Hiro moved deeper into the dense woodland. He noticed the flow of mana become clearer with each step, and he followed the swirling energy. The point of convergence was not far away.
Tall trees loomed overhead. Their thick canopies blocked the scant light that slipped through the cloudy skies. Shadows stretched across the uneven ground. The scent of damp earth and aged bark filled Hiro's nostrils.
A faint sense of curiosity and anticipation grew within him.
"Is this the feeling of adventure?" Hiro wondered.
As he ventured deeper, the atmosphere changed. The air felt heavier, and the dense mana seemed almost tangible. It pricked his skin.
Finally, Hiro neared his destination, but what he saw from afar made him pause.
First, there was a plant. It stood about waist-high. Its thin stalks swayed slightly despite the still air. At first glance, it looked unremarkable, but an ethereal blue glow pulsed around it. That glow gathered most intensely around a small bulge near the top. The bulge looked ready to bloom into a fruit at any moment.
The plant was not what made him stop though. Hiro very much wanted to examine it, but the presence beside it deterred him.
"A giant…?" he thought.
A massive humanoid figure sat near the plant. Its height rivaled the trees around it. Its deep blue skin had a rough, uneven texture. Its thick arms rested on its knees, and its heavy legs sprawled around the plant.
"This must be a Blessed Manawell," Carnalia's voice echoed in Hiro's mind.
"What's that?" Hiro asked. He remained perfectly still to avoid drawing the giant's attention.
"Occasionally, mana converges at certain points. It's a random phenomenon, perhaps influenced only by the World itself. Over time, something valuable appears at this point of convergence—a treasure," Carnalia explained. "The fruit about to bloom on this plant is probably special, but I doubt the giant will let you take it easily."
Hiro activated Monster Appraisal on the giant.
[Level 43 Abandoned Hill Giant]
That was all the skill revealed.
"Level 43!?" Hiro was still only Level 7.
"What do you think? Do I have a shot against it?" Hiro asked Carnalia.
"The Rules prevent me from helping you make decisions like this, Hiro. You need to decide for yourself," she replied. "I will say this, though. Your Monster Appraisal skill isn't very good. It doesn't reveal the monster's rarity. Just like Class rarities, monster rarities range from Common to Divine. A Level 30 dragon is obviously not the same as a Level 30 hobgoblin."
"Hmm..." Despite Carnalia's implied warning, Hiro had made up his mind after thinking carefully for a while. He decided he was going to fight the Hill Giant.
Interestingly enough, no other flora grew around the Blessed Manawell. Hiro left his hiding spot and stepped into the clearing.
His sudden arrival did not go unnoticed. The Hill Giant lifted its head, and its yellow eyes glistened with a strange madness as they locked onto Hiro.
Carnalia wanted Hiro to reconsider, but she couldn't say anything right now, courtesy of the rules.
Hiro stared at the Hill Giant, and it stared back at him. Then, it rose to its feet. Faint tremors rippled through the ground.
The Hill Giant opened its mouth and a deafening roar spread through the surrounding woods.
The massive creature then moved with surprising speed, far faster than its hulking frame suggested. Hiro pulled the steel club from its strap and gripped it tightly.
Hiro was approximately as tall as the Hill Giant's knee now that it was standing. Although it was called a Hill Giant, it wasn't as big as an actual hill. But it was definitely big enough and heavy enough to completely crush Hiro should it get hold of him.
'If that thing grabs me, I'm dead,' Hiro thought. He was damn right.
With large steps, the giant approached Hiro. Meanwhile, his mind was spun and he decided upon what he considered to be a viable plan.
The plan was simple. At first, Hiro focused solely on defense and evasion, staying just out of the monster's reach. He sidestepped crushing stomps and leaped away from sweeping grabs, narrowly avoiding getting flattened.
Many dodges was razor-close, frustrating the spectating Carnalia who watched as Hiro danced on the edge of life and death.
There was a reason he was doing this. Hiro knew that his first attack had to count.
At some point, Hiro had activated Ultimate Force Telekinesis, making two fist-sized stones hover around him.
Some time later, the Hill Giant had already settled into a rhythm. It noticed that Hiro was very passive and always on the defense. Its primitive mind subconsciously threw caution to the wind and the giant put all its efforts into offense. That was its mistake.
With a single thought from Hiro, the two stones around him shot forward at blinding speed, slamming directly into the monster's eyes.
Another deafening roar echoed through the battlefield as the creature clutched its face, stumbling backward in agony. The stones blinded the Hill Giant, but they failed to kill it.
'Tch. So much force and the stones still did not penetrate deep enough? Disappointing,' Hiro thought.
The main problem was the shape of the stones. If they were sharper, the previous blow might've been able to kill the monster.
In spite of his disappointment, Hiro pressed the attack. More stones levitated from the ground and then shot forward, smashing into the giant's face. The Hill Giant recoiled, choking as it inadvertently swallowed a few of them in the middle of its roar.
It then used its massive hands to cover its eyes and face, desperately trying to shield them from further harm.
But Hiro wasn't done.
The creature was completely exposed. No armor. No clothes. Nothing. Its naked form left its most vulnerable parts entirely unguarded.
Hiro did not hesitate. He had zero interest in an 'honorable' fight.
The stones struck again—this time at its balls.
It was super effective! The beast howled in agony and staggered like a drunken fool. It stomped its legs wildly, trying to crush Hiro under its feet. But without the ability to see, it obviously missed every time.
The Hill Giant shifted one of its hands from its face to its groin for protection. It stopped blindly stomping as if realizing the futility of its actions.
That was Hiro's opening.
He advanced with his club, still keeping up the assault with the stones. He just lowered the magnitude of the Force Vectors in order to reduce his Carna consumption.
As for the target of his club? The monster's knees.
This wasn't just a normal swing thought. Hiro had the Warrior class from Tara, and one of its Skills—Empowered Strike—was about to make his attack far deadlier.
Empowered Strike consumed Warrior's Spirit and mana to double the force of a Warrior's next attack. Normally, a Warrior started combat with 20 Warrior's Spirit out of a maximum of 100, passively gaining more as combat goes on.
After engaging with the Hill Giant for so long, Hiro's bar Warrior's Spirit was already at full capacity.
He activated Empowered Strike. But instead of using mana, he made the Skill use Carna. The description of his Ruler of Lust Class clearly stated that he could spend Carna instead of Mana to greatly increase the power of Skills.
The force behind his steel club was hence amplified by way more than just two times.
The moment his club connected, a sickening crack echoed across the clearing. The Hill Giant collapsed onto one knee with its other leg broken!
But Hiro did not stop.
He still had enough Warrior's Spirit for another Empowered Strike. With no hesitation, he swung at the other knee. Another devastating crack. The monster collapsed completely, unable to stand.
From that point on, the fight was quite simple. There wasn't much thinking. Only Bonking.
About a minute later, the battle ended. The Level 43 Hill Giant lay motionless on the ground, and Hiro's Status screen lit up with multiple level up notifications.
He had gone from Level 7 to Level 11. After investing his newly acquired free stat points, this is what his stats looked like.
------------------------------------------
Carna: 1200
Level: 11
STATS (After adding Titles and Borrowed Class stats)
STR 54
AGI 49
MAGIC 44
CHA 41
Free stat points: 0
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"Hehe. What do you think, Carnalia? Pretty good, right?"
Hiro made a wild guess that she hadn't actually wanted him to take that fight.
"You mean pretty reckless, surely? Haaa… one day you'll be on the verge of death doing unnecessary stuff like this and I won't even be able to laugh at you."
The aggrieved voice of her reply made anyone hearing it want to immediately console her and promise her it wouldn't happen.
However, Hiro was a man of high self-restraint when it came to stuff like this. He made no comment and instead approached the glowing plant.
"So I just wait for the fruit to appear?" He asked her.
But before Carnalia could say anything, a sharp whooshing sound cut through the air.
Pain erupted from Hiro's left shoulder as an arrow suddenly lodged itself over there. The force of the impact nearly knocked him off balance.
Time slowed.
Hiro's instincts screamed at him, but before he could react, another arrow buried itself in his lower abdomen. But that was not the end.
A third arrow quickly followed and struck his right thigh, the impact making his leg buckle. Blood seeped from the fresh wounds.
"Hiro!" Carnalia shouted with worry.