Chapter 6: Upgrade Stone

Leo figured it only seemed hard because he was still a low-level player, once he levelled up, killing so many cockatrices wouldn't be that big of a deal.

And with his special title, Leo would eventually reach a point where he would get enough coins to go on a shopping spree.

Leo also believed a stronger monsters would definitely drop more coins, so if he wanted to enjoy the comfort of the system, he had to power up quick.

“Guess oracle saying the strong will rule wasn't wrong.” Leo muttered

For now, the cheapest thing in the system shop was a bottle of water which costs ten coins, the total number of coins Leo had.

He was thirsty, after eating the meat, so he decided to buy it instead. 

As soon as Leo ten coins disappeared, a bottle of water appeared in his inventory. Leo took it out, and examined it. 

It looked like your regular bottle of water from earth, with ‘Tutorial Water’ written on the paper around it as the name of the company.

Leo then uncorked the bottle and downed the water with a couple of gulp. He sighed satisfactorily and squeezed the empty bottle. It was the most refreshing water he had ever tasted.

Leo's attention then turned to his ten free power point he had. The only stat he had in mind was speed, as the cockatrice were definitely faster than him.

He believed with ten points added to his current twenty, he should be able to outrun one.

Leo then began to move through the forest, his eyes scouting for prey, and in a few minutes he found another cockatrice.

But this one wasn't alone, like it first, it had a pair.

Leo was confident he could take down one, but two could be a problem. 

From what he had seen, the cockatrice were intelligent creatures, and they would work together to take him down.

Leo figured that would be bad for him, so he decided to play it safe. He had an idea that he had been itching to try since he tested his ability out which the tree.

“Is there a limit to what he could be turning into a bomb?”

Leo asked and grabbed a piece of rock before using his ability. A circular blue marking on it, and Leo was excited it worked. But the timer had begun counting, which meant it would explode in a couple of seconds.

Leo hurriedly threw the rock towards the pair of cockraice, and rushed to hide. He knew the cockatrice had good detection sense and if he got too close they would discover him.

The stone landed, just before the cockatrice, and they looked around in wary, wondering where the stone came from.

The two then walked towards the stone, with one moving even closer, poking it with its beak. 

“Big mistake.”

Leo watched as the rock exploded, taking off the cockatrice head, and the force hit the second one, causing it to fall to the ground, injured. 

“Guess they're not so intelligent after all.”

This is where Leo decided to make his move, with his thirty points in agility, he was superfast and he had managed to reach the cockatrice in seconds. 

The cockatrice still shaken by the blast, could barely pick itself up, when all of a sudden, a human stood right in front of it.

Leo raised his arm and slapped the cockatrice on the face. One, two…three times. It didn't do much damage physically, but it was enough to snap the bird out of its daze.

As the injured cockatrice attempted a desperate attack with its tail, Leo evaded with swift grace and dashed away.

The bird screeched with fury, and gave chase, cawing loudly. Leo had not killed its mate but had also slapped him three times on the face. 

But it didn't matter how fast it moved, it wasn't able to catch up with Leo, who had boosted his speed earlier on.

Suddenly, Leo came to a halt and turned to face his pursuer. 

The cockatrice saw an opening and lunged toward him, but it meet its doom before it even got close. 

Leo's explosion had detonated on its face, not once or twice, but three times. The same number of times Leo had slapped his ability unto the cockatrice face. The bird perished before the third explosion.

Grinning, Leo relished in his victory. He knew three explosions was overkill, but he wasn't taking any chances. His rewards poured in – two power stones, a cockatrice shirt, four pieces of meat, and twenty coins. Then, his title kicked in and doubled the rewards, causing Leo to grin heartily.

“Totally worth it.”

Leo then went into the forest to find more cockatrice pairs to hunt them down. 

He had managed to kill four more cockatrices before deciding to call it a night.

However, as he searched for a place to take refuge, something golden caught his eye – a treasure chest nestled at the base of a tree.

Leo knelt before it, placed his hand on the box, and then a notification appeared.

[Treasure Chest Found]

[Would you like to open it?]

“Yes, please,” Leo eagerly replied, and with a click, the chest revealed its contents, which promptly vanished into his inventory.

Leo checked his storage and couldn't help but gasp at the rewards: a sword, a vitality power stone, an upgrade stone and a thousand gold coins.

“A weapon finally!” Leo shouted as he took out the sword, but while celebrating, his title kicked in once again.

[Title: Apocalypse Baby taking effect]

[You have received another sword, power stone, upgrade stone, and 1000 coins]

“Oh,” 

Leo chuckled in surprise, he didn't think it would work on treasure chest too. 

He took out the second sword and saw it was identical to the first. 

He attempted to wield both, but the result was a somewhat awkward display. 

Leo was an office worker in real life and had never touched any weapon before this, so there was no way he would suddenly know how to use one. 

Acknowledging his inexperience, Leo put the swords away and turned his attention to the power stones. He used them and his vitality rose by four, causing his HP to rise by 400.

Next, Leo took out the upgrade stone and the description made his mouth drop. 

[Upgrade Stone: Raise one of your ability to a higher rank]

Leo's ability was currently E-rank and with an upgrade stone he could raise it up to D.

But he had not one but two upgrade stones. How much stronger will his ability become after he used both?