At that moment, Raziel felt at ease!
Out of caution, he decided not to venture too far from the city. However, he figured it would be safe enough to practice leveling up a bit.
But...
As the sun began to set, Raziel took out his sleeping bag and tent from his inventory. He also scattered some monster-repellent potions around the area. The wilderness was much more dangerous at night, so he planned to rest for the evening first.
...
The next day, around noon, Raziel sluggishly emerged from his tent. He hadn't slept well the night before several times, he had wondered if awakening his Divine-level Talent had all been a dream. He stayed up until dawn, finally falling into a deep sleep.
The Contract Beast the System had gifted him? He just had to wait for it to be delivered. Raziel thought back to the monster distribution around Keller City that he had memorized in class. He decided to head southeast, toward a large group of Beasts with Vine and Flower.
These creatures were plentiful and lived in packs. He could maximize the damage range of his Flame of Annihilation by grinding them in groups!
Raziel walked for about ten minutes when he suddenly heard chattering sounds from the side of the road. A few green-skinned Goblins spotted him and their eyes gleamed with hunger.
The Goblins were all gaunt and looked starved, clearly eager to attack. They charged at him with wild ferocity!
Raziel smirked. Enhanced Goblins were already no match for him what were these normal ones going to do?
He flicked his fingers and sent several fireballs at the Goblins, instantly turning them into ashes.
[You have killed a Goblin and gained 10 experience points!]
[You have killed a monster... ]
The Goblins were only level one monsters, so they only granted Raziel 10 experience points each.
As for leveling up from level one to level two, it would require 5,000 experience points meaning he'd need to kill 500 level-one Goblins.
Unfortunately, this was the real world, not some online game where leveling up could happen in the blink of an eye. Here, if a Player couldn't beat monsters of the same level, leveling up was a slow, painful process. It was common for teams to grind for months just to level up once.
Luckily, Raziel's target Beasts with Vine and Flower was a monster type that existed in large numbers. Outside Keller City, at least a few thousand of them were scattered across the wilderness. This would allow him to level up rapidly.
Along the way, he took down a few more small monsters, including Slimes, Wild Buffaloes, and Flying Falcons, successfully filling his experience bar to over 300 points.
Raziel soon arrived at a strange flower field. The area appeared eerily vacant, with nothing but flowers blooming in every direction. However, what struck him as odd was the unnerving silence there were no birds, no animals, not even insects. The air was completely still. Even the most oblivious person could sense that something was wrong with this flower field.
Raziel knew this place was full of hidden dangers. Countless Beasts with Vine and Flower were lurking beneath the soil and stones. As soon as any living creature passed by, they would leap out and viciously attack.
Yet, he walked casually into the center of the field, completely unbothered.
Rustle, rustle!
The ground suddenly began to stir, and then a group of monsters sprang out from the earth!
A dozen Beasts with Vine and Flower emerged, their vines thrashing and lashing out like whips. In an instant, Raziel was surrounded by at least forty or fifty of these creatures!
He could even see some mangled remains of humans on the monsters' bodies evidence that unfortunate Players had been slain by these Flower Beasts not long ago.
Despite being surrounded on all sides, Raziel merely snapped his fingers.
"Fuck!"
He grinned, roaring as he commanded.
Instantly, flames erupted in all directions!
It was as though the ground had suddenly ignited, lighting up like the sun itself.
After becoming an official Player, Raziel's Energy Gauge had doubled, which meant this time, his attack was far more powerful than before. The Flame of Annihilation that he unleashed was the same full-force blast he had once used against the Enhanced Goblins in the test instance, but this time, it only consumed 70% of his energy.
With 30% of his energy left, Raziel could easily recover.
As for the Beasts with Vine and Flower, they were doomed. The flames burned them to ash in an instant.
Raziel watched as the system messages appeared in front of him:
[You have killed a Beast with Vine and Flower, gaining 30 experience points.]
[You have killed another Vine Beast...]
In just one wave, Raziel gained over 1,600 experience points!
He was now just 3,000 experience away from leveling up to level two.
If any other Player had witnessed this, they would have been utterly stunned.
How can you earn over 1,000 experience in just a few seconds?
Raziel then sat down cross-legged, emptying his mind in meditation to accelerate his energy recovery.
Half an hour later, his Energy Gauge was fully restored.
With that, Raziel moved on to the next flower field.
The Beasts with Vine and Flower had a frustrating ambush trait. However, there was one advantage to their behavior: as long as no one entered their attack range, these monsters wouldn't act aggressively on their own.
For Raziel, this was incredibly convenient. He could clear an area, then sit down right there and rest while waiting for his energy to recover.
And so, amidst the flames, the second wave of monsters was burned to ashes.
An hour later, Raziel wiped out the third wave of Beasts with Vine and Flower as well.
A huge influx of light points surged into his body!
Finally, a golden light radiated from his form.
"I leveled up!" His eyes lit up with excitement.
Raziel's stats increased by another point.
Not only that, but after clearing the wave of monsters, he was pleasantly surprised to find a few more glowing points of light scattered across the dry soil, baked by the flames.
"Finally, something dropped!"
Raziel felt a surge of excitement.
"My luck's actually pretty good."
He quickly moved forward, collecting the glowing orbs of loot. Upon opening them, several system prompts flashed in front of him.
[You have gained 13 Copper Coins.]
[You have acquired Gold-Threaded Bracers (Effect: +1 Energy).]
"An item too?"
Raziel's expression nearly broke into a grin. If leveling up from monster hunting was already tough in real life, getting drops was even harder!
On average, it took hundreds of monsters to get a single coin.
Of course, the "Coin" wasn't just a currency. It also had significance in various rituals, skills, and magic, many of which required these Coins to be consumed.
The drop rate for equipment was even lower. Typically, it took tens of thousands of monsters to get a single piece of gear!
Yet here Raziel was, effortlessly getting a pair of bracers, with an added bonus of the most useful stat for him right now: Energy!
The damage of The Flame of Annihilation was tied to Energy, and so was its maximum energy limit. He felt like he'd hit the jackpot!
"Why am I so lucky?"
"Am I really the chosen one?"
Raziel joked to himself, continuing to hunt for more monsters.
He hadn't really fought many monsters before, and since he was wiping them out in seconds, he didn't realize that all the monsters he was encountering had been strengthened by the Scarlet Tide and were in a berserk state.
Naturally, he couldn't know that every monster he killed was a special version, with enhanced drop rates and item quality.
As Raziel moved on, a ragtag group of adventurers dirty, bloodied, and exhausted barged into the vicinity of the flower field.
"Damn it, what's going on? It's like the monsters are attacking a city! All the wild beasts are Enraged!"
"We're screwed, the last Healing Potion is gone, and we still have to pass through the Beast with Vine and Flower territory. These monsters are crazy!"
The players' faces were full of dread.
But they had no choice they could only push forward toward the flower field.
The horde of monsters behind them left no room for the adventurers to take another route.
However, when they finally neared the flower field, they were all confused.
"Wait a minute! Where are the monsters?"
"Did someone clear them out?"
"Were there other players here just now?"
"I did notice a figure earlier... looked like a young guy, probably a student."
"Are you serious? You're saying a student came out here and cleared out all the monsters in the flower field?"
The team's members were anxious, trying to lighten the mood with their joking, but they were still on edge.
"Sorry, sorry, maybe I was mistaken."
The young man who had mentioned the figure scratched his head awkwardly.
"Maybe these monsters, being Enraged, wandered out of their usual territory and went after other players."
The team leader offered his analysis, and the others agreed, nodding in relief.
"If they're chasing someone else, then there's a chance we can survive."
"Wait, look at this!"
Suddenly, a woman in the back of the group screamed.
At her shout, everyone turned to look. They quickly saw what had once been a flat, monster-free flower field was now covered in...
Ashes!
Clearly, the monsters in the flower field had been wiped out!