Level Up!
A yellow screen appeared infront of me.
[40 FP and rewards obtained.]
A few seconds after displaying the message, the screen disappeared.
'FP? Fate Points? So, killing humans gives EXP? Sigh…I just hope I don't have to become a serial killer just to level up!'
I instantly thought of checking my status window but the pain in my body was slowly returning. So, I thought to first settle down somewhere and then check my rewards in peace.
Looking around, my eyes fell on the black dagger, the knife, the red bamboo gun quite far from me and Carlo's clothes and armor. Then I looked at my tattered clothes. There were a couple of fresh sets of clothes lying in my inventory but just two sets were very less. Also, I had no armor on me.
"What has my life become! Now I'm killing and looting people!" I mocked over my own current state.
Limping in pain, I moved and took out my knife out of the corpse. No more blood came out from the wound.
I then moved in agony and picked up my black dagger, Carlo's dagger and some twigs. With the help of the twigs and the rope that was used to tie me while I was talking with the Princess, I gave my right ankle a first-aid cast.
Then, with the support of a thick branch I had picked up, my body moved towards the place where Carlo had removed his clothes. I didn't wear them and just placed them all in my inventory.
Walking further, I picked up the red bamboo gun, a.k.a 'Baruga'. It was just a simple gun with a very flexible bone of some beast placed at the back of it. There was no spring or string mechanism. The bone was meant to be pulled and arched and the bullets or darts were placed infront of it. As soon as the bone was released, it would hit the darts and shoot them through the hole in the bamboo.
I didn't know how but I was already feeling slightly familiar with the weapon.
After picking up my 'loot', I moved towards the place of the collision. If any of the Lakéquses was alive and in a condition to run, I planned to just ride away on them. As there were still two knights left who could come anytime now staying here could be troublesome.
When I arrived at the place where I left the Lakéquses, I noticed that there was only one Lakéqus on the spot. The other had probably ran away as soon as it regained its stamina.
The Lakéqus which was now lying on the grass wasn't breathing. It was clear that it had now died. It also had a dart in its back which told me that it was actually the Lakéqus that I rode.
'Sigh…Now I will have to walk around in the forest. I didn't realize it earlier that actually facing the unknown would be this difficult…'
Ugh!
My thoughts stopped as I groaned in pain. The pain was now coming back. I knew for a fact that I wouldn't be able to move around anymore. Now everything just depended on fate.
As I was looking at the horse-like beast covered in orange blood, I noticed that light was coalescing on its forehead, in between its eyebrows.
Similar to how the oil droplet was formed on Carlo's wound, another oil drop with orange particles instead of red, appeared on the monster. This droplet was slightly bigger in size. The previous one was the size of a fingernail of the pinky finger but this one was the size of a fingernail of an index finger.
The droplet then moved upwards and entered my body through my clothes. I haven't raised my palms this time so it entered my stomach on its own.
In the same fashion as Carlo's, a memory started to play infront of me but it was very blurry and I couldn't understand anything. It didn't even start to play when I was thrown out of it.
Ding!
The same yellow window appeared again.
[70 FP and rewards obtained.]
It quickly disappeared and another window appeared in my eyesight.
Ding!
[Level 2 achieved. 5 Stat Points obtained.]
'So those oil droplets are the fate of the beings that die? And thank God I could also gain EXP from killing monsters and not just humans. Also, it seems like I can't understand the memories of a monster. It also seems like I gain 5 stat points per level.'
Although I have leveled up, I didn't feel anything. Only the 'oil droplets' made me feel something.
The pain was becoming unbearable. Since the collection of the 'drops' was already over, I sat down on the ground. My back was supported by the body of the big Lakéqus which was curled up. My legs were extended on the ground and there was only the sensation of pain in them.
Without waiting anymore and to divert myself from the pain, I lip-synced, "Status!". The chlorophyll-green and translucent screen appeared infront of me.
[
HOST INFO:
Name: Alex (Deniel)
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Level: 2
Fate Points (FP): 10/500
------
STATS:
Health Points (HP): 26/110
Mind Power (MP): 0/0 [Locked]
Strength: 0(+12) = 12
Defense: 0(+10) = 10
Senses: 1(+9) = 10
Health: 4(+7) = 11
Mind: 0(0) [Locked]
Free Stat Points: 5
------
SKILLS:
Passive Skills:
[Mining] Level 3:
You have grown proficient in handling mining tools. Your proper form and long practice makes you able to mine various minerals with ease. As the skill level grows, the ease of mining increases.
[Starlight Harvesting] Level 2:
Due to constantly practicing this skill, your proficiency has significantly increased. After reaching level 2, you can now grow the yellow variety of the Starlight fruit effortlessly and in any type of soil.
Due to spending so much time studying the fruit, you can now recognize other varieties of the Starlight fruit.
[Dagger Arts] Level 2:
You have battled and gained experience from the memories of an expert in daggers. Due to the gained experience, your skills in handling daggers have now improved.
There will be a minute boost in your stats while handling daggers.
Active Skills:
[Dagger Thrust] Level 1:
You have diligently practiced thrusting your knife with precision, speed and strength. Although your form is still crude, your muscles have started to develop in a specific direction. Due to the growth of those muscles, the system can now direct the stamina inside your body into them thus giving them a sudden boost.
This skill can only be used maximum for 3 times in 24 hours. It depletes stamina so you should not use it when your stamina is low.
(Unassigned Category):
[Unnamed skill] Level 2:
You have obtained memories of a master user of Baruga, a shooting weapon. Due to those memories, your body can automatically adjust itself to proficiently use the weapon. However, your physique is a limiting factor and you cannot use the full extent of the skill.
One stat point added to the Sense stat. (Can only be done after the skill is named.)
Increasing certain stats will level up this skill to the next level.
[Unnamed skill] Level 1:
You have obtained a beast's fate that it has collected over time. Amongst all the skills the beast had, you have obtained a skill that will give an instantaneous boost to your speed and evasiveness.
Your speed increases by 5% every time this skill is used.
With your current stamina, this skill can only be used for maximum 10 minutes after a minimum cooldown of 3 hours.
(Name this skill as soon as possible.)
------
INVENTORY: LEVEL 1
Space 1: (0.55m³/1m³)
• Slot 1 - □ (0.06m³)
• Slot 2 - □ (0.05m³)
…
Space 2: (0.0m³/0.25 m³)
• Slot 1 - □ (0.25m³)
]
I noticed that I have gained two skills, one from each kill. Also, my 'Dagger Arts' skill leveled up and its description changed. It even became cooler, giving me some boosts.
'The Fate Points required to level up have now significantly increased. I have also obtained six stat points. And look at my health bar! It is so low! I think I'm actually going to die! Ha-ha…'
I gave a self-deprecating laugh in my head. Without further ado, I named my skills and placed them in their respective categories.
The skill that I obtained from the Lakéqus was just named 'Agility' and placed in the 'Active Skills' section.
'Baruga Shooting' was the name that I gave to the skill obtained from Carlo's memories. It was then placed in the 'Passive Skills' category.
As soon as I named the skill, I obtained one stat point in the Sense stat. Just as the point got added, all the nerves in my body felt the cool feeling again, as if someone was blowing cool soothing wind on them. The feeling lasted for a bit but it actually numbed the pain for that while so I actually felt very good.
Now with the remaining five stats, I knew what I had to do. After closing the status window, I said out louder so as to also listen to myself, "Add five stat points to Health stat."
I needed to live and since my health was on the brink of becoming zero, I had no other choice but to gamble.
As I was telling my status window to add the stat points, I moved closer to the horn of the Lakéqus and gripped it tightly in between my teeth.
Right after the command was given, the burning sensation came back. It was like my whole body was boiling from the inside. I have read that burning alive was the most painful experience, now I knew why.
The pain wasn't evenly distributed across my body. The regions were I got wounded the most were in more pain than the other regions in my body. For example, my face and my right ankle were feeling the burn multiple times in magnitude as compared to my hands.
It felt like I was on the verge of fainting but I held on. My eyes were tightly shut, my teeth were about to break, my nails were digging very deep into the corpse and silent, painful moans were escaping through my throat.
After a few moments that felt like eternity, the pain finally receded. I had successfully managed to suffer through the pain. I didn't want to faint because I wanted to check if my wounds would be healed or not. Thankfully it did. In a foggy state, I noticed that my ankle didn't hurt as much as before and it was also possible to move it now.
Phew!
The pain was subsiding, I had healed. However, my stamina was rock bottom and I was dog tired. Without any more thoughts or worry, leaving everything to destiny, my eyes closed and I entered into the dream world.
***
Under the starlit dark sky, with dancing leaves and whispering winds, a slave escaped from his destiny by paying two lives as a price. He was now sleeping on a dead corpse, not even knowing that his journey against fate has only just started.