April 3rd, 2011
The Earth of Solo Leveling was one crawling with monsters and Hunters, you could find a powered human in every neighborhood, and the monsters outnumbered the Hunters even then, plenty of monsters to hunt for plenty of EXP, a big contrast from my current situation.
Brockton Bay isn't the best place for leveling up. Sure there's gangsters and parahumans, but gangsters are mostly just normal people, and parahumans are too few to reliably level with, which leaves me with one reliable method of leveling up quickly.
Dungeon keys. Dungeon keys are a type of item given by random boxes that allow the player to open up a pocket dungeon and hunt monsters freely, completely undisturbed. It's never fully explained what the chances are of getting a dungeon key but in my case the answer is simple, common.
I've had the system for three days now, with three daily quests completed, and three dungeon keys accompanying them. Unusual since the random boxes should also give other items like bandages and pencils, but I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Taking a deep breath, I couldn't help but mutter to myself, "Here we go."
I lifted the E-rank dungeon key and twisted it, watching reality twist with it as a bright light enveloped my vision, and then there it was, a blue gate only visible to me, covering the entrance to a two story warehouse. The warehouse was abandoned, and there was no one inside, at least for the moment. It's completely possible that some Merchants or one of the other gangs use this place as some sort of base and it's just empty for now, but all in all it won't matter, once I enter the gate the outside world won't be able to interfere.
Steeling myself, I walked through the gate, a gust of wind signaling my entry as the entrance hardened into a wall, sealing my exit.
Aarlm
[You Have Entered The Instant Dungeon.
Somehow being inside the dungeon made the warehouse look even worse. Large plants sprouted from the ground, roots digging into the cement as if it was common soil. The only light in the building was supplied by holes in the walls and ceiling and a maze of storage racks were limiting the paths I could take to the second floor.
Alarm
You Cannot Leave The
Dungeon. Either Kill The Boss Or
Use The Return Crystal.]
Taking another deep breath, I focused my senses and entered the maze of racks, starting the hunt.
Pocket dungeons function like a video game, the monsters aren'treal.Sure, they can definitely cause real damage, but they're more like projections made by the system, spawning in from anywhere like monsters from a game. Which means they could come from behind, beside, above, or…
[Steel Fang Raikan.]
…Directly in front of me.At least it's the same monster as the story.
I moved slowly, careful not to provoke it yet, moving into a guarded position, legs bent, ready to move, and arms spread out.
Status
NAME- Jude Sung LEVEL: 1
Job- None
Fatigue- 0
Title- None
HP: 100
MP- 10
STR- 19
VIT-10
AGI- 10
INT- 10
Senses- 10
Remaining Points- 0
I shifted on my feet, it was a standoff, and I was nervous, but I couldn't let it show. Any sign of weakness and the overgrown mut will pounce before I'm ready. In a way, I'm worse off than Sung Jinwoo was, he was more experienced with fighting monsters, and he had a sword. But I have my own advantages, my knowledge.
Stats don't stay wholly within their respective area, each stat influences another in some way, with the exception of 'intelligence' which has its own perks. 'Strength' helps with 'agility' and 'vitality', and since I don't have any spells or attack skills, it's also my best way of attacking, that's why I focused my stats on it early on.
The Raikan let out a growl, a low sound that had a metallic edge to it. I wasn't going to try a head on attack, if I had a weapon it would be viable, but with only my fists I wasn't going to do enough damage to take it out without exhausting myself, so I was going to use my strength for something else.
I released some of my emotions from the vice grip I had it in, not enough to affect my performance, but enough to show the nervousness on my face. The Raikan noticed immediately, sensing the weakness and lunging forward, just as I wanted it to.
My legs tensed and released like a spring, not as far as I could go with my strength, but enough to sidestep the attack as the monster wolf landed where I had just been standing. It reacted quickly, head whipping to the side, but by then it was too late.
I felt the steel jawed wolf impact my shoulder as I tackled it to the ground wrapping my arms around its neck and locking my fingers together into a choke hold.
The Raikan struggled of course, thrashing around wildly in my grip, claws grinding across the floor, digging into the cement and dragging me across the narrow opening we were in and into the immovable storage racks, but my grip didn't budge, my 19 strength points holding strong against the beast and gradually tightening.
It felt incredible, the wolf was already having trouble breathing and I could feel it, I could do more, squeeze even tighter, and I did. I kept applying more pressure as the beast's metallic growl turned into a choked whimper, until eventually, I felt apopand all noises and thrashing ceased.
Alarm
You Have Defeated The Steel Fang Raikan.
Alarm
You Leveled Up!
Finally releasing my grip, I let myself rest on the ground for a moment. The fight wasn't that draining, all things considered, but the feeling of the fight, of killing a monster, of leveling up, I expected it to be more disturbing, but instead…
It's a rush!
I should probably be more concerned, after all I just killed the thing, projection or not, but any such feelings were drowned out by the feeling of getting stronger.
After a minute I picked myself up off the ground, making my way to the corpse of my former opponent. Upon reaching it, I reached down, and grabbed its metal jaw in one hand. I positioned my other hand and grabbed the roof of the wolf's mouth.This is going to be gross. I pulled, wrenching the steel jaw off the dead beast, blood now leaking on the floor from its face.
It wouldn't be my first choice but… I need a weapon. It actually reminded me of the story of Samson, killing an army with nothing but the jaw he tore off some random animal carcass. Though, that jaw wasn't made of steel.
My gaze wandered further down the hallway of storage racks, catching sight of eyes in the distance that seemed to glow with a predatory light.
Any nervousness I had was all but gone, I'd already killed one of these things, and I'm already stronger than I was then, and besides, these wolves are nothing compared to the Endbringers. If I want to kill one of those bastards I'm going to need to level up a whole lot more. So now therealhunt begins.
Time to start power leveling.