The bodies of the goblins lay scattered around the pit.
Eokimo stared at them for a long moment.
"…So now what?"
He hesitated, then slowly raised his hand toward the nearest corpse.
"Absorption… right?"
Nothing happened.
"…Do I have to say it out loud?"
He cleared his throat.
"Activate Absorption."
For a second, silence filled the forest.
Then—
The goblin's body crumbled into faint gray particles.
The dust flowed toward his hand like smoke being pulled by gravity.
Eokimo froze.
The particles sank into his skin.
A sharp chill ran up his arm.
"—Ah?!"
He staggered back, clutching his wrist as a strange pressure spread through his muscles — not pain, but density. Like his body had become slightly heavier… tighter.
[System Notification]
Trait absorbed: Minor Muscle Fiber
[System Notification]
Absorption Growth +2%
Eokimo flexed his fingers.
"…My grip feels stronger."
He picked up the wooden spear and swung lightly.
The movement cut through the air smoother than before.
"Okay… that's actually useful."
He looked at the remaining corpses with new interest.
A few moments later, the last goblin dissolved into particles.
[System Notification]
Trait absorbed: Night Vision (Minor)
[System Notification]
Absorption Growth +4%
His eyes twitched.
The forest subtly brightened — shadows softer, details clearer.
"…Oh.
Oh that's cool."
He paused.
Then frowned.
"…Wait."
He opened his status.
━━━━━━━━━━ STATUS ━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Eokimo Larom
Level: 1
Attributes
• Strength: 9 → 10
• Agility: 6
• Intelligence: 7
Resources
• Mana: 15
Innate Skills
• Absorption — Growth 6%
• Combine — Locked (Condition Unmet)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"…So killing things really does make me stronger."
A soft chime interrupted him.
[Ping — System Notification]
Find another Candidate – 0/1
Reward – Map
Penalty – Death
Time Limit – 2 Days
Eokimo's jaw dropped.
"What?! Death? Seriously?!"
He paced in circles, flailing his arms in frustration.
"How am I supposed to find someone I've never seen, in a world I don't even understand?"
He glared at the system window as if it personally offended him.
"And the reward is a map — great. Just what I needed. A map to celebrate my funeral."
He exhaled slowly.
"No… think. If there's a two-day limit, the other Candidate must be nearby. It wouldn't set an impossible task."
He nodded to himself.
"How long could it really take?"
(One day later…)
"—I TAKE IT BACK! I TAKE ALL OF IT BACK!"
Eokimo crashed through the underbrush, hair ruined and eyes slightly unhinged.
"I'm dead. I'm actually dead," he muttered, slapping a branch away.
"Oi! Candidate! Human! Anything! Answer me!"
Birds exploded into the sky.
"Great," he said flatly. "Even the wildlife thinks I'm annoying."
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"At this rate I won't even have a corpse left…"
Then—
"…Smoke?"
He straightened.
"That could be him."
Eokimo crouched behind a bush at the edge of a clearing.
"Footprints… fresh. Someone was definitely here."
He leaned forward—
His foot caught a root.
"Wai—!"
He toppled out of the bush face-first into the dirt.
"Ugh—!"
He pushed himself up…
…and his brain stopped.
A boy crouched behind a fallen log.
Not fighting.
Not cooking.
Not camping.
Very clearly… relieving himself.
Both froze.
Time died.
Reality collapsed.
[Ping — Quest Completed]
Find another Candidate – 1/1
Eokimo stared blankly.
"Y-You've gotta be kidding me…"
The boy looked like a deer struck by divine judgment.
Eokimo forced the most painful smile imaginable and raised a stiff hand.
"Umm… hello?"