Chapter 9 Need For Power

• ***
• {You have killed a level 1 Green Goblin!}
• {You gained 0 XP!}
• …
• {You have killed a level 1 Green Goblin!}
• {You gained 0 XP!}
• …
• {You have killed a level 1 Green Goblin!}
• {You gained 0 XP!}
• …
• {You have killed a level 2 Green Goblin!}
• {You gained 0 XP!}
• ***
• Compared to when Clinton just entered this decaying forest where he had to run from every monster around, now, he was no longer the weakest in the food chain.
• Now, he was a level 3 mid-tier undead skeleton.
• Compared to when he started as a level 0 low-tier undead skeleton when his strength attribute was a measly 0.2, though his strength attribute was still measly, still, now it had a higher value of 0.5.
• This and the little difference growth in his other attributes was why he could take down so many Green Goblins with some little sacrifice now.
• Of course, his exploits could also be attributed to the fact that he was no longer an ignorant novice about this decaying forest.
• Having explored every corner of this forest, knowing all its dangers, he already drafted out means to efficiently hunt the monsters down.
• This was how he was able to take down so many Green Goblins.
• Besides, with his Vampire passive skill, he could afford recklessness in his fighting style since he was assured that so long he could take down his enemy, his health points would be replenished in return.
• The only problem now was that unlike yesterday when he was starting from the ground up, today, he was now a level 3 undead skeleton.
• Killing lower-leveled monsters was useless to his growth.
• To get experience points and level up, he either needed to kill level 3 monsters just like himself or higher-leveled monsters but that was where the problem cropped up, the difficulty of killing these monsters.
• The difficulty of hunting a level 2 Green Goblin and hunting a level 3 Green Goblin was like the difference between heaven and earth.
• Most level 3 Green Goblins moved in packs that were led by truly dangerous level 3 Green Goblins, or worse still, deadly level 4 Green Goblins.
• Despite his experience with this decaying forest and his growing confidence, Clinton did not suddenly become delusional.
• This was not the track where he was the King.
• This was the real world, inside a real dungeon, with real monsters, with the very real possibility of the final death if he was killed.
• Besides, his painful reality was that he was still miserable.
• He was still classless, had 0 true skills, had no weapons. In essence, he was just a miserable existence of an undead skeleton, he had no power.
• Clinton chuckled bitterly. ‘I guess if this was a game, I’ll be part of the undead mob that can be cleared off easily by players, canon fodder’.
• ‘The irony’. He thought.
• After exploring this bottom level of the dungeon, Clinton thought for some time in his lair under the roots of a decaying tree before coming to a decision.
• ‘I need to get stronger and to get stronger, I need to access the 2nd level of this dungeon which means killing that Gate Guardian’.
• ‘And to kill the Gate Guardian, I need to become level 5’.
• ‘Yet leveling up to level 4 now is already a pain’. He grimaced.
• To level up to level 4, he needed to kill at least five level 3 monsters just like himself or two level 4 monsters or better still, a single level 5 monster.
• Having seen the level 5 behemoths of this level of the dungeon in action, he cut that alternative from his list of options, trimming it to just 2.
• Yet, even the level 4 monsters were insurmountable enemies to him.
• Worse still, there was no level 3 Green Goblin or Undead Tree that moved alone, they were all moving in packs.
• Considering how fragile his skeleton body was with no skills and no weapons, Clinton did not rate his chances of surviving a battle against multiple level 3 monsters high. Rather, he was pretty sure that he would die the final death.
• ‘F*ck! How do I get stronger if I can’t even level up?’
• He already thought of the only species in this level of the dungeon that moved alone, the Ogres but those monsters’ skin was too thick for him to scratch.
• Even if he had a hundred years to attack an immobile Ogre, Clinton doubted he would be able to deal enough damage to kill it.
• He also already thought of the same strategy through which he killed his first monsters in this dungeon, the Undead Trees.
• But that strategy was not fully reliable.
• The Undead Trees were dumb just like the other monsters in this level of the dungeon, but sometimes, it was like they were too dumb.
• Some of them could not be bothered to be interested in a strange skeleton arm that they did not understand.
• They would rather keep on roaming aimlessly through this decaying forest and fight pointless battles rather than pay attention to a random skeleton arm no matter how much Clinton pestered them with his detachable skeleton body.
• When Clinton finally managed to lure another over though, setting it ablaze, he was disappointed this time.
• Before the fire could consume it, the two level 3 Undead Trees were able to roll on the ground, quenching the fire through the sand on the ground.
• They survived through pure coincidence but that was it, they were now safe.
• And after the fire was quenched, they focused on him.
• ‘Oh boy!’
• Clinton really almost died this time.
• After surviving by the skin of his teeth, he was finally fed up. “F*ck! I’m too weak”.
• “I need power!”
• “And if I can’t get power, at least, I need a weapon!”
• The moment that Clinton said that word, something clicked in his head and then he remembered exactly where he was at this moment.
• Through the roots of the decaying tree where he hid, he looked at this decaying forest, at all the decaying trees, their thick branches and all, then he cursed.
• “F*ck! Why did I not think of this since?”
• Clinton made up his mind.
• He was about to make makeshift weapons!