Nero, The Legendary Hunter

Chapter 3 - 3: New Discovery

'Good, it's going to be easy probably, since these Slimes are very slow.' Closing the mission page, Nero started to walk.

On her way, she took a lot of stones and put each in her inventory. Despite being curious about the "Mana" energy, she wasn't able to use it. Therefore, Nero decided to stop thinking about it for a while.

Soon she found a Level 1 Pink Slime.

Armed with sharp stones, she threw one at the Pink Slime.

"Whoosh!"

_ _ _

·    You defeated the Monster Plant [Pink Slime] Rank F: Level 1.

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After throwing seven stones and hitting with four, she succeeded in defeating the Pink Slime. Nero walked up to the Pink Slime to loot it.

_ _ _

·    1 [Monster Core: Rank F - Level 1] has been added to your inventory.

·    1 [Sticky Mucus: Rank F - Low quality] has been added to your inventory.

·    10 [ Essence Coins] have been added to your inventory.

_ _ _

When she received the core, a new screen opened.

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·    Absorb the [Monster Core] Yes/No?

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"Yes."

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·    You increased 1 Energy Point.

·    You increased 1 Strength Point.

_ _ _

Nero took a deep breath and kept walking, looking for new monsters.

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·    Objective: Absorb monster cores 1/8

_ _ _

Nero mused while she saw the new holographic page that appeared in front of her, 'It's getting easy to kill these monsters.'

She advanced through the forest swiftly, placing stones in her inventory that she saw on her way. Because of that, she got used to throwing stones at these Slimes and killed them easily.

_ _ _

·    Objective: Absorb monster cores 2/8

·    Objective: Absorb monster cores 3/8

·    Objective: Absorb monster cores 4/8

·    Objective: Absorb monster cores 5/8

·    Objective: Absorb monster cores 6/8

·    Objective: Absorb monster cores 7/8

·    Warning: You have until dawn to complete the mission: 1 / 5 hours remaining.

_ _ _

"I only have one hour left," Nero whispered while walking. Despite starting to get hangry, she can stay firm, since her strength increased because of her attributes increasing.

'I was nervous at first, but it wasn't hard to hunt these Slimes.' Nero thought when she was walking around the forest, looking for more monsters.

A little anxiety passed over her pretty and cute face. She couldn't wait to increase her level and then put on some clothes. Nero was feeling some cold winds on parts that made her feel embarrassed. She would be hiding in the treetops to avoid the embarrassment if anyone had been around.

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·    Monster Plant: [Green Slime] Rank F: Level 3

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"This seems to be difficult...' Nero bit her lower lips while pondering if she should try or not to kill this Green Slime.

'Mana... I think I feel it now. If I could use it when throwing the stones...'

This was something that she was thinking, but how she could kill without using mana, she didn't waste her time trying to figure it out before. However, now it was different. If she wanted to increase her chances to successfully kill the Green Slime, she would need to do more than simply throw stones in her opinion.

If necessary, she could run away. So, thinking along these lines, Nero decided to confront the Green Slime. If it didn't end up working, she still had almost an hour to find another Slime.

Taking a deep breath, she drew two stones from her inventory and left the inventory open to make it easier to take out more stones.

Closing her eyes, Nero tried to lead the energy from her body's center to her left hand. She didn't know this was the way to use mana or not but it never hurts to try.

"Clack!"

"Ah?"

Nero opened her eyes and saw a semi-transparent aura in her left hand and noticed that the stone had crumbled into fragments.

"Did I use too much mana?" Nero didn't let herself get discouraged. The opposite happened; she got more excited when saw that she could use mana, or seemed something like it, 'I just need to get my control to be better...'

Picking another stone from her inventory, Nero focused and directed her mana to get left hand, but in a smaller amount.

*Pracc!*

This time, the stone didn't end up crushed in fragments but broke into two parts.

"It was too much yet..."

Letting the two pieces fall on the ground, she pulled another stone from her inventory.

One thing that she realized that day was that the Slimes rarely started an attack, like at that moment when she was next to the Green Slime practicing, it hadn't attacked her yet. This was a good thing, since she was trying a new thing.

When attempting to use her mana a fifth time, she finally achieved results. Her hand that held the stone now shined with a translucent blue aura; the same occurred with the stone on a smaller scale.

*Whoosh!*

*Pow!*

When Nero threw the stone, she could see the trail left behind by it, but she hadn't hit her target.

The Green Slime felt threatened and quickly jumped toward Nero. Without giving up, Nero picked another stone in her right hand and replicated her actions and threw the stone one more time.

*Whoosh!*

*Pow!*

_ _ _

[Alert]

·    [Your action unlocked a new skill: <Queen's throw>]

[Queen's throw]: A skill originally created by Elizabeth Queen that uses small knives that measure 8 cm. When using this skill, a blue aura coats the weapon, causing increased damage on the target.]

[Queen's throw]: Currently this skill is at Level 1.

_ _ _

'Mm? Where does this information come from?' Nero was surprised to see all of this.

It was unexpected but gratifying to only that now she had a skill.

In front of her was opened a grid with other ten grids. 

1 – [<Queen's throw>] 

2 – [...]

...

Only the first grid had something written. Nero clicked on the first slot and a new message appeared.

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·    [Confirm the target: [Green Slime] - [Tree] - [Stone]...]

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Beyond the Green Slime, the trees and large rocks were the targets. Nero didn't lose any time thinking and clicked on Green Slime.

"Ahh!"

Nero felt something strange and saw herself sliding her right foot to the front and leaning her body a little to the back, pulling back her left arm as her mana went into her left hand and the stone, flowing around them.

*Whoosh!*

*Pow!*

[Critical Damage!]

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·    You defeat the Monster Plant: [Green Slime] Rank F: Level 3.]

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"Wow!"

Nero was amazed by this. By the way, it was the first time that a critical message appeared for her. She didn't know anything before about this being possible.

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{Edited by: Azurtha}