Shiro scratched his head. He was just an 8 year old! Where could he go?
Nonetheless, Shiro decided to listen to Mornil.
"Fine. But can I stay here for one more day? I promise, I'll leave after today…", Shiro asked Mornil.
At first, Mornil wanted to disagree. He was afraid that the people from the Anti-Pirate Federation were going to come soon. However, realizing the fact that Shiro was just a mere 8 years old, Mornil gave in to Shiro's request. He knew that such a small boy would definitely require some time to prepare before leaving.
"Alright. Stay tonight at my home. Tomorrow, you can set off to another place, you need to prioritize your life after all.", Mornil said.
Shiro nodded. He walked inside his house, which seemed clean right now.
'Uncle might have cleaned this place…', Shiro smiled.
He then looked around his house and recalled some of the happiest times when he spent with Sera and Loyola.
'Mother is dead, and sister Sera is nowhere to be found…'
'She is definitely not dead. And I won't believe that she is dead unless I see her body for myself…', Shiro said to himself.
He then looked around and grabbed some clothes. As he was looking at the cupboard, he found a small brown, almost ragged, and torn pouch.
As he opened it, he found a small portrait or something that looked more like a photo.
'This…'
It was a photo of his mom and a handsome-looking man. Both of them had big smiles on their faces.
Weirdly enough, the man in the photo seemed to be extremely rich, the clothes being extra shiny. He was wearing gold ornaments and jewellery as well. The same could be said about Loyola.
As he looked at the pic, he just asked a single question, "Who are you, mom?"
Well, in any case, he had a pic of his mom and wouldn't forget her face now.
As he thought about storing or placing it somewhere safe, a system notification popped up.
*Ding*
[Would you like to story the picture in the inventory?]
[Yes/No]
'Inventory? Come to think of it, this was included in the privilege reward that I received…', he thought right after which the system notified him of what a system was.
[Inventory –spatial storage to store items or non-living things.]
[Different or the same types of items can be stored, with a maximum of 100 different types with no limit on a particular type.]
[Limit: 1/100]
[Items stored: 200GC.]
'I see, then yes. Store the picture.', right after he thought this in his mind, the picture vanished and got stored in inventory.
A huge screen with all the empty spaces appeared, with one space or tab showing an icon of the picture that Shiro stored just now.
[Limit: 2/100]
[Items stored: 200GC; An old picture.]
After that, he took some more clothes and decided to store them in his inventory.
Finally, he took a small band that Sera had once made and gifted him on his fifth birthday. It had two letters on it – 'SS' – which stood for 'Sera' and 'Shiro'.
He smiled as he looked at the black band which had the white letters. He wore them on his left hand, instead of storing them away in inventory.
He finished his tasks here, finally after which, he decided to walk out of the house and go to Mornil's place, as he had invited him.
He walked out and then went over to Mornil's house. Mornil was already tired, he had been searching for Shiro and had barely slept for 5 days – he did sleep, but would wake up every one or two hours!
"Make yourself comfortable. I'll make you some food…", Mornil said as he walked into the kitchen, just after Shiro arrived.
Shiro sat on one of the old tables which were used by Mornil when diagnosing patients.
He sighed as he leaned on it.
How did it come to this?
All he wanted to do was to avenge his mother. Why is he now a bad person?
He had lost all of his family within a day.
The scene of his mother getting shot in her chest kept replaying in his head.
Shiro shook his head to remove the memory from his mind temporarily.
It worked, but another memory invaded his mind.
He could clearly hear his sister's words before she ran as a distraction against the Anti-Pirate Federation.
And now she's dead, this thought kept bugging him. He did not see her body, so he must stay positive, but one couldn't help but think of the worst possible outcome!
As he tried to calm himself down and not think anything bizarre, a system notification popped up.
*Ding*
[The analysis of the drink has been completed.]
'Ah, I completely forgot about it…'
Shiro then took a look at the system screen, glancing at the details provided.
[Herbal Recovery Drink]
[Components: 99% Water; 0.9% Red-rock herb; 0.1% impurities]
[The drink provides energy to rejuvenate and strengthen the body.]
[Would the host like to convert the energy into stat points?]
[Yes/No]
'Stat points?', Shiro was intrigued with what the system said.
'What are stat points?'
*Ding*
[Answer: Stat points -> a set of additional points stored to increase the Host's stats permanently whenever desired.]
"…"
Shiro didn't understand what it meant.
He asked, 'What do you mean by increase my stats? And how can I use it to increase?'
*Ding*
[Answer: By increase in host's stats, it means that the numerical value of your strength, agility, defense, etc. will be increased with the use of stat points. To use the stat points, the host can either command the system or visit the profile to manually do it.]
A lot more confusing stuff appeared, but this time, he understood it as he re-read it once or twice.
'Hmm, profile…', he knew that all he had to do was ask the system to open the profile. He knew this would work since the system seemed to obey all of his commands and seemed a bit friendly.
'System, open profile.'
*Ding*
[Command Accepted.]
[Profile]
[…]