After placing the bag in my inventory, I lied down on the branch and said with slight expectations in my voice, "Delta."
- "Delta is at host's service."
As I heard the familiar male robotic voice ringing in my ears, my smile deepened and I thought, 'Today's surely a very good day. Maybe it's because of the vermillion hue? Is Anufa blessing me with good luck?'
Putting my thoughts at the back of my head, I asked Delta the question I wanted to ask since the last few days, "So Delta, tell me why you were ignoring me for the past few days. And why did you only spoke now?"
After I finished my question, the robotic voice spoke into my ears.
- "Host requires enough 'Soul Plasma' to be able to talk to Delta. 'Soul Plasma' is the energy that the soul holds which replenishes very slowly and grows stronger along with the soul. To better understand, Delta shall explain in the terms of host's previous world. Consider 'Soul Plasma' as the internet and Delta as a website. Meanwhile, the status window is like an offline application that does not require the internet."
"I think I somehow get it. So, you're saying that, just like when I exhaust the internet I cannot access a website, if I exhaust this 'Soul Plasma', I cannot access you until it sufficiently fills up over time?"
- "The host has guessed right. Since the host has not yet completely recovered his 'Soul Plasma', Delta is going into sleep mode. It would take approximately 3 weeks for the host to recover his soul plasma completely. Until then, Delta will only operate during an emergency."
Beep!
"Wait, Delta!" I called out to delta right after hearing the beep but there was no reply. "I had so many things that I wanted the answers to but you just had to enter the sleep mode! It makes me so angry! Why can't I have a normal guide? I hate you Psais! I hate you Delta!"
After cursing and calming my anger, I lied back again onto the branch. The day was going so good but Delta just had to ruin it! After only 3 weeks would I be able to access Delta, which meant that it will take me some time to escape from this hell hole!
Sigh!
After letting out a heavy sigh, I closed my eyes and drove into an afternoon nap.
***
Slip! Thud!
After a few minutes of napping on the branch, I lost my balance and slipped, landing directly on my back.
"I think I shouldn't have slept on a tree branch without any experience. Ouch! Shit! My wound opened up!" As I looked at my back, I noticed that my soiled grey shirt was getting wet with blood!
The blood was seeping through the open wound which only just looked like an open scratch. Thankfully, the bleeding wasn't too much; so for now, I was safe but knowing how weak my healing factor was, I didn't decide to take any risks.
I quickly climbed back onto the branch, hung my legs down and balanced myself by holding onto another branch. Then, I looked into the air and said, "Status!"
As soon as I said that word, my eyes glowed with a yellowish hue and a status screen appeared infront of me.
[
HOST INFO:
Name: Alex (Deniel)
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Level: 1
Fate Points (FP): 00/100
STATS:
Health Points (HP): 53/70
Mind Power (MP): 0/0 [Locked]
Strength: 0(11)
Defense: 0(9)
Senses: 0(9)
Health: 0(7)
Mind: 0(0) [Locked]
Free Stat Points: 5
SKILLS:
(Unnamed category):
[Mining] Level 3:
You have grown proficient in handling mining tools. Your proper form and long practice makes you able to mine various minerals with ease. As the skill level grows, the ease of mining increases.
[Starlight Harvesting] Level 1:
You have trained under a master for how to extract Starlight Fruit seeds, plant and harvest them. Your methods are still crude but as the skill grows, you can effortlessly grow all the varieties of the Starlight Fruit.
INVENTORY: LEVEL 1
Space 1: (0.98m³/1m³)
• Slot 1 - □(0.01m³)
• Slot 2 - □(0.01m³)
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Space 2: (0.20m³/0.25 m³)
• Slot 1 - □ (0.05m³)
]
I went through my status window and my eyes moved towards the inventory. The inventory was the best thing that the system has provided me, atleast for now. I planned to store only water in space 2.
Space 1 had 3 to 4 slots. Each slot has the minimum capacity of 0.01 cubic meters. A slot could also hold multiple items but only when I command it to. If I were not to specify in which slot I wanted to put the item, a new slot would be created. If the item was less than 0.01 m³, then the slot will have some empty space but if it was more than that, the capacity of the slot would be the same as the item. I could keep adding more and more item in each slot and its capacity would continue increasing until the total capacity reaches that of the space.
"I wonder what would happen when the inventory levels up. Eventhough I don't have a single clue on how to do that!" I spoke to the air in hopes of getting an answer but all I heard was silence in the vermillion hue.
After contemplating about the inventory, I focused on the task at hand. I looked at my health points and realized that they have decreased due to my wound and bleeding. Then, I focused my attention on my Health stat and a small yellow window popped up infront of me.
[Would you like to assign stat points to the Health stat?]
"Yes. Put one stat point in Health stat."
[1 stat point assigned to the Health stat.]
As soon as I said that, a warm sensation flushed through my body. Just as it started to feel good, a burning pain engulfed my bones, then my belly and then my heart. As soon as I felt the burning sensation in my heart, it flowed from the heart towards every corner of my body. It felt like my blood was literally boiling!
Although it wasn't unbearable, it was very uncomfortable. I sat on the branch in a cross-legged position and started feeling the location of every burning sensation in my body. I could feel every bone and every single blood vessel in my body!
Although I didn't like the feeling, I could feel the bleeding from my back gradually decreasing. After a few minutes, the pain stopped and it felt good after the tension was released from my body. It felt like my bones and my blood vessels were just given a thorough massage!
I removed the shirt I was wearing and then the shirt I tied around my wound. The wound was still slightly bleeding but it was slower than earlier.
I placed my fingers on the wound and winced in slight pain as I touched the wound. Then I brought my hand infront of me, right in between me and the status window which I haven't dispersed yet. I felt the blood in between my fingers by rubbing them and realized that it wasn't as watery as before.
"My blood got slightly thicker but it's still not as thick as normal blood should be!"
I wiped my hand on the shirt I used previously to stop the bleeding and while looking at the light chlorophyll-green screen infront of me, I said to the status screen, "Add three stat points to the Health stat."
As soon as I said those words, a yellow pop up window appeared.
[3 stat points added to Health stat.]
After a couple of seconds of displaying the message, the window disappeared.
Again the warm sensation surrounded my body but it was slightly intense this time. I got myself ready to feel the uncomfortable burning sensation again as it spread through my body. I was about to close my eyes when I suddenly opened them in surprise.
'Wait! The pain is rising!' The burning pain kept on increasing in magnitude. Soon it started to feel like my bones, my blood and my organs were on fire! It felt as if instead of blood there was acid flowing inside my veins!
As the pain increased further, I couldn't hold it in as I grabbed the branches more tightly, unclenched my teeth and screamed in pain, "Aaagh!"
***