Chapter 20: New Possibilities and Side Quest Completed!

Frank decided to continue hunting Horned Rabbits with Ruby, quickly walking through the forest, and crossing many trees, reaching another small clearing near the previous one, where a group of four Horned Rabbits was eating grass peacefully.

Using the same strategy as before, Frank managed to kill two Horned Rabbits with the swift movements of the magic spear. Thanks to filling his Mana after absorbing the Mana Core, he used such energy into making the spear lighter, giving him the ability to unleash faster stabs, the two rabbits that passed near him died almost instantly after being stabbed by the spear's blade into their necks or spine, while Ruby, unexpectedly, managed to catch a rabbit by herself, although it was slightly roasted.

[You acquired a Small Amount of EXP!]

Ruby brought the rabbit with her mouth, resisting the urge of eating it as it was what her Master, Frank, had told her to do so, she resisted the hunger just for him, and Frank understood her effort very well.

"Good girl, with these three, we have four rabbits, six more and we can go back home- I mean, back to Gwendolyn…" said Frank, saving the three rabbits, however, before that, he had taken the Mana Cores out of the butchered rabbits.

The corpses disappeared and were instantly sent inside of his Inventory, while Frank glanced at the slightly bloody crystals on his hands.

"I wonder if you can use them too, Ruby?" asked Frank, showing the crystal to Ruby as she seemed to be willing to eat it if he were to let her… but that was most likely because she was just hungry.

"If you were able to absorb it, some kind of message should show up in front of you… or me? You're my Tamed Monster after all-"

Ding!

[You are offering a Mana Core to Ruby, do you want her to absorb it?]

[>YES NO]

"You can absorb it! So you can level up and possibly form your own Mana Core too! As you most likely don't have one due to your origin being from another App World…" said Frank.

"Growl?" asked Ruby.

"System, how many Mana Cores does Ruby needs to absorb to acquire one for herself?" asked Frank, hoping for the System to at least answer that.

Ding!

[Mana Cores absorbed required for Ruby to form her own Mana Core: 0/20]

"The same amount as me…" muttered Frank, as he began to consider if he should split the gains with Ruby, however, he did not want to waste time thinking about it for now and saved the Mana Cores inside the Inventory instead.

As Frank and Ruby continued through the forest while looking for Horned Rabbits, Frank asked the System a series of questions, hoping to get some extra info, none of such questions were answered until he managed to ask one in specific.

"Sigh… Can you answer me something at least? Let's see… Do Mana Cores have qualities? You didn't specify them, System" said Frank.

Ding!

[Mana Cores have distinct qualities depending on their origin]

[Mana Core qualities vary from Grade F to SSS, having nine grades in total]

[Horned Rabbit Mana Cores are F Grade]

"So I need to absorb any F Grade Mana Cores to get my own Mana Core? If I only have to hunt Rabbits, then it should be doable…" Frank said.

"Grawr!" said Ruby, she wanted to hunt more rabbits to finally receive one for her.

"Alright, let's continue…"

Frank and Ruby wandered through the forest as they glanced at the sky, which was slowly turning darker, the sun was slightly moving its way back to the horizon, and the night was approaching this part of the world of Terra.

However, this seemed to be beneficial for Frank and Ruby, as the night came, Horned Rabbits would show up more commonly out of their nests to eat grass.

Frank used this opportunity to hunt two more rabbits that were foraging around, right behind a large tree, he was getting more accustomed to the handle of the magic spear, infusing his mana more swiftly while releasing fast attacks, the Rabbits ran faster, but Frank managed to catch to their speed thanks to having leveled up previously, he was not simply level 1 anymore, and after becoming Level 4, his Speed had increased noticeably.

Clash! Clash!

Like two flashes of silver color, Frank's spear reached the Rabbit's backs, stabbing them with ease. Although these Rabbits had horns, they often ran away from bigger predators that they could not use their horns against, such as Humans. Their horns were simply too weak and their bodies too small to be of a treat to a human capable of kicking them with ease if these monsters were to dare attack their legs.

[You acquired a Small Amount of EXP!]

[You have reached level 5!]

[Ruby reached level 2!]

"Oh, it even notifies me of Ruby leveling up… So, she is in like my party? That is convenient…" said Frank with a slight smile, as Ruby jumped around while feeling her body slightly stronger than before.

"I wonder if you will be able to evolve after reaching a certain level and raise your Rank… or will you need materials like in the original game?" asked Frank to Ruby, as he separated the Mana Cores from the corpses of the Horned Rabbits and then saved them separately inside his Inventory.

Ruby did not manage to catch a Horned Rabbit this time, but she seemed in high spirits after leveling up. It seemed that the exp that he gained was shared with her, and vice versa, as Frank could earn exp from the kills she did.

"Four more and we can go back, let's go," said Frank while petting Ruby.

"Graaoo!"

After a few more minutes, Frank came across a large mushroom growing below a tree, which had odd colors and unleashed a pungent smell.

"Ugh, this smells terrible…" he muttered, as he tried to move to keep exploring the forest with Ruby until the mushroom suddenly moved.

"Eh…?"

Frank glanced as the mushroom moved. It suddenly took its feet out of the ground, like tiny white roots, and began to walk… towards him.

The mushroom opened its cap, revealing razor-sharp fangs and a malefic smile.

"Gryogryogryo!" roared the Walking Mushroom.

"A Walking Mushroom? Talk about redundancy… The Horned Rabbits look so much like normal rabbits that I've forgotten that I am in a world filled with different and deadly monsters… Damn it, if I had an Appraisal, I would be able to determine its strength" thought Frank.

"Ruby, blast it with Fire!" said Frank.

"Grawr!" roared Ruby, jumping towards the Walking Mushroom, which had an almost similar size to her while releasing a breath of fire towards it. The Mushroom groaned as it released a small amount of pungent odor through its body to defend itself.

Flash!

The flames began to roast the tender white flesh of the Walking Mushroom as it groaned in pain, its razor-sharp teeth were incapable of doing anything as the creature died within a few seconds. Ruby received its scent attack but seemed a bit unfazed after coughing for a bit.

Ding!

[You acquired a Small Amount of EXP!]

"Good job Ruby, maybe I got more scared than I should have… Perhaps it was a simple Rank 1 Monster… It was small and slow after all, and its only attack was a bad smell, I guess this is truly a forest for beginners to level up…" said Frank. Finding the similarity of this small forest to the beginner areas inside MMORPG's games.

"Grawr! Grawr!" said Ruby while waving her hands, pointing at the roasted mushroom.

Frank walked towards it as he resisted the pungent smell that became even worst when it was roasted, and dived his hand into the inside of the creature, finding an F-Grade Mana Core inside with a similar shape and form to the ones found inside Horned Rabbits.

"Good girl, I will make sure to give you this one later," said Frank as he saved the Mana Core inside of his inventory.

He gave the roasted mushroom a last look as he continued walking through the forest, not much alter finding a large group of horned rabbits that had come out of a hole in the ground, due to their large group, Frank managed to kill four at last, finally walking back to Gwendolyn's house.

[You acquired a Small Amount of EXP!]

[Ruby reached level 3!]

[You acquired the [Spear Technique: Level 1] Skill!]

[The Levels of the [Mana Control: Level 1] and [Gift of Life: Level 1] Skills have increased!]

Ding!

____________

[Hunt Horned Rabbits!] (Side-Quest) Completed!

Grade: F

How do you feel about taking the lives of little monsters?

Does it hurt?

Does it give you guilt?

Does it make you question your morality?

Well, you better get used to it if you want to grow strong!

Hunt ten Horned Rabbits! 10/10

____________

[You acquired the Quest Rewards: A Small Amount of EXP, Increased Affection with Gwendolyn, Annabelle, and Cathyl, and 10 App Points!]

"I got a new Skill from just using this spear to kill a few rabbits… Huh? What is with that Quest Completion Description…? Sigh…"

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[Name: Frank James

[Race: Human, (???)

[Titles: World Traveler.

[Gender: Male.

[App Points: 90

[Job: Farmer.

[Job History: None.

[Level: 5

[Health Points: 25/25 > 30/30 (+10)

[Mana Points: 16/16 > 18/18

[Strength: 16 > 21 (+5)

[Defense: 16 > 21 (+5)

[Magic: 10 > 13

[Resistance: 10 > 13 (+5)

[Agility: 10 > 13 (+5)

[Passive Skills: [World's Traveler Body: Level -], [Gift of Life: Level 2] (Level up!), [Curse Resistance: Level 1], [Hypnosis Resistance: Level 1], [Divine Brand of the Monk Family of Tokyo: Level -], [Mana Control: Level 2] (Level up!), [Fire and Burn Resistance: Level 1]

[Equipment: [Farmer's Jeans (F)], [Leather Gloves (F)], [Leather Boots (F)], [Farmer Shirt (F)], [Straw Hat (F)], [Simple Shirt (Cosmetic Item)]

[Active Skills: [Farming Technique: Level 1], [Spear Technique: Level 1] (New!)

[Relationships: [Matsuo Family (Tokyo Shrine Clan)]

[Tamed Monsters: [Rank 1: Lesser Flame Salamander: Ruby]

[Worlds Visited: Earth, Terra (Farm Town App).

[APP Special Functions: Inventory, World's Gate, Quest Board, Monster Pet Nursery, APP Gacha (Locked), APP Shop (Locked).

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[Name: Ruby.

[Race: Lesser Flame Salamander

[Titles: Tamed Monster.

[Gender: Female.

[Types: Reptile/Fire

[Rank: 1

[Level: 3

[Health Points: 25/25 > 45/45

[Mana Points: 15/15 > 17/17

[Strength: 10 > 20

[Defense: 15 > 25

[Magic: 10 > 16

[Resistance: 12 > 18

[Agility: 10 > 16

[Passive Skills: [Iron Scales: Level 1], [Fire and Burn Resistance: Level 1]

[Active Skills: [Fire Breath: Level 2] (Level up!), [Licking Wounds: Level 1], [Bite: Level 1] (New!)

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Author's Note: If you like the story please give any powerstone you could spare, if we reach a nice number there will be bonus chapters at the end of the week, it all depends on you!

Thank you very much for reading!