I glanced at the fallen girl, then over the so-called Hero before me. Multiple question marks hovered next to his level, so it was clear I was below the range to see it. Was he going to finish me off, too? A quick peek at my Status said that I was level 10. My career here ended at a measly number, just like that?
I coughed involuntarily, drawing Ethan’s attention. Instead of attacking, he sighed again. I saw his face clearly, the forlorn look with tired red eyes framed by black hair and the typical brooding Ravenclast features. An edgy, depressed main character, if I ever saw one. He kicked Emily’s dying body aside lazily.
“Don’t tell me you feel sorry for her,” he gestured lazily at her with his sword. “Surely she didn’t grace you pawns with any dignity in your short little lives.”
The rising killing intent in his eyes gave me a sense of urgency. I had to figure out a way to put up some kind of fight before I go, right? My hands and arms could barely move, but nothing else. I glanced downward, and sure enough, everything was attached to where they were supposed to be, but covered in blood and powered off. Ethan sheathed his sword and spoke in a condescending tone, as if he was trying to placate a child.
“So much Bearer blood lost,” he clicked his tongue. “What a shame, really. You fought for nothing, because of her.”
The minotaur had quieted down, but the surprise stab attack gave me a bit of an inspiration. I might as well take advantage of that trick now that I have him here. Ethan noticed my concentration, because his murderous glare returned.
“Ah, magic swirls in your eyes,” he stared down at me. “You’re the one my dear Sister had eyes on. But why? That little spark could never heal anyone.”
I looked inward. The so-called spark of magic was now an expanse of blue light. It now covered the white space above my mind’s eye like a roiling sea, casting a large shadow above me. The space seemed to have changed again, likely because of the level up. I opened my eyes and could see the glowing spaces on the fallen beast where my magic could work. The minotaur’s wounds were going to finish it off, but what if I restored its hand just enough to swat this fly aside?
“I guess it doesn’t matter, little batchling,” Ethan laughed. “When the Rift is up, you will be forever lost in time. Or, shall I do you the honor and kill you right here?”
“I think…” I coughed. My mouth was dry, but still felt like it was full of a bitter and coppery taste. My magic coiled in my hand as I reached for the broken staff beside me. I got up slowly, banking on this fool’s arrogance. “I think I had enough of all of you freaks.”
“Huh?” Ethan’s gaze hardened as he saw my glowing hand. He slowly advanced on me, guessing what I was trying to do. What a silly little fool. “I know you can’t heal Emily, you’re a defective—“
“[Basic Heal],” I said flatly. The coiled magic in my arm unleashed like a whip, lashing directly past the silly Hero and healing the big guy’s stump. The sheer force of the magic’s current made me drop the staff. Ethan watched the blue magic flow like an aurora past him, but was too slow to react.
The minotaur’s hands didn’t come back, but its open bleeding limbs were healed over. Now, they became moving battering rams.
With this sudden revitalization, the minotaur naturally did what its instincts told it to do, which was to flail violently. A pair of powerful limbs slammed Ethan into a new crater on the ground and crushed his bones. It wasn’t done after that surprise attack. It rained pounding blows, shaking the earth as it vented out its fury upon the Hero below. It was quite satisfying to watch, if only the dust and noise didn’t fill the entire room. Ethan, being a powerful Hero, managed to throw his sword at it in an attempt to free himself. It sank deeply into the minotaur’s shoulder, but that only infuriated it.
After a final scream, it swung its tower-sized arms at a recovering Ethan with great force into the far wall. My pulse pounded in my head like someone was repeatedly hitting me with a club, and my legs felt like jelly. I breathed in heavily. I should have really taken grandpa’s fighting lessons more seriously. A notification popped up on my Plus Menu, appearing as a gold dot instead of a red one. But a hand tugged my ankle. Emily’s.
“You’re alive still?” I murmured as I knelt beside her.
“You…” Emily breathed heavily. I sighed, and sat next to her. It seemed that everything inside here that wanted to kill me was no longer around, so I could make the Plus Menu wait for me. “Can’t you… help me?”
I searched her after tapping into my magic’s inner core again. Nothing. The more I felt the tingling sensation, the more I got used to it. I knew I could not heal the dying Main Line Family member, and the minotaur did not have any area on it that I could heal. I shook my head.
“No.” My hand glowed above her, but the magic latched onto nothing. Emily’s eyes dimmed.
“So you cannot heal people,” Emily coughed up blood. “Truly a defective Hunter…”
“Don’t speak,” I threw her words back to her. I reached for the pocket where the potion Leah gave me was, but my hands felt exposed skin instead of cloth. That thing was smashed in the whole battle, I supposed.
“Why bother? It’s too late to heal me anyway, Sister,” she closed her eyes. “You’re hopeless.”
“I bother, because that’s what Leah would want me to do for you,” I sighed. “To think I haven’t gotten the chance to slap you in the face back. A shame.”
Emily gave a bitter chuckle, followed by a wheeze. “Leah, that poor girl. I remember that defiant look on your face. She— was too kind for her own good. I’ll not ask you to forgive me. What is your name, Sister? I’ve never seen such resilience from Hunter batches before.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Oh, so she remembers that stupid bird, but not me. A pang of something welled up inside my chest. She truly did go out too early. Were it me in her place, I wondered if I could be that strong to be sacrifice instead. I knew deep down in my heart that I would be too selfish. And that’s precisely what made her death cut down to the bitter bone. I took a deep breath, trying to stave off the guilt.
“Kathleen,” I answered. “My name is Kathleen.”
“Kathleen,” Emily murmured my new name like a prayer, before struggling her last words out. “Know this, Sister. This world isn’t kind to Us. When the Bearer calls for you, offer me.”
“I’ll be sure to pass that along,” I guessed. “To whatever the Bearer is.”
Emily’s glance at me seemed like it had much more to say, searching for what this hopeless batchling was truly up to. I saw a hint of fear in it, and a mix of lingering regret and sorrow. But she would never know. After she let out a final gasp, her eyes ended up closing for good.
Well, I had nothing else to do besides look over my Plus Menu. Perhaps, the lack of emotions I have and the subsiding guilt from being the only survivor amongst all these fools was what made me “defective.” It was time to check my notifications. I assumed the golden dot had to do with the dead minotaur. I ignored Emily’s corpse beside me and activated the Plus Menu. Sure enough, the gold notification was the first thing that appeared before me.
———————————————
— MUTATION SLAIN —
The Armoured One will remember this.
RIFT E|E|L|A|N1048AB COLLAPSE IMMINENT.
———————————————
Pushing past that glaring and glorious notification, I found that there were a staggering amount of status points. I had leveled up to 14 in the middle of this whole ordeal, surpassing Emily’s level.
———————————————
Kathleen Ravenclast [+1260]
Human Healer, level 14
(No party affiliation) [No Element]
Attack Power: 180 (F)
Magical Power: 310 (F)
Constitution: 485 (F)
Wisdom: 100 (F)
Movement Speed: 89 (F)
———————————————
I remembered frantically firing off commands to my Plus Menu in the battle to upgrade stats as I went, but it seemed like a mess now. That four-digit number stared holes back at me like my last paycheck. It felt like the first time I got a red envelope from my grandfather as a Christmas gift— I froze up thinking about the sheer amount of cash I just got.
Then, the waterfall of notifications piled on my head the second I opened it.
———————————————
Notifications
> Main Family Member, Emily Ravenclast
> Goblin multikill! Host has gained 40 status points. [Total: 390 status points]
> Host has saved a teammate from instant death! Host has gained 20 status points![Total: 410 status points]
> Host has leveled up! [Level 10]
> You have added 126 points to Constitution. You now have 485 Constitution (F).
> You have added 49 points to Movement Speed. You now have 89 Movement Speed (F).
> You have added 175 points to Magical Power. You now have 310 Magical Power (F).
> Host has healed the Emissary of the Armoured One! Host has gained 200 status points. [Total: 260 status points]
> Host has leveled up! [Level 13]
> Mutation has been slain! Host has gained 500 status points! [Total: 760 status points]
> RIFT E|E|L|A|N1048AB collapse imminent! Host has gained 500 status points! [Total: 1260 status points]
> Host has leveled up! [Level 14]
> Host now has access to the Item Box! [Level 10 requirement met].
———————————————
Interesting. The only one who was killed was Emily. I scanned the arena, feeling uneasy. What if that damn Hero was still alive? If he was, he certainly would have killed me by now, right? My eyes followed a trail of blood that splattered past the inactive stone Rift Portal, landing on a boot dangling high above me. A shin bone jutted out from the leg. I winced. The Hero was unconscious and badly injured, but unfortunately not dead.
I felt my own leg, making sure it was still attached, then turned back to the other exciting piece of news.
An item box, eh? So, I finally unlocked it. Unfairly. Just how I like it. I eagerly hovered over it through the Plus Menu, noting that there were quite a lot of new options that were locked. I suppose I’ll work towards that while learning why the hell I am here.
———————————————
> Status
> Notifications
> Item Box
> Database [Level 20 Required]
> Unknown [Conditions Not Met]
> Unknown [Conditions Not Met]
> Skill Points [1260]
> Skills
> Exit
———————————————
A prompt came up when I selected the Item Box option, asking if I wanted to use it. I scoffed. Of course I wanted to use it! I didn’t survive all this nonsense just to kick it to the curb, and the alternative was a mountain of status points to sort out. The moment I selected “Yes” on it, a new bright white panel opened, causing me to squint. Tags appeared over various objects, making me realize how potent this Item Box truly really was.
The dissolving minotaur did not have a tag. I guessed since it was succumbing to magic interfering with it. But its broken horn did have a tag. I walked over to it, looking up at it. The thing towered over me, easily twice my size. Oi, so you’re telling me that this thing is going to fit inside of here? I read the tag, seeing that it also had a tier tacked on its name.
———————————————
— Emissary’s Horn [Magic Tier]. Bone Material for weapons. [Store]
———————————————
I hit [Store] without a shred of hesitation. Almost immediately, the portal expanded before me as it swallowed the horn in light. The bone dissolved into white particulates, like digital ash. How typical of a System with screens. It does seem like I’m in a video game world, but I never played any of those. The white portal shrank to a tablet size, as if it didn’t just swallow a tower sized horn a second ago. A blue grid illuminated it, revealing that the horn had filled in one of them. Two rows of ten flashed. Those must be how many slots the Item Box could hold. Interesting. My eyes immediately scanned the floor, sifting through rocks until finding clusters of red shiny gems scattered from the battle.
I remembered these things. I scooped one up, feeling its cold and sharp surface. They were Chipped Bloodstones, of various tiers ranging from 1 to 3. Storing them revealed that each tier took up a slot, though I didn’t know how many tier 1s could go in that square. I now had gathered four pathetic Tier 1s, two big Tier 2s and a single lonely head sized Tier 3 Chipped Bloodstone. Each bore the description of being used to improve my weapons, but I did not know how to do that right now. Therefore, I shall hoard as many as I can for when I do eventually learn what to do with them.
I swept over the rocks and debris, searching for Ethan’s sword. My eyes eventually found the tag in the center of the minotaur’s decaying body, where a gleam of metal revealed itself. To my dismay, it was snapped off at the hilt. Dammit, I fumed. There was nothing else that had any particular value, until my eyes landed on Emily’s corpse. The minotaur was dissolving rapidly into black mist, but her body still remained. A singular tag, impersonal and gruesome, hovered above her torso.
———————————————
— Emily Ravenclast, dead. [Store]
———————————————
Her eyes were closed, but her corpse was anything but serene. The hole had bled her out in a pool of crimson. A little weird, but I hit the button anyways. The Item Box screen swallowed her body, leaving only the massive blood stain behind. Wait, massive? I felt something gooey slithering in between my shredded boots, and immediately stepped back. No, my eyes were not playing tricks on me. There was no body, yet the pool was expanding to the size of a lake. Bubbles and rumbling came from underneath its surface. Something grey and stony was coming out from the center of the mess.