Arganthes: The Capital Of Dungeons 63 Chapter 28: The System & The First Mission

Unable to see... I did not know where I was...

As I raised my head one thing was certain, I wasn't close to Sharoo anymore...

As I tried to calm down and collect my thoughts something far worse occurred to me.

"Where are the others?"

I said hoping Haruka would pound my head for being stupid, but, instead... there was no response...

Eve kept quiet, but that wasn't one of my concerns, as I knew I couldn't have lost her.

I looked around... In doing so, I quickly realized Haruka was nowhere to be found.

The environment although at first glance similar to the forests surrounding Sharoo where overgrown with lush rainforests, with all the green surrounding me, one could even say I got stuck inside a jungle.

Having to find Haruka I bolted off into the lush green environment where I found myself in...

Hoping to find her as panic began to come over me, unable to believe I had lost someone so precious to me within seconds, I sat out determined to find her.

As I looked around, wary of my surroundings, I suddenly heard a voice inside my head.

"She... can't... be... far, right?"

"Eve!"

A window popped up that eve was being rebooted.

As Eve had finally been rebooted, her groggy and sluggish answer almost made it seem like she had been sleeping. As if the pa.s.sage through the portal had drained her from energy, as it had taken its toll...

Thankfully she was now slowly regaining consciousness as I wasn't alone anymore inside of the unknown environment. Looking around me I truly didn't know where I should have been looking first.

The only thought in my mind was to find Haruka, all alone in this world...

Eve noticed that I began to worry and a.s.sured me about her safety.

"Master, Haruka isn't hurt, she must have gone out to explore the environment as she must have awakened before us."

I kept looking around when suddenly, I heard the rustling of the bushes around us.

Eve warned me about the incoming creatures as an "alert" notice popped up in front of me,

blinking bright red. I quickly duck into one of the remaining bushed when the beasts jumped out.

At first glance, the beasts appeared to be ferocious boars...

But before I could see the alert window changed into the appearance of the beast.

Giving me a detailed three-dimensional view as it began informing me about its nature,

habits, diet, living environment, rarity, and characteristics.

[Race Catalogue Unlocked]

[Introducing incoming species;

Name: Savage Angus

Rarity: Low-Grade

Living Environment: lives in open plains, overgrown forests,

and environments flourishing with plant life.

Nature: The nature of these ferocious animals, tends to clash with all other life residing in the area, as they protect their territory with their life.

Habits: Loving towards their family, but savagely cruel to anyone who is trespa.s.sing within their territory or those who have ill intentions to those of their brethren.

Diet: Omnivorous; Plants, berries, small bugs and animals

Characteristics: Wide beefy shoulders, razor-sharp tusks, big hoofs giving it an edge in reflexes, and A soft fur that cushions most impacts.]

As I had examined the information and the window disappeared it became clear I had two options.

I could either hide until they would pa.s.s me allowing me to continue my search, or confront the beasts and see just how "savage" they were...

Wanting to stay away from the trouble I decided it was better to hide, but Eve must have read my mind as a window with a theme I had never seen before popped up in front of me.

The window was covered in black flames and read the following text;

[Survival Notice;

As you have arrived in an unknown world it is of the utmost importance to stay alive and survive through the harsh and unknown environments...

"The System" has been synchronized to your consciousness allowing you to create missions based on "your" survival.]

Immediately after the window burned away only to lid up another one.

[Mission Notice; Use Your Surrounding, As you Fight For Survival!

There are too many to confront, stay hidden, and wait for the right opportunity to take them out from the shadows.

Requirements to clear the mission;

Kill all Savage Angus 0/5

Reward;

1000 exp

5 attribute points

"?" Reward]

I didn't know how to approach the beasts as it looked like they went berserk on the small prey they had caught. Some of them had collected some plant life and began to savagely smear their caught prey in them.

I knew this wasn't the time to strike as I held my breath and watched without moving an inch or making a noise. Fascinated by the nature of the beasts I looked for an opportunity to strike,

but couldn't find an opening...

As their prey had almost been prepared, most of the Angus went their separate ways.

At last... it looked like the long wait had paid off as an opportunity arose with the last remaining Angus.

Carefully it prepared the leaves, as it gently lay it over the prey.

Slowly I got closer when suddenly the bushes at the other side began to rustle...

*rustle* *rustle*

Alarmed by the noise the Angus looked at the bushes that kept rustling.

Now focused on the bushes in front of me I quickly took this chance to blend with the shadows surrounding the area.

A small bunny jumped out of the bushes as the Savage Angus looked relieved.

Now closed in on the back of the beast I swiftly struck at its spine.

The artifacts surrounding my wrists began to react at my intentions as sharp shadow-like blades formed. Taking this unique opportunity by the hand I swiftly struck the beast in the back.

With a single strike, the beast was taken down, as a small window insight showed me the results.

[Defeated 1/5 Savage Angus. Gained 50 exp.]

As the reward window closed I couldn't help but feel,

that "The System" resembled the mechanics of a videogame.

As the beast vanished in black smoke as if it had never been there, a small crystal-like back in the fields when I had fought with the wolfs dropped from within the smoke.

Quickly it cleared leaving the small rock behind.

As I closed in to pick it up another a few small things shined close by,

as if the beast had dropped something other than the crystal.

As I tried to reach out to whatever was lying on the ground I noticed something strange.

Not only did a raw piece of meat lay there on the ground, the sharp claws of the animal and not to mention both its tusks lay there waiting to be collected.

I quickly tried to pick them up when another window popped-up.

This time it wasn't the usual notice window as it had more to say.

[Notice Window;

"The System" allows the user to collect items in their represented "Inventories" this has been created to give the user as many opportunities to develop as possible, as this, in turn, allows the user to "craft", "sell" or "upgrade," said items.

This is why creatures defeated or "killed" by the user not only allow the user to "gain" experience. But also allow them to drop items to further benefit the user.]

As the items didn't lay there on the ground anymore I tried to think of a way to view what I had collected.

I silently began going through names.

Bag, Collection, Pocket! But nothing happened.

Frustrated I wanted to shout the last thing that came to mind when suddenly a window popped open showing what I had collected.

Wanting to be certain that the word I had visualized inside my head indeed triggered the event I closed said bag and whispered. "Inventory"

Again the same window popped up showing the findings I had collected.

[Inventory:

2x Angus Fangs

1x Raw Angus Beef

2x Angus Tusk

1x Low-Grade Magic Crystal

Gold: 5 Silver: 25 Brons: 80]

I looked in awe as multiple questions began to flood my mind.

How did a G.o.d come up with this concept?

Why is it that "I" in particular was chosen for the system?

And most importantly: In what ways could I implement the system?

As the ideas, I wanted to try began to flood in like a freshly broken dam.

I realized I shouldn't get side-tracked. As I recaptured my focus one of the Angus beasts returned from its rounds.

It appeared it had collected some wood, looking at the way the entire group wanted to carefully prepare their freshly caught prey was fascinating to me, almost like how we humans would prepare our meals even...

First I made sure that the Angus was the only one present, after a while,

this was a certain fact. Which is why I carefully tried to approach it.

As I tried to attack it from behind another arrived.

My strike had instantly finished it the previous one, and since it was too dark to see,

I was lucky enough to get away unitized.

Still, it's companion got alarmed as the low-grade core crystal fell onto the ground with a heavy thud.

*thud*

Quickly the Savage Angus turned around, looking for what made the heavy sound.

As I drew closer to the prey they were preparing, I saw a chance to strike it.

When I did, the beast turned towards me and looked me straight in the eyes as it realized what was happening to it. Before it could squeal I already pierced the core crystal. Instantly the beast vaporized in front of me dropping some unexpected loot.

Warning to check the progress I thought of the word as instantly a window popped up with the progress of the mission.

[Defeated 3/5 Savage Angus. Gained 100 exp.]

Immediately after another notice popped up.

As somewhat of a victory tune ringed in my ears.

[Michael Shadowfang levelled up.

Increased level from 0 to 1, Reward: 5 status points.

Notice; we recommended to check these things out after the mission!]

As I found the notice a fair and viable suggestion I kept focused on what was important. Quickly finishing the mission so I could meet up with Haruka.

Sure enough, the other two Savage Angus arrived shortly after I collected the loot that was laying around. Without any sign of their brethren, they began to worry as they left their prey alone...

in a hurry, they began to search for their lost companions.

One left the meeting point, while the other began to thoroughly search the bushes around their meeting point. As they were the last two for the mission notice, I stayed close by the one that kept searching close by. As it had it's back turned to my I jumped towards it without making a sound, as I landed inches away from it, I accidentally stepped on a twig, giving away my position.

Unable to reverse what happened I moved in for the kill.

The Savage Agnus alarmed by the sound of the breaking twig instantly turned towards it.

Now, face to face I tried to end it as quickly as possible, but the beast blocked my sneak attack with its tusks, throwing me off guard. The beast held me in a tight lock we both couldn't let up,

as we both knew when one of us would, the other would die…

Just then, the last of its companions returned, it noticed us clashing against one another and ferociously came to the aid of its family member. It rushed towards us to attack me… Unable to move I braced myself for the full force of the impact as I tried to think of a way to counter or parry the incoming beast. But what happened next was something that chilled me to the bone…

The Savage Angus rushed headfirst into its companion, nearly instantly killing it in the process.

The beast already wounded tried to get up, but couldn't anymore… I stood there unable to process what had happened as it felt like time stood still for a moment.

Yet, as the moment felt like an eternity, in reality only a few seconds had pa.s.sed as I came back to my senses.

"Hey! Master! Snap out of it! Kill the last remaining one, do it, now!!"

Eve snapped me out of my confusion as I jumped towards the last remaining savage beast.

Quickly and with one clean strike through the temple of the beast, I ended its life,

clearing the mission.

A tune celebrated the successful clearance of the mission as a window popped up to inform me about the results.

[Mission Notice; Use Your Surrounding, As you Fight For Survival!

Requirements to clear the mission; Cleared

Kill all Savage Angus 5/5

Reward;

1000 exp

5 attribute points

"?" Reward]

As I received the rewards I had now become level 4. The windows notified me that whenever I gained a level I also gained at least five attribute points, as I had played quite the amount of RPGs, Dungeon Crawlers, and Hack n' Slash games I knew this system would help me to gain strength rapidly.

Curious about the possibility to strengthen myself, I wondered what I could do with the points.

At the same time, I continued to look at the rest of the rewards. Having received the experience points and attribute points, only the "?" or unknown rewards remained.

Wanting to know what it would be I tried pushing the b.u.t.ton which revealed some sort of box…

Not sure about what it could do I decided to put it away in my inventory and quickly picked up and put away all stuff that lay on the ground.

As the mission came to an end I quickly opened my inventory to check my findings.

[Inventory:

2x Angus Fangs

3x Raw Angus Beef

5x Angus Tusk

5x Low-Grade Magic Crystal

Gold: 05 Silver: 51 Brons: 00]

It appeared fighting the Savage Angus had also rewarded me with cash.

But… why would a creature inside an unknown world, drop usable currency?

Why would the creatures in question even drop loot in the first place?

As I questioned the logic of the loot, no matter how awesome and cool it was,

was it practical and logical to begin with? At that moment Eve popped out of my consciousness,

as she quickly began to answer the questions that I had.

"Master, feel free to ask about "The System" whenever you like.

But for now, I'll answer the questions currently burning in your mind.

As Eve is highly practical for those who have been chosen to use it, there are a lot of benefits.

For instance, not only do you gain experience and level up, but you will also find loot dropped by the beasts and enemies you fight.

This is all to help aid those using E.V.E.

When all danger seemed to have faded away again trees and bushes close to us began to rustle.

Quickly we hid away masking our presence as something other than the Savage Angus had arrived…