Many voices were heard across the fields as the players yelled, fought, and snuck around the area outside the town entry gates.

"The Drinking Coffin Guild is recruiting tanks! Tanks! Any Tanks?"

"Hey! That was my rabbit!"

"Buzz off. I saw the rabbit first!"

Novus glanced at the arguing players and sucked in a deep breath as he took in the atmosphere.

"Nothing like slaughter in the evening."

Novus' pained expression eased a bit with the joke but still wasn't entirely comfortable as he looked around the grassy area.

Players stumbled to slash weapons against the poor creatures trying to feed around the fields. Clubs crushed bugs, grass beetles were snapped with each sharp axe swing, and dull swords beheaded rabbits with stubby little horns—a gruesome sight.

At the very least, clean-up was easy since the remaining remains turned into glittering lights. But, to Novus, that was even more disturbing and unnatural.

Do the animals on the island also revive?

Novus tried asking Solace but was met with the same frustrating response of low authorization. Solace was so good at answering questions before; what had happened? Well, Novus knew precisely what had happened.

Damned Divine…

Novus shook his head clear. He had been on battlefields before, and this was no different. In fact, it was a little mild with all the awkward player movements.

Most of them look like they've never held a weapon before. Percival was at least a little bit better.

Novus thought to himself as he was called out to by one of the nearby town guards.

"Thanks."

Novus accepted the lit torch from the guard on account of 'exploration after dark.' Then, Novus scanned the brightened area and fled to a grassy area without others. There, Novus examined his first-ever creature on the island.

Horned Rabbit

A cute and innocent horned rabbit that doesn't contain killing intent towards anyone. Indeed, no virtuous person would take advantage of this rabbit.

Rank: Black Iron (Lowest Tier)

Body Aspect: Black Iron 3

Mind Aspect: Black Iron 2

Soul Aspect: Black Iron 1

Skills: N/A

Novus' sword was unsheathed and sheathed in the blink of an eye. There was a slight resistance from the bones, but otherwise, Novus was able to behead the rabbit just like whatever-his-name outside the church.

Congratulations! You have defeated the monster Horned Rabbit.

…

Novus looked disappointed and slightly confused at the easiness of the kill.

That's it? That's all? Didn't the others I see on the way here need to slash it a few times?

??? is also confused by the lack of system measures

Novus' face squinted alongside his eyes.

He looked around at some of the other players attacking horned rabbits. When they swung and managed to land a blow, it was hardly enough to pierce, slash or impact the horned rabbits. In comparison, Novus' rusty blade sliced like a hot knife into butter.

Is it my attributes? Is that what system measures are?

Novus pondered about the mystery divine's word box for a moment, then dismissed it as he added more questions to his never-ending list. Instead, he had other things to think about: like his rumbling stomach.

Novus knelt, and the beginner's knife from his inventory flashed into his hand. With practiced slicing motions, Novus got to work on separating the various parts of the rabbit. A skill he had used countless times in his past life, both magically and physically.

Typically, this step would be skipped by 99% of players. Instead, a system prompt would appear asking if they would like to loot the monster automatically. Novus, of course, swiped away any word boxes that distracted him from the task at hand.

Ding!

Congratulations! Due to the carving of a Horned Rabbit, you have obtained the Carving skill. Items obtained due to carving: Rabbit Horn Stub x1, Rabbit Hide x1, Rabbit Meat x2, Rabbit Bones x2, Rabbit Entrails x1.

Suddenly, the separated pieces of hide, meat, and internal items disappeared before Novus.

Where did they go!?

Panic briefly set in before another screen, one Novus hadn't seen yet, appeared alongside his inventory.

This one looked like a mini-inventory with small icons, and when Novus explored its functions a bit, he discovered that it was the items he had carved from the rabbit. Novus dragged the carved item's icons to his inventory, and both screens disappeared in a blink.

Quickly pulling up his inventory, Novus was relieved to see the items had made it there safely.

That's going to take some time to get used to. This too.

Novus spun his hand around and saw the rabbit's blood disappearing into glittering lights.

That saves time cleaning.

It took Novus a few seconds to accept the situation before realizing he should look up the Carving skill he had acquired.

Carving Lv.1 (10%)

An intrinsic ability that guides your blade along the best route to getting quality materials. Some call it butchering; others call it collecting. You have named it carving.

Rank: Black Iron (Middle Tier)

Passive Effect: Manual carving speed and quality of items obtained are slightly enhanced.

Next thing you know, there'll be an ability for breathing too.

Ding!

Novus' intuition told him that another unwanted message had appeared. Thus, Novus immediately swiped away the notification. After all, he had better things to do. So instead, Novus squinted into the fields a bit further in search of prey.

Gurgle.

...In search of dinner.

…

Novus bit into his fourth grilled rabbit skewer with a flush of excitement.

Smelling the roasted meat and seeing the warm fire, a pair of players approached Novus.

"Hey, could we—"

"Absolutely not. Leave."

…

Huff. Huff.

Novus cursed his stamina while catching his breath. He had just finished killing his umpteenth horned rabbit and waited for the message.

I'm sure this was the last one.

Sure enough, a pleasant tone rang out soon after Novus' thought.

Ding!

Congratulations! You have levelled up! Health and Mana have been fully restored.

A wave of euphoric warmth flooded Novus' system all at once and nearly made him sigh in pleasure. Novus hurriedly caught himself.

That was… note to self, never level up around others.

How Novus would control that, only time could tell.

The warmth dispersed, and Novus quickly reworked his mind to clear his senses.

With a shaking head, Novus pulled up his status window. Sure enough, his level was 2(0%) instead of 1(99%). However, something was missing. It was the most crucial detail.

I'm sure Solace mentioned it.

Novus closed and opened the status window multiple times, but it didn't solve the problem. He tried focusing and rearranging things too, but nothing showed up.

Where are the attribute points?

Novus tried pulling up the individual attributes like Strength and even Charisma. However, there was no obvious way to increase anything! Not even a mention of the redeemable points!

??? questions how you broke their system.

"@!$#%[email protected]!"

Novus cursed worse than a dirty pirate sailor until more word boxes started to roll in.

??? is panicking and confused. ??? God Override initiated. Congratulations! The Player's Body ability has evolved, and a new effect has been added. ??? says to stop cursing.

"Terrible, no good, broken, dirty system better have something good…."

Player's Body

This body has been readjusted and optimized to conform to video game standards.

Rank: ???

Active effect: ???

Passive effect: Natural aptitude towards body refinement & mana cultivation techniques are enhanced.

Novus was so silent he could hear a pin drop. That's what made the pleasant notification dinging all the more annoying.

??? expresses that you can thank them.

A vein popped on Novus' forehead, but he managed to contain his immediate response.

Others get the free ride points, while I get the better version of working hard.

Ding!

??? is still awaiting your gratitude.

Novus followed his thought with more cursing.

"Rot with the devils, you son of a...."

…

It took a while for Novus to calm down. But eventually, his thoughtful side kicked in, and he lulled himself into a questioning trance.

Initially, the plan was to level up and use those points. Now, I'll have to shift to refining my body, mind, and soul.

A part of Novus quickly accepted the change. It was the exact part that didn't trust the system, and its quick ride to power, to begin with.

The other part of Novus, the realist, grew frustrated with his options.

Hundreds of draconic techniques, and none of them suitable for such a terrible triad of aspects. Like a master sand sculptor with a pile of sticks. Novus felt his muscles tense as his agitation rose.

Are my expectations too high?

Novus thought for another moment before steeling his eyes and clearing away the word boxes around him.

"Minimap."

The map was mostly fog, but now a small field portion outside of Avalan was revealed.

Percival said it was north of town. The Sleeping Fox Dens.

If there was anything Novus had learned in his past life, it was that powerful monsters guarded powerful treasures. According to Percival, the farther one travelled north, the more powerful the monsters.

Slash until I drop. Quite literally, I suppose.