Chapter 8 – Unexpected Gain

“Runestone,” the most straightforward and easy way to obtain skills and spells without any extra requirements. Even if you have just become a player, you can use the rune stone to gain skills and spells. And till now there are five ways to acquire them.

First, when you kill a strong monster, there is a very very low chance that instead of a mana core in the monster’s heart, there will be a runestone instead.

Second, after clearing a portal, there’s a low probability of obtaining random skill and spell runestones of ‘Grade D’ or lower.

Third, you can obtain certain types of runestones to random types of runestones after clearing different kinds of trials in the Tower of Trials, but there’s a chance that those gained runestones can only be used by the one who completes the trials.

Fourth, trade them with other players ranging from money, items, and goods to other runestones, to even other players' freedom to life.

Lastly, the easiest way, Fifth, is to buy them from the item stores inside the Tower of Trials, but only the most basic ‘Grade F’ runestones are available and the cost is rather high.

Pran jolted back to his senses as he remembered that he was inside a dungeon, which is dangerous, to begin with, but this was 'Hell' mode nonetheless. And by his estimate, the 'Hell' mode was 16 times more dangerous, which he arrived at by comparing the gold and exp he got from the kills. Though it might not be exactly that much, he was pretty sure that it was at the very least 10 times more dangerous than a regular lair-type dungeon, which was already a pain to clear.

Pran then hurriedly looked around to see if any goblins had arrived or not, and after not seeing or hearing anything odd he started to look for the skill runestone. But no matter how carefully he searched, he found nothing.

Was the system playing with him, if so then it was a really bad play... First giving a message that he had received a ‘Grade S' skill runestone, but even after searching for almost five minutes, he found nothing.

He was frustrated and was about to curse out loud, but hit his forehead as if he was the biggest fool ever. He then hurriedly said: "Inventory!"

His inventory appeared right before him, and there it was, in his inventory, the skill runestone. He was about to click on the runestone to check its full description, but suddenly stopped as he heard a few light footsteps coming in his direction, and were getting clearer quickly as if they were hurrying in his direction.

He looked around and saw the dead goblin grunts. In his search for the runestone he forgot to clear the dead bodies so as not to alert other goblins, but that ship sailed a while ago. So instead of hiding the corpses, he came up with a rather risky plan on the spot.

He lay down on the ground a bit further from the goblin corpses as if he managed to kill the goblins but then died while trying to get away from that spot, or passed out. Either way, the goblins won’t be on guard much and he will have the chance to test his speed in melee combat 

He placed himself in a position where he could see how many opponents were coming. Only mere seconds later he saw a group of five goblins emerge from the shadows, their beady eyes fixated on the goblin corpses. their speed increased. They reached the corpses and one of the goblins went down and started checking, while two of them split up and moved towards Pran to check.

One of the two goblins that were still standing behind the goblin that was checking the corpses suddenly turned to face Pran and lifted its hand, soon a small flame appeared on its palm, and it shouted something and the two goblins moving towards Pran instantly stopped.

Pran cursed under his breath: “Shit! That’s at least a low-level mage and a very cautious one!”

Without wasting any time Pran moved and threw a dagger at the goblin that was about to throw the fire at him.

Swish!

The dagger directly pierced that goblin mage's brain, but because Pran didn’t have enough time nor he was in a good posture to exert more strength, its head didn’t explode like the ones before, but it still died in that instant.

While the other goblins were still confused about what was happening, Pran had already taken out the other dagger and moved toward the two goblins that were near him, and before long he slashed their throats, making sure that they were not able to scream even if they didn’t die that instant. As he moved towards the remaining two goblins he saw that one of the remaining goblins that were standing had turned around and was about to run and scream for help.

Pran’s eyes flickered as he said in a low voice: “Oh no you don’t,” and threw the dagger he was holding. The Dagger like before flew like a bullet and pierced that goblin's head from the back and it instantly dropped to the ground, dead!

In the time it took for that dead goblin to fall Pran had already taken out his swards and hacked at the goblin who was still kneeling and was stunned. Before it can even process what was happening it, also, died under Pran’s lightning-fast attack. It might seem that it all took a long time but this all happened in less than three breaths.

[Ding! Killed 4x ‘Goblin Grunt’! Gained 64 Exp & 64 gold coins!]

[Ding! Killed 1x ‘Goblin Magician’! Gained 32 Exp & 16 gold coins!]

[Ding! Penta kill achieved, rewarding +5 Exp!]

[Ding! Obtained ‘Damaged Necklace’!]

[Ding! You have reached Level 2!]

[Ding! You have received +4 Stats Points!]

He thought for a moment: I now have 24 stats points, but I’m strong as it is. I should save them for now and use them later as necessary.

Pran put those thoughts aside and focused once more without being distracted and the first thing he did was to cut open the chest of the goblin magician to see if there was a mana core or not and did not even consider the idea that there might be a runestone. He didn’t find anything, but he didn’t get disappointed because there was close to zero percent chance to get something from such a low-level monster anyway. He still repeated the same process and in the end, did find one of the lowest-level mana cores from one of the corpses of the goblins.

“Well, it’s not particularly valuable, but anything is still better than nothing.”

Soon he moved all the bodies to the side where they would not be easily discovered and collected the arrows and daggers that he used to kill the goblins. After cleaning the arrows, he put them back in the quiver and placed the daggers back in their sheath on the backside of his hip. While still keeping vigilance and opened his inventory once more, firstly he put the sword back in and then finally check the skill runestone description as well as what was the ‘Damaged Necklace’ that he got as the loot this time.

Firstly he clicked on the damaged necklace and a description window appeared before him:

[Name: Damaged Necklace

Type: Jewelry

Grade: Gradeless (Can be upgraded to higher grades after being repaired)

Description: This necklace looks worn and beaten up, with visible cracks and chips on the surface. It appears to have been crafted with some level of skill in the past. Although its current state seems like it has no worth, it has the potential to be a valuable asset to its wearer. If the necklace is repaired, it can provide a boost to the wearer's intelligence and mana levels, making it a coveted item for magic users. Its exact properties are unknown until it is restored to its full potential.]

“Oh! Seems something good, and once repaired I can either give it to big sis or father, or I can even sell it. But I’ll have to find someone who deals with magic accessories or go enter the tower to get it repaired. On second thought, getting it repaired in the tower is a much safer option, and I wouldn’t have to worry that it will be taken from me like here.”

After finalizing what he will do with the damaged necklace Pran clicked on the runestone to check its information. But when he saw it he hurriedly took out the skill runestone and squeezed it, turning it into dust as a new window appeared before him confirming the successful acquisition of the skill.

[Ding! Successfully acquired the Special Passive Skill ‘Supreme Fighter (S)’!]

[Skill Name: Supreme Fighter

Skill Type: Special Passive Skill

Skill Grade: S

Skill Description: Supreme Fighter (S) is a passive skill that provides the skill possessor with unparalleled knowledge and proficiency in both traditional and makeshift weapons. The user can handle any weapon with ease and perform complex maneuvers without hesitation. The skill also imparts knowledge of various fighting styles, allowing the user to adapt their fighting style to any situation.

At the current grade, Supreme Fighter (S) slightly improves reaction speed, allowing the user to react quickly to attacks and anticipate their opponent's moves. As the skill possessor advances to higher grades, their reaction speed will continue to improve, making them an even more formidable opponent in combat.]

"This special passive skill is way better than the special passive skill, “Weapons Master” that I previously had which was only related to all types of weapons, but this also gives me knowledge about fighting style and on top of that the best part is that it increases my reaction speed, and is something worth celebrating,” Pran murmured to himself.

Pran soon returned his focus to the current situation, with became a bit better after gaining this new skill. He then continued going toward where the goblins had come from, but after moving for sometimes he abruptly stopped as he couldn’t believe his own eyes.