"Wait, wait, wait," Noen said, holding up his hands as he looked at the field of pinned monsters. "You can just hold the beasts down, I'll finish them off, and I get the LP. No reason for me to struggle so much, right?"
Kaelin grabbed his own forehead in frustration. "Look here, Noen. First off, LP doesn't work like that. You don't get LP just by finishing something off. It's about the effort and doing it on your own—that's when you get them. Besides, I already told you, I'm not giving you anything for free. Well... almost nothing."
Noen rolled his eyes. "But if something were to happen to me, you'll be there?"
"100%," Kaelin answered immediately.
Noen took a deep breath. He pointed toward a small, two-headed red magical beast snarling into the dirt. "Okay, then that... thing. I have no idea what it's called. It looks weak."
Kaelin raised a finger, and the gravitational pull vanished from that specific spot. The creature charged instantly at Noen.
Okay, Noen thought, his mind racing. —If that thing comes from the front, I can sidestep to the left in the meantime and hit it from behind. If it tries to turn—
"Too late," Kaelin said.
Before the thought could even finish, Kaelin blurred faster than the human eye could follow. He appeared in front of Noen just as the beast was millimeters away and punched its head off with a single strike of his bare fist.
"Phew. You can really tell your Focus stat is under the last sow. You didn't even notice it," Kaelin said. He pressed a finger firmly against Noen's forehead. "You can't just close your eyes and think about God and the world while something is sprinting at you."
He flicked Noen's forehead with a sharp snap. Noen scratched the spot, scowling. "Fine! Then I'll take..." His eyes fell on a small, white beast. "That one. It actually looks more cute than scary."
"Very well," Kaelin said, releasing it.
"ROAHHH!"
The "cute" beast let out a roar and lunged. I'm just going to give this thing a real hit! Noen thought, winding up for a punch. The beast jumped, soaring over Noen's head. Noen's fist connected, but the creature didn't move even a millimeter from the impact.
Oh no! Noen thought, but Kaelin was already there, sending the beast into the horizon with a single, thunderous kick.
"That was actually good! Fighting isn't about thinking; it's about courage!" Kaelin hammered his fist against his heart and looked dramatically into the sky. Noen looked at him, very confused by his weird stance.
"I bet you've already received LP!" Kaelin said, dropping the pose.
Noen opened his system.
[Available LP: 3.5]
Noen's eyes went wide. "Wow... three and a half points. Is that how much you normally get?"
Kaelin nodded. "Yeah. Believe it or not, everyone—no matter their System Rank—starts at 0 with all their stats. The rank just decides how far you can actually level them up."
"Where should I put them?" Noen asked, still buzzing with euphoria.
"Doesn't really matter, honestly. They're all important."
[3.5 LP Points taken away from your available LP.]
[3.5 AGI added to your AGI Stat]
"Why Agility?" Kaelin asked.
Noen turned back to him with a sheepish grin. "Well, this way I'm nimbler... and I can run away faster!"
He turned back to admire his newly updated system overlay:
[System-Class: Noen]
[Title: The Absolute Zero]
[Role: 0]
[STR: -49.5 / 0]
[AGI: -46.5 / 0]
[END: -50 / 0]
[VIT: -50 / 0]
[FOC: -50 / 0]
[AFF: 0 / 0]
"Behind you," Kaelin said flatly.
Noen spun around instantly. A massive, bloated magical beast was already mid-air, its shadow engulfing him. Acting on pure instinct—and those few new points of Agility—Noen threw himself into a desperate roll. He felt the wind of the beast's impact whistle past his ear as it slammed into the earth exactly where he had been standing. The ground cracked under the weight.
"Please, for the love of everything, put your next points into Focus," Kaelin sighed, shaking his head. "You're literally oblivious."
Noen pushed himself up, dusting dirt off his suit. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it," he muttered, reaching out to swipe his system window closed.
Suddenly, the receptionist stumbled out through the wreckage of the shattered hotel entrance, waving her phone frantically in the air. "I've contacted Town Hall!" she cried out.
Kaelin froze. His playful demeanor vanished instantly.
"The government... several Beast Slayers will be here soon..." the woman trailed off as she finally looked at the scene. She saw the hundreds of monsters pinned to the earth by Kaelin's invisible force and the sheer scale of the destruction. She let out a piercing scream, turned around, and scrambled back into the ruins of the lobby.
"Crap. The government is coming," Kaelin said, his voice tight with stress.
"Why is that 'crap'?" Noen asked, confused.
"They can't see me," Kaelin said, his eyes darting around the treeline. He looked genuinely panicked for the first time. "I have to get out of here. Now."
"You can't!" Noen grabbed his arm. "What happens to me? Or the lady inside? If you just let these things go, they'll kill everyone! Even if you take the mark off me, they'll just go for the nearest humans."
"Then I'm taking you with me," Kaelin countered.
"And the receptionist? Besides, I have to be here at 8:30 AM because of my damn contract! If I'm not here, I'm the one who's gonna get in massive trouble with the government!"
Kaelin hesitated, his teeth gritted. He looked at the pinned horde, then at the distant horizon. "Fine. I guess I don't have a choice."
He stood his ground, waiting. Ten minutes later, they arrived.
The Beast Slayers moved with military precision, well-formatted and coordinated as they fanned out from their transports. But as their floodlights hit the clearing, they stopped dead. Their gazes landed on Kaelin.
"Wait a second..." one of the lead Slayers whispered, his eyes widening. "Is, is tha—?"
Kaelin didn't give them time to finish. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he released the gravitational pressure on the beasts. In the same motion, he reached out and snatched the Mark right out of Noen's chest, flicking it away.
Released from their prison and with Noen no longer marked, the hundreds of beasts turned toward the largest group of humans nearby—the government Slayers.
"They're going to get overrun!" Noen shouted, watching the tidal wave of monsters charge the soldiers. "And so are we!"
Kaelin let out a long, heavy sigh. He looked at the chaos, then at the terrified Slayers. "I really didn't want to do this," he muttered.
He raised his index finger, holding it perfectly level with the tip of his mouth. Then he spoke....
"Enhance: Last Authority."