Owen contained his excitement and asked the system to explain the skills to him. Most of them seemed obvious just by their names, but the others didn't.
[Inquiry received!]
[Skills]:
· Roll (A-Grade): Utilize mana to roll the egg. Grants precise movement control.
· Bounce (A-Grade): Utilize mana to bounce the egg. Grants elasticity.
· Fire Affinity (S-Grade): Great affinity to gain and have high mastery for fire magic.
· Mana Sense (S-Grade): Can sense your surroundings through mana.
· Magic Affinity (S-Grade): Great affinity for magical abilities.
· Mana Absorption (S-Grade): (Passive) automatically absorbs mana from surroundings, and at the end of the day, gain XP from 50% of the mana absorbed. (Active) absorb mana from eating monster cores.
· Indestructible Shell (S-Grade): The eggshell is indestructible to any skill or attack that has an impact less than S-Grade.
· Accelerated Growth (S-Grade): Your growth is accelerated, and your XP gain is more than quadruple normal gains.
· Sovereignty of the Dragon King (SSS-Grade) - locked - more information after first evolution from EGG to HATCHLING.
---
"Oh damn. I am overpowered as fuck!" Owen exclaimed as he shuddered in excitement.
"With Roll and Bounce I don't have to worry about being a stationary egg. I don't have any fire magic now so Fire Affinity can wait, but with Mana Sense, I can see out of this shell!"
Owen then focused his will on the [Mana Sense] ability, and it activated. It felt like his brain was opening up, and at the same time his mind felt like a breeze that was blowing through the surroundings and shaping out everything around him.
He could now sense the grass, the roots, the trees, the bioluminescent flowers, and the earth beneath him. He could feel the mana of the dungeon in the air. He extended his mana a bit beyond his immediate surroundings, and there, he found it.
The mana signature of living beings.
Another dose of excitement hit him as this was a chance to gain immediate XP and level up.
He now focused his will on the skill [Roll], and the egg nudged a bit. He focused a bit more, and it began to roll, now steering toward the direction of the living beings he had sensed.
For every obstacle he came across, he would just focus his will on the skill [Bounce], and the egg would bounce to avoid the obstacle. The more he used both skills, the more he got used to naturally activating them as if it was as easy as moving his hands.
He had now gotten close enough to the mana signature of the living beings to make out their shape.
Owen, in his egg form, was the size of a small table. And these living beings were at least the same size as him. The more Owen focused on Mana Sense to make out their shape, the more they came to resemble lizards with smooth skin. They reminded him of wall geckos—giant wall geckos, now.
He thought about how in games you could make out the status screens of monsters and focused on doing that with Mana Sense, but it didn't work.
"Great idea anyways, but there's no problem. I'm sure they aren't above S-Rank," Owen thought to himself. He had confidence in his S-Grade Indestructible Shell and was sure these creatures couldn't harm him in any way.
Owen then focused his will on [Roll] but in one position, as if revving a car engine. When the first wall gecko creature noticed the egg spinning in place, it lunged toward it.
Owen then accelerated at once and rammed into the wall gecko creature, obliterating its face as he smashed right through it.
[Gecko Spitter defeated—!]
[EXP gained!]
"Alright!" Owen exclaimed as he rolled to a stop, the green blood of the Gecko Spitter dripping off his shell.
The other two Gecko Spitters crawled into a defensive position as they saw their comrade's head blown into a bloody mush.
Their throats swelled up as they aimed at Owen and spat out a fireball and acid.
"Ugh!"
The two skills, Fireball and Acid, collided with Owen's shell, hurling him toward a tree, but that was all they did. It didn't harm him in whatever way as he noticed his [HP] didn't reduce at all.
"Well then, that's just wonderful," Owen exclaimed as he rolled the egg in place, increasing its acceleration, and then hurled it toward another Gecko Spitter, splattering it just like he did the first, then bounced off another tree and hurled toward the last one.
[+2 Gecko Spitters defeated—!]
[EXP gained!]
[Ding—! EXP Threshold Reached!]
↑--Level Up--↑
[Level: 1/10]
[+5 to all stats]
Owen continued this assault on the Gecko Spitters in the vicinity until he couldn't sense their mana signatures anymore.
He had hunted down 15 more Gecko Spitters, which had leveled him up to level 2 now.
[Level: 2/10]
He spread his Mana Sense some more but still couldn't find more signatures until he sensed a new mana signature. Upon close inspection of this new life form, he could spot that these were obviously the infamous Lizardmen that appear in various gaming novels.
Humanoid creatures with crocodile faces, scales, and claws. They were all within and around the swampy area of the forest.
Owen decided to find one that was more away from the group and hurled toward it, but unlike the Gecko Spitters, it didn't die in one hit, so Owen hurled himself toward it some more, battering it until he had beaten it to death.
Ding—!
[Lizardman Defeated—!]
[EXP Gained!]
"Whoa!" Owen exclaimed as he felt the EXP flow into him. "I'm definitely gonna level up like crazy with these guys."
As he did with the first Lizardman, he waited for each Lizardman to leave the group and hunted them down individually. He had now hunted down a total of six Lizardmen and had leveled up to level 3. From his experience, he could tell that the more he leveled up, the more EXP he needed for the next level.
[Level: 3/10]