Seeing the gray screen with the message, Skyler finally looked at the dead monster and inhaled sharply once more.
"Indeed."
He wanted to clean his dirty hands but couldn't since he had no spare clothes. He carefully stored the small brown gem in his shirt pocket and stood up to leave. He had encountered these gem-like stones multiple times online before; they were known as 'elemental stones' in Eldoria.
Monsters and spirits can form elemental crystals in their hearts just like every other elementist. However, only a small number of them are able to create these elemental stones outside their bodies. The elemental crystals formed within the monsters' hearts vanished as soon as they die, but these 'elemental stones' remain intact.
These stones contain a dense concentration of the type of Evol that resonates with the monster's affinity. He had just acquired a brown elemental stone, which was only useful to those who had awakened an affinity with earth element and formed their elemental crystal.
But Skyler wasn't discouraged. Instead, he was extremely happy to have secured an item that was very similar to a real gem.
505 watched him silently. The system waited for its host to express his joy at defeating his first monster and to inquire about the importance of system points... but no matter how long it waited, such things never happened.
Skyler found another hiding spot and quickly concealed himself.
505: "...."
It suddenly had a realization but lacked proof, so it decided to conduct an test. It searched for a monster that had formed elemental stone outside its body, and then a notification flashed in front of Skyler.
("Host, there's a 1-star Aqua Sloth a short distance away from you, and it has a blue gem on its forehead.")
As anticipated, its host became alert, and Skyler's eyes sparkled brightly.
"Where?"
505 suddenly saw a flicker of hope to ascend to the first level of the Battle Royal. No one would have imagined that one of the systems would be corrupted by Skyler and learn to exploit others. 505 laughed inwardly, and thus began its evil plan.
("Just a short distance away, host!")
Skyler followed its direction.
While moving, he ripped half of one of the sleeves of his shirt and wrapped the fabric around his feet to make do for the time being, minimizing the risk of injury.
His eyes sparkled brightly as he finally spotted the 1-star Sloth. It was a creature with four long limbs and massive claws, lazily resting on a tree branch.
He had never fought monsters before, but for some reason, when he tore a sharp tree branch and moved to attack, it felt as if he had done it countless times before.
It was an unusual sensation, and none of his movements were sluggish or wasted as he fought the monster. His muscles ached from the strain, but Skyler was hell-bent on getting the blue gem on its forehead.
The monster wielded water element and launched water balls at him. As a result, he sustained only minor injuries and defeated it with a back kick before driving the sharp branch into its heart with all his strength.
Skyler was panting heavily when another notification flashed before his eyes.
("Congratulations! You have killed two monsters out of the total of 300! You have earned 5 more system points, which can be used when the store opens!")
He chuckled and extracted the gem from the monster's forehead before placing it in his shirt pocket alongside the other gem.
He needed to find a way to absorb the golden Evol, with which he had an affinity, and create his first elemental crystal in his heart as soon as possible to enhance his strength and potential. However, the issue was that he didn't know how to do it.
So, for the time being, he could only continue blindly like this.
Skyler heard footsteps in his surroundings and forced himself to stand to find a place to hide. Just as he stood up barely, another notification flashed before his eyes.
("Host, there's a 2-star fire wolf a short distance away from you, and it has a red gem on its forehead.")
One could only imagine what transpired.
By the end of day one, Skyler had multiple elemental stones in his possession.
But his condition was far from good. His entire body was marred with injuries and burns, making him look like someone who had survived multiple life-and-death battles. He encountered two groups of people, but upon seeing his state, they merely stared at him in pure disdain and ignored him.
The sun above the forest had vanished, plunging the space into darkness, with the sounds of monsters echoing all around.
Skyler nearly met his end when he navigated between the trees toward a 5-star monster, but fortunately, the monster was sleeping, and 505 alerted him just in time.
He was thirsty, hungry, and badly injured. His clothes were torn, burned, and stained with the blood of monsters as he dragged his body around before finding a hidden, quiet spot within a cluster of trees.
The only valuable items on him were the bundle of elemental stones wrapped in the fabric he had torn from his other sleeve and the beautiful blue storage ring his parents had gifted him 2 years ago, but he couldn't use it yet since he couldn't wield Evol.
"Can I survive the night with so many monsters strong enough to tear me apart roaming in my surroundings?"
Honestly, the fact that he survived so long without any elemental power in this place was already nothing short of a miracle.
505 could help him locate monsters and keep an eye on the surroundings, but that was all; the system didn't assist him with anything else. When he asked it to find a good hiding spot for him, it disappeared.
Skyler couldn't even close his eyes as he held a sharp stone in his hand, prepared to attack if any monsters dared to approach him in the darkness.
A while later, he suddenly heard footsteps and the sound of soft laughter, and he was about to hide when he recognized one of the voices among the noises.
"Jenny...?"