[See Character Stats]. Finally, he could see what he was actually up against, selecting [Yes].
--Talyndra Vaelric--
[Level 4], [EXP to next Level: 21]
[Health Points: 35/35], [Mana Points: 10/10], [Stamina Points: 80/80], [Lux: 179]
[Attack: 18], [Defense: 16], [Dexterity: 9], [Speed: 14], [Intelligence: 16], [Wisdom: 13], [Adeptness: 15]
--Skills--
[Vision, Level 6], [Bow Mastery, Level 5], [Increased Luck, Level 3], [Wind Luck, Level 2], [Fabrication Speed, Level 2], [Blazing Speed, Level 2]
--Sigils--
[N/A]
Talyndra Vaelric, the reason she had been able to kill him so easily was made extremely obvious when he saw her stats. [Vision, Level 6], [Bow Mastery, Level 5], [Increased Luck, Level 3], [Speed: 14], they were all skills and stats specifically tailed to helping her hunt someone down with a bow, the exact method she had chosen to hunt him down. This was the woman who had been able to kill him, and judging by her stats, there was no way he'd ever be able to beat her in a fight, so he'd have to find another way to deal with her. The only other way he could think of would be to make sure she never suspected him of not being Kaelen, but between [Increased Luck, Level 3], and [Intelligence: 16] he highly doubted he would be able to do that for very long, but he didn't need to do it forever, he just needed to do it until he managed to get away from her.
Abel: Really Talyndra? And I thought we were friends.
When her face morphed into a look of discomfort a sudden sensation of horror fell over him. It looked like he had said something which was either wrong, or wasn't something Kaelen would ever say. He couldn't let her kill him again! He had to do something about her before she did something about him. There had to be some sort of way he could overcome her and her skills-
[Notice: New Mission]
[Accept / Decline]
What? Mission? The world seemed to be governed by some sort of game [System] so he wasn't entirely surprised that there would be missions, after all there were stats and save points, why wouldn't there be a mission system? The only thing that was bothering him was that there was no sort of mission description, just an [Accept] and a [Decline]. Most of the time game missions came with rewards, and he suspected that reward was his only chance at beating her, so despite his hesitation at accepting something he didn't know the specifics of he pressed [Accept] anyways.
[Mission: Kill "Talyndra Vaelric"]
["Talyndra Vaelric" has been designated as a "MINIBOSS" by {REDACTED}. You, "Abel Cyrus", are to kill "Talyndra Vaelric".]
--Rewards--
[Muscle Memory, Level 2] - Muscle Memory, gain muscle memory for skills and Knowledge for Fabrication faster. Regain all muscle memory and Knowledge belonging to "Kaelen Calder".
[Skill Steal, Level 1] - Steal x0.1 of a person's stats, rounded to the nearest whole number.
[EXP (+127)]
[Accept / Decline]
[By accepting these rewards you will be forced into a PACT with {REDACTED}, if you fail to complete the mission you will be RESET and all stats and skills will be stripped and carry over into other save states.]
[Skill-based rewards are permanent and carry over into other save states. Stat-based rewards are not permanent and will not carry over into other save states.]
It was a lot. On the upside, it seemed accepting the mission when it had been sent to him only showed him the full details, and actually accepting the mission itself required another button press. The rewards were extremely tempting, with those and the fact that she had killed him last time he would've immediately pressed [Accept], though the last part of the information near the bottom scared him, if he failed he would be permanently reset to Level 1 and all of the few stats and skills he had inherited from Kaelen would be taken from him, making actually escaping from Talyndra in other loops, or as the [System] called them save states, considerably harder. They were in close range, and if he had access to Kaelen's Knowledge then he'd likely be able to Fabricate a sword, and due to the close range he'd probably win... So he pressed [Accept] and would just have to make sure he didn't lose.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Abel: You okay Talyndra?
Talyndra: Not really... I just... Don't like clowns.
[Notice: Skills gained]
[Muscle Memory, Level 0 (+2) -> Muscle Memory, Level 2]
[Skill Steal, Level 0 (+1) -> Skill Steal, Level 1]
[Notice: EXP gained]
[EXP (+127)]
[EXP to next Level: 27 (-27) -> 0]
[EXP to next Level: 100 (-100) -> 0]
[EXP to next Level: 125 (-0) -> 125]
[Notice: Level up]
[Level 3 (+2) -> Level 5]
[Notice: Stats up]
[Health Points: 25/25 (+20) -> 45/45]
[Mana Points: 8/8 (+4) -> 12/12]
[Stamina Points: 13/60 (+40) -> 53/100 +(47) -> 100/100]
[Attack: 16 (+2) -> 18]
[Defense: 14 (+2) -> 16]
[Dexterity: 10 (+2) -> 12]
[Speed: 13 (+2) -> 15]
[Intelligence: 12 (+2) -> 14]
[Wisdom: 10 (+2) -> 12]
[Adeptness: 10 (+2) -> 12]
[Notice: Stat points gained]
[Stat points: 0 (+16) -> 16]
[Notice: Stat points remaining]
[Stat points can be used to increase a stat by the same amount it would increase by when leveling up, or to by skills.]
His stats felt like that had doubled due to his own leveling up, and if he understood stat points right then there was nothing stopping him from making his health go all the way up to 205, and considering the way he died last time being bleeding out due to low max health, that was exactly what his did. Most of his stats were the same as, or higher than Talyndra's were already so he didn't have much of a reason to put them there.
[Notice: Stat points used]
[Stat points: 16 (-16) -> 0]
[Notice: Stats up]
[Health Points: 45/45 (+160) -> 205/205]
It was time for him to kill Talyndra. He focused inwards to his Lux and then outwards, willing it into the shape of a sword.
[Notice: Required Lux count not met]
[You do not have enough Lux to Fabricate this item.]
... Huh? Not... Not enough Lux? -He only had 13 this time round! He never Blazed the ingot she had given him in the previous save state so didn't have enough Lux to Fabricate really anything. Meaning he would have to kill her with his bare hands, whereas she could make a weapon if she wanted to. Their [Attack] and [Defense] were the same, he'd just have to rely on his health and stamina to make sure he could win against her.
Abel: Talyndra.
Talyndra: Yes?
Abel: I'm not sorry.
Talyndra: Not sorry for what?
He balls up his hands into fists and in an instant uses all of his weight to punch her in the face.
[Talyndra - Hit Points: 35/35 (-9) -> 26/35]
She stumbles back, tripping and falling onto the floor.
Talyndra, scared: K-Kaelen-?! What are you doing?!
Abel: You deserve this. You shot me and killed me.
Talyndra, scared: K-Kalen-! Y-you- ... You're not... You're not Kaelen... Kaelen would never!
Abel: You're right.
Talyndra, scared: What?
Abel: Kaelen is dead. I killed him.
It wasn't untrue, Kaelen probably was dead, and if he wasn't dead he was definitely as good as dead. Alive or not, Abel was in his body now, not Kaelen. -!
[Health Points: 205/205 (-90) -> 115/205]
[Stamina Points: 100/100 (-54) -> 46/100]
He threw up blood as Talyndra drove an arrow straight into his heart, pain spread through his body and his vision began to blur over. He had been too distracted to think about Kaelen and Talyndra had stabbed him right in the chest, she was trying to kill him. He couldn't really blame her though, he was trying to do the same to her, and she was doing a considerably better job than he would have liked her to be doing, she was far too dangerous, he couldn't let her do any more to him. Or else he would be dealing with extremely bad permanent consequences.
Talyndra: I'm sorry!
Abel: No you're not.
Talyndra: W-what-?! Y-you're still-!
Abel: Very much so. Still alive.
He grabbed the arrow in his chest, and tore it out-
[Health Points: 115/205 (-45) -> 70/205]
[Stamina Points: 46/100 (-27) -> 19/100]
[Notice: Status effect gained]
[Bleeding, Tier V]
[Health Points: 70/205 (-4) -> 36/201]
Before plunging it into Talyndra's chest.
[Talyndra - Health Points: 26/35 (-90) -> -64/35]
Her body collapsed to the floor, arrow sticking out of her chest. A wave of sickness hit him and he threw up. What? Why hadn't he cared?! He had just killed a person! Willingly! He had accepted the mission reluctantly in order to survive but he hadn't actively wanted to kill her! -Did the mission change his mental state? Prevent him from not wanting to do it? He felt sick. Whatever had happened, it sickened him, right down to his core.
