LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 3: Wooden Horned Squirrel
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
On the first day, Su Login woke up at dawn and decided to look for fruit. He had to go deeper and deeper into the forest to get supplies.
Luckily, he didn't encounter any monsters and the young people walking through the forest didn't pay any attention to him.
[The Daily Prize can be collected.]
Su Login received that message as soon as he opened his eyes, before going out to collect fruit.
Collect.
[Congratulations, you've received 'Common Herbal Essence Jar'].
[Common Herbal Essence Jar: A jar containing simple herbal essences that can be used to speed up recovery from minor injuries].
The item looked like an ordinary healing potion, rudely compared to an object from his old world.
Unlike the Lucky Charm, the Herbal Essence Jar could be useful after the fight against the monsters in the forest, but his focus was on leveling up as quickly as possible, so he quickly consumed his Daily Prize.
[The 'Common Herbal Essence Jar' has been successfully consumed. Congratulations, the Player has received 35 XP].
As expected of a common item, it didn't help him pass the Level this time. The requirements for reaching the next stage were 50 XP.
Today I'll be practicing my movement through the forest and a bit of tree climbing.
Su Login, after eating some of the fruit he had collected in thirty minutes, began his training. He needed to get used to the terrain so that he wouldn't be surprised during combat.
If he could fight like a native, he would be on an equal footing with the monsters. Climbing trees would be useful if he was going to face creatures that focused on fighting on the ground.
He spent the rest of the day focused on that training, and so the first day of preparation passed.
***
[The 'Common Breathing Technique' has been successfully consumed. Congratulations, the Player has received 20 XP].
[Congratulations on reaching Level 3!]
Su Login was a little surprised, this was the first time he had received a manuscript in the Daily Login System. He was tempted to read it, but once the item was used, it would disappear.
Even if it wasn't a single-use item, there was also the fact that the value of objects decreased with use.
But he wasn't too worried about sacrificing those Daily Prizes. Since they were just common items, there would be other opportunities to get them again.
This time I got less XP, but it was enough to Level up.
That was the last day before Su Login finally went deeper into the heart of the forest to face the monsters. He had progressed less than he had hoped, but his mind was as calm as the waters of the nearby lake.
With his training over the last few days, he felt more confident in using that body.
Su Login had improved some of his old moves because of the difference between his current physique and his old one, so he could extract all the power from his techniques.
After checking that he had received 5 Points from leveling up, he opened his Status screen and invested all his gains in Strength.
His Status screen looked like this, after increasing the value of the Strength attribute:
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[Su Login, 14 Years Old]
[Level: 3]
[XP: 5 / 80]
[Qi: 0 / 2,500]
[Race: Human | Cultivation: Celestial]
[Realm: Unavailable]
[Strength: 8 | Defense: 3]
[Agility: 2 | Qi Gain: 1]
[Intelligence: 1 | Technique: 1]
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His Qi still hadn't changed even after rising two levels. When he got out of there, he would do more research to find out how to increase that attribute.
The System existed to benefit the player; it didn't make sense to have an attribute there that wouldn't increase Su Login's strength at all.
Now, I must adapt to my new strength.
Of course, Su Login's current strength multiplied by 0.08 was still nothing, the only thing he developed with his calisthenics was muscle pain, but he felt that, even if only a little, he was stronger than when he woke up in that world.
For the rest of that day, he practiced punches, kicks and chokes that could be useful against large and medium-sized monsters.
Su Login was also worried about people moving through the forest, so he also practiced effective blows against humans, he couldn't let his guard down in that place, he could meet that trio of bullies again if he was unlucky.
It would be inopportune to be taken by surprise by them and not be ready.
So Su Login just fortified himself for the rest of the day.
***
Finally, it was time to explore the forest.
Su Login woke up early and searched for fruit to satisfy himself, but before he left, he collected his Daily Prize.
[Congratulations, you have received 'Common Cultivation History Book'.]
[Common Cultivation History Book: An introductory book that describes the basic principles, stories and legends about cultivation and its early stages].
Honestly, that was something I only wanted to deal with in the future.
He didn't have time to read at the moment, and that item wouldn't help him at all. Of course, he had the option of consuming it, but he felt that this was important knowledge that he might not receive any time soon.
Even gold could become useless if it was given to someone starving in a desert; that book was given at an inopportune moment.
I'll save it to read when I have time.
In other words, that day's Daily Prize would do nothing to help him to Level up. If he realized that he would be risking his life against the monsters, he would have no choice but to consume the item and increase his attributes.
Su Login sighed and started walking through the forest. This time, he took the path he had seen other people using.
As he walked, he realized that he shouldn't have hesitated so long to go deeper into the forest, as he hadn't encountered any creatures for as long as he had. He had walked at least a kilometer before he heard the bushes moving.
Su Login relaxed his mind and focused on the sounds around him.
When he heard a shot, he moved his body quickly and ducked down, using his hands to keep his face from hitting the ground.
Vosh!
A quick projectile flew over him; if he had still been standing, he would have been impaled by it. Su Login stood up quickly and took his distance from the attacker.
The thing launched in his direction, which stuck in the trunk of a nearby tree, looked like a small wooden stake, the sharp point intended only to pierce the victim's abdomen.
Without wasting any time, Su Login grabbed the stake and pulled it out, turning it into his own weapon.
As for who had thrown it, to the young man's surprise, it was a small monster. If I had to use simple words to describe it, it was a brown squirrel.
The squirrel had a hole in its head, but blue lights appeared around it and a wooden horn grew out of it. That horn was exactly like the stake in Su Login's hand.
Quickly, the squirrel jumped to another tree and threw its wooden horn towards its prey. Su Login placed his hand on the ground and rolled at the same speed as the attack, avoiding it.
There was a ten-second delay before the squirrel's horn grew again, and taking advantage of this gap, the young man stood up and used a log to protect himself.
The monster with the wooden horn moved, looking for a favorable position to impale its victim, but all it saw was a projectile coming at it at a speed impossible to dodge.
The squirrel squealed loudly as its body was pierced by the stake.
Su Login decided to use his opponent's power against him. He turned the stake he had in his hands and threw it, his technique was perfect, the horn flew through the air as if it had been shot from a bow.
[You killed a 'Wooden Horned Squirrel'.]
[You received 'Wooden Horn'.]
[You received 10 XP.]
10 XP was not much if you considered how deadly the Wooden Horned Squirrel was, it could impale people who were unsuspecting or too slow to dodge its attack.
After checking that there were no more monsters around, he collected the other stake thrown by the squirrel in the middle of the fight, it was the only weapon he had.
Luckily, the act of twisting the stake in his fingers and throwing it after applying pressure didn't depend on strength, but on technique. The faster he was, the more of an advantage he would have.
Su Login picked up a stick from the ground and practiced the move a little.
First, he held the stick between his fingers, then he held it between his little finger and index finger and, finally, after a slight pressure, he opened his hand quickly, throwing the object in his hands at an impressive speed.
The young man practiced a few more times before continuing to explore the area, careful to avoid being surprised by a wooden horn flying towards him.
It wasn't long before he heard a projectile whizzing towards him, but it had been fired from a long way off, so he took a short leap backwards.
But just as he jumped, he heard another shot coming from behind him, this one closer and aimed at his head; it would be difficult to change course at that moment.
If he didn't think quickly about how to avoid it, his head would be pierced by the attack.