Suddenly, Quinn could hear the sounds of something scurrying towards him at an amazing speed. As he turned the beast was now in full sight.
It was the same size as a large dog with the head of a rodent. Black in colour and running on all fours. He would have said it looked like a giant rat however its body parts were muscular around its arms, while its body remained incredibly thin. So much so that the outline of its ribs could be seen.
When the creature was a few feet away it leapt in the air and claws appeared from the creatures two front limbs.
Quinn almost out of instinct swiped his hand letting out a blood swipe. The attack managed to hit the beast and sent it flying back. The attack had caused a large cut to appear on the creature’s stomach and black blood started to leak from the wound.
While the beast was taking the time to recover, Quinn decided to use his inspect skill.
\u003c Name: Rattaclaw \u003e
\u003c Basic tier beast \u003e
\u003c HP ? \u003e
\u003c ? \u003e
Unlike with humans, when Quinn used the status screen it would show there HP and blood type, but in this case, he had only received a name and the level of the beast.
Seeing the tier of the beast though, Quinn started to feel a little less frightened. He was in an unknown place and just because the beast was small in size, didn’t mean it was a low tier. However, something like the Rattaclaw even Quinn should be able to deal with it.
The Rattaclaw had recovered and charged straight for Quinn once again, seeing how the blood swipe was effective he waited for the beast to get close once again.
“Blood swipe.”
But Quinn had underestimated the speed and the responsiveness of the Rattaclaw. It had learnt from last time what to look out for and jumped to the side avoiding the attack.
Then it dashed forward increasing its speed and jumped out at Quinn.
Just in time, Quinn had managed to shove his gauntlet into the mouth of the beast, as it’s two big teeth clomped down onto the gauntlet, he heard a creaking noise.
\u003c Defense 1 \u003e
\u003c Durability of weapon has decreased by 50 percent \u003e
\u003c Strength has fallen 2 (3) \u003e
“You little crap, get off me!” Quinn shouted as he started swinging his arm, trying to shake the beast off but the beast had clomped down hard refusing to let go.
With the beast stuck to his arm, it was too dangerous for him to use blood swipe and too close for him to perform a hammer strike. All that was left, was to do it the old-fashioned way.
Quinn then started to repeatedly pound the beast on its head with his other hand. With each blow, black blood would gush out of the beast. The blows were powerful and damaging to the beast and with each strike the grip started to loosen.
“If you had just stayed away, you could have lived!” Quinn shouted as he continued to punch the beast, until finally, its grip had come loose and it had fallen to the ground.
Quinn looked like he had just come off the movie off a horror set, his arm and clothes were now completely covered in black blood but he didn’t care, for a message had appeared bearing great news.
\u003c Basic tier beast (Rattaclaw) has been defeated \u003e
\u003c 100 exp points gained \u003e
\u003c First basic tier beast killed, bonus Exp awarded, 200 Exp \u003e
\u003c First time killing (Rattaclaw) bonus Exp awarded 100 Exp \u003e
\u003c 880/800 Exp \u003e
Multiple notifications had been received at once and everything came as quite a shock to him. Not only did he receive more Exp for killing a beast compared to fighting against a human but he also received bonus points too.
Similar to when he faced a new power level for the first time, he had gained bonus points for killing a basic tier, as well as bonus points for killing this specific beast for the first time as well.
In a way to beasts were a gold mine for his system.
\u003c Congratulations, you are now Level 5 \u003e
\u003c Race: Halfling \u003e
\u003c HP 30/30 \u003e
\u003c 40/1600 Exp\u003e
\u003c Strength 13 (2) \u003e
\u003c Agility 15 \u003e
\u003c Stamina 12 \u003e
Levelling up had given Quinn one extra stat point. Looking at his stats now he decided to put the stat point into strength.
\u003c Strength 14 (2)\u003e
The reason for this was the skill Hammer strike, it needed a total of 15 strength to perform, while he had the gauntlets on they gave him an extra bonus of three strength but when the Rattaclaw had damaged the gauntlets the strength dropped to two.
If his gauntlets were to be destroyed, then he would no longer be able to perform Hammer strike correctly. So first Quinn decided he would get his strength up to fifteen before focusing on stamina and agility.
But the system still had one more surprise for him.
\u003cNew skill unlocked \u003e
\u003c Blood spray \u003e
\u003c Blood spray: The user’s palm must be open to perform this skill. From the user’s palm, a spray of blood pellets will be realised spreading out covering a wide range. The closer the attack is to its target the more damage it will do\u003e
\u003cCost -5 HP \u003e
The skill reminded Quinn of a shotgun he used to watch form the old movies. Where the small pellets would spread out hitting multiple targets. The problem was the cost of the skill.
5 HP was a huge amount and even with his blood bank Quinn would have to be careful when using it. The plus side was that it was a skill designed to hit more than one opponent.
If Quinn had Layla around, he would like to test the Blood spray out but he didn’t know how long he would be stuck here, so it was best to reserve his HP and as much blood as possible.
Quinn then walked up to the dead beast on the ground. He had punched the creature so hard in the skull it was indented and blood was leaking everywhere.
Looking at the black blood it didn’t seem appetizing at all. He wasn’t drawn to it like regular human blood and it didn’t give off a sweet fragrance either.
Still, there might come a time were Quinn was required to drink it so he needed to test it out.
“Inspect.”
\u003c Rattaclaw blood \u003e
\u003c If blood is consumed is piousness to the body – 1 HP for every millimetre of blood consumed \u003e
It was expected. The signs were a giveaway that his body was telling him to stay away.
“I wonder why does my body only accept human blood.”
The system had been oddly specific when his body started to require blood, this made Quinn think that even the blood of animals wouldn’t work, even though some were red in colour just like humans.
Of course, there was one person who did know the answers behind everything, and that was the blonde man in the video.
The last thing he needed to do was rip or cut the body open and look for the beast core inside. It was a small crystal located in a different part of the body depending on the beast.
This could be used to either create more beast weapon and armour or even be sold for credits. Both of these would be a big bonus for him.
Suddenly though, the sound of something running was heard again, as Quinn looked up, the sight of ten Rattaclaws were running in his direction.
Although Basic tier creatures were weak, it was odd for them to travel alone and Quinn had just gotten lucky.
After struggling to face just against one, he knew he had no chance against ten. All he could do was run. He ran down the empty street not knowing where he was heading.
But the Rattaclaws were fast and would soon catch up. That’s when Quinn spotted a building, one that was far less damaged than the others. He went inside but the space was still too large, he then spotted a stairway to his right nearby.
After quickly running up the stairway and reaching the first platform he stopped and turned. He knew he had no choice but to fight back. The staircase was narrower than the rooms and he had the high ground.
With his palm open facing downward he was ready.
“Time to test you out.”
****
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