Peter Sol Karr

Level: 23

Title: Slayer

HP: 1270/1270

Mana: 1150/1150

Stamina: 1800/1800

Primary Stats:

STR: 30 + 15 AGI: 57 + 6

CON: 25 INT: 15

VIT: 22 WIS: 15

Auxiliary Stats:

LUK: 22 CHA: 0+15

Free pts: 14

Skills:

Mind’s Eye (Unique) LV 4

Bandaging (Common) LV 1

Ghost Walk (Rare) LV 7

Body Enchant (Rare) LV 6

Mystical Mark (Ex. Unique) LV 2

Furor of the Tyrant (Rare) LV 1

“Ding!”

[Furor of the Tyrant – Rare]

[Passive: None]

[Active: Uses 300 Stamina and 300 Mana. Enhances an attack by 150% STR (2.5x STR).]

Although Peter desperately wanted to activate the skill again for a test run, he hesitated seeing the absurd amount of stamina and mana requirements. Stepping over the fresh corpses of goblins and gremlins, he made his way back to the hiding spot. Peter felt disgusted by James, who was hunched over with both hands over his ears.

“James, its over. There all dead, look at me.” Refusing to budge, Peter grabbed James by the shoulder and yanked him out of the fetus position. However, he noticed something was wrong. James’ skin had turned into a shade of green and his ears drooped down to his neck.

“What…the fuck happened James?”

“I…I don’t know. I don’t know! Scientifically this is impossible! I’ve thought about it so many times, but I don’t know what’s happening to—” In the middle of shouting, James began hyperventilating and blubbering at the same time.

“Hey…buddy, calm down okay. I’m sure there’s an answer to this.” Peter sympathetically looked at James, but inwardly shuddered looking at the small lumps on growing on James’ nose.

“James, did the gremlins touch or bite you by any chance?”

“Yes…that one over there bit me!”

Noticing one of the three gremlins, which he killed earlier, struggling on the floor, Peter felt somewhat responsible. ‘I knew I should’ve stabbed these bastards in the head and not the neck.’ Plunging his sword down, the gremlin heaved and breathed its last breath.

Peter looked over to James, who was anxiously waiting for something to happen. After a minute of waiting, Peter finally suggested, “Maybe it’ll take a few days?” James nodded his head in approval, hoping this was the case.

Suddenly a thought appeared in Peter’s head. “Hey…James, did you try opening your status window?”

“Status window” James muttered

James Gold

Level: 0

Title: Genius

HP: 100/100

Mana: 300/300

Stamina: 70/70

Primary Stats:

STR: 2 AGI: 3

CON: 5 INT: 25

VIT: 5 WIS: 30

Auxiliary Stats:

LUK: 30 CHA: 0

Free pts: 0

Skills:

-

Curse of the Gremlin (6D-23Hr-43min)

“Ding!”

[Curse of the Gremlin]

[Effect: After 7 days you will turn into a gremlin.]

“Pet…Peter, I have 7 days before I turn into a gremlin…” Unable to hold back his tears, James grabbed Peter by the foot and continuous begged him to help. Kicking James away, Peter ventured deeper into the clothing store and grabbed a scarf and a mask. Returning to the pitiful mess on the floor, he firmly pulled James up and said, “We have seven days right? It’ll be fine.”

Forcing himself to smile, Peter followed up and told James, “For now, put this on or else it’ll be impossible to look at you.” James stopped sniveling and immediately put on the mask. Peter could still see the lumps on James’ nose, but it was less noticeable. After wrapping the scarf around his drooping ears, James looked at himself in the mirror.

Hehe

“Soo mysterious James!” Peter complimented. Indignant, James gave Peter his infamous stink eye glare and flipped his middle finger. At the same time, Rem and Anne walked into the store carrying a bag full of treasure chests each. Shoving James out of the way, Peter’s heartbeat beat like a drum waiting for Anne and Rem to set the bags down.

Seeing Peter greedily gawking at the bag, Rem and Anne revealed the loot. There were a total of seventeen treasure boxes, including the one green treasure box that was dropped from the hobgoblin. Like kids opening gifts on Christmas morning, they ignored everything else and dug in. The trio opened four white boxes each, while Peter opened the green box and four white boxes.

Out of the seventeen boxes, there were four minor HP potions, two major HP potions and one Panacea. The rest were equipment and skill books. While most of the equipment were Common and Uncommon grade, there were three Rare grades. There were also two skill books.

[Crimson Blade – Ex. Rare]

[Effects: +18 STR + 10AGI]

[Skill (Frenzy): Activate once per day. +10 STR and AGI, -10 INT and WIS.]

[Mist Dagger – Rare]

[Effects: + 14 AGI]

[Skill (Enter the Mist): Sacrifice 10% of stamina per minute for double agility.]

[Coden’s Tomahawk – Rare]

[Effects: +12 STR +5 CON]

[Skill: None]

Although Anne didn’t get any rare equipment from her box, Rem saw Peter giving his [Mist Dagger] to Anne. As a sign of good will, he decided to give Peter the [Crimson Blade]. Surprisingly, Peter refused and even passed [Coden’s Tomahawk] to Rem. However, in exchange Peter insisted on taking Rem’s skill book, [Heal].

[Heal – Rare]

[Passive: None]

[Active: Heal 500HP for 300Mana.]

This skill was a game changer. Recovering mana and stamina was possible through rest, however health was impossible to recover without external help. Although Peter greedily eyed the skill, he dragged James and slapped his hand on the book. Without a second notice, James fell to the floor holding his head in pain.

Anne and Rem’s jaws dropped to the floor. They never thought Peter would voluntarily give James loot, especially after the declaration he made before the tunnel. As Anne was slowly recovering from the shock, Rem spotted something off with his father.

‘Why is he covering his face and wearing a scarf?’ Puzzled, Rem looked at Anne, who also shot back a confused look.

“Sir, didn’t you say my father would get no equipment until he fights?”

Peter nodded his head, but remained silent. ‘I have absolutely no idea how to reverse the gremlin curse and it’s my fault this dumb bastard got bitten in the first place. How the hell am I supposed to break it to his kid? Consider this my last strand of pity for you James.’

Watching his father stumble, Rem immediately supported him off the floor. However, the scarf loosened and Rem saw a long green ear. His eyes widened in shock and he immediately let go of his father. James tried to cover up his exposed ear, but it was too late. Looking at his son’s shocked face, James tried to form words, but nothing would come out.

Peter timely stepped in the middle of the two and whispered something to James. James dour expression took a turn for the worse, but he still nodded none-the-less. Dragging Anne away, Peter left the father and son alone.

“Un…Uncle, what happened to James?” Sighing with a sorrowful expression, Peter mumbled in a low voice, “He’s turning into a gremlin.” Anne gaped and looked at Peter incredulously.

“He said it himself.” Peter added

‘Is…Is Rem’s dad really going to turn into a gremlin?’ Anne shook her head in disbelief and thought of something terrifying. Unable to hold back her tears, she sputtered, “What about Rem? Is James going to remember his son? Us?”

Peter suddenly froze and his face turned pale. ‘That’s right…I had only thought that his appearance was changing, but what if he completely transforms into a gremlin!?’

“I…I… don’t know.” Peter gave a long sigh and mentally hoped for the best. Standing a few feet away by the storefront entrance, Peter and Anne overheard their entire conversation. Most of it was conciliatory promises from James to Rem. "Even if I turn into a gremlin, I will never forget that you are my son." Although this was meant for Rem to hear, Anne and Peter also clearly heard it. Finally, James reassured Rem that Peter would fix this and to unconditionally trust in Peter.

As a mercenary, Peter always made sure to never get emotionally attached. Yet, at this moment a combination of Anne’s tears and James’ conversation set off an avalanche of bottled up emotions.

'Damn, I grew soft...' Wresting his emotions and shoving it back into the bottle, Peter took a few deep breaths. When he opened his eyes again, he could feel the corner of his eye slightly wet. Quickly wiping away the water, his eyes flashed with coldness.

‘No, why the fuck am I giving up? Gremlin’s curse? Fuck you. I’m going to save James. I’m not a mercenary anymore, I’m a survivor now. And these…these are… my comrades.’ Since the father and son duo stopped talking, he stopped leaning against the window pane outside and dragged Anne back into the room. Rem and James shot a pleading look at Peter.

Peter returned a determined gaze. Looking into Peter’s eyes, James felt a bit of hope return. As for Rem, he saw an unwavering will in Peter that could accomplish anything it set out to do. Observing the hypnotized father and son, Anne wryly smiled and picked up the last skill book.

[Hell’s Gaze – Ex. Rare]

[Passive: Targets at the same level or below your level will feel fear.

[Active: Congeal the gates of hell. Inflict fear on those with a higher level.]

The book disappeared and Anne’s eyes began to sear in pain. Although she tried not to scream, her whimpers could be heard by the trio.

“Anne!” Rem ran to Anne and supported her up.

Anne’s eyes were oozing blood. Her eyes were tightly closed for another ten minutes before it began to flutter. Her eyelashes were crimson and slightly longer than before. However, the most shocking part was her eyes. Upon opening her eyes, they noticed her iris was crimson red and flickered with a flame like substance.

The flickering flame receded into her iris as Anne moved again. ‘What…what was that. It was so painful!’ She snapped out of her trance and noticed three worried faces. Cutely blinking twice, she let out a beautiful, deity smiting smile. Peter felt somewhat abashed and Rem completely flushed red. James, impervious to her charm, also flashed a warm smile.

“Anne, what, what happened to you?” Rem said

Feeling guilty about taking one of the skill books, she looked down at her feet and mumbled, “I…I’m sorry. I used one of the skill books without asking. I just felt a strong connection to that skill book.” Twiddling her hands, Rem almost fainted watching her cute apology. However Anne mistook Rem’s expression and thought he was still mad.

Peter had planned to pass either Rem or Anne the book, so he didn’t really care and shrugged it off. Separating the HP potions, he took both major HP potions and left the panacea and four minor HP potions for the duo.

‘Using a major HP is overkill considering their HP.’

Although Peter’s logic was correct, a minor HP potion wouldn’t have been able to heal Rem in the tunnel. He also took two [Uncommon] blades that were tailored for AGI.

[Double-edged Falchion – Uncommon]

[Effect: +9 AGI]

[Skill: None]

[Dark Femme Falchion – Uncommon]

[Effect: +5 AGI + 3 STR]

[Skill: None]

After everyone was armed and changed out of their bloody clothes, there were still two [Common] weapons left. Anne had the only pair of SYSTEM pants because it was restricted to females only. The group left the shop, but an eerie silence followed them until they reached the stairs to the second floor.

On the second level, they noticed three boars fighting one wolf. The boars were level 25 and the wolf was level 30. The three boars attacked in a pincer formation, which indicated that they were intelligent. At first the wolf easily dodged their charges, but as the battle progressed the wolf accumulated more injuries.

Finally, caught off guard by charges on both sides, four sharp tusks imbedded into its ribs. Anne and Rem were shocked to say the least. Although they were boars, they somehow managed to kill a natural predator. However, more importantly was their teamwork. Anne and Rem thought along the lines, ‘Can our teamwork not compare to those boars?’

Dragging their kill away, the three boars disappeared into the distance. “Surprised? Animals that travel in packs will naturally have better teamwork. Sooner or later, you’ll be able to do a pincer formation easily. For now, just practice your shield and sword formation.” Peter reassured the duo and signaled to move forward. Unlike the first floor, the second floor had much less room.

The walk-way was narrow and there was glass all over the floor. One slip could lead to injuries and as a result, the group stuck even closer to the window panes.

‘Why the hell do they build malls like this? Waste of god damn space. They should just separate the building into floors. Che. No wonder why all the goblins and gremlins are chilling on the first floor.’ Inwardly ranting, Peter and the group searched for the staircase to the third and final floor.

“Sir, I see the stairs across from us.” Rem whispered

The group moved in single line formation all the way to the other side. Strangely, on the second floor they weren’t attacked by a single monster. Taking the stairs to the third floor, Peter finally felt danger. Since they were too tired to fight, they avoided the occasional growl and opted to fight unless it was absolutely necessary. After the bloody fight on the first floor and their lack of supplies, the group’s morale fell to an all-time low.

They also noted that the wolves only attacked when their territory was intruded. Splitting into two teams and they searched the food court hoping to find canned food and water. Most of the bottled waters were ripped into shreds by the wolves, but there were a few left intact. Peter had ordered Rem and Anne to search the left court. Peter and James searched the right court.

“Hey Peter, I think there’s a wolf in here.” James whispered in his lowest voice

Peter walked over to James, but discovered it wasn’t a wolf, but someone.