A relieved breath escaped him and Faust smiled. "Almost got me scared."
The blue wristband hadn't changed much, but he would trust that it worked.
Finally he took out his Skill stone with a smile. It was a luminescent crystal that had all the colors of a rainbow trapped within it.
"How many stones to upgrade one skill?"
[Appraisal Lv1 (Bronze): Gain basic information about monsters or Items. 1 skill stone to upgrade.]
[Stealth Lv1 (Iron): Provides you with innate intuition of how to hide your presence. 2 skill stones to upgrade.]
They seemed to go on in price as the grade of the skill increased, which made sense. He got more use from Stealth than Appraise. But both were important.
With his 100% Drop Rate System, he could get more skill stones later from higher level beasts with better loot. So for now he would upgrade Appraise.
He poured his mana into it and the stone exploded into colorful dust before surging into his body.
[Congratulations! You have upgraded "Appraisal Lv1" to "Appraisal Lv 2".]
[Appraisal Lv2 (Bronze): Gain basic information about monsters, Items and terrains.]
Oh… it can examine the terrain now?
He examined the fields hesitantly. If it just appraised the grass he would be pissed. But instead a minimap popped up in the side of his vision.
It detailed every part of the field he had been to and was expandable but not intrusive in his vision. He followed the map slightly back and found the Novice village too.
His current location was aptly named the [Slime Field].
Laughing slightly, Faust pushed through the high grasses towards the low grass field outside. It wasn't detailed on his minimap yet, so he had to explore to get it on his map.
But while moving he passed a small group of loudly laughing kids.
"Oh shit. It's gonna use acid," one boy said in a deep but slurred voice.
"Urgh, I hate these things so much," Another boy said in a shrill voice.
Faust approached them silently, watching between the grass where two boys and three girls fought a group of slimes.
A series of magical abilities were on display.
There was a glowing blue circle, where a struggling slime was trapped and firing acid indiscriminately, while a skeleton monster stabbed it repeatedly.
"No! You bag of bones, hit the core. The CORE," a familiar voice said.
It was Nirvana and some of her friends. They looked like a cohesive and smart group, using their skills well.
"My trap circle won't hold for any longer," a second girl whispered so faintly he barely heard her over the noise. Faust didn't know her.
"I'm trying," Nirvana hissed. "The skeleton doesn't listen to me."
A skill that sets a trap in a small circle, and Nirvana has a necromancy skill. I wonder when i can upgrade my Schema and get a skill that copies skills.
That would be just broken.
Talking about interesting skills.
The group's third girl was dodging sprays of acid by walking on air. She was quick, reacted well, and had a predatory smile that Faust appreciated. She must have added lots of points to agility.
Faust grinned at the circus of new faces, but didn't reveal himself. Instead he Appraised Nirvana.
[Name: Nirvana Adams]
[Level: 2]
[Combat Power: 30]
"Looks like she'll lose at this rate," Faust mused.
Before leaving, he reached out and tried to take another Schema from one of her party members, but the process was halted.
Ding!
[Reach Level 5 to unlock another Schema Replication slot]
Faust shrugged; he could wait. He was barely using Nirvana's Schema right now. With that he departed to hunt in a new area.
◇◇◇
The grass crunched under Faust's hurried steps. Now free from the tall grasses of the Slime Field the sun flared in his face.
What planet are we even on?
It had been a couple of hours but the sun wasn't going down. Which was just weird. But Faust was more concerned with his current situation.
This new area was called [Hunter's Dream] on his minimap.
The open fields meant there wasn't much to hide behind here for Stealth. The skill highlighted every possible direction as bad, so he turned it off.
But he wasn't too worried. The Bronze Jackals hunted in groups of three most of the time. Probably due to their design. So he could exploit that in a fight. A simple plan already formed in his mind.
Faust always preferred to keep things simple. Because plans are made to go wrong.
As expected with this open field, Faust saw the Bronze Jackals from afar, but that meant they also saw him. And unfortunately it was a four hound pack.
Barks filled the air as they immediately bounded towards him. They tore across the distance between them and Faust in seconds. Even with his improved Agility, Faust had to say that they were faster than him.
[Bronze Jackal]
[Level: 2]
[Combat Power: 60]
[Details: They are fast and enduring. Their bites can crush metal easily. But they aren't very sensitive.]
Most of their attributes must have gone to agility. Faust, on the other hand, was tankier and slower. But his Combat Power was two times their own, meaning he had higher Strength.
The Jackals had finally reached him and Faust met them with a smile. "Let's hope this test run doesn't kill me."
One Jackal lunged at him in a black blur, Faust just barely sidestepped as the maw of the beast snapped where his neck had been.
Hahaha. Shit. That was actually scary.
Their teeth were made of Bronze, making the loud snapping and barking of the jackals jarring.
He willed his Slime Tether to extend and it shot forward and stuck to the neck of the first Jackal.
At the same he extended his other hand forward and released a jet of vaporous acid into the air to slow down the others.
One hound tried running through it but quickly yelped and fell to the ground convulsing as its skin boiled.
The third jackal circled the acid mist smartly. It was the biggest problem. Because the fourth jackal was right behind it. If Horus dodged the third then the fourth would catch him mid-dodge.
So he did something a bit unconventional, and walked into the acid mist partially.
His skin itched and turned slightly red, but he was fine mostly. His clothes didn't burn either. Equipped clothing shared your endurance a bit. Eventually they would waste away like his old clothes, but for now they were fine.
The two jackals jolted to a stop, unwilling to enter the acid, giving Faust an opening.
He swung his left hand, pulling at the tether between him and the first Jackal, who had been busy biting the tether.
The creature was light, but Faust underestimated how powerful 24 strength was. It was essentially essentially three normal Fausts pulling the creature with perfect synchronization.
The jackall whipped towards its comrades and slammed into them with such force the sound of ribs breaking filled the air.
Faust snapped forward immediately, naginata whistling through the air and piercing the skulls of one of the three dazed jackals.
[You have killed "Bronze Jackal" and gained 5 experience points.]
[Rewards have been placed in your equipped Spatial Bag.]