Work Experience

“Bleeeargh!”

FI leaned as far away from the tree that Kyle was puking on as she could while passing him a water skin which he gratefully used to rinse his mouth out before turning back towards the thing that had made him throw up in the first place.

What had once been a normal rabbit was now a mass of muscle and fur that looked like it would come up to Kyle’s knees and was now equipped with long sharp fangs that looked like they would easily be able to rip into Kyle’s flesh if he let his guard down.

Digby watched the beast with pity on his face, he had seen the effects Mana could have on normal animals many times before, but he still felt sorry for them whenever he had the misfortune to be nearby when they finally succumbed. But then his expression hardened as he remembered his job was to keep Kyle and Fi safe. His personal feelings would only get in the way if he had to intervene.

Kyle shuddered as he recalled what had happened to the rabbit shortly after they had spotted it, the pitiful looking creature had been writhing in pain as its bones made crunching sounds as it grew to a size that a rabbit was simply never meant to be, its shrieks of pain had led the group to its location and they had watched in horror as the Mana of the Zone had caused it to become the monster that now stood before them looking around with maddened eyes.

However, it wasn’t the rabbit’s plight that had made Kyle throw up, though it had been a factor. It was the realisation that his grandparents and others had been forced to live in a dungeon for years by the Empire to create Aethereal Humans. Humans, like all the intelligent Races had a high resistance to the effects of Mana, meaning it was very difficult for a human to become a Mana Mutant, usually they would be driven insane, becoming what was known as a Feral Human, losing any Class that they had but gaining several Skills including the ability to create other Ferals by biting members of other intelligent Races. Ferals were treated as a type of monster as they completely lost their intelligence becoming bestial and attacking anything that came close to them except for other Ferals.

Most of the people who took part in the experiment became Feral Humans but those who had a higher resistance to the mutative effects of large quantities of Mana kept their sanity, though many of them had undergone some form of mutation. These were the parents of the first generation of Aethereal Humans.

“Well Fi? What am I looking at?” whispered Kyle and Fi quickly used her Examine Skill to bring up the information on the newly created monster.

Name

Giant Rabbit

HP

???

Level

1

Monster Type

Mana Mutant

Having been transformed by large amounts of Mana into this new form Giant Rabbits are no longer flighty herbivores and now use their powerful sense of hearing to detect their prey which they then overwhelm with their impressive speed and vicious fangs. BEWARE some variants of this species are known to be venomous.

The ears of the Giant Rabbit twitched at the sound of Kyle’s whisper and its head turned in their direction, and it bounded in their direction with surprising speed. Kyle stepped out from behind the tree his chain already whirling before it shot forward as the Giant Rabbit suddenly leapt at him its mouth wide open revealing that it wasn’t just the front teeth that they had seen earlier that had been changed when the Mana had mutated it but all of them.

The weighted end of Kyle’s chain hurtled towards the airborne rabbit causing its eyes to widen in shock just before it was knocked out of the air as the attack landed.

The Giant Rabbit squealed as it hit the ground, its new body was far tougher than a normal rabbit’s but it was still built more for speed than for its ability to take a hit and Kyle’s attack had done more damage than it normally would due to the speed at which the rabbit had been moving as well as the damage caused by it being knocked to the ground leaving the monster in an even more pitiful state than it had been in previously.

Kyle grimaced as he watched the rabbit struggle to its feet, he knew that he would take no pleasure in killing what had been nothing more than a simple rabbit only a few moments ago but he knew that if he left it be it could end up killing someone.

Monsters could grow in strength by using two methods; one was by living in an area with a high concentration of Mana such as a Zone and the other was by killing. It didn’t matter if they killed a person, an animal or another monster they would be able to absorb the Mana from the body of whatever they killed by eating it which would allow them to grow stronger, eventually evolving to another form of monster when the Mana within their body reached a certain level. Some more powerful monsters could absorb some of the Mana from a corpse simply by being nearby when something was killed, these monsters would then usually become a Boss and start forming their own Zone which further increased their growth.

Digby watched with pride on his face as Kyle proceeded to finish off the wounded monster, using the rabbits leaping attack against it could be considered a fairly advanced technique but one that was very effective. It was a testament to the amount of training the boy had been doing over the past few years that he was able to use an unfamiliar weapon like his chain to do so.

Kyle looked down at his vanquished opponent with a troubled expression on his face, the Giant Rabbit had been driven mad by its transformation and had simply continued to attack Kyle despite its injuries. It had been unable to injure Kyle through his new Jacket, but he still had a few scratches on his arms from the fight.

“Well Kyle,” Fi said to the young man who turned to look at her with the same sad expression on his face. “Are you going to butcher that corpse or not?”

Flinching slightly at his companion’s heartless question Kyle silently held out his hand to receive the skinning knife that Fi summoned from her Inventory and wordlessly went about skinning the rabbit.

Fi watched Kyle go about the grisly work with a sad expression on her own face, she understood that he felt bad about what he had done but she also knew that it was something that he would have to get used to if he was going to become an Adventurer.

Once he was done butchering the corpse of the rabbit Kyle placed the meat and rabbit skin in a small sack given to him by Fi who quickly placed it safely in her Inventory. Both the meat and skin were of poor quality due to Kyle lacking the related Skills, but he knew that not taking them so was not only foolish as this was one of the best ways for an Adventurer to make money but also disrespectful to the beast he had killed but also wasteful. However, he did make a mental note to get some gathering Skills as soon as possible because if he didn’t do so he wouldn’t be able to make a lot of money off what he found due to the items having low quality.

Digby nodded again as he watched the two work, he was comfortable with how well Kyle had done, he had missed a couple of times when using his chain, but Digby thought that he would be able to handle fighting Level 2 Monsters or a small group of Level 1’s.

“Let’s get a move on you two,” Digby said as he continued walking in the direction they had been headed. “You’ve got a lot more fighting to do before you reach Level 2.”

Kyle and FI nodded and followed Digby as he continued talking.

“Fi, you should let Kyle know about any gains he made from that fight as well as think about what you can do to help him right now,” Digby advised. “Kyle, you need to use all of the things at your disposal, what’s the point in having magic or Skills if you don’t use them.”

Kyle and Fi nodded at the companion’s advice, they realised that they both could’ve handled that fight better, Fi’s ability to fly made her far more mobile than Kyle could hope to be meaning that she could scout out the area or act as a distraction if needed and Kyle had completely forgotten to use any of his Skills or magic in the excitement which had led him to take some minor damage that he could’ve avoided.

As they walked Fi explained that while Kyle had gained 6% of the experience required for him to Level Up. However, due to him not using any of his sub-skills or magic he hadn’t made a lot of progress with his Skills, the only one that had levelled up was his Acrobatics Skill increasing his dodge bonus to 6%. This cause Kyle to curse inwardly, he had forgotten that using sub-skills increased the proficiency gained for the main Skill as well as the effect they provided when activated, though he chose not to say anything as it would just cause the two companions to tease him.

Soon they had found their next targets, two Giant Rabbits that had thankfully already undergone the process that had turned them into monsters before the group had arrived. However, one of the Giant Rabbits was Level 2 which caused them to stop and watch at a distance.

“Right, so I’ll be keeping a close eye on you this time,” Digby said quietly. If he needed he was prepared to help with the Level 2 Giant Rabbit, but he was fairly confident that if Kyle and Fi worked together they would be able to handle the two monsters.

Kyle glanced at Digby out of the corner of his eye, worried that the rabbits would be able to hear him like the last one had but it seemed that they were far enough away that they couldn’t hear the companion’s voice and Kyle nodded before moving closer.

Though he was being careful with where he stepped Kyle knew that he wouldn’t be able to get very close to the Giant Rabbits and he gave Fi, who was currently in her accustomed position wrapped around his neck a pointed look.

FI nodded and took to the air, flying on ahead of her partner and whizzing past the two Giant Rabbits causing them to leap into the air in surprise. Kyle grinned as Fi continued to distract the two monsters so that he could get closer without being seen as he cast his Mana Darts spell, causing four of the small projectiles to appear around his left hand before launching them at the Giant Rabbits.

The smaller of the two rabbits screeched in pain as three of the Mana Darts pierced its side causing the larger one to look around to find out what had happened just as Kyle’s chain cracked like a whip as he activated Lash sending the weight crashing into its head.

Fi smirked as she saw their sneak attack succeed tough she was still looking forward to being able to obtain some combat Skills of her own it was still nice to be able to take part in a fight.

The two rabbits leapt to their feet and charged towards Kyle as fast as they could, the smaller one was limping a lot due to its injuries but the larger one was much faster than Kyle had been expecting and he quickly activated Dodge Roll to avoid its leaping attack before casting Mana Skin on himself and Minor Physical Armour Enchantment on his Jacket in the hopes that this would help him if the larger Level 2 rabbit managed to get a good hit on him draining his MP considerably and causing him to gasp in discomfort as he came to his feet.

The effects of using more than half his maximum MP in a few short seconds was very uncomfortable but he was still happy with his choice to use both spells when the smaller rabbit clamped its jaws around his left arm.

The Giant Rabbit shook its head trying to drive its teeth through the protective sleeve of his jacket causing Kyle to grimace in pain, though the fangs couldn’t penetrate the tough material the rabbit’s jaws were quite powerful for something that up until yesterday had only eaten plants.

Kyle’s fist slammed into the rabbit clinging to his arm as he activated his Hook Skill causing the rabbit to bite even harder before he slammed it into the ground stunning it. Just as he was about to attack once more Fi cried out a warning causing Kyle to drop to the ground and activate Leg Sweep sending the other Giant Rabbit which had been charging at his unprotected back into a tumble as Kyle fired a Mana Bolt at it sending it flying even further.

He had chosen to use a Mana Bolt rather than his Mana Darts because although he could conjure a large number of darts to cause more damage than a Mana Bolt, they were far less accurate if he fired the m all at once and a Mana Bolt actually had more force behind it than the smaller projectiles causing the rabbit to be sent flying into a nearby tree as it struck.

Now that he had bought himself some time Kyle quickly wrapped his chain around the other rabbit’s neck and activated Choke Hold causing it to finally release his arm as it tried to gasp for air. Kyle kept an eye on the Giant Rabbit that he had sent flying with his Mana Bolt as he slowly choked the other to death using that time to catch his breath and regenerate some of his Mana just in case being at Level 2 gave it a Skill that it hadn’t used yet.

The rabbit he was choking soon ceased its struggles having suffered from not having enough strength to break away from the Skill or a high enough Endurance that it could survive for long without air. Kyle glanced down at it with a slightly guilty expression on his face, but at least he had been able to test out his new Skill.

The other Giant Rabbit glared at him as it saw the lifeless body of its companion in his arms and leapt towards the young man with its powerful back legs.

Kyle leaped to one side, causing the snapping jaws of the Giant Rabbit to narrowly miss him as it flew past, he was starting to run low on Stamina now that he was using his Skills properly, so he didn’t want to use Dodge Roll if he didn’t have to.

Coming back to his feet he cast the only spell that he had yet to use Minor Soul Syphon on his chain causing it to glow with an eerie purple light. The Giant Rabbit eyed the weapon warily it remembered what it had felt like when it had been hit in the face by Kyle’s Lash Skill and even though it was now a predatory creature what instincts remaining from its time as prey were screaming that the sinister glow that now surrounded the weapon was extremely dangerous.

Kyle frowned when he saw the monster hesitate at the sight of his chain wondering what was going on, so far all three of the monsters he had fought had attacked them without seeming to fear for their own lives so it was very strange that this one which had up till now been acting in the same way was now slowly backing away with fear in its eyes.

On the other hand, Kyle had never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth and he flicked an attack at the Giant Rabbit at the very edge of his chains range. Both his Stamina and his Mana were running low and his Minor Soul Syphon enchantment would only two more hits after this one, so he charged in as soon as the attack hit.

The rabbit hissed at him as he approached its eyes bloodshot with both fear and rage as it backed into a tree. Kyle knew he had enough Mana left for a second of Mana Enhancement and quickly cast the spell using his newly enhanced physical stats to rush forwards even faster as the rabbit turned to try and run away.

As soon as he was close enough Kyle aimed a kick at the rabbit sending it sprawling before stomping down on its back to keep it form running away and bringing his left fist down on the back of its head as it struggled to get away.

Soon the back both the back of the rabbit’s head and the knuckles of Kyle’s fist were bloody, and the monster’s struggles had weakened significantly. Figuring he would now be able to finish the Giant Rabbit off in one or two blows from his chain Kyle flicked the end of his chain up into the air before activating Lash and bringing the weight down on the rabbit’s head with punishing force causing it to twitch once more before expiring.

Panting from exertion Kyle fell backwards onto the ground and watched with disgust as the rabbit’s skin started bubbling as though something was forming underneath before splitting with a squelching sound revealing a faintly glowing purple stone.

“Ewww,” groaned Kyle as he looked at the result of using Minor Soul Syphon. He hadn’t expected the spell to have such an unpleasant effect on an enemy’s body when he killed them.

Fi landed next to him looking interestedly at the Soulstone.

“Well that’s interesting,” she remarked as she examined the small purple crystal.

“What’s interesting Fi,” Kyle sighed.

“Take a look,” she replied sending him the information.

Petty Soulstone

Item Tier (Rarity): Crude (Common)

Item Type: Soulstone

Contains: Soul of Giant Rabbit Lvl 2. (3 Enchantment Points)

Durability: 5/5

Soulstones are used to power all forms of permanent enchantments both great and small.

“Enchantment Points?’” Kyle muttered staring at the screen floating in front of him. It sounded like these were used as a measurement of how much power the Soulstone could give a permanent enchantment, but this only left him wondering if this Soulstone would be able to charge a permanent enchantment by itself or not.

Unfortunately, neither he nor Fi knew anyone who could use enchantments, so it looked like he would have to wait until he made it to the Adventurers School to find out.

Digby trotted over while Kyle and Fi rested, “Well done you two,” he said happily. “That was much better!”

“Thanks Dig,” replied Kyle with a small smile, he felt he had actually gone too far the other way and used too much Mana and Stamina, if any more enemies had heard them and joined the fight he would’ve been in trouble, but Digby didn’t seem to care about that so much he was just happy that Kyle was starting to fight the way he usually did.

“Right well, we should butcher these rabbits and get a move on, I got a message from Jerald while you were fighting. It seems he’s picked up the Bosses trail and should be done around nightfall.”

“Alright,” said Kyle shifting to his knees and holding out his hand towards Fi for his skinning knife. “I should have regenerated most of my Mana and Stamina by the time I’m done with this, so that should work out just fine.”

A few minutes later Kyle was the proud owner of some more rabbit meat and two very badly damaged rabbit skins and the group decided to continue on their little hunting trip without any further worries about Kyle being able to handle himself when fighting low level monsters like the Giant Rabbits.