Chapter 12: Stone Mountain: The First Hunt Begins
On a morning day, the sun starts to rise, and cool air flows through Nexus City. Birds echo their chirp-chirp songs through the air.
Then,
30 minutes after morning, Ash begins to wake from sleep. He sees that Evan is already awake. Ash thinks in his mind, "Evan didn't dare to wake me because Evan thought I should rest more.
After all,
Our journey to Stone Mountain will not be easy—we have to take care of many things and deal with monsters.
So,
Evan just waited for me to wake up by myself."
Ash opens his eyes, still sleepy. Afterward, he talks with Evan. Ash says to Evan, "How are you feeling after waking up?"
Evan replies, "Very good, my lord," with a small smile on his face.
Again,
Ash nods with a calm face.
After that, he says, "Let's freshen up and meet with Ram and eat some meat. Then we'll start our journey to the Stone Mountain, where we have to deal with some monsters and take care of stone mining for our future use. And if everything goes well, then we'll have our first house and market in the city."
Then,
Ash thinks in his mind about how many bullets he will need to deal with this kind of monster. After that, Ash says, "My window," in his mind.
......
.........
Name: Ash (Altar Owner)
Age: 24
Status: Healthy
Abilities: None
Level: 1 (0/100 Mana Mist Level 1)
Weapon: Low Grade Gun, 10 bullets, Low Grade Knife
......
.........
Ash, after seeing the pop-up window in front of him,
Thinks that he only has 10 bullets left. After using them, he will have to fight with a knife. So, he thinks he has to increase his level to at least Level 2 for more protection, and increase Evan's level to Level 1.
After thinking deeply,
He and Evan start to do their morning work and freshen their mood.
Then they go toward the altar to meet Ram, check on his injury, and ask if he wants to eat with them.
In the altar,
Ash and Evan meet Ram. Ash asks Ram if he wants some food or anything else for his health. After that, he asks, "How's your injury?"
After some minutes,
Ram answers Ash, "My injury is healing quickly. After four days, I will be able to walk in the city normally. And please send some food to eat, I haven't eaten any food for two weeks."
Ash nods and says to Ram, "Okay, we will give you the food after we cook ours. Evan and I are going out of the city for stone mining, and you have to take care of the city."
Ram says to Ash, "Okay, don't worry. I can detect all parts of the city during my meditation, and if anyone attacks, I can take care of that. If a new person comes, then you have to return to deal with him."
Ash says, "Okay," with a smile on his face.
After that, Ash says to Evan, "Let's cook our food," and both Evan and Ash go toward the place where Evan has put the food. After that, both starts cooking in a simple way.
After 30 minutes,
Both Ash and Evan have eaten their food. Ash says to Evan, "I will go and give the food to Ram. You rest here for some time."
Evan says, "Okay, my lord," with a calm voice and a smile on his face.
Later, 10 minutes,
Ash meets with Ram, gives him the food, and says, "Here is your food. Eat it; otherwise, it will become cold." After saying this, Ash departs from the altar and goes toward Evan.
Then both of them meet.
After that, he says to him, "Let's rest for some time and then depart toward Stone Mountain. Before that, prepare all supplies for this trip."
Evan says, "Okay," with a steady face.
Again, both begin to prepare supplies for the trip. After they rest for 30 minutes,
They begin to go outside the city. After traveling for 40 minutes and encountering various monsters, they finally see Stone Mountain. Evan finally sees the monster that occupies Stone Mountain, i.e.,
STONE RAT (Low-Grade Monster)
Rank: F-rank
Level: 1
Description: A small, rodent-like rat with oversized fangs capable of chewing through wood, leather, and even weak armour. It moves in packs, using its numbers to overwhelm prey and is mostly found in Stone Mountain.
Abilities:
Fast Reproduction – If not culled quickly, their numbers explode.
Gnawing Instinct – Can chew through doors, weak barriers, or ropes to escape traps.
Cowardly but Aggressive – Fights only when cornered or in large groups.
Weakness: Weak to fire and blunt attacks. Easily scared by loud noises.
STONE RAT (Low-Grade Monster)
Rank: F-rank
Level: 0
Description: A small, rodent-like rat with oversized fangs capable of chewing through wood, leather, and even weak armour. It moves in packs, using its numbers to overwhelm prey and is mostly found in Stone Mountain.
Abilities:
Fast Reproduction – If not culled quickly, their numbers explode.
Gnawing Instinct – Can chew through doors, weak barriers, or ropes to escape traps.
Cowardly but Aggressive – Fights only when cornered or in large groups.
Weakness: Weak to fire and blunt attacks. Easily scared by loud noises.
And the other Stone Rat is probably Level 0.
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......
After 30 minutes,
Ash and Evan, looking at the number of Stone Rats again, finally confirm the number of stone monsters is 12—two Level 1 monsters and ten Level 0 monsters.
After getting this number and confirming it matches Ash's count yesterday,
They start planning the attack on the territory of the Stone Rats. After all, they are in Stone Mountain, and the monsters are very dangerous in groups. If they are mining the mountain and the rats come in a group, it's dangerous. So, they plan to attack single monsters if they find one alone. After all, they can't underestimate two Level 1 monsters if they want to survive in this world.
And,
They begin spying on the stone monsters. If a monster comes out of Stone Mountain, they will deal with it. But the two Level 1 monsters are not leaving the mountain, so they wait for one of them to go. They will finish that monster first. After that, the conquest of Stone Mountain will be easier.
After 3 hours,
They deal with 3 Stone Rat monsters of Level 0.
Again,
30 minutes later,
Ash and Evan see one Level 1 Stone Rat coming out of the mountain. They begin to follow that monster. After 20 minutes, they find themselves in a forest of lush trees with long vines, and Stone Mountain is far behind.
So,
They decide to sneak up on the Level 1 Stone Rat. After 10 minutes, Ash fires a bullet from far away, hitting the monster's stomach. The Stone Rat takes a defensive stance and charges at Ash.
At that moment,
Evan throws a stone, hitting the rat's head. The rat glares at him with blood-red eyes.
It looks at Evan as if its eyes could swallow him whole, without mercy, and rushes in his direction.
Evan readies his axe, prepared to fight to the death with the Stone Rat.
At that moment,
Ash uses his gun and fires three bullets toward the Stone Rat. All three hit its head directly, and finally, it dies—without even realizing how.
After that, Ash takes its mana core from the Stone Rat and
Then, he says, "status," and a window pops up...
City: Nexus City
Ability: Territory Defense Double
Description: In the event of city defense, all attack power and defense power of people and buildings become double.
Altar Level: 0
Upgrade Requirement: (Woods ×1000, Stone ×250, Mana Core Level 0 ×50)
Production: Mist Mana Level 0 ×10 per day
Area: 625 square meters
Status: Very Small Village
Building: Guide Mark ×1 (Active)
Warehouse: Wood ×114, Mana Core Level 0 ×14, Mana Core Level 1 ×1, Rabbit Monster Hide Level 0 ×11, Rabbit Monster Hide Level 1 ×1, Low Grade Market Blueprint (Stones ×200, Woods ×50), Low Grade House Blueprint (Stones ×100, Woods ×25)
Population: 3
Specialty: None
Attack Power Level: 0 (500/1000)
Description: City's power level to attack enemies
Defense Power Level: 0 (750/10000)
Description: City's defense power level against enemies
After that,
Ash, seeing his status window, thinks the increase in defense and attack power is a very good sign that the city is progressing in the right direction. But he feels the changes are very small, and he will have to work much harder for the progress of the city and for his safety.
They only collect the mana core from the Stone Rat because the other parts of the Stone Rat are not valuable or useful to them.