Appraisal
As my victory woes etch their ways along the cobblestone walls, sweat disseminates from my body as I finally release all tension. Raising one arm to the air, I pump my fist as I stick out my chest, bathing in the ecstasy of change--finally getting one step closer to becoming the person I'd always wanted to be.
Looking up, I notice a hot steam pouring out from my forearm, followed with reduced pain from the previously shattered bone left from the creature's attack. While the arm was still injured, I could tell that it was undergoing the healing process much quicker.
Another thing to note that I hadn't quite realized at the time was that despite my arm having been decimated, the pain wasn't debilitating but instead only served as a minor nuisance. Weirdly enough, it felt as if my pain were being numbed in some way.
[Pain Resistance: Level 1]
[Slash Resistance: Level 1]
[Bite Resistance: Level 1]
[Acid Resistance: Level 1]
[Enhanced Healing: Level 1]
[Enhanced Strength: Level 1]
[Enhanced Deduction: Level 1]
[Swordsmanship: Level 1]
Reading my abilities list, I take mental note of the 'pain resistance' and 'enhanced healing', recalling all the buffs I'd obtained once taking on this experimental system.
Cool!
Although, my arm was taking quite a bit to heal, and I didn't imagine it was going to finish up anytime soon. After all, I still don't even know how to upgrade my abilities yet.
However, as I continue to scour through my status window, I notice a little box in the bottom right corner that says, [Secondary Status Window]. Filled with intrigue, I hover over the button, eyeing it as a building sense of anticipation just barely finds a way to keep itself contained.
"After having passed your first trial, you have gained complete access to the experimental system."
As the system makes its statement, a 3-paged pop up appears without my intervention, revealing a great deal of new information that had yet kept itself hidden to me.
Status Window
General Stats:
HP: 127/150
MP: 114/120
SP: 200/200
Soul Integrity: 95%
Status Effects:
Active Buffs:
[Enhanced Deduction: Level 1]
[Night Vision]
Debuffs:
Fractured Arms (Decreased strength by 30%, slowed attack speed with arms until healed)
Inventory:
[Worn Dagger]
As I look down upon the numerous new details, I find specific interest in the newly acquired inventory feature that made its existence known to me. As the 'worn dagger' sticks out as the only proprietary object in the inventory, I press on the button to its right with the text, 'equip', instantaneously forming a light as it materialized in my hand, the burning luminosity forcing me to look away for a second as I raise my right hand in defense of my eyes.
As the flaming light finally dies down, I can only look on in utter... disappointment as a ragged blade, equipped with rough edges and a worn down grip makes itself known to me. The color scheme itself bland with a gray handle followed by silver blade that eventually contrasted its black edge that formed a color gradient, the dagger made no attempt to impress. However, anything would beat my now-dull energy constructs, especially with what I'm planning.
"Mana infusion!"
Suddenly, a bright blue aura spiked up from the tip of the dagger's hilt all the way to its tip, separating itself from the blade's edge by more than a foot, creating an enshrouding force that intimidated even myself. As it lit up the cave, I couldn't help but give it a test run, slicing away at the air as the blade's slashes left prevalent distortions in the air, slicing away at cobblestone tens of feet away.
Impressed by the increasing of strength of my blade by an order of magnitude, I again test the dagger, instead opting for stabs towards the nearby wall.
Hyah!
As I release a barrage of stabs, deep impressions are made into the wall as the air conforms to my will, forming honing missiles of destruction that are nearly unstoppable. With this, no monster or human alike stands a chance.
"Warning! Mana levels have fallen below 10%. Prolonged usage at critical levels may result in Soul Integrity deterioration."
Suddenly, my limbs begin to go limp as my body goes weak, my consciousness fading in and out. Glancing at my status window, I confirm my suspicions with my reading of 'MP: 9/120'. It seems that as of now, I lack the proper MP to properly utilize mana infusion in a combative setting outside of a short burst in power.
Releasing the aura enshrouding my blade, I relax my body as I lay down to recover my strength. The exhaustive sensation of weakness paling over my body, I read the MP bar again as it goes from '9' up to '10', then to '11', creeping its way up until it makes its way to '20'. Strength made its way to my limbs again, and I brought my arm back to propel myself off the ground.
Ahhhh~
Feeling like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders, I sigh in relief as I continue to inspect my status window, now looking back on my stats. As my focus shifts between the many different stats upon which the system allows me to pick from, I notice a little plus sign to the right.
Was that there before?
To the bottom was a new box with the text 'Available Stat Points: 12', revealing a new system that I didn't have beforehand. Now that I think about it, I remember the system granting me something aside from the new status window after I killed the D rank monster; perhaps stat points are something granted upon the killing of monsters, almost exactly like RPG games. If so, this revolutionizes my progression. But then, what stat should I invest in?
I see 'strength', 'agility', 'vitality', 'intelligence', and 'luck'. While the first three are a little obvious, I can't seem to decipher intelligence and luck no matter how much I think about it. My best instinct would tell me intelligence has something to do with magic due to the other three dealing more with physical aspects of the user, but then that leaves the luck stat point.
As the thought crosses my mind, I trace back to a distant memory: Ero Monsters RPG, and a similar stat. There came a point in the story where a seemingly useless stat--luck, was necessary for accessing end-game materials and skills, and those who didn't stay well-rounded in their builds would have to spend thrice their initial playtime catching up. Why do I remember this? Because I spent 300 hours having to level up my luck stat to get the legendary tentacle monster armor set!
With this sentiment in mind, I'll invest in luck for sure! Although, I still do want to stay well rounded. In that case... 7 points in strength and 5 in luck. That settles it.
Putting my stat points in, I feel an empowerment in my bones as my muscles tighten, forming grooves along my arms as they enlarge, definition making its way through my before-skinny physique. Although I'm not quite a muscle head, I could tell that I was starting to look bigger.
Setting aside my exhilaration, I begin to make my way through the cave again, this time with a newfound confidence that had eluded me for the beginning part of my life. However, this is a new me; one who will surely make their way to my brother to put an end to his life.
"You have entered an Infested Zone. Hostile entities detected. Annihilation of the infestation is mandatory to proceed. Failure to comply will result in severe consequences..."
As the familiar voice of the system rings inside my head, I take a couple moments to decipher what it means before consequently opening up my status window. As the window makes itself visible to me, a new popup on the top shows itself, a new mechanic that I've still yet to witness.
System Mission: "Purge the Den"
Objective:
Eliminate 50 D+ Rank Monsters before time runs out. Failure will result in system-initiated punishment.
Bonus Task (Optional):
Eliminate an additional 100 D+ Rank Monsters to receive a B-Rank reward.
Time Remaining:
23:59:57
"Clrtttktktkt, kttttt."
Before I could properly decipher the meaning of the new mission I'd been provided, I heard a hidden clattering above me, just barely hiding its presence as the sound began to multiply. A cold sweat began to run down my cheek as I soon understood its meaning, a deep understanding of the dangers I was about to face washing over me.
Clang!
As the sound of my dagger clashing against the teeth of a large spider reverberated across the cave, the spider immediately backed up, cautious of my fast reaction time.
"Mana Infu-" Recalling the rapid loss in mana resultant from using mana infusion recklessly, I bit my tongue and spun my dagger around, pointing its blade laterally from my torso as I held it in front of me, using 'energy allocation' to form a second dagger in the same pose.
"SKRRRSSSHHHHHHH!"
As the spider's roaring sound had great enough volume to disorient me, an army of spider beasts came in from all directions such as my sides, behind, and even overhead. As the mountain of spiders made their way to the battlefield, dozens of which came down to attack me, I could only exclaim what played in my mind at that time.
"I'm fucked."