Shitsubo carefully brought out the contents of the surprisingly heavy purse.
Immediately, he saw what was inside: some strange, dirt-brown sharp-looking teeth, a few dull, ash-coloured rocks covered in faded, almost invisible runes, and a plain brown envelope.
Just then, the tent flap opened up again, and another different woman, also in a crisp white medical garment, entered abruptly.
Her sudden appearance caused Shitsubo to instinctively, quickly hide the purse and its intriguing contents under his thin blanket upon seeing her.
"You are to make sure you immediately leave these premises when that IV drip is completely done, just like the previous nurse also told you to do before she left. Don't make me have to come back in here with backup to escort you out," the woman said, her voice stiff and impersonal, her tone leaving no room for argument.
And then, just as quickly as she had appeared, she immediately turned and left.
'Well, I guess my face isn't exactly welcomed here by all, then. Now that's much more like fuckin' normal,' Shitsubo thought to himself, a familiar cynicism settling in.
He then turned his head to look idly at the clear liquid content still in the IV drip bag, watching as it released a single, measured drop at a time into the tube.
After a moment, he carefully lay back down to rest his still-aching back.
Then, he mentally summoned the ethereal writing 'Unchecked Messages,' an option that is currently listed under the 'Codex' section of his System interface, and one that he has seen persistently blinking in his peripheral vision ever since the time he first woke up in this tent.
Unchecked Messages
[You have defeated Goblin-Golem]
[Level up!]
[Reward: 5 Status points]
[Level up!]
[Reward: 5 Status points]
[Level up!]
[Reward: 5 Status points]
[Bonus Reward:
40 Status points
15 Coins
You have acquired a new title: Viking
Specific Aggressors' parts can be sold as Derivatives in Codex]
' Dicing all those Hobgoblin and Rock Hob… I mean Golem levelled me up a lot... Fuck, yeah!' Shitsubo thought to himself with a smile as he read the messages.
'Hold up, levelling up takes a lot of time… That time I still had Evolution Pod, it took me 20 minutes to level up and the time kept increasing the higher I level I got, even after setting up the Reflex Evolution Pod.' Shitsubo realized what these Unchecked Message also meant.
He has gone through 3 level ups, which meant he has been unconscious for hours.
Shitsubo was first worried about it, but calmed his nerve since he still needed to stay for a few more hours whether he wanted to or not, he got to heal up properly.
So he pulled up his Profile.
**Profile
Name: None
Nature: Evolve Human
Level: 10
Title: Viking
Hit point: 99/100
Damage per hit: 40
Arcane Energy: 24/26
Arcane Skills
Shape-shift Lv.1
Arcane Physiology (None)
Power Status
Strength: 8 Heart: 1
Speed: 5 Vitality: 1
Stamina: 17 Energy: 9
Construct: 10 Cognition: 2
Available Status Points: 55
Trophy
"Having this ReflexEvolution shit really gets things done without me having to supervise a damn thing, huh?" Shitsubo said quietly to himself, adjusting his body to a more comfortable position on the surprisingly soft bed.
"I currently have 55 Elixir, 36Coins, and 55 unused StatusPoints. That last fight was almost fuckin' worth it, if it didn't also nearly cost me my goddamn life," he then thought to himself.
His mind replayed what had actually almost caused his demise – the unavoidable fact that his own body is still far too weak to properly handle the immense strength he can now generate.
'I originally thought Stamina, Energy, Strength, and Speed were the most important things to increase, mostly since I didn't really know what the hell those other attributes truly meant.
But that kind of narrow, ignorant thinking just made me over-exhaust myself and almost got me fuckin' killed out there…' Shitsubo stated grimly in his mind, recalling all the hard, painful lessons he was being forced to learn in just these few short days of having this System.
He looked again at all the PowerStatus attributes displayed in his vision and started thinking deeply, trying to properly understand each one of them.
Though Strength, Speed, Stamina, and Energy were already somewhat figured out, at least in their basic functions, the rest of them were still a bit unknown and generally unclear to him.
'I know for a fact I can't add any points directly to Heart, that seems fixed.
But I still don't really know what Construct, Vitality, or even Cognition truly do, or, more importantly, which one of them will actually make my body physically able to handle my own fuckin' strength without breaking apart.'
He couldn't really just test them out easily, because unlike obvious attributes like Speed and Strength, the others didn't sound very practical to just casually test out on the fly.
Then, he suddenly recalled 'TheVoice,' and its briefly written function description from before he had activated it.
'Umm…, explain Cognition to me,' he demanded, focusing his thoughts, a mental command.
[Cognition is the thought process and the senses of the physical body]
the calm, maternal voice responded instantly in his mind.
"It actually fuckin' worked… I didn't really think it would, not that easily," Shitsubo commented aloud with a small, surprised bit of relief.
The explanation itself was very short, almost too concise, but it was still something tangible to work with, a starting point.
"Okay, I guess the 'senses the body' part probably means the five basic senses – sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch.
But what the hell is a 'thoro…No, a tho-ught process' supposed to mean in this context?" Shitsubo couldn't help but ask himself, struggling with the unfamiliar term.
"Ah, it doesn't really fuckin' matter too much right now.
At least I now know what half of Cognition is, and what it basically does… So, I guess this means I can eventually upgrade my senses with it. Nice!" Shitsubo said, a small grin touching his lips.
"Alright, Voice, now explain Heart, Construct, and Vitality," he then ordered, speaking aloud this time, testing if it worked both ways.
'[Heart is the core of life itself]'
'[Construct is the build of the physical body]'
'[Vitality maintains life]'
the voice responded, just as clearly.
"Okay, I guess 'Heart' was pretty much a no-brainer, fairly obvious, but I thought I should at least confirm my initial guess.
So, Con-struct, that's the actual build of my body, and then Vi-ta-li-ty is what maintains life… Hope I actually pronounced those two right in my head," Shitsubo stated, looking again at the list of Attributes, still with no immediate, clear idea on how to best translate all this new information into something that he could more easily, practically understand and then utilize.
"But, at least now, I finally fuckin' know what attribute I need to invest in, so my own body can hopefully handle my increasing strength without shatterin' again.
Construct, that has to be it.
But how the hell do I know what exact numerical amount of Construct I'm gonna need to properly support a certain level of Strength?" Shitsubo pondered, a new frown forming.
It seemed the more he discovered about this System, the more damn questions he ended up having.
And the more questions he had, the more he hesitated in doing anything too rash or irreversible, a healthy dose of fear and caution now tempering his previous recklessness.
"Ah, fuck it. I can't just blindly try anythin' right now to see what amount will be enough, not while I'm still stuck in this tent.
I will just have to wait until I get back to the mall before distributin' my remaining Status Points," I declared firmly to himself.
He then mentally closed the Profile screen and immediately summoned the Codex.
**Codex
Buy Exchange
[Goblin crude club]: [3 Coins] [3 Coins]
[Goblin urine Lv. 1]: [2 Coins] [3 Status Points]
[Golem Hind Lv.1]: [20 Coins] [10 Status Points]
[Eraser Lv.1]: [25 Coins] [10 Status Points]
[Goblin bone dagger]: [10 Coins] [12 Coins]
*[Goblin crude club]
Item: Club
Grade: E
Category: Arcane club
Damage: 10
Energy: 90
Endurance: 120
[A club made of igneous rock that is bathed in the blood of goblins.]
*[Goblin urine Lv.1]
Category: Arcane Skill
Acquisition: Goblin
[Urine turns into poisonous liquid that causes 1 Damage every 3 seconds]
*[Golem Hind LV.1]
Category: Arcane Skill
Acquisition: Goblin Golem
[Permanently turn skin to an arcane-infused igneous rock]
Buff: +20 Points to Hit point
*[Eraser Lv.1]
Category: Arcane Skill
Acquisition: Flame-leaf Goblin
[Morph right arm into plant-based limb made of the root of Yggdrasil that can shoot out pure plasma beams]
Buff: +10 percent increase in Energy
*[Goblin-bone dagger]
Grade: E
Category: Arcane dagger
Sharpness: 20
Energy: 125
Endurance: 180
[A dagger made of the femur of a Hobgoblin and its bile duct. It is laced with a poison rune of goblin bile that causes extreme nausea and muscular pain.]
Debuff: [Extreme nausea: Opponent will experience extreme stomach pain that will make it lose focus for a while.]
[Muscular pain: Opponent will experience severe pain when it moves its body, lasting for hours.]