Arthur was on his way to the Northern exit of the village, intending to hunt higher leveled mobs.
He had already hit the ceiling of what was possible in the southern forest and didn't want to waste any more time there.
"What's our brave adventurer doing here today?" The guard at the gate quickly recognized Arthur.
"Did you get another mission or something?" the second guard asked.
"Ah, I'm just going out to hunt a bit." Arthur replied.
"I see… watch out for the bandits though." The first guard warned.
"Ah yeah, speaking of that," Arthur remembered that they had said the same before, but he had encountered no bandits at all. "I didn't see any last time."
He had even gotten a quest notification for that, but still hadn't seen them. He had found it strange but simply thought that it might be a randomized event. There was no lack of such quests and events in the Game and Arthur had seen his fair share of them.
If anything, Arthur was happy that he didn't have to waste time on them before.
"That's strange… Did they leave or something?" The Second guard said.
"Hard to know. We haven't sent any scouts yet. The last person to be in the forest was Arzhur here." The first guard replied.
"I see… I'll keep an eye out regardless." Arthur knew better than to ignore NPC warnings.
They mattered a lot more than most players thought.
With that done, Arthur left through the gate unhindered and soon entered the Northern Forest. Though this time he didn't intend to go that far.
'I just need to hunt till I'm at Level 10.' Arthur had his goal set.
After about ten minutes of walking, Arthur encountered his first mob.
Gruff!
A hoarse growl could be heard, as Arthur became alert. It was a beast that looked like a jackal. But its fur was a mix of black and white stripes, similar to that of a Zebra.
>Inspect Successful<
——
Target: Striped Jackal
Rank: Uncommon
Level: 8
HP: 100%
MP: 100%
——
"You'll do nicely," Arthur said as he drew the Black Tear Short Sword.
The Jackal had a similar attack pattern to that of the Black Scruff Wolf, but it was smaller in size. But what it lacked in size, it compensated in dexterity.
'The Striped Jackal can change its direction faster than the Black Scruff Wolves… I need to attack it when its doing that.' Arthur knew of the strategy and followed it.
Arthur kept on making turns and circles around the beast, forcing it to follow after him and change its direction of charge often. This allowed Arthur to strike the beast at an opportune moment, especially with the Swing Boost from the Black Tear Short Sword.
[-20% HP]
[Fatal Hit]
>Player Arzhur has killed a Striped Jackal!<
>Player Arzhur has obtained 3% Experience<
Five minutes was all it took for Arthur to wear down the beast and deliver the final hit.
"There we go… Just need several more of those." Arthur muttered.
This time he didn't butcher the Jackal though.
"The fur is a mess…" Arthur didn't have the luxury of leaving clean cuts this time around as he was focused on preventing injuries.
This led to him attacking in whatever way he thought was best. This also meant that the Jackal had received multiple cuts that had damaged the fur.
While parts of it were salvageable, Arthur knew it was simply not worth the time.
'I have more than enough coins for now anyways.' Arthur didn't want to labor over a few coppers. He already knew the rate he would get for a pelt that was damaged this much.
Done with the first mob, Arthur continued onwards.
HOWL!
But this time around, he saw something unusual.
'That's certainly the cry of the Striped Jackal… But it isn't directed at me.' Arthur wondered what was happening.
He took a safe approach and sneaked toward the source of the sound.
~CLANG~
~CLANG~
~HOWL~
The sound of a battle became clear as he got closer and soon enough, Arthur saw the reason for it all.
"Huh?" Peeking through a large bush, Arthur saw a fight happening in the distance.
Two Striped Jackals were fighting against a man. The man was dressed in crude leather armor and was using a hatchet. There were several injuries on his body and he seemed to have lost an eye as well.
The Jackals were not free of injuries either, having several cuts on their bodies, blood staining their black and white striped fur.
ραndαsΝοvεl ƈοm "Is that… The bandit?" Arthur wondered.
He quickly used inspect to confirm this.
>Inspect Successful<
——
Target: Bandit
Rank: Common
Level: 8
HP: 31%
MP: 100%
——
"It really is the bandit… But it's just one." Arthur was sure that they wouldn't wander around alone like this.
Bandits were known to band together. They were considered as Hostile NPCs and would give experience points the same as the other mobs. But since they were still human, they were difficult to deal with. After all, they could think and respond accordingly.
One couldn't fight them in the same way they did with the beasts.
While Arthur had more than enough confidence in killing the Bandit, especially in this condition, he decided against it.
'There's something suspicious…' Arthur wondered if there were more bandits hiding nearby.
Even if that was not the fact, he reckoned the other Bandits might appear soon after hearing the fight.
>Inspect Successful<
——
Target: Striped Jackal
Rank: Uncommon
Level: 7
HP: 37%
MP: 89%
——
>Inspect Successful<
——
Target: Striped Jackal
Rank: Uncommon
Level: 8
HP: 41%
MP: 57%
——
Arthur also checked the two Striped Jackals, finding them to have been decently weakened.
"Hmmm…. I should be able to make use of this…" An idea appeared in Arthur's mind.
He took out the Giant Dire Sewer Rat Claws and got ready with them. If he hit them at the right time he would not only be able to kill the foes, but also get the experience from them.
'Time to Kill steal from the Bandit!'
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