It was their number that made him cautious. Besides, he was not alone. He needed to defend his master-
Swoosh
A shot broke the tension in the air.
Jeremy had attacked, not at all intimidated by these beasts. They were weak. They might have better stats than him, but he was not weak. He knew how to fight.
Besides, how could he be afraid knowing that beside him he had a very powerful ally?
---
Bone spear
Throw a Bone Spear toward the enemy inflicting 150% magical damage.
20 MP, CD 2sec.
---
"-75"
"Okay...maybe I'm a weakling too..."
"-360*"
"-18"
"Well --- never mind," said Jeremy as he backed away to dodge a blow.
A much higher damage value than his reached the level 2 Razorfang, nearly killing him on the spot. The use of the Ferocious Bite skill was directed toward the beast's neck; therefore, it dealt much more damage and, along with Jeremy's blow, left the beast dying.
"-80"
A simple basic attack made the next instant ended the beast.
"14 exp gained"
With a loud shout, the leading beast charged at Drae'mon, who dodged the blow almost effortlessly. After that, the other Razorfangs charged against the skeleton and Jeremy.
The Razorfangs targeted the skeleton, clearly the most threatening of the duo, being able to kill their comrade with one blow.
The Razorfangs' intelligence was limited, not to say nonexistent; therefore, they did not conceive of the concept that to kill a summone one must simply eliminate the summoner.
And so they mainly targeted the skeleton, which seemed to have incredible control over the battlefield, dodging blows and firmly settling its sharp, venom-filled claws on the bodies of weaker beasts.
Throughout, Jeremy was being pursued by three Razorfang while Drae'mon faced ten at once. Not a single notch of his HP was touched.
"Unbelievable," thought Jeremy as he watched the struggle of his undead as he dodged the beasts' blows by using the terrain to his advantage.
Bone Spear upon Bone Spear traveled toward them, which took the blows in stride.
The battle continued for about five minutes before only the leader Razorfang was left alive.
He was angry. He had come here thinking he would find easy prey, but instead his whole group had been slaughtered. He wanted to escape, but he was exhausted. The struggle against the abomination left him frustrated to say the least.
To make matters worse, the skeleton seemed indifferent. Not a single wound had been inflicted on his body, and he did not seem to be the least bit tired.
"Having endless stamina is really too much OP," Jeremy said, breathing heavily. He was not too tired, but the intensity of the battle made him sweat more than he should.
"I would have died if I had been alone...I must be more careful in the future. I can't act like a little boy."
Then, with a leap, he joined the battle against the leader.
A Bone Spear flew directly at the exposed flank of the beast, who turned sharply back to his position.
As he did so, Drae'mon charged directly at the distracted leader using his dash ability to gain speed, hitting him first with a Ferocious Bite straight to the neck and then a Poisonous Claw straight into the flank injured by Jeremy earlier.
"-240"
"-12"
"-160"
"-32"
A series of damage rattled the beast, who had somehow managed to deflect the blow from his neck to his torso.
The furious beast, now bloodied and poisoned, threw a claw directly at the skeleton's face, which dodged the blow with no problem.
This enraged the creature even more, which shrieked in frustration.
As if that were not enough, another Bone Spear hit him in the back of the head, stunning him.
"-112"
"Oh yes, critical hit," Jeremy said.
The beast had become a moving target, well not too moving, and the battle ended shortly thereafter.
"288 exp gained."
And so, the duo's first battle was a huge success.
A total of 14 Razorfang had died, 13 Rank F and 1 Rank E. He gained 484 Exp in total, including the exp of the two monsters killed by Drae'mon at the beginning.
"Status"
Name: Jeremy
Class: Necromancer (F)
Potential: ??
Race: Human
Lv 1/5
Exp:484/100
HP:200/400
MP: 150/600
Physical: 2 (+1)
Agility: 2 (+1)
Intelligence: 4 (+1)
Endurance: 2 (+1)
"I took more than a few hits from those beasts, despite everything. And I can finally level up."
Leveling up at first was very easy. Things got harder when higher levels were reached.
So, Jeremy reached level 4 after only one fight and gained as many as 30 free statistical points, becoming stronger than the Razorfang leader from before, despite being of a lower rank. This was the power of his potential.
An individual with high potential had a much easier life than one with low potential. And Jeremy's potential seemed to be higher than the strongest individuals on the Ydraquill continent.
Jeremy's new status panel, after lv up, was as follows:
"Status"
Name: Jeremy
Class: Necromancer (F)
Potential: ??
Race: Human
Lv 4/5
Exp:119/175
HP:1200
MP:2400
Physical: 7 (+1)
Agility: 7 (+1)
Intelligence: 19 (+1)
Endurance: 7 (+1)
Skills: Summon Undead, Bone Spear,
---
"Now we're talking. I feel incredibly more powerful."
Although it was a magic class, it could not indiscriminately improve only intelligence, it needed to improve other attributes as well.
Physical indirectly improved the health pool and physical damage, agility improved speed and reaction time, intelligence increased the mana pool and improved magical damage while improving stamina allowed you to last longer in battle.
"Well, I'd say it's time to get out of here and explore this place," a smile formed on the boy's face. He was excited to explore a new place, a credit to John's memories.
"Yet I seem to be forgetting something..."
"..."
"the loot!"
"I must collect the cores of the beasts."
And so, with his newfound strength, he began to dig inside the body of the Razorfangs to collect their cores.
Any part of a beast's body could be considered useful. In addition to the core, other body parts could also be taken and collected. In the case of the Razorfang, one useful thing could be their tusks, with which, in the hands of skilled smiths, daggers could be made.
Well, yes, there were not only combat classes. Many awakened ones obtained classes related to non-combat, such as blacksmiths and alchemists.
The former allowed them to create equipment from the remains of beasts, while the latter could create potions capable of restoring HP, MP and more with beast cores as the main items.
This is why many awakened ones risked their lives in the hunt against ever-stronger beasts. For the money.
To get stronger they needed to kill beasts, and stronger and stronger beasts gave access to more powerful cores, which were worth more money. Money spent to buy better equipment and potions so they could hunt even stronger beasts.
Thus a vicious cycle was created in which to earn money you had to not only put your life on the line, but also spend money.
But the feeling of becoming stronger was, after all, one of the main reasons why awakened people wanted to risk their lives.
"Rank F lvl5 core Obtained x1"
"Rank E lvl8 core Obtained x1"
Clearly, within the same rank there were stronger beasts. Then again, to advance in each rank you needed an increasing amount of levels and experience.
The Cores obtained were of different sizes, one visibly smaller than the other. The Rank F Core was very small, about the size of a bean, green in color. The same color as the other Rank E Core, only the latter was slightly larger.
From what he remembered, only the rank of the Cores was defined by the classical system; however, his system was more powerful. He was able to distinguish their level as well.
Cores were useful items for advancing in rank.
In order to advance to the next rank, a quest had to be completed. Each quest varied according to potential.
Higher potential meant you had to face higher level monsters to advance.