Pel continued holding Crista until saw her glow dim and so it continued.
Few minutes later, she stopped glowing entirely and after letting go of her hand he gave her some clothes to wear.
"Thank you" she said shyly and Pel resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"So the disappearance of students is because of you right?" Pel asked as he had her back to her.
"I'm sorry"
Pel was once again speechless, it was just a simple question...he shook his head and decided to go to another topic.
"How come you can see Ito while the others can't?"
"Is he special?" Crista muttered.
"He is my system"
Crista paused her action and stared at Pel's back. "A real-life system?"
Pelt turned back and fortunately, she was all done. "What do you mean real life?"
Crista hesitated. "I've read stories about characters with unique systems"
"And these stories are made by humans?" Pel had the urge to scoff. He was about to continue but he noticed something wrong with Ito.
First Ito closed his eyes and then was engulfed in a swirling pool of mana.
"Ito?"
There was no response and Pel frowned.
"He is fine, he is just trying to digest the large amount of energy" Crista said.
Her thought wandered, she knew a lot about magic and stuff probably because she liked reading novels that were mostly under male MC
If what was going on had to do with mana then things would make a lot more sense but that would not help her get her family back.
They waited for Ito to finish his evolution but non of them had any idea how long it would take and waiting out in the open was not very ideal.
Crista then lead Pel to her hideout which was a tree house she put herself. Although she couldn't control her ability, even if the tree gets destroyed it rebuilds itself, making it the ideal place for her to stay.
She eventually fell asleep after waiting too long and Pel continued observing Ito for any changes in his condition.
Five hours passed just like that and Pel was starting to get a bit worried rather than impatience.
Pel had Ito since birth and he could talk to him whenever he wanted. Some might consider their system a tool but Ito was family and seeing him so silent made him feel sadness he couldn't comprehend.
Crista had woken up some time ago and her glow was starting to return even if it was still faint. In silence, she stood beside Pel waiting for Ito to wake up.
Pel was starting to feel hungry and chose to eat some snacks from the system space.
Even if Ito was still in the same state, Pel was still able to access the space which alleviated his worries a bit.
Thirty minutes later the lights surrounding Ito were dispelled and he hovered beside Pel.
"So did you evolve?" Pel asks, his former worry dissipating into nothingness.
[Affirmative. There are other functions that I can perform now]
Pel nodded but he raised a brow the next second when a blue screen appeared in front of him.
"A Status Panel" he heard Crista mutter.
"You know what this is?"
Crista nodded. "It's similar to the system status panel shown in comics"
"So there are really humans who know about systems? Do humans have systems too?"
"I...un not really...the stories are made based on the active imagination of the author" Crista sounded quite unsure since she was staring at a real-life system.
Pel then checked out what was displayed on the screen.
—Name: Pel
—Race: Kerki/Human
—Synchronization with human body: 15%
—Level: 0
—MP(Mana Points): ???
—Strength: 3
—Agility: 7
—Defence: 2
—Stamina: 5
Crista also saw the stats and gave Pel an awkward look even the weakest MC she had seen didn't have such pitiful stats.
"Ito are you sure you calculated these right, why does it look so weak?" Pel asked with a raised eyebrow.
[The stats are calculated based on mana. Strength refers to the amount of damage you can deal with your ability and not your gadgets. The amount of power your gadgets have do not affect your real status]
"You mean without my gadgets, I'm this weak?" Pel couldn't believe it, he had never considered the fact before but now thinking about it. The Kerkis' strength had always relied on the powerful gadget they created, without those weren't they just a weak race?
Pel shook his head, intelligence was also a form of strength so they could not be considered weak.
"What about the mana point, what does that mean?" Pel asked.
[Your mana point is like an energy reserve and it is infinite because you have me. The system can convert the surrounding mana into the best form of purified mana, so unless the body of the host can no longer contain it, the mana pool is always filled]
"What about the human synchronization?" Crista let out her thoughts without even knowing.
"Didn't you say you knew about this?"
"Yes but I've never seen this in any other systems I've read about also why does your race shows human and Kerki...what is a Kerki?"
"I am a Kerki but unfortunately I have to stay as a human for a while" Pel did not explain further.
Crista was confused. 'The emergence of mana means magic and in novels, it also symbolizes the discovery of new species but what is a Kerki?'
Despite her confusion, she refused to ask Pel to clarify.
Ito then displayed another screen with Pel's abilities and currently, he had only one which was cloning. The other six spots were empty.
—Cloning: Ability to make other versions of yourself with little or no memory.
Limit- 3 clones (numbers will increase as host grows stronger)
'This is really convenient' Pel thought. 'But how come no system had ever evolved on Nodard? Was it because the requirement was unmet? after all, Nodard has no mana...earth might not be so simple after all, I really need to learn more about humans. If every system on planet Nodard can evolve then...'