Chapter 2: Chapter Two
My eye snapped open and I sat up. I wasn't in the metal box anymore, I was surrounded by trees. I was in a forest.
[Quest Alert: Survive]
[Eliminate the enemies: 0/1]
[Reward: EXP.]
Oh... Well, that makes sense... But wait, it doesn't. Why throw me here now and not when I woke up?
The sound of growling brought me out of my salty thoughts as a shiver went down my spine. Without thinking, I rolled to the side, avoiding whatever impacted the ground where I previously lay.
[New skill created: Detect Bloodlust.]
Thanks, but a weapon would be nice right about now.
I looked up to see a giant black wolf. Now it would be normal, if the wolf wasn't the size of a bull and its red, glowing eyes didn't stare right into my soul.
[Negative feelings suppressed by Gamers Mind.]
Thanks mate.
Scrambling up, I backed away as it crept toward me. I could escape into the woods, maybe find a sharp rock or a long stick...
It lunged at me and I turned around. Booking it.
I heard something impacting a tree behind me, judging from the way the leaves shook, the thing impacted a tree.
I kept running, dodging any trees that were in my way as the sound of heavy breathing rang through my ears. It wasn't me but the thing that was chasing me.
I rolled to the side, behind a tree as the sound of something heavy hitting the ground sounded through the forest.
Sending a glance at the monster, I absently noted that it didn't lunge at me.
But it was about to.
I staggered back as the monster landed on my leg and pain shot through my body. Fear crept into my mind as I used my arms to turn its snout away.
I was going to die. I was going to die! I was going to-
[Negative emotions suppressed by Gamers Mind.]
The calm took over, and my hand reached to my side, using the inventory function to take out the "Ice Dust Crystal" that I stored earlier today. It wasn't much, and I didn't know if it was dangerous or not, however, I knew that it was sharp.
As it went for my neck, the crystal in my hand came down, embedding itself into the beast's eye.
The next second, I couldn't feel my right hand and the lower part of my body.
I blinked and looked down. Ice, I was covered in ice. So was the beast.
Though, unlike me, it was fully encompassed. No part of its body was free.
I sighed and slumped, being held up by my right hand which was still stuck with the black beast.
[You have killed a Beowulf. EXP Rewarded!]
[You leveled up!]
[You have completed a quest!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
Great.
I opened my stat menu and stared for a moment.
[Name: Adam Taurus
Race: Bull Faunus (50% Purity.)
Level: 4
HP: 230
AP: 160 (Locked)
Semblance: Moonslice (Locked)
STR: 21
END: 20
INT: 13
AGI: 10
Free Points: 15.]
So my health and Ap went up by 10 for each level. Good to know. Now, how do I get out of this ice?
I tugged but the ice didn't budge. I punched with my left hand, but still nothing. Finally resigning myself, I headbutted the ice with my horns. It cracked, finally, but it wasn't enough to get my hand free.
With a few more headbutts, the Ince cracked, and the beast, Beowulf, disintegrated into smoke, the black dust seeping out of the cracks.
[New skill created: Create ID.]
[New skill created: Escape ID.]
Great.
"Escape ID."
And with that, I was back in the real world, sitting up from my lying position.
Sighing, I lay back down and put a hand over my eyes. Annoying. This whole situation was annoying. I needed to get out of here, I didn't even care about the other kids. If I killed the guards, they would get too scared to move, If I broke the fence that was surrounding the mine, they would be too intimidated by the guards to act.
That's just how kids are.
With a sigh, I tried falling asleep. Even if I wanted to go back into the "ID" I had no way to kill more of those Beowulfs, and there was no guarantee that only one would appear this time.
I also had no more Dust. Maybe I could get some other element this time.
'Skills'
The blue screen opened up again revealing the same two skills that I had originally, along with two others.
[Create ID: The ability to create a dungeon of one's own, used for leveling up.]
[Escape ID: The ability to leave a created dungeon at one's own convenience.]
Mhm... Minimal explanation, great. It would either get more information as I found out more about the skills, or it would remain the same, with every secret remaining in my mind.
[Your INT increased by 1.]
Good to know.
At first, it was annoying, but now I could use the system mocking notifications to deduct if I was on the right track. Maybe that was the point of it.
[Your INT increased by 1.]
Yes, it was the point of it.
With a sigh, I tried to sleep and found it surprisingly easy to fall asleep.
____
Six dust crystals.
Three fire, two ice, and one earth.
Nothing much, but I still didn't know what the Earth one did, but the fire was self-explanatory.
My progress today was considerably less than it was yesterday. Both strength and endurance increased by three. And that was only because I carried two bags at the same time when they made me carry all the mined dust this time.
I thought it would be for the best to say here for a few months, to get as strong as I could, but the progress was already slowing down, and it hasn't even been a day.
Looks like the system was made in a way that I could farm free points from early on, but I would have to rely on the points gained by leveling up later on since it would be hard to do anything strenuous the more strength I gained.
[Your INT Increased by 1.]
Neat. Anyway, I found out something else, concerning the "AP" bar in my status. It required 30 intelligence to unlock. I was already halfway to it. More than half, in fact.
I contemplated putting my points in intelligence, But I wanted to get it as high as I could before unlocking my "AP". Leveling up would be better too, I needed to be stronger to actually get out of this settlement and hopefully, when I did, the other kids would take the chance too.
After that, I didn't owe them anything anymore, not like I did anyway, I'd give them a chance at freedom, it was up to them to take it. IF they didn't want freedom, I wouldn't drag them out against their will.
After all, "Better the devil you know, rather than the one you don't" ... Did I get that right? Never was good with sayings.
Humming in thought, I sat down on the floor, leaning back against the wall.
Waiting for the kids to go to sleep, I used my skill and waited to go back into the dungeon... Nothing happened.
Opening my eye, I blinked at the blue screen... ah, I had to choose the type. Okay.
[Empty: Lvl0.]
[Beowulf: Lvl 1-25]
[?: Lvl25-30.]
[?: Lvl 45-60.]
and the list went on for a while.
With a shrug, I pressed the "Beowulf" and the world froze, losing color. It wasn't instantaneous, I watched the white drain away slowly into gray, then came the kids, they were already pale, but now, the color slowly drained, slower than the steel walls.
It was kind of mortifying and kind of interesting to watch too.
And soon, as I blinked, my surroundings changed completely.
[Bloodlust detected.]
Fuck, I lay on the ground, avoiding a Beowulf as it lunged at me from behind, much like the first time...
Rolling to the side and using the momentum to stand up as I did, I looked around, six... SIX! Shit!
Reaching into my inventory, I took out a fire dust crystal.
[Quest Alert: A Small Problem.]
[Eliminate enemies: 0/6.]
[Reward: Random Weapon, EXP.]
... Huh, neat.
But why can't I choose my own weapo- Oh shit!
I ducked, avoiding the claws of one of the six Beowulfs. Great, now there were two after me at the same time.
Glancing at the others, I narrowed my eye.
Now, if I think about this rationally, the best way to do this would be to lead these two to the waiting four and use one fire dust crystal to eliminate all of them.
... But sadly, this wasn't a game and as soon as I turned towards them, they dashed toward me, practically running over each other in order to rip me apart... well damn.
Clicking my tongue, I took out a second fire crystal and adjusted my course so that the two separate groups would unite and run towards a tall, thick tree.
Now, normally I wouldn't do this, because I never did parkour, even before I came here, but that wasn't the point. My strength stat should be high enough that I could perform a backflip if I had the right posture... Theoretically.
Was I betting my well-being on a chance? Yes. Was it a good idea? No.
Did I have another choice? No.
While I knew that Ice dust could freeze one Beowulf, I only had two crystals of ice dust. With two crystals of fire dust, I could... probably kill at least some of them to then finish off the rest with my remaining crystals, but that wasn't a guarantee.
I ran up to the tree, jumped, and placed a leg on its trunk. Pushing as hard as I could, in order to gain some distance from the small group, I readied my crystals.
The bark of the tree cracked.
My trajectory, which I totally calculated to be perfect in my head at light speed, went off course, predictably. I tried my best to backflip, and succeeded at it, partially.
I flailed in the air, managing to position myself horizontally to the ground, sideways, and used all of my strength to throw at least one of my fire crystals.
"Eeh!"
Not my proudest moment, I admit.
The dust crystal hit the ground, exploding on impact. The flames consumed the six Beowulfs, and I impacted the ground.
[You have killed a Beowulf. EXP rewarded.]
[You have killed a Beowulf. EXP rewarded.]
[You Leveled up.]
[You have killed a Beowulf. EXP rewarded.]
[You have killed a Beowulf. EXP rewarded.]
I counted the amount... Four... why was it four? What about the other two?
The objects of my concern burst through the fire. Flames were still licking at their fur but they seemed mostly undamaged...
Note to self: Dust crystals have a very small radius of the explosion. It might not be the explosion that killed the four monsters, but the shards of very sharp rock that embedded themselves into a weak point.
[Your INT increased by 1.]
Yeah, kinda forgot how grenades work for a second.
I threw the fire dust crystal into my inventory and took out the two ice ones. As one of the two surviving ones rushed in to bite into my neck, I plunged the crystal into the surprisingly soft ground and rolled to the side. Beowulf landed on the crystal and turned into ice. Nice.
[You have killed a Beowulf. EXP rewarded.]
[You leveled up!]
Alright, now for the las-
[You have killed a Beowulf. EXP rewarded.]
.... what?
I looked to my left, where Ice spikes were piercing the second Beowulf and holding it up mid-air, it looked like it was about to jump on both me and its fellow monster to dogpile me.
[Quest complete!]
[EXP Rewarded.]
[You leveled up.]
[Your weapon shall be chosen with a wheel.]
...I looked at the wheel where there were many weapons I didn't recognise and some of which I did. There were normal swords, spears, bows, and all that stuff, but what caught my eye was one, cylindrical object... The label beneath it was simple: "Lightsaber".
I spun the wheel as hard as I could.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone