Sami's spoon froze mid-bite, his head snapping towards the door. For a moment, he thought he heard the door open, but it was still closed.
His heart raced, his hand gripping the spoon tightly.
Lyra's loud groans took him from his thoughts. "I thought the rabbit walking around was fake, yet there is a talking rabbit in the house." She whined.
Onyx's ears twitched, but she didn't say anything, instead focusing on eating the stew she made yesterday.
"In my defense, it was a complete accident; all I wanted to do was relax in the woods," Sami replied, lowering his spoon.
"Seriously, bookworm, I leave you alone for a couple of hours, and you find yourself in a secret dungeon!" Lyra screamed, her voice rising.
"Don't forget he defeated the Minotaur!"
Sami shuddered. "Ugh, don't remind me; I thought I was going to die fighting that beast."
"Mercer is going to kill me, he's going to fucking kill me," Lyra repeated as she slammed her head into the table.
"I think you broke Lyra." Onyx giggled, her whiskers twitching over her bowl.
Sami let out a sigh as he put his spoon down. He'd rather be eating this delicious stew, but since Lyra is his friend, he should try to help her out, or at least stop her from hitting her head on the table.
Seriously, the entire thing is shaking pretty badly at this point. "Come on, Lyra, I survived with little to no injuries. So everything turned out well."
"I healed the majority of your serious injuries," Onyx admitted, her eyes twinkling with excitement.
"Why would you say that?" Sami mouthed, looking at Onyx
Onyx shrugged in response, a cheeky smile on her face.
Sami shot her a glare before turning back to Lyra, "See, my summon is so amazing she can heal injuries!"
Lyra let out a huge moan, followed by hitting her head on the table one more time.
"At least, can we try not to keep repeatedly hitting your head, please?"
Lyra lifted her head and gave Sami a deep glare.
"I'm sorry!" Sami cried. "I promise you, I didn't choose to get trapped in the forest. It wasn't my fault if anything, blame the bunny for a bad spell!"
"Hey! I'll have you know the spell worked fine for years until you came along," she grumbled.
Lyra didn't respond, opting to continue glaring at him.
Sami squirmed in his seat, appetite lost.
"Next time, no going out on your own, or I swear General Mercer will be the least of your worries."
"Yes, Ma'am", Sami replied, hanging his head low.
"Glad we came to an understanding." Lyra pushed her chair back. She went and grabbed a bowl.
Onyx just snorted before she felt a pair of eyes on her. Pretending she didn't notice, and went back to eating.
Sami opened his mouth, wanting to speak up about the slight cut on Lyra's forehead, but thought it was safer not to. "Lyra can be scary when she wants to be."
⟢
After breakfast, Sami finished packing. He didn't own enough to fill his bookbag, so he finished packing quickly.
Lyra was sewing together some fur or something on the floor next to the kitchen table.
Onyx was lying down on the edge of the couch, snoring, a small bubble forming out of her mouth.
Sami joined her on the couch, holding onto the Minotaur's horn. "What is the academy like?" he questioned, glancing over at Lyra.
She didn't respond; likely, she didn't hear him because she's focused on a project at the moment.
He let out a sigh as he was bored. Suddenly, he sat up. He had totally forgotten that he got a bunch of stuff from the quest recently. "Now, how do I check the notifications and things I received?" he muttered.
[Say or think 'Notification' when the bell is on the top right]
[Say or think 'Status' when you want to check your stats.]
He quickly thought, 'Status,' and a bunch of menus appeared in front of his face.
◆-◆
Name: Sami | Level: 1 | SP: 12
Race: Human | Age: 16 | Sex: Male
────────────────────
Title: Novice Monster SlayerHorned Will
Class: Summoner | Summons: 2
────────────────────
Stats:
VIT: E15 | END: E19 | MAG: A80
STR : E10 | AGI: E13 | LUC: D20
────────────────────
Skills: Aegis | Binding Chains | Oathbound| Phantom Veil
Traits: Shadow Imprint | Pain Tolerance
◆-◆
[Stats Rank between 1-200, with anything after 200 being Special]
[E → 1–19]
[D → 20–39]
[C → 40–59]
[B → 60–79]
[A → 80–99]
[S → 100–200]
[EX → 200+]
"Huh, I see that they assign a number and grade to everything, making it easy to remember." He muttered.
[Vitality → Measures Health and Defense]
[Endurance → Measures Stamina and Stamina recovery]
[Magic → Measures Mana and Mana recovery]
[Strength → Measures Weapon damage and Physical power]
[Agility → Measures Speed, Flexibility, and Attack speed]
[Luck → Measures Critical chance and Rare loot]
Once Sami understood what each stat was, he started looking at his traits. Traits were similar to skills but didn't need to be activated.
[Pain Tolerance → Reduces incoming damage | Raises pain tolerance | Slightly increases Vitality and Endurance]
[System Note → Passive skill | Always active | No mana cost]
"Holy shit, this is amazing!" Sami muttered, doing his best to restrain himself from cheering.
Next, he quickly expanded on his titles.
[Novice Monster Slayer Gain → Gain 10% damage | Takes 10% less damage from monsters]
[System Note → Passive boost | Always active | No mana cost]
[Horned Will → Learns faster during combat situations | Skill growth increases when fighting stronger opponents]
[System Note → Passive skill | Always active | No mana cost]
"Hmm, that explains why I felt stronger when fighting the Minotaur; my title boosted my strength."
"So, what are you looking at?" A feminine voice whispered in his ear.
The sudden voice startled Sami, causing the menus to disappear.
He turned to see a person who looked to be about his age leaning over the edge of the couch, staring directly into his face,
"Boo!
The sudden shout made Sami jump back, causing him to fall off the couch.
"Oh, my stars, you should see your face!" the person laughed as she bent over the couch. "For the future, you need to be more aware of your surroundings and not startle so easily.
Sami sat up, lips turned downwards as he glared at her.
Lyra, hearing the commotion, stood up, being careful not to disturb the project she'd been working on as she made her way into the front room.
Seeing him on the floor, looking at the couch, she followed his line of sight and noticed someone laughing. Lyra quickly bowed, an action that surprised Sami with its suddenness.
"Teacher Veridian, welcome. I hope the trip here didn't cause you too much of a hassle," she squeaked, her voice breaking.
"Oh, Lyra, look how much you've grown!" Veridian whined as she lunged over the couch toward Lyra.
Lyra sidestepped the lunge, quickly retreating toward the kitchen.
CRASH!
Veridian ended up crashing through the coffee table, breaking it.
Sami found it confusing that someone so goofy could serve as the teacher his grandfather had assigned to help him.
Sensing the insult, she stood up quickly, appearing in front of Sami. "What did you say, huh, boy? SAY IT AGAIN!" she yelled. A deathly aura appeared around her.
"I didn't say anything!" cried Sami, kneeling at her feet.
The aura suddenly stopped as she tapped his shoulder light. "There, there, my child, all is forgiven." Her tone switched from angry to now more peaceful and understanding.
Sami took this as a sign to get to his feet. His thoughts rattled, his mind confused as he stared at the smiling woman. "I'm confused at who you are and how you gained access to my house."
"I am Anna Veridian, the woman who appreciates beauty found in all. I am a lover of love, and the greatest teacher at the Royal Academy!" Anna shouted, spinning around as stars shot up towards the ceiling.
Thankfully, nothing caught fire from the display. Sami still clapped his hand in awe of the skill she was showing with her magic.
Onyx sat up slowly on the couch; her voice laced with sleepiness. "Ugh, Sami, can you stop being so loud!"
Anna's head snapped toward Onyx. "DID THIS RABBIT JUST TALK?!" she shouted as she rushed at Onyx, pushing Sami roughly to the ground. "SHE IS SOOOO CUTE!!!"
Onyx looked at Sami in horror as Anna began to swing her around in circles. Anna crushed Onyx to her chest.
"Pleaseeee!" Onyx yelled. "Sami, help me!"
"NO ONE WILL TOUCH MY PRECIOUS! COME NEAR ME, AND YOU WILL DIE, STUDENT OR NOT!" A dark aura began to flood the house.
Sami looked on in horror as Onyx screamed for help.
"It couldn't get worse, right? My grandfather wouldn't assign someone unfit to?"
[Learn Spell → Sparkles]
[Yes/No]
"Thanks, Oracle", Sami sighed as he looked at the menu, clicking yes.
Sami turned his attention back to the scene before him, watching Onyx cry out and Anna hugging her.
Letting out another deep breath, Sami quietly went to his room; he didn't feel like dealing with these shenanigans for the day.
If he knew what was in store, he probably would've asked his grandfather for a new teacher.