The morning sky shone down upon me as I poured tea into a cup set down beside me. The fire crackled, wafting a plume of smoke to the clouds up above. A light breeze aided the usual morning chill accompanied by white melted slush that soaked the shoes of whoever dared to step through it.

Charlotte popped her head out from behind the pelt door flap, with her signature quivering lipped expression; however, she did not say a word. As she approached, I handed her the cup of tea, and she silently sat down across from me.

Charlotte stared down at the floor without a peep. She looked remorseful even though she hadn't done anything wrong; I had. It was a misconception I would have to quickly clear up, but for now, I had to break the ice as it had grown tenser than a bull's hind-muscles.

"T-That tea…"

Charlotte looked up at me with furrowed brows.

I continued, "It was made with a mana regeneration herb that should help you recover your strength."

Charlotte looked confused but remembered soon after, manifesting in tears building up in the corners of her eyes.

I stood up, explaining, "It's… Well, it's compensation for saving my life. If you hadn't cleansed the poison from my system, I would've truly died that time."

She sniffled and stood up tall with an irritated look before marching over to me. Then standing before me, I saw her child-like face up close, and I wondered to myself why it seemed so familiar.

Suddenly, I felt her hand smack across my face causing me to land in the sludge pile behind me.

In a choked, sullen tone, Charlotte questioned, "Why..? Why did you do it?"

Charlotte shook her head and turned away.

"Do you not care about me..? Were you just going to kill yourself so it would hurt me?"

I was completely caught off guard and incapable of coming up with words to say.

She continued, "You're sick… I can't believe you would—"

"I didn't mean for that to happen. It just turned out that way."

She turned around, revealing the tears rolling down her face.

I began explaining, "I poisoned myself to increase my attribute points, and it worked. I didn't mean to make you think I was trying to commit suicide; I didn't even mean to die. I severely underestimated the effects of the poison and paid the price for it."

I sat forward to see Charlotte's angered face recede, restoring the priorly empathetic one. Slowly opened her mouth, she muttered, "Oh."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

She turned to run, but I shot off from the ground and wrapped my arms around, preventing her escape while saying, "No matter what happens, I'll stay by your side even if it meant I had to walk on one-thousand miles of glass while barefoot."

I knelt down, hugging her tightly, while whimpering, "Nothing will ever change that."

Charlotte began vocally bawling in a way akin to that of a child. This was slightly unnerving, but I ignored it; I felt no physical attraction to her anyway. However, this observation led me to question why I felt so devoted to her. She was someone I cared deeply about, and yet I had only known her a week and a half at most. Something about her felt very familiar, but I couldn't quite work out what it was making me feel that way.

She punched me in the chest, but there was no force behind it.

"Idiot..! What if you really had died, then what would I have done?!! Never do that again… please."

I didn't give her an answer because I didn't want to lie to her. I knew I would have to poison myself again, and the sooner, the better. I needed to be stronger; I needed to become someone who could protect the people I cared for. It was my prerogative to do so.

The effects the poison had on my mind were noticeable through my testing of them.

When I had gone out into the woods to scavenge for plants and fungus catalogued by the system, I had a noticeably easier time remembering where I was and didn't feel lost in the slightest. I also rather quickly found out my reaction times were far better, inhumanly so.

Other than those two things, I felt that I had greater utilization of my muscles, I could innately understand things quicker and more accurately—like the distance of an object relative to me—and I also felt like my motor-skills and hand-eye coordination had improved as well.

The Mental attribute was, quite frankly, remarkable. It made me feel skilled and experience like an action hero or martial arts master. All I had to do now was actually learn martial arts.

As Charlotte backed away, she picked her cup of tea back up and began sipping from it. We sat in silence for a few moments when she took note of something that caught her eye.

"So, the poison did that to you?" she said, lifting her hand and pointing it at my now muscular chest, tightly tugging against my shirt.

I tilted my head, responding, "Kind of, but not really."

Charlotte looked understandably confused, so I spent the next ten minutes explaining what the poison did and how I got to the way I was.

"That's why I'm going to need your help from now on. From what I can tell, the only way I can increase my Mental attribute is by consuming that mushroom, so I don't have many other options than to ask for your help on this."

Charlotte nervously stuttered, "Do you think I can actually do it?"

I smiled, declaring, "I know you can."

She smiled back and silently nodded in approval.

"Okay, I'll try."

Pulling one of the mushrooms from my pocket, I observed it closely to see its stats.

[Item: Brain-rot Glowshroom]

[Type: Ingredient]

[Quality: Low]

[Effects: Poison (Brain-Rot)]

Popping the mushroom into my mouth and swallowing it down, I began tentatively awaiting what I knew came next.