Chapter 57: CHAPTER 56 - Mapping.
Kobold's chief was a ranged dealer, as said before, and those types were Alex's weaknesses.
Now, Alex could've just let the kobold chief go, or he would have a raged dealer with a rare skill—which has a homing feature as well—chasing after him, ready to strike the moment Alex let his guard down.
The fact that the kobold chief now had its value elevated in Alex's eyes was just another plus to all this.
First of all, the kobold chief would now give 40 coins—the value of the beasts from levels 6-10—upon getting killed.
That was equal to 4 normal level 1-5 beasts, so Alex would of course try to get those coins.
The next thing—the most important one—was...
'How long will it take for you to copy its skill?'
Alex questioned the AI inwardly as he saw the beast scrambling away with the bow hanging on its shoulder and four or five arrows clutched in its fist.
A rare ranked skill.
That was something Alex thought was way more important than some coins.
The skills were ranked from common to mythical.
Common, uncommon, rare, heroic, epic, legendary, and mythical.
That's the ranking in ascending order.
Now, rare might not look that good since it was in the lower ranks, but it wasn't something anyone could have.
Just the fact that Alex's battle art was rare ranked, yet so OP was enough to show that rare were not to be ignored; more so when it was a weapon ability, that too a ranged weapon, something Alex needed the most right now.
<The first part of that skill is simple archery, and you already have the weapon mastery, so I can skip it.
But the thing that makes that skill a rare ranked skill—the ability to control the arrow's trajectory by using wind—is the wind's whisper.
You will have to force that beast to use that skill at least twice; only then will I be able to copy that skill.>
The AI, on the other hand, replied to Alex's question after analyzing everything, causing Alex's face to wear a pondering look.
Alex did have weapon mastery, and it did give him the knowledge of how to make the best use of a weapon, but he had never tried it.
All he ever used was a dagger, something he had already mastered.
So, he couldn't tell how good his weapon mastery was, but even if it was good, he wouldn't be able to do anything in this magical world with just a simple weapon.
He needed something magical added to it.
There was that aura thing that was locked right now, or else it would've been fine, but since he don't have that for now, Alex needed an alternative.
He could tell that he was weak in ranged combat right now.
It was a glaring weakness of every assassin type fighter.
If it were before the apocalypse, then Alex had guns to make up for it, but now...
'All right, I'll do it.'
Alex nodded inwardly, agreeing to do what the AI had asked him to.
He would make it so that the kobold chief would have to use its ability at least twice.
'Battle analytics.'
Alex activated his battle analytics, and although it started to dry his mana at a very fast speed, Alex just dashed toward the kobold chief with his now increased speed.
The battle analytics boosted the physical prowess of Alex whenever it was used, and right now, Alex needed that boost since the stats of that kobold chief and his were the same, at least when it came to agility, stamina, and mana.
Alex couldn't waste a lot of time, so he pushed his body harder.
*Grit*
The sound of teeth being grounded could be heard outside.
*Spiush**Splash*
His feet, on the other hand, moved faster, helping him close in toward the kobold chief.
"Kraaaaa!"
The kobold chief, who had been glancing at Alex every second, noticed the sudden increase in Alex's speed and let out a shocked yell.
Alex, however, noticed something...
'Isn't this path...'
He stopped in his track when he saw the path they were running on.
The AI's words confirmed his doubt.
This route was already covered by Alex; it was in the direction he came from.
Looking at this, Alex didn't say anything anymore; he just deactivated the battle analytics. He wasn't going to need it anymore.
'Mapping.'
He activated another ability, an ability that takes little to no mana.
*Swoosh*
A silver glint passed through his eyes and the next second, the view of the surroundings changed for Alex.
The tree in the area became see through, and the ground turned translucent blue with grid like line on it.
Alex could still see the kobold chief rushing forward, but what he saw was a bit different from the kobold chief.
Alex could see the path the kobold chief was taking.
Alex's vision zoomed in, moving ahead of the kobold chief, and finally, he saw the terrain in front of the kobold chief.
'He's going for the cave.'
Alex saw a cave in that path, a cave filled with nothing but red marks on every wall, and red marks always meant danger, which in this case was traps.
*Blink*
Then, with a blink of his eyes, all the grid life graphical vision of his returned to a normal human-like view.
*Squish**Squelch*
Without saying anything, Alex started walking forward.
The kobold chief wasn't going anywhere.
That beast was just going to camp for Alex in the cave.
Unfortunately for the beast, though, Alex was already aware of its camping position and the traps that were laid in the cave.
Alex's mana, which would've been almost emptied to 50% or higher if he were to chase after the kobold chief, was now getting refilled as Alex just continued to walk toward the cave.
Natural regeneration of mana always kicks in the moment mana is used, but yeah, it's very slow—like, it takes 2 minutes for Alex to recover 5% of his mana, which means 40 minutes for 100% of his mana to get regenerated.
However, Alex didn't just slow down to recover mana.
"Krrarrr!"
"Groooo!"
"Reeeerrr!"
….
…
.
Several such yells were heard from the direction Alex came from.
*Grip*
Alex, however, didn't panic as if he were expecting it, and he just gripped his dagger hard.
*Spuelch**Spuish* Xn
He could hear the steps of the owner of the voice getting closer and closer, but he didn't turn back.
*Swoosh*
"Kraaa-!"
That was until the sound of a weapon being waved, along with a triumphant scream, was heard.
*Pierce*
At that moment, as if he had eyes on the back side of his head, Alex's arm that was holding the dagger moved, and with a lightning-like movement, the knife in his hand had already pierced a poor kobold's head.
The same kobold thought that it had won the moment it waved its sword at Alex.
The kobold didn't even know that he had died without being able to achieve his goal.
Its shout was cut short, but its face still had the same triumphant expression, as if it had won.
*Squelch*
*Thud*
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