The familiar holographic blue system prompt hung in front of me.

[Skill: Search

Mastery: 38%]

I spent the past few days exploring this new feature while helping Crit forage and hunt for food. By repetitively using Search, my mastery slowly increased. However, the progress drastically slowed down after reaching thirty percent. Not only that, increasing its mastery didn’t increase my level, making me reconsider my actions.

I managed to double the range of my search in full concentration, meaning I could detect mana within five feet radius. However, I could only do that with my feet firmly planted on the ground and my mind fully concentrating on controlling the mana. The slightest disturbance, say a light tap on the shoulder, would immediately cut my concentration and deactivate Search. Not only that, using Search for a whole minute would completely exhaust my now-insignificant mana reserves.

However, I discovered a more convenient feature of this new system.

“Kite!” Crit called from outside, breaking my thoughts. “It’s time to hunt our lunch.”

I told them my name was Kite. Should Lureschka change her mind any moment, I figured I’d better at least try to mislead them.

I stared at the blue window a few seconds more, hoping for a last second realization but to no avail. I sighed, subconsciously closed the window, and hopped down my bed. The wooden door creaked open, and the bright rays greeted my face. I lazily raised my hand to shield my eyes and saw Crit’s figure waiting right outside. The now-usual scowl adorning his face made me regret those last few seconds of dilly dallying.

The moment he saw me, he grabbed a worn scabbard from his waist and threw it at me. Despite my obvious lack of motivation, my reflexes kicked in and my hand snatched the scabbard as it arched towards my face.

“It’s about time you start carrying your own weight around here,” Crit’s tone was monotonous. Before he could even finish speaking, Crit already turned around and started walking toward the forest.

Even though I’ve been living with them for the past few days, I still couldn’t read Crit. I was never sure whether he hated my existence or he was just a grumpy old man. Either way, I figured my best bet was to simply follow him.

I looked down at my newly acquired weapon. As I’ve guessed, it was indeed a gray scabbard. At least, it looked gray now. Some parts had even been devoid of color. The hilt wasn’t in any good condition. I could tell that it used to be brown, but it’s soon to lose that as well. Without much expectation, I unsheathed the sword. To my surprise, it gave a nice swish. Even if it didn’t look much, the hilt still tightly held the blade, and even if the blade was covered in scratches, the end glistened in sharpness.

I smiled. Crit might not hate me as much as I thought. I quickly sheathed the swords and strided towards where he went.

***

Crit held out his hand, stopping me off my tracks. He put a finger on his mouth, then pointed at a nearby tree. My gaze followed his finger, but I couldn’t see anything other than what seemed like any other tree. But I knew better than to doubt the old man’s instincts.

I estimated the tree was around five meters away from me, too far from my Search’s reach. But from my previous hunts with Crit, I learned that sensing the prey isn’t the only way of detection. I channeled mana on my feet, then injected it to the ground. A few inches in, I spread it towards the tree as far as I could. I closed my eyes, trying to sense any sort of trail. A foot in, there was nothing. Another foot, and still nothing. I stretched it to the maximum, yet there wasn’t anything but the slight mana from the trees and grass. Left with no other choice, I canceled my Search.

Slowly, I opened my eyes only to be greeted by Crit’s slightly slanted eyes. I sighed, then lightly shook my head. The slant of his eyes deepened as he echoed my sigh. He turned away from me, then grabbed the wooden bow slung on his back. Within another breath, he pulled the string like he’d done it for thousands of times, and a sharp note whistled as the arrow pierced the air. As the arrow hit the tree, I expected a loud thump, but there was a thunk instead.

Confused, I squinted to take a better look. A line of red liquid was running down what seemed to be a distortion on the tree’s trunk. A few more seconds and it finally registered. It was a frog camouflaging as the tree’s trunk. I stared at Crit, wide eyed. How did he even see that?

But before I could even say a word, a couple of rustles sounded a few meters away from our prey. Another second in, and four orange shadows dashed towards our prey.

I didn’t wait for Crit to react or tell me anything. I unsheathed my sword, then sprinted towards the tree.

We’ve already caught our prey, so I no longer bothered about stealth. I managed to arrive a few steps ahead of my competition, giving me a few seconds to take a better look at it. The creatures were fiery red, but its paws were light blue. They were thin and slender, which gives them both agility and flexibility.

The foxes noticed my presence, and the one leading lobbed at me, aiming for my throat. After fighting tons of monsters, that attack was nothing more than child’s play. Using my sword, I parried it, then slammed it into the tree. But before I could even hear a whimper, I heard a soft growl from below. I immediately lowered my gaze and found that another one had already leapt to bite my undefended stomach. As quick as I could, I slammed the hilt of my swords down. Luckily, it managed to find the head of the fox, slamming it to the ground.

Before I could even compose myself, I heard two more growls from where the foxes came from. This time, however, I knew it would be too late to look up and search for both. Instinctively, I thought, Search!

I could feel mana gathering on my feet, then shooting below. But before it could spread, the connection was severed. A window popped up.

[Casting “Search” failed]

I clicked my tongue, then once again thought, Search!

Mana gathered on the sole of my feet once more, then shot towards the ground. This time, it spread nicely, covering the five-radius around me.

As I thought, both foxes were already within my range. In fact, the first one had already lept towards me. Knowing its position, I angled my sword to meet the fox’s head. The moment I turned towards it, the fox’s agape jaws were only a foot from my face. But before it could snap it’s jaws, my sword met its neck, and the familiar feeling of cutting through flesh washed over me. However, the danger wasn’t over yet. With my Search still active, I could sense the other fox who had left towards my unguarded feet.

A sharp whistle sounded, followed by an equally sharp thunk. The next moment, the fox crumbled to the ground. The first two foxes, seeing their brethrens’ unfortunate fate, scampered away with their tails between their legs.

“Pick those up and let’s go.” Crit’s cold voice rang the moment the foxes had disappeared from my sight.

***

[Skills

Search

Mastery: 50%

Wind Blade

Mastery: 38%

Subjugate

Mastery: 100%]

I stared at the blue window hanging in front of me. From what I gathered, mentally activating the skills had a chance of failure. I hypothesized that the mastery had something to do with it, but I couldn’t test it out with Crit and Piram around. I sighed. I glanced around, and my gaze fell on the gray scabbard sitting on the table beside my bed. To my surprise, Crit didn’t ask for it after we’ve returned.

I have to test and train my other skills soon, I thought. I can’t keep wasting my time like this.

I sat on my bed. Repetitive knocking echoed inside my room as I caught myself doing my old habit of shaking my right leg when anxious. Trying to avert my attention, I scanned the pretty much empty room. This time, my sight fell on Meru. Above it hung,

[Slime (Meru)

Lvl. 8]

Then, I shifted my gaze on my character window.

Name: Kite Title: --- Age: 16 Class: -- Level: 5 Race: Human (Demon) MP: 45 Strength: 15 + 36 Intelligence: 19 + 30 Agility: 11 + 33 Wisdom: 11 + 15

Pretty much nothing had changed, so I looked at the menus instead. Beside the character tab were three more tabs. One was for skills, while the other was for pets. The last one was an uponable blank. I casted that aside and opened pets. For some reason, it’s empty.

My brows creased, and I wondered, Isn’t Meru supposed to be some sort of pet?

As if on cue, a window popped up.

[Do you wish to turn “Meru” into a pet

(Yes) (No)]

This had never happened before, so I figured I might as well try. I chose yes, then waited for something magical to happen. Perhaps an explosion or blinding light. However, none of that happened. I shifted my gaze on Meru. Above it, the same label and level were displayed. Literally nothing had changed.

My confusion grew deeper. Just then, the sound of breaking glass echoed. Then, a line of orange zoomed and stuck to my wall.