Chapter 4:

Chapter 4: Level Up!

Tiger Blood: Blood Moon Hunter


[Your high Luck has begun to take effect!]

[You have acquired another 3x Tier 0 Magic Crystals!]

[A skill scroll has dropped!]

As he saw those notifications pop up on the screen, Jin was absentmindedly staring at the screen. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a white glitter among the bat corpses before him, as if trying to attract his attention.

"Is this a skill scroll?" As he carefully searched through the soft, velvety wings of the bats, his fingers suddenly came into contact with something unexpected.

A glimmering, golden parchment. The parchment was rolled tightly and its surface shone with a lustrous, pure gold hue, seemingly imbued with an otherworldly aura.

Its writing was etched onto rough animal skin, adorned with a multitude of strange symbols that glimmered with a magical radiance.

Jin didn't hesitate as his hand grabbed the parchment, expecting something to happen, but there was nothing strange. He expected the scenario to be like in a game where a game screen would show up.

"Should I unfold it?" he questioned, but just as his focus slightly shifted, his eyes noticed several rough-looking glass on the place where he found the rolled golden parchment.

But the most remarkable object he found was a jewel that resembled a diamond. Its surface was so reflective that it looked like a mirror, and yet its inner light betrayed its true nature.

A glimmering soul-like energy resided within it, pulsing with an almost ethereal quality.

Curious, Jin's attention was split as he took the strange-looking gem. Immediately, a game screen showed up before his eyes.

[

Name: Tier 0 Magic Crystal

Type: Material

Rarity: Common

Effect: Crush this stone and the user would get experience to level up and random rewards.

Requirements: -

Description: Purely made from the soul of a dead being. Every being that has been acknowledged by Aetheria has their soul transformed into a magic crystal the moment they die. The quality of the magic crystal depends on the being's Tier.

]

While Jin analyzed his situation, a human scream shattered the silence, reminding him of the danger he was in.

He quickly grabbed the shotgun beside him, loaded another shell from the ammo pouch, and tried to scout the situation as quietly as possible.

His amber eyes narrowed as he peered through a gap in the bar counter, his expression conflicted.

Amidst the chaos of the room, the floor was littered with the lifeless bodies of human victims, their blood being feasted on by the ravenous bats. However, some had managed to fend off the attacks.

They had gathered in a corner of the room and were using chairs and tables to create a barricade against the relentless onslaught of the bats. Their only weapon was the iron bats they wielded with expert skill and precision.

Jin recognized the group of three young men. They were the ones who had backed the gangs and also tried to bully him earlier.

He snorted, his expression displaying displeasure. "Heh, didn't expect you guys to still be alive."

Curiously, he scanned the group, but was disappointed not to find the girl who had stirred up trouble . "It seems that girl already met her end."

Seeing the group fiercely struggling to resist the swarm of bats, he definitely didn't want to help them. In fact, he secretly hoped they would die.

After roughly observing the situation, Jin leaned back against the bar counter. The group seemed to buy him some time to understand the urgent situation before him.

"Now, most of the bats are probably attracted by their resistance or are busy sucking the blood from the corpses. I have a chance to check the skills I got and try to understand these items before me."

The first thing he did was try to summon his stats, but to his surprise, they appeared when he thought about them.

[

Name: Jin Tianyi

Class: -

Level: 0

Race: Human

Health: 19/24.72

Mana/Stamina: 20/20

Attributes: Strength: 6 | Agility: 7 | Intelligence: 5 | Dexterity: 8 | Luck: 20 | Charisma: 20

]

There was no huge change except for his health decreasing. It seemed to be the impact of his injured hand from the sharp glass and the full blast of the iron door.

"Lucky I've played games before; otherwise, I'd be confused by this phenomenon," Jin muttered while shaking his head.

As for the logic of how this game screen appeared in real life, he had already accepted this weird reality.

With the world potentially descending into chaos, he knew that survival was his top priority.

...

After finishing checking his stats, and relying on past experiences, he tried to summon the skills panel or something similar. However, he stopped this thought midway.

A noise like a falling object was heard repeatedly. At the same time, the sonar-like sound from the bats and the flapping of their wings became louder.

"No, I can't waste this precious opportunity!" He had a gut feeling that the trio would not give him more than ten minutes.

Furthermore, if he checked all of the passive skills he had, it would take more time to adjust to his current situation.

His time was limited! If he had more time, he would gladly try to understand what he had, but the information from the magic crystal kept knocking and flashing in his mind.

Looking at the strange gems, Jin followed his instinct and trusted the description.

Crush!

He crushed it, and a sound like someone grinding a stone to dust was heard. The strange-looking gems, the magic crystal in Jin's hand, were also turned into dust.

[You have destroyed a Tier 0 magic crystal!]

[Your high Luck has begun to take effect!]

[You have absorbed +0.10 Agility!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You gained 2 points to freely distribute between your attributes!]

[You have destroyed a Tier 0 magic crystal!]

[Your high Luck has begun to take effect!]

[You have absorbed +0.10 Strength!]

[You have destroyed a ….]

Several magic crystals were crushed and Jin suddenly felt all the tiredness in his body wash away. He could feel the twitches in his muscles and the scratches on his body heal before his eyes.

"This feeling is amazing!" he exclaimed. When he saw that he had two free attribute points to distribute, his eyes shone like glittering stars.

These features were 70% similar to most RPG games!

"I also gained an additional attribute!" There were six tier 0 magic crystals, and by crushing all of them, he gained one level, +0.20 strength, and +0.10 agility.

After calculating his gains, he came to the conclusion that each magic crystal had a 50% chance of granting a random attribute reward.

However, there was one thing that bothered him: "Does this happen because my Luck points are so high?"

If his guess was correct, then if another person crushed the magic crystal, they might have less than a 25% chance of receiving a random attribute reward.

"Nah, it's none of my business. At least now I have a rough understanding of this game entity called 'Aetheria'."

Aside from analyzing each feature of this entity, Jin also realized that he could not see the stats of other beings or receive notifications about how much damage he received or dealt.

It seems like not all features were similar to a game. Now that the thing that was nagging at his mind was finally at ease, his focus shifted to the golden parchment.

"I wonder what skill I will get." Jin's lips curled up as he slowly unrolled the golden parchment, and the game screen he expected finally appeared.

[Congratulations, you have learned a non-class active skill!]

[Your non-class active skill slot has been used, only 2 remaining.]

As Jin unrolled the golden scroll, the strange symbol on it came to life and shot into his brain, leaving him stunned.

As he regained his senses, he was hit with excruciating pain, causing him to let out a low groan and drool from the corner of his mouth.

It felt as if his mind was being torn apart and then reassembled, leaving him feeling stuffy and nauseous.

However, the pain gradually subsided, and his forehead veins sank back into his skin. His body was adapting to the sudden change, and he realized that if he learned another active skill, the effect might not be as extreme.

Once he had stabilized himself, Jin scanned his surroundings, looking left and right. The smashing sound was still audible, but it seemed that the trio had exhausted themselves.

[New non-class active skill acquired: Gunslinger!]

[Gunslinger(Active): When activated, the user gains a temporary increase in firearm accuracy and reload speed by 10% for 20 seconds. Additionally, any critical hits dealt during the duration of the skill deal an additional 50% damage]

"This is good," he said, his expression one of satisfaction but his breath still unsteady. He couldn't believe how excited he was inside. This skill was custom-made for this kind of situation.

"I feel like the gods are smiling at me." His lips curled up into a grin, and his confidence skyrocketed.

But the joy didn't last long. As if the smiling gods were throwing a wicked smile at him, the final screams of the trio ended, turning the whole nightclub into a dead silence.

Even after leveling up and acquiring this skill, his heart was pounding with nervousness as he imagined the uncountable number of bats behind him.

"What are my chances of getting out of this alive?" he thought, just as he was about to turn and look behind the bar.

Suddenly, his hand that was holding the well of the bar counter plunged and touched something that felt like a button.

Click!

Like the sound of a mouse click, the following noise of stone moving left him in shock. Jin withdrew his hand slightly and looked dumbfoundedly at the sight that his hand had pressed.

"Oh no!" Lining up his sights, despite the lack of light in the bar well, he had accidentally pressed a button-like object with his hand, and the floor started moving.

The loud noise and the shifting floor shattered the peaceful silence. Jin's palms were sweating as he stood up, raised his shotgun to shoulder level, and aimed at the incoming threat.

However, the sight before him was terrifying. The whole nightclub was bathed in red light, the floor covered in dried corpses, and the walls were splattered with sticky liquid.

Many pairs of eyes glared at him, and without waiting for his command, all of the bats let out a shrill sonar sound and charged at him.

"Activate Gunslinger skill!" Jin shouted loudly. Instantly, the game entity did not disappoint him. A glimmering light emerged from nowhere, first enveloping his guns and then his entire body.

[Skill: Gunslinger Activated!]

[A temporary 10% increase in firearm accuracy and reload speed has been applied for 20 seconds!]

[Any critical hits dealt during the skill's duration will deal an additional 50% damage!]

BAM!

Without even glancing at the screen, Jin pulled the trigger. In the next instant, another screen appeared before him.

[You have successfully killed a Tier 0 - Level 0 Vampiric Bat!]

[You have successfully killed a Tier 0 - Level 0 Vampiric Bat!]

[You have successfully killed a Tier 0 - Level 0 Vampiric Bat!]

[You have successfully…]

The shotgun shells caused area damage and, with the additional buff that empowered his attack, more than ten bats were killed instantly.

Kacha!

The empty shell was ejected from the shotgun and with swift precision, Jin's hand dove into his ammo pouch to retrieve another shell, which he immediately loaded into the magazine tube.

The speed of his hands was still visible to the human eye, but it was clearly faster than his normal reaction time.

BAM!

Another shot was fired, but this time only a couple of bats were killed as the rest dodged his attack by stopping their flight.

BAM!

Jin's eyes were sharp as a hawk's, his body turning to the side as he swiftly reloaded and fired again. This time, a few bats were killed simultaneously.

"This is bad," Jin complained, his expression furrowed as he glanced to the side where the bats were trying to surround him. "They've become smarter and I'm in an open area."

It wasn't that he was afraid of being surrounded or bitten by the bats, but who knew if there would be side effects after the bite?

Not to mention that these were abnormal bats, not the usual ones! They probably carried a mutated infection or virus that could harm or weaken his body.

Click!

Amidst his thoughts on how to handle the situation, his eyes narrowed as he tried to use the same trick as the trio before.

Suddenly, a clicking sound, like the sound of a door opening, was heard from below.

Jin glanced down and saw that the corpse of the bartender was gone. In its place was a narrow staircase leading to a secret basement!

His livid expression turned bright, and without hesitation, he jumped and rolled down the steps. The impact of hitting the steps and the dust it created could be ignored.

Surprisingly, the basement was clear. From the corner of his eye, he could faintly see a bed and a lever that could close the entrance.

For a moment, he hesitated. Should he close the entrance or not?

However, his hesitation only lasted a few seconds. After hearing the familiar flapping of bat wings, he made up his mind.

"My condition isn't that bad, I can still take out a few more bats," his lips curled up, revealing a malicious grin.

The temptation of leveling up, the sensation of something inside him becoming stronger, was too intoxicating.

He immediately positioned his body to absorb more recoil and aimed at the last source of light, which was the entrance where the bats were coming from.

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

Like that, ten or so minutes passed, and Jin, the main character who had been smiling wickedly before, was now panting and leaning against the bed.

His vision was unfocused, and red and torn skin was visible on his palms. "N... not too bad," he said, looking at the pile of corpses filling the staircase.

He was satisfied. Just as he was about to close the door, a familiar screen appeared before him.

However, the information on the screen was not a notification about his kills or a drop of magic crystal. It wasn't even close to a level up.

But the information on the screen made his body jolt and filled his mind with confusion and doubt.

DragonKnov
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