Valentina returned with a sour face and collapsed on the chair. "At least she will live…"

Her whisper earned a look of sympathy from Celia and Mio.

Ethan dragged the two out of the place. "She needs some alone time."

"You are right," Celia agreed and slipped her arms around Mio's shoulder, "Mio, what about your shopping? Shall we go now?"

Mio's brow twitched at Celia's over-friendly attitude.  She pried Celia's hand off her. "Sure. We will dump everything in your car."

"I should get a license soon."

'It'll be fun to isekai the wolves with a truck.'

"Onii-sama, do you feel uncomfortable with the mask?"

"It's fine. Better than dealing with crazy women," he said.

Mio and Celia already brought enough craziness to his apartment. Anymore will be tough for his heart.

The trio stopped at a supermarket on the way back and went on a shopping spree. Celia tried to pay but Ethan snatched her card and paid with his own. Celia blushed and tried to kiss him. A gentle slap by Mio dragged the heiress out of her delusions.

They returned home. Mio got busy preparing lunch and Ethan returned to his training. He learned many things from the guides and missed a few—the pain of self-training.

The day flew away in a heartbeat.

—x—x—x—

Ethan's eyes opened to the silver moss in the cave.

"Scan."

Soul dust Rank: Rare No information found in the Wisdom Archive.

Do you want to update the Wisdom Archive? [Yes/No]

Soul dust?

He curiously pressed on the yes button.

Nothing out of his expectations.

Ethan pushed the rabbit trying to bury him in their fur and threw the bag over his back. He wandered out of the cave and raised his gaze. A gray moon in the dark blue sky with twinkling stars as its companions. Earth's moon was a bit lighter.

With a yawn, he stretched his arms to welcome another day in Avalon.

"Alyssia, is it a good time to hunt?"

"With shadow rabbits at our call, it's the best time to go on a hunt."

He grinned at Alyssia perched near his leg and prepared his weapons. He hung knives and a pistol on a special belt he prepared back home while clutching an axe and crossbow in his hands.

He took a deep breath to restrain the strange excitement bubbling inside his heart. "Let's see how these stack up against the monsters of a fantasy world."

Alyssia led the way through the dark woods. As a bigger group might attract the stronger Spirit Beasts, only four shadow rabbits and the leader followed, suppressing every noise.

A stroll with a horned squirrel, who used to be a sort of vampire in her life, and the magical rabbits with the potential of becoming top-tier assassins. Ethan couldn't put an end to the rising incredulity. This wasn't how he imagined his life in another world.

A pinch on his neck put an end to his self-reflection. His eyes followed Alyssia's hand. A tree just like another in the woods.

'Wait.'

Just as he thought, a tiny glow caught his eyes. He squinted his eyes and peered closer. Eight silver eyes blinked; their owner was a bark-colored spider clung to the tree.

Every strand of hair on the back of his neck rose.

"Master, that's the weakest spider in the forest. They are extremely skilled in luring their prey to their sticky web coated in the Precious fruit's scent. In a frontal fight, even the weakest of my tribe can finish it off."

"You have a tribe?"

"I used to be part of one… but they declined to save Master. So I left."

Ethan rubbed her head with a finger, observing the thin strings connecting the trees surrounding the spider.

'No need to panic. It's just a bigass spider. Just unload your crossbow and get this over with.'

He glanced at the leader of the shadow rabbits. What could he call her? Leader? No, that sounded cheap. She needed a better name.

He picked the rabbit gazing back at him. "You will be called Lulu."

The rabbit cried softly in agreement. Could he form a pact with her too? The thought crossed his mind.

"Master, you can't perform any more Spirit Oath until you become an iron-ranker."

Iron-ranker—nine levels to gain before he could call himself an iron-ranker.

He sighed with an apologetic look. "I will try to level up fast."

Lulu nodded her head in a frenzy and spewed black smoke from her body. It wrapped him, hiding his presence.

"Master, don't worry. I will step in if things go awry."

He nodded at two and trod as lightly as he could towards the spider. He ducked under the web, clutching his weapons in his sweaty palms. He stopped a few meters before the spider. The hair on its thick joints churned his stomach. He raised the crossbow and pressed the trigger on the spider's head.

Swish! The bolt roared and struck the spider. Its legs flailed around, but the arrow kept it fastened to the tree. Its movements gradually slowed down and came to a halt.

Ding!

Level 3 Silver Spider dispatched to the afterlife.

Transferring Prana and Source to the hunter...

+3 Prana, +Source Points

A calm, gentle sensation surrounded him. A pulse of strength filled his muscles, giving him the impression of being an almighty.

Sufficient Source Points acquired. Commencing Level up process.

You are now a Level 2.

You can unlock three more Aspects.

Finally...

He opened the Aspects list and ticked the yes button under the Affection Aspect. 

Let's beat the demon lord with the power of love!

He rechecked his stats.

Ethan Carter Level 2 Prana Available - 3

Parameters: Health - 270/270 Stamina - 196/220 Will Power - 123/123 Strength - 16 (+3) Vitality - 27 (+4) Endurance - 22 (+3) Agility - 21 (+2) Intelligence - 16 (+2) Wisdom - 15 (+2)

Just one kill filled his stats page with numerous plus signs.

"That was smooth, Master." Alyssia strutted around, looking pleased with his first kill.

Ethan plucked the arrow stuck in the tree.

"Don't!"

Alyssia was a bit late as a stream of black blood burst from the spider and drenched Ethan's face.

"We need to hurry and find some anti-poison herbs!"

Ethan swiftly pulled up his shirt and wiped the blood from his face.

"This is poisonous?"

Wait, his 'Survivor's vigor' skill gave him minor resistance to poison.

"How strong is it?"

Alyssia stopped hopping around. "Quite weak, but enough to kill a human if left untreated."

"Can a minor resistance to poison stop its effects?"

"Absolutely! Master already has poison resistance?! How lucky can one person get?"

"Is it that big of a deal?"

Alyssia shook her head. "Any resistance, in general, is hard to gain. An unranked person gaining one is simply unheard of."

Lulu suddenly vanished, the rest of the rabbits still perched obediently.

'Where did she—'

Lulu appeared near his legs with a dark blue shirt pinched in her mouth.

"Aww… you are so thoughtful."

He slipped into the new shirt and cleaned the bloody arrow with his old shirt. Then, they headed for the second weakest Spirit Beast of the forest.

"Oh yeah, Alyssia. I got the Prana and Source Points from the spider. Can you explain a little?"

His gamer's knowledge might be wrong in some cases.

"Prana, Master. It's an external type of life force of any being. Like it doesn't affect your real life force as it stems from the Golden Tree. To put it in better terms, Prana is the life force of Avalon itself."

"Prana is merely a currency created by the Golden Tree to crystallize Aspects into Skills?"

"Yes, that's the simplest explanation."

"Then what are Source Points?"

"Um… Source is the combination of every energy inside a being. Soul force, life force, elemental energy, just to name a few. How much you gain from slaying a living being depends on your affinity with the person you dispatched."

Dispatched, huh. Even the system notification showed dispatched instead of killed.

Alyssia nodded her head. "In Avalon, it's not necessarily wrong to kill someone. The dead are given another chance to live after they pass the cycle of reincarnation. In fact, the Empire has a coliseum where people willingly bet their lives to be stronger. There are Clans, who sacrifice the older generation to the blades of the younger generation. To nurture and strengthen them. Even the Dragons deemed the duel a respectable deed."

Utter madness… He shook his head.

"Back to Source Points… If I kill a person, I am absorbing a portion of their abilities?"

"Yes…” Alyssia’s ears perked up as though catching a wisp of something nearby. “Master, there is a fight going on somewhere."

In a forest full of wild spirit beasts, fights should be rather common.

"Let's go. I might be able to killsteal with this stealth."

"Master, the shadow rabbit's ability to hide is useless before a creature two levels above them."

"I am fucked if we come across a level 8?"

"We can all gang up on it to protect Master!"

"..."

The declaration of the former saintess was scary and assuring at the same time.