Am I insane for trying this solo? he thought to himself as he slowly made his way into the first level of the mines, moving quietly as he kept his resonance aware of everything around him. After about fifty yards into the mine, he came across his first mob, a Level 5 Hero Goblin Miner, with shackles on its ankles and wrists, banging at a wall with a rusty iron pickaxe and cursing his lot in life in goblin.

"Damnable Hobs and Orcs. If they not, I be chief or head warrior! Damn Shaman and Chief."

He slunk closer, remaining in stealth as he let his Universal Translation skill convert his speech so he could understand. He then whispered. "If I free you, will you attack me?"

The Goblin spun and lunged at his voice with the pickaxe, snarling. "Die!" As the Goblin lunged, he let his body flow into the motions his skills call for, gracefully moving aside from where the pickaxe would strike, and striking at the Miner's throat with his short sword, which flashed a 'Fatal Blow' notification in front of his eyes, the Miner and chains dispersing into energy, with a green +10 PPP, +5 Item Exp, + 1 JP flowing across his vision. The pickaxe being all that was left of the being he just killed, he Inspected it.

Rusty Iron Pickaxe

Quality: Trash

Durability: 10/100

Mining Skill -1 Level while equipped.

Well, that's just crappy loot... Would probably be worth more if I reduced it to material components... he thought to himself as he stowed the pickaxe into his inventory. He then checked all his items and saw none of them had gained experience. He then found where the Experience was. It was listed as 'Item Experience Points' in his Status, or IEP for short, right under his PPP Count. He shook his head and sighed, knowing that his Frugal and Unlimited Potential wouldn't act on behalf of the IEP as it did for PPP.

He slipped back into stealth and moved further in, towards the next miner. After his fourth silent kill, he gained the 'Assassinate' and 'Backstab' Combat Skills. None of those four kills had dropped any Loot, not even their pickaxes. He shook his head and headed deeper into the mine still until he came to the first fork in the path. He could go left, right or continue straight. He frowned to himself and sighed softly before heading down the left passageway, killing off another five goblin miners before he came to a room that actually had mining nodes that his Mining and Geology Skills detected. In the room, however, there were ten Goblin Miners and a Hobgoblin Overseer.

He silently resheathed the dagger on his baldric and unsheathed his longsword, waiting for the Hobgoblin to turn his back on him, flooding his body with his ki and leaping silently across the 50 feet, plunging both his swords into the Hobgoblin's body, earning a Critical Hit, and a Fatal Hit, but also a loud cry of pain from the dying Hobgoblin and a chime from the system. He quickly released his longsword, and with his muscles still full of ki, he leaped back to the entrance of the chamber and quickly chucked out the daggers at the six furthest back goblins, moving back a bit into the tunnel, limiting the last four goblins from swarming him. He quickly dispatched them with his adamantium shortsword, a cold smile forming on his face as he obtained a Sharpened Steel Pickaxe from one of the dead miners.

Sharpened Steel Pickaxe

Quality: Uncommon

Durability: 75/100

Mining Skill +1 while equipped.

As he retrieved his longsword, his daggers returned to their spots on his baldric, waiting to be grabbed and launched again. He checked the System Notice and smiled. He had unlocked the skills Internal Ki Manipulation and Body Infusion. He quickly sheathed both his swords, took up the sharpened steel pickaxe, and made quick work of the four different nodes in the cavern, earning him five each of copper, tin, and iron ores, three quartz crystals and two silver ores before putting the pickaxe away and moving down what would have been the right hand path, finding an equal amount of goblins from the other hall and another chamber with four nodes, ten goblins, and an overseer Hobgoblin.

As he watched and waited, he prepared to do exactly as he had done before. When he landed the ki-enhanced double backstab assassination, he made sure to notice the quota he had gotten from the kill. 50 PPP, 25 IEP, and 5 JP! Not a bad haul from a single monster. He left the longsword in the dissolving hobgoblin as he flipped back to the entrance, throwing the daggers and hitting six throats, causing a series of chimes from the system as he landed at the entrance, which he backstepped through to make sure that he would only have to face two at a time with the way the tunnel wasn't wide enough for them to swarm him. With four quick strikes of shortsword to throats, he was able to glide back into the cavern as they dissolved and he pulled up the notifications.

*DING!*

You have unlocked the Personal Attribute: Accuracy! Rolling Accuracy based on Default Maximum of Twenty (20). CRITICAL SUCCESS! You have an Accuracy of Twenty (20)! You have learned the Combat Skill: Snipe!

*DING!*

You have unlocked the Personal Attribute: Flexibility! Rolling Flexibility based on Default Maximum of Twenty (20). CRITICAL SUCCESS! You have a Flexibility of Twenty (20)! You have learned the General Skill: Contortion!

*DING!*

You have learned the Combat Skill: Pounce!

*DING!*

You have learned the General Skill: Jumping!

*DING!*

You have learned the Combat Skill: Weak Spot Detection!

As the daggers returned to their sheaths on his baldric, he picked up the longsword and sheathed it, then he knelt and scooped up a set of seven glittering coins.

Copper PPP Coin

Worth 1 PPP

These can be traded to other people for goods and services. No Discounts Apply.

Bronze PPP Coin

Worth 5 PPP

These can be traded to other people for goods and services. No Discounts Apply.

Iron PPP Coin

Worth 10 PPP

These can be traded to other people for goods and services. No Discounts Apply.

Steel PPP Coin

Worth 25 PPP

These can be traded to other people for goods and services. No Discounts Apply.

Silver PPP Coin

Worth 50 PPP

These can be traded to other people for goods and services. No Discounts Apply.

Gold PPP Coin

Worth 100 PPP

These can be traded to other people for goods and services. No Discounts Apply.

Platinum PPP Coin

Worth 500 PPP

These can be traded to other people for goods and services. No Discounts Apply.

Interesting! Apparently, the System is adding in a new set of Currency of its own, and standardizing them, he thought as he reviewed their identifications. He chuckled at the second line of text on each coin. He pulled out his sharpened steel pickaxe and headed to the nodes, quickly working his way through them, earning him another five each of the copper, tin, iron, and silver ores.

He moved his way back through the tunnel to the initial split and took the third route, straight from the entrance. His resonance gland picked up increasing amounts of Goblin Miners in sets of five, with Hobgoblin Overseers between each paired set, meaning if he did a poor kill, he could have a zerg-rush aimed for himself, as the noise echoed down the tunnels. He stopped for a moment and smiled coldly. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? he thought as he quickly killed the next set of five goblins close to each other, and waited for the Overseer to turn the corner and see him.

It shrieked in outrage and slammed its club on the ground in front of it, its cry echoing to the area he currently stood and beyond. He held his shortsword and flicked out one of his throwing knives, aiming for the hobgoblin's eye with a Snipe. The dagger slammed right into his eye, driving into his brain, triggering a Fatal Blow and making it fall like a puppet with its strings cut. The ground started vibrating as shouts came from the tunnel in front of him, his Resonance picking up more and more of the green monsters stomping their way towards him while the first group, the second part of the freshly killed overseer's miners stormed towards him. He threw the other five daggers, killing them and focused on gathering ki between his hands, taking up an iconic anime pose as he focused on channeling his ki into creating the famed 'Kamehameha' or 'Big Turtle Destruction Wave' just from his recollection of the show.

*DING!*

You have learned the General Skill: Condense Ki!

*DING!*

You have learned the Combat Skill: Ki Beam!

"HAAAAH!" he shouted as he pushed forward with his arms, digging his boots into the ground as the beam of blue-white energy shot forwards, crushing through goblins, as he pumped his Ki into it, trying to push out more and more ki, grinding the goblins into particulate matter against the walls.

*DING!*

You have performed an attack that has killed over a hundred foes in a single move! You have unlocked the Trait: Merciless (Tier MAX [5]).

Merciless (Tier MAX [5]) - You have performed an attack that has killed over a hundred foes! Your aura is saturated in the cries of those you have killed. New General Skill Unlocked: Intimidation! New Combat Skill Unlocked: Battle Aura! You are Fifteen Percent (15%) per Tier more likely to succeed in uses of Intimidation (Current: 75%). You are Five Percent (5%) per Tier more likely to trigger Intimidation on sight without trying (Current: 25%). Enemies struck by Intimidation have a Ten Percent (10%) per Tier chance of entering a Berserk state or fleeing (Current: 50%). Adds Kill Count of a Species to Attack, Defense, and Resistance values when facing a Species you have killed more than One Hundred (100) of.

"Show Kill Count."

*DING!*

Kill Count by Species:

Goblinoid: 385

Orc: 20

He looked at his status and saw that his ki was drained by half for that huge beam. Whew, while that worked, and was totally awesome, I don't want to risk that again, he thought. Then he caught a look at his PPP, IEP, and JP!

Name: Joriya Alvinos

Race: Earthling - Infused Human (Modified)

Age: 25

PPP: 8,750

IEP: 5,250

JP: 1,050

Health Regen: 100%/Hour

Stamina: 200/200

Stamina Regen: 125/sec

Ki: 850/2,000

Ki Regen: 125/sec x2

Mana: 5,000/5,000

Mana Regen: 130/sec x2 +15%

"By the gods..."