Bam!
Suddenly, the door to the room swung open and Serina stepped inside the room.
"What happened, Ani? Ken, are you okay?"
With a worried expression, Serina looked at the duo. It seemed that the young elf's name... or her nickname was Ani. Her eyes shimmered like sapphires, exuding an icy coldness that seemed to pierce the soul of the observer.
Her silvery hair glistened mysteriously even in the absence of any illumination. Her skin was pale but not of illness. She was petite and her proportions were… uh… lacking compared to Serina.
More like she didn't have any at all. The oversized robe didn't help either, making her look like a child wearing their parent's clothes.
"This stupid idiot called me a child!"
Ani replied with a pout.
"Come on sis, we talked about this before. You can't just lash out at anyone who called you a child. Only a real child would do that."
`What?! They are sisters? Well, if you think about it, they do look quite similar… in facial structure at least.'
After thinking about how to retort on Serina's reply, Ani said:
"Yeah, you're right. As a wise adult, I should be open-minded. I'll refrain from smacking this idiot's head for now."
Releasing a sigh of relief, Serina asked:
"So, is everything okay now? Is he recovered?"
"Yeah, as you can see, yours truly has done a great job in healing all his wounds. There is a problem tho…"
"A problem?"
"Yeah, this idiot somehow obtained mana… So, unless we make a mana organ for him, he's gonna explode in 24 hours or so… I think."
Hearing the sudden revelation, a grim expression appeared on Serina's face. An even grimmer expression appeared on Ken's confused face, though.
"What?! Explode? Me? Why didn't you make one while I was asleep?"
Ken started to panic, and then suddenly, a stinging pain overwhelmed his chest.
"Because I need you to be awake for the procedure, idiot! Now, stop talking."
Resting her hand on Ken's chest, she turned to Serina and continued:
"Scratch the 24 hours part. We only have 24 minutes… Guard the entrance. Don't let anyone in. I need to concentrate."
Replying with a nod, Serina left the room, leaving the duo alone.
Turning her face back to Ken, Ani grinned quite ominously.
"Now, shall we start? It's gonna be a tad bit painful. So, try your best not to cry, child."
Looking at the petty elf, Ken calculated his chances of survival.
'Yep, I'm dead…'
Closing his eyes, he braced for whatever torturous moments awaited him.
Soon, anguished screams resounded in the peaceful elven village. That day, the villagers were all on guard preparing for the supposed demon invasion.
***
"Argh…"
Ken woke up with an even worse sore than last time.
"At least I'm alive…"
He shuddered thinking about the alternative end. Thankfully, a certain someone had saved him from becoming a puddle of blood... albeit the method was rather questionable.
Rays of sunlight shined through the window and fell into the dimly lit room. The dawn of a new day awaited him. Taking a glance at the petite elf resting on a chair near his bed, he let out a sigh.
Ani looked paler than before and a layer of sweat covered her dainty face. She had also put her oversized robe away, revealing a soaked white tunic underneath.
Looking at her closely, Ken was reminded of the fact that Ani and her sister did not resemble the other elves of the village at all.
Their bright blue eyes were an oddity among the typically grey eyes of other elves, and the length of their pointy ears overshadowed those of the other elves in the village. Their unique golden and silvery hair also stood out conspicuously from the others.
Well, Granny Lola was an oddity too…
Scattering his thoughts, Ken swiftly brought out his status screen. He had not forgotten the myriad of ringing sounds after his battle with the horned rabbit.
'Open status.'
- - - - - - - - - -
Name: Ken
Race: Human
Level: 1
Title: [Lost one], [Bobb]
Job: [Combat Botanist], [Hero]
Skill: [Runner's high] (lvl 2), [Low-farming] (lvl 2), [Low-martial arts] (lvl 3), [Low-dagger arts] (lvl 4), [Low-endurance] (lvl 5)
Unique skill: [Unravel] (lvl 1)
Job skill: [Plant control] (lvl 1)
- - - - - - - - - -
'Mmm, nice… Wait, I feel like something is missing here.'
'Stat screen will be separated for convenience's sake.'
"Separated… yes… wait, huh? Who was that?"
The reply came in the form of a strange disembodied voice instead of the usual sentences accompanied by ringing sounds. To be honest, a reply rarely ever came… Scratch that, there were no replies at all since the day he first saw the status screen.
'You may choose to refer to me as System or Assistant. My role is to assist your adventure. After reaching level 1, the system has upgraded and unlocked more features. One of which is Stat management. Communication is also one of those features.'
"So, system? That doesn't sound right. System… Sys… Alright, I'll call you Sys."
'Affirmative.'
"Umm, Sys. What is the Stat thing you just mentioned?"
'Stat shows your general prowess in a quantitative fashion. Stat management allows you to manually distribute stat points.'
"Oh. So, how do I access it? Should I say open stat?"
Immediately as he spoke, a semi-transparent screen appeared in front of him.
- - - - - - - - - -
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Stamina: 10
Magic: 10
Specialized: 10
Unallocated stat points: 5
- - - - - - - - - -
Before he even thought about asking what any of these were, Sys promptly answered.
'Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Magic are considered general stats. Specialized stats, to put it simply, are just stats that do not fall in the former category. They are much more specific in function.
Having 10 stat points is an average for mundane humans and each level up gives 5 stat points for you to distribute.'
Nodding in approval, he decided to spend one stat point for each stat, making them all 11. Suddenly, he felt… not much different. Sure, he felt a bit stronger than before, but that was it. Well, he did just raise them by one stat point after all.
While Sean was busy talking to himself and pondering about his status, Ani had woken up from his activity.
"Shut up! Can't you see I'm sleeping?"
Ken had totally forgotten about her, absorbed in his inner monologue entirely. Despite his perception of it as being "inner", he was, in fact, speaking aloud..."
"Why are you talking to yourself? Did you go crazy from the procedure?"
Hearing that remark made Ken's skin crawl. Shaking his head in disapproval, Ken asked inwardly:
'Sys, can't she also hear you?'
'Negative. The communication feature is only available to you at this moment.'
'Am I the chosen one or something…? Well, I'm already a Lost one. Better add another one to the list, I guess.'
Before Ken could float away on his self-monologue boat again, Ani spoke:
"Glad to know that you are still sane. So, how do you feel?"
"I'm good. My chest feels funny, though."
"At least it's still in one piece. Consider yourself lucky that I, the great Anires, personally performed the procedure. Otherwise, you'd be interior decoration by now."
First saved by Serina, and now saved by Anires. He truly was one hell of a lucky man.
'Anires... Must be her full name, I guess. It somehow sounds familiar...'
"Uhh… Thank you for that. Also, I'm sorry for calling you a child earlier."
With a shrug, she just replied:
"You're welcome. And don't worry about it. I forgive you… After all, I already had my fun."
"Wait, what do you mean Fun? Did you make it more painful?"
However, his words fell on deaf ears since the elf in person was already back to sleeping with a smug grin on her face. She looked oddly comfortable on the wooden chair.
Letting out a small sigh, Ken decided that a small walk would be great for stretching his legs after lying in bed for too long. Making sure that Ani wouldn't wake up, he got out of bed quietly and approached the door.
However, the door suddenly swung open before he even got near it.
"Ani! Ken! Is everything okay?!"
Ken felt a sense of déjà vu as Serina walked into the room. Her sudden loud voice woke up the slumbering elf, Ani looked like a grumpy bear that was forced out of its hibernation.
"Grr."
Letting out a small growl at her sister, she shouted:
"Can't you see I'm sleeping? You muscle head!"
"Oh, sorry. I didn't know. Is everything okay?"
Serina asked again, but this time with a way lower and softer tone.
"Don't just whisper now. Yes, everything is fine except that I'm very tired and need my quality sleep. Ken seems okay too. Now, take me back to my room."
Ani outstretched her arms toward Serina, demanding to be picked up. She looked like a chi… Sorry, not a child at all when she did that. With a nod, Serina scooped up the sleepy elf and embraced her.
From the look on Ani's already-asleep face, it was easy to deduce that Serina was way more comfortable than the wooden chair. Well, the piece of furniture lacked the soft and cushy parts, after all.
'That's impressive of her to just fall asleep instantly.'
Before walking out of the door, Serina turned to Ken and said:
"Oh yeah. Ken, take a rest today. You're going to need to change your schedule a bit. Since you are a magic user now, Ani will give you lessons on that. She might look like this, but I can assure you that she is the best mage in the village."
Then, a melancholic look appeared on her face as she mumbled under her breath so that Ken couldn't hear:
"...Would've been the best, even in the whole kingdom…"
Ignoring the awkward pause, Ken tried to lighten the mood.
"You're very proud of your little sister, aren't ya?"
"What do you mean little sister? Ani is my big sis."
That was probably the most shocking thing he'd heard all day.