Sitting in a gap among a cluster of tree trunks, Skyler let out a sneeze and rubbed his nose with furrowed brows.
"Who is talking about me?"
He murmured softly as he peeked out to survey his surroundings. He had narrowly escaped that frog monster, which had been intent on devouring him. In the process, he had even scraped his knees.
"Must be Mom and Dad. After all, I disappeared from my room. Hope they're not too worried about me."
By his side, 505 was crying silently, now certain it had no chance of ever ascending to the first level of the Battle Royal, let alone passing the preliminary test! This time as well, it had been linked to a useless host!
Skyler hid himself when he heard the distinct sound of footsteps. He knew they were the other participants who had been teleported here just like him to take part in the preliminary test of the Battle Royale. This was the fourth time he had heard people roaming the forest.
He felt uneasy as he glanced at his body. His college uniform was slightly torn in a few places and dirty from running around and sweating. He needed clothes, shoes, and food if he wanted to survive.
"How do people even endure this..."
His mild clean freak side was finally showing as he dusted off his clothes.
"Ugh, I need a bath."
He murmured as he rolled up the hems of his pants and cleaned the blood from his scraped knees to alleviate the discomfort.
It was at that moment that 505 decided to speak up, unable to tolerate it any longer.
("Host! Half a day has passed since you arrived here! At this rate, you will fail!")
Skyler hissed at the system.
"You nearly got me killed earlier! Can't you see my current strength? How can I fight a 2-star monster and survive when I am not even 1-star? Stay silent! And keep a watch on the surroundings. Tell me if anyone or any monsters are near me!"
505 ran off to complain in the systems' chat group. In the midst of the session of complaints, it sensed a monster in Skyler's vicinity and returned to inform him.
("There's a 1-star earth-element raccoon monster nearby. It is moving toward your hiding location.")
Skyler read the text on the screen and immediately became alert. He glanced out from his hiding place and saw the monster. It was gray in color and about his size, with dark eyes and elongated canine teeth. But what attracted him the most was the brown, gem-like stone in the center of its forehead.
505 thought he would run again. But no, it was wrong. This time, Skyler didn't run; he stared fixedly at the monster.
Before the system could comprehend anything, Skyler had already leaped out of his hiding place, broke a sharp tree branch, and attacked the monster from behind. The monster was more powerful, so it dodged.
It let out an angry growl, and earth spikes formed above its head, shooting out toward Skyler, who dared to launch a sneak attack. But a chill ran down its spine when it saw how its opponent's eyes were fixed on the gem on its forehead with wild intensity.
Suddenly, it didn't want to fight anymore.
Skyler lowered his body to dodge, but he winced as one of the earth spikes grazed his shoulder, and blood oozed out.
However, he didn't stop his advance; he leaped toward the monster, which was about to escape, and seized its lower body.
It struggled and attacked him with more earth spikes and its claws, but he shifted his weight to one side to evade and looked around for something sharp. The monster let out an angry screech, but it froze when a familiar sharp tree branch pierced its neck. Dark blood rushed from its wound, and it convulsed violently before dying.
Skyler finally let go, panting heavily. The rush of adrenaline wore off soon, giving way to intense muscle pain from moving too quickly and exceeding his limits.
"Haha..."
He laughed softly and forced himself up before staring at the lifeless body. Looking around, he grabbed another sharp branch to extract the glowing gem from the monster's forehead. His fingers trembled as he took it out and touched its shiny brown surface.
"It's just like a real gem."
He sucked in a deep breath, more fascinated by the small, gem-like stone in his hand than by the fact that he had killed his first-ever monster.
505, who had been too dumbfounded by the scene, finally showed up.
("Congratulations, host! You have killed your first monster out of a total of 300! You have also earned your first 5 points, which can be used when the system store opens!")