NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3: Alright, Lights Off
A few minutes after I left the town, I have been walking forward with no clear sign as to where I was going.
The Lamp Bug that the NPC guard had given to me is hovering around me, illuminating my surroundings within a radius of a few meters. Whereas anything beyond that is completely shrouded with darkness.
It is an interesting gimmick for a massive multiplayer online game to require a light source to explore the wilderness outside of town, as it also fits into the lore of this world.
And because of the limited visibility, exploring the open areas kind of gives off a spooky atmosphere to the game. Which is pretty neat, not going to lie. But it is also worrying since this game was rated safe for young teens.
Are Hikari and Himeji all right, playing a game like this? I wondered while patting my Lamp Bug on its head as it had gotten close to me.
But back to the game. I have been wandering around the area for a while now. However, I still have yet to encounter any monsters.
"Grrrrrrrr...."
Ok. Never mind. Speaking of the devil, I hear something approaching me right now.
In the corner of my eyes, a four-legged, gremlin-like creature jumped out from the darkness and tried to ambush me. I evaded it fortunately, thanks to my agility, and took a step away from it, taking a better look at this horrifying abomination now that it is in the light.
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Common Monster: Scrowler
LV: 2
A creature of the night that roams in the darkness. It acts on instinct rather than logic. Making them no different from a wild beast... or the average gacha player. They are weak individually, but terrifying in a group.
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Ok. So we got our first encounter now. Also, who wrote the description for this thing?
Without being given much time to think, the Scrowler jumped at me again which I easily dodged by moving to the side. Then, I pointed my staff at it and shouted, "Mana Bolt!" Conjuring a blue ball of pure energy and firing it at quite a high speed at the monster.
"Grrraaaahh!"
It hit and the monster screamed. However, it wasn't dead just yet. So I fired another Mana Bolt at the creature, right as it jumped at me.
"Grraaaaahhhh!"
Again, it hit. And this time, the monster went down. Its body vaporised into some dark mist as a window popped up, informing me of my victory against it.
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You have defeated a Scrowler.
EXP gained: +10
Gold obtained: +8
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All right! I've won my first battle. Now let's see if I can find more Scrowlers to kill.
"Let's go now, shall we?" I said, patting my Lamp Bug on the head again as it seemed to be liking it, I think.
And so, I continued roaming around the area in search of more EXPs. And then much much later, I have made it to level 3. I've also allocated my attribute points from levelling up into my intelligence and agility stats. Putting me with 50 intelligence and 20 agility, since you can get 10 attribute points for each level up.
"This is good," is what I would like to say, if it hasn't already been nearly an hour since I started exploring the area.
The encounter rate of monsters is so low that I was able to take a rest by a tree without seeing any monsters for a full fifteen minutes.
So, that's when I thought to myself. Maybe I should turn off my Lamp Bug.
After all, the NPC guard did say that the light from my Lamp Bug can repel most monsters away, which will decrease the rate of encounters. So what if I temporarily have its light turned off to increase my encounter rate. Will that solve my problem?
It might get me killed. But... "It won't hurt to try, I guess."
So, I pat My Lamp Bug on its head once more and kindly asked, "Mind turning off your light for a while?"
The Lamp Bug, abiding to my request, stopped glowing as it quietly sat on my shoulder with its wings closed.
"Whoa."
The moment the lights went off, my entire vision went dark.
I could barely see anything around me, as if I had almost gone blind or something. However, emphasise on the "barely", since although it may be incredibly dark, I could still see what's in front of me fine enough.
Which is why, I know just how many Scrowlers are in front of me right now as I prepare myself for combat.
One, two, three, four. And a fifth in the back.
Their menacing red eyes glowed in the darkness as they approached me.
Their levels respectively are two, two, two, three, and four, and they're slowly moving around to surround me.
"Like hell I would let that happen. Mana Bolt!"
I fired a Mana Bolt straight ahead at the level 3 Scrowlers and charged forward. It evaded my spell, but failed to dodge my tackle as I then aimed my staff right at its face and casted two more Mana Bolts at point blank range.
"Grrraaaaahhh!"
The monster screamed, but it wasn't dead yet as it then bit my arm in retaliation, dealing a good chunk of damage to my HP.
"Ouch!"
Then, its comrade next to us pounced at me. However, using the Level 3 Scrowler on my arm as a body shield, the other Scrowler slashed its own comrade's back instead as I followed it up with one more Mana Bolt, killing the first enemy of the group.
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You have defeated a Scrowler.
EXP gained: +15
Gold obtained: +11
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Now, four more left to go.
Right after killing the level 3 Scrowler, I began targeting one of the level 2 Scrowlers next and shot two Mana Bolts at it. The first missed, while the second hit. Meaning one more hit on that Scrowler and it will die.
Its other comrades won't stand idly by, however, as from the sound of it, they all charged at me from my right and left. While the one I was targeting came at me from the front.
The first foe to reach me will be the one in front, it seems. Then, it's probably the one on my left which is the level 4. In that case...
I switched my target and went for the two other level 2 Scrowlers on my right instead. Whacking one in the face with my staff, before pointing it at the other one and blasting it with a point blank Mana Bolt in the face.
The one I whacked took no damage but got knocked back, while the other screamed as its HP fell. Then while it's down, I quickly aimed my staff at it on the ground.
"Mana Bolt."
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You have defeated a Scrowler.
EXP gained: +10
Gold obtained: +7
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The second one was done. But I wasn't done just yet. Right after killing the second Scrowler, I aimed my staff at the Scrowler that had taken damage earlier and fired another Mana Bolt while it and the level 4 Scrowler were coming at me.
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You have defeated a Scrowler.
EXP gained: +10
Gold obtained: +8
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Whew~ Thank goodness I hit it despite being barely able to see anything in the dark. Their glowing red eyes were a dead giveaway of their locations.
And now, there are two left: A level 4 and a level 2 Scrowler.
The level 4 Scrowler pounced at me, while the last level 2 Scrowler has started charging at me as well.
I evaded the level 4 Scrowler's claws and fired a Mana Bolt at its belly before taking a step away.
Then, I switched my target to the level 2 Scrowler and fired two Mana Bolts at it once it got close enough for me to guarantee a hit.
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You have defeated a Scrowler.
EXP gained: +10
Gold obtained: +8
==========
You have reached Level 4!
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And then, there was one.....
My plan for it was simple: Dodge at the last second and fire Mana Bolts at point blank range after doing so.
Because it's hard to see in their figure unless they're up close, that was the only way I could think of dealing with them during the course of the battle.
So, that's what I did. Narrowly evading the Scrowlers attacks while dealing six successful hits of Mana Bolts on its fairly small body. Killing it at last as its body vanished into dark mist like the rest of its comrades.
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You have defeated a Scrowler.
EXP gained: +20
Gold obtained: +15
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"Wooo~! And we're done!"
That was intense, I won't lie. To think that facing multiple enemies at once like that would be so scary yet fun.
Oh yeah. I've also levelled up just now, haven't I? Better allocate my stats and—
"Grrrrrrrrr..."
"Huh?"
As soon as I had finished allocating my stats, I heard the growls of more Scrowlers near me.
Hey now. What is this? Reinforcements? It's like the time when I used to deal with a whole lot of delinquents in high school.
For now, there seemed to be six of them this time from the looks of it. I wonder how many more will come after this...?
I quickly pulled out a HP potion and a MP potion from my inventory and drank them both at once. Restoring my HP back to full and my MP to a near full, as I ready myself for another battle.
"Come on then, you fuglies. I'll take you all on."
"GGGRRRRAAAAAAWWWWWRRRR!!"
The Scrowlers roared as we charged at each other with the intent to kill.
An hour and a half later, I have reached level 10 because of my continuous encounters with multiple Scrowlers, my HP and MP is low and I have also depleted almost all of my potions. In addition to that, however, I seemed to have acquired some new skills.
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Condition cleared: [Traverse in the darkness without any light for more than an hour.]
Skill Acquired: [Night Vision]
Allows the player to see in the dark as well as they can see in the light.
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Condition cleared: [Use Mana Bolt over 100 times.]
Skill Acquired: [Mana Blast]
A stronger version of the Mana Bolt skill.
Cost: 15 MP.
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Condition cleared: [Kill over 50 Beast-type monsters.]
Skill Acquired: [Beast Killer]
Damage dealt against Beast-type monsters will be increased by 10%
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Condition cleared: [Kill over 100 Beast-type monsters.]
Skill Evolved: [Beast Killer] → [Beast Slayer]
Damage dealt against Beast-type monsters will be increased by 20%
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Condition cleared: [Narrowly evade attacks at the last second 50 times.]
Skill Acquired: [Evasion Up]
Increases the chance of avoiding an attack by 10%
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Condition cleared: [Drink over a certain amount of potions within a set amount of time.]
Skill Acquired: [Potion Effectiveness Up]
Potions are 10% more effective when they are used.
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Condition cleared: [Encounter monsters continuously for over an hour.]
Skill Acquired: [Night Walker]
Reduces the encounter rate of monsters whenever the skill is active.
Skill toggled: ON.
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Not going to lie, that's a lot of skills I have acquired in just approximately two hours or so.
But anyways, with my potions almost out, it was about time I returned to the town.
Now this is where I ask the Lamp Bug to turn its lights back on. But I couldn't bring myself to wake it up, seeing it sleeping so adorably on my shoulder, despite it supposed to be a firefly-like creature which is nocturnal.
Then again, night is eternal in this game so there's no telling when the "daytime" is supposed to be here.
Still, just how did the developers of this game manage to make a bug so cute? I thought, gently patting its head without waking it up as I made my way back to the town of Lily Corvo.
Fortunately, thanks to the last skill I have acquired, Night Walker, my encounter rate has drastically decreased to the same level as when I had the Lamp Bug's lights on at the beginning. So now, I won't need any light as long as I have my Night Walker skill toggled on. Instead, this cute fellow right here can simply be my companion in the game.
"I wonder what it's dreaming about? Or can it even dream since it's a program?" I said my thoughts aloud with curious joy, patting my Lamp Bug on its head again, after doing so a few minutes earlier.
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Condition cleared: [Pat your Lamp Bug 5 times.]
Skill Acquired: [Bug Lover]
Bug-type monsters are less likely to become hostile. (Does not affect Bosses.)
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