Aric leaned against a tree, still breathing hard from his last fight.
The kill had been worth it — not just for the new skill, but for the satisfying chime in his head as the system processed the quest.
Now, for the first time he thought how to check his stats which were being added by accumulation and level up he should be able to see his status just like in game.
He called out loud
"Alright, System," he said aloud. "Show me the goods."
Nothing happened...!
Then Aric tried to say "Status"
And it happens his Status windows opend up
---
[Status Screen – Aric Ignovad]
Level: 2
Race : Human
XP required for lv3: 20/ 900
HP: 110 / 493
Stamina: 306
Luck: 5
Protocol Awakening Process: 3%
Core Stats:
STR: 12
AGI: 11
VIT: 12
FOC: 9.5
INT: 9.5
Unspent Stat Points: 3
Unspent Skill Points: 2
Skills:
1. Lesser Restoration (Lv 1) — Restores minor injuries over time. Slow cast.
2. Burst Step (Lv 1) — Short-range movement burst. Limited by stamina drain.
3. Sound Sense (Lv 1) — Heightened hearing; can detect subtle movement and sound patterns.
4. Night Vision (Lv 1) — See clearly in low-light conditions.
---
Aric stared at the stats.
Then he squinted at them.
Then he rubbed his eyes and checked again.
"Wait… my Strength is basically a little better than average, and Intelligence is… actually not that bad?" He frowned. "Okay, maybe bad. Maybe average. But still."
He tapped the air where the stat points shimmered, two unspent and glowing faintly.
His first instinct was to pump them into Strength, but after thinking about how often he'd been dodging rather than blocking, Agility had its appeal too.
"And Focus…" he muttered. "That's cooldown speed. That means faster Burst Steps… and faster heals."
He scratched his head, looking between the glowing numbers and the darkening forest around him.
"Or… I could just not decide right now," he muttered.
It felt almost rebellious, like telling a teacher he'd "think about" doing his homework.
"If things get bad, I can dump them into whatever I need on the spot. Emergency power-up button. Yeah. That's smart."
The stat points continued to float there, waiting.
---
He pulled out the small brass time-dial the school had issued for mission tracking. The needle pointed to the third marker out of twelve — just under three days left before all students were required to return to Verdantspire for mission evaluation.
That meant he had about two and a half days to grind.
No, not "grind" — but to hunt.
Seventeen more kills, minimum, to get close to his next level.
And that was assuming nothing in the forest got a sudden craving for "low-level human" before then.
He sheathed his shortblade, feeling the muscles in his arms protest.
"Alright," he told the forest. "Break time's over. The sooner I get stronger, the sooner I can stop running away from things with teeth."
Somewhere in the underbrush, something chittered.
Aric grinned.
"Perfect."