Single Stat System

Chapter 18: Ghost Fire

But before Sakim made a move, the first thing he did was to look again on the map for he was curious to know why did this cliff wasn't displayed on the map before.

After he summoned the map, he saw that it wasn't because it was not displayed, it was just because the cliff was on the dark spot. Only by having a closer distance towards it did the cliff reveal itself. But it appeared that this cliff wasn't fully revealed, probably only a portion of it.

Furthermore, Sakim also noticed something on the map. Sakim could see an icon of a Heartstone placed somewhere on the map. He'd guessed that it was the place where the Heartstone he had seen earlier was positioned.

Under the icon of the Heartstone were words saying, "Illusion Forest." Sakim conjectured that he could get the name of each place by touching their Heartstone.

Nodding in realization, Sakim swept his gaze around trying to compare his surroundings and to what was displayed on the map. Seeing that it was pretty similar to each other, Sakim nodded again in realization.

He then dismissed the System as he readied himself to go to the cave. With a deep breath, he made a step forward.

Tap! Tap! Tap! His footsteps echoed on the surroundings as he still saw some Tailed Bush around not caring about his existence at all. But he didn't care as well on them for now so he didn't bother himself attacking them.

As he reached his distance in front of the mouth of the cave, he then halted his step. Many balls of fire were floating all around, illuminating the dark cave inside.

"What are those things?" Sakim muttered to himself. He really knew nothing about it. But it was much safer to assume that those things were some kind of monsters.

So then, entering cautiously inside the cave, Sakim noticed that the ball of fire was actually half a meter diameter. They were floating all around and it seemed that these monsters didn't care as well in his existence.

But it was much better this way. Sakim was still worrying if the monsters here would go and gang up on him but it appeared that it wasn't the case. He felt that just like the Tailed Bush he encountered a while ago, these balls of fire would only attack him if he attacked them first.

With that in mind, Sakim walked cautiously deeper inside the cave as he saw more and more balls of fire floating high and low. Putting his gaze at one side, he saw a lone ball of fire floating a foot above the ground.

Sakim still hadn't made a move against the balls of fire around since they were always together, and he was afraid that he might aggro all of them at the same time if he started to attack even one of them. But now that he saw a lone ball of fire, the thought of killing it immediately came into his mind.

Slowly and cautiously, he walked closer towards that certain ball of fire as he felt that its fire was not too strong to burn his skin. So Sakim slowly raised his hand towards the ball of fire and as he expected, it wasn't too hot at all. It only looked like a fire but it was actually a fur of that monster glowing with yellowish-orange light to make it so much similar to a fire.

Just after he touched it, the System had, of course, shown itself again with the information of the monster displaying on the screen,

[Ghost Fire]

Rank: Common

Level: 5

HP: 160 | 160

"Level 5?" Sakim was astonished. The last monster he met earlier was level 8, so he thought that the next monster he would see was in a level higher than 8. But now, it was actually level 5?!

But now that he thought about it more clearly, he probably had landed in a much deeper part of the woods where the higher level of monsters was. And now that he was getting nearer to the Wolf Village, the monsters he was meeting were getting lower and lower in level.

Sakim nodded in that realization as he stared at the Ghost Fire in front of him with the intent to kill. He was just hoping that just like the Tailed Bush he met earlier, all the other Ghost Fires around wouldn't be aggroed if he attacked this lone Ghost Fire in front of him.

Just like that, with eyes flashing with a cold glint, Sakim swung his [Rusty Sword] against the monster in his hardest.

HP: 60 | 160

"!"

Sakim was astonished. In just one swing, he claimed more than half of the other party's life. He'd just dealt 100 damage. Was this monster's defense really that weak?!

The Ghost Fire, on the other hand, was shocked at first seeing that the person in front of it attacked it all of a sudden. But knowing that it was about to die, the Ghost Fire didn't just stare stupidly at the other party. As a final retaliation, it rushed towards Sakim hoping that it could bring him down with it.

Swoosh!

HP: 0 | 160

But before it could even reach Sakim, it received a diagonal slash from the other party making its HP dropped to zero. And with a plop, it turned into ashes.

[You've killed a Ghost Fire. You've received 80 exp and 8 copper coins.]

"Hmph!" Sakim harrumphed coldly. This ant was still trying to retaliate? It must be dreaming.

Sakim then looked at the remains of the Ghost Fire but to his dismay, no drops at all. Just how low was the drop rate of items for the normal monsters?

Sakim swept his gaze around. Many Ghost Fires were floating here and there. And only then did Sakim realized something, "Where's the exit?"

The inside of the cave was huge enough for a few giants to reside. However, there were lots of smaller passageways that could be seen almost everywhere. And inside those passageways were couples of dim light dotted in there. Sakim guessed that those small dots of light were Ghost Fires.

Screech!

However, Sakim was just about to take a step forward to randomly enter one of the passageways so that he could exit this place already when suddenly, he heard few screeches coming from behind him. Sakim turned around as only then did he notice that there was actually a passageway lying in there.

Sakim stared at the passageway as he narrowed his eyes in wary. He'd guessed that there was another kind of monster living inside the cave other than the Ghost Fires.

But the inside of that passageway was way too dark. No Ghost Fires could be seen inside. He'd really wished that he could tame one of the Ghost Fires and used it as his flashlight.

But as if the God above heard his prayer, one of the Ghost Fires suddenly entered the passageway. Its light illuminated the dark surroundings inside the passageway as only then Sakim had seen what was inside.

Swoosh!

The Ghost Fire vanished without a trace. Sakim shuddered as he made a step back without knowing it. He'd just seen the Ghost Fire being devoured into pieces by the monsters inside that passageway. From what he had seen, the Ghost Fire was just being swarmed by something like a rat-type monster. And there were a couple of them.

At that moment, Sakim realized that not all the passageways were safe. If he got careless and entered the wrong one, he might put his life in danger and die before he could even exit that cave.