Hope stared at his status, feeling a mix of curiosity and confusion.
Species: Human
Status: Normal
Skills: 2
Class: None
His focus turned to the skills, and as he explored the menu, he found:
Growth (?-Rank): Inherited skill, ability to grow.
? (?-Rank): Inherited skill.
Puzzled by the '?' rank and the mysterious inherited skill, Hope wondered, "Why is its rank '?' and what is this inherited skill? I've never heard of skills being inherited from parents to child before. Mom has an A-rank skill. Is it that skill? And the other is Growth; does that mean I can grow taller? Oh, what a useless skill. Is it an error or something else? I should not tell anyone about this. Maybe the skill will be fixed sometime later. I hope."
[Time skip]
The sound of swords clashing filled the air in the forest grounds as a man shouted, "Corner that goblin, newbies!" Mages began buffing their allies as a newbie trapped a goblin and another stabbed it in the chest.
"All of this for one kill? I'm tired of E-rankers,you took this much time to kill a weakened goblin from the caged trap we put, shame on you" grumbled one member of the group.
"Sorry, boss. This is our first time in the tower. Go easy on us," pleaded the newbie.
"Sure, sure. Pack up; we're going to the next area. Catch up, newbies," the leader commanded, and the team moved to the next area.
In the new area of the tower, one member remarked, "Hey, there is someone fighting; his sword is broken. I think he needs help."
"Don't kid; he doesn't need your help. Even if you ask him, he'll say no. And don't you know, kid, there is an unspoken rule about monster claiming."
"What are you saying? If we stand here, he will die."
"Die? Ha! He isn't the type to easily die off, kid. He'll kill us all before that."
"What? Who's he?" asked the newbie.
"Don't you know him? He's called Debuffer, a solo raider in these tower's first floors. He's been hunting here for two years. Don't go near him; he's a parasite," warned the experienced member.
"Do you mean he tags along with us or something? Isn't he a solo raider? Isn't he supposed to be powerful?" inquired the newbie.
"Far from it, newbie. He is an E-ranker just like you fighting in these parts for 1 year at first he hunted in parties after they all got sick because of him they threw him out, they gave him the name debuffer. When he's near someone, he absorbs their power and makes it his own, whether it's human or monster he takes others' power permanently from them, but for him, it's just a temporary power-up. Not only that, with his cursed power, he put the former A-ranker, called Rune Mage, his own mother, into a deep sleep. She was an A-ranker; now she's just above D. Why is he hunting? I think he should just go and die, damn parasite. And his name's Hope," the experienced member spat out with disdain.
Hope listened to the conversation, his without no emotions in his face he continued fighting the goblin, as long as I drag this fight with goblins I can win I need to wait till I'm sure I can defeat these goblins as he fought, holding off the goblins for some time later his moment changed.
Finally, I think I am powerful enough to kill all these goblins now as Hope changed from simply defending against the attacks and running away to attacking back, killing 2 goblins with one strike of his sword.
He did it! I think the parasite is full now.
Hope rushed with his broken sword to kill one goblin; from one goblin, only one remained after the goblin knew he would be dead by Hop's sword so he ran from there. Hope followed that goblin into the forest behind.
"There goes the cursed warrior. Hahaha, it's funny every time I see him," the seasoned hunter replied.
Hope followed the goblin to the forest unaware that the goblin was luring him to a trap. As Hop stepped his foot on the trap, the trap activated because of the powerup. Hop quickly avoided the trap with minimum wound on his leg. The goblin ran off with a smile to the bushes not to be seen.
Hope's inner voice: I became overconfident. Damn it, play it safe. That's why I survived all these time. You need to save your mother. Power through the pain Move from this place before that goblin comes with allies.
Hope drank his one and only healing potion; the wound on his leg started to shine, and the wound was slowly closing.
Hope moved and returned to the tower entrance and relaxed on the tower steps, feeling his power is draining.
Suddenly a lightning bolt came from nowhere and hit Hop as he fell from the step.
"Move away from the door debuff, are you trying to use debuff on us before our big raid?" A 4-part team stood in front of Hope, and the leader, John, said.
Hope was so angry he felt the will to kill him but he gritted his teeth and moved away.
"Look, guys, as I said he is all bark and no bite. Let's go we have a test to pass; we'll play with him some another time," John laughed and gone into the tower with his teammate.
Hope reached an alleyway, beat up the walls of the alley. As he does that Hope's power-up at limit as the impact of blows was decreasing. Suddenly a rushing sound appeared from the sky, thunder. Hope got scared thought that the guys were come to finish the job. He cried and cried, blacking out in the alleyway.
As he blacked out, memories one by one appeared in his mind: his awakening was a happy day, but he got an E rank. As he thought of figuring out his skill, his mother got sick; she was not able to get cured, and everyone thinking it's some mysterious disease. Later, he found out he is making his mother sick. After the rain stopped, Hope woke up and looked up, looking at the sky. "I need to save her. No, I will save her. I will save my mother from the eternal slumber."