Chapter 18 - [Day 6] – “The Glades”

∼ Day 6 ∼

It's the third day of power leveling.

I wake up, and which is usually followed by my morning stretch.

This time around I'm going to venture even deeper into the center of the glades.

But first, I'll have to advance weak slash.

-Skill advancement, weak slash!-

Skill advancement - Weak Slash

Choose one advancement

-Slash-

Slashes the targets with any appendage of the skill holder. Increased slashing capabilities.

-Weak Shredding Slash

Slashes the targets with the bladed appendage of the user. Adds shredding for bigger targets.

-Weak Piercing Slash-

Slashes the targets with the bladed appendage of the user. Adds piercing for armored targets.

-Weak Infusing Slash-

Slashes the targets with the bladed appendage of the user. Increases the on-hit effect of any effects applied to the bladed appendage.

Nice, some really good choices.

The higher ranked slash is overall just good.

Weak shredding slash can help me a lot with bigger and meatier opponents.

The weak piercing slash is really good for one of my weaknesses, the fact that I have no counter against high toughness and resistances.

But most of all, the perfect skill can only be the weak infusing slash. It plays into the strongest offensive ability that I currently have, paralyze, so it really couldn't get much better than that.

Without hesitation, I pick weak infusing slash.

-Weak infusing slash!-

[Skill - Weak Slash has been advanced to Weak Infusing Slash!]

[For advancing a skill you receive 2 skill points!]

Immensely satisfied with my advancement I prepare myself for getting on with the day.

Before long, I've set off for the more inner parts of the glades.

Along the way, I manage to kill 3 horned rabbits before something very interesting happens.

[You have slain 3 Horned Rabbits!]

[You have been rewarded with 75 points of EXP]

[Siphon]

[You've consumed the blood of Horned Rabbits 3 times]

[49 points of EXP has been acquired and stats have been added]

Before me, stood a very large horned rabbit.

Not only it's size was very different but one distinct feature about this horned rabbit put it out of place amongst all the others.

This particular horned rabbit had antlers on its head!

Very intrigued, I appraise it.

-Appraisal!-

Appraisal - Jackalope

Information Attributes

Traits. Titles. and Skills

-Name- "???" STR 6 Skills 4

-Race- Jackalope VIT 10 Traits ???

-Sex- Male AGI 6 Titles ???

-Rank- H- DEX 5 Resistances

-Level- 3/20 INT ???

Health 35/35 CHR ??? Physical Resistance 5

Stamina 26/29 WILL 4 Magical Resistance ???

Mana 0/0 MAG ??? Mental Resistance ???

I see, my guess was right. It's a jackalope, kind of like the cousin to the horned rabbits in my memory.

But it would seem that this is an evolved version of the horned rabbit.

It specializes in strength and vitality making it the frontline of the rabbits.

It's also about two and a half times bigger than the ordinary horned rabbit.

I'm pretty confident in the increase in my stats and skills coupled with my newfound experience in fighting, so I'm going to try and take it down.

The jackalope was simply grazing on a patch of grass, which all rabbits seem to spend their time on when not sleeping.

...

Grazing on some rather delicious wet grass, a jackalope was going about its daily routine.

Suddenly it gets stuck by something at the nape of its neck.

Feeling a surge of pain from there, it tries to turn around but it suddenly finds all of its limbs stiffened and hard to move.

Seeing another blur in the corner of its eyes, notices a giant mosquito circle around and begin to speed right back towards it.

The jackalope can only stare in horror as the giant mosquito latches onto its back and plunges its mouth into the side of the jackalope's neck.

Regaining some mobility, the jackalope began struggling against the restraining of the mosquito, but it's futile.

No matter how much it struggled, it just felt it's body stiffen up again.

After a few seconds, it loses consciousness from blood loss.

...

Phew! That was one strong rabbit.

While the fight went super smooth. The struggle from the jackalope drained most of my feeble stamina.

Finishing draining the jackalope, I was completely full from just one.

I inspected to prompt to see what I gained from it.

[You have slain a Jackalope!]

[You have been rewarded with 188 points of EXP]

[Siphon]

[You've consumed the blood of Jackalope]

[125 points of EXP has been acquired and stats have been added]

[Congratulations! You've reached level 13]

[You've been rewarded with 1 skill point for reaching level 13]

[Weak Infusing Slash has reached LVL: 2]

Hmm, they're definitely a lot better than ordinary horned rabbits.

Also, it was pretty damn good getting the weak infusing slash advancement, my paralyze is so much more powerful now. Even doing strafing strikes like I did when I first attacked the nape of the jackalope, just made the fight that much easier.

Now to play it a bit safe, since I don't know what other dangerous creatures might be at the center of the glades, I'm going to just hunt in this area without approaching the center too much for today.

I hope I'll be able to find some more jackalopes.

And as such my 6th day in this new world was spent committing rabbit genocide once again.

...

Night had fallen and I was sitting absolutely exhausted in a big tree that could accommodate me. The tree was located by a very small lake that made quite the beautiful sight in my opinion, which was also one of the reasons why I picked this location.

Today had been abnormally exhausting since it had been fraught with horned rabbits, and jackalopes.

Not only those though, there was also another evolved rabbit, called an almiraj. They weren't all that special, they were simply the greater form of an ordinary single-horned rabbit, with better speed and size instead of the better tanky-ness and size that the jackalope evolution provides.

Essentially they were much easier to subdue since their power lay in their agility. With me simply restraining them before the had the chance to utilize their speed, it was practically over once they couldn't move.

So with the new evolved rabbits thrown into the mix, it made my stamina continue to be dropped low many times, which really pulled a number on me.

But anyways here a the result of my exploits today, plus the appraisal of an almiraj.

[You have slain 24 Horned Rabbits, 8 Jackalopes, and 6 Almirajs!]

[You have been rewarded with 2431 points of EXP]

[Congratulations! You've reached level 14 and 15]

[You've been rewarded with 2 skill points for reaching level 14 and 15]

[Siphon]

[You've consumed the blood of three different creatures 38 times]

[1891 points of EXP has been acquired and stats have been added]

[Congratulations! You've reached level 16]

[You've been rewarded with 1 skill point for reaching level 16]

As for skill level-ups.

[Swift Flight has reached LVL: 4]

[Greater Smell has reached LVL: 3]

[Heat Sensitive has reached LVL: 5 and can now be advanced!]

[Paralyze has reached LVL: 3]

[Greater Puncture has reached LVL: 4]

The almiraj appraisal result.

Appraisal - Almiraj

Information Attributes

Traits. Titles. and Skills

-Name- "???" STR 6 Skills 5

-Race- Almiraj VIT 6 Traits ???

-Sex- Male AGI 10 Titles ???

-Rank- H- DEX 7 Resistances

-Level- 6/20 INT ???

Health 23/23 CHR ??? Physical Resistance 3

Stamina 10/12 WILL 4 Magical Resistance ???

Mana 0/0 MAG ??? Mental Resistance ???

I'm really getting somewhere, I'm only four levels from evolving again!

Although it's only four levels, I see the increase in required EXP is spiking very hard now.

Getting ready for sleep after another great day's worth of work, I decided to keep the advancement and looking at new skills in the skill shop for tomorrow when I'm more clear-minded than the sleepy state I'm currently in.

About to fall asleep, a slight rustling in the thicket over by the small lake catches my attention.

While it might just be a horned rabbit I still check.

The sight though, that enters my vision completely baffles me, as this rabbit is most definitely no ordinary horned rabbit.

Drinking from the lake is an ordinary-sized horned rabbit. But that's the least of what catches my attention about it.

This little guy has the antlers of a jackalope, the body shape of an almiraj, and last but not least, it had wings of a bird on it's back.

Remembering a similar creature I once heard about, I started to think I knew what it was.

Is that a wolpertinger?

Making sure I use appraisal on it.

-Appraisal!-

Appraisal - Wolpertinger

Information Attributes

Traits. Titles. and Skills

-Name- "???" STR 6 Skills ???

-Race- Wolpertinger VIT 8 Traits ???

-Sex- Male AGI 15 Titles ???

-Rank- H DEX 8 Resistances

-Level- 12/20 INT ???

Health 38/38 CHR ??? Physical Resistance ???

Stamina 20/22 WILL ??? Magical Resistance ???

Mana 0/0 MAG ??? Mental Resistance ???

Yup, it most definitely is a wolpertinger.

Funny how I haven't seen one yet.

Oh, wait.

If I remember correctly, even in fantasy and mythical creatures, a wolpertinger is considered something very rare.

Could it be a very rare evolution, like me?

That idea also made my mind remember something my trait, siphon, said about consuming the blood of rare creatures in its description.

There's a chance I might gain a skill from it if I consume its blood.

Thinking of that made my heart race in anticipation.

Slowly moving in closer, I begin to make out my plan of attack.

It doesn't take me long to become ready.

But just when I was about to attack something happened that utterly stunned my entire being.

An enormous pressure suddenly bore down on me, to the point where my entire body was trembling.

I couldn't even think straight.

W-what the h-h-hell is... happening?

Slumping to the branch I was standing on, I try and control my raging emotions.

It doesn't take long before I find out what exactly was doing this to me.

Currently, I was positioned behind the wolpertinger as it was drinking from the small lake.

From my perch on the branch, I could see directly across the lake.

And on the other side of the lake, I suddenly see an enormous black creature stepping out of the foliage.

And it was staring directly at me.

-A-appraisal!-

...