A Beetle

[Daily intake: 2000/4000 kcal]

[Penalty upon failure: Hunger levels will increase significantly. Additional consequences may apply.]

[Time remaining: 6 hours]

A sense of relief overflowed through Liam's body after digesting three more food pills. He hadn't reached the daily quest goal yet, but his stomach was already grateful.

Liam still had six hours left, and while he could eat more, he eventually decided to leave it for later. Eating everything in one go wasn't the best choice.

'Well then, stats, open.' Liam cracked his fingers, planning to turn this boring situation into a productive time.

He was just walking in line, following the lieutenant to their destination, and Luka wasn't a social person.

[Level 5]

[XP: 100/300]

[Host stats:]

[HP: 100]

[Bioenergy: 150]

[Strength: 11]

[Dexterity: 10]

[Intelligence: 5]

[Exoskeleton: 5]

[Undistributed stat points: 5]

Liam placed his finger under his chin as he observed the stats, wondering which one he should level up. All of them sounded self-explanatory except intelligence.

'Could I become a genius if I bumped everything into intelligence?' He chuckled. That didn't sound like a bad idea, but a life like that was sure to get boring pretty quickly.

Just spending your whole life inside four walls sounded like hell. He didn't intend to become a prisoner of knowledge.

[Intelligence: Host's ability to resist mental attacks and command those who have lower levels.]

'Well... That's a shame,' Liam's lips puckered into a tight line filled with disappointment. He had no plans of becoming a genius, but the fact that the ability to solve math problems in an instant was a letdown.

As of now, the young hybrid didn't have any plans to side with the enemy, so this stat seemed completely useless.

The other choices he had also didn't seem too appealing. He should try to refrain from using his abilities, so investing in bioenergy seemed like a waste.

'I doubt that putting my stats into HP would help me much...' He could invest in it as much as he wanted, but what use would that be if he would get killed anyway when facing a stronger opponent?

Rushing headlong also wasn't an option, so Liam was left with two choices: dexterity or exoskeleton.

Liam raised his arm and went to pinch himself, inflicting a small amount of pain onto himself.

'If this is my exoskeleton, then insectoids probably see me as pudding.'

[We are Hexel, not insects.]

The system message that popped out turned red, but Liam just waved his hand, shooing it away.

'Whatever,' he rolled his eyes, not interested in tiny details. 'I'll put three points in dexterity and the rest in exoskeleton.'

The numbers on the screen immediately changed to their corresponding values, but Liam felt no change. He even went to pinch himself again, but the result was the same as earlier.

"What a scam," Liam muttered, feeling a muscle in his jaw twitch.

He continued to play with the system and went to take a better look at his ability tab, but the only new thing he learned was that his bioenergy value was connected to his ability to manipulate it. It was a shame that he didn't know a lot about it, only an energy sphere he learned by accident a year ago.

'I should really stop sparring with Ava,' Liam sighed, remembering how she dashed towards him. In self-defense, he raised his hands, and an energy ball appeared and went straight towards his opponent. Luckily, it didn't do any damage.

Something was telling him that he shouldn't have unlocked that ability back then, but he suspected that the system had something to do with it.

The adrenaline and fear could have made it act up and trigger something it shouldn't have, but Liam never complained about it. Who would, anyway?

"Huh?" Liam dismissed the screen the moment he felt that the cadets had stopped.

"We'll take a short rest here before continuing," one of the lieutenants announced. He noticed that the cadets had drastically slowed down compared to when they started.

"Thank god..." Linx fell down on the dirty ground after she moved away from the group a little, leaning against a dead tree.

She used this little time they had to rest. Her back was killing her.

"I know, right? Plus, these shoes are very uncomfortable!" Ava complained, sitting down beside her friend and taking off her footwear.

"My feet are full of blisters!" she added, throwing her head back before looking into the distance, staring at the sunset.

The sky was painted in hues of molten gold and fiery amber, as if the heavens themselves were ablaze. It burned away the day, leaving behind a trail of smoke in the form of intense ember clouds with pink edges.

"I wonder what happened to these trees. Have you noticed that most of them are dead?" Linx turned around, running her hand across the rough tree bark.

Sure, planet Earth had been struggling with ever-increasing temperatures, but it wasn't enough to cause such an isolated case.

On their way, she was able to see a forest in the distance and some wildlife. Life could still thrive, despite unfriendly conditions.

A boy with medium orange hair and a red bandana overheard the conversation between the two girls and decided to use this chance to meet some ladies.

"A beetle did this," he replied, getting closer to the two.

"A beetle?" Linx asked as Ava turned her head to look at the newcomer. He was taller than her by a head, around Liam's height.

"Yeah, my dad was a sergeant in that mission. When the military discovered what was going on, it was already too late. It was an ugly fight." The boy explained, recalling the battle that his father used to talk about.

Apparently, that beetle sapped all life from the trees and other plants and grew to be a menace.

"How many were there to cause such a mess?" Ava asked, looking around at the barren land. It was like a desert, with no greenery to be seen.

"One," the boy answered with a serious face. There were no traces that would reveal he was joking.

"One beetle?" Ava raised her eyebrow. She knew that humans weren't the only ones that evolved, but for one bug to do this?

"Hm... It's possible," Linx scratched her chin, staring at the ground as she started to ramble about multiple theories, making Ava's and the newcomer's heads spin.

"It's dead now, so I don't think it's important..." The boy said while Linx was still speaking.

He scratched the top of his head, tilting it aside. All he wanted was to meet some girls and strike up a conversation with them, not listen to theories about how a mutated beetle could evolve based on environmental changes caused by the addition of a new element—bioenergy.

"What do y-"

"Anyways, the name is Griff. What about you, pretty ladies?" Griff cut off Linx before she could finish her sentence. He hovered his hand above his abdomen, giving a small bow as he smiled, his snow-white teeth glinting under the sunset.

"Oh, um..." Ava was taken aback by the sudden change of topic. It was out of place and kind of rude.

She glanced towards Linx, who crossed her arms and made a "hmph" sound, looking away, not interested in this barbarian.

"I'm Ava, and this is Linx," she gestured towards her friend, her tone flat.

"Nice names," Griff answered, fixing his hair before placing his hand against a tree and crossing his legs.

"Anyways, if you ever get in danger, feel free to run to me," he added with a grin, pointing towards himself with a thumb while moving his eyebrows up and down.

'Eww,' the girls thought at the same time, exchanging narrowed looks. Their noses wrinkled as they raised the upper corners of their lips, slightly exposing their teeth.

Ava tensed her muscles, trying to resist the urge to kick him in the forbidden area. While tempting, she had a feeling she would have to do more than one hundred push-ups.

"You're only an F rank, and your dad is nothing more than a sergeant."

"I already have someone to protect me."

Unknown to the three, the whole situation was being observed by Liam, who took the last food pill for the day.

[Daily intake: 4000/4000 kcal]

[Mission completed]

[Reward: 50 XP, 1 random stat point]

[Dexterity: 15 -> 16]

'Heh, lucky!'