. Moreover, if they devoured enough and leveled up enough, they could even contend with a select few Mid-Rank Monsters.
As Romulus faced all of the extremely aggressive monsters while flashing around like a streak of lightning, he found himself most on the defensive whenever the Wayward Wendigo's struck preemptively. Yet, even under this immense adversity, he managed to kill 50% of the other monsters and was now close to killing his first Wayward Wendigo.
"I just need to go a little bit faster," Romulus said coldly, his feet dancing along the lightning. "If only I could go a bit faster."
Then, as if Lady Fate were listening closely to his self-banter, an illusory blue screen appeared in front of him as he just narrowly evaded the vicious claw attack of a Wayward Wendigo.
[Ding! |Lightning Burst| has leveled up from 'Lvl 1' → 'Lvl 2']
"Finally, speed."
That was all it took for Romulus's speed to increase by 50% from what it once was. Then, with one clean dodge, he jumped forward far faster than the Wayward Wendigo's eyes could register. With his crackling visage reflecting from the Wendigo's large slitted eyes, he slashed down with his Pearlescent Cleaver, effortlessly cleaving the giant monster into two. His body then moved like a flash as his sword swerved to the left and took off the heads of two Lvl 19 Zombies. After them came the violent slashing of one of the Mountain Crawlers as it was sliced once, then twice, then again. As the airflow whirled in dozens of directions at a rapid pace, Romulus's sword-holding arm turned into a blur, continuously slashing at the huge eight-legged Mountain Crawler.
He stopped moving for a second. As blood covered his body from head to toe, he terrifyingly turned his cocked-up face to the other monsters, causing chills to run through their spines.
"Who's next…?"
"!!!" "!!!"
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