Chapter 18 System Awakening Skill?

Now that Alex was sure that he could hold his own ground against any rank 1 martial monster, he decided that it was time for him to run rampant in the dungeon until the time where he'll end up being strained. He was ready to test his limit to the maximum. Going towards the door leading to the third stage after storing the spoils of 'war' that he'd gotten, he was full of smiles. Placing his hand on the door, he impatiently waited for the teleportation to take place so that he could start the fight already. After all he was really eager to face what was coming next. The next room had three rank 1 martial monsters at the initial stage which he sliced through them with the dagger in his possession. Even now, he could feel that there was a certain connection between him and the dagger. If his guess was right, then he had gained the connection during his fight with the black tiger back then during his journey to Kravon town. The number of monsters increased to five when he got to the fifth room. Although the monsters don't always drop a core, there sure will be a certain probability that in every ten monsters killed, three would drop something. Alex's luck seemed to be good as since he began fighting, he had already obtained one item and seven cores which is more than three tenths of the probability. At the fifth level, there were five initial stage rank 1 monsters and a mid stage boss rank 1 martial monster. Alex didn't have any problems with dealing with the monsters. He had well improved before he came here compared to the previous time he was here. Although it was only a short period ago, the constant life and death battles that he experienced during the journey had successfully horned his skills to a good margin. At the tenth stage, twenty rank 1 initial stage, ten rank 1 mid stage and one rank 1 late stage martial monster. Although things were getting difficult for him due to the high population of the monsters, he could at least battle them and defeat them as they were weak as compared to him who had trained his instincts to a high level. No matter how powerful one person may be, a million ants are capable of making him or her lose his or her precious life no matter the difference in strength. Small injuries accumulate to the extend that they cause one's vitality to drop at a great degree. After all, hitting the same place for a long time would eventually cause a hole to appear on the wall. Fatigue as well as the shallow injuries accumulated on Alex's body began to drain him. Stamina also began to go down and thus his movements became sluggish. After clearing the tenth stage, he didn't dare to step in the eleventh and decided that it was best if he could recover his stamina first after some period of rest. Approximately forty minutes later, he walked towards the door leading to the eleventh stage of the dungeon and placed his palm on it. Five seconds later, he was covered with the pink teleportation light before being dumped inside where the monsters were. Surprisingly, there was a change in the way the monsters here appeared. Although they were still goblins which was strange as they usually changed, they were few but formidable. This time, there were seven in the mid stages and four in the late stages. Although had a sharp increase in strength, that didn't mean that he had an increase in skills as well and thus this was going to get difficult. He wasn't sure if he would have to move to the next stage after clearing this. Although he was good, he didn't have good combat gear. No armor, no blades and no shield but just a dagger. The problem with monsters that have no shred of intelligence at all was that they always attacked at once with no hesitation. They even ignore their defense and focus on what their instincts tell them at that time, 'kill'. The worst enemy is one who has no regards for his or her life at all. Seeing that they had decided to attack him, all at once, Alex planned to find a way to make them come one at a time. He thus moved backwards till his back was near hitting a corner. Here, he'll not have a blindspot. All the goblins now faced him from the front. Tactic number one; reduce the number of opponents attacking at once. First thing first. Alex decided to utilize his strongest punches at this time as he had already made a decision that he's not going to move forth after this fight. The first goblin to reach him was blown away by Alex's punch. Monsters having more formidable bodies than humans, the goblin that was knocked back was already struggling to get back on its feet. After blowing one away, Alex started dodging and punching at all the goblins coming at him. When only two were left where he was, he decided on the next tactic; wrecking the enemy. With a swift kick on the thigh of one of the goblins, Alex dislocated the joint making the monster growl in pain, falling down. Although it had a dislocated leg, it still persisted and tried to stand and attack. Alex ignored it for the time being and went for the kill with the remaining goblin. It was a mid stage rank 1 martial monster. Using the dagger in his left hand, he struck the goblin in the throat before kicking it away. Although the goblins were attacking, their speed was far inferior as compared to Alex's. The monster that was kicked away first was already closing in on Alex. Alex rushed forth and stomped on the head of the goblin that he had dislocated its leg, making it lay between life and death. Meeting with the goblin that was rushing towards him, Alex jumped into the air before dropping with a kick on the chest of the goblin. After that, he began rushing in and out of the goblins slashing left and right. Ten minutes later, all the goblins had been eliminated. Alex was breathing heavily as dealing with these persistent was indeed a problem. Collecting the four dropped cores and a healing pill, Alex left the room and went straight to the safe zone. There, he rested as he used the two pills that he had collected. Having no armor was indeed a problem. He decided that after selling the cores, he would then go to the market in search of weapons. Altogether, he had gathered forty two cores. Low probability of dropping cores in the upper parts of the dungeon was indeed troublesome. After healing and regaining his strength, Alex walked out of the dungeon and headed back to the guild. He arrived at the white hall after about an hour, after all he wasn't in his best shape. He then headed straight towards the counter and submitted his harvests. Initial stage cores; 30 silver coins. middle stage cores; 50 silver coins. late stage cores; 70 silver coins. peak stage cores; 100 silver coins. Alex had four peak, twelve mid and twenty two initial stage cores. Totalling his profits to 1,660 silver coins. Given 1 gold coin is equal to a hundred silver, Alex received 16 gold coins and 66 silver coins. 'Time to get the swords first before going back to the inn,' Alex thought as he walked towards the main door leading out of the guild hall. But before he left, he saw a counter where they were selling skill books. Alex hesitated for a moment before walking towards it. "Hello there young man, what skill book would you like?" asked the man behind the counter. "I would like to see if you have any tier one defensive skills," Alex replied while looking at the books behind the man on the counter. "I have got a few here," he said as he went and took three books with him. "This is turtle skin, this makes your skin as hard as a turtle shell, an active skill. This is also an active skill called iron hands. It hardens your hands to the degree of iron, of course only if you are proficient in the skill. The last one is called stone skin. Although it's named stone skin, your skin only hardens but has no visible changes. It is an active skill too," the man gave the explanation of the skills. Alex looked at the skills. They were good for him since he had no armor. The most of all was iron hands that would make his hands from the elbows to the tip of the fingers as hard as a metal. It would be like he's wearing gauntlets. This with the dagger skill would be a good combination. Although the other skills were also good, they weren't much needed as compared to iron hands. Just as he was about to tell the attendant that he would take it, he saw a peculiar book at the highest shelf. It was the only one there. "Excuse me sir, what book is that?" he decided to ask. "Oh, that, I also don't know," he said as he took the book and handed it to Alex. He then continued, "It says System Awakening. Even I don't get what it means. Some people have tried learning it but have all failed." "Oh," Alex's interest was piqued. He wondered if he could learn the skill or he would also fail. After hesitating for a while, he decided to take it. "How much for the book?" he asked. "16 gold coins," said the man. "What? 16 gold coins for a book that even you don't know the details?" Alex was baffled. "Yeah, that is the price. It is unique after all. You learn it, you alone gain the profits. You fail to learn, bad gamble," replied the man. After hesitating for a while, Alex bought the book. After all, no risk, no gain. After getting it, he was left with a pitiful 60 silver coins which he would use for paying the inn. He the walked out and headed straight for the Pilmals inn. After Alex left, the man took out a communication crystal and poured his mana into it. It lit up and the a voice came from the other side. "How is it going?" "He has gotten the book now," replied the man. "Good, keep monitoring him." replied the voice before the connection was cut.