Half an hour later.
Mary was practically bored out of her mind. She was itching to say or do something. Anything. Sitting still had never been her style, and despite understanding how important this was for Ethan, the waiting was wearing her thin. Her fingers twitched, as if they might strangle someone if she had to stay still any longer.
Just as she was about to break the silence, the Frostgore Wolf finally stirred. It had finished eating. With a sudden urgency, it bit down on the flower's roots and dashed east, as if it had suddenly remembered something important. Ethan followed without a word, his steps soft and silent.
"Finally," Mary muttered with a smirk. "Time for some real action."
But her excitement was short-lived. Minutes passed, and the quiet, cautious tracking continued. The hunt was still slow, deliberate and maddeningly bland.
Ten more dragging minutes of silence and Mary's constant groaning later, Ethan finally stopped near a thick patch of bushes. His eyes locked onto something ahead. He grinned.
"Jackpot," he whispered.
Mary leaned forward, instantly alert. Through the brush, they could see a herd of five Frostgore Wolves in total. Two males and three females. The males were bringing food, laying it gently before their mates.
"Finally," Mary exhaled, almost trembling with relief. "No more waiting. No more watching that wolf play house. Go get them, Ethan. I want action. I need to see some blood! Hahahaha!" she screamed like a psychopath. It was clear her boredom had pushed her right to the edge.
"Do you want me to die?" Ethan shot back, half-joking and half-serious.
"Why? I thought you said these were C-rank beasts." She questioned.
"Technically, they are." He said with a hint of hesitation.
"Then technically, you can take them down, right? I mean, you've taken down plenty of C-rank monsters in the last twenty days. What difference does a few more make?" Mary pressed, still excited.
"The problem is that they're not just any C-rank beasts," Ethan explained. "They're the strongest among the C-rank."
"Big deal." Mary scoffed. "So they are a bit stronger. What does it matter to you? It'll just be a longer fight, right?"
"It is a big deal." Ethan re-confirmed. "They are so strong that they even fight B-rank monsters for territory and win."
Mary blinked, completely dumbfounded. "That's Dumb. if they can fight B-rank beasts, they should be B-rank, right?" Mary asked, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Blame the idiot and useless system." Ethan remarked.
"Excuse me?" Mary raised a brow. She raised her hands, and looked as if she was ready to go on a war.
"I meant the ranking system of us humans, not the Predator system." Ethan clarified with a smirk. "They wanted a monopoly on these beasts, so they hid their true ranking and all related information."
"How does that help? They're just suppressing the information, not erasing the creatures themselves. People should still be able to find and catch them, right?"
"Information is humanity's greatest asset," Ethan began. "When you block it, problems follow. Those who stumble upon the beast without knowing its true strength die, while those strong enough to hunt it overlook it—because they don't know its worth."
Mary stayed silent for a moment, her expression almost saying "Stupid humans," before she finally asked, "So, what's your plan?"
"I can defeat them safely using explosives, but that will not exactly work in my favor. It will ruin their fur and my ticket to get out of poverty." Ethan shared. "As for the unsafe route-"
Ethan fell silent for a long moment, deep in thought. Five minutes passed with nothing but the quiet sounds of the forest and the occasional roar of the wolves, until Mary couldn't take it any longer.
"Hello, Earth to Ethan? Are you in there?" she finally said as she waved in front of Ethan, breaking the silence.
He stared at Mary, before asking. "Mary, what do you think of my current physical stats? How powerful am I compared to others in your opinion?"
"Your stats?" She asked in confusion. But after seeing Ethan's determined eyes, she just exhales, and answered truthfully.
"While it is true that you can kill C-rank beasts now, if we are just talking about your physical stats, you are far, far behind.'
She then wears a pair of glasses and opens up the same 'All you need to know about the System' book and started going through its pages.
"From what is written here, you are around the same as a highly trained E-rank, I guess. Pre invasion version."
"I thought the same too." Ethan admitted.
Ethan then closed his eyes for a moment, as if controlling his nerve. Then he fished a coin out of his back pocket.
"You always keep a coin in your back pocket or is that part of a survival kit?"
"Force of habit." he replied, flicking it in the air. "Heads or tails?"
"You're doing a coin toss now?"
"Choose," Ethan replied with a grim and heavy voice.
"Ah, okay, tails," Mary said in a hurry.
The coin gave a few toss in the air as it clattered down and showed heads.
"Looks like I win," Ethan said with a small smile.
"What just happened? Why did you even do a coin toss? What did you even win?" Mary asked, her curiosity piqued.
But before she could say anything else, Ethan spoke up. "Alright, now then choose. Option 1 or option 2?"
"Ok, what is happening? I just asked what your plan for taking down the wolf was. Why are you-" Mary began, but was interrupted by Ethan.
"Just choose."
"Can I at least know what these options are?" She asked.
"No. Now choose one quickly before the prey runs away." Ethan spoke up.
"Alright fine. Option one then." She screamed the answer.
Ethan smirked. "Nice choice."
"What choice? Will you just tell me what is going on?" Mary screamed, completely baffled.
Ethan however did not respond. He kept looking at his right hand as he clenched and opened it again and again, as if evaluating his current strength.
"Mary," Ethan said in a low, serious voice, "Whatever you do, don't talk to me for a while, okay? I need to be totally focused."
Mary screeched in a language that no human could understood. It was clear that she was very frustrated with what was going on. However when she finally stopped, she looked at Ethans eyes and got completely baffled. They were full of seriousness with a hint of fear.
She huffed, "Fine. I won't say anything to the big, busy man. Don't worry." She pouted and turned her back to him, showing passive aggression.
Ethan let out a small, sad laugh. "Sorry for that. I really do need to focus."
Mary did not look at him and just gave him a silent back.
He kept chuckling. "Also, don't freak out if there are some bloodwork. I'll live just fine," he murmured.
Mary turned around again, her face full of concern. "What do you mean, bloodwork? Just what do you plan to do?"
Still smiling, he replied, "Break the limit, I guess". He then closed his eyes, and the silence that followed was eerie, like the whole forest had stopped breathing. It was as if there was a tornado brewing and he was the eye of that tornado.
However, the silence was soon broken by a loud mechanic voice.
⚠ ⚠ ⚠
Warning.
Stats are being forcefully changed.
Warning.
⚠ ⚠ ⚠
Mary's eyes widened as she saw the warning message from the system. The system interface glitched and buzzed like it was short-circuiting.
"Just what is happening?!" she cried out, floating closer in a panic. Her voice trembled, more confused than ever.
She quickly summoned Ethan's status window, hoping to find some clue. But the moment it opened, her voice caught in her throat.
"No way..."
One by one, Ethan's stats started shifting, no, skyrocketing. His strength, speed, endurance, and all the stats except intelligence started climbing at a terrifying speed, going way beyond anything she'd ever seen.
The numbers blurred, increasing so fast they were almost unreadable. It was like the system couldn't keep up, lines of data flickering and glitching as they tried to adjust to whatever was happening to him.
Ethan, still with his eyes closed, clenched his jaw. His body trembled, his muscles twitching like they were struggling to keep up. Sweat rolled down his face as his expression kept changing. Sometimes it showed intense focus and sometimes, pure raw pain.
Veins started appearing within his temple area. They started throbbing, almost as if they were alive. His breathing continued to grow uneven, and his fists were curled into a ball. Whatever was happening, it wasn't easy.
Mary hovered helplessly, her hands clutched tightly to her chest. "Ethan, are you okay?! Say something!"
But he didn't respond. His eyes were squeezed shut, every muscle in his face drained. It was as if even the smallest sound might unravel something terrible, like he was holding back a storm with sheer will.
After a while, the wild surge finally began to slow. The numbers in the status window stopped jumping. The final values have finally settled. But, they were still far higher than anything Ethan should have had at his level.
Status Screen Name Ethan Title None Stats Strength 32>105 Speed 30>97 Stamina 32>102 Vitality 29>92 Intelligence 48 Dexterity 28>99 Status Effects Unknown
Just what's happening? Why did Ethan's stats suddenly spike so high? Are we finally about to witness one of the two secret techniques he hinted at before?
Stay tuned—tomorrow's chapter might just have the answers.