"Why are you following me? You'd only slow me down." Lira asked as they wandered in a random direction. Her eyes scanned the forest floor for tracks and found some tiny tracks. She turned, following it.
"I wouldn't say that. I did save your life." Arin grinned. He held the gifted spear wrapped up in its cloth. Although he had his worries, the cloth stayed wrapped against the spear with ease.
"You've never gone hunting with the other hunters when we were younger. Vee tells me you still don't hunt to this day."
"I've been hunting for my own food since I've been living out here." Arin replied. "You keep in touch with Vee?" He raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised Vee even could write coherent words on paper with her personality.
"Of course. I'm not a monster." Lira rolled her eyes and lifted her hand, signaling to Arin to stop. "Let's focus on the hunt, hm?"
Arin was surprised to see how quickly Lira worked. In no time, they tracked the small Beast - a rabbit - and Lira quickly killed it and moved onto finding the next set of tracks until they had enough meet.
The two turned to make their way back. Lira started to retrace her steps, following their tracks back the way they came while Arin kept eyes on what was around them.
The two didn't talk much while on the hunt. It was a miracle Arin even got Lira to talk to him at all.
As they retraced their way back, they made it about halfway when both Arin and Lira felt something in the air. Arin turned, quicker than Lira, and noticed a floating shade spirit with hollow eye sockets. It slowly pulsed a green color before letting out a moan.
"Dammit," Arin tightened his grip on the covered weapon. "This is the last thing I wanted to see today."
"A Plains Ghoul?" Lira gasped. She saw two manifest. She dropped the dead small Beasts she had killed and drew an arrow, pointing the drawn bow at the nearest Plains Ghoul.
"These weren't here before. Why would they show up now?"
"It's getting close to night. That's when they're most active. Don't do anything rash! You'll only get in my way!" Lira released the arrow watching it sail at the Plains Ghoul and pass through its semi-incorporeal form. The Plains Ghoul let out a small moan before inching closer.
'My attack didn't have much of a reaction. Is it immune to physical damage?' Lira wondered.
Arin gritted his teeth and in one motion pulled the cloth off the blue spear, revealing it in its entirety. He rushed forward before Lira could warn him physical attacks weren't effective and thrust the spear at the Plains Ghoul, slashing diagonally.
The Plains Ghoul shrieked, rushing at Arin and swiping its semi-incorporeal claws at him. It passed his body, striking not his physical body but his soul. He gritted his teeth, jumping backwards as the Plains Ghouls moved forward.
"Physical attacks won't work!" Lira shouted. She fished for a specific arrow, pulling it out of her quiver and pulling the bowstring back. The arrow flashed as it was released, spiraling in white energy and piercing through the Plains Ghoul she had shot at earlier. The Plains Ghoul howled in pain, dissipating.
Arin jumped out of the way, turning and fusing shadow energy into the spear.
[Abnormality detected!]
The spear soaked in the shadow energy, turning the spear head pitch black with specks of gold and silver twinkling as if the cosmos were at the tip of Arin's new weapon. He delivered three blows to the Plains Ghoul, watching it explode in three large chunks and turn to dust.
Arin spun, piercing the next Ghoul and killing it in one strike before pulling the spear back towards him and sprinting forwards. With a mixture of Drakhar's Piercing Edge Art and Shadow infusion, Arin pushed forward, mowing through three more Plains Ghouls.
He reappeared thirty feet away, letting out a heavy breath as three more Plains Ghouls surrounded Lira. Lira rolled out of the way, rushing towards the special arrow and plucking it. She lifted it up, noticing the rings near the arrowhead. A single charge had dissipated as she notched it and pointed it at the Ghouls.
Lira quickly jumped to the side, lining her shot up with the three Plains Ghouls and released the shot. The arrow sailed through the first Ghoul with no problem, piercing through the second one and barely scratching the third.
The two ghouls exploded into dust as the arrow faded. The two remaining charges had been used and now Lira was out of ways to fight.
"Lira!" Arin rushed forward as the Ghoul's arms expanded. It was about to slam its arms at Lira who made a brash decision to rush froward towards the Ghoul. She swung her bow at it, temporarily disrupting the form as she passed with a strange creep running throughout her body.
Lira screamed in pain as she passed through and collapsed. Arin screamed her name, again, lifting the spear and charging it with more shadow energy.
[Abnormality has been identified! Rare item has been added!]
[Energizing Rune Spear]
Rarity: Rare
Bonus(es): While holding this weapon, you have +5 Focus and +5 Strength.
Effect: Cannot be infused with mana, but only Energy*.
Additional Effect(s): Starlight's Edge - The weapon is considered magical and can alter the spear with Shadow Manipulation.
The shadows coalesced as Arin released the spear. Lira turned lifting her arms and watched as the spear exploded through the Plains Ghoul's head, embedding itself into the ground.
"Are you okay?" Arin asked rushing over to Lira's side. She looked at Arin shocked the Hunter Leader's son had killed most of the Ghouls by himself with a weapon he was just gifted.
"How did you do that?" Lira asked. Her eyes focused on Arin and noticed the shadows clinging onto him.
'Was that the reason why I can barely hear him walk beside me?' Lira pieced it together. She gave Arin a perplexed look, unsure if it was magic. 'It looks like magic but… it doesn't feel like magic.'
"How are you able to use magic? I don't feel mana from you." Lira asked. Arin stuck his hand out for her, but she slapped it away and stood up herself.
"Not sure. It killed those ghouls, though, right?" Arin answered her question.
"You're not sure what you used? Do you even understand what just happened? You used shadow magic to fight ghouls! How does that make any sense?"
"Well, doesn't any magic work against ghouls?" Arin was clearly uneducated in this subject. He assumed magic was powerful against anything physical weapons couldn't touch.
"It doesn't work like that!" Lira shouted, furious. She hated the fact she had to look up to Arin now. The boy that was once small was now taller than her, strangely bulkier and now had saved her? None of that sat right with her. She let out a furious roar before turning and plucking the meal for tonight and marched off.
"Hey, what about the cores?!?" Arin shouted. He galloped over to his spear and plucked it up, acknowledging the System's name for it. He quickly scoured the cores he could grab, watching them fade from his arms.
[+9 Plains Ghoul Cores added to the Inventory!]
[750 xp added! Level up! 8 > 9 Total Experience: 4,450/5,500]
[+1 Stat Point available for allocation!]
[Shadow Manipulation has leveled up to 2!]
[Shadow Cloak has leveled up to 2!]
By the time they got back, a fire was roaring and the Merchant's family was pulling out some more rations. The Merchant's two girls groaned about eating more as Lira marched in with fresh meat.
Nocturnis noticed the agitated Lira as she marched over to the fire and revealed the fresh meat.
"Miss Lira, you didn't need to get fresh meat for us." The Merchant's wife smiled.
"It's nothing. Just think of it as repayment for taking me this far." Lira smiled, hiding her agitation.
"Well, dear, need not worry about anything else. I can skin these and get some stew going for tonight." She took the small Beasts from Lira and her girls circled her, excited.
"Well, excuse me. I need to wash up." Lira nodded at the Merchant before turning and ignoring Arin as he stepped into the sanctuary.
"Master," Nocturnis wagged his split tail as he made his way over to him. "You're back! Is everything alright? Lira seems… agitated."
"Mm, just leave her alone for now. I'm going to wash my face in the stream and lie down for a bit until dinner's ready." Arin replied, quickly moving across the bridge and to the other side of the stream and splashing some water on his face.
'Why is she mad? I killed those monster, didn't I?' Arin cocked his head, confused. He didn't understand people, let alone someone like Lira. She was always spouting nonsense like how he killed her elder brother. 'It's been thirteen years since that day. I barely remember any of it.'
Arin let out a sigh as he rose and turned to retreat into the tree house. The magical energies twinkled as if lanterns were hung to push the darkness away. He set the spear on its butt and against the wall before sitting against the wall near his makeshift bed.
Another sigh of relief escaped his lips as he closed his eyes and thought about what just happened. As if on cue, the System screen opened with his eyes closed and revealed his stats.
[Stats:]
+0 Stat Point Available!
Precision: 30
Agility: 19.5
Strength: 14 (19)
Focus: 18.5 (23)
Endurance: 12.5 > 13.5
Intuition: 15
'That weapon really did boost my focus and strength. What was it called again?'
[Energizing Rune Spear]
Rarity: Rare
Bonus(es): While holding this weapon, you have +5 Focus and +5 Strength.
Effect: Cannot be infused with mana, but only Energy*.
* Energy: A rare magical flow caused by the ability [Primal Instinct.] This causes all mana and magical spells to be converted into Energy which [Soulbound] Beasts can use as their Bond grows.
Additional Effect(s): Starlight's Edge - The weapon is considered magical and can alter the spear with Shadow Manipulation.