After looking at his glorious and cute self, Leo slowly walked towards the forest, setting out to explore this vast and unknown world. The day was at its brightest and it was of no use to stay holed up in a cavern all day. He wasn't interested in the title cave dweller yet.
Talking about Title, he still hadn't checked his reincarnated title yet and he seemed to have forgotten to ask Luxia about the question mark on his status.
'Luxia. You there?' Leo called as he walked inside the peaceful and lively clearing, enjoying the fresh and untainted air a city boy like him could only dream off. If there was one thing he completely liked about this world it was its air. Each time he took a breath he could feel his body being invigorated. Compared to the heavy air of a smoke-filled city it was like he was breathing the air of the promised paradise.
[Yes Leo, every time and everywhere.] Luxia answered.
'Hehe, I guess. So, I was wondering if I could know about those question marks on my status.' Leo asked.
[You already know the answer Leo.] Luxia said mildly.
'Tsk, why so much secrecy?' Leo sounded a little annoyed. He ought to when he was being kept in the dark about so many things.
[It's for your own good. If you want to know more you just have to become stronger. Still, I can assure you that those only benefit you.] Luxia said, while her tone was cold Leo could feel the sincerity inside it. It was certainly better than hearing the robotic voice of the previous system and it was enough to calm Leo down.
'Hum, I understand. Then show me the description of my other title.' Leo asked casually, he wasn't expecting much from that title. It should be something he got because he reincarnated and wouldn't bring many benefits. However, what he saw on that window left him rooted on his feet.
[Reincarnated:
A title granted to someone who met Lady Death and lived to tell the tales. Congratulations for escaping the embrace of the ultimate mistress.
You receive the following skills:
Gift of tongue: You can easily understand and speak any language of the world of Aria.
Alike: You can sense when you are close to another reincarnator.
Death Denial: You did it once so why not a second time. Upon activation this skill allows you to escape the clutch of death and allows you to resurrect.
Use: 2/2
Cooldown: 3 months
Cost: Half of your total level, -99% Exp gained for a week after using the skill.]
'Hisss.' Leo drew a sharp breath as he stared slack-jawed at the description of Death Denial. It was completely bullish*t. Did that mean that now he had more than one life? How was it possible?
This was not a game, it was the cold and hard reality, but here he was learning that just like a game character he had more than one life. It was logic-defying. The cost of its use was horrific? Ignorant, no matter how steep the price of its activation was, it was a frickin skill that would resurrect him twice. Trading half off his total level against a revive was totally worth it. As long as he was alive he could regain all the power he'd lost and gain more. Anyway, if he was dead all that power would mean jack sh*t.
'Phew.' Leo exhaled, many thoughts flashing through his mind as he pondered about the possible implication of this title. First, if he was allowed to know about a broken thing like Death Denial, what kind of bullc**p could be hidden behind those question marks on his status. It was scary to think about. If they were as broken as Leo thought them to be, he could understand why the system wouldn't let him know about them and say knowing about them could harm him.
For example, if he was not careful he could let the existence of Death Denial cloud his mind and make careless decisions. If he were to lose those two lives before truly needing them he would have no tear left to cry.
'Well, I should do my best to only be forced to use that power if I am confronted with an apocalypse level catastrophe, like a meteor falling on my head or the world going boom.' Leo said with determination. That kind of wild joker should only be used when one was at the absolute end of the rope.
Second, he was not the only reincarnator roaming through those lands. If he has a skill that allows him to find reincarnated that means there were reincarnators to be found. Unlike what one could expect it brought him no joy to learn such a thing but only made him scared and hungrier for power. He didn't know about reincarnator from other worlds. But, he knew what kind of psycho Earthlings could turn into if they had enough power and he had no intention to meet one if he hadn't enough power. Alike? Certainly not.
'Aish, why does everything have to be so complicated?' Leo muttered before closing the window in front of him and going on his way.
'Hum, Luxia, can you read 'Aria for the noob' and resume it for me later.' Leo asked, he suddenly felt the need to know as much as possible about this world. Knowledge was absolute power after all.
[Yes Leo. Leave it to me.] Luxia answered immediately. When he heard her serious tone, Leo couldn't help but picture a strict glass wearing onee-chan sitting and seriously reading a book.
'Cool, tell me when it is good.' Leo said with a chuckle.
The forest around Leo was very lively, and overflowing with life. There were critters, snakes, birds, and insects of all kinds shuffling through the grass on the ground and the thick foliage of the trees. Many of those beasts looked like those you could see on earth, but many more presented peculiarities distinguishing them from their earth counterparts. There were those with additional body parts like four-winged birds, two-headed snakes, …. And there were those with weird color schemes like a pink fox, and a golden rabbit, chuckle…. It was really interesting to watch such a multicolored and lively fauna. Another point worthy of note would be that everything he met was of rank E.
While admiring the fauna Leo quietly followed the stream and after some time he met a beast that didn't exist on earth. The famous weakest monster in all fantasy, but capable of swallowing a whole dragon on rare occasions. The cute blob of water with a shiny core. Yup, you guessed right. It was a slime.
'They are really cute.' Leo muttered as he looked at the two blobs wiggling beside the stream. Curious, Leo approached them and casted an appraisal on them.
[Water Slime: Rank E
HP:30/30
Danger level: None]
'Weak. Should I kill them?' Leo wondered while looking at the defenseless slime. However, the slime didn't give him the time to think too much. Seemingly eager to die, the slime bounced and launched itself towards Leo.
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Bounce….Bounce
Seeing the slime flying towards him, Leo didn't dodge and let it hit him.
Bam
The slime bounced against his body and dropped on the grass. However, the slime was as weak as it looked and he only felt some slight pain when he was hit by it. His body didn't even tremble a little from that attack.
[HP:197/200]
Following his fellow example, the second slime also rushed and bounced towards him. Unsurprisingly he didn't do any better than his peer and only dealt a negligible amount of damage to Leo.
[HP:195/200]
..
[HP:180/200]
'Hum, now that is enough. You had fun hitting me, uh.' Leo thought as he glared at the two slimes in front of him. After the first hit, Leo let them hit him a couple more times, losing 10% of his HP. Why was he doing that? What, you actually thought that the slimes were cute enough that he would let them hit him for nothing? Ha! He wasn't nuts. He was just trying to determine his health regeneration. It would be hard to do so in the middle of a fight. So he was using the opportunity of facing weak opponents to get a better understanding of himself.
'Thank you for the labor. Now make your prayer.' Leo raised his claws and looked at the slime shaking in front of him.
'You are afraid?' Leo unconsciously asked as he continued to look at the two. He could swear that they were almost begging him.
'Sigh.' Leo lowered his claws and slashed through the first slime instantly destroying its core. Turning towards the second one he killed it too, sending it beside its companion.
[Ding... You have killed a water slime... You have received 15 Exp and 3SC]
[Ding... You killed a water slime... You have received 10 Exp and 2SC]
Why did he do it? How could he kill such cute creatures? Well, the right question was, would the slime spare him if he was the weak one? He could have overlooked them if they minded their own business. However, they took the initiative to attack him and that completely changed the whole matter. That was because they felt threatened by his presence?
'Sigh, troublesome.' Leo sighed heavily as he struggled against his conscience. It was a little harder to deal with the guilt than before. When he killed the rabbit he could tell himself it was to eat but now he couldn't help but find many reasons why he could have spared the slime.
'Tsk, I should have killed more chicken when I was on earth. I can't afford to overthink it each time I kill something or I would go crazy.' Leo mumbled. That was even more true for him that had to rely on the system to thrive. The number of lives he would have to take wasn't something one could fathom. He could have used the excuse of 'beasts are bad humans are good' or some bullcr*p along those lines if he was a human. Alas, he was a beast himself.
"Anyway, as long as I do it for the sake of power and not for fun it is alright.' Leo knew it was just him overthinking things and once he was used to all this he wouldn't think too much about it. He wouldn't have a choice and he didn't want to have a choice. With all the challenges awaiting him in this world, he couldn't afford to waste his time with useless inner conflicts.
By the time Leo managed to settle his messy thoughts, his health had completely recovered and only two or so minutes went by. In other words, Leo could recover five percent of his health each minute. It was certainly worse than his one percent per second mana recovery, but it was still something he could rely on.
With the slime death as a springboard, Leo stopped sightseeing and started to actively hunt. He didn't go too far from the clearing and focused his efforts on the part of the forest directly bordering the clearing. Since the beast in the area were low-leveled, Leo had a relatively easy time fighting and killing them. Three out of four times, he managed to kill them in one strike and without being discovered. Even if he was discovered the fight would end pretty easily with him being rarely hit and his prey never managing to escape.
He also encountered some tough adversaries during his venture. For example, there was that one snake that managed to ambush him. The snake was completely green and was hanging motionlessly on a tree, managing to fool Leo by passing as a liana. Also, thanks to its heat vision it was able to spot Leo despite the latter using Shadow cloak. When Leo passed by, it sneaked upon him and managed to poison him. Fortunately, for Leo, the poison wasn't too powerful and he wasn't left helpless by it. Still, it proved to be quite a hassle to deal with the snake as Leo was weakened by the poison and the snake had an impressive defense and speed. It was a bitter fight but Leo managed to defeat the snake and that without getting poisoned a second time. When the fight was over he looked at the notifications from the system.
[Ding….. You have been poisoned by a Green Scaled Snake. You will lose 20 HP per second for 5 seconds. You lose 10% of your highest stat for one minute.]
'Hisss.' Leo shuddered at the sight of those words, the slightest mistake and a second bite from the snake would have K.Oed him for sure. He couldn't believe he passed so close to death. And to say some time ago he was having a grand speech about caution. He was just reminded how easily any random beast of this forest could take care of him.
[Ding….You have successfully killed a Green Scaled Snake. You have received 80 Exp and 6SC.]
[Ding…. You have lvl up. You are now level 4. You have received 5 AP and 2 SP.]
[Ding… You have gained the skill Weak poison resistance.]
[Weak poison resistance: Lv 1/10
Increase your poison resistance by 5%]
'I should call it a day for now. I have already gained much from this.' Leo mumbled. While he only gained one level, many of his skills improved and he was more than satisfied with his haul. Now he had to go back and digest everything properly, plus he was currently injured and it wasn't safe to stay out like this.