"Shoot!" along with the voice came two fire arrows as they burned through the air, heading towards a blue wolf nearby. Both of them were radiating a hot temperature as they circled each other in joy and left a trail of fire the way they came.
Within a second, it had reached its destination.
The wolf wasn't able to detect it mostly due to two factors. First, it was a monster that relied on its body and not magic to fight, therefore, its sensitivity for magic was low. Second, the attack formed in its blind spot, making it unable to see it forming.
The fire arrow will be just like a torch in the dark when it materialized. It would catch most people's attention, the wolf would've too if the attack hadn't come from its blind spot.
The target wolf didn't even have any time to react before it was hit on the back with the two fire arrows.
From the combined force, a whole chunk of the wolf's back had been dug up. Just this damage only would've dealt the wolf a great amount of pain, but along with the fire, its wound was constantly burnt up in flames.
As the fire spread, its blue fur had also gotten caught in the fire, ruining its looks. Soon, fire had covered all of its body. From the head to the paws.
No matter how much the wolf whimpered and jumped up and down, it couldn't get rid of the fire at all. Its fur kept it from the fire being extinguished.
And just as it was busy dealing with the wound it got, another fire arrow had already materialized and had shot towards the pitiful blue wolf.
Not to mention seeing that a fire arrow was coming, the wolf couldn't even see the world in front of it. Everything was caught up in flames and it even had trouble opening its eyes. Fire had reached even its eyes.
Along with the sharp burning pain that came from every inch of its body, it was experiencing immense pain.
"Whine! Whine!"
Seeing the wolf in front of him roll on the ground, Cylius coldly watched from the sides. He didn't intend on helping the wolf.
...
After a minute had passed, the wolf didn't have any strength it could muster any longer. Exhaustion and pain came from every of its body and now, it had already accepted its death. Right now, it was laying on the ground, slowly experiencing the immense pain it caused.
"Two wolf pups. They could sell for some in the town but it's not worth it for me to do it. I might as well kill it now."
With this thought in mind, he got his daggers out and raised one of the wolves up into the air.
With the moonlight lighting the surrounding world, he could clearly see the tiny wolf pup that was completely clueless about the current situation. It wasn't even old enough to open its eyes. It could only sniff around, trying to find its mother nearby.
It didn't have any clue that its mother was close to death and it was going to die right now.
Holding the dagger up and high, he slashed at the young pup's neck. The slash went in smoothly and cut the wolf pup's life.
Along with the slash came the blood that splattered out. A bit of it splashed onto Cylius' cheek while the remaining others splashed onto the other wolf pup's face.
The wolf pup who smelled an unfamiliar smell tried licking the blood on its face. After a bit while, it looked content with its taste, and tried sniffing the surroundings in order to find more.
But soon, it was its own turn to die.
[You have killed Blue Wolf pup]
[+10 exp]
[You have killed Blue Wolf pup]
[+10 exp]
[You have killed lvl. 7 Blue Wolf]
[+20 exp]
[You have leveled up]
[+2 Intelligence]
[Intelligence: 37
Mana: 45]
[+2 Free status point]
[+2 Free skill point]
'Killing these gave me 10 exp? The exp they give compared to the power they hold is much, I guess these are stable exp they will give before they reach maturity and become full-fledged Blue wolves...'
"1 free status point for intelligence and another for agility."
[+2 Intelligence]
[Intelligence: 39
Mana: 47]
[+1 Agility]
[Agility: 9]
[Level: 9 (0/140)]
'140 exp... That should be ten lvl. 5 blue wolves or seven lvl. 7 blue wolves. There should still be time left before the wolves appear... Ok there's time, I will go for a few more'
The reason he decided to continue on even though he said that he will leave after reaching lvl. 9 was because he didn't know about today's chance. Today was a special chance for him so he won't miss out on it.
If he were to stick to his rule all the time and not take the chances given to him, he would lose a lot.
If he had sensed that the wolf pack was coming back instead, no matter his goal, he would've retreated immediately.
He can't be sure that he won't encounter the whole pack and get eaten by them as a side snack.
Sometimes, people have to be flexible. Rules are created for benefit and if one were to prioritize rules over benefit, one would truly be stupid.
.....
3 hours later.
'Five lvl. 6, two lvl. 5 and one lvl. 7. That's 135 exp, meaning there are only 5 more exp left until I reach lvl. 10. But I got to stop now. The wolf pack is coming soon, I could already hear their howling. Fortunately, the wolves I killed are far from my base, they will definitely not be able to find me although I do got to be careful for those that accidentally wandered off to my base' thought Cylius from the cave.
Leveling up in the early stages was easy. The exp required wasn't much so everyone could level up to lvl. 20 in a few months. But only from there on would the real challenge begin.
Well the reason Cylius had reached lvl. 10 so quickly was also because of his talent. The Inferior Mage talent. It was a talent that enabled him to double the intelligence stat he was receiving, making it go from 1 to 2. But the real reason was because of the exp gained from Liam's death.
With this, he was able to take on monsters alone and reap their full exp, without needing to share it with someone.
This way, the exp he gained became much more but along with it, the danger increased as well. He was fighting alone, without a teammate after all.