Elune bowed respectfully and said, “I am sorry, Mr. Xander, but I have to refuse. I have consulted with Mr. Holus, and he said I can raise my level by buying experience cards. I have a way to get points too. There are a lot of safe F rank quests such as gathering and public service. I will take that. I’d rather stay safe here.”

“I see. That’s understandable. I am happy that you have a way to survive in this place. Just let me know if you ever need something. You are my first acquaintance here, so I figure out we should help each other.”

Elune nodded. “I will. Thanks for your goodwill, Mr. Xander.”

Cole waved his hand and turned around. Even though he was rejected, he still felt relieved. He didn’t mind helping someone in need, but he preferred to stay alone. Luckily, Ms. Whitebun was a person who didn’t like to be dependent on other people. With that, he could have peace of mind.

Before going outside of the fortress, he needed to prepare some necessary items. So, he approached Holus and asked where he could buy things.

“Oh, right. I forgot to put store board. You can buy many things in the sundries board beside the quest board next time, but now, you can buy things through me,” Holus replied. He flicked his fingers, and a blue screen appeared in the air.

[Sundries]

Category:

Consumable Cards Item Cards Skill Cards

Cole needed to buy consumable cards, so he clicked the consumable cards category.

As he did that, the screen showed various consumable cards he could buy. After scrolling up and down, Cole bought healing cards, speed-increasing cards to help him escape, debuff dispel cards, etc.

Name: Cole Xander (Level: 12 [50/1500])

Currency Point: 5700 à 5300

He was surprised to see he had consumed many points to buy what he needed. He realized Mr. Holus was right about the importance of points in this place. Even if he had many points from the reward, he couldn’t afford to be extravagant.

Cole suddenly regretted picking a rank E quest. The reward might be high, but it might be too hard for the current him. Holus had said the quests were good for getting currency points, and he had wasted the chance.

Even if he regretted it, Cole couldn’t do anything about it. Rice had become porridge, and the past couldn’t be changed. So, he only needed to face the hardship in front of him.

Thinking of hardship, Cole licked his lips. He didn’t feel regret anymore, but he felt excited instead.

With confidence in his heart, Cole started his adventure. First, he got out of Holus Fortress. He had walked thirty minutes to arrive at the gate.

Looking back, he could see the fortress fully. The wall spread long, and he couldn’t see the end of it. Behind it, there were many-tiered platforms, and each platform contained many houses. There were many towers between the wall and on the platforms, functioning as a defensive measure against dangers.

Facing forward again, Cole saw a savanna field and hills. He summoned his map and checked the name of the place ahead.

“Holo Savana. That’s my destination. Beyond that place are the Valleys of Trolls where I can meet Serpencide Monsters. However, I don’t plan to go there now. I don’t know how powerful monsters are around here.”

Cole walked toward the Holo Savana. He didn’t forget to carry his greatsword in case he would encounter a monster on the way.

His suspicion was right when he met a school of monsters on his way. They were cows that were standing on two feet, and they had human-like hands with sharp nails.

Cole checked their information and found out they were around level twelve to fifteen. They seemed like easy prey, and he was tempted to lure one out of the group, but he dismissed that idea. These cows weren’t like the Ace Frenzy Rabbits that had slow speed.

Cole avoided the school of cows, taking a further path. Luckily, he didn’t meet any monsters again, and he arrived at the Holo Savana safely.

In this place, many monsters wandered freely. There were cows, gazelles, zebras, and many others. Those monsters didn’t look like predators, and that was why they didn’t bother each other.

Even though the situation seemed peaceful, Cole kept his guard up. After all, those monsters didn’t bother each other because they were monsters. On the contrary, he was a human, and they might be intolerant to humans.

Cole looked at the surroundings and found a lonely monster. It was a gazelle-like monster that was standing on two feet. Like the school of cows earlier, this gazelle had a pair of human hands with sharp nails.

Name: Zellyr

Title: Normal

Level: 12

Class: ?

The lone monster was on the same level as him, so he approached him with caution. With light steps, he arrived behind it.

The gazelle monster was eating grass with its hands, and Cole took the chance to leap on its back. After that, he stabbed its neck.

His sword stuck in its flesh, and he couldn’t push it deeper. So, Cole pulled it and leaped back.

The monster roared and clawed at its back, but its hand only hit empty air. Turning around, it saw a man in front of it.

Cole kept staring at its movement, being vigilant of it. The monster was tougher than it looked. He suddenly remembered the monsters in this place had a class, making them stronger than tutorial islands’ monsters.

Stronger monsters meant harder challenges. Thinking of that, his heart raced, and he made his first move, running toward it. Surprisingly, the monster ran straight at him too, and they were about to crash.

Before their body would crash, Cole slid to the side and slashed the monster’s belly. “Bull’s eye!” He laughed like a mad man when he shouted that.

After that, he stood up again and bolted at the monster again. However, the monster had turned its back and launched two wind scythes at him.

The attack caught him off guard and hit his shoulder and arm. At the same time, the red helix revolved around him, and he sped up forward, exposing the [Ruin Gust] to the Zellyr.

The helix scraped the Zellyr’s front body, spinning non-stop. The monster bled and roared. It wanted to attack Cole, but the helix acted as his shield too. It tried to push its body, but the helix felt solid and kept injuring it with each spin.

Even though his enemy couldn’t break through the helix easily, Cole could attack the enemy from inside as if the helix didn’t exist for him. He thrust his sword and pushed the monster.

The monster planted its feet into the ground, forcing its body to stop. After that, it charged toward Cole.

Facing the monster, Cole was calm. He controlled his breath and rage. He imagined his own rage as a dim light that emitted a wisp of red mist. The red mist seeped out of his body and flowed to his sword.

At the same time, everything seemed slow in his eyes. Cole thought his imaginary method was successful. With confidence, he swung his sword and slashed the monster’s cheek while evading to the side.

Even though the slowed perception was active, his attack didn’t emit the ruin spark. It was just a normal attack. While his attack still cut the monster’s lower jaw apart, he could have exploded its head if the attack was imbued by [Ruin Flash].

Cole, however, didn’t depend on his passive ability too much. Even though he had [Ruin River] that increased the chance of triggering ruin abilities, there was still a high chance it wouldn’t trigger the skills.

The beggar couldn’t be the chooser, so Cole would use everything that he had at the moment. The slowed perception. While the slowed perception was still active, he charged at the enemy again.

Cole was full of confidence, but his enemy was full of rage. After losing its lower jaw, its hatred toward Cole erupted, and its desire to survive exploded.

It sent a barrage of wind scythes at Cole, and he evaded all of them. Not giving up, the monster let its arms loose as it performed several quick stabs. Yet, Cole could evade them all.

Cole arrived in front of the monster. He ducked, evading a slash above him. After that, he spun his body and slashed the Zellyr’s gut.

Blood from its gut splashed to his face, and Cole licked his lips as the monster fell on its chest. After a few seconds, the monster and its splattered blood turned into mist, leaving several floating cards.

Cole looked at the surroundings in case his battle attracted other monsters. To his surprise, no monsters approached him.

He guessed they liked to mind their own business. Their attitude benefited him too. Without disturbance, he could take a quick rest.

Cole took the cards and sat under a nearby tree. Having assured no predator was around, he checked the cards. There were 5 cards, two experience cards, two point cards, and one loot card.

Cole immediately absorbed the point cards. As for the experience cards, he spent them all to his class level.

…….

Name: Cole Xander (Level: 12 [50/1500])

Currency Point: 5320

Race: Human (Bronze)

Class: Ruin Berserker (level: 2 [75/250])

Strength: 40

Vitality: 34

Agility: 33

Intelligent: 24

Wisdom: 24

Free Points: 7

Active Skills: 0

Passive Skills: 5

Blessings: 1

Debuff: 1

……

Cole still had seven free points, but he didn’t plan to increase his stats for the time being. With the stats addition from his class, he had become stronger. Or maybe, the enemies in this place were weaker, and it made sense since they were not predators.

After thinking through it, Cole decided he would move further to meet stronger monsters. Before that, he wanted to rest a bit.

Cole read the loot card and summoned it. Light flashed on his palm and turned into a liver. He sniffed it and then took a bit. After gulping the thing down his throat, his eyes widened. “Not bad.” With that, he ate the whole liver.

There was no beneficial effect after he consumed it. Cole had done that because he had read the liver was edible, and he was hungry.

After eating, Cole stood up and walked further. Even when he was passing by a monster, it ran away from him. He sighed. Monsters in this area didn’t provide him any challenge.

As he thought of that, Cole suddenly heard a growl at the tall grass ahead. The sound was low, and he realized it wasn’t an angry growl.

He kept staring at the grass ahead, but nothing came out. So, Cole approached it sneakily and moved the grass aside. His eyes widened when he saw it.

…….

In front of him, an Armored Tiger was eating a corpse of Zellyr. It let out purring noises that he had mistaken as growls. What shocked him was the tiger’s golden armor. Furthermore, the monster emitted a terrifying aura that made him shudder in fear.

Everything about the monster was grand and flashy. No wonder it hid itself to eat, so other monsters wouldn’t get scared and run away.

The monster seemed strong, and luckily, Cole could read its information with the system.

Name: Golden Armored Tiger

Level: 13

Title: Ace

Class: Warrior

Even though the monster was only one level above him, it had a title. Furthermore, it had a class too. Cole couldn’t underestimate it.