Eternal Dream

The Blackwood Forest was right next to Ashenburgh. The wood in the forest was black, giving it its name. It was a lovely autumn day, and the leaves have already turned a beautiful gold and red.

At the entrance of the forest, Alisa could already see a group of beasts hopping around. They looked like rabbits but were a lot larger. They were as big as a dog and had fluffy ash-gray fur. Taking a better look, Alisa saw some smaller ones among them with whiter fur. They seemed to be the offspring of the rabbit-like creatures.

After using [Analysis] she found out that their levels ranged from 1 to 3, most likely depending on their age. Unfortunately [Analysis] still couldn't provide her with any useful information aside from someone's level. Nevertheless, these dire rabbits seem to be the perfect target for some initial training and experimenting.

She picked a nearby target and started to cast [Fireball]. The moment she completed her spell, she used [Ignite], which could be cast instantly and dealt damage over time. The dire rabbit's body caught fire and it received -12,9 damage as it screamed in pain. Noticing Alisa standing not far from it, it immediately charged at her in rage. But just as it advanced, a ball of fire exploded in its face, dealing additionally -154,8 damage. It was a critical blow, but the dire rabbit was still alive. She conjured one more [Fireball] and hit its head again for another critical hit. She has dealt over -300 damage, but it still wasn't enough to finish it off. She also made notice that hitting a target's head seemed to deal critical damage.

Alisa could see another number appearing every three seconds above the dire rabbits head, dealing it further -12,9 damage. [Ignite] was clearly doing its job. She pondered whether to use another spell and decided to try out [Ice Arrow] this time. An arrow made of ice appeared before her and shot straight towards the dire rabbits face. The dire rabbit wasn't a smart creature, as it only hopped towards her in a straight line, without even trying to dodge. Therefore, it was pretty easy for Alisa to hit it again in the head, dealing a critical blow of -68,8 damage. [Ice Arrow] had a shorter cast time and mana consumption than [Fireball], but it also dealt way less damage.

After a total of six seconds of fighting, the dire rabbit collapsed dead before Alisa. From the damage it received, Alisa estimated its health to be around 400 HP. She also spent most of her mana to kill it. Being a wizard in the early levels seemed to be a pain, as running out of mana would be a common occurrence, and mana potions were expensive.

But throwing around spells and setting things ablaze somehow made her feel satisfied. A longing for a more powerful and bigger variety of magic surged through her. Although she experienced the abilities of sorcerers in other games before, nothing felt so realistic and addicting yet. "This better doesn't awaken anything in me," she whispered to herself with a grin.

The dire rabbit dropped some meat, fur, and bones. The items just lay on the ground with absolutely no burn marks or any sort of damage on them, further confirming that Alisa is indeed inside the world of a game. Aside from the loot, she also received 100 EXP for the kill. This means that she needed to kill another 22 level 3 dire rabbits to level up.

Alisa waited for a couple of minutes until her mana was regenerated and attacked the next dire rabbit. She was careful to never attract more than one enemy and spent two hours running around and killing the monsters in this place. She also killed some level 1 and level 2 dire rabbits, and although they were easier to defeat, they also brought her way less experience, since her level was already higher than theirs by more than one.

She also noticed that using the spells successfully would earn her Mastery Points, which would level up her spells. After killing 20 dire rabbits, both [Fireball] and [Ignite] reached level 2. Both of their potencies went up by 2%, and their mana cost went down by a little bit. [Fireball] could also be conjured faster by 0,1 seconds. The higher the level of the spells, the better they would become. Maybe they would even get some new effects as they rank up.

Suddenly, another being spawned in the middle of the dire rabbit's group.

[Dire Rabbit King]

[Level: 6]

[Status: Elite]

[Description: The king of the Dire Rabbits.]

This is all the information she was able to gain. A level 6 elite monster seemed a tough challenge, but compared to the worg last night, it was nothing. She was thinking about trying to kill it right away but decided to gather the last bits of experience she needed to level up first. After killing another couple of stray dire rabbits, she finally reached level 5 and put all of her gained attribute points in intelligence, boosting her damage. She would rather use fewer spells but strong ones to wipe out her enemies right away than casting a bunch of weak spells to slowly wear them down.

After waiting for a couple of minutes to regain her mana, she used [Double Cast] to conjure two fireballs at the same time. As they shot towards the dire rabbit king, she used [Ignite] and set the beast ablaze. A familiar strategy by now. The two fireballs exploded in its face, dealing it -174,22 damage twice. It had a huge body and was hard to miss. The monster screeched in pain.

The dire rabbit king spotted Alisa with its red eyes and charged at her at full speed. It was quite faster than the normal dire rabbits, even though it was twice their size. Alisa stayed calm and used [Fireball] combined with [Double Cast] once more. Just as the spell was about to hit the beast, it suddenly jumped to the side, avoiding the incoming damage.

"F.u.c.k me!" she cursed. She just wasted 120 mana for nothing, and now she was almost drained. She quickly drank a mana potion, which was able to provide her with 300 mana, filling her up again. It seemed like elite monsters were smarter than regular ones, so she had to be more considerate of how she spent her mana.

Alisa conjured another fireball and aimed for its head. This time it didn't evade and received another critical hit. Was the previous time just a fluke? As [Ignite] ticked away, the dire rabbit king screeched every time the spell erupted, making it more and more angry. It seemed like it had forsaken any thought of defense or evasion and just stubbornly charged at Alisa.

So that's how it is, she thought. The rabbit's mind was probably clouded with fury by now. No matter if it was an elite monster or royalty amongst dire rabbits, it was still just a low-level beast with little intelligence. It might also just be the game design.

She shot another two fireballs at its face, before activating [Act with Grace] and running away as fast as possible, but not too far because she was scared that the monster might lose interest in her and go back. Should that happen, it might regenerate all of its HP again in an instant, which was typical for these types of games. She made sure to recast [Ignite] while she was running.

She stopped some distance away and started to cast a double [Fireball] again, but the dire rabbit king wasn't far away from her. She miscalculated its speed and knew that she wouldn't have enough time to dodge its assault after finishing her spell. She could either stop her casting now and keep distancing herself, or complete her spell and take the hit head-on. She decided to gamble and chose the latter. Clenching her teeth, she prepared herself for the impact.

Just as she finished casting her spell, she was hit straight on by the dire rabbit king's charge and was blown away. Her health dropped by half, but she quickly propped herself up and recovered with a health potion. Thank god, she didn't receive a critical hit or she wouldn't be able to get up again. A way to cast spells while moving would be a great help right now, she though.

She didn't know how much health the dire rabbit king had, but it shouldn't take much more to defeat it. The fight went on. She always made sure that [Ignite] would stay on the target, slowly grinding down the rabbit's health while kiting him as best as she could. After another six [Fireballs], since she wasn't always able to hit its head in the chaos of the battle, the dire rabbit king finally fell dead on the ground. She had spent all of her health and mana potions to kill it, but the rewards were worth it.

Aside from the usual loot, she also received fur that had a better quality than the previous ones and 450 EXP. But there was one item, that especially caught her attention. It was small and looked like a rabbit's foot.

[Dire Rabbit King's Foot]

[Quality: Rare]

[Type: Trinket]

[Description: The foot of the Dire Rabbit King. Legends say the foot of a Dire Rabbit King grants the wearer extraordinary luck.]

[Effect: Increases Luck by 50%]

"Increases luck?" she murmured to herself. "What exactly does luck do anyway? Increase my item drop chance?" She looked at her luck attribute and thought about investing points in it in the future, as that might perhaps help her in the long run. But she decided against it in the end. At least for now, growing in power is more important. She equipped the trinket and took a look at her attributes.

[Name: Alisa Adderley] [Title: None]

[Race: Half-Elf]

[Class: Wizard] [Job: None]

[Level: 5] [EXP: 11%]

[HP: 300] [MP: 300]

[Strength: 10] [Stamina: 10] [Dexterity: 12]

[Intelligence: 34 (+1)] [Wisdom: 21 (+1)] [Haste: 10]

[Charisma: 12] [Luck: 12 (+6)]

It was already evening and the sun was slowly setting. Alisa decided to head back to Ashenburgh for now, as she needed to buy more potions. Better safe than sorry.