Three hours have passed since Roy left the clearing in the forest. He had encountered lots of danger in these hours. First, he was chased by a group of monkeys. They ran away after he killed a few of them. Then, he caught sight of a towering tree-like monster appearing on the edge of his vision. This was taken as a hard battle to fight.
He had inspected it and realized this monster was well above level 20. This world has given birth to a very strong one! He had to hide in the thicket and wait for it to pass by before he could continue his journey.
After that, he reached the location marked on the map without encountering much trouble.
The 13 meters wide and ten meters tall mouth of a cave could be seen before him.
It was dark, devoid of life, having silence and loneliness as its companion.
It looked more like an opened hell gate, about to suck all life inside than the entrance to a cave.
It gave off an eerie, repulsive feeling.
If this were a horror movie, anyone going inside would certainly die.
It was best to avoid shady places like this.
Roy, however, fearlessly entered it.
It was quite dark and hot and humid. Roy’s body heated up seconds after entering this place. He couldn’t see a thing clearly. It was time to make a fire.
He raised his hand, opening his palm wide. A few wisps of mana could be seen gushing out of his fingertips and brushing against each other.
“Whoosh!”
A fire was created above his palm due to the friction between them. It illuminated Roy’s surroundings and also made him the target of a Man-Eating Flower.
It was a 1.8-meter tall monster that had six thick roots for feet, a slim body made out of leaves, and a mouth that couldn’t be closed due to the big and sharp teeth within.
It didn’t have eyes, but just above its mouth were two dots, representing its nose and also the fact that it has the sense of smell. He was noticed by it as it sniffed the air.
Immediately, its roots wriggled like a crawling worm, its figure coming closer and closer to Roy.
“Eat this.” Roy flung the air in his hand towards it.
“Swoosh!” The fire was the size of three fingers, and it charged through the air like a ball going for a home run, landing on it in a second.
“Guwaahh!” It roared out in pain. It was set on fire. The fire spread from the spot Roy’s fire touched it and enveloped its entire body.
『The Man-Eating Flower is hit with a Small Fire. It takes -20 Damage. HP 40/60. The Man-Eating Flower is receiving ten points of burn damage every second!』
It could be seen walking chaotically in an attempt to get the fire off of it.
Roy stepped aside as it passed by him.
『-10!』『-10!』『-10!』『-10!』
『The Man-Eating Flower has died!』
“Snip-snap-whoosh!” It tried to grasp for life, but the fire consumed it entirely, causing it to turn into a pile of ash with something shining within. Roy picked it up. It was a beast core effective for a mage. And it was put into the subspace by him.
『Ding! Congratulation. You’ve killed a Level 7 Man-Eating Flower. You get 35 EXP. You get +1 Magic Core.』
He went inside a little further, and the place got brighter. The source of illumination was thick cracks in the surface, revealing running lava. Some of it seeped out of the crack, spreading out towards Roy’s feet.
He rushed away from it, believing that since he had no resistance to fire, he would lose his legs and shoes if they were touched by the lava.
Thirteen steps later, he encountered a second Man-Eating Flower.
『Small Fire!』
A small ball of fire left his hand, exploding on the monster. Set ablaze, it roared out loud while moving about maniacally. Roy cut its breath short by chopping its head, which mainly was two big lips, teeth, and very small dots, from the rest of its body.
『Ding! You killed a level 8 monster. You get +40 EXP!』
He had only taken four steps forward when four Man-Eating Flowers were seen running towards him haphazardly.
『The dying screams of the monster you just killed have attracted its group!』
Looking at them, Roy narrowed his eyes. ‘Should I try that out?’
An excited smile appeared on his face.
As they approached him, he forced several wisps of mana out of his body, making them revolve around his body like he was a planet with several moons circling it. While moving in a circular motion at high speed, they brushed against each other several times in a second. This led to a strong fire getting created with him as the center the second they reached near him.
『Ding! Congratulation. You’ve created the Spell “Fire Circle.” As this is your first time self-creating a spell of real value, you get +1 Skill Point.』
Small Fire was too weak. Thus, it was considered worthless by the system or whatever it was. That’s why Roy didn’t get a Skill point for creating it.
Roy felt like he had absolute control over the ring of fire. Maybe it was because he was the creator of this fire.
“Gawooh!”
The Man-Eating Flowers immediately stepped back, scared by the fire. They liked hot and humid places, but because they were plants, they hated fire.
But as they were moving backward, Roy raised his hand.
His finger stretched out, pointing towards them.
Immediately, the fire jumped out of the circle and latched on them.
Its size did increase, but these tongues of fire were so fierce that they met their hands at their hands, so it didn’t feel like a wasteful move.
『Ding! Congratulation. You killed 4 Man-Eating flowers. You get +180 EXP, +2 Magic Core, and +2 Strength Core!』
Seconds later, their body reached the same stage as their predecessors, who attacked Roy, turning into a pile of dust.