020

I tried getting out of bed, but I was immediately stopped.

“Brother! What the hell are you thinking!? Just lay back down!”

I was taken aback by his sudden outburst, so I reluctantly laid back down. My HP was full again, I don’t want to lay back down is what I wanted to say, but he didn’t stay to listen.

When he laid me back down, he immediately went back to his stove, the thing he was making had boiled over taking away his attention from me.

“AAah, shit!”

I hear him complaining.

I moved my attention to Rachael. Hearing such a loud commotion, she too had woken up.

She was looking around with the same confused look as me but when her eyes moved towards me, a bright smile covered her face and she said.

“You’re up.”

“Yeah, my HP is all recovered.”

“And how do you know that, huh?”

Asked the healer from behind, butting in our conversation.

Hearing this Rachael chuckled.

“He is a Blood Arts user, he can probably tell his body’s condition on his own.”

Instead of me, it was Rachael who answered.

“Blood Arts user? I did feel that your body was pretty strong. So that’s why. Quite impressive. But take it from a healer, just rest a while.”

“Ok…”

Seeing my reluctance to lay back down, Rachael couldn’t help but laugh.

“Razah, give me a body stone.” Said Rachael slowly getting up.

Without even looking back, the healer Razah threw something to her which she caught quite easily.

It was a green translucent stone the size of my fist. It was kind of thin, a finger’s width at most, but wider than my palm.

Rachael did something to the stone and a faint light could be seen on it. The light then formed some letters, but because of the angle I couldn’t read them.

Seeing my curious face, she turned it around to show me.

Name: Rachael Forestrunner

HP: 370/370

??

I was confused. Why was she checking her HP on a tablet like this? Can’t she just check it in her status?

Also her HP also is much lower than I expected. It’s only a little more than mine, but I also had the help of Origin and the unique skill that increased my HP by a lot. Maybe that’s why it’s only that much.

I mean, blessings and unique skills can’t be that common, can they?

I was now a lot more confused than before.

“Come on, you check your own now.”

She said, passing me the stone. My mind was caught a bit off-guard as I was in the middle of deliberating, but I still caught it.

Looking at it and touching it are very different experiences. It felt very warm to the touch. I wanted to use it too, but I suddenly recalled the incident with the guard at the east gate.

“I… can’t.” I said trying to pass the stone back to her.

Rachael seemed surprised. But she must’ve remembered something as she quickly said.

“Oh, don’t worry, you only need to activate your Qi. As long as your Qi shows movement then it will work.”

Really?

Being naturally curious, I nodded and gave it a try.

The Qi in my abdomen moved and circulated, moving a little towards the hand holding the stone.

The faint light shone again but the letters that came now were much clearer than before.

Name: Grant Steele

HP: 284/284

Thankfully the blessing of understanding even helped with written content.

I should probably try to learn their language as well, I have a feeling that I’m bound to stay here for a while.

The smile on Rachael’s face immediately stiffened.

Razah, who was done with his concocting was turning around, seeing this, Rachael immediately grabbed the stone from my hand and used her own Qi to replace the letters.

This all happened in a single second. I was too surprised to even react.

“Ah, sis, you shouldn’t move around too much either. Both of you don’t know the meaning of resting or something?”

He asked with an annoyed voice.

Rachael could only awkwardly laugh.

Noticing the stone in Rachael’s hand, he motioned her to show it.

Seeing her full HP, he nodded and said.

“Good, you weren’t injured too much to begin with. You can leave.”

He turned towards me and said.

“Brother, what about you?”

He gestured Rachael to pass the stone towards me, I was thinking she would do the same but instead she said.

“Yeah, he’s fine too, I just checked.”

Razah didn’t look too surprised and looked over me and after scanning his eyes over me, he gave me the permission to leave as well.

“Rest up after you leave. Your body was completely damaged, it’s a miracle that you’re even alive right now. So don’t push yourself too much. My advice will be to stay away from volunteer work for a few days.”

Before leaving though, he passed me a spare shirt he had. Thank goodness, otherwise I would’ve had to walk back to the hotel wearing a shirt with an oversized neck.

I took off my torn off shirt and I proceeded to wear the other one right there.

“Come on, let’s go.” I said as I proceeded to the door.

The moment we left the building, she immediately came in front of me and asked.

“Answer me honestly. What is your level?” I don’t know what happened to her all of a sudden but seeing the seriousness on her face and the incident that just happened inside the building, I answered honestly.

“Level 7.”

“Don’t lie. The HP you had didn’t belong to a level 7. Why are you hiding your level?” Her voice started sounding a little angry now.

“I’m not lying and I’m not hiding my level. If I could I would show you my status.” I answered.

Although we’ve only known each other for a little more than a day. We have gone through some stuff and right now, she’s the closest person to me in this world.

If I was in her position then I would ask the same questions. There wasn’t much difference in our HPs and if I were to guess then I would say that the HP I had would probably belong to someone around level 15, that meant a hunter.

I guess hiding your level can have serious repercussions as she decided to hide my HP from the healer. If that is the case then I am thankful to her, but this also leaves me with a problem, how can I tell her that I’m not lying about my status? Sure there are some things in there that I would rather not show other people like my unique skill and the blessing, but the other things, I would gladly share them if it means that I can make her believe me.

“Fine then. Come with me.”

Huh?

She took me by the hand and dragged me to the west side of the city. All the while, she had a difficult expression on her face. She didn’t look too angry, but rather confused.

We reached the place in a few minutes. As it was too early in the morning the market hadn’t opened yet so the streets weren’t that crowded.

After passing through the market circle and then moving somewhere to the further edges of the residential circle we reached the place.

It was an old looking but mostly well-built two storey stone building. The rooftop was covered in snow. The front was a wide double door with a sign on the side.

‘Forester’s Hut’

Wait. Is this her family’s restaurant?

I recalled that her family ran a restaurant. The one with the rabbit stew special dish.

Her family had been the one who had posted the request on the union board. I had totally forgotten what the request was for. Too bad we couldn’t get the rabbits though.

As we entered the main hall, I was greeted with a wide hall filled with multiple metre wide circular wooden tables surrounded by wooden chairs scattered around the hall.

Since it was early in the morning, I could see an older lady cleaning up the tables while an older man was seen in the back preparing for what I assume was the breakfast service.

They both stopped what they were doing and looked as us who had just entered.

“Rachael, my girl, you’re back! You didn’t come back last night, I was so worried!”

Said the older woman who had dropped her cleaning rag and came running towards Rachael.

“Mom! Don’t worry. I’m back.” Said Rachael slowly.

Her mom looked very similar to her, but only with white hair. The older man, who was probably her dad came towards her with a warm smile on his face.

“Sorry dad.” Said Rachael as she saw the hidden worry on her father’s face.

“Don’t worry sweetheart. I’m just glad you’re safe.” He said patting her on the head.

I was slightly taken aback by all of this. Seeing her interacting with her family made me recall my own family back home.

Even though I was stressed back on earth, I still had a family back there. So much has happened ever since I came here that I forgot what I had lost.

'I hope they are doing fine.'

A strange pain echoed throughout my chest as I started thinking of all of this.

I didn’t want to intrude on them, so I just stood at the back while trying to keep my own emotions in check.

It was at this moment that they noticed me standing in the back. Noticing my quietness, Rachael’s mom asked.

“And who’s the friend?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, this is Grant. He is the reason that I’m alive right now. He saved me when we were attacked by an Ice Brawler in our regular hunting spot.”

Hey! What’re you saying so suddenly? Isn’t that too much! I didn’t do anything like that. All we did was run away and nothing else!

Of course I didn’t get to say any of that as her father came in front of me and he held both of his hands in front of him and lowered his head.

“Thank you very much for saving my daughter.”

“No no no, I didn’t do anything like that, please sir raise your head!” I said panicking.

Her father only gave me a smile and moved back, it was her mother who stood in front of me next

“You look pretty worn down, young man. Come have breakfast with us.”

“Yeah, please prepare breakfast, I’m hungry as well.” Added Rachael.

“Good, then.”

Said Rachael’s mom as she and her father went to the kitchen in the back to prepare some food.

I was totally left out of their conversation. I didn’t even get a say if I wanted it or not. But well, I’m hungry so I didn’t mind that much.

Rachael then took me to the second floor which was a living area. Looks like this place doubled as their home.

The furthest left room down the single long corridor was her room. The one on the right was the pretty decently sized meeting hall. She asked me to wait there while she went and got something from her own room.

As I was waiting in there, I noticed the various monster skulls that adorned the walls. Her dad didn’t look like the hunter type, but I guess looks can be deceiving.

There were many different types of skulls in here, most of them I didn’t recognize, but there were a few that I did. Like one similar to a wolf with razor sharp teeth, probably the snow wolf.

The most recognizable would have to be the one in the middle that was the centrepiece of the hall. It had long sharp antlers that resembled blades more than anything.

“Oh, you like it?”

Said Rachael who just entered the room and noticed me staring at the deer’s head.

“My mom hunted it when she was still working as a hunter. It’s a White Blade Deer, Last Stage Tier 2 Creature. They’re very difficult to hunt, they run even if they see you from a distance. And they run fast. This thing is my mom’s pride.”

So it’s called a White Blade Deer, a very simplistic name if I say so myself.

It was good that I hunted it the other way then. I was right in thinking that it would run. But what surprised me more than the fact that her mom managed to hunt such a creature but that it was her mom that did it. She totally didn’t look like a hunter. Looks really can be deceiving.

Before our conversation went any further, Rachael shoved a wide A4 sized white tablet in front of me. I was rightfully confused.

“What are you giving me that look for? You said that you would show me your status, didn’t you? Go ahead.”

I did say that. I was trying to think of a way to refuse but this was an actually good opportunity to learn a few things. I was still completely clueless about everything here.

“Sure, I’ll show, but you have to show yours as well.”

She didn’t answer immediately but as she thought about it for a few moments, she nodded.

“Fine, but you go first.”

“Sure. But how do I use it? You probably know I can’t use magic or aura.”

“I know.” She said handing me her small pocket knife.

“Drop your blood on the lower portion and it should be enough.”

I took the knife and carefully made a cut on the index finger and dropped a single drop on the slightly darker shaded lower part of the tablet.

The tablet’s surface became like pure water as the surface started moving on its own. Some kind of ink also became visible very quickly and the ink then formed itself into words as the tablet displayed my status. But not in the way that I expected to see.

Lv.7 [1490/6000]

??: 284/284

MP: 0/0

BA: 0/0

QI: 353/353 [0.3/sec]

???: 110

Skills:

%^*@$&&Q*%^sdv*&$*(786^xbgmgj&^&^^%^^&fbxbgdh*(^%&#fdzbz^$&^^*$&^^zxvg$nb^&%*^*%$ûzvxc$&%*&^&$%zxbfbf$&^%*&^&%$%*^*^$%#$xzdv%fv&(*^&%#$#%$&^&%%#^fbcvbx$&^(*&(*^&%#$#$#%$*^*(&%^%$^$&zvc

Other than the three energies, nothing was comprehensible on the status.

But even more surprised than me was Rachael. She had her jaw dropped when she looked at it.

“Grant, what is this…? This isn’t the Immortal Growth System…”

“Immortal Growth System..?”

Rather than answering my question, she took the tablet, got up and first closed the door to the hall.

Sitting back down, she sliced her index finger and dropped a drop of blood on the tablet revealing her status as well.

As soon as the words fully formed, she showed me the tablet.

“This is the Immortal Growth System. What you have is not it.”

[Level 20] [4300/59600]

Name: Rachael Forestrunner

Title(s): Young Butcher

Class(s): Apprentice Hunter

MP: 530/530 [0.3/sec]

MEN: 28

MDEF: 25

BA: 0/1320 [0.6/sec] FATIGUE (11 / 72 Hours)

STR: 33

AGI: 57

END: 42

QI: 50/50

Skill Point(s): 0

Skills:

[Aura] – Aura of the Bow

Hunter’s Eye Lv.4

Steady Fingers Lv.3

Iron Grip Lv.3

Aura Cut Lv.6

Aura Regeneration Lv.6

[Magic] – Wind and Poison

Paralysis Touch Lv.5

Wind Control Lv.2

Swift Movement Lv.2

Magic Regeneration Lv.3

[General]

Paralysis Resistance Lv.1

I was completely shocked. This was totally different to mine. I didn’t have specific stats, nor skill points, nor classes or even a title. Just what is my system if this is what this world has?

I didn’t know what to say, I was shocked speechless. Seeing my face, the wary and shock on Rachael’s face lowered a little and she asked.

“You didn’t know?”

I could only shake my head.

She took the tablet and moved it towards me and gestured me to put my bloodied finger on it again and show her my status.

She looked at it carefully now. She thought about it for a while, but eventually gave up as a sigh escaped her mouth.

“I give up, I don’t understand. Grant can you see your own status?”

I nodded.

“Then is the value right above the MP your HP?”

I nodded again.

“Then what’s the value at the end? Right above the skills?”

I hesitated for a second but I answered anyway.

“That’s my DEF stat.”

“Your defence stat? You don’t have an END or MDEF stat?”

She asked thinking there might be more than the skills being unreadable here.

I listed out all the differences that I saw from her status and my own. After talking to her about it, I finally know some things about it.

First, the Immortal Growth System that Rachael has is what everyone has, with the exception of monsters and beasts. Seeing my system all she could say was that it was too simplistic. Too raw.

The Immortal Growth System was a combat system that the gods that governed this world blessed upon the humans so they could keep their place in this monsters infested world.

The story she told me was about a king who begged the gods for 9 days and nights straight on his knees to save his people, the gods having been moved by his selfless act then bestowed upon the populace this system.

The reason it didn’t have HP is because the gods that bestowed this upon them didn’t give the physical body any importance, they merely thought of it as a vessel that one need to grow out of to become an immortal.

Even though the story seemed too unrealistic for me, I chose to accept it for now until I found out the actual one. Of course I wasn’t going to say this to her face, I kept it to myself. I didn't know what, but something about that story seemed off to me.

The differences in our systems didn’t end here though.

I also noticed that the level up requirements are completely different than mine. Up until level 10 the increment between each level up is only incremented by 100 EXP.

For example, for a level 1 person to level up to 2 he would require 100 EXP, then for level 2 it is +100 EXP making it 200 EXP, for level 3, +200 EXP making it 400 EXP, for level 5, +300 and so on.

Then after 10 till twenty it increments with 1000 EXP, then after 20 it becomes 10,000 EXP and so on.

But mine seems completely different. According to her, my requirement for becoming level 8 is somewhere close to the level requirement for becoming level 12. This gap will surely increase as the levels go along.

The way we earn this EXP is also very different. I get EXP based on how I use my skills and what I gain from my fights, actual experience. But they get EXP no matter how they fight, they will get a fixed amount of EXP based on which opponent they fought and how strong it was.

She said that levelling up their skills is also similar. As long as they use it enough and are familiar with the skill, they will level it up.

I at one time thought that my case was the same. But I can’t say that anymore. Ever since I levelled up my skill [Sprint] up till level 5, it has gone stagnant, the same with [Qi Manipulation] even though I used it so much in so many different ways, I still didn’t increase my level in it.

Both of those skills seem incomplete to me. Like I’m missing some key component to make them level up.

If this is the case then even this is a huge disadvantage in front of someone with the Immortal Growth System. Because I don’t think that I have any skills that are anything particularly stronger than their systems.

That means my levels grow slower, my skills grow slower and I have to cover myself in blood and sweat just to make any noticeable progress.

It was like someone poured cold water all over me. I felt cold down to the very bone as shivers ran down my spine.

I finally realized just how bad of a hand I’ve been dealt with. No skills, no weapons, just dropped in the middle of a monster infested area.

And to make things worse?

The rabbits that I was having so much trouble with, these people don’t even count them as threats.

The tier 3 creatures that we were having so much trouble dealing with? They are just the tip of the iceberg.

Rachael told me the differences between the tiers. Tier 3 would mean that the creature was somewhere along the lines of a hunter in level 30s. That means based on this classification, I would be classified as a tier 0 fighter and Rachael would be classified as a tier 2 Hunter Mage.

Since so many people come and go through East Green, mostly very strong people who can travel through the mountain range, the monster and beast population is constantly being kept under control.

Apparently a beast has to cross tier 4 to be classified as a monster. The silver wolf that almost killed me? Only a border line monster. Last Stage Tier 3 creature. The Ice Brawler a Mid Stage Tier 3 and if I had to guess only the two creatures that I found near the lake at the beginning, the dino-shark and the elephant-sized leopard would be classified as monsters.

The mountain range is only populated with monsters and the people who go through are somewhere around that level as well.

I was right. It is purely luck that has kept me alive up until now.

I can’t keep this up anymore. This was a very harsh reality check that I was given right now.

I have to get strong! I have to know.

Was I was just randomly dropped here? Why wasn’t I given the same system as everyone else, why is only mine different? Is only mine different? Who gave it to me? Was it Origin, the god of life that gave me my blessing? If not him, then who? I have so many questions and no answers.