[Congratulations, you have leveled up!]
[You are now in level one]
"Oh, tough." Ashton sulked.
"That's not all." Callista announced to him as he laid a little bit of complaint about his current progress.
The system chimed again and continued,
[For defeating a high ranking mutant, you have received 100 exp]
"That alone?" Ashton whined again. "Taking it down was not an easy job and all I could get is 100 exp"
"Just shut up and watch!" Callista churned.
[You have leveled up!]
[You have received 10 stat points to distribute freely]
[Hidden reward for side quest; you have received a celerity amulet]
[A celerity amulet amplifies the speed of the host]
[To activate the celerity amulet for your current level, 2 stat points are needed]
"Show me my status." Ashton commanded subtly.
[STATUS]
[Name: Ashton –]
[Age: 18]
[Class: Cultivator]
[Grade: Low rank]
[Level: 2]
[Points needed to level up: 0/300]
[Strength: 5/10]
[Agility: 4/10]
[Defense: 5/10]
[Stamina: 6/10]
[Ability: Super speed]
[Health point: 4/10]
[Spirit point: Locked]
The next tab materialized when he was done reviewing the first tab.
[SKILLS]
[Skills: ???]
[Skills point: __]
[Special skills: Locked]
[GEM]
[Gem point: 0]
"Pretty much an achievement. I leveled up to level two in a day." Ashton said to himself with a chuckle enough for Callista to hear him.
"Guys!" Marcus finally called the attention of everyone to himself as he was about to make a prompt announcement.
When he noticed everyone's attention was focused on him, he began to say whatever was in his mind all along.
"Since Ashton had come up with such a brilliant idea for us to tackle down that mutant, I think it's only right for him to harvest the mutant's energy core.
The others began to nod in positive response to Marcus' words except Damien. When the others had noticed Marcus was not saying any more words because his attention was focused on Damien, they all turned to face the odd man who was sitting comfortably among them.
"What?" Damien sneered when he finally noticed everyone's attention was diverted to him. "What are you all looking at me?"
"Ashton will be taking the loot of this raid and everyone else has agreed to that…what do you say?"
"It's not like my opinion will matter anyway, you all will bite into my skin if I disagree with you." Damien shrugged and he began to walk away from them towards where the academy's vehicle had been parked. "I will try and bring this vehicle back to life…you all can start going back to the academy without me."
"Ashton…" Marcus called, nodding at him to go and claim the loot of that fight from the dead Zura.
Ashton gave a slight nod in response and he walked towards Zura promptly. He stretched his hand and touched Zura's already ragged skin and the moment he did, his system began to notify him of the new things he had acquired.
[DING!]
[You have harvested a level 4 mutant's energy core]
[You have received 50 gem points]
[A new feature has been unlocked]
[You have unlocked a skill]
[Skill: Fear manipulation skill]
[The fear manipulation skill can be used to instill fear into the enemy. To activate, you need one gem point for your current level]
"Ah ah ah!" Ashton laughed. "I like where this is going…it will probably make each battle simpler when I can just instill fear into my opponent."
"Don't get too excited. Some mutants can resist this skill." Callista warned.
"Oh!" Ashton reeled. "At least it would work for some other mutants…good skill!" He hissed.
"Okay guys, let's head back to the academy before night begins to settle in." Aurelia announced as she picked up her fallen swords from the ground.
***~°~***
The journey back to the academy seemed quite long compared to when they were coming to the Eastern part of that city. It also seemed to them like they do not remember coming through that way but they all shoved that feeling aside and continued their journey back home.
Ashton and Ulysses were the ones helping Alden walk properly as they both aided him from both sides. They told jokes to him and they laughed heartily as they walked.
Marcus had tried to join their conversation occasionally but all his attempts to chip something in always failed. Aurelia had noticed him making small moves to join the other boys and she found his act cute that she let out a small chuckle.
As they continued to walk, just straight ahead of them, Alden saw something running out of its hide out into another in haste.
"Guys!" Alden alerted them as it seemed he was the only one who had noticed what had scrambled out of its hiding place. He let go of his arm from both Ashton and Ulysses's as he had regained his strength for a bit.
"What's it?" Ulysses asked. "What's wrong?"
"Something just fled out from there into that store!" He pointed.
"Eh? Something?" Ashton shrugged as he looked in the direction Alden had pointed to.
"What does it look like? A mutant?" Aurelia asked, readying herself for another fight.
"I do not think so…it was quite small…like us."
"A human?" Jamil asked, his eyes squinting as he said those words.
Alden nodded and added, "Yes…it had better be!"
"We should go check it out but we don't want to fall into a sudden trap because we do not know what exactly it is as only one of us has seen it." Marcus finally said, his eyes darting about.
"I guess we should go and check what it is." Ashton suggested nodding his head at Marcus that they both should go first.
"Okay…you all should be alert and be prepared to attack." Marcus instructed like a commander would have done. He turned to Alden and continued, "You should stay down as you're yet to regain yourself."
"I'm okay now. Don't worry about me."
"Ashton, let's go."
Both boys began to advance towards the direction Alden had pointed the figure had run into and they made sure they examined every corner as they walked into the store alley the figure had run into.
They finally got into the store and Marcus who had been leading gently opened the door and he stepped in, Ashton who had been on the look out from behind also stepped into the store and as they walked about five feets into the store, they door suddenly jammed close from behind locking them both in an ethereal darkness.