After entering the house, I quickly came out again as the blood and sweat on my body made me very uncomfortable. Apparently, I still have the mentality of a modern-day person, and hygiene is still critical to me. It took me around half an hour to go to the nearest river, wash up, and then proceed back.
The first thought that came to mind after I came back was how I should proceed from here. After calling the system, the same words and interface were brought up.
As I wondered how I could convert these, a pop-up-like screen appeared before me.
"Detected blood of magical beast suitable for conversion, would the user like to convert these?"
Following that was an interface that showed the 12 buckets of blood and the convert button for each of them while also showing a button at the top that said convert all. It also showed how much energy can be collected from these buckets of blood. The conversion rate is also shown in the upper right corner, 1200BE/hr. This means all of these buckets will take me 3 hours to finish.
"This system is really just like a game. Unlike other novels where the system has sentience, this one apparently does not have it. Instead, it has these neat and varied options."
Thinking of that to myself, I then proceeded to click on the convert all button. I don't know if I need the blood for other purposes. Still, I think I wouldn't be tinkering with the experimentation of blood anytime soon.
And if Arthur came back and asked where all of the blood went, I could tell him that I already had experimented on it and stored the product somewhere. Apparently, the former owner of this body has done that multiple times. Placing different blood together with other materials and then putting them somewhere for a few hours to days to see if there is any reaction or changes.
Some are placed near the house, while others are placed in places with different environments, which can affect the properties of the blood.
While the blood was being converted, I saw the changes in the blood on the buckets. It looked like someone was boiling the blood while the amount of blood also visibly decreased.
I could still move freely while all of these were happening. Still, when I tried to move around 3 meters away from the blood, the system prompted me that the connection was on the verge of being cut off. And when I moved about 5 meters away from the bucket of blood, the entire link was cut off, and the system interface disappeared.
I then proceeded back inside the house to resume the process. It was a stale process waiting for the timer to end as I neither had a phone nor a computer that I could use to entertain myself.
I then continued to lie on the bed until I unknowingly dozed off and fell asleep.
I only woke up again when I heard someone entering the house. My brother, Gerard, was surprised to see all of the empty buckets and meat placed inside the house.
"Bro, what happened here? Why are there many empty buckets here and a stack of meat."
I initially panicked seeing my brother entering as I was worried he would see the process of me converting all the blood to blood energy. But seeing as all of the buckets were empty, I was relieved.
"Oh, that was from the spoils of the previous hunt, the bucket was used to transport blood, but I had already processed all of it."
Rising from the bed, I cleaned up the mess inside the house while my brother helped me.
"Wow, these are a lot of meat. Why are there so much?"
Hearing that, an embarrassed smile appeared on my face. I could only realize now that the amount of meat I took was too large for both of us, considering that winter hadn't arrived yet. This amount would most probably rot before we are even able to finish it.
"Don't worry about that. Just sit down and let me cook."
I then went towards the stack of meat to pick up a few for cooking. I roasted it and then proceeded to eat it with my brother. Sadly spices are not available, so the roasted meat ended up being plain, to say the least. But when I tasted it, I was surprised as it tasted very delicious. It has a unique taste while tasting like it has been marinated in different spices.
After eating all of that, I then chatted with my brother. As I was talking with him, I still felt alienated as the whole experience still felt so surreal that I couldn't help but feel that all of this was just a dream.
I think my brother also noticed that, but he just ignored it and attributed my awkward behavior to my injury.
As night arrived, my brother proceeded to his bed and fell asleep. I don't want to open the system before him as I don't know if others can see it. Even if they can't, I would probably be spaced out like an idiot, which is suspicious.
After bringing up the system, I finally saw the changes.
Name: Leon Biliran
Race: Human
Physique: 10.9
Mentality: 9
Blood energy: 3600
Blood arts: None
Seeing the change in the system, I immediately wondered where I should spend the newly acquired blood energy points. The store did not have a lot of items, and with the small amount of blood energy points I had, I had even fewer choices.
Physique or mentality boosters are the only choices I have now. Physique seems self-explanatory, and its benefits could immediately be felt. Mentality, on the other hand, is a more obscure value. I do not know if it could only affect the effectiveness of my blood arts or other aspects, such as my reaction time or intelligence. However, it seems something I will significantly need in the long run.
In the end, I decided to buy both of them because I could only buy one of each every day. With my blood energy, I can purchase both tomorrow as well before ending up with only 600 more blood energy points.
I purchased both the physique and mentality booster by opening the system and clicking on the store page.
Immediately afterward, a red and blue pellet the size of a grape slowly appeared in my hands.
It looked creepy as instead of appearing from nowhere, they slowly surfaced from my hands like they were a part of my body, resulting in a small gasp coming from me.
Holding both of the pellets in my hand, I hesitated for a moment before proceeding to eat the red pellet.
Chewing the tasteless red pellet, I was then immediately able to feel warmth across my body as if I was submerged in a hot spring, and after I finally swallowed the red pellet, the feeling of warmth further increased before quickly disappearing. Standing up for a moment and feeling the changes in my body, I could see that there were no visible changes. Still, the tiredness I felt throughout the whole day subsided. I also took a quick look at the system and saw the difference in the value of the physique.
Following that, I then proceeded to take the blue pellet. Contrary to the feeling brought off by the red pellet, the blue pellet brought coldness to my body for a moment before quickly disappearing. I could then feel some changes happening in my brain, but I could not tell what really changed at this point.
Once again, looking at the changes in the system, I was able to see that the value of mentality once again increased.
Name: Leon Biliran
Race: Human
Physique: 11.9
Mentality: 10
Blood energy: 2100
Blood arts: None
With how the pellet works according to the system, it increases the value by one on the first time I take it before it decreases by ten percent per subsequent use.
This means I can't take this in the long run, and it cannot also be used in increasing the values past twenty, not that I can reach that value by using these pellets alone in the first place.
Another important thing I have to think about for now is the amount of blood energy I have, if I only plan on buying physique boosters, then I only have points available until the following four days, else if I plan on buying both of them, I only have until tomorrow.
Looks like I have to go to the forest again. Although I never had any experience hunting back on Earth, the memories of this person I took over from had a vast experience regarding the various floras and faunas of these forests, as well as the multiple ways of making traps. Albeit only having a single practical experience when it comes to hunting.
This means that I will have to rely on wits and tactics for the first hunt more than anything else. I just hope that tomorrow won't be my demise.