“Aquos. Power that nourishes life, gather before me. Create a stream of water that splashes away my foes. [Aqua Shot]”, Axel whispered.

A ball of water launched from Axel’s hand but his aim was terrible. It missed the slime he was aiming for but still hits the one that was next to it. The slime melted away.

You have slain a Lesser Slime Lv1. Exp gained.

Great!, even though that wasn’t the one I was aiming for. “It’s super weak tho, what was I worried about”, said Axel. “Should I launch a bunch of magic from here”.

Axel checked his status screen to see how much experience points he got and how much mana was used. The answer devastated him. He barely got any experience points and a good amount of mana was used up 

“What the heck! So much of my mana was used up in that 1 attack. So I can only launch about 5 of those before I collapse and can’t do anything. So unlucky in the magic department”, Axel complained.

The slimes noticed that one of their brethren was slain. They had enough intelligence to know that Axel was now an enemy. They clustered together and began sliding towards him. Even though they moved so slowly, there were over ten of them. They seemed mad and gave off a menacing vibe.

Whoa, they’re mad I killed one of them. Tsk, I’m over this let's see what we can both do little slimes hehehe, said Axel to himself as a dark expression came over his face.

He pulled his sword from its sheath that was attached to his belt and charged at the group of slimes. He started slashing away at them, at the same time some of them bounced up at Axel slamming into him. He felt almost nothing and kept slashing.

You have slain a Lesser Slime Lv1. Exp gained.

You have slain a Lesser Slime Lv1. Exp gained.

You have slain a Lesser Slime Lv1. Exp gained.

You have slain a Lesser Slime Lv2. Exp gained.

You have slain a Lesser Slime Lv1. Exp gained.

…

He killed all the slimes that were charging at him. 13 small text boxes popped up when he was done, they told him what he had killed.

Axel was satisfied. He checked his status to see how much his experience and health points changed. He had gotten so little experience, it was nowhere near half. His health points had gone down by 5 points which wasn’t a lot.

Suddenly Axel came to the realization that he had been tricked. There was no way he could reach Lv10 by killing slimes. His father had tricked him.

“That sneaky father of mine. Tsk”, said Axel. 

He had wasted about an hour fighting the slimes. Fortunately, he didn’t waste too much time. Axel crossed the stream and headed deeper into the forest. The stream wasn’t too deep and was narrow enough that he could cross it quickly.

Just a few minutes after crossing the stream Axel could see the difference. Monsters could be spotted immediately. The first monster he saw was a rabbit-like creature that was feeding on something in the shrubs. Axel stood at a distance and used his [Inspector] skill on it.

Horned Hare Lv2

The monster was not large, it was just slightly bigger than the hares that he knew from his past life. What Axel was wary of was the pointy horn protruding from its forehead; it was about 6 inches in length. The horn was slightly large compared to its body but Axel thought that maybe it was a singular case. However, during that same thought, Axel heard a thumping sound approaching. Before he could identify the source of the sound another horned hare rammed into the side of the one he was watching instantly killing it. The new hare on the scene proceeded to feast on its kin that it just killed.

Axel was alarmed at the savagery of the monster but he also noticed that they weren’t particularly hard to kill. He readied his sword and dashed towards the monster while it fed. He slashed at it but the monster evaded his attack. It was now on guard and wary of Axel. They both stared down at each other but the horned hare grew impatient and charged at Axel. Axel seized the opportunity and waited for the monster to get close, at the last moment the hare leaped at Axel’s face and he ran his sword right through its center.

You have slain a Horned Hare Lv3. Exp gained.

The monster’s blood splattered all over. The blood that was on Axel made him queasy but he knew it was something he had to do. He kneeled down to inspect the body of the horned hare and noticed a small stone poking out of the wound he made with his sword. He knew what it was but he used his [Inspector] skill on it anyway.

Horned hare core (Normal)

Normal?, Axel thought. That must be the quality of the stone itself, so every stone of the same species is not equal… that’s interesting.

Axel took the stones from both monsters and placed them in his inventory, he also took the body of the hare he killed and placed it separately in the bag.

“For the sake of efficiency, I feel like I should hunt lots of the same monster. When the slot is full I can decide what to do then”. Axel checked his status screen. “I gained a bit of exp from that one monster. let’s hunt a bit more, I don’t want to be here when the sun sets”.

There were only a few hours of sunlight left so Axel took the chance to kill as many horned hares as possible. 

Horned hares are small but very hostile creatures. They do not flee when face to face with enemies even if they are bigger. When Axel encountered them they would immediately attack. He took the chance to slay them when they charged at him.

…

You have slain a Horned Hare Lv3. Exp gained.

You have slain a Horned Hare Lv2. Exp gained.

You have slain a Horned Hare Lv2. Exp gained.

You have slain a Horned Hare Lv3. Exp gained.

You have slain a Horned Hare Lv3. Exp gained.

Axel had killed 5 more horned hares making a total of 20 horned hares. He was now exhausted but he got the message he was waiting for.

Level Up.

3 Stat points acquired.

The text box appeared in front of him. 

"Finally", said Axel as he sat at the base of a tree. "Just in time too. The sun is setting, I better head back".

After a few minutes of rest, axel got up and began retracing his steps. He crossed the stream, passed the slime territory and made his way out of the forest. There were no monsters located there so he could set up camp for the night. He felt somewhat safe there as he knew the soldiers were not too far away.

Axel found it strange that he did not run into his cousins but he didn't let that worry him. What he was worried about was how slow it was to get to lv2. He thought that maybe he was doing something wrong or not working hard enough. However, giving up didn't even cross his mind; after all, he had only spent half a day hunting.

Axel took the tent from his inventory and prepared it outside of the forest where it was safe. After setting up the tent he made a campfire and attempted to cook one of the horned hares he had killed. 

He managed to cook it properly since he had experience cooking in his past life as a single college student. The taste however, was something he could not stomach. With no salt or spices, it was worse than the meat he was given back at the manor, it was barely edible. 

In order to not attract any monsters to his campsite, he stuffed the cooked meat into his inventory. Axel had to satisfy with what he had on hand, he ate a few pieces of the beef jerky his father had packed and went to bed.