Chapter 3: Wild Horned Rabbit
Jayce headed back to the fountain where they met previously. Upon reaching there, he noticed that he was the first person to arrive and that the fountain area has become more crowded. Arthur and the others might have some difficulty finding him. After sending a message to them, he headed to the open field to practice his magic.
The open field is an area where Wild Horned Rabbits and Wild Fierce Boars spawn. Wild Horned Rabbits are around level 1-2, while the Fierce boars would be from 3-5. There would be a chance where an <Elite> would be spawned. It will give more exp and has a higher chance to drop better items but however, it is harder to kill.
Jayce decided to hunt Wild Horned Rabbits first. The open field is wide, giving the newbies enough space to hunt for themselves and not fight against each other. He spotted a Lvl 1 Wild Horned Rabbit nearby. The basic skills learned by mages at the beginning are [Fireball] and [Ice Bolt]. Skill books can be acquired through quest rewards, loot drops or directly learning them from a trainer.
Usually at the start, a profession can have two active skills that are learned by default. Proficiency is increased when a skill is successfully casted and the skill's purpose is fulfilled.
Jayce raised the beginner's staff which was crudely made from wood. It only gave a tiny boost in magic power but it was better than nothing at all.
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Beginner's Staff
Level: 1
Effect: +2 to +5 Magic Power
Description: A stick that looks like a broom. Awful staff for a mage, but good enough for a beginner.
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Spellcasting is unique in Ascension. The player feels the mana inside the character's body and redirects them to the tip of the staff. The player then makes an image of the fireball skill which will then take form when the structure of the spell is done. Interruption during casting may result in mana backfire that can result to negative effects in a player's mana but some spells are also casted instantly.
The [Fireball] spell usually takes 2.5 seconds to cast but in Jayce's case, he can cast it using only 2 seconds or maybe even lesser. Having a detailed image in mind and familiarization to the skill can decrease a spell's casting time. Jayce also felt like he was extremely familiar with the spell and he can feel mana inside his body like it was a natural thing. He felt that it was odd, but he just didn't mind it.
Using the assistance of the system, one can cast a spell without manually drawing mana out from the body and redirecting it towards the tip of the staff. A progress bar will be shown on the screen on the bottom and when it is full, a Fireball spell will be created on the tip of the staff.
But when casting a spell without system assistance, the spell's casting time can also be shortened. It also has a chance to backfire which was dangerous for amateur mages. The Fireball flew towards the Lvl 1 Wild Horned Rabbit like a missile locked on a target.
-10
The damage marker floated above the monster's body. A Horned Rabbit only has 30 HP. 3 more Fireballs would be sufficient to kill the monster. A single [Fireball] costs 5 mp to cast and a Lvl 1 Mage has an innate huge mana capacity of 40 mp but unfortunately, they only have 20 hp maximum at the start.
The Lvl 1 Wild Horned Rabbit charged towards Jayce. He didn't evade until it was nearby so that it could not easily change the direction of its attack. To evade, he simply tumbled to the side. Another manually casted Fireball emerged from Jayce's staff. The monster turned around to charge again but it was hit by another Fireball.
-14!
By doing the same procedure again, Jayce managed to kill the monster and gained experience which filled the bar up to 0.10%.
'What the heck, it's so stingy in giving exp. If I was alone, I'll need to kill all rabbits in the world to level up.'
Two rabbit furs and one silver dropped from the monster, in which Jayce picked up immediately. The currency in Ascension mainly uses silver and gold. One million silver would be equal to one gold.
A message arrived and Jayce knew that it was Lance asking his location in the open field.
"Send me your coordinates." (Lance)
"1088.54.322." (Jayce)
In less than a minute, they arrived at his location. Arthur was equipped with a broadsword, he was playing the Warrior profession. It is a class that can dish out huge damage while being a bit tanky. Stephen chose to be a Rogue, which was agile and has a burst physical damage good for PvP. It mainly uses stealth to ambush enemies. And lastly, Lance chose to be an Acolyte. It is the support class that is capable of healing and giving buffs to allies.
An Acolyte's two basic skills are Lesser Heal and Light Ray. Lesser Heal would heal an ally by a small amount while Light Ray would damage an enemy and has a chance to blind it by a small percentage.
Basically in a team's point of view, they are quite balanced by having a healer, DPS, burst and crowd control.
"Jayce, did you get the two F-ranked quest from the attendant? I think the quest objective is the same for all of us." (Stephen)
"Yeah, I already activated the two quest scrolls."
"Okay, so basically we need to collect twenty rabbit furs and ten rabbit horns each per person. Is it the same with yours?" (Stephen)
"Yes, it is. Let's begin hunting."
"Okay, cool." (Stephen)
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Aureus Silvermoon (Lvl. 1 Mage) has joined the team. Item distribution has been set to [Leader Only]. In terms of coin earned, each party member would receive the same amount.
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They searched and killed Wild Horned Rabbits until they have accumulated eighty rabbit furs and forty rabbit horns. After killing the last Wild Horned Rabbit, the loot was then divided so that the four of them could submit the two quests. Their exp bar was still only at 26%. They were going to head back to the village but then something spawned nearby that surprised the four of them.
An Elite Wild Horned Rabbit Lvl 3 showed up. It has two horns instead of one and it was slightly bigger. The fur on it has shades of black too.
"Guys, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" (Arthur)
"Are you thinking about what to eat for dinner?" (Lance)
"What? Dude no. There's an Elite that spawned nearby so let's go kill it! It's almost as if its asking us to kill it for spawning so near." (Arthur)
Arthur broke into a grin and readied to charge.
"Go and attack it quickly, Arthur! I'll follow you then you two stay in the back. Support us with your spells." (Stephen)
Arthur grabbed the broadsword from his back and dashed towards the Elite monster. It had 80 HP and for sure, it will deal quite a punch if any of them gets hit.
Jayce started to chant Fireball and Lance also casted Light Ray. Stephen also charged towards the monster. Arthur striked down his greatsword towards the elite monster and Stephen dashed to the side to slash it with his daggers.
-9!
-3!
The both of them immediately distanced themselves away from the monster. The Fireball and Light Ray flew in the air and hit the monster directly in the body.
-15!
-9!
The elite monster only had 44 hp left remaining. The Elite Wild Horned Rabbit ran quickly towards Arthur and took him off-guard. The speed of the Elite monster was fast, almost thrice faster than the normal variant. It's two horns collided into Arthur's armor, shaving off 30 HP. Arthur only had 12 hp left, leaving him in the brink of death.
"Oh sh*t!!"(Arthur)
Arthur was blown away by a few meters back. Jayce ran forward and released an Ice Bolt. When an enemy is hit with this spell, it can slow its enemy movement by 10%. Due to its debuff, it's damage is lower than Fireball. Stephen also casted Lesser Heal to Arthur, healing him with 13 HP.
Before the Ice Bolt could hit the elite monster, it charged again towards Stephen. Stephen tried to block the charge by using his dual daggers but it still went through. The two horns of the rabbit pierced through the Rogue's beginner armor and inflicting 39 damage. Stephen only had 25 maximum HP therefore he died from that attack.
Lance immediately casted Lesser Heal again to Arthur, making his HP back to 28, but that depleted also Lance's mana.
"F*ck! I'm out of mana and potions!" (Lance)
Arthur charged towards the elite monster while it was attacking Stephen. The battle was fast paced because of the agility shown by the Elite Wild Horned Rabbit which took the party off guard. Jayce also released another Ice Bolt and it successfully hit the monster.
-11!
A 5 second 10% slow debuff was inflicting to the monster's status.
"Now Arthur!" (Jayce)
Arthur immediately took this chance and swung the broadsword towards the monster's head. He also immediately followed it by spinning to the other side with the use of momentum to deliver another strike. Jayce threw a basic mana potion to Lance, which the latter drank immediately.
-9!
-10!
Another Fireball and Light Ray also hit the monster.
-15!
-10!
The Elite Wild Horned Rabbit finally died and Arthur immediately checked what dropped.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone