Chapter 41: Testing The Good Stuff

42 minutes later...

"This ain't good..." YuWon mumbled, staring at his torn shirt.

Even though he sported a toned body, YuWon wasn't an exhibitionist to roam around topless. But Gina had ensured his shirt wouldn't be a barrier between them anymore.

Meanwhile, Gina pulled her top back on. The blush on her cheeks hadn't disappeared yet, but there was a content smile on her lips. She noticed YuWon staring at her and turned around.

"Don't look at me like that," she mumbled, acting all innocent. "That's your fault for making me wait so long."

"Of course it is..." YuWon smiled, shaking his head.

YuWon had realized two things about them. First was that he was a beast in human skin. Although Gina was the one who started their bonding experience, by the end, he was the one acting deprived of affection.

Second, Gina was insatiable when it came to intimacy. The more he gave her, the more she wanted him. That was why it took him over forty minutes to satisfy her completely. But he wasn't any better.

Once they began, he completely lost his mind. Probably because he was feeling such intense love from someone for the first time, or maybe he was too high on emotion and used the act as an outlet.

What's done is done. Now I need to get some clothes for everyone... Nah, clothes for just me and Gina are enough.

YuWon checked his mental list of things they needed. The first thing was shelter. But he didn't think any place was entirely safe from the monsters. One of them would have to be on guard while the others slept.

The second thing was resources, primarily food and water. For now, the supermarkets would be enough. But once people hoard resources, that's when the trouble begins.

For now, he could empty a supermarket. All that food and water would last them for a while. But eventually, they would have to grow their food.

We'd need more water for that.

That was the primary source of worry for him. Water was the most essential thing for them. But packaged water won't last them long. They needed an alternate source of clean water they could use for consumption and also farming.

First things first, let's go to the supermarket.

Suddenly, Yeji came running on all fours. YuWon saw her and wondered if she was so desperate for his forgiveness she would degrade herself like that. But that thought was quickly interrupted when she spoke.

"A monster is roaming around—" she said, but YuWon cut her off.

"What's new about it?" he scoffed. "We live in their world now. Of course, they'll roam around."

"It looks... different," Yeji softly mumbled, not wanting to get scolded again.

"Different, you say? Show me."

Different monsters meant bonus stats. Since YuWon could no longer get additional stats from the [Survivor of Death] title, he wanted to get as many bonus points as possible by hunting new monsters.

Besides, it's an opportunity to see how Soul Reaver works.

YuWon crouched and peeked in the direction Yeji pointed. He noticed a group of goblins running away from something. It was a strange feeling, watching the goblin who had caused them so much trouble fleeing like that.

A moment later, YuWon noticed a towering figure, just a bit shorter than the monarch, rushing after the goblins. Its skin was like that of the goblins, but it was extremely muscular.

A pair of sharp teeth, akin to that of an elephant, came out of its mouth as it smiled while wildly swinging the hammer. It didn't take long for YuWon to recognize the monster. He had read enough novels and web toons to know what they were dealing with.

"That's an ogre," he mumbled.

As he said that, the ogre roared and swung the hammer on the goblin that had tripped and fell. The poor creature didn't stand a chance and got crushed under the hammer; its blood splattered all over the ground.

Monsters hunting each other was good for them. But YuWon couldn't help but wonder why. It didn't look like the ogre was hunting the goblins for food. It was more possible it was killing others for fun.

It's possible. Since most humans are still struggling in the tutorial, the ogre decided to have fun with the goblins.

Also, like Gina had told him before, the Monarch was the one binding all goblins together. With its death, the goblins fled the site. Without their leader, there was no one to protect them and they had turned into prey for others.

YuWon was wondering if he should try to fight the ogre or not. But a moment later, he didn't have a choice in the matter, as a skull mark appeared before its head.

[Head Hunter Contract engaged!]

Description: Killing monsters and players would store their souls within the soul storage.

>> For every soul absorbed, Awakener's maximum HP increases by 2 points and maximum mana by 1 point.

>> For every 10 souls absorbed, Awakener gains 1 Unallocated Stat point.

>> For every 30 souls absorbed, the Awakener can choose one ability from any of the captured souls for their freedom. The absorbed ability can only be used once.

Cooldown: None.

Mana Cost: None.

— Active Abilities:

1. Checkpoint (Lvl 3)

2. Death's Whisper (lvl 1):

Description: The first attack against a marked target deals 150% damage, with a 7% chance of instantly killing non-boss enemies. On successful assassination, the Awakener's [Head Hunter skill] cooldowns are reduced by 50%.

Cooldown: 10 minutes

Mana Cost: 30 points

3. Decoy Exchange (lvl 1): [Unavailable. Buy some Decoys first.]

Description: Swap places with a decoy explosive for a surprise getaway or attack. Upon the successful assassination of the target, the decoy will detonate, causing damage to nearby enemies.

Cooldown: 2 hours

Mana Cost: 40 points

4. Ether Walk (lvl 1):

Description: Temporarily grants the Awakener . This invisibility breaks if you attack or cast a spell.

The Awakener's first attack while invisible deals 1.1x more damage as True Damage to the target. True Damage ignores all resistances and immunities.

Cooldown: 20 minutes

Mana Cost: 30 points

5. Soul Bind (lvl 1):

Description: Attacking enemies makes them hallucinate, rendering them for 3 seconds. During the hallucination effect, a soul can attach themselves to the enemy, compelling them to follow the Awakener's commands for a short duration.

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Mana Cost: 30 points

+++

It'll take some time to get used to these new skills.

YuWon mumbled, scratching his head. The sub-classes he got were good, but reading through their explanations was confusing.

He also realized using the skills required mana. However, that was the one thing YuWon had invested no points in. Thankfully, he had more than enough stats points to correct his mistake.

After dumping all the points to raise his mana and HP to 335 and 625 points each, YuWon used the remaining points to increase his base stats. With all that taken care of, he was ready to face the ogre.

But as he was closing the screen, he noticed something. The stamina counter had changed. It was weird since nothing he did before made the counter budge. But now it was showing 15 points instead of a maximum of 30.

The only thing I did differently was...

He turned to look at Gina and realized what the counter signified.

Ahem... I can do more research on it later. For now, let's just focus on the Ogre.