"We are not going to hurt you," I tried to reassure the girl. She still looked wary, but she lowered her barrier.

"How can I trust you?" she questioned, and I did not answer for a moment, trying to find the best way to reply.

Elias spoke before I could, though, "Why would we want to harm you?"

The girl lowered her head, her light blue hair swaying behind her. Her cheeks reddening, she replied, "Both of you were so strong, so I didn't think you would... I thought you came to finish me off as well."

"What is your Class? The force field seemed to be a lot of potential," I hummed, extending a hand to help her up.

Elias murmured, "Terra, what do you want to do?"

I did not reply. Instead, I reached out further. The girl finally stood up with some effort after taking it, grunting. Something moved behind her, and a decent-sized white horned owl landed on her head, its wings fluttering. I summoned my lion claws, mentally preparing my Class Skills. I could sense Elias tense up beside me as well.

However, the girl did not seem worried, and instead gestured for us to lower our weapons, explaining, "Alaric here is my Companion. The System granted him to me as one of my Class Skills, apparently. Don't worry-"

"Kaelen, hoot, Alaric can introduce himself. Hoot," the horned owl started to speak, hopping from the girl's head to her shoulder as he did, "But Companion is right, hoot, Alaric was pulled from his perch to be with Kaelen."

I was shocked. The owl could speak? However, I probably should have expected it, since the System has done many other endeavors that should normally be impossible to achieve. At least I learnt the girl's name.

"Kaelen, right? If you join us, we can figure out a way for all of us to grow together," I said, while storing my claw pair back into my inventory. I needed to sort through my items soon, maybe right after I level up my stats.

Elias whispered in my ear, "I feel convinced just listening to you."

I could not tell if he was sacarstic, but I slapped his hand to shut him up. Kaelen consided my offer for a moment, "Would I be bound to you or anything? Also, what are your names? You already know mine so..."

"Not sure about the first one. She's our leader," he jabbed a finger at my side, "But I'm Elias."

I swatted his hand away, before introducing myself with my alias, "You can call me Terra. And no, according to what the System did when Elias and I decided to work together, you get some kind of vaguely-worded buff by being near us. But that's it, there's nothing binding us together even if we fight together, as far as I know."

"Unless Terra here starts experimenting with mind control magic," Elias laughed, but we just stared at him. I fidgeted uncomfortably. It might actually be one of my not-yet-unlocked Class Skills, if there were any, because it sounded weirdly close to Illusions, which I already have.

"Don't listen to him... So is that a yes?" I asked, and hastily clarified, "There is no hurry to decide though. I'll just upgrade some of my stats while I wait."

Kaelen nodded, "No, it's okay. I will join you."

You have made an Battle Group with Player #AFGC-42951! You will now have boosts when you are within proximity of them. Level up your Battle Group Unity Level to increase your buffs!

"Thank you. I really do need to upgrade my stats, though. While you wait, can you can tell us your current Class Skills? We can figure out a battle strategy easier that way," I suggested while bringing up my System Profile. The blue boxes responded to my calling.

Lvl.5

Raven Dawn

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

ADULT

Abilities: N/A

Strength: 10 [+]

Defense: 10 [+]

Magic: 10 [+]

Mind: 10 [+]

Class: Storyteller

Skills: Story Weaver [Lvl.1], Artist [Lvl.1], Illusions [Lvl.1]

Before I increased anything recklessly though, I needed to know something first. I opened my mouth to ask the System Worker in charge of communicating with me, but Kaelen had already begun to answer my question, so I held my tongue for now as I listened.

"Alaric took up one slot, and there's the force field you saw me cast," Kaelen listed, "The last one is called Zap. I can use it to either cast a healing spell or offensive lightning bolts, but only on those trapped in my force fields. What about the two of you? I didn't really see you in action until the very end. The fox knocked me out cold."

Elias said something similar to what he did when we first met, but added more information, "I can corrode enemies by touching them - that is my main Skill, but I can also use the corroded stuff to make projectiles to shoot at opponents from a distance. There is one more that I have never tried before, but if I am touching someone else, I can take away their health for myself. I tried to use it, but it refused to work."

It's my turn, then.

"I can create things and control them, but it is limited, and they take a lot of energy from me. I don't know how my third one works - I haven't tried it yet, and the explanations were not enough for me to understand it fully," I then turned to Elias, "I think I know how you can use that third ability. You need to visualize it."

"What do you mean?"

I tried my best to describe the process, "Put your hand on my arm, then close your eyes. Think about my health as a green pool of energy, then suck some of the energy out through your hand - the connection between us, and absorb it into your body."

Elias smirked a little as he grabbed onto my arm not too hard, but it was firm enough. He followed my instructions, and in a few moments, I felt a wave of lethargy wash over me, and I ripped my arm out of his hold before he could take too much health and kill me. He gasped as his eyes reopened.

"Did it work?" I asked, although I already knew the answer.

Nodding, Elias thanked me, "Yeah. How did you figure it out?"

I shrugged, "I needed it for both of my skills. It took me a while to master, but it was worth it. You saw the golem."

He gulped as I reminded him of my creation. It put a grin on my face to know that the monster I brought to life was getting such a huge reaction. Now that we have fallen into a harmonious silence again, I quietly asked, "What do the stats do?"

Elias and Kaelen looked confused, because of course they did not know, and there was not a fourth person near us, but I nodded at them to signal that it was okay. Within minutes, the reply I was waiting for came.

I am the Worker in charge of Communication in your System team.

I'm here to answer your question, but well done on your fight. It was great to watch and replay. For your stats, strength lets you hit harder, crush with a stronger force, and things like that. This should be obvious, yes? The defense stat lets you fight back against physical assaults, whether that assault is from a tree or from that fire fox. It is useful against magical-based attacks if they are physical, too, like that fox's fire. The magic stat is tied to a hidden Mana bar. We warned you about Mana usage, but if you can increase your Mana bar, this would no longer be as big an issue. You use the Mana for magic-based skills and abilities... Which is all the skills you have now. It also determines the power of your attack. As for the Mind stat, it is the magic version of defense. It lets you fight against mind-based attacks, like telepathy, and your Illusion skill, if it is used against you. Is this enough?

"Yes, thank you," I waved at nothing in particular, just in case they were watching me even now, which they probably were.

Elias and Kaelen looked at me as if I was mad. I explained, "I was talking to my System Team, and I doubt you can see their words. I am not crazy yet, I promise. I have a rough idea on how to distribute my stats, so let me just spend some of my money and we can be on our way to the next monster."

"Sure," Elias shrugged, "I've never received a message from my Team, if there even is one, but you are hitting a lot of firsts. About that, are you going to do anything about the chat invite you got from that alien?"

"I have so many things to do," I grumbled, "But I don't want to delay any longer than necessary. We can take a break after we fight a few more monsters."

I took the silence that ensued as a yes, and focused on my stats. In the end, I chose to add 10 stats in Magic, 7 in Strength, and 4 each in Defense and Mind. It took 2500 New Gems, and my heart bled a little at the amount of money I was spending. I had 1160 New Gems left, but I decided to leave them be just in case. I did not feel much different, but it was probably because a few stats did not make that much difference. Or, maybe it would kick in when I begin my next battle. There was only one way to find out.

"I am ready, let's go."