Coro unlatched the chest, and opened it up. As he looked inside he could see two bags and eight level one cores. Colby had already had a level one core and a level 2 core as he had finished both monsters. They hadn't yet talked about how to split loot such as these though.
"Since I already have the level 2 core, you should take these 8 level one cores. We can both take one of the bags." Colby suggested.
"Sounds fair to me." Coro replied.
Colby took his bag, and reached inside. "Wow, to think I would find an ability flask." he said pulling out a clear flask that contained a glowing fluid. The fluid was the concentrated essence of a monster's ability. They were extremely rare, and found only once in a great while. He looked at the description on the front.
"Thunderclap." he read. "Tank class ability"
He tilted it back and chugged it down. Nothing happened for the first few seconds, then an abrupt change overcame him. His eyes glowed gold, and static electricity arced off him for a few seconds. Then a pulse of electricity surged out a few yards, stunning the imps closest to him.
"Oh sorry about that little guys," he said to the imps glaring at him. He hadn't known what to expect and used it just to feel it out, throwing caution to the wind.
Coro looked into the pouch that he had. Another flask reflected the light drifting in. Two flasks? The goblins have been busy. Ability flasks were not cheap, they tended to go for upwards of a hundred coins. Hence, Colby's excitement upon finding one. What were the odds of the goblins having two? He pulled it out of the bag and examined it closely. The liquid inside had a thick consistency, it was a beautiful silver color. He read the engraving on the front of the flask.
"The System"
What is that? He had never heard of such an ability. It didn't have a class specific description beneath it, meaning it could be used by anyone. Should he drink it or sell it?
He didn't know what it was so he had no chance of knowing what it was worth. Selling it wouldn't be worth it he thought. Abilities that were not class specific were the most common of ability flasks. It was likely worth little. For example, the dash ability only cost 10 gold coins each.
He tilted the flask back and drank it all. Closing his eyes he felt the liquid make its way to his stomach where it spread like an aura all throughout his body. He opened his eyes and noticed many different things right away.
Colby had been watching him. He hadn't noticed much of a change in Coro after he had drank the flask, but some abilities were not obvious. He saw a small light fade from his companions eyes as they opened, but nothing more. Demons were known to consume the bodies of those they defeated, and the imps were already eyeing the bodies that were stacked to the side.
"Why don't we make camp here for the night, I will go hunt us some dinner." Colby said. The goblins were taken care of this place should be safe for now. And his new ability would keep him safe even without it.
"Ok, I will get the fire prepared for you." replied Coro.
Coro watched him walk away into the woods. 'He just wants to go test his ability a little, but why couldn't he see this?' thought Coro, looking up at the menu hovering in space.
'System Menu'
'Coro Level 1 Warlock'
'Stats'
'Strength-15'
'Agility-10'
'Energy-10'
'Stamina-20'
'Available points for allocation: 1'
Interesting he thought. These are obviously his stats. And according to the system he could allocate one point anywhere he chose. This must be the ability that was given to him by the flask. Now the question was how should he distribute them. Warlocks could be both close range and long range fighters. He decided he would rely more on his spells for attack and speed for defense.
"Put the point in agility" he said.
'System menu'
'Coro Level 1 Warlock'
'Stats'
'Strength-15'
'Agility-11'
'Energy-10'
'Stamina-20'
Too bad there isn't an ability menu, thought Coro with a smile.
The menu shifted instantly following his thoughts showing four abilities.
Inspect- Lvl. 1 Inspect your surroundings to glean useful information.
Demonic Flames- Lvl. 1 Encase your hand in a demonic aura that burns your enemies.
Summon-Lvl.1 Summon imps to join you in your adventures through life. Imps can evolve into many different demons.
Alchemy-lvl. 1 Refine an item or demon thus improving it.
Wow, he thought. He knew about all the abilities except inspect he had never seen that one before. And who knew you could refine demons too? Deciding to test it out he looked over at Mox and inspected him.
'Mox Lvl. 1 Hellhound'
'Armor- light'
'Abilities-none'
He inspected an imp.
'Imp-lvl. 0'
'Abilities- None'
'Evolution- Unknown'
The level of the imp didn't surprise him. They were not used in fights normally. The only reason they had worked so well for Coro was because of the sheer number of them he had. He continued to inspect them and quickly discovered something unexpected.
'Imp- lvl. 0'
'Abilities- None'
'Evolution- Familiar'
He inspected all the imps he had and discovered that only five of them had unknown evolutions. It was far more than he had even dared hope for! Most got only one or two good evolutions out of twenty, he had succeeded in getting five! Knowing that he decided to go ahead with his plans of evolving them. He looked over at Mox.
"Have you decided which goblin you want?" he asked.
Mox walked over to the goblin chief and drug his body off to the side before laying down and beginning to eat. The imps grabbed the other five goblins and began to spread out. Coro stopped the five imps that were going to evolve and had them seperated from the rest giving them two goblins to split. The other imps split the three remaining goblins. With that task completed for now, Coro began working on a fire at the center of the camp. About thirty minutes after Mox had finished eating a flash of light illuminated the dark forest a few hundred yards away.
Colby walked back into camp dragging a bear behind him. There was a gash in its chest where the core had been cut out.
"I see that your hunt was successful." said Coro.
"Aye, I hope you are hungry mate." grinned Colby.
The imps had just finished eating and were settling down for a nap. As they began to sleep a dark mist began drifting to them, coagulating on their skin.
Coro helped Colby clean the bear, and skewered some meat to cook over the fire. He began to cook the meat. As it began to crackle, Coro noticed the dark mist floating around. He smiled barely containing his excitement, so many possibilities!
"Learn anything about your new abilities?" asked Coro.
"Yeah a bit, it seems to stun and disorient the opponent." he replied. "The stun only lasts for a couple seconds, but they stay slow for at least a minute. How about yours?"
"I'm still figuring mine out, it seems complicated." he replied. "However, you made it back just in time."