Before the dawn even arrived, the two deep sleepers were awoken again by Trin.
*knock* *knock*
"Wake up, you two, it's time to train."
I sluggishly sat up from my futon and answered Trin,
"All right, we'll be there."
"I will make some breakfast in the meantime, so take your time."
After she was said, the room became silent again. I did my usual routine of cleaning the room and myself and went to the dining room after Lulu.
As we ate our breakfast, Trin looked at us and found our actions and expressions weird. We looked as if not awake yet, just functioning off of the instinct to do what we usually do.
"You two look really uncheery for having accomplished something as great as yesterday," She said as we ate our meals. "Maybe it's because you haven't, but look at your profile," She added.
We nodded at her words and did as she said.
"View Profile," we said with sleepy voices.
***
"View Profile."
My stat panel appeared in front of me, not expecting anything, but my sleepy eyes widened in shock as I looked at the transparent panel. Something new had shown up. My sleepiness left my body as I looked at the panel.
-----
[Lulu Berg]
Race: Human
Health: 27 -> 33
STR: 0.4 -> 0.5 (2)
AGI: 0.6 -> 0.8 (3)
INT: 0.9 -> 1.2 (4)
Mana: 0.4 -> 0.6
Skill: Basic Creation
------
'A skill! I finally have a skill! moreover, my mana stat also increased. My other stats didn't rise as much as last time, though... is it because we were getting used to the slime? We weren't getting attacked as much by them.'
***
-----
[Sim Kliff]
Race: Human
Health: 35 -> 40
STR: 0.5 -> 0.7 (3)
AGI: 0.8 -> 1.1(4)
INT: 0.6 -> 0.8 (2)
Mana: 0.3 -> 0.4
Skill: Simple Amplification
-----
My sleepy eyes couldn't recognize anything in sight, so I didn't have a reaction. But as I looked up and down at the panel carefully, as my eyes unblur, it was replaced by a glimmer of enthusiasm.
"A skill!" I yelled with excitement and stood from the chair I was sitting on, I looked at the two who were startled at the yell and sat back down.
"There's something in the skill section now! and my mana increased by 1!" I told them the news with much excitement in my voice.
"Same goes for me," Lulu replied with slightly less enthusiasm than Sim.
"Haha, that's what I'm talking about. The reaction I wanted. Skills will appear in your profile when you have a grasp of a magic. This means that you can use the magic much more easily than last time."
"What does easily exactly mean?" Lulu replied.
"It means you won't have to think in your deepest mind to manifest whichever magic you have learned."
"I see. that's very convenient."
"Yep. Now go eat your breakfast, and let's test out your magic against monsters!"
***
As we walked through the forest, Trin told us to read through the description of our skill. It seems like tapping on the name would unfold a description.
I viewed my profile and tapped on my skill
[Simple Amplification - Be able to amplify either your strength, agility, or five senses for 3 minutes. The amplify will multiply your stats by 1.5]
'So that's the time limit, no wonder I went weak yesterday, also a 1.5 multiplier is not bad, maybe if I amplify my strength I'd be able to knock a tree down with one strike.'
***
[Basic Creation - Be able to create small things relative to mana, disappears after a minute minimum, two minutes maximum. Mana can be poured in said creation, to increase length before it disappears or to increase its might. ]
'Oh. So for now, I can't make a chair like Sung. This is perfect for making bullets, though. I wonder if I can one-shot one-kill a slime if I pour all my mana into one bullet. Only one way to tell.'
***
Soon, we arrived at the usual hidden spot to continuously "grind." We then stopped for a few minutes to wait for Trin to abduct some slimes.
When she got back, we got ourselves ready to fight.
"First, I want you to prepare your magic. Lulu, create some bullets first, and then while you're at it, Sim will amplify himself."
We nodded, and I let Lulu do her things first because I have a limit to my Amplification. When she told me she was half done creating a batch at once after ten seconds, I focused on amplifying my strength.
"Ready?" Trin asked.
"Ready," We answered.
She released 10 slimes at once, and they angrily faced us.
*bang* *bang* *bang* *bang*
Lulu fired four at once, not thinking of running out of any bullets, the wind slime she shot at quickly died, and disintegrated. It seems like the bullets she created had more mana than the ones Sung created.
Also, Lulu didn't have to warn me anymore of when she was going to attack, because after fighting these slimes with an endless wave of them, we developed an intuitive understanding adding to our 18 years of knowing each other. We simply coordinated, and our actions did not interfere with one another.
I ran toward an Earth slime and stabbed it with ease and followed by a swing, killed it.
The rest of the angry looking slimes suddenly changed their expressions. They hurriedly bounced away, fearing for their life.
The two attackers stopped at the sudden change in their behavior. They decided not to race after the bouncing slimes.
"Uhh... I think you two are not suitable for this training anymore," Trin said as a slime bounced past her.
"... err, I think so, too..." Lulu replied.
"It's fine, I was kind of expecting this to happen anyway, so yesterday, as you two learned mana, I went around to look for a different monster to train you with."
"Oh, what kind of monster did you find then?" I asked, feeling excited at finally doing something new.
"Well, I was going to let you two train with clawed rabbits, but I think they're too weak now. So, now I'm thinking of training you two with Goblins."
"Goblins!"
"Yes, Goblins, although I have to warn you though, they're much, much stronger than a slime."
"It won't be like taking a slime and making you two fight with it, no. This time, a lone Goblin will either be wandering the forest or a group of them will."
"Understood," We said one after the other
"Good. I will find a Goblin and lead you to it. You're free to stay here or wander, but not too far."
With that, she left to find a Goblin.
***
"What do you think? should we walk around or not?" I asked Lulu with anticipation.
"Hmm... I don't think the area is dangerous near here, so we could, I guess."
"Nice. Let's go."
We walked around the forest, not too far from the field, but really found nothing. Maybe a bird tweeting here and there, but that's all.
"There really isn't anything here, huh," I said with disappointment.
"Seems like it. Nothing but greenery, it is kind of nice to look at, though."
"That's true. How about we go a bit further?"
"No, Trin might get mad at us."
"It should be fine, right? look, there's nothing to see, just endless trees."
I tried to persuade her with pleading eyes. The reason I want to go further is just because I was bored sitting idly, Trin was probably going to take some time anyway. Luckily, Lulu agreed.
"Okay, fine, but it's your fault if she gets angry at us."
"Sure, sure."
We walked a bit further, dodging some branches and roots, but there seemed to be nothing around the area. I felt disappointed but glad that nothing had happened.
Suddenly, as I was stopped to survey the area, in front of me at least a meter or two away, a tree, I saw a branch move. It could've been just the wind or a bird, but I swear I saw it bend unnaturally.
"Lulu, did you see that? the branch."
"What do you mean? what about the branch?"
"It moved. I saw it move!"
"It's probably the wind. You can feel it almost howling. Maybe a storm will come soon."
"No, I can feel the wind all right, but that thing moved."
I walked toward the tree and looked around the trunk.
My eyes widened as I saw a face in the tree. It was an overstatement to call it a face, as the face only had two dark holes for eyes, seemingly having an infinite amount of small roots inside it. What made me think that it was a face was the circular shape that the eyes were placed on. Weirdly enough, my face was reflected on the eyes.
It had no mouth, but as I backed away, I saw holes in each end of the branches with spikes in all sides of the hole. As I back away further, I noticed that on the leaves were either noses or ears. It looked horrifying.
As I turned, the tree monster moved and faced our direction.
I saw Lulu's face grim as she looked at the tree I was telling her about.
I could hear my heart beating from fear of whatever might the tree monster be.
"R - run!" I stuttered as I shouted.
But before we could move our feet, it was already too late. The roots deep on the ground suddenly dug out and moved as if alive.
It tripped me as I was about to run and grabbed ahold one of my ankles.
"Sim!"
I tried to kick the roots away but to no avail. more and more just kept on coming, devoiding me of freedom. For the first time in this world, I felt like my life was in danger, I felt helpless.
"Shit. Shit. Shit. what the hell is this,' I cursed multiple times asking the same question over and over.
Lulu came over to try and help me, but the same fate awaited her.
I was sweating and panicking at the current situation we found ourselves in.
'Damn it. Is this how I die?
'Is this how Lulu felt that time?
'Are we going to die because of my boredom?'
I questioned myself, almost as if I had already given up.
"Sim! wake up. We have to do something."
Lulu's voice woke me up from my questioning.
"What can we do? I don't have any idea at all!"
I said, looking at the roots that were slowly but surely wrapping itself around me and Lulu while it dragged us closer to the tree monster.
"Amplify your strength with all your Mana, I'll use the two bullets I poured most of my mana on from earlier. Attack it when you're close to the trunk."
"All right."
As I heard Lulu's calm and confident tone, I calmed myself down and focused on amplifying my strength with almost all my mana. It probably won't last long, but it's more than enough. It's better to try than die slowly in agony.
Soon, the roots dragged me close to the trunk. Luckily, it only reached up to my waist and not my arms.
The roots raised me up, and the branches of the tree monster moved closer to me.
"Now!"
As soon as I heard Lulu's voice, I threw all of my strength into my hand that formed a fist and swung with all my strength.
The roots began to weaken its grip, and I overjoyed, but it did not last long.
The roots' grip tightened to the point that it hurt. I can almost feel my organs begin to be crushed.
*bang*
Lulu shot the face of the monster, making a hole the size of a fist in it. The roots began to let go of Lulu and I, but instead of just gripping and dragging, it's now swinging and flailing around aimlessly.
Each swing sounded like a whip, and there were a lot of them.
I swung my fist again, to hit the same spot in the trunk as earlier, which looked to have a crack. As I hit the same spot, it broke the part, destroying half of the trunk, but it was not enough to make the tree fall.
At the same time I was trying to dodge the roots, but even with my agility stats being high, I couldn't dodge them all. Some hit my back, some my thighs, and even my arms.
*bang*
Lulu shot again, this time to one of its eyes. It seemed to be effective because the swinging slowed down, making me dodge almost all of them.
Lulu was also hit by some of them, but as she was further, she got off with just a little bit.
But the tree monster still wasn't dead.
I threw my fist again, using all of my remaining mana to amplify my strength, it would only last a second or less I presumed, so I had to amplify my strength almost the moment my fist struck the tree monster.
Then, with a sound like a person hitting metal with a sledgehammer, I hit the spot next to the area that I destroyed from earlier.
The roots stopped swinging and flailing, and finally, the tree fell down, half of its trunk standing.
...