Kotori awoke painfully. Her body felt heavy and it reminded her of the time when she awoke in heaven after her death
[Am I dead again?]
That didn't make any sense there would've been no reason to keep her in the afterlife since she still had no karma.
She looked and saw her arm bandaged up. There was a bit of blood on the cloth but otherwise, it was clean.
Looking around further she found herself in an unfamiliar place.
She was pretty sure she was still in the elf village since the architecture looked similar but this was not her bed in Amelie's house.
She tried to move out of her bed but her body didn't want to budge and she was unable to move.
She tried to speak but her throat could only croak a soft reply.
There was a pile of dirt on her. Upon hearing her attempt to say something the dirt immediately shaped itself into the size of a dog and gave a bark.
[What is this?] She thought it reminded her of Shu but Shu was only the size of a rat.
she heard footsteps then the door to her room creep open and saw a very tired-looking Amelie.
"Oh Kotori you're awake!"
Kotori looked in surprise.
"The… Lizard…" she said then tried to move
"Shhhh It's okay" Amelie said holding her arm to assuage her.
"You killed it"
This surprised Kotori even further. She remembered hitting the lizard and bringing it down to 1% but was sure she didn't kill it with her last blow.
Suddenly a thought popped into her mind
[Wait! What did Shu do]
She remembered seeing shu launch a bullet of stone towards the lizard.
"S...Shu" she said softly
"Ah him, He wouldn't leave your side. He's here"
Amelie gestured to the dog who had initially alerted Amelie
[This is Shu?]
It seemed impossible but she quickly did a status check
Dirt Spirit (Shu)
Race: [Spirit] Age: 2
HP: 15 (+10)
Mana: 10 (+8)!
Agility: 7 (+6)!
Strength: 5 (+4)!
Defense: 5 (+4)!
Karma: 10
Skills: [Rock Bullet](New!)
Traits: [Earth Spirit] (Evolved!)
The spirit was indeed Shu, and its stats had grown massively!
[Is this what it means to evolve?] Kotori thought
The status of Shu's had grown massively. Enough to be on par with a human. Shu had even learned a new skill [Rock Bullet] which seemed to be how Shu killed the original lizard in the first place.
[That bastard Kill stole me] Kotori thought in bemused frustration. She was grateful for Shu saving her but she wanted to have the same sort of growth herself.
Still, Kotori herself was unsure of what had happened when she passed out. Once again and the game announcer's voice had told her she had gained new skills. Now, she had both a skill and a trait she was unsure of what the difference between them was. Her [Magical Musician] was self-explanatory since it let her cast spells through playing her flute. But her [Hunter] skill and [Monte Cristo] Skill still left her baffled
"Status," she said to herself
Sato Kotori
Race: [Human] Age: 6
HP: 21 (+6!)
Mana: 20 (+10!)
Agility: 13 (+2!)
Strength: 10 (+1!)
Defense: 7(+2!)
Karma: -100,009,647 (+21!)
Skills: [Magic Musician], [Hunter], [Desire of Monte Cristo](Removed)
Traits: [Spirit Seer], [Monte Cristo]
[Damn I didn't grow that much.] Kotori Thought
It appears that the stat rewards from killing monsters were indeed based on who killed the beast rather than split evenly among those who contributed.
"How long was I out?" Kotori asked
"About three days," Amelie said
Kotori was shocked she only felt like she slept for a few hours at most. But that would explain why she had felt so groggy. She must've way overused her mana in this instance.
[I have to be careful about my mana usage. If I keep going further it could kill me.]
Each time she had over-exerted herself she kept blacking out for longer and longer. She had already had 3 mana blackouts in the span of a year.
Kotori resolved herself to avoid overexerting herself mana-wise.
"Do you need anything?" Amelie asked her concerningly
"Water" Kotori Croaked. Her throat felt like sandpaper and she was barely able to speak at all.
"Right away!"
Amelie scampered off like a rabbit. The scene reminded Kotori of her movement when she was running from the lizard.
When Amelie came back she was followed by a large tan woman. Kotori instantly recognized her as Mari
"Howdy welp" She looked angry
"Hello…" Kotori said
"Who told you to kill the lizard," Mari asked
Kotori stayed silent. Mari was right, indeed nobody had told Kotori she needed to kill the lizard creature.
[Why did I want to kill it in the first place] Kotori wondered
At the moment it felt like the right thing to do. She was unsure of what caused her to act to irrationally
"We told you to "survive" not "kill" but your dumb brain thought it would be a good idea"
Mari berated her
"When the boss heard you nearly died she almost killed me"
Kotori remained Silent. Everything Mari said was true and she had no excuse. She should've stayed in the alcove with Amelie but decided to kill the lizard instead and took a needless risk.
Mari's face softened
"Anyway now that's out of the way. Good job welp"
Kotori was surprised. Just one second ago she was being scolded. Now she was being praised
"Oh don't look surprised. Even if you did something stupid killing a beast like that is impressive, especially at your age" Mari said.
"mm," Kotori said it was the only word she could say.
Amelie brought a cup to Kotori's mouth. She drank it and her throat felt a little better
"Thank.. You…" She said
"Hmm! Don't mention it," Mari said then strutted off "Training starts again once you can stand again!"
[Ever the drill sergeant] Kotori thought
[Not even giving me much of a break for getting hurt]
She slowly lied back in bed and drifted off to sleep.