Kael looked down at Chloe, who was still groggy and struggling to stand. Without hesitation, he knelt and gently helped her up, letting her lean on him for support.
The ground trembled behind them, the mana bear, though missing an arm, let out a guttural roar and charged one last time, maddened by pain.
Chloe instinctively pressed her face against Kael's chest, trembling.
Kael didn't even turn.
In a split second, black shadows flared from his body. His sword shimmered with deadly precision.
Slash.
The mana bear collapsed behind them its body sliced into multiple clean pieces, cut so swiftly it hadn't realized it was already dead.
Kael exhaled lightly and looked down at the girl clinging to him.
"You're really talented," he said, voice calm. "Just lazy."
Chloe's eyes widened. She quickly pulled her face off his chest and looked away, face flushed. "...Okay. I'll try to work harder."
Kael smirked slightly as he looked at his watch. He saw a flickering notification: +3 Points and Chloe received the same.
Good. Their team was gaining ground.
If our group tops the leaderboard, he thought, I can use one of the wishes to get a Book of Origin.
As they walked deeper into the forest killing beasts, Kael opened his system panel. A glowing blue interface shimmered in the air.
---
Name: Kael Vernier
Age: 16
Level: 7
Sword Art: Shadow Arts
Core: Awakened (Active during Cloak of Glass skill)
Class: Swordsman
Title: The Shadow Prince
HP: 600/600
Stamina: 412/500
Exp: 432/600
Strength: D+
Agility: C
Endurance: D+
Intelligence: D
Perception: D
Willpower: D
Mana: ??? (Locked)
Skills ↓
Story ↓
---
Mission:
Summon at least one Meta Being.
Kill 50 beasts in the next two days. (Progress: 26/50)
---
Kael closed the panel with a blink. Not hard at all, he thought. If things go like this, I'll complete it before Wednesday.
Chloe was still walking beside him quietly, occasionally glancing at him, clearly thinking about what he'd said.
By the time they neared the camp, Kael had brought his monster kill count up to 26 and his total points to 31. Chloe now had 20.
He glanced toward the setting sun through the dense treetops and said, "Let's head back."
Chloe nodded without protest, her gaze a little more determined than before.