Chapter 4: Level Up

Slash

Franz suddenly rolled to the side as a dark shadow flew past him and disappeared. The speed was incredibly fast. He felt a sharp pain on his face as three streaks of red blood in the shape of claws appeared on his cheek. It was too fast; from what he knew, only a level 4 magical beast would have such speed. A level 4 magical beast was equivalent to a Great Fighter. But this was only the outer area of the Magical Beast Forest. Was his fate so unlucky?

Franz remained vigilant, scanning his surroundings. He could clearly sense that the magical beast was still lurking around, waiting for him to make a mistake and attack. He still didn’t know what type of magical beast it was. How was he supposed to fight it? With his current strength, it was obvious that he couldn’t afford to clash head-on with a level 4 magical beast. But Franz knew that if he turned and fled, he would die even faster. As someone who had crossed over to this world, he was unwilling to die here.

After more than half an hour of standoff, both sides maintained their positions. The magical beast was clearly very patient, waiting for its prey. On the other hand, Franz began to feel suspicious. If it were a level 4 magical beast, he shouldn’t be able to withstand a single hit. Was this magical beast playing a cat-and-mouse game?

Another half hour passed, and Franz started to feel fatigued. Maintaining a high level of alertness was taking a toll on his nerves. At that moment, the magical beast launched its attack, rushing towards him.

Boom, thud

Two contrasting sounds echoed, accompanied by the sound of splintering wood. Dust filled the air where Franz had just been standing. As the dust settled, only a broken tree stump remained on the ground, and next to it was a black cat looking bewildered, not understanding what had happened. With its small, jet-black body and adorable yellow eyes, it was capable of charming anyone who saw it. But beneath its feet, the four sharp claws were in stark contrast to its angelic appearance.

On a branch opposite Franz, he took a sharp breath. Luckily, he had just activated the Body Replacement Technique, swapping places with a tree stump. Otherwise, he would have been shattered like the wood below. Franz quickly examined the magical beast.

Name: Black Lycat. HP: 1300/1300. Mana: 1100/1200. Health: 300/300. Attack: 300-500. Skills: Stealth (conceals its presence and hides its aura), Swift Strike (increases its own speed), Lycat Claw (attacks with claws, increasing damage by 10%, with a bleeding effect of 2 HP/s for 1 minute). Level: 37

Franz smiled wryly. He hadn’t encountered a level 4 magical beast but had met a level 3 beast with combat capabilities close to level 4. He knew that just one hit from the Black Lycat would be fatal. Even a mere scratch from the Lycat Claw had already cost him one-third of his HP. The Black Lycat’s speed had surpassed the norm for level 3 beasts, even exceeding many level 4 beasts. Furthermore, it was adept at hiding and concealing its presence. It was indeed a born killer. Franz realized that any movement would alert the Black Lycat and result in a full-force attack. To defeat the Black Lycat, he would have to engage in close combat and end the fight quickly, not allowing the beast to use its skills. Thus, he could only rely on his close combat techniques.

Shinobi Close Combat Techniques: Basic close combat skills developed from Ninja Ninjutsu. The Shinobi close combat techniques include three basic forms:

Stunning Strike: Stuns the enemy for 1-5 seconds (depending on the opponent’s level). Cooldown: 5 seconds

Explosive Strike: Increases attack power by 15%, chakra envelops the weapon to increase weapon damage by 5%. There is a 10% chance of causing an explosion effect. Cooldown: 10 seconds

Counter Strike: Increases attack speed by 20%, creates successive hits, stuns the enemy for 1 second, with a chance of causing a critical hit. Cooldown: 1 second.

The Shinobi close combat techniques cost 1000 silver to buy, and Franz had to trade all his level 2 magical cores (high-value essence from magical beasts) for them. Today seemed like the time to use them.

Determined, Franz leaped into the air. The Black Lycat, spotting its prey, immediately used its incredible speed to charge at Franz, its front claws glowing red. The Black Lycat activated the Lycat Claw skill with increased momentum.

“Shadow Clone Technique”

Franz activated the Shadow Clone Technique. The Black Lycat struck the clone, turning it to dust. Seizing the opportunity, Franz pulled out a kunai and, twisting his wrist, struck the Black Lycat.

“Ding, Stunning Strike successful, target stunned for 2 seconds.”

The system notification rang out. Franz didn’t pause. He turned and thrust his hand at a 45-degree angle into the Black Lycat’s abdomen.

“Explosive Strike”

The chakra along the kunai couldn’t completely penetrate the Black Lycat’s defense but only knocked it a short distance away. However, the Explosive Strike caused the Black Lycat to lose a chunk of skin and about one-fourth of its HP. With the 2 seconds of stun almost over, Franz rushed in and continued to stab the Black Lycat’s body.

“Counter-Strike”

“Ding, Counter-Strike successful, created 2 consecutive hits, target stunned for 1 second.”

Franz was overjoyed and quickly stabbed the Black Lycat repeatedly. Although he didn’t inflict significant damage, he hoped to cause a critical hit. After 1 second had passed, Franz kicked the Black Lycat away. The little cat rolled on the ground a few times before recovering and, infuriated, charged back at Franz. He quickly rolled on the ground to dodge the attack. The clumsy but effective maneuver saved his life for a moment. But the Black Lycat didn’t relent and immediately lunged at Franz’s chest, its speed accelerating drastically. Franz quickly swung his kunai at the dark figure and used the Stunning Strike.

“Ding. Stunning Strike failed.”

Unexpectedly, the failure happened at just the wrong moment.

Boom

The claws of the Black Lycat struck Franz, sending him flying until he crashed into and knocked over two trees before finally coming to a stop. The kunai in his hand shattered, and his shinobi armor tore apart in large sections, leaving his chest stained with dark red blood. His HP was down to just under 1/5. Franz quickly drank a healing potion and tried to recover, but his HP continued to drop due to the effect of the Lycat’s claws. Franz grimaced; although his HP was not low enough to cause immediate death, his strength was almost depleted. At this point, he couldn’t even attempt to escape.

The Black Lycat slowly advanced toward him, a smug and arrogant expression on its face, as if mocking its prey for overestimating itself. In the fight, the Black Lycat had only lost nearly half of its health bar, demonstrating the strength of a level 3 magical beast. It seemed that Franz had been lucky up until now.

Franz smiled wryly. Perhaps he was the most tragic person who had ever crossed over; barely more than a month into his new life, and he was about to die in this desolate place. Farewell to this world, farewell to his parents, farewell to Lucky (the dog),…

"Damn, why is this taking so long? Could it be that this magical beast is taking a fancy to me because of my looks?"

As Franz was closing his eyes and thinking about his impending doom, he suddenly became suspicious. Opening his eyes, he saw the Black Lycat cautiously scanning its surroundings, a hint of fear on its face.

"Could there be another, even more powerful magical beast nearby? My fate is indeed tragic, to be torn apart by two wild beasts."

Franz mentally lamented. After a while, the Black Lycat remained still. The silence was maddening. Franz was just as anxious.

"Since I'm going to die anyway, might as well go all out!"

With that, he pulled out another kunai and rushed at the Black Lycat, using all his remaining strength to stab it directly in the neck.

Boom

"Ding, One Hit Kill successful."

"Ding, Host has killed the Black Lycat. Rewards: 18,000 EXP, 2,000 silver, a Stealth Technique book, and a level 3 magical beast core."

"Ding, congratulations Host has leveled up to level 15. Reward: 160 silver..."

"Ding, congratulations Host has leveled up to level 16. Reward: 170 silver..."

"Ding, congratulations Host has leveled up to level 20. Reward: 400 silver..."

"Ding, Host has reached level 20. Please complete the class transition quest to level up further."

Hearing the system notifications, Franz couldn't help but smile broadly. He hadn't expected that killing the Black Lycat would propel him directly to level 20.

"Open status panel."

“Name: Franz Bonaparte. HP: 1200/1200. Chakra: 1050/1050. Stamina: 1300/1300. Level: 20. Experience: 22,536/24,450. Skills: Shadow Clone Technique, Spinning Shadow Clone, One Hit Kill, Basic Shuriken Throwing, Body Replacement Technique, Shinobi Physical Techniques. Equipment: Kunai, Shuriken, damaged basic shinobi armor, damaged basic shinobi badge, damaged basic chain, cloth gloves (damaged). Silver: 5,673

Franz was quite troubled. Although he had leveled up, most of his equipment was damaged. It seemed he needed to replace his gear. Oh, right, there was still one more reward item. He looked at the skill book in his bag.

Stealth Technique: Conceals presence and blends into the surroundings.

This was a valuable item. If used for sneaking into a bathroom... uh, I mean, for tracking and assassination, it would be very useful.

"Do you want to learn Stealth Technique?"

"Learn."

"Ding, congratulations Host has learned Stealth Technique."

Franz was quite pleased as he entered the equipment store of the system. He chose a set of intermediate equipment, including intermediate shinobi armor (for chunin), intermediate shinobi badge, intermediate gloves, intermediate chain, and so on. It cost him over 3,000 silver in no time. Looking at his remaining silver, he longed for the Sharingan. Right now, he could only afford the basic Sharingan.

Basic Sharingan (1 tomoe): The distinctive eyes of the Uchiha clan. The basic Sharingan provides users with an extremely refined vision, allowing them to track fast-moving objects easily and even predict their next movements. A fully developed Sharingan can track the fastest opponent. This vision is also effective against illusions and allows observation of the flow of energy within the human body. Upgrading to 2 tomoe requires 5,000 silver.

After a moment of thought, he gritted his teeth and said,

"I want to buy the basic Sharingan."

"Host wants to purchase the basic Sharingan?"

"Confirm."

"Transaction successful. 1,500 silver has been deducted."

Franz couldn't contain his excitement to try out the Sharingan. Exiting the system, his eyes turned into a striking red, with a single tomoe swirling in the pupil. Everything around him seemed clearer, each movement of objects appearing to be in slow motion. He suddenly glanced into the distance. It seemed that a figure had just left that area.