A dirty, blood-caked figure was seen scrounging through the trash in a alleyway.
His figure small, His skin wrapped tightly against his bones. Barely a single muscle or ounce of fat to be seen.
"Haah, finally" he muttered. Pulling out a un-touched yet rotten apple, "haven't eaten in days".
The boy dusted off the fruit and began to devour it at a incredibly fast-pace. His pace akin to a wild beast meeting a fresh corpse.
[True Hunter System Awakening]
An entity began to manifest within his mind. Whilst eating Ray's vision became clouded with a faint fluorescent blue light, slowly taking shape.
'What is this?' he thought to himself. Watching the unique situation with faint interest, but as minutes began to turn to hours with no real change he began to get bored and pushed it to the back of his mind.
Day slowly turned to night as Ray began his daily chores. Helping out at the village farm, shoeing the horses. Although Ray is a orphan the village he lived in gave him ample opportunities to make sure he didn't die, but it was just that. Barely living...
And just like that he settled into his life-routine, scrounging for food. Helping merchant's with their food-stalls, Helping the farmer's tend to their crop. He would run around the village and try every job there was in order to survive.
A week later Ray was yet again looking for food, though this time from a abandoned merchant's stall.
[True Hunter System fully awakened. Binding... System bound]
A torrential flood of information appeared in Ray's mind. stunning him for a few minutes.
The flood of information slowly coalesced into a fluorescent blue screen within the deepest part of his mind. And quickly as if by instinct Ray interacted with it.
--------------------
System status
Name: Ray
Age: 10
Level: 0
Exp: 0/1
health: 32/50
Strength: 4
Constitution: 5
Agility: 6
Mind: 5
Skills:
Observe: 'A true hunter can Analyse its Prey.' Can sense all skills and stats of the target. (within a 10 digit range) +1 Mind
Tough body: your body has been strengthened from years on the streets. +1 Con
Deft hands: As a street urchin sometimes you have to put your hands where they don't belong. +2 Agi
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Ray's eyes lit up as the system status translated all of its internal meanings to make sense for the illiterate boy. He didn't have to read to understand what was written. and vague concepts like level's and Exp turned into tangible logic for him to follow.
"Is, is this real? or have i gone delusional from hunger?" he thought aloud. Forgetting his location is the sheer absurdity of it.
'what's this? observe? seems like it came with the system. i guess this is the easiest way.' As he was thinking about the implications of this system a voice echoed out.
"Hey kid get out of my stall, you better not have taken anything you street-trash". 'Shit, i forgot about her.'
Ray turned around to see a Relatively pretty maid rushing back to the stall. in her hands were some more food. "I leave to grab some more stock for two seconds and you grubby street rats already made your way over. Go scram" she shouted.
Ray's body by instinct began to turn and run, but just before he left he remembered the skill. 'observe' he muttered before leaving. his lips slowly turning into a grin.
--------------------
Name: Lyra
Strength: 9
Constitution: 10
Agility: 11
Mind: 10
Skills:
Maid training: years of work for the Silverskin family has trained you in cleaning, sorting, washing and cooking. +1 Agi
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time passed as weeks would flow. Ray slowly digested all the information contained within his new power.
He started by 'observing' everyone he encountered. from pet dogs to the village knights. and he gradually began to understand the relative values and skills around him.
"Hmm, it seems most peoples stats are around 10 points. once they grow up. and kids should be around 6-7 my age." He sighed out. As Ray was one of the only street rats most kids were a lot more well developed than him. taller and stronger.
Ray measured himself against the others his age and found out that he's a good half a foot shorter. or around 4ft tall. and skinny as a twig to boot. "if only i had the luxury they do" he'd often catch himself thinking.
alongside that he started to take notice of the differing skills. "if i want to grow stronger, and close the gap between me and them, i need these skills." His gaze settled on a knight nearby. 'Observe'.
--------------------
Name: Robert Silverskin
Strength: 14
Constitution: 14
Agility: 12
Mind: 9
Skills:
Military training: having trained in the military for a long time your body became accustomed to high stress. +2 Str +2 Con +2 Agi
Heavy Armor training: having trained as a bulwark knight, your body grew increasingly sturdier to shoulder such Armor. +2 Con
professional muscle training: you grew up in a rich household, gaining access to dedicated body training from a young age. +2 Str
--------------------
'i knew it. military training should be my goal. Robert silverskin huh, i shall surpass you one day.' Ray's resolve strengthened further seeing this.
"oi you dolt im not paying you if you don't handle the goods. get a move on" a relatively fat man kicked Ray on the back. urging him to speed up and knocking him out of his thoughts.
Ray kept silent and returned to hauling boxes. when suddenly a noise echoed within his mind.
'Ding!'
Though he couldn't check it immediately, Ray made a mental note to see what happened after his work ended.