Sitting on the ground while leaning my back on a tree, I looked around. There's blood everywhere, the King Wolf's head was smashed badly that it was hideous. I looked at myself, I was covered with mine and King Wolf's blood.
My stomach churned at the sight, luckily I stopped myself from puking.
"I'm dirty."
The fight happened for about 30 minutes.
'The longest and worst 30 minutes of my life.'
I thought as I recalled my battle with the King Wolf.
"I only took one direct attack from it and I'm already dying, and that attack is just a normal one."
I muttered.
I just won because I was lucky, if I was bitten again and again I would die from excessive blood loss, that's why I locked the King Wolf in its position by stabbing it with the dagger.
"This sucks... I need some plot armor here or I might really die, you bitches."
I said while looking up at the sky.
And not long after that—the system came out with a message.
[The Transcend Beings were satisfied watching you struggle to survive and decided to give you rewards!]
'Transcend Beings? Oh, it must be referring to the Higher Beings, well I don't really care.'
What got my attention was...
"Rewards?"
I asked. It's plural... I got more than one?
[Yes, 'rewards'.]
Right after that, the system displayed my so-called rewards.
=====
[REWARDS]
-[System Shop]
-2500 CP
-Intermediate life potion x3
-Item Upgrade scroll x3
=====
Then 3 bottles of potions and 3 scrolls appeared in front of me.
Not minding that they came out of nowhere, I immediately chugged one of the potions.
It immediately took effect as my wounds started to heal slowly and my complexion got better.
Though I felt slightly sleepy and I could still feel some lingering pain.
[You'll be fine in half an hour.]
The system said.
"Oh, nice."
I didn't mindlessly jump from tree to tree, I deliberately jumped toward the base of the mountain while escaping the King Wolf. I did this for 2 reasons.
First is that I might coincidentally meet someone that can help me with the King Wolf, which didn't happen.
And second, to save time going down the mountain. The sun is already rising, now I only have less than 3 days to go back and attend the academy.
"I'm not even halfway down the mountain."
Snapping out of my thoughts, I faced the system.
"What's the [System Shop] anyway? I have a rough idea but still, explain it."
I asked the system.
[Well, it's like a plug-in to me, which gives you access to a shop. The shop has a lot of products that might help you.]
"Hmm, come to think of it.. You're pretty much useless until now."
I said to the system in a playful tone.
[Um! Rude! I appraise things for you and help you utilize mana and skills!]
It argued.
"Calm down, I'm just joking. Anyway, open the shop."
[Tsk, fine.]
Then the so-called '[System Shop]' appeared. Like usual, it's in a transparent window.
=====
[SYSTEM SHOP]
[Permanent shop]
-Low - 100 CP
-Intermediate - 250 CP
-High - 500 CP
[Collected]
[Timed shop]
[Request]
(Input Request)
=====
After that, the system explained the shop properly.
[Permanent shop] sells things that can be bought infinitely as long as I have Character Points (CP).
[Collected] sells things I got from beasts and monsters, their parts will be recorded to the shop so I can buy them anytime. The price depends on the rarity and usefulness of the product.
[Timed shop]'s content changes every month.
And the [Request] is for requesting anything from the Transcend Beings. They can decline my requests if they're too unreasonable. Also, if my request gets accepted, I need to pay CP. The cost is based on the request.
Well, that's the summary of it. I have 2500 CP as a reward.
CP can be earned by the Transcend Beings sponsoring me, or again, by gaining attention in this world I can also earn CP.
"So they're basically saying I should entertain them and they will pay me."
I hate that idea but I can't do anything about it, so I just continued my own business.
With my current CP, I bought
Why [Cat's Earring]? Look.
=====
[Cat's Earring]
-Has a unique skill
-Can make the wearer transform into a cat.
-When in cat form, mana and stamina recovery speed up.
-Increases charm by a rank when equipped.
=====
It's a single circular earring with a cat paw as its design. It's as small as a button. I chose color black to match my eye and hair color. The setting is cool and useful—it can help me move stealthily.
The best part is that it increases my charm stat.
"Why a cat though?"
I asked to the system. I'm wondering if there's a bat or something so I can fly.
[The Higher Being likes cats.]
"Talk about unreasonable."
Well, it's not like I hate this, it's still useful.
So I wore the earring immediately. I don't have a hole for earrings, so I made one in my right ear. It doesn't hurt much, maybe because I got bitten by a huge wolf for a minute that my pain resistance increased.
"Ah... System, can you connect the Spatial Storage to the [Ring of Gluttony]?"
[Yes, it's possible because of the ring's absorption skill.]
"Then please do."
[Sure, please wait a moment.]
I think the system is getting kinder, which is kinda weird, but nice too.
"Anyway, I'm gonna check my status first."
=====
[STATUS]
Name: Raven Obadiah
Rank: F+
Mana Control: F
Strength: F
Agility: F+
Stamina: F
Intelligence: E-
Luck: E-
Charm: F+
[SKILLS]
[TRAITS]
=====
I stared at my stat for a minute.
"I ranked up!"
Not just my rank, but my skills also leveled up!
"My charm!"
My charm increased by 2. One of the reasons is because of the
"But I don't have a mirror with me. How can I check the changes?"
As I was excited about my ranking up, the system reappeared in front of me.
[The Spatial Storage has been applied to the 'Ring of Gluttony'.]
=====
[Ring of Gluttony]
-Absorbs mana from anything.
-50% of the mana absorbed will be transferred to the ring wearer.
-When the absorbed mana surpasses your capacity, pain will be felt all over your body.
-The skill has a 60-second cooldown.
=====
It showed me the new feature of the ring.
"Oh, thanks."
[Sure.]
The system really did become nicer, well who cares. I approached the corpse of the King Wolf.
I stood in front of it and aimed my right hand at it.
Then I imagined its corpse being stored in my spatial storage.
SWOOSH~
A shadow vortex appeared from the ring and swallowed the King Wolf's corpse.
And the corpse disappeared without a trace.
"Good."
'I can use this if someone annoys me and I accidentally kill them.'
[Bruh, dark...]
The system said.
"It's gonna happen as long as I'm here in this world."
I responded to the system.
Sooner or later, I will kill a human too, and knowing that... A frown appeared on my face.
I also don't want to kill a human, but I have no choice in that matter in this world.
Anyway, after that... I stored my baggage and books that I got earlier in the spatial storage too.
Satisfied with the results, I picked up my gun and stored it in the holster on my waist.
"I have no bullets left."
I used them all up fighting the King Wolf.
I held the dagger in my right hand and drank a low mana and stamina potion.
"Now, let's go back."
Then I started to head to the base of the mountain.
There's less than 3 days before the academy starts. I need to move fast.
*****
Going down the mountain was way faster than climbing up. I'm jumping branch to branch of trees to avoid unnecessary fights and complicated paths. I'm used to it by now.
Anyway, because of that... I got to the base of the mountain in just 36 hours. I still have about a day and a half till the academy starts.
I morphed into a black cat, and being affected by the charm stat, I looked cool and majestic. I'm pretty fond of my black fur, because if I stand in the shadows—I would be camouflaged.
And guess what, I just snuck onto a rapid train. I didn't even pay for the transformation fee, lucky.
*****
About 10 minutes later, I got back to the apartment room that I was currently staying at. Because of how advanced the technologies are, traveling is now easier and faster, by a lot.
After coming back, I quickly took a bath. Not taking baths for days was uncomfortable.
Then after taking a bath, I packed things I'll need to bring to the academy and put them in my spatial storage.
I took out the books I got from the skeleton's room, laid down on the bed, and read them.
With [Understanding], it was pretty easy to understand their contents.
My reading pace was not fast nor slow.
But in the middle of my reading, I suddenly frowned as I remembered something.
'I almost died.'
I thought as I recalled what happened on the Red Wolves' Mountain.
"Looks like they can interfere in the story if they want to, for their entertainment."
I'm talking about the Transcend Beings.
The system said that they can't change a lot of things all at once, but it's still a problem as some things I don't know will happen.
I'm already aware that not everything will go as it was in my novel, but with them intervening, it'll be much more complicated.
"I'm lucky the King Wolf was stupid. It also looked down on me at first."
I mumbled in a weak voice.
"Being looked down on..."
I closed my eyes, remembering the King Wolf looking down at my whole existence with a sly grin.
"...I don't like it."
I got frustrated and annoyed, but I felt bitter about the fact that it looked down on me because I'm weak.
I'm pretty prideful myself if I'm being honest. I have an ego, but I don't have the skill to hold that ego high.
"Argh! Fuck it!"
I got annoyed and just continued reading.
But at that time, I made a secret promise to myself—that I'll go to the very top where no one can look down on me.
*****
I read a quarter of the contents of the book
I got up and opened a hologram window from my watch. I visited my site after a while.
=====
[Exodus]
Author:Night
Chaps:152
Rating:4.7/5
[Comments]:
<(-_-)>: Here, take my money. I'm interested.
=====
A lot of comments greeted me. Looking at them asking me for new updates made me feel happy.
As I said, I'm just recreating my novels from my past life, so I have the whole story already written down.
I posted new chapters.
And not long after that, it was flooded with comments.
"This feels nice."
My work being appreciated feels good. Forgetting the events that happened, along with my frustration, I fell asleep.
*****
When I woke up the next day, it was already afternoon.
"I must be more exhausted than I thought."
It was then, I noticed that I was in my cat form.
"What?! Why?"
I was surprised because I didn't activate the earring's skill last night.
[Calm down, I activated it because you were very exhausted. Resting in that form is better.]
The system appeared and explained.
"You can do that?!"
I exclaimed.
[Yes, we share consciousness, so I can activate your skills and items.]
"What? I didn't know that. So when my skills activated on their own sometimes..."
[Yep, that was my doing.]
My head is a mess right now. Then I suddenly calmed down... Looks like the system activated [Calm Thinker] to help me think and prove that it can activate my skills and items.
"So you can mess with me while fighting."
[Well yes, but I will not do so. If you die, I disappear. On the other hand, I can also help you in fighting.]
"Fair enough."
So that's why it can read my thoughts.
"Wait, if our consciousnesses are connected, how can I not feel yours?"
[I'm not a living being. I don't even have a physical body. I was created solely to help you, that's why.]
"That's kinda sad..."
I honestly feel kinda bad for it.
[It's fine. At least because of you, I exist.]
Chills ran down my back as soon as I heard that in my head.
"Stop being creepy. I can imagine you as an old man. Stop saying things like that—it grosses me out."
[You're weird.]
"You're weirder."
I changed back to my human form, and I saw myself in the mirror for the first time after coming back.
With my charm stat being
I'm now fairly handsome if you ask me. My sharp black eyes boosted my looks, pale white skin, deep black hair, and a pointed nose.
My thin body got some muscles from training almost a month.
"I was exhausted yesterday and forgot to check, but this is better than expected."
I did poses in front of the mirror while admiring myself.
"I may not be as handsome as the main characters, but I'm sure I'm on the handsome side."
I proudly declared.
[You're being creepy.]
The system then appeared again.
"Shut up... Maybe you're so ugly that the Transcend Beings didn't give you a body."
[...You know what? Fuck you.]
"Fuck you too."
I shrugged and ignored the system.
"Well then, tomorrow is the day. Let's get ready."
I wouldn't do physical training this day to be ready tomorrow, so I just tested some spells I learned from the books I brought with me. With the help of [Understanding] and the system, everything went smoothly.
Then I posted new chapters of my novel. But as I was doing so, a question suddenly appeared in my mind.
"How much money do I have right now anyway?"
I got curious, so I checked my balance account.
=====
[131,598] Zeals
=====
"...huh?"
I stared at my balance for 10 more seconds.
"THE FUCK?!!"
Then I cursed in shock.
I got more money than I remember. I thought it would be just around 15,000 Zeals.
"What happened?!"
I looked at my site and went to the donation page.
And there... I saw someone donated 100,000 [Zeals] with a message:
[If you have advance chapters, please send them to me. I'll just read them myself.]
'If you donated that much, I won't care even if you let everyone read the advance chapters I send you!'
I exclaimed inwardly.
The donation amount and message attached with it were publicly displayed on my donation page, and it caused an uproar among the people there.
[Zeal] is the currency humans use. In the past, while creating the novel, I thought that my country's currency was not known, so I created one for my novel because learning currencies of other countries is too bothersome.
The donator is anonymous, but there's a link where I should send the advance chapters, if I have some.
"Haha..."
A laugh broke out of my mouth as I couldn't contain my joy.
'I originally had 10,000 Zeals, and this one gave me 10 times that amount casually.'
This is not a small amount. It is equivalent to the lowest price of a
It means that I'd need to kill 20
Or 20 King Wolves.
"Huuu..."
I breathed out to calm down.
'Let's calm down. I'll make this money grow. Let's buy stocks or invest. With my knowledge of what will happen in the future and the help of the system, I'm gonna make tons of money.'
"But let's send them some advance chapters first."
I said, sending some advance chapters to the donator happily.