When Ed reached the library, he was delighted to be met with the smell of paper and parchment
[Direct contact with sunlight has subsided]
[Your stats return to normal]
Ed placed his fingers on the spine of the first book on the shelf and ran it through to the others. He was scanning around for a book that would be useful in uncovering information about his Demi-human status.
Halfway through the shelf, Ed halted in his tracing and stared at the book.
[This book contains hints about the system]
Ed smiled at the message and picked out the book. Its cover pictured a flame and the title "The Creatures Made of Fire". The author's name was unclear, it seems like someone had scratched it out. Ed skimmed through the book to find if the name could be seen anywhere else, but it seemed like it had been scratched over in all instances - they'd been thorough in doing so. Ed thought of the reason why someone would go so far as to do such a thing.
Ed walked over to a table and sat down to read the book.
The story didn't stand out much to Ed...it was generic. But Ed couldn't help but think of the creatures' powers. They gained their strength from heat and the sun and devastated civilizations.
[You have learned more about the system]
[+1 all stats]
Ed looked at the added stat points and pondered why he was awarded with such a thing from just reading a book. He stood up and searched for another book that would trigger the system once again, but to no avail.
He took note of the book's name, set it back to its place, and left the library.
[Direct contact with sunlight detected]
[Your stats have doubled]
After taking a few steps outside of the library, Ed noticed some thugs harassing an adrogynous-looking person. Ed thought they looked familiar, but shook it away and started approaching them.
"Hey friends! What's going on here?" He smiled and gave off a friendly air.
"Huh?" One of the thugs turned around.
"Get lost kid!" A taller and buffer one said. It looked like he was their leader.
Ed immediately broke his smile and dashed to tackle the leader.
"Leader up front, two to the side, and victim on the other" Ed mumbled.
The leader, seeing this, licked his lips and pulled out his knife.
"I guess you've chosen death" The leader got into his stance and gestured for his lackeys to not butt in.
Ed was feeling nervous about the knife, but he kept his focus and activated the combat assist.
When Ed was in contact radius, he dodged the red line that was aiming at his heart and kicked the leader's wrist, snapping the knife away from his grip. The androgynous person stared at Ed with awe.
The thugs hesitated to move; seeing their leader rubbing his wrist and hunched down made them want to take action, but they also didn't want to violate his orders.
"What are you doing standing over there? Get him!" The leader screamed.
They stumbled to get into their stances, but were feeling quite confident as they now had Ed surrounded. Two up front and one at the back.
The androgynous person did not just stand by and kicked the leader in the knee, making him fall. Ed then performed a roundhouse kick on his neck, finishing him off. He gestured a thumbs up towards them. They smiled back and blushed.
[Leader of "Stray Wolves" gang was defeated]
[+50XP]
(55/150)
The thugs began to charge. Ed dodged the red lines and struck them quickly in their vital points.
[2 thugs defeated]
[+40XP]
(95/150)