NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5: Mud Wolves
With a goal set in mind, Venn did a quick warm-up by stretching his body before sprinting to his destination – the south city gate that led to the outskirts of the capital which was located a short distance away from the town square.
He needed to do a detour to hunt for a particular monster core that would grant the skill [fleet] to the players.
Fleet is a skill that allows the user to move 50% quicker at maximum mastery without incurring any penalty to the stamina bar, the only downside of the skill is that the effect of the skill will only be activated when the user is out of combat.
Despite the downside, having the skill would be a great addition in completing the repeatable quest at a much higher efficiency, hence Venn was determined to spend a bit of time hunting the core as doing so would grant a much higher payoff in the future.
***
10 minutes later, Venn was soaked in sweat from running at maximum speed. Despite panting heavily, he persevered on, and pushed himself further without stopping.
Soon, after depleting all the gas within him, and feeling exhausted like hell, two game notifications appeared in his vision.
[Stamina increased by 1 point. (+1 STA)]
[Agility increased by 1 point. (+1 AGI)]
After sprinting at full speed for a good amount of time, Venn finally heard the good news that he was dying to hear. Immediately, he felt as if his body had become lighter, and his panting had reduced slightly.
"It still works." Venn uttered without any strength left.
Many players currently still did not know about a hidden mechanism whereby if one pushed themselves to their limits, it would result in them gaining stats points.
Smiling gleefully to himself, he exited the grandiose city gate and carried on his way to the mud wolves hunting ground.
It took an additional half an hour for Venn to finally arrive at the Mud Wolves' dens that were located in the inner reaches of Maple Leaf woods.
During his journey there, he had passed by multiple parties consisting of low-level players engaging in battles against monsters like Horned Rabbits and Orange Beetles around the outskirts of the woods.
However, once he had entered the wolves' territory, there wasn't a single soul in sight. He guessed that it could mainly be due to the disproportionate risks and rewards in hunting Mud Wolves that might result in such a sight.
Mud Wolves in the area were typically around level 3, and despite their low level, they had ridiculously high damage and health points capable of giving a hard time to any players while giving miserable experience points in return when they are slain.
Furthermore, the loot dropped from the wolves wasn't particularly great as compared to the other monsters in the area as well. The monster core that the wolves might potentially drop was just a minor speed buff that had little use outside of combat situations. It could be considered a notch lower in grade compared to other more valuable monster cores like regeneration or healing skills.
As such, players generally avoid the Mud Wolves as they considered hunting them as a waste of their time. They could find better opportunities elsewhere.
If others saw Venn seriously preparing to fight the wolves, they might even laugh at him for being a noob.
Nonetheless, Venn couldn't care less about what others might think of him. In fact, he was rather grateful that no one was present to disrupt his battle, especially considering what he was about to do was fairly risky.
"Inventory!"
Finally at the hunting ground, Venn opened his inventory panel, and a window detailing the items in his possession appeared in his sight:
[Steam buns X 10 (Recover 10 HP per second for a total of 100 HP and 25% Stamina when consumed)]
[Newbie Weapon Gift Bag (Unlock a beginner weapon of choice)]
Venn could have reached the hunting ground earlier if he opted to consume the steamed buns that were in his inventory, but he decided against it, and instead chose to recover his stamina gradually by resting on the ground at intervals.
Unless the situation calls for it, Venn would never waste a single penny. It couldn't be helped that he had such a stingy nature, especially if his livelihood depends on it.
Other than the steamed buns which were given to all newly joined players by the game, there was also a newbie weapon gift bag that came along with it.
Opening the gift bag, a game message appeared and prompted him to make a decision.
[Please choose a weapon of your choice: Sword & Shield/Dagger/Bow/Gloves/Broadsword]
Immediately after he was done selecting the dagger as his weapon, the gift bag disintegrated into digitised pixels, leaving a crude looking short dagger behind in its place.
[Novice Dagger (Common Tier)]
[Durability: 20/20]
[Damage: 5 - 15]
[Requirement: AGI 4+]
Choosing a dagger as his weapon was something Venn had carefully and thoroughly thought about.
With his in-game name 'Night Raid' being practically a household name in the game right now, it was certain that he would be a wanted man by all the players that want a piece of him and the celestial quest that he had access to.
He needed to have the ability to overpower a hoard of enemies chasing after him, specifically from fellow players and powerful guilds gunning for his throat.
For this reason, he opted to wield a dagger that had the highest damage output out of all other weapons. Killing someone in the shortest time and making a clean escape before others could react and slow him down was his true goal in mind.