Alexander wiped the blood from his nose and steadied his breathing, forcing himself to calm down instead of rushing in again.
If that did not work, he was not stupid enough to confront it like a madman, realizing that even with his speed, which he considered the best, the rabbit's reactions were sharper.
Fighting head-on now would only make him lose.
"What to do?" his mind began to race.
With eyes quickly scanned the area around him, noticing the uneven ground, thick grass, and low branches that could block vision.
A planned began to form inside of him, he doesn't know if its going to work but if it did then thats good.
So instead of attacking directly, he began to move in short bursts, using Acceleration to conserve his stamina.
He circled the rabbit, kicking up dirt and leaves to disturb its senses.
The hopper's ears twitched rapidly as its focus began to split, trying to track his erratic movements from multiple angles.
Taking advantage of that moment, Alexander suddenly stopped behind a tree.
Then, he launched himself at full speed from its blind spot, aiming not for its body but straight for its head.
The rabbit reacted late this time, with its leg moving to block causes its balance to be slightly off from tracking too many movements.
Alexander used this moment to shift mid-strike, using his speed to feint then drove his knee hard into its side where its guard was weakest.
"Ahm~!"
The impact made the hopper stumble, and before it could recover, he used Acceleration again at point-blank range.
He delivered a rapid series of strikes to its head and neck, not giving it any time to regain its footing, until the beast finally collapsed from the continuous assault.
"Huff~" he began to pant, exhausted from using so much Acceleration in such a short time.
But it was all good since the rabbit was finally down. Luckily, their levels were not really that different.
Their speed was the same, but the difference in strength was clear. So he used the idea of distraction to make it lose focus and delivered a fierce strike in one shot.
If it did not work, it would be him on the ground, since the amount of stamina he had used was more than he could handle.
"Let's take a look at out harvest," he muttered reaching out his hand as he used his skill plundered.
...
You have acquired: Acceleration | AGL+ | STR+ | DEF+
...
As he plundered the hopper, he felt his strength, which had been pretty weak just now begin to rise.
The fat in his arms and body slowly started to turn into muscle.
After standing still for a moment, his eyes opened, glowing with energy.
Forming a fist, he struck the air with all his power.
What surprised him was the strong whistling sound it made.
He smiled and said, "Now I am as strong as that hopper from earlier. If we fought again, I wouldn't do the same nonsense and would just go straight for the kill."
Then another message appeared.
[Your skill Acceleration has level up]
The prompt then gave him a small piece of information about his new skill.
Feeling encouraged, he started to run, and the results shocked him.
Earlier, during his first awakening, he could run about 10 meters in 2–3 seconds using Acceleration. But now, he could run as fast as 30 m/s without using any active skill.
This speed surprised him, since it was just his base speed.
"How fast would I be if I used my Acceleration?" he wondered.
Then he began to prepare, and this time he activated Acceleration. A faint surge of energy flowed through his legs.
His muscles tightened, and the ground beneath his feet cracked slightly.
After that he took a step forward.
Shing~
His body shot forward like a bulletk, the wind slammed against his face, and everything around him became a blur.
The trees turned into streaks, and even the ground passed by in an instant.
"Faster…!" he growled as the rings in his abdomen spun wildly.
As he pushed harder, his speed rose sharply from his base of 30 m/s.
35… 40… 45… 50… 60!
60 m/s. His eyes widened in surprise, he couldn't believe he could actually move this fast.
This speed was inhumane.
"I—this…!" he gasped, unable to see clearly anymore.
His body moved faster than his thoughts, and he had to force himself to stop.
The only way to slow down was to dig his feet into the ground.
SKREEECH!
A long trail formed behind him as he slid, dirt scattering everywhere, until he finally came to a stop.
"…This is insane. The skill just boosted my speed by over 50%," he said clearly shocked.
The first level was only 20%, so a 30% improvement was no joke.
Looking back, the distance he crossed was far greater than he expected, if he exerts more pressure in his mana rings, its even possible to reached about 70 m/s.
"Let's take a look at my strength," he muttered as he walked toward the nearest tree.
His eyes glowed with a faint brilliance as he placed a fist beside his abdomen. At this moment, he wanted to test his full strength.
Then he threw his fist with such speed that even the tree shook loudly.
When his fist hit the bark, a small shockwave spread outward, rustling the tree leaves and even the grass around it.
With an expectant look, he glanced at the tree. It had only shaken but was not destroyed, his fist had only dented the bark, as if it were made of metal.
"Impossible!!!" he cried out, taking a step back.
If he had measured his strength just now, it would have been around 30,000 newtons or more.
Maybe he was daydreaming?
"Is it just my imagination, or is this tree really this tough?" he wondered inwardly.
While staring at the big tree, he tried to understand why it was so strong.
He pressed his hand against the bark, trying to dig his fingers into it.
But it felt like his nails would break if he continued, so in the end, he stepped back with a sigh.
"Maybe this dungeon is a special case, making any structure in the environment extremely tough, like this tree here," he said.
Not wanting to waste any more time, he went toward the plant which seemed to be the same as the one he had seen before.
...
[You have plundered, 'Morning Glory']
[You have acquired: Gentle Regeneration+ | VIT+ | Nature Affinity+]
...
Seeing the plus sign, Alexander felt a sense of satisfaction.
Not only that, but his awareness also seemed sharper than before, likely because of his growing affinity with nature.
Taking a deep sigh, Alexander decided to hunt more beasts.
Without wasting any time, his sense of hearing now covered about 50 meters.
With this increased range, he could spot them easily while moving across the area.
This time, every hopper had no chance to fight back.
After continuing for an hour, he had already lost count of how many rabbits he had plundered.
It was too bad that he did not find any more rabbits near the morning glory.
But after all of this, his agility had skyrocketed, already reaching about 80 m/s.
While traversing the plains, those normal rabbits had no choice but to be slaughtered.
"Hmm, is this my 60th kill now?" he said, looking at the dead rabbit below him.
Reaching out his hand, he plundered the beast.
"Maybe it's time to head toward the tall grassy plains," he thought to himself, since his speed and strength had already increased so much.
But after thinking for a while, he decided to drop the idea for now.
He would wait until his strength exceeded 50,000 newtons and his speed could reach around 100 m/s, that would be the day he would act.
As he scanned his surroundings, his senses suddenly screamed, making the hairs on his body stand on end, but it was already too late.
Before he could take a step back, he felt a cold blast of wind slice through his body, killing him instantly in the process.
He wanted to turn around to see who it was, but before he could fully spin his falling upper body, his vision darkened and lost all color.
In the next moment, he found himself back in his bed.