/Thursday, Spring 17/6:00 AM/
[sleeping skill, increased.]
And as usual, Blake's awakening was accompanied by a sound notification that was obviously enough to put him in a bad mood and he quickly rubbed his eyes to dissipate a little the tiredness he felt at that moment.
A few hours passed and Blake had already finished watering the large amount of cherry grass that seemed to be about to fully grow before climbing back to the top of his home and then remembering what he thought he had heard the night before.
"Let's see what this supposed updated is." With a single thought, the familiar interface accompanied by his beloved inventory appeared before him, at first glance it did not seem that anything had really changed, but as he paid attention, he realized that not everything was still the same.
{Name: Micah Blake. Level: 13. Species: Half-Monster. Coins: 15,033G
One-rune wizard: Six secondary runes. Runic Awakening: Sixth level.
HP: 559/559 RP: 723/723
ATK: 24 DEF: 26
M.ATK: 0 M.DEF: 7
STR: 48 VIT: 90 INT: 60}
It was quite obvious that the order of information had a slightly different structure, but only that had changed, Blake wouldn't have paid much attention to that, but something else had caught his attention.
Some of his stats were flashing continuously for some reason, and since he couldn't think of anything else, Blake moved his hand to touch the small semi-transparent screen in front of him only to be inundated with what happened next.
{Coins: 15,033G. The basic currency in all Futhark, it's fully worth its weight in gold.
Little entrepreneur: Your wealth may not be incredible and was earned by your own efforts, but at least you will have food on your plate every day.}
{HP: 559. The value given to your life energy, try not to spend all of it...
Healthy boy: You could probably survive falling off a cliff, but don't try.}
{RP: 723. The value given to your runic energy, is the energy belonging to this world and can be found almost anywhere.
Experiment fan: You seem to be getting used to that peculiar energy, please don't give up!}
{ATK: 24. The damage you can deal with your weapons and equipment fuels this in particular.
Practitioner: The little journey has begun, but it seems that you have a preferred and effective style.}
{DEF: 26. Your resistance to physical damage, anyone should do some training on this.
Hard Head: If you get hit with a rock, maybe it will break… Just maybe.}
{M.ATK: 0. An increase that benefits your magic, every experienced wizard or witch knows how important that is.
First-year student: You're still waiting for the train to come...}
{M.DEF: 7. Your resistance to magic damage, is an aspect that will grow at your rate.
Test Subject: You can take a few fireballs, but don't take a liking to that.}
{STR: 48. The brute force coming from your body.
As strong as a wooly: There's not a lot of baby fat on your body, but those muscles need more work.}
{VIT: 90. Your health and effort will increase this value, and in turn, your vital energy will be rewarded.
Young energy: You seem to dislike being around doctors.}
{INT: 60. A measure of your intelligence, though that's still hard to gauge...
Thinker: You have really good ideas from time to time… Although they don't always turn out well…}
Obviously, Blake spent several minutes reading and trying to understand what it all meant. At least he knew that now he could find out what exactly his statistics expressed, but the comments below them were not very pleasant.
After seeing that, he decided to put it aside and continue investigating until he discovered something new once again.
"Oh, so now I can see how far away my skills will level up, or so I think..." And to make sure, he focused on one of his multiple skills to check if he was right.
{Farming skill. Level: 20. Progress: 18%
Improved ability when working in the field. Reduces RP spending when using farming tools. Improve HP and RP}
"Let's say that's it... Now, what will be in this new tab?" Removing the small change that didn't seem very relevant, Blake concentrated on what really seemed to be the new upgrade the system had undergone.
In addition to the tabs where he could see both his status and inventory and where he could see his skills, a new one had appeared and it didn't take long for Blake to touch it to discover what it really was.
[Record of the upgrade completed. Making contact with the unique space.]
Those robotic words, which he was already used to, sounded once Blake placed his hand on the new eyelash. He didn't really understand what the system was up to at that time, but from his experience, he was sure it wouldn't be something relatively negative for him.
[Contact established successfully. Sharance labyrinth open. Congratulations to the host for meeting the requirements.]
"Labyrinth what?" And without waiting to resolve Blake's doubts, the voice of the system sounded again at the same time that he was teleported to a place he had no idea where he was.
The new area where Blake was could quickly relate to the peculiar Privera forest he was already used to, but removing the leafy trees and the strong smell of nature, it seemed that it was very different.
"Where I am?"
[Connection complete. Data obtained from the current dungeon.]
And again, not caring about Blake's doubts, the system continued to do its job so that later a new screen appeared in front of him with answers to some of the questions he had at that moment.
{Dungeon: Forest Quest. Recommended level: 15.
Explore the forest of memories and discover what awaits you!}
Although it really wasn't much, Blake was able to get an idea of what was going on and draw his own conclusions.
"So, I've been teleported to this dungeon thanks to the system? I don't know if I should be happy, but I guess it's thanks to the upgrade. I don't have any information apart from the vague description of what it is, so I don't think it's very safe to launch into the unknown... For now, system, can I get out of here?" And unlike what everyone would think, the simple routine where Blake was ignored as if it was nothing, had no presence after the system voice sounded again.
[Do you want to exit the labyrinth?]
Giving a nod to that question, Blake felt again how the space around him began to distort and after a few seconds, he realized that he was back in his beloved home.
"Sigh... Good thing, I thought you'd force me into that 'dungeon', curious as it's called the Sharance labyrinth, better investigate it another time." Leaving the mysteries surrounding the system for another day, Blake took his mental list of things to do, and seeing the time, he left through the door of the Sharance tree to head towards the center of town, but more specifically, to the blacksmith shop.
...
…
"Eh... Good morning." As a relatively strange thing, the owner of the blacksmith shop was right behind the counter of the place while he seemed to be lost looking at nothing. "Gaius, is something wrong?"
"Yes, is just that one of my little ones went to the heaven of the forge too soon." Just by seeing his expression and that it was not long, Blake understood the strange words that Gaius had said once a not-very pleasant memory had been generated in his head, and from his sack, he took out a small piece of bronze.
"I assume you mean this..." The very shield he had bought from him was now split neatly down the middle.
"Then he was right... I hope it has at least fulfilled its duty."
"You can bet, if it wasn't for it, I most likely wouldn't be here right now."
"That's good to hear, here." Blake had to raise both arms the instant Gaius threw a rather familiar object at him.
"This..." A shield practically identical to the previous one was now in his hands.
"You need a new shield, don't you? You can take it as a token of gratitude for recovering the things that the raccoon stole."
"Ah, so the news flew."
"It's what everyone talks about, it must not have been easy to take care of it."
"Yeah... Maybe it wasn't the best way, but I really couldn't sit idly by after everything that happened." Blake had a thoughtful look on his face at the time, but it lasted a long time as Gaius pulled a question out of nowhere.
"Hmmm... Do you like monsters, Blake?"
"What?" Blake hadn't understood what Gaius meant by that.
"Well, maybe it's my imagination, but it seems you feel a little bad for the little raccoon." And when those words reached him, some thoughts appeared in his mind.