Soul Steal

They finished the bottle of wine and were slightly drunk. Ember was sitting in the middle of the bed and tried to meditate, but was unable to focus because she drank too much wine, so she just decided to take a nap.

Aelric glanced at her from time to time with curiosity in his eyes. He once fought a D rank wind mage and almost died, despite being stronger than him. Mages were unpredictable since it was impossible to know what kind of spells they have learned and their destructive power was much higher than that of martial artists or knights. He knew that if not for pills that he always carried with him he wouldn't be able to run away from the fight and would surely die. He started to wonder how strong was this little lass since even that wind mage wouldn't be able to manipulate objects with such precision. He couldn't comprehend why such a powerful mage would need an escort. Ordinary people would never dare to offend her.

Ember slept for the whole night. When she woke up, Aelric was still sitting on the chair and was polishing his sword. There was a backpack on the table. Aelric already bought necessary supplies like food and water.

"So, what is this all about, little miss?" said Aelric. He didn't know why they came to this place. Now, that he found out that Ember was a mage, he didn't dare to be disrespectful. He didn't want to end up as minced meat somewhere in this godforsaken village. He thought that she was a mighty wind mage that knew a vast amount of spells that could easily squash him like a bug if she wanted to. He was happy that he held back before and didn't express his displeasure with her.

"I must collect something from monsters inhabiting this forest." lied Ember. After all, she couldn't just tell him about her system. He would probably think that she became insane. She wanted to level up, but also find a monster with a strong bloodline to absorb it to see how it works in practice.

Aelric responded with a nod. They left the inn and leisurely walked in the direction of the forest. When they were about to enter the forest, a man covered in blood ran out from the labyrinth of trees. He appeared to be a hunter. He held a bow with a broken string in his hand and a quiver without any arrows on his back. He was severely injured, the right side of his body was mutilated. It was a miracle that he was still able to walk. When he saw Aelric and Ember, he felt that this nightmare has finally ended and fell to the ground.

"Don't go inside! There's *cough cough* something in the forest that kills people! There were seven hunters in my group, but all of them died." shouted the hunter with an expression of madness on his face. He tried to shoot the beast, but it appeared to be immune to arrows so he decided to run away as fast as he could. After he finished the sentence, he fainted.

Aelric kneeled next to the hunter and inspected his wounds. There were many small claw marks on his body. The right side of his body was severely burned. He thought that it was possible to save him with the help of pills, but he would have to live as a disabled person for his entire life, so he decided to end his life. He took out a small knife that was strapped to his belt, and when he was about to finish him, he heard Ember's voice.

"Don't kill him." said Ember. She wanted to see how the soul steal ability worked in practice.

Ember approached the man lying on the ground and placed her hand on his head. She wasn't sure what to do next, but suddenly she felt that unknown energy was being absorbed through her hand and slowly turned into a pure mana essence. When she was done, the hunter's body withered and turned to dust that was carried away by the wind. She felt that mana was overflowing in her body, so she tried to compress it as much as possible. Just when she finished compressing her mana to make space for the energy that she had absorbed, she heard a loud voice in her head.

[Ding! Host's spirit attribute increased by three.]

"System, display my stats." ordered Ember in her head and laughed. There was a wide grin on her face. If she could quickly increase her spirit wouldn't that mean that she could control more weapons at once with her telekinesis?

[Displaying host's attributes.]

[Body]

Strength: 15

Vitality: 14

Agility: 18

[Magic]

Spirit: 13

Intelligence: 12

Total points: 72

When Aelric saw the devilish grin of his little miss and what happened to the body lying on the ground, he trembled and started sweating buckets. For the first time, he thought that he was following a demon in the form of a little girl. He just wanted to get back to the clan as soon as possible.