CHAPTER 6

Gideon once again left for the lake and killed a bunch more monsters, allowing him to level up again. He also gained the skill "Dual Dagger Mastery" after using his mithril dagger and his bone dagger and he increased his stats again. Stealth, Critical Strike, and Poison Augmentation also leveled up.

[Name: Gideon Kingston]

[lvl: 4 10/400]

[Age: 16]

[Hp: 500/500]

[Magical Affinity: Poison]

[Stats]

[Str: 10]

[Agi: 11]

[Dex: 10]

[End: 10]

[AP: 250]

[Attribute points: 0]

[Skills]

[Poison Manipulation lvl1, (cost 5 Ap)]

[Poison Immunity (passive)]

[Poison enhancement lvl2 (cost 10 Ap)]

[Poison slash lvl1 (cost 20 AP)]

[Stealth lvl2]

[Critical Strike lvl2]

[Corrosive Poison lvl1 (cost 5 AP)]

[Poison Augmentation lvl2 (cost 20 AP)]

[Paralytic Poison lvl1 (cost 5 AP)]

[Neurotoxin lvl1 (cost 5 AP)]

[Poison Gas lvl1 (cost 10 AP)]

[Dual Dagger Mastery lvl1]

"Alright, I think I'm gonna check out more of this forest, I need to know my surroundings a bit more." Gideon said before picking a random direction to walk in.

As Gideon walked, he saw a bunch of cool looking beasts around that were simply minding their own business.

One that particulars caught his attention was a vibrant snake. It looked like a snake, but instead of scales, it had rainbow coloured feathers and a pair of wings on its back.

It wasn't very strong and was quite docile, so Gideon left it alone after gazing at it for a while.

He ventured deeper into the forest and stumbled upon a very large cave. He entered it with caution and slowly made his way deeper into it only to meet to end of the cave.

'I guess there was nothing, but why does this cave wall look so odd.' Gideon said curiously as he looked at one of the walls while tilting his head.

It was scaly in appearance and had a rigid and looked way tougher compared to other parts of the cave.

Carefully, he held out one of his daggers and stabbed at the wall and a loud *Ting* was heard, but there was no reaction.

"Hm, seems like I was overreacting." Gideon said in slight disappointment.

But in the next moment, that portion of the cave started to move and Gideon immediately backed of. The thing them moved backwards, revealing a massive underground cave. Stalagmites and weird plants and herbs could be seen on the cave bottom and walls and there was a big underground river as well., but that wasn't what caught Gideon's attention.

The "wall" that had moved back revealing the cave seemed to slither, and a loud hissing could be heard.

Then the thing moved out of view and there was no sound for a moment. Then a very large grey eye surrounded by stone like scales appeared. The eye instantly locked into Gideon and became slits.

The figure then backed away a until Gideon was able to look at it's complete figure. A massive snake, that was at least a couple hundred meters long and 20 meters wide, with stone like scales and a very large head. It was a peak sacred level beast, a basilisk.

[WARNING! HIGH LEVEL THREAT DETECTED! HOST IS ADVISED TO LEAVE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY] The moment Gideon saw this, his pupils contracted.

He didn't need to think twice before turning heels and running for his life. He heard a high pitch hissing sound that caused his vision to blur momentarily but he kept running as fast as possible.

He didn't stop until he had reached the lake and panted heavily.

'What sort of shitty luck is that, that was the first time the system had actually warned me, I go out of my slight comfort zone once and I find a basilisk of all things, what the hell universe.' Gideon shouted in his heart at his bad luck.

'Forget it, unless I get stronger, I literally an ant in front of that thing, so I have to get stronger.' Gideon thought with eyes filled with determination.

"My pace is a bit slow, I'll need to start hunting stronger beasts from now on." Gideon said as he gazed at the creatures around the lake, and quite a few met the criteria he was going for.

A crimson red salamander the size of a small truck could be seen drinking water at a part of the lake on its own. Then from nowhere, a figure dashed towards it, it's eyes filled with killing intent, obviously it was Gideon.

The salamander sensed the danger and immediately turned towards Gideon before unleashing a torrent of flame from it's mouth towards him.

Gideon leaped over the fire as he felt the heat prickle at his skin but he remained calm. Gideon's leap managed to make him land behind the salamander who wanted to turn around but Gideon gave it no chance.

He jumped into its back and started slashing madly, his daggers tearing trough it's scales effortlessly.

The salamander's body suddenly increased in temperature and became very hot forcing Gideon to jump off.

The salamander's body suddenly stopped and fell on the floor, it's eyes moving around in confusion as it lost control of it's body.

"Seems like paralytic poison is quite affective." Gideon said in approval before quickly approaching the paralyzed salamander and swiftly stabbed it's brain, killing it.

[+70 exp]

[Basic fire astral crystal obtained]

Gideon saw the second notification and his eyes lit up.

'System explain.' Gideon said excitedly.

[Yes Host. When a monster that is able to control a certain element dies, the monster will drop a crystal that is a condensed version of that element.] The system explained.

'Well what can I do with it?' He asked curiously.

[Host is able to imbue it with weapons and armor which will give it a basic fire based ability.] The system answered.

'I see, is it possible to make the crystal better after I infuse it with my weapon, and can I remove it if I find a crystal that I like more?' Gideon enquired.

[Yes Host.] The system responded.

'Great, then infuse the crystal with my mithril dagger.' Gideon ordered.

[Ding, infusing.] Suddenly, a scarlet crystal the size of large bean appeared out of thin air and entered Gideon's dagger. The dagger suddenly began to emit a red glow, at the same time, a red mark appeared on the surface of the dagger.

[Ding, infusion complete.] The system alerted after it was finished.

Gideon stared at the dagger as if someone had given him a birthday gift that he had always wanted.

He then infused the dagger with his Astral energy and soon enough, the dagger blade suddenly ignited and a fierce flame could be seen burning on it.

Gideon was quite happy at the result before suddenly getting an idea. He then activated poison enhancement while the dagger was burning. Then all of a sudden, the red and orange flames became a bright green and they burned more intensely.

[Ding Host has created new skill "Poison flames": When someone with a poison affinity enhances a fire based item, the flames will become poisonous and will inflict both poison and burning damage to the target (Cost 15 AP. Requires fire based item to work.]

'This feels A bit too easy.' Gideon thought as he stared at the green flames in front of him. Then he suddenly remembered the basilisk and shuddered.

'Well if I get stronger faster then it's all good.' Gideon thought and shrugged before he went back to his cave.

"Despite this freedom, it does feel very lonely." Gideon said while sighing, wishing that he wasn't alone.

"I guess I can't do anything about it, so might as well persevere." And with that, Gideon closed his eyes and slept.