It was raining. This was the first time Sean scorned the weather after coming into the Calibration Stage. Every other day was either sunny or slightly overcast, but still somewhat warm. The cold weather coupled with the cold winds made it hard to scale the mountain and they’d returned back to the hut moments after they started their trek up. Sean had visibly calmed down and was more sociable now.

Apparently, Brandon had been knocked off the cliff and had fallen to the next circle down, rather than down to the bottom. And he’d gotten up and ran over as fast as he could. Sean knew he was fast, but not that much. Then there was his durability —he was knocked out from the fall and almost died, but Brandon somehow got up like it was nothing. He was definitely a tank.

“So you’re saying that you’ve been living here for years?” asked Sean with furrowed brows. Serving some giant monsters that could squash you at any time, eating rotten food and almost freezing to death on a daily basis was far from an ideal life, “And that you’ve been in Helthur’s cave?”

“We are presented to Helthur first, and when he gets bored of us, he gives us to his minions,” said the woman helpfully. They looked similar but different at once. Whether that was because they simply had a similar hairstyle or not, Sean didn’t know. He wasn’t the best when it came to recognizing people, “There are more huts like this on the way up.”

Interrogating them seemed to be a great idea, as they had information even Fillmore didn’t —insiders, of a sort.

“Pretty classic for a game,” said Sean, but there was a part of him that was simply not there. The self-confident smile nor the expression of staring into empty space was present, instead, his eyes seemed blank —as if he was staring at things, but not truly seeing them, “If they’re living in these huts one by one, we can kill them off each night. We’ll leave in the evening.”

“Are you sure?” asked Brandon, sharpening his axe much like before. Sean was starting to think that it was the only thing he could do, as he’d been doing just that earlier in the afternoon when he awakened.

After some fresh air, he remembered what this place was —just a game. Nothing more, nothing less. He had to kill the giants and he’d get rewards. That was all there was to it. At least that’s what he told himself.

“That’s the most probable tactic,” said Sean and then turned to the girls, clearly what Ashley would have turned into before. It was ridiculous how attached to an NPC he’d gotten, and it had only been a day or two. Not being able to talk to anyone else certainly helped the process, he supposed, “How many?”

One of them pulled out her hands, first clenched, and then unfolded her fingers one by one and she came up to a total of six, “This many.”

She didn’t even know how to count? Well, that made sense, somehow. This System was scary. It could create realistic worlds with their own histories and myths, filled with people with their own personalities for everyone? Or was this a simulation that it used for everyone? He was inclined to believe the latter.

“So a week. Our rations won’t last that long, so we’ll kill three in a night,” said Sean as he grabbed his backpack. It was evening, and if he was correct, they wouldn’t get there for a good while, “You two, go to the village below the mountain. There’s only a single road that leads out. There should be some food left there. Help yourselves to it. I don’t think anyone will mind.”

“It’s raining out. We’ll be exhausted,” said Brandon, staring at Sean calmly. He always looked like the short-tempered type, but Sean was coming to notice that he was far from it. In fact, he’d been the only one fuming, and Brandon had been calm all along —he was just good at pissing people off.

“I’ll take care of it if it’s alone,” said Sean. He had an abundance of mana, and if what happened was sign enough, he could simply spam his Explosive Mana Balls until they died, and that’d be more effective if he hit the vitals, “You just draw their attention. I’ll manage.”

“If it’s about the woman, forget it,” said Brandon as he finally stood up. Then in a surprising act of camaraderie, he put his hands on Sean’s shoulders. They were warm, “You should calm down first. You’re angry.”

“I’m not,” said Sean far too quickly, almost the moment Brandon finished saying the word Angry, “I’m calmer now. I finally remembered what I’m supposed to do.”

“I know you’re an Outlander, hunter-mage, but there’s a time for everything. We’ll bide our time and draw them out of their lair. They’re bound to notice that one of them is missing. We’ll strike then,” said Brandon and clapped his hands, “So we wait. They’ll see the corpse, think that we’ve attacked them and went beck. Then we push them off the mountain when they pass through.”

He’d made himself a small fur coat from the giant’s clothes, the two sides bound in front of his chest with rags clearly torn from one of his clothes, but Sean didn’t know which. That’s what he’d been doing for the entire day after giving away his clothes to the women. They had been naked before, apparently.

“There’s no use in delaying the fight. It’ll happen at some point,” said Sean, “I’d rather it be faster. They won’t see it coming.”

After he’d come to the rude realization that this wasn’t his own world, let alone a real one, Sean only wanted one thing —and that was to get back home and to meet Clara. What had happened to her? Was she alright? How was his family, for that matter? All the questions swam through his mind, dragging his focus away from Veidrheim and back to Earth.

“I’ve been preparing for this my whole life. I want to give the gods a good fight,” said Brandon, eyes wide, “And rushing to our deaths isn’t a good fight. It’s a bad fight.”

“We wait on the second hut,” said Sean. He didn’t have an umbrella, and didn’t even bother to read about an umbrella spell. He knew what nonsense the book would spout: ‘It’s out of your league.’ He was tired of this nonsense. And that signaled the end of the conversation. Brandon, somehow far friendlier than Sean, escorted the women out, despite the rain.

But despite his asshole demeanor, Sean knew that this plan wouldn’t work unless they burned the hut to send a signal —they could take days to notice one of them was gone, depending on how they lived. And it was raining today. Thankfully, the straw hut held its shape and integrity, but the rain wasn’t heavy. Not yet.

After a few minutes, Brandon came back inside, the fur coat slightly drenched. It smelled like wet dog, as fur always did. It wasn’t a smell that he minded, especially with the stench of rotten food in the hole. He’d mistake it for a toilet if not for the contents. And that’s why he sat opposite to it, leaning on the wall. If any other smell tried to overpower it, then he’d stand aside and let it.

He almost jumped forward when a droplet of water that had ran across the wall entered his back. No matter how ready or distracted a person was, something cold inside the back ended up startling just about anybody. He slid slightly forward.

“Does your magic work in the rain?” asked Brandon, and Sean remembered —he didn’t know that. But he would assume that it indeed did. A short staring contest later, with Brandon’s expression blank and Sean with gritting teeth, they were outside, with Sean pointing a finger at the distance.

He didn’t need an explosion, so he created a simple Mana Ball with a Push component, the two circles appearing one by one. They were visibly of a deeper shade, undoubtedly due to his growing Intelligence Stat. And then he realized it. He’d forgotten his Character Sheet and what his current stats were. Around 50 Intelligence? 60?

The buzzing blue ball of light was now larger than before, even if a slight bit. It wasn’t noticeably larger, but it just felt odd, as if it was different and its proportions were just different.

It blazed through the distance, crackling like lightning as it did so before it eventually dissipated into nothing —but it traveled quite a distance, at least a hundred meters. It moved far faster than a sprinting human, but perhaps not a car. Bicycle, most likely. Bike, not likely.

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Sean then clenched his fists and looked down at his hands. He was getting wet now, but he didn’t care. It felt as if he was brimming with heat from the inside. Some steam visibly left his body and the rain started to become ever so colder to the touch.

Then he felt a cold hand on his forehead. It was clearly Brandon.

“You’re burning up. It’s the worst fever I’ve seen,” he said, “We have to rest.”

Sean knew what a fever felt like. He’d been sick only a handful of times in his life, but he could proudly say that he utterly and completely hated it. It was the worst feeling in his life as his body grew sluggish, his mind weary and productivity low. This wasn’t like that. This felt like it was meant to be.

“It’s not. I’m fine,” said Sean. It just felt so right. Being sick felt wrong. Then wouldn’t it mean he was alright?

“You’re being stubborn. No one that’s steaming like that is alright, hunter-mage,” said Brandon and Sean felt a steel grip on his shoulders. And after that, he felt himself being dragged away, “That can’t be good.”

Then he saw a notification, and his feeble resistance stopped. Brandon was clearly stronger than him in terms of physical prowess, and he knew he couldn’t resist without using magic. Even so, he resisted at first. But he simply stopped, and was flung back to the hut.

Skill ‘Heart Factor’ Awakened!

You have awakened the Dormant Skill ‘Heart Factor’. You are now able to devour the hearts of those able to regenerate passively to supplement your Vitality.

Current Count: 4

Sean’s eyes widened after he read the contents.

Eat hearts? What was he? A monster?

No… he remembered Samson’s story —the hunter tore out the hearts of the werewolves and ate them.

And he already had a Kill Count? No… he hadn’t eaten anything remotely like that. Hurriedly, Sean pulled out his Skillbook, not even caring about his physical body as he activated Research. Then there he saw it, the new Skill, at the very bottom below the Technical Linguist Skill as just about everything else had been compressed to the Mana Ball, leaving only a few Skills to look through.

Heart Factor

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. Those who have hunted monsters for generations have discovered the secrets of Metabiology and have learned that devouring the hearts of those who could passively recover their wounds at immense speeds grant them a great amount of Vitality. The Heart Factor is passed down from mother to child.

Skill Rank: C

Current Count: 4

Stat Formula: Current Count * 20

Extra Vitality: 80

He simply stared at it for a few seconds after reading it, and then read once again —that meant that it was true. He was a hunter, through and through. From a family of them, in fact. The reality he’d built for himself shattered then and there as he read through the skill, several times. His mother, who had been as peaceful a woman as could be, had killed 4 monsters? Or was she simply forced to eat it?

Was that why his father insisted he learn ‘how to survive’ that much?

“-ge! Hunter-mage!” shouted Brandon, shaking Sean’s body vigorously and he was brought back to reality, forcefully torn away from the effects of his Research.

“I’m a hunter,” mumbled Sean as he lazily climbed back to a sitting position. He had mixed feelings. It was indeed a boon, but his life —the life he thought he had wasn’t quite it. But the implications were more serious.

There were monsters back on Earth.

That was the last push he needed. He needed a stronger motivation than simply protecting those dear to him to rush straight to a possible certain death situation. But he didn’t have anything else.

So his motivation simply increased its intensity.

But so far, the only one that he truly wanted to protect was Clara. Just thinking about her being all alone on Earth made Sean want to fly off the cliff. But he had to become stronger so that he would be able to protect her in the first place. He would’t become a prey. He’d become a hunter.

“I’m fine,” said Sean, and a slight smile appeared on his face. Knowing that he was indeed a hunter was enlightening, somewhat. He wouldn’t want to accept this name nor responsibility under ordinary circumstances, but it was a tool for him. And as his father always used to say, having more tools never hurt. Having less did, “I was just… staring at status screens. That’s all.”

He summoned his Character Screen to his left, so that it wouldn’t block his vision, and consciously suppressed his Research from activating. It was convenient, but had gotten far too annoying despite the fact that he had far more time to himself if he did use it.

Character Screen

Name:

Sean Morris

Class:

Calibrating…

Health Points:

320 (+11 per minute)

Mana Points:

520 (+3 per minute)

Attributes

Strength: 19 (???)

Intelligence: 52

Agility: 11 (???)

Perception: 37

Durability: 32 (???)

Endurance: 32

Vitality: 30 (110)

Wisdom: 30

Not much had changed, but he noticed that his Wisdom was greater than before. That was his only lacking stat so far. He could recover to full MP from nothing in around 3 hours, which wasn’t bad at all, but that greatly limited his options in terms of fighting several giants at once. Not to mention the fact that he wasn’t very sure that he could kill one in less than 10 attacks. Experimentation would help, he supposed.

It was ironic how he didn’t even look at his physical stats other than Vitality and Durability, as if expecting to have low Agility and Strength. He didn’t need it anyways. He was a Mage, and that meant he should be spamming spells. That, and he wasn’t the type for physical fitness, though he assumed that he would have to do it sometime. But that wasn’t now.

“I thought you’d died,” said Brandon as he finally sat down. Sean didn’t even notice the stench now, far too used to it.

“That’s not a fever,” said Sean and felt himself more energized. It felt like he could breathe properly after wearing a mask for far too long —it was reinvigorating, “At least I don’t think it is. But I’m fine. Feeling better than before, in fact.”

“You are too hurried,” said Brandon, but he grabbed his axe and shield nonetheless. It seemed he was ready for the next fight, if push came to shove.

“They won’t expect it,” said Sean put sat down, with a glimmer of a light in his eyes —as if he was finally seeing again. There was no window in the hut, so he couldn’t stare out, but he could indeed look out the bottom of the doors in a sitting position. He saw that the sky was overcast, and it seemed like the rain would last for a while with the what little light offered as the last vestiges of the sun hid behind a mountain in the distance, “And I don’t think the sky will be any clearer tomorrow.”

Alas, he was drowned in his thoughts, and he wanted to walk. It let him sort out his thoughts, and most importantly, relax. When he wasn’t walking, his brain was always on full capacity. Focusing on the simple, repetitive action let him relax, even for a slight bit.

This wasn’t a conventional hurry, but more so something that was more akin to eagerness to do something —to return home, but in the shorter term, to walk. Reasons to hurry back to his home were piling atop each other, and he now wanted to meet his parents now. At least someone from his family who knew what it was.

Then Sean turned to the left, staring at the corpse of the giant that was on the road down.

Hearts.

Would giants count for his Heart Factor? No no. He couldn’t think about that. He was a civilized person. He couldn’t eat a heart, let alone raw meat. But then his eyes fell on the ground. Where the corpse of the woman had been before, was now empty. That made him feel slightly less nauseous, but all the more guilty. He clenched his teeth and breathed out, slowly.

He then shook his head vigorously and blinked a few times. He hopped up to his feet and the dagger at his waist clanged with the few metal pieces of the sheath, and he pulled his backpack up. There was no need to think about things like that. He couldn’t eat a heart raw… could he?

He debated on telling Brandon, but held his mouth. It would be like forcing someone to eat someone else. The fact that the giants looked exactly like humans made him iffy, but still, they were monsters. Nothing more, nothing less.

“There is no turning back once you’ve made the choice,” whispered a voice into his ear, but he drowned it out with the sound of a soft hum —it was the tune of Believers by Imagine Dragons. Brandon stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Didn’t know you were a bard,” he said with a cheeky grin, for almost the first time. Did he even smile before? Sean didn’t know, for he only noticed him with a grumpy face.

“I’m not. Anyways, want to race up?” asked Sean with a grin. He had some stamina, he was sure of it; but what in terms of agility? Would Brandon’s speed outrun his enhanced Vitality?

It was somewhat liberating, knowing the sources of your power —and without the System, he doubted he could have known about this.

He had it to thank for making his life just a tad bit clearer, and more importantly, adventurous.