Jin Lin's face looked like he had just been lustrated in utryon blood. His eyes and mouth were closed shut as he pushed the monsters' body off him. He felt the weight on top of him lessen as he heard a familiar voice calling him older brother.
"Dage.... dage, are you okay?" said Fen Hao with a slight panic in his voice. He had woken up to Jin Lin's arming sword being tossed by that beast. Terrified half to death Fen Hao took out a battle axe which was what the system had gifted him and used his full strength to strike the utryon at the back of its neck.
With his level of strength, his attack wouldn't have been this successful. The sneak attack and the fact that the utryon had been tired out from its earlier fight with Jin Lin heavily contributed to his victory.
Fen Hao wanted to help Jin Lin up but his friend refused as he sprawled on the ground breathing heavily while staring blankly into space. Seeing this Fen Hao sat beside him and the two sat in silence for a good while seriously thinking through their decisions in life.
The dim-lit cave was suddenly quiet amplifying the tiniest of sounds. Such a depressing atmosphere eventually became unbearable that Fen Hao had to say something. "How does it taste?" he asked looking at Jin Lin's face that was covered in blood.
Jin Lin knew how stupid that question was so he purposefully ignored him but Fen Hao wasn't done. "Does it make you stronger? Because I wouldn't mind having some as long as my XP increases... Wait, is that why you were shrouded in a glorious white light just now?" asked Fen Hao with his eyes widened like he found the fountain of youth.
Jin Lin wanted to say no but he suddenly had the urge to screw Fen Hao over just a tiny bit. Like they say we learn through experience, right? "Mn," he replied with a slight nod of his head as he pressed his lips into a thin line suppressing a smile.
"Wah!" exclaimed Fen Hao before he swiped his finger on Jin Lin's face before tasting it with the tip of his tongue.
Jin Lin, "....."
Fen Hao's face turned uglier as a vomit-inducing sensation spread across his tongue but the funny thing was that he endured it imagining his final goal. Surprisingly it was Jin Lin who couldn't hold back. He thought Fen Hao would spit it out but this idiot held it in with great determination. He smacked Fen Hao upside his head and reprimanded him. "So if I say you should drink a gallon of it to level up would you drink it?" he asked as he sat up straight with his hand resting on his bent knee.
"Ouch..... maybe," he said before covering the back of his head when he saw Jin Lin raise his hand again, "Okay, okay didi was wrong."
Jin Lin sighed as he looked at Fen Hao's leg that seemed as good as new. This elixir was an absolute miracle drug that the entire world would start wars for.
Just as tranquillity was restored a prompt appeared in front of Jin Lin's face as the system spoke in a dead voice. "Congratulations user for upgrading to neophyte stage level four. Please refer to the information panel for all the skills now available to you," said the system.
Jin Lin scanned the display panel as he responded absentmindedly. "You do realise my name is not user, right?" When he said this he hadn't thought much of it but the system's response had him stupefied.
"Mn and my name is not system but you don't see me complaining," it said with a very soft-spoken voice but the sarcasm was as light as day.
Jin Lin nudged Fen Hao who was sitting beside him also checking the system. "Mn..... what's up?" asked Fen Hao without taking his eyes off the information panel that he could now access.
"Is the system also mean to you?" he asked trying to whisper but of course, it was pointless because the system was omnipresent. It heard it but didn't expose him immediately. It was as though it was waiting for him to dig a bigger hole for himself.
Fen Hao turned to look at him and said, "No, mine is a cute furball so how could it be mean to me. I hadn't noticed it before but when I called to the system it appeared like this," before projecting his system's appearance for Jin Lin to see. "Cute, right?"
Jin Lin, "...."
It was then he discovered they seemed to be bound to different AI systems. It seemed true that the heavens don't give with both hands. He had a special constitution but was stuck with a sassy system.
"I can also change into a fluff ball if you want but that would cost you," replied the system staring at the cute fluff ball nuzzling in Fen Hao's hand. Systems in Equino could not only change their appearance and take on an optional physical form but the problem was that it required money which these two didn't have. They didn't even have enough to buy food what more system upgrades?
"No, no, no need," replied Jin Lin wiping his face with his sleeve as he stood up and looked at Fen Hao before asking, "What's your skill?"
"It's the same as when I played Gods of Equino though almost everything is greyed out for now. I can only do a few tricks slightly better than a magician," he explained a little disheartened. This was far from a game but he was more powerful in the game than right now when his life was hanging in the balance.
"No stress. Let's just get out of here first," he said crouching down before the dead utryon that had bled out. Jin Lin took his arming sword lying in the sand and lowered it with both his hands on the hilt.
He raised his hands preparing to thrust the sword into the skull of the utryon but before he could do it, Fen Hao yelped before covering his mouth with his hand.
Jin Lin turned to look behind him and met Fen Hao's pale face. "What?" he asked feeling a bit peeved.