NOVEL WEB Chapter 6: Lumin's stats.
The following day, Shirley had left the house alone in Lumin's care, claiming she wanted to go to the main city to get some items for her experiment.
This was the first time she had ever left the cottage, not to speak of the forest as a whole. However, it made sense; she must have been out of supplies after using the same things for who knows how long.
Anyway, in her absence, Lumin made an effort to learn more about the screen that had popped up in front of him two times now.
He sat down outside the cottage; the book Shirley had given him was in his lap.
'Hmm, so how exactly do I summon it again? The last two times, it appeared by itself.'
He tilted his head to the side.
'Perhaps if I think about the screen hard enough it will—'
[User stats.]
'It worked.'
[True name: None.
Rank: Echo Rank.
Pathway: The Path of Vitae.
Attributes: None.
Ability: [Life Leech.]
Avater: None.]
And then another screen popped up again.
[Would you like to link knowledge of stats to user?]
'Yes.'
[Knowledge has been linked.]
Instantly, as though he had been reading about it for years, Lumin fully understood everything that was linked to his stats.
For example, the Path of Vitae was a path that an unknown god had blessed him with before his arrival in this world.
That very path was what influenced his ability, [Life Leech], which basically allowed him to suck the life from other living things to strengthen himself.
Then there was also the other part that caught his attention:
The [Avater].
Though he had never read about it, the system still made it easy to understand. After defeating a Fecit, they often leave behind a strange core called an Echo crystal.
It was possible to tame this crystal, turning it into a summon that would fight for you in battle when called upon.
'I don't think I should be able to use such power when I'm only an Echo Rank. Though Shirley only told me it was the lowest rank after entering the Bound Initiate stage, I don't know much about the other ranks.'
He sighed.
'My training has been going well, so I can't complain.'
Steadily, Lumin stood up from the rock, dusting his clothes.
He looked toward the forest.
"I should be able to find something to test this ability on. A wild animal would do."
With determination, Lumin walked toward the forest, and almost immediately, he found what he was looking for.
There, next to the bushes, was an animal, by itself, feasting on the leaves.
The Ear Skydancer Antelope is a creature of striking elegance, distinguished by its exceptionally long, slender neck that allows it to effortlessly graze the highest foliage. Its most remarkable feature, however, are its vast, elephant-like ears, which swivel independently to capture the faintest sounds from across the plains, granting it unparalleled awareness of its surroundings.
It wasn't a strong animal, so it was the perfect bait to use for training.
Lumin stalked the animal for some time, making sure he was close enough without the animal spotting him.
And when the time was right—
Bash!
He charged out of the bush, running at full speed.
The animal tried to run; instead, it fell, giving Lumin the chance to grab it by the neck.
As soon as the animal was pinned to the ground, Lumin activated the ability.
[Life Leech.]
He watched as a massive flood of energy swirled into his body from the animal.
In less than a few minutes, the animal was lying on the ground, dead.
'Sorry.'
Lumin stood up straight, his eyes no longer on the dead beast, but rather on the green energy that was swirling around his fist.
'This feels strange…'
He looked toward the closest tree he could find—the perfect dummy.
After taking a stance, he launched a punch straight ahead.
Shocked.
A single strike blew the tree apart, even taking every other tree that was next to it as well.
Lumin was speechless; he knew his strength was out of the ordinary, but not to this extent.
What's worse, he had held back on the punch, afraid he was going to hurt himself.
'Unbelievable. So this is what a Bound Initiate can do?'
Gulping his saliva, he decided to test his powers even more.
For now, he realized using Life Leech enhances every aspect of his body; both his strength and senses—smell and others—are heightened.
Meaning the more life he sucked, the more inhuman he was going to get.
So, he kept at it, hunting more beasts in the forest while getting stronger with each kill.
Before he knew it, it was nightfall.
…
He quickly made his way back home.
When he arrived, he saw Shirley standing outside the house, her arms folded.
'Eh? Is she waiting for me?' He knew he was in trouble somehow.
Because he was dragging all the edible beasts he killed in the forest on a wood platform, it was easy for him to use that as an excuse.
"Miss Shirley, why are you waiting outside in the cold?" he asked as he moved closer.
With a serious look on her face, she replied,
"Where were you?"
To which he replied,
"Hunting."
"I didn't find you in the hunting spot."
"I went a bit deeper so I could get more meat for us," Lumin replied as fast as he could.
"There was a Fecit attack. Were you aware?"
"No."
Shirley glared. "I thought you got attacked. I waited to see if you'd come back after looking for you all afternoon. You didn't..."
'So that's why.'
"I'm sorry."
"..."
"..."
"Come inside." She shifted to the side, urging him to go in first.
Lumin could tell something was about to happen; he just wasn't sure what.
The look on Shirley's face was not an expression he had seen before; she was serious.
"Hai."
He dropped the wooden platform and then walked into the room.
As soon as he walked past her, Shirley's eyes bubbled up a bit. Then she entered and closed the door as well.