Return of the Woodcutter

Aito took advantage of the night's relatively calm atmosphere to help the siblings raise their level. He had two methods in mind.

First, he assembled all the soul cores they had, and used the candle on them, hoping for some sort of miracle. However, he was severely disappointed when nothing happened.

The candle was a powerful item even gods wanted to get their hands on, but its applications remained a mystery. Aito theorized that maybe after recovering another part, it would unlock some new features.

Who knew?

Abandoning the first method, Aito took out the weak level 2 soul cores he had acquired thanks to the moderator.

"When I was in the goblin's nest, I absorbed a weak level 2 soul core," Aito explained to the siblings. "It expended my soul by a large margin. Though I'm not certain it'll help you level up right away, I'm sure that with all the goblins, hobs, and human souls you've absorbed until now, it'll bring you close enough to level 2 for both of you to attempt a level up before we leave. However, the process of absorbing this will be extremely painful."

"No matter, give it here," Sheyla said, practically snatching the soul core from Aito's hand.

Ogoro simply nodded and took it.

Aito watched both siblings absorb the content of their respective soul cores as he prepared recovery beads next to him, just in case anything bad happens.

It was a simple, yet a painful method for the siblings to grow stronger. With nothing else in mind, little time, and a meager understanding of the large topic that was leveling, Aito had no other way.

Ten minutes passed since the siblings absorbed the soul cores. Crouching, grabbing their bosom, Ogoro and Sheyla had pale faces as they gritted their teeth through the pain.

To help their bodies, Aito used one recovery bead on each of them. It seemed to slightly ease their burden, not by much though.

Thirty minutes later, their internal organs were in shambles. The siblings spat out blood all over the floor. Keeping watch over their struggles, Aito used two recovery beads to ease their inside turmoil.

Though, he did not waste his time simply watching over them. All his aura skills had leveled up, including his spell, Illusion Lv2. Now he could create up to three illusions that could move.

Since it was easier to picture himself, he spent some of his aura to create his clones. Although their movements were crude, robotic even, and required to maintain a certain focus, he was satisfied with this skill, for it would surely come in handy when he'd be able to make it a second nature.

An hour passed, the siblings still weren't done digesting the soul essences. In soul absorbing, there were generally three steps.

The first step was Suction, which was sucking in a core's content.

The second step was Digestion, which meant fighting the foreign soul to extract its essence.

The third and final step was Appropriation, progressively turning soul essence into one's own power, which could take some time that varied from one person to another.

Those three steps made absorbing a soul a lengthy process. Under normal circumstances, it was impossible to instantly appropriate essence.

Because even when Digested, a soul essence wouldn't be able to injure a challenger's soul, but it could deliberately choose to lengthen the Appropriation process, which always happened.

That's why Allan had found it weird for Aito to instantly digest, and also appropriate all those souls last night.

Well, leveling up could help. When a soul sensed it was ready to expand, it exerted so much strength, aka soul force, that it compressed every ounce of energy around it, making instantaneous appropriation possible.

However, that didn't explain Aito's abnormal digestion of all the human and hobs souls around him last night. It could be related to his new skill ??? but even the system couldn't identify it at the moment.

One hour later, Ogoro rose from his crunched position, blood splattered all over his clothes. A soothing feeling washed over him as Aito used two more recovery beads on his body. As the grey-haired man, rose, his glare was fiercer than before. However…

"I… did not level up," Ogoro said, but his gaze showed no disappointment, "but I feel myself growing stronger by the passing second. I do feel on the verge of a breakthrough."

Aito nodded, but his eyes were glued on Sheyla, still struggling with her digestion. He used another recovery bead on her. Cracks started appearing on her body.

"What's happening?" Ogoro said, his voice filled with worry. He instantly helped her recovery with a healing string, sewing back what he could. "Aito? What's happening?"

"I don't know," Aito said, searching for an explanation, but ultimately gave up. "There is nothing we can do but wait. It's her fight. She needs time. Just continue to heal her."

One hour and a half passed, Sheyla's body that was covered in cracks glowed blue. Her injuries rapidly closed as she lifted her gaze.

Ogoro welcomed her with a warm smile.

"You didn't lie, it really does hurt," she said to Aito. "But I reached level 2, so I guess it was worth it."

"Hum, it wasn't supposed to hurt that much, I think. There might have been something wrong with the core you digested. Maybe it was stronger than I previously thought. Hum, that bastard Allan…," Aito said.

If he was correct, the level 2 soul core hadn't been weak, nor strong since Sheyla would be dead by now, but something in the middle.

'I'm fucking stupid. Why didn't I check the content beforehand? Thankfully, she's fine,' Aito thought, then said, "Whatever, what did you gain from that?"

Sheyla took a look at her status window. Apart from the skill and basic points she had used, there weren't that many changes.

___

[Sheyla Ryu]

[I. General Info]

Death: March 15th, 2030

Specie: Human

Sex: Female

Age: 26

Height: 170cm

Weight: 55kg

Emotional state: Curious / Relived

[Lv Up!] Class: Lv2 Apprentice Marksman

Titles: Red Challenger, Ungrateful Woman

[II. Attributes]

1. Gifts:

- Acute first sense (Enhanced sight. Max Range: 1km.)

- Agility blessed (Boost agility by 1 level)

- [Sharpened!] Thrill of the hunt (+15% in reaction time and the speed at which the host perceives the surroundings. Boost agility by 1 level. Activates upon extreme concentration)

2. Skills:

Passive:

- Marksmanship Lv3

- Parkour Lv3 (Improves the host's ability to maneuver on difficult terrains.)

- Poison Resistance Lv1

Active: 

- Hawk-Eye Lv1 (Slightly increases accuracy upon activation for a short duration.)

- Piercing Shot Lv1 (The host's aura is infused into the arrow and gives it piercing properties.)

- [Lv Up!] Durability Lv2

- [New+Lv Up!] Frost Arrow Lv2 (Coat an arrow tip with ice element properties. Slightly stronger coating.) 

[III. Basic stats]

- [Lv Up!] Strength: Lv2 

- [Lv Up!] Body: Lv2

- Stamina: Lv2

- Agility: Lv3

- [Lv Up!] Mana: Lv3

- Destiny: Lv3 (cannot level up with Glory Points)

___

After careful thinking, Sheyla had used her skill point to level up Frost Arrow, since it seemed more practical due to its elemental properties. 

And her basic stat point went into strength for her to have an easier time drawing her bowstring in long mode.

Her body stat had probably leveled up due to last night's beating, and the injuries caused by absorbing the level 2 soul core. Durability and Mana had leveled up with her soul expansion. 

"Not bad, I also feel weirdly stronger right now, as if my soul aligns more with my body's capabilities," Sheyla said.

"Yeah, according to Gwen, it usually happens when our stats and soul level are more or less balanced," Aito replied. "Balance will increase your efficiency and produce better results than under unbalanced circumstances. Anyway, now that this is done, let's get some rest. And if you accept I have a special training for you guys tomorrow. I'm sure you'll like it."

Sheyla had plans of her own, but her curiosity drove her to accept Aito's offer.

"Hum," Ogoro pondered the offer, "I'm working on something at the moment. But so long as your training doesn't take half a day, why not?"

"Don't worry, it won't be long. In fact, you'll be able to return to your own training after two seconds, promise." Aito replied with an evil grin.

***

The next morning, in front of the cathedral, Aito's team equipped for battle, occupied a small spot in the plaza right next to a main street.

"This is messed up," Sheyla complained, trying to lift her arm, shaking with the effort.

"Such a peculiar phenomenon," Ogoro said, trying to take a step, but it required much more effort than usual to just move around. "What did you do?"

"I've increased the weight of your overall equipment by four times while privileging your feet and arms," Aito said. "Well, since Sheyla's new armor is lighter than yours, and she's stronger now, I've increased it by five times."

Ogoro usually carried around thirty kilograms of equipment, multiplied by four, it turned into one hundred and twenty kilograms now (around 250 lbs).

Sheyla had a new leather armor she had taken from a corpse last night. It wasn't pristine, but better than her previously shredded set.

Her weavedmail and pants weighed quite a bit too. Added to that, the other accessories and weapon, she carried around 20 kilograms, times five, it made for 100 kilograms.

Her strength wasn't comparable to Ogoro even after reaching Lv2, so Aito didn't want to overburden Sheyla, for now.

"You're already used to carrying a lot of weight," Aito said. "This much won't impede your movements after you're used to it."

"How long will it last?" Sheyla asked.

"Around two hours. Come back to me if you want more 'special training'. I'll be nearby doing my own stuff," he said, then left with heavy steps. The sound of his creaking armor with ten times increased weight, echoing in the surroundings.