Red Monster

Red truly thought that he might have a better drop, but it didn’t answer the mystery of why he was left behind by his peers. He was late to the evolution that the goblin went through in level 10. A few of his peers surpassed him, though none of them survived the kobold’s attack.

That didn’t make sense if he had a better drop. He should have gone through the evolution first, yet here he was, still level 9. Even after getting the Mediocre Quality cores, he was not catching up.

It was truly something that he could not understand. It was not that he didn’t go through a chance. He was in a growth spurt as his height surpassed most hobgoblins. Something that he recently noticed was that most hobgoblins were shorter than him.

He let out a sigh, truly frustrated with his slow growth. The evolution would grant him a new power that would help him in the current situation. That would allow him to protect what belonged to him.

The enemy was not just the beast and the kobolds, but the goblins in the village could be his enemy as well. It happened again and again. He needed that evolution, truly established himself just like the Chief or the Shaman so the others won’t mess with him again.

Tsk!

He clicked his tongue, shaking his head before opening his window sheet. He checked on his progress as he had absorbed more than twenty cores.

The ones he got from killing the fleeing kobolds and the hob he just killed. That was more than twenty cores he absorbed. That should give him nice progress to the next level, the threshold for evolution.

Name: ???

Level: 9

Health: 251 Stamina: 201 Mana: 1

[Tier 1 Might]

Strength: 96 (+1.8) Endurance: 94.4 (+1.4) Vitality: 92.8 (+1.2) Dexterity: 95 (+2)

[Tier 1 Magic]

Intelligence: 141.2 (+2.2) Wisdom: 139.8 (+2) Arcane Perception: 138.4 (+2) Mind: 140.4 (+3)

Skills:

Tier 1 Skill: Mana Sense (Passive) - Level 15, Levelheaded (Passive) - Level 20, Appraisal - Level 18, Bleeding (Passive) - Level 2, Fireball - Level 5, Bow Mastery (Passive) - Level 5

Tier 3: Mana Smelting - Level 6, Mana Refining - Level 4, Mana Sharpening - Level 3 (+1), Mana Repair - Level 3 (+1)

Tier 4: Mana Forging - Level 1, Mana Tempering - Level 3 (+1), Mana Authority (Passive) - Level 4 (+2)

Tier 5 Skill: Infernal Berserk - Level 1

Red halted his steps, looking at the transparent sheet before his eyes. His red eyes blinked a few times, thinking he might see things wrong.

He was recently reaching level 9. It would take some time before he reached the next. His prediction was next week, and the fastest in five days. But here was the thing: half of his stats were halfway to their maximum threshold.

His Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Mind were halfway there. If he could keep this up, he might reach level 10 in two or three days.

’There’s something weird... Twenty cores might be a lot, but it should not give me that much...’

He noticed the difference as he realized that he got more stats than he was supposed to. This kind of increase usually took him thirty to forty cores with lucky absorption. He didn’t really pay attention because what he got was just another Inferior Quality core, but he noticed the difference.

"What changed?" Red muttered.

Another mystery popped up for him to figure out. It was the drop loot first, and now the sudden increase in his core absorption.

He continued walking back to his house, his mind filled with a newly found mystery. He first checked on Darla, who was still sleeping, then he returned to the chair outside.

Red sat there and mulled over what changed within him. He traced his memory back, and it didn’t take long for him to figure out something. Something that might affect his core absorption.

The achievement for killing an enemy thirty levels above him. It rewarded him with a stat tier upgrade, and both were now at Tier 1. That was the only change he went through. His Magic and Might were at Tier 1, and that might be the one that increased his core absorption.

The tier upgrade was the only change he could remember. He didn’t have a new skill or anything.

When he remembered the tier upgrade, he remembered something else. It was the glowing golden stone. He reached into his pouch and took out the shiny golden stone.

Because of what he went through after returning, he truly forgot about this one. He wanted to figure it out but forgot about the confrontation with the two hobgoblins inside and outside the village. Even at night, he had to take care of those nuisances.

He might forget about this stone if not for his trying to figure out what happened with his core absorption. He looked at the glowing stone and frowned.

[Epic Class Stone: Mystic Chef!]

It said Epic Class Stone. He assumed the stone represented its form as a golden stone, but what about Epic and Class? Mystic Chef also sounded mysterious.

He didn’t know anything about it, but it must be a good thing. He attempted to use the stone again, trying to use or absorb it, staring at the glowing stone, yet nothing happened. There was no notification, just like when he held a skill scroll or a skill book.

He tried to do it just like when he absorbed the core, yet nothing happened. Yet the stone radiated a calming aura.

"Do I have to crack it?"

Red grabbed the spear with his right hand, holding the stone in his left hand. He hesitated, afraid that the stone would be destroyed and end with nothing. It truly frustrated him.

Another idea popped into his head: mana. Maybe he needed to infuse his mana into the stone. He quickly put his thought into action, guiding his mana out with Mana Authority through his left hand.

The mana came out from his left palm, but the stone rejected his mana. He could feel with his Mana Sense that his mana was repelled by the stone.

He used around 50 mana, and he thought it was not enough. He doubled the mana to 100 mana in his second attempt. It was the same; his mana was repelled again.

Red almost screamed in frustration because he could not figure out anything.

"Is it because I haven’t evolved yet?"

That was a possibility too, but why did the drop give him something that he could not use? It never happened before.

That was when he was struck with another idea: maybe the stone was not for him. It happened once before: a skill dropped not for him but for Darla: Efficient Cooking and Ingredient Whisper.

"The stone might be for her..."

Red thought of waking her up, but he didn’t have the heart to; he decided to wait until tomorrow.