Crystals

'The hell?'

The first thing Black saw when entering his cave was a bunch of white and gray bipedal rabbits munching on corpses.

The rabbits turned to him and stopped whatever they were doing no matter how important it was then bowed.

Black quickly understood what was going on. The rabbits somehow managed to evolve just like him, though weaker.

'What happened?'

[Answer:

The Despair Rabbits have evolved into Horror Rabbits. Unlike the host, monsters do not get stronger from killing but eating others.]

'Ah..'

…

A bipedal black rabbit could be seen sitting on a pile of bones within a cave. Its fur sucking in the surrounding light, making the atmosphere feel quite ominous.

It was Black, he was surrounded by rabbits who looked up at him in adoration. He found it adorable.

He was trying to remember his past life, but most of his memories felt as if they weren't his but a distant dream, how someone would feel when just waking up.

He had also discovered that monsters did not have a level. Observation only gauged an enemy's strength, showing him their corresponding strength in numbers.

A week had passed since he reincarnated and was now level 7. The system wasn't slow, far from it. Black just couldn't find any enemies above level 6 after that bear, causing his growth rate to be staggered.

Kick off and lightweight, these were the cards he gained from leveling up over the week.

Kick off gave him a speed boost for every surface he kicked off of and lightweight allowed him to run faster without armor. 

'..Fuck it, I'm going towards the center.' 

Black released a sigh and hopped down from the pile of bones he was on.

He believed there were stronger enemies the further one went into the depths. Of course he thought of going there before but the risk was too high, causing him to lose confidence.

Even if he brought his rabbits with him he wasn't sure if they'd make it, but now he was beginning to get desperate.

Black suddenly stomped his foot gaining all of the rabbits' attention. He stomped four more times causing all the rabbits to nod their heads.

Seeing they had understood Black left the cave towards the center of the depths, alone with a clear goal in mind. His rabbits were weak and he refused to risk losing them with reckless decisions such as this one.

...

Black stood in front of a huge murky lake staring off into the distance.

Up above there were stones implanted into the ceiling that resembled stars of the night sky and the environment was darker than before, almost pitch black.

The dark didn't bother him much, he felt more comfortable in it than bothered by it actually. There was also the fact that he was able to see clearly even with how dark it was.

Across the lake there was a towering wall stretching for miles, a town was on the other side with lights shining from various buildings giving the area light other than the stars.

The structure that stood out the most was the castle standing far in the back. With all of this Black assumed there was some sort of city or settlement behind them.

The scene was breathtaking. If anything it reminded him of a certain game with a monster kid who resembled a small dinosaur with a bow in their head.

Ripples traveled through the lake catching Black's eyes. The ripples continued to grow until a head of a creature came up to the surface, it had small beady black eyes and sharp rows of teeth resembling that of a shark.

The head turned towards Black and slowly made its way towards him, its body becoming more visible with the distance it covered.

The moment it had fully stepped out of the water its appearance became more visible, exposing a monster that towered over Black with white scales covering its arms and legs, its back covered in tooth shaped barnacles.

[Megalodon: Level 10]

Without any warning the megalodon released a terrifying roar that shook him to his core.

Black's nonchalant appearance suddenly became serious. He felt it, the moment the megalodon released a roar he felt something weigh down on his mind before vanishing, even though the effect was small, he felt it.

If it wasn't for his title Child of Voice of the Abyss he was sure he would've lost some of his sanity. 

Refusing to give Black the moment to think, the beast quickly leaned over causing his instincts to yell for him to move, but it was too late. 

Like a machine gun, hundreds of needles shot out of the barnacles on the monster's back in all directions.

Black clicked his tongue then kicked against the ground hard launching himself back, beginning to dodge as many needles as he could.

The more he moved around the needles, the faster he became. Black released a small groan feeling some of the needles manage to stab him on his side.

Noticing how the megalodon remained bent forward only releasing its needles, Black kicked forward and rapidly approached the monster's head.

The megalodon seemed to have sensed him and increased the intensity of its needles only to be quickly kicked on the side of its head.

The monster was sent tumbling to the ground. Shaking the ground with its size, the megalodon released a roar of rage. 

Upon landing, Black rushed towards the Beast's neck then kicked it, interrupting the roar.

The megalodon remained down, tearing the land beneath it in an attempt to claw at Black. 

Black dodged it just in time then kicked the beast's neck again, and again, and again, until it fell limp after releasing one last desperate roar.

Feeling a large amount of energy build up inside his body Black became satisfied. 'Looks like coming out here was a good idea.' 

A wooden chest appeared next to the megalodon's corpse catching Black's attention. It was the same as the previous ones he had obtained before but somewhat larger. 

Opening it like usual, he checked what was inside with interest.

Inside he found a black scarf, some glasses, an iron sword, gold, and jewels. But what truly caught his attention was the two crystals beside them.

One crystal was yellow and the other green. The yellow crystal had the title Unconscious Combat while the green one was a Healing Magic.

[Rare - Unconscious Combat: 

An ability originated from the demon slayer Zenitsu Agatsuma. Whenever the host is unconscious and feels ill intent, the body will do whatever it takes to protect the host from danger.

Note: Due to the host's heightened senses as a monster the skill will react stronger than its original counterpart]

[Common - Healing Magic:

The common ability to heal wounds through mana. The more mana the host uses, the greater the effect.]

Black had a strong sense to eat them, his instincts were telling him it was for his own benefit. So without any bit of hesitation, he picked up the crystals and ate them one by one.

[Ability Obtained!]

[Ability Obtained!]

Seeing he had obtained the skills, he opened his status.

[Status:

Name: Black

Species: Cursed Shadow Rabbit (Mutated)

Titles/Innate: Child of Voice of the Abyss, Horror of the Depths, Celeritas, King of Despair.

Age: 17

Level: 8

Strength: 20

Fortitude: 16

Agility: 40

Intelligence: 16

Willpower: 17

Charisma: 16

Luck: 1.5%

--------------

Heavy weapons: 0

Medium weapons: 0

Light Weapons: 0

--------------

Shadowcall: 0

Investment points: 5]

'Guess I'll get agility to 50 then get back to working on strength, that monster gave me a bit of luck as well.'

Storing the corpse of the megalodon for the others, Black brought out a small boulder from his inventory and placed it on his back before running around.

Over the week he discovered moving around while being weighed down increased the amount of agility xp he earned.

He also found out earning luck wasn't as easy as he thought, at best he would get 0.5% from enemies with equal or near the same level as him.

Black stuck close to the lake as he ran around, he was sure that the last roar the megalodon released wasn't just a last cry, but a call for reinforcements.

[Level Increased!] 

Black threw the boulder back into his inventory then looked at the cards that appeared in front of him, they were all common.

[Steady Nerves:

"Dance from toe to toe."

Successfully dodging attacks will slightly heal the host.]

[Endurance Runner:

"Even when things look dire, your legs keep moving." 

Allows the host to move with his full potential even in his most critical state without worsening his condition.]

[Now You See Me:

The host's stealth is increased when crouching.]

Black didn't need to think much about his choice, he chose Steady Nerves. 

The moment Black made his choice the ground beneath him began to tremble violently.

Turning his head towards the lake, he couldn't help becoming slightly stunned watching as what seemed to be 15 megalodons step out of the water. 

They all looked down at him with an emotionless expression and simultaneously roared before rushing towards him with their arms stretched out, making the earth beneath them tremble.

'...'