This was far better than he had expected.
To think he would get the Body Enhancement talent!
Was his luck a bit too good to be true?
However, Caelus coughed to clear his throat and regain his composure.
"Do not get ahead of yourself. This is just the beginning." Nodding to himself, he walked toward the fallen Elite Boar.
Without a second of hesitation, he crouched next to the massive carcass and placed his hand on its thick flank to activate his skill.
A soft, golden light shone, and the huge beast vanished into thin air as a series of notifications rang out.
[System: Extraction Successful.]
[System: You have received Elite Boar Essence.]
[System: Your base stats have increased.]
Pop! Pop! Pop!
The instant the message appeared, Caelus's lips twitched as his muscle fibers tightened and strengthened once more.
[System: Combat Score: 5.0 -> 5.10]
[System: You have received 10kg of Fresh Boar Meat.]
"Two rewards in a row?" Caelus was surprised.
But as the second reward triggered, a stream of information flowed into his mind regarding the true nature of his SSS-Rank talent.
"Oh." Caelus's expression turned deadpan. "It is only for beasts."
Humans yielded talents or skills and more, while beasts provided raw stats and physical materials.
Caelus did not complain. With this passive ability, he could obtain meat from beasts, which would come in handy. Just like in the real world, a player had to eat in this Domain. Consuming food was the best and most cost-effective way to restore mana and HP outside of using expensive potions.
It was a survival necessity.
Just then, Caelus sensed something off.
With the newly acquired D-Rank Body Enhancement, his sensory perception had reached new heights. It was a collective enhancement of everything that made him human, allowing him to pick up on minute disturbances in the surrounding environment.
Multiple presences were rushing toward his location.
Squeal!
The sound of enraged boars squealing rang out through the dense, towering grass of the Newbie Plains.
Caelus's head turned.
Seven wild boars burst from the underbrush. They looked smaller compared to the Elite Boar he had just scavenged, but they were aggressive.
At the same time, several holographic system screens popped up around Caelus.
[Monster: Common Beast - Wild Boar Lvl 1]
[Combat Score: 1.0]
[Monster: Common Beast - Wild Boar Lvl 1]
[Monster: Common Beast - Wild Boar Lvl 1]
[Monster: Common Beast - Wild Boar Lvl 1]
The interface displayed the status of every boar that had encircled him.
Squeal! Squeal!
The boars squealed in unison as they stared at Caelus with naked killing intent.
Caelus's lips twitched.
For a split second, the forest fell silent as seven beasts and one man stared at each other.
Then, the boars snorted and shot forward as one.
Caelus's first instinct was to scream for help.
There were seven of them!
What the hell was a newbie supposed to do against an entire pack?
Despite their bulk, the boars were fast. He had checked the Origin Network forums before entering the game, and he knew their coordinated charge was dangerous.
Panic flared in his chest, but Caelus forced himself to calm down.
"Why was my initial thought to run away?" Caelus frowned, his boots shuffling awkwardly on the grass as he tried to find a proper combat stance.
This was not him.
He, Caelus Kross, was a former pro gamer who never backed down from a chaotic team fight.
"No, I can do this. I have a D-Rank Body Enhancement right now."
Swish!
Just as he mused that, a boar lunged at his legs.
Caelus's eyes widened as he stared at the incoming tusk. His enhanced reflexes exploded into action, but his mind was not yet synchronized with this new speed. He moved to dodge, but his footing was sloppy. He stumbled to the side, barely avoiding the goring tusk by an inch.
It was an ugly, desperate dodge, devoid of grace.
However, within a fraction of a second, his body shifted instinctively. He regained his balance through sheer brute strength, and his arm holding the 1-Star dagger crashed down toward the boar with terrifying speed.
Slash! Squelch!
The sickening sound of meat being severed rang out as the boar that had lunged at him was split wide open.
[System: You have killed a Wild Boar.]
[System: You have received +16 Iron EXP, 10 Origin Credits.]
As the notification rang, Caelus was already moving. He realized that while his reaction time and muscle reflexes were sharpened, his mental coordination was lagging behind. He was moving faster than his brain was used to processing.
To his heightened senses, the boars looked like they were moving in slow motion, but his own limbs felt heavy and awkward. It was like piloting a high-performance machine he had not calibrated yet.
Slash! Squelch!
Not even a second had passed since the first boar died. Caelus flailed his arm out in a wide arc, and the second boar dropped heavily to the forest floor, bleeding out.
The other five boars, seeing their kin slaughtered, became even more enraged and charged forward relentlessly. This time, a violent red aura covered their bristling bodies.
It was a skill unique to their species. Boar Rage.
It amplified their movement speed and attack power for a short duration.
Now faster and fiercer, they had no hesitation while charging at Caelus.
Seeing this, Caelus reacted almost on pure instinct. He tried to shift his position by rolling on the floor to evade the pincer attack. But he misjudged his own newly acquired leg strength and rolled too far, crashing painfully into a small, thorny bush. He scrambled up frantically, surprisingly finding himself behind one of the enraged boars.
Slash!
He drove his dagger into the back of its thick head.
Squelch.
Its brain and skull were crushed and sliced as it collapsed into the dirt.
That was three down. There were only four left.
"Come on." Caelus took a deep, ragged breath.
His stamina was running out. He needed to be as quick and efficient as possible. His current movements were full of wasted energy because he lacked proper martial form.
"It would have been great if I had learned a magic skill prior to entering the Domain."
People, even without formally awakening a talent, could theoretically pre-learn basic skills in the real world as long as they had the required affinity and comprehension for them. When they entered the game world for the first time, they would automatically possess that skill in their arsenal.
Many privileged students already had the basic skill 'Manaflare Amplification'.
Others had 'Aria Zone Amplification', which acted as a powerful party-wide area-of-effect buff. Depending on the elemental typing, the caster could amplify stamina retention, heal people within the field, or strengthen the entire party's attack power.
But Caelus could not grasp either of those before entering the Domain. He had a restrictive E-Rank mana affinity.
He shook that distracting thought away as he locked eyes with the incoming boars.
Swish! Slash! Slash!
Caelus dashed forward with explosive speed. He tripped over an exposed tree root but used the falling momentum to tear straight through one boar's stomach, dark blood spilling to the floor. Just as quickly, he shifted his body weight, his heavy boots sliding on the wet grass, and struck down fiercely on the boar to his left.
"Two more." By now, Caelus's breathing was ragged and harsh.
With full focus, he charged forward to deliver the final, brutal blows to the remaining beasts.
By the time the chaotic fight ended, Caelus was drenched in cold sweat. If this were winter, thick steam would have been rising from his body due to the intense heat generated from such a high-intensity battle.
[System: You have killed a Wild Boar.]
[System: You have obtained +16 Iron EXP.]
[System: You have obtained +10 Origin Credits.]
"I am beat." Caelus collapsed onto the bloodstained ground, his chest heaving up and down.
Even with a combat score of over 5.0, battling seven enraged boars over a prolonged time was hard, especially without a dedicated party to back him up.
He had no one to buff his stamina or amplify his strength.
"But, that is fine."
"I will just extract them." Caelus smiled through his exhaustion.
He had solo killed seven common beasts in the span of fifteen minutes.
If a normal player was out here by themselves, then good luck getting a kill. The beasts were lethal. Unless you were some second-generation heir to some top family with multiple expensive skills and an impressive mana affinity, you were as good as dead. And even then, it would take a full party hours to reach his current level of efficiency.
"The guy I took this talent from... I do not even remember his face." Caelus sighed.
Such a poor guy. Because of Caelus, that ambitious player had entered a painful death cooldown.
If he was not wrong, since the player was killed during the lenient newbie phase, he would be able to re-enter the game tomorrow and continue the survival quest. The Origin Ascension Domain was forgiving in that aspect during the tutorial.
Except for the fact that he would have already missed an entire day's worth of crucial grinding. In a cutthroat world where every second counted, the vast majority of the player base would be leaps and bounds ahead of him by the time he returned.