The forest was starkly different from the nearby outpost he just came from. In the outpost, there was a lot of noise and a bustling scenario as human life in the settlement forged on, but the usually lively forest with plenty of animal sounds was deathly silent.
In truth, most of the world was like this, according to what Dante had researched pre-descent. If you heard a noise in the wild, that was rather a horrifying indicator of immense danger and incoming demise.
This was exactly why the pets were a thing. Spending 30 days in scenes like this would not do well for the mind, so the cute and lively pets with near-human intelligence and expressions were meant to be a buffer for the average student.
Dante walked through the shrubs and bushes, pushing them aside casually as he walked forward. His Kalashnikov was held before him, as he preferred to use that first rather than the M4A1 for reasons relating to reliability.
Soon, Dante came across a pack of strange rabbits with white fur that was spiky in nature along with blackish-white eyes that leaked blood.
Monster Name: Flesh Eating Weeper Lagomorph
Monster Rank: F
HP: 7/7
Strength: 0.4
Agility: 4.8
Dexterity: 0.2
Intelligence: 0.01
Constitution: 0.2
Vitality: 0.2?
There were about seven of them gathered around one of the corpses of the two-headed mutated dogs he had killed over 30 hours ago. They ripped and tore at its flesh wantonly, a look of perverse excitement on their bloody faces as their eyes continually spilled dark red blood.
The moment Dante entered the clearing, they all stopped their meal and raised their heads in perfect synchronization to glance at him. Having those leaking eyes focus on you in perfect stillness… Dante would probably not forget this sight for a long time.
The rabbits released a strange squeal that sounded cute but made his hairs stand on end for some reason. He raised his weapon and began firing without waiting for them to make the first move.
Naturally, as rabbits, these beasts were frighteningly quick, especially with almost 5 times the agility of a pure human. Even though all their other stats were trash, their movement was enough to make them hard to track.
Unfortunately for them, Dante was 3.5 times more dexterous and 3.2 times more agile than a pure human. Agility referred to balance, movement speed, reflexes, and general skill with feet-related matters while dexterity referred to attack speed, precision, coordination, and hand-related matters.
With such values, Dante was not clumsy with a gun despite never using one before. He was not a sniper or marksman and it was likely that a trained shooter would outscore him easily on a firing range, but his steadiness and ability to track were definitely inhuman.
He gunned down the seven rabbits before they could split up far enough to take him down. The moment he did so, he walked to their corpses and gathered them up before quickly extracting them.
After claiming their stats for his own, his SDI increased as such;
Player Name: Dante
Player Race: Human
HP: 21.4/21.4
Strength: 2.9 -> 3.18
Agility: 3.2 -> 6.58
Dexterity: 3.5 -> 3.64
Intelligence: 1.22 -> 1.227
Constitution: 2 -> 2.14
Vitality: 2 -> 2.14
Mutation Index: 0% (Safe)
Radiation Index: 0% (Safe)
Superpowers: Quantum Entanglement, Absorption.?
Apart from Agility which literally doubled, the rest had marginal gains. After all, despite being mutated and enhanced by the radiation, it was impossible for a mere rabbit to be able to trade blows with a human.
It survived and thrived using its crazy agility to overcome foes, and that was why most players often moved in a party. Someone might have a superpower or equipment that restrained the rabbit while another might have a superpower or equipment that would restrain a two-headed mutated dog.
For the average player, the rabbits having low stats in everything but agility was a blessing since it meant that they were easy to restrain as long as one could cripple their movement.
For someone like Dante who every stat point mattered, it was not a beneficial thing, so he would have to use quantity to make up for quality.
He then glanced at the Mutation Cores from the corpses that had dropped. As for the flesh, it was useless and completely inedible to anyone and only served to be used as bait to attract other monsters over.
Dante picked up the Mutation Cores and then tossed the corpses around the clearing on each side before going to sit in a bush, resting his body that was slightly tired after that exertion in this heavy combat suit.
He didn't have to wait for long before a bunch of two-headed mutated dogs walked over slowly, extremely alert to the area. It was unknown whether they were brought here by the smell of meat or the sound of gunshots.
Dante quietly assessed the group to see that there were ten of them this time, and they were spread out cautiously. Dante couldn't help but wonder if there was a den nearby from which this group and the previous group originated from.
When he saw the two-headed mutated dogs sniff the corpses of the other dogs he killed many hours ago and howl to the sky in grief, he knew his assumption was correct.
The two-headed mutated dogs glanced at the corpses of the rabbits with red eyes, seemingly blaming them for the death of their pals. However, they also seemed confused because they could not understand how these puny rabbits which usually avoided them like cowards would dare ambush one of their groups.
The rabbits didn't even have much in the way of an agility advantage over them, barely more than a single point. It was enough to guarantee their lives if they wanted to escape but to fight?
Before the dogs could think though, a barrage of bullets was fired at them, felling more than 6 of them in quick succession before the others could even react.
They turned to bark at Dante, but that was the wrong action to make when being fired upon. But then again, how could you expect wild dogs to understand how bullets worked?
The remaining four were soon gunned down while whimpering and yelping, their bodies twitching in pain as they bled to death. Once again, Dante dragged the corpses together and absorbed them quickly while making sure there was nothing around to ambush him.
Upon taking their essence within, he also collected the Mutation Cores. He decided to absorb 10 of the F Rank ones on the spot to raise the grade of his superpower to the E Rank.
The 10 cores shattered and then flowed into his body, merging into his chest area and glowing for a while. Dante didn't feel much, but he could tell that his superpower had become a little more… perfect?
Player Name: Dante
Player Race: Human
HP: 36.4/36.4
Strength: 3.18 -> 6.18
Agility: 6.58 -> 10.08
Dexterity: 3.64 -> 7.64
Intelligence: 1.227 -> 1.447
Constitution: 2.14 -> 3.64
Vitality: 2.14 -> 3.64
Mutation Index: 0% (Safe)
ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm Radiation Index: 0% (Safe)
Superpowers: Quantum Entanglement, Absorption.?
[Superpower Name: Absorption
Superpower Rank: E
Superpower Description: Allows the user to absorb the energy of a defeated foe, increasing their own SDI by a moderate amount.]
Dante sensed it and could tell that the previous 10% absorption at the F Rank had increased to 20% at the E Rank. This meant that he would get twice as many stats from the same targets as before.
That was something to look forward to, not to mention that his current SDI was truly frightening. If Dante were to compare it to the Withering Irradiated Zombie from before, then he could now be considered an E-Rank monster in terms of stats alone!
He glanced at the fresh as well as the old corpses and decided to remain here. While his heart was full of confidence as his power increased, he completely managed to restrain his greed and pride in.
Right now, he was not competing with anyone. All he had to do was lie in wait here for more F-rank or so monsters to come and ambush them using his weapons as well as statistical superiority.
He would then harvest their stats, slowly but surely increasing his own while collecting their Mutation Cores. F Rank Mutation Cores were useless to him now, because no matter how many he stockpiled, they could no longer use them to upgrade his superpower.
However, he could accumulate them and sell them at a vendor to earn gold chips and enrich himself, getting better accommodations, equipment and even hiring his own team to work for him during his downtimes.
Aside from that, he could even use the gold chips to buy E Rank Mutation Cores if necessary and then upgrade his superpower after accumulating enough. His method of waiting and then ambushing weaker monsters to slowly accumulate was completely viable in the long run.
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