Ren crossed the gates of Zone Z45 again.
This place didn't scare him anymore. Right now, it was just a goldmine for opportunities. He stopped in a quiet spot and took a deep breath.
"Window," he muttered.
[Welcome back, Ren.]
That sweet female voice rang in his head. Then the blue screen popped up right in front of his face.
[Name: Ren] [Class: Summoner (Rank F)] [Level: 1 (Exp: 310/100)] [Strength: 10] [Speed: 15] [Mana: 5] [Skills: Night Vision] [Trait: Cosmic Furnace] [Summons: 1] [Daily Summons Available: 3/3] [Daily Fusion Limits: 3/3]
He locked his eyes on one line. 310 Exp. He racked that up from his last massacre.
"Level up."
Ding!
[Leveled up to 2! 100 Exp deducted.] [Current Exp: 210/150]
"Again."
Ding!
[Leveled up to 3! 150 Exp deducted.] [Current Exp: 60/200]
A warm heat rushed through his body. The leftover ache in his muscles faded out. He felt a slight pressure stretch his lungs.
[Alert: Auto-Stat upgrade available. Based on system analysis, your human body is too fragile to handle the strain of the Cosmic Furnace for extended periods. Stat points will be distributed automatically to ensure your survival.]
Ren thought about it for a second. The system was straight up calling him weak. And it was right. His body barely handled that speed boost last time.
"Turn on Auto-Stat. Focus on Strength and Endurance for now."
[Confirmed.]
Ren swiped the windows away. Time to get back to work.
"Summon: Sewer Goblin."
The hybrid crawled out of the shadows. Its bald tail whipped the dirt. Its eyes shined in the dark. It was ready to kill.
But Ren wasn't done. He had three new daily summons.
"Summon."
[Failed. Compatibility poor.]
"Summon!"
Ding!
[Summon Successful. Obtained: White Rabbit (Rank F)] [Remaining Summons: 1/3]
A tiny white furball dropped onto the dirt. A completely normal rabbit. It shook with fear.
Ren checked its stats fast. [Strength: 7 | Speed: 16].
Fast, but total garbage in a fight. Perfect bait. He reached into thin air and pulled a green goblin core out of his dimensional storage.
"Cosmic Furnace. Fuse."
The rabbit and the core melted together in a storm of gray light. Meat and bone twisted with a sick, muffled crunch.
[Fusion Successful.] [Summon 'White Goblin' is ready.]
An ugly freak stepped out of the smoke. It had a skinny goblin body covered in dirty white fur. Long rabbit ears twitched. Its hind legs were stupidly muscular.
[White Goblin | Rank F | Level 2] [Strength: 9 | Speed: 17]
"Damn fast," Ren muttered. He looked over his new weapon. "You're the blitz attacker."
♢♢♢♢
The slaughter started.
Three predators hunted through the dead woods. These weren't fights. They were executions.
The White Goblin moved like a ghost. It shredded the wild goblins' hamstrings with its crazy speed. The second they dropped, the Sewer Goblin pounced and choked them out with its tail.
If any of them tried to fight back? Ren stepped in. His fists smashed their skulls without a second of hesitation.
[Gained 10 Exp.] [Gained 10 Exp.] [Gained 10 Exp...]
Ding!
[Leveled up to 4!] [Current Exp: 10/300]
They were a perfect killing machine. In less than two hours, his burlap sack was full again. Thirty new cores went straight into his storage.
But the deeper they went, the more the air changed.
Suddenly, the forest died.
Bugs stopped chirping. Leaves stopped rustling. A heavy, choking silence crashed down. It felt like the air itself refused to move.
Ren stopped dead in his tracks. Both goblins froze beside him. They shook purely out of instinct.
The ground shook.
Crack.
A heavy footstep crushed a dead tree trunk into splinters.
A massive shape stepped out of the thick shadows. It was twice as tall as Ren. Ash-gray skin stretched over muscles that bulged like boulders. It dragged a rusty, man-sized axe. Fresh blood dripped from the blade.
A flashing red and blue screen shattered Ren's vision.
[Warning: Lethal Threat Approaching!] [Goblin Warrior (Rank E)]
The gray beast looked at the scattered corpses of the weak goblins. Then it locked its cold eyes on Ren.
The monster smiled. The grin split its ugly face, showing off rows of jagged yellow teeth.