Monster

Alfie woke up feeling groggy. It felt like he had just recovered from a massive head injury. 

It was then that he realized that had in fact just recovered from a head injury. 

The fact he was able to feel the sunlight on his face confirmed to him that he hadn't died yet. 

Opening his eyes, Alfie saw the face of a green-skinned lady with jet-black hair. Due to the lady's large black pupils, Alfie practically jumped from wherever he was lying. 

"Is everything alright my lord!?" She cried. 

Alfie paused for a moment collecting himself. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you the doctor?" Alfie asked. 

"Doctor? I can serve as one if the lord wishes." She confirmed. 

Alfie took the opportunity to sit up from where he was lying. Looking back it seemed his head had been resting on her lap. 

He took a moment to feel for the gash, but it seemed to have healed somehow. 

"Oh, don't worry about that. I was able to sufficiently patch up the lord once I was summoned." The doctor proclaimed. 

Alfie sighed in relief. He honestly didn't know why he hadn't been able to notice the pain from the gash. 

He had gained a sufficient level of pain tolerance due to the horrors he faced in the void, but it never allowed him to straight ignore the feeling. 

But before that, he had to thank the doctor for saving him. Not only that, they needed to properly introduce themselves. 

"I'm Alfie by the way. I would've been dead meat without you." Alfie thanked. 

"Fawn, I was just doing my faithful duty," Fawn replied. 

After introducing herself she took out a small marble and offered it to Alfie with two hands. 

Alfie looked confused, unsure of how he was supposed to receive this 'gift'. 

"She's more of a fanatic than I thought." Ivory scoffed. 

Alfie looked at Ivory who suddenly appeared out of nowhere with confusion, while Fawn ignored him. 

"It's an Orb of self. Once you drop a bit of your blood on it, it allows you to see all your information concisely. The cool thing is if you get someone else's you get real-time info on a person's thoughts, desires, abilities and so much more." Ivory explained. 

Alfie immediately understood what Fawn was offering. She was offering an item that would secure Alfie's trust in her. 

Could Alfie take it though? No doubt it was useful, it allowed him absolute assurance in Fawn's loyalty. He debated back and forth before accepting it. 

From his time in Gaia, he knew information was key. And if one of his subjects was offering such a precious thing to him, he would accept it gladly. 

Fawn looked at Alfie with revenant eyes, happy that her lord had accepted her offer. Whereas Ivory looked in dismay. 

Now that that was addressed he had something to confirm. 

Holding the marble in his hands he tried to figure out how exactly he was supposed to check the so-called information hidden within. 

The only thing that came to mind was the spiritual energy he kept hearing about. 

Giving it a shot he began to feel for the so-called spiritual energy. Remembering the strange winds that occurred when Ivory was summoned, he began feeling for something in the air. 

It took less than a second before he felt he could tug on something incredibly tiny. It was faint but he directed it towards the small marble in his hands. 

The marble began to glow slightly but he still wasn't able to procure the information inside. It seemed it wasn't something like a projector but something more special.

Perhaps it was like the system that directly showed information to him and him only. 

Using this path of thinking the marble was powered with spiritual power, but it wasn't connected to him in any way. 

Feeling deeper he realized that those tiny particles were also inside him and unlike the particles outside the ones inside him were a lot easier to control. 

As soon as Alfie connected the spiritual energy inside him to the marble, something similar to his status screen appeared. 

[Name: Fawn Falenas Traphine

Species: Valhan

Age: 50

Current rank: 1 star

Skills: (Cooking 1, Medical 1, Scouting 1,...)

Talents: Scouting 7, Stealth 5, Medical 5.

Abilities: N/A

***

Current thoughts: "I wonder if my lord is reading my thoughts as we speak.."

Current Location:...]

Alfie was right in that regard, it was indeed just like the status screen where it transmitted the information solely to Alife. 

Looking through Fawn's talents which were all at a minimum of 5 he wondered how the archway had only shown 2 stars.

 Either way, it seemed his second subordinate had the talents to make up for a great scout. 

Alfie honestly wished he had more of these Orbs of Self lying around. With these, he could find out the hidden talents of all his subjects. 

Speaking of which, the marble he gained from the random item pouch seemed similar. Maybe he could use it on himself to find his own special talents? 

Searching through his pockets he ultimately came up empty. Had he accidentally dropped it somewhere? Just where in the world is that thing he thought. 

[NOOOOOO! Don't tell me you're already replacing meeeeeee.] 

"Rina?" Alfie asked. 

Ivory and Fawn who were a little bit away doing some random tasks looked towards Alfie strangely. Why was the lord calling out to someone who wasn't there? 

Alfie, obviously noticing their states, grew embarrassed. Instead, he called out to Rina inside his mind. 

[I'll try my best, please don't replace me already…] She whined. 

'What do you mean replace? Are you an orb of self??' Alfie asked. 

( These '' quotations mean Alfie's talking in his head fyi.)

[I'm an upgraded orb of self actually! But yes, yes I am.] She answered. 

'Wait, wait. I thought you were the archway's spirit or something??' Alife questioned. 

[That crummy thing?? Hell nooo. You saved me from that giant brown bag remember. I just happened to awaken when you touched that old archway because it was spewing a crap ton of spiritual energy for some reason.] She explained. 

'Ohhh. Wait you said you're an upgraded orb of self right? What do you mean by that??' Alfie asked.

[Well you know that Orbs of Self show you like your info and stuff right? Well not only can I show you your info, but I can also show you the info of your subjects too!!.] She said with a pep in her step. 

'Holy shit..' Alfie said. 

[Oh I know.] Rina replied. 

'Wait, could you show me Ivory's stats then?' Alfie asked. 

[Name: Ivory Udaecys

Species: Human

Age: 10,001

Current rank: 1 star

Skills: (Leadership 9, Swordsmanship 9, Martial 8…)

Talents: Swordsmanship 12, Spiritual control 11…

Abilities: Claircognizance]

'I thought 9 was the limit?' Alfie asked himself. 

[I thought so too. I even checked multiple times to make sure the info was right. Whatever he is, he's a monster. Makes it even scarier to think of what killed him.] Rina shuddered. 

Alfie took a moment to gaze towards Ivory who was staring off into the distant forest. Just what kind of monster had he summoned? And more importantly how the hell was this guy considered only four stars.