The Queen

He was completely at a loss and had no way to know how many more there were back in the nest.

As the charred and shrivelled little bodies turned to light particles in little bursts he opened his status screen to check his MP.

Hermes: Level 7

Exp: 693/700

HP: 176/240

MP: 9/60

Strength - 9

Endurance - 8

Agility - 9

Intelligence - 12

Wisdom – 10

Free Attribute points: 0

Free Skill points: 3

*Transfer energy – 636

Skills:

Dimensional Transfer LV 4

Storage space LV 1

Flame LV 1

Grim touch LV1

Radiance LV1

"So close to a level up! I must have killed hundreds of them. And they didn't drop anything..."

As the last particles of light dissipated he looked at the now distant Skebble mound, it may very well now be entirely unprotected and if not he only needed to kill 7 more of the vile little insects to level up, his palms itched at the prospect, but he only had 9 MP left.

"If anything's there, I'll burn it and level up, that will replenish my mana and I'll be no worse off than whenever I would be if I came back fully rested"

He took a drink and prepared himself, walking back with his last stone spear in hand and his off hand palm ready to be turned on whatever may await him he arrived at the mound, his other spear stuck proudly in the side with no insects to be seen.

He stood for a moment and then with all his strength fired his spear into the side of the mound, it buried itself deep in the side with a dull thunk, its shaft vibrating.

When nothing happened in response he edged forward to within striking distance and swung his wooden sword into the side making large chunks of the mound crumble, as soon as the hit was completed he hopped back a couple of steps and tensed.

Confident with the lack of response he plucked his two spears from the sides and considered what to do.

"There's something in there still or the quest would be completed, unless the system considers the mound itself the objective?"

As his last cautious act before simply beating it to pieces with the dead hero's mace he moved carefully to the largest opening and pulled half of his last remaining mana into a ball of fire in his hand, shooting it violently in to the entrance he heard the hissing screech of something much larger than what he'd fought echo out. He quickly stepped back as the outraged cries of something being burned to death rang out and he received a string of notifications

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[80 exp]

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[1 exp]

[Quest objective complete: Destroy the Skeeble nest]

[Congratulations Hermes, you are now level 8]

"The queen and her eggs maybe? 80 exp is no small amount and those cries were loud, I dread to think what that thing looked like"

As the few faint particles of light drifted from the top of the mound he considered just leaving, even knowing the nest was now barren he didn't like the prospect of disturbing it any further.

"I need to know what it dropped"

Prying the hard dirt walls apart with his sword and in places smashing it to pieces with his mace he soon found the central chamber, empty but for a single item.

"No way! I knew this would happen eventually!"

He reached out and picked up the thin glass bottle full of vibrant blue liquid and studied it carefully.

"It even has the cork stopper, if this were a game the thin tube ones would be called "Lesser mana potions", I bet it's the same rule here otherwise he wouldn't have made it such a trope on Earth"

Knowing he'd have to wait until he could put it into the colony storage before he could find out, he tucked it into his storage space and checked the horizon one last time. He guessed with the Skebble nest here it was always unlikely there would be anything close by to pounce on him but the lights continued to play on his mind.

"Okay, safety first, I'm going home for now."

The run home was uneventful and he guessed from the sun it was still only about 3pm as he stepped back through the dome and headed to the colony storage, his haul of random bones and demon beavers yielded both some answers and a great stock of resources.

Small bone x 68

Bone x 148

Large bone x 6

Thunder horn skull x 1

Wolf claw x 31

Beaver shark tooth x 23

Beaver shark tail x 14

Beaver shark pelt x 15

Beaver shark meat x 15

Lesser Mana potion (50MP) x 1

"Heh, Beaver shark, so stupid. So that big skeleton was a "Thunder horn"? I can guess what that does but I'm glad I didn't meet it."

"Wow, that is a lot more bones and claws from skeletons than fresh kills, is it a tax for doing the butchering for me? If so it's pretty hefty, at least depending on what any of these things are used for"

"Okay, what else? Oh, the mana potion gives 50 MP, glad it tells me, handy, plenty of pelts, might have to stitch them together but…. Hang on"

Rushing over to the crafting panel he scanned through the options, there were a lot now but he saw an example of one he was looking for and laughed.

Beaver moccasins (Beaver shark pelt x 2, crude thread x partial) – 50 copper

He immediately crafted them and collected them from the Colony storage.

"These will be my house shoes, I can afford to have standards now after all"

Laughing again at the ridiculous looking things he went to hand in his quests and receive the rewards.

[200 exp]

[1 Silver]

[450 exp]

[Wood tier Chest]

"A chest? I never read the rewards for these two did I? I thought the level 5 chest was a one off, maybe another skill? Good exp too, I can level up again tonight if I hurry"

Excitedly taking the chest out he opened it to experience the same coalescing of faint light and then surprisingly a quiver of arrows.

He knew it was magic but just seeing something appear in the box that was bigger than it seemed strange, it was also a far cry from a magic skill but he took this as proof of the random nature of the loot boxes.

"Unless the system or Eden or whoever is trying to push me in a certain direction. I'll go for the goblins tomorrow anyway, there's no need for such cheap incentivising"

Once again his mind jumped to the promised honey in that forest and he found himself getting hungry.

"No, it's too early for that, I'll just have some trail mix and get out there to top up my exp before I do my level ups, where's my exp sitting?"

[748/800]

"Okay, that's like 30 minutes slime hunting at my speed now, come on, one last burst before clocking off time"

With that he stretched, put the trail mix away and ran out of the dome with spear in hand.