Power-up

"Do you need any gems for your Agility?"

The stranger didn't reply at first, busy dealing with the wolves. "Do you have them?"

"Sure," Rin replied, "a whole four of them."

"Toss them to me," the stranger said.

"Sure," Rin agreed, but didn't toss right at the moment. "By any chance, you have any gems for Physique or Spirit? I'm out of mana."

"You have the two attributes awakened?" the stranger asked, evident exhaustion and a little start in his tone.

"Bloke, I got four awakened attributes."

The stranger clutched the little pouch in his waist and tossed it to Rin. "Take anything you like from there and returned it to me with the Agility Enhancing Gems."

Using his high mobility, Rin was able to catch the pouch with some effort. The stranger dude was seriously not half bad. He tossed it where Rin would be able to catch it and won't have to care much about the wolves' advances.

Most people would just toss right at him, not thinking clearly. But more importantly, the pouch was almost full of gems. Rin guessed the number was close to fifty.

Seriously, this stranger dude was playing with everything.

Opening the pouch in mid-air, Rin clutched dozens of the gems with his palm. Over a dozen notifications flashed in the corner of his sight just because he was busy in the fight.

Rin didn't have time to give consent to the system, as he had to escape from the wolf's paws safely after landing.

Rin poured the last bit of his mana into the mark and shifted his weight lower, as much as possible. His stomach convulsed at the weightlessness, as he dropped to the ground, and rolled to escape the savage paws of the beast.

Then he put some mind to the notification.

[Would you like to absorb a Physique Enhancing Gem (common)?]

[Would you like to absorb a Physique Enhancing Gem (common_?]

[Would you like to absorb Spirit Enhancing Gems (common)?]

. . .

[You cannot absorb Charm Enhancing Gems without an awakened Charm attribute.]

[You cannot absorb Perception Enhancing Gems without an awakened Perception attribute.]

. . .

[Would you like to absorb Spirit Enhancing Gems (common)?]

[Would you like to absorb Spirit Enhancing Gems (common)?]

"Yes, yes, and YES," Rin consented as tendrils of smoky energy rose from the gems flowing into his body.

Then the wolf got him. Its claws pouched on his thing, digging into his muscles. Rin gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain. The gems were already taking effect as he shoved his knee into the face of the beast.

Without mana, his weight returned to normal in time, thankfully.

A few buzzes of current spread all over Rin's being as he got back up, kicking the best with all his might. His physicality and Spirit were rising, enabling him to have more stamina and Mana. He certainly wasn't shy about using someone else's gems.

[+ 0.2 Physique]

[+ 0.4 Spirit]

Getting his spirit back, Rin clutched the hilt in a reverse grip and rammed into the midsection of the beast. He would have liked a more vulnerable spot, but it was as much he could manage with the best on top of him.

[+ 0.2 Physique]

[+ 0.3 Spirit]

The beast limped and grew weaker. It did make its last struggle, but Rin killed it, ramming the sword multiple times. Blood and gore were all over him as the intoxication of power overwhelmed Rin.

[+ 0.2 Physique]

. . .

[+ 0.1 Spirit]

[+ 0.2 Physique]

[+ 0.2 Physique]

[+ 0.2 Spirit]

[+ 0.1 Spirit]

[+ 0.1 Spirit]

[Health (R) : 194/194 (16.2) Mana (R) : 144/144 (14.4)

Physique: 16.2

Mind: 12

Spirit: 14.4

Fortune: 67]

It seemed other than boosting the attributes; the gems have another feature. A handful of them was enough to recover all his mana and health points. Of course, it could only be true for lower numbers, but Rin had nothing to complain about.

As he promised, Rin put the four Agility Enhancing Gems into the pouch and waited for the right moment to toss it back.

Recovering most of his strength and mana, Rin smiled at his adversaries. Now he had no problem covering for the stranger as he absorbed the four odd gems.

"Fighting is hella exhausting with just two attributes," the stranger said, getting a little boost with the four agility-enhancing gems.

The two of them stood in the middle, surrounded by nine wolves. Three of them seemed to be the alpha of the ground, as they were taller and sharper than their counterparts.

"Let's finish this quickly," said Rin, "Or we might--"

Rin hadn't even finished, but attention was drawn to the disaster approaching from the back. Even the transforming wolves were fazed, petrified at their spot.

"My good man." Rin shot the stranger a glare. "What thing did you provoke?"

"These abominations don't require provocation," the stranger dude said with a tired tone. "Let's deal with the wolves first. The regular deadman doesn't have high agility. If push comes to shove, we can always outrun them."

Rin grunted and applied mana to enhance his [Mana Cloak] as well as imbuing a good chunk of it to his weapon. Rin really preferred to have a longsword, but he would have to make it do with what he had.

He engaged, sliding below the wolf that launched itself at him. When he was under the beast, Rin shoved his sword into its stomach, twisting it one last time to draw it back. That would make the beast lose blood faster.

Even if the best wasn't dead, it would be within a minute with the blood loss, and over time till its death, it would lose all of its strength.

Rin launched himself up about two metres in the air, escaping the lunge of another wolf merely by a hair. This time two Rin hadn't forgotten to make his mark on the wolf. Sadly, the cut wasn't deep enough to be a critical blow.

Then the battle changed.

Screech!

Abruptly, a loud screech resounded in the surroundings, drawing fear into the minds of every living being in the vicinity.

Rin was petrified at his spot and so did the other creatures, as the screech echoed again.

A huge deadman, easily towing over two and a half metres, rushed to their battle, a pack of six smaller counterparts following. What was more interesting was that the undead monster didn't attack them, instead hurried to the dead corpses of wolves and devoured them.

"Dear lord," the stranger dude swore, swallowing his breath at the huge abomination.

"We have to kill it," he said, "the huge one. We can't let it transform successfully."