Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

Chapter 53: Let's grind! (1)

'Ding!'

[You have completed your quest]

[Acquired 2000 gold, 5 stat points]

[Quest: kill 5 monsters of different species]

[Reward: 3000 gold, 5 stat points]

"Hehehehhehe..." I chuckled as I saw gold finally rolled into my account after so long.

[Why do you keep laughing after killing insects? Do you need professional help?] Luke slithered around my shoulders worriedly.

"Shut up. You're a snake anyway, you eat bugs or something. Or rats." I frowned. Now, how should I clear this new quest? The system had made it clear this time that I should hunt monsters, not animals.

[I don't eat bugs or rats. I feed on your mana.] He responded happily.

"Oh, so now you're leeching rent and food."

[Hey, you're the host. The host should provide.] He pouted.

I ignored him again and opened the shop window instead. After trying several keywords like 'attract', 'gather', 'call', and 'bait', I had finally found what I was looking for.

[Would you like to purchase the item 'Monster Bait' for 100 gold?]

"Yes. Inventory, please."

Another new window appeared before me, and I took out the creepy-looking bottle from it. It was black with some beautiful, but ominous-looking golden details, and the liquid inside was as dark as the container itself.

It didn't faze me, though. I've drunk something worse than this back in my soldier days. I gulped down all of the liquid while holding my breath, and surprisingly, it kinda tasted like apple juice.

[The item 'Monster Bait' is now in effect. You will attract nearby monsters for 10 minutes]

"This should do it." I adopted a wider stance and got ready for the attack.

There was one thing that bothered me, though. This item was suspiciously cheap despite its powerful function. While it looked disadvantageous at first glance, but this was basically a murder tool. If I were to use this on an average person, they'd be dead in a matter of minutes. Heck, even for a strong soldier, if I used this in a dangerous area, they might also die.

Did the designer of this system assume I'd be a good girl? Or was there something else?

'ROAR!'

I didn't get enough time to process my thoughts before a boar-like monster charged towards me.

[Hey, kid. Where's your weapon?] Luke asked me as he hissed at the incoming boar monster.

"I don't want to use weapons." I said as flames began to swirl around me, engulfing my arm in bright red flame.

'BAM!'

With one hit, the boar was flattened to the ground, and the ground even cracked a bit from my punch. I could've used a stick or something, but it'd be a waste to not use this opportunity to increase my strength stat.

"Woah~ So this is the benefit of high intelligence. Even though my strength wasn't that high, but if I use magic with it, I can dish out some damage." I hummed happily.

"Let's go, big bro! We're going on a walk!" I exclaimed happily as I grabbed him by the neck and started running as fast as I could around the forest.

[W-what? Why are we running from the monsters!?] He asked.

"Of course we're not. Just trust me!" I yelled while I ran across the trees and through the bushes. We ran for quite a while until there were several boars chasing after me at once. After I counted at least 10 of them, I turned around and blasted all of them with my flame.

'BOOM!'

'ROAAR!'

[I see. So you're trying to conserve mana by hitting multiple enemies all at once.] Luke nodded.

"Perhaps." I answered shortly because while he was wrong, I couldn't tell him the real reason. It would expose my system.

My main goal for tonight's 'walk' was to increase my agility, which was the stat that I lacked most. I figured that I could complete my quests and raise my intelligence too, while I'm at it.

The reason for that was because I only got 2 to 3 days free, and the rest of the days until the raid will be spent inside Elena's room. Over there, I could freely practice my magic and strength by abusing my skill and working out, but there was no way I could run around in a room and increase my agility.

'BOOM!'

Another batch of boar monsters was pulverized as I kept running around to force my agility to increase.

"Hmm... This is troublesome. I need to kill other species too, or else, the mission won't be complete," I pondered, "big bro, you used to live here, right? Do you know a place where there are various monsters?"

[Of course I do. Go to the spider's nest. They usually have lots of different monsters trapped in their webs.] He explained proudly.

"Perfect. Lead the way!"

--------

'SPLAT!'

The spider's body fell onto the ground with a loud thumping sound. It squirmed for a bit before completely stopping its every movement.

"Phew. That should do it." I wiped my bloodstained face and sighed. Ah, that took longer than expected to wipe everything out...

[Did you also slaughter my underlings so casually like this?] Luke asked while he wrapped around my arm.

"No, it was hard for me. But now I kinda understand how to work with my magic, so it's a bit easier." I grinned. Well, the sudden increase of my intelligence stat also certainly helped.

"These spiders were just unlucky, too. My element is fire, and their cobwebs are weak against fire, so it was perfect for me," I said with a little laugh, "let's rest for tonight. What do you think?"

[Yeah, I'm sleepy, too. But can we not rest in the middle of these monster corpses?]

"Sure, sure. We'll go sleep in the forest." I pranced happily towards the forest with Luke.

It had been hours since our 'walk' started. And we started right around when the moon was just shyly peeking. Now, the moon shone brightly above us, unobstructed by the clouds.

I looked up and admired the view for quite a while. I knew that the sky here was much clearer than in Korea, but looking at a clear sky had always helped me to calm down a bit. I wonder if Eli still looked at the sky from time to time like he used to?

[This spot should be good. Let's sleep.] Luke pointed at the ground beneath a tree using his tail.

"No, not yet, we have to set up some traps for precautions," I said as I began to gather some dried leaves, "just a simple one will do since we're short of materials."

I scattered piles of dry leaves in a huge circle around us, about 10 meters in diameter. After I finished scattering them, I went to sit down under the tree to finally sleep.

[What are those leaves for?] Luke questioned.

"They'll alert us if something's coming. And dry leaves are good fire starter. I can just shoot a small flame from here and burn them." I answered as I leaned back to find a more comfortable sleeping position.

[Hmm, you suspiciously know a lot of survival skills. What did you do before coming here?] He asked as he curled up on my lap.

"I pretend to be a drunk, broken-hearted lady and borrow toilets."

[What?]

I acted as if I didn't hear his question and opened my status window silently.

'Ding!'

A familiar screen hovered in front of me, and my eyes widened.

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