Looking at the information his [appraise] provided about the scroll, Bharat wanted to jump in joy but he barely held in his excitement after remembering where exactly he was at the moment.

He had no intentions of finding out whether his four levels could protect him against broken bones after falling from such height.

As for the other contents of this loot box, he found, to his immense relief, a pair of brown leather boots and a [common] mana potion.

*Ding*

<< Consumable: MP potion (Common)

Description: Instantly recovers 150 Mana.

Remarks: When you are out of ‘juice’. >>

*Ding*

<< Equipment: Traveler boots (Common)

Description: A pair of leather boots made to traverse rough terrains.

Remarks: It's time for an adventure! >>

This, if nothing else showed that getting gear apart from weapons from these loot boxes was entirely possible, which was a huge relief for Bharat as he was getting sick of moving half-naked inside the forest with no footwear, and even his pants were about to give up on him after getting scratched a bit too many times by the claws of these claw-foot rabbits.

‘I wonder if can get armours from loot boxes as well? I would feel a lot safer fighting against the wolves and boars with something like that.’

One by one, he picked up all the items inside the loot box, placing the scroll between his teeth, and the mana potion inside his pants. As for the shoes, he dropped them down from his position as there was zero chance of them getting damaged, unlike the potion bottle.

Very carefully, to not jostle the bottle inside his pants too much, he descended the tree in the same way that he ascended it earlier, by using his daggers as footholds and slowly reached the ground.

As his bare feet found purchase on the forest ground, he heaved a sigh of relief as even though he doesn't actually fear heights, climbing this high without any support was a jarring experience for him nonetheless.

An experience that he knew he would have to get used to sooner or later as there was a slight chance of there being even more loot boxes at such positions or maybe even at higher heights.

Picking up the shoes he dropped earlier, he wondered whether they would even fit him, something that he realized he should have thought of before celebrating but surprisingly, he found them to be a perfect fit.

‘Weird.’

Dispelling that thought from his head, his eyes sought a far more important thing than those shoes, that being his new ability scroll. Despite it being of [Poor] rarity, it couldn’t be considered useless for the current him at all.

With just the name alone, and with his RPG knowledge, he could glean that this ability could help him use light weapons, like his dagger, which was something he desperately needed as close combat fighting were one of his many many weak points.

Focussing on the scroll in his hands, a familiar screen popped up in front of him asking to absorb the scroll, which he promptly confirmed ‘yes’.

Once again, the influx of information was accompanied by a strong headache that made his vision blurry. He had to support himself by the tree to not fall on his face due to the sudden vertigo it brought him and he wondered for a moment whether or not he should have waited to enter his camp before absorbing the scroll.

He was still in enemy territory after all, and it won't take much effort for a claw rabbit to sneak up on him in his momentary dazed state. Thankfully, the whole process ended without any surprises.

>

<< Ability: Basic Light-weapon mastery (Poor)

Type: Combat

Description: The art of getting close and personal to your targets and feel the last vibrations of their heartbeat through your blade as life is snuffed from their eyes. Provides basic proficiency in short-swords, rapiers, daggers and other light weapons.

Remarks: You finally understand which point of the weapon to point at your opponent >>

Once again, basic techniques related to wielding ‘light weapons’ entered his mind. Things about how to grip the weapon properly, the correct way to stab and slash to prevent losing the weapon, and placement of the feet to maintain balance while in combat.

He knew that just like when he started using his bow, he would have to put this knowledge into practice before he could become any proficient in it, but he didn’t mind the extra training.

——

Day - 15

The next day, Bharat could be seen facing off against a party of 3 claw-foot rabbits inside a forest clearing located in rabbit territory.

The steel dagger was clutched in his right hand as he weaved around the attacks of the red-eyed critters all the while keeping an eye out in case one of them decides to enter the thick forest and tries hit and run tactics once more.

Leaning back his head, he avoided a claw-foot rabbit’s attempt to slice his neck with its claws and retaliated with a quick slash to its back that got a squeal of pain out of the creature and further dyed its dirty yellow coloured fur a deep shade of red.

Spotting the second rabbit rushing at his flank out of the peripheries of his vision, he pivoted on the spot and slashed the skull of the creature with an overhead swing, killing it on the spot as proven by the notification sound that sounded in his head.

Quickly taking his eyes off the creature, he panned his eyes across the clearing to find the third rabbit only to notice it running away from his position.

Another thing he had noticed in his fights against them, that they tended to retreat when their situation seemed bleak but they didn't do it out of fear. They did it to bring further reinforcements.

A fact that he had to learn the hard way when just after finishing one of his fights before and being somewhat exhausted, he needed to face more of these rabbits when one of them managed to sneak away and brought with it additional cavalry so to speak.

Not taking that chance once more, he dropped his dagger and pulled his bow from over his shoulders. Quickly nocking an arrow, he aimed as best as he could and fired it at the back of the fleeing figure, getting the kill notification as the arrow struck true.

Off to the side, the first claw rabbit also dropped dead, the various wounds covering its body proving far too much for it to survive any longer.

>

>

>

After getting the [Basic Light weapon mastery] ability yesterday, he tried to train as best as he could overnight, but unlike archery, which was very simple in its application and training, it was far too difficult to train with without using the ability against an opponent, one that could fight back.

So, just like before, he decided to use these rabbits as his ‘training dummies’, but soon came upon a dilemma that he should have thought of beforehand.

Now that he was level 5, matching the highest level rabbit in this territory, his speed of gaining experience was sure to suffer, even more so now that wasn’t getting the bonus experience from the 'first find' achievement anymore.

‘I mean, I can safely accumulate my strength here at a steady rate before finally tackling all the other animals with far less danger involved, but would it really be worth it?’

The main reason behind his reckless behaviour in tackling these monsters was to promote his growth after all, and not just in levels either, otherwise, he would have been perfectly fine with killing single targets with [concentrated shot] and not facing them in close combat.

A small part of him was also quite dissatisfied with the speed he’d been gaining levels as it took him 15 days inside this forest to reach level 5, which was pathetic in his opinion.

The logical analysis would suggest that there were far more factors involved that could be the reason for his abysmal rate of levelling up, not the least of which was the lack of other people that could have helped him in these fights, but he only saw them as an excuse to cover up the main issue.

He was weak.

And staying inside the rabbit territory even after reaching the required level to advance to the next area, only because it was safe, would only further prove this weakness.

‘I guess slow and steady does not win the race in this case…’, he thought amusedly and finally made up his mind.

Leaving the site, he went towards the edge of rabbit-territory, a point he had already marked beforehand, took a deep breath and stepped into the next area.

The Boar territory.

Walking through the new area, while keeping an eye on his surroundings for any signs of prey or danger, he noticed that the only thing different from the rabbit-territory was the absence of berry bushes, which he found slightly strange but then thought that boars likely had some other source of food that they relied on.

After a few minutes of walking, he spotted some movement to his right that made him halt in his steps. He pulled his bow off his shoulders, nocked an arrow, and cautiously approached the bushes that were rustling incessantly.

As he reached a small distance from the bushes though, they stopped rustling and settled down. Silence enveloped the area once more as Bharat observed the bushes for any further signs of movements.

Just as he was about to relax and dismiss the whole thing due to wind movement, the bushes he was facing were torn apart and a boar that came up to his stomach in height charged in his direction.

The sudden emergence of the large creature and the stomping of his feet startled him as he stumbled back in surprise before he balanced himself and rolled the side, barely dodging the boars attempt to impale its large tusks into his person.

Turning around while in a kneeling position, he drew the string of his bow and aimed the arrow at the charging boar who had yet to turn around due to its blind rush earlier. Shooting an arrow at its back, he waited for it to stumble or at least show any signs of pain but the boar barely acknowledged the arrow that was impaled on its backside, its thick hide reducing most of the damage it could have caused.

Instead, his sudden attack only angered the creature even further as it turned around and rushed at him once more.

Hastily getting to his feet, he once more drew the string and aimed at the stomping creature, all the while moving backwards to stay out of its attack radius, an action that was turning out to be harder than he thought as the area in which he was fighting was very small.

Trying to aim at the moving boar while desperately dodging its attacks was also a difficult task for him as he barely managed to get in 7 arrows into its thick hide while the rest only managed to graze its skin.

Seeing that the boar showed no signs of slowing down, he got an idea and took out his dagger after putting his bow back over his shoulders.

Observing the charging boar, he waited for the right moment, jumped slightly to the left and just as the boar passed his previous position and started to turn around, he jumped on its back and put his arm over its neck while clutching the dagger in the other hand.

Before he could attempt to stab the dagger into its thick hide, the boar effortlessly shook him off its body with a force that sent him flying and crashing into a nearby tree. He was so used to ‘manhandling’ the small and light rabbits that he assumed his strength would get him through this hurdle as well.

Alas, it turns out that these boars had a higher amount of strength than him, and not by a small amount either.

‘Probably a constitution based build.’, he thought with a wince as he tried to stand up, feeling relieved that nothing important was broken from to the impact

Hearing the boar stomping in his direction once more, all the while squealing angrily at him, he once again cursed the small space he had to fight in. The battle would have far easier in an open space as the boar was slower than him but the tight space didn't leave him with much room to manoeuvre around the creature and try to kill it at the same time.

Just as the boar was about to reach his position, no doubt to impale his body upon its tusks, he once again rolled to the side and dodged its attempt by a small margin.

The boar crashed headfirst into the tree, his earlier momentum not allowing it to stop, and shook the whole tree from the impact. A surprising feat considering the thickness of the trees.

Bharat gulped as he stared at the display of strength, realizing that he would have been a blood spatter by now if he were even a second too late to dodge. Just as he was about to create some distance though, his attention was grabbed by the current state of the boar.

It looked like the boar hadn’t come out of the attack unscathed, as it was shaking its head and wobbling on its feet in obvious confusion.

Not willing to waste this golden opportunity, he changed directions and rushed back towards the confused creature that was stumbling around in obvious confusion.

Reaching its position, he started stabbing his dagger in its thick hide, something that required more strength than he thought and rushed backwards when the boar showed signs of getting out of its dazed state.

This time when it charged at him, he was ready in front of another tree with a plan that he thought would work. Getting out of the way at the last moment, the boar once again bashed its head against the tree and just like last time entered a confused state.

Bharat was looking at the scene in disbelief at the stupidity of the creature to fall for the same thing twice but he wasn't complaining.

The next few minutes were filled with the boar repeatedly rushing at Bharat only to fall for the same trick again and again and getting further injured, by the end of which, its brown fur was dyed red with blood and filled with various stab marks.

Bharat hadn't come out from the bout unscathed either, as even its dazed state, the erratic movements it made resulted in slight injuries on his stomach and arms by the end of which, he wasn't entirely sure if the blood on his person was the boar’s or his own.

His repeated attacks and the increasing injuries on its body were slowly but surely taking their toll on the beast as it was starting to slow down and taking more and more time to regain its bearings

Finally, when it looked as if the boar was on its last legs, he closed the distance and started cutting and slashing all over its body with reckless abandon, only stopping when the system announced the kill.

As he collapsed to the ground in exhaustion after the fight that took more out of him than he thought, only one thought was reverberating in his head as he stared at the dead boar, all the while trying to catch his breath.

‘This is going to be far harder than I thought.'