Chapter 170: Benefits

Flying in the air, Cole abruptly lunged himself towards the brown, hideous-looking thorny toad monster. With his sword in hand, he struck down towards the unsuspecting beast's head, his decisive motion made the short sword in his hand pierce deeply into the beast's skull. Amidst the sound of the bones breaking under the sharpness of the steel blade a crunchy, mushy sound could also be faintly made out.

The whole event happened in a split second, the toad didn't even have the time to let out a croak before it succumbed to the fatal attack and sprawled and briefly spasm on the ground, becoming motionless a few seconds later.

With one swift motion, Cole retrieved his weapon from the shattered skull and wiped it clean with a piece of now-dirty, bloodstained cloth that he used for such activities. As the blade wasn't clean, to begin with, his action merely smeared the gooey substance all around the blade of the weapon instead of neatly removing all the stains. 

Cole frowned seeing this, his eyes darted towards the river, he really wanted to have a clean edge and fuller. However, despite his desire, he didn't dare to take a step towards the surface, afraid of the blueish, slimly, webbed hands pulling him under, forever vanishing under the watery depths of hell.

"That was incredible Cole! Nicely done! That should be your sixth kill." A clean and crisp youthful voice came from behind. A soft hand was placed on the brown-haired boy's shoulder, patting it lightly. 

In the next moment, a long, black-haired youth with slightly tanned, bronze skin and exotic, golden eyes walked next to him. He had a friendly smile on his face.

"Since it's your kill, you should have the honor to retrieve its Gall Bladder. I can't possibly steal this honor from you!" he said with a light chuckle mixed in his words.

Before Cole could react, the boy looked ahead and spotted another one of these monsters. The friendly smile curled up a bit more, his voice turned eager.

"While you are busy, I will get a few extras, I can't possibly have you take all credit after all!" Following his words, he immediately dashed forward. This time, however, he did not exert any superhuman feats, his figure didn't flicker, he simply charged forward. 

"Sure… let me do the 'honors'! You are so generous Aiden!" Cole shouted at his friend's back with the continued frown on his face before he approached the slain creature and crouched down. He pulled out a small skinning knife from his belt and began the gruesome process of cutting the carcass apart. 

While he wasn't really that enthusiastic about having the 'honor' of cutting the beast apart, he had to also admit that Aiden had no knowledge about what to do. He saw him how he retrieved the Monster Orbs from the Sahuagin after all! He was fearsome and brutal. He would most likely damage the important organs, not to mention he had no idea about the other, important bits and pieces, that they could sell for some extra cash.

So, while he didn't want to, Cole had no choice but to grit his teeth in annoyance and complete the job for the sixth and last time. At least for today.

While Cole was busy complaining to no one in particular and doing what was necessary, Aiden had already crushed the poor beast in a single strike. As the monster died under his hands, he swiftly lifted its body in the air with his left hand. Then he simply watched as the creature quickly dematerialized into particles and merged with the air, only to reappear inside his System's inventory, next to two similar carcasses he gathered along the way

With its assistance, he could easily obtain the required parts from the beast. Concentrating, he closed his eyes and sat down in a lotus position and looked towards the river's serene surface. He focused his will on the first carcass and watched as the system did its magic. In the next instant albeit not visible, a tiny dark red organ appeared next to the creature. Focusing again, he watched as the item vanished as the system consumed it. The notifications began to ring in his ear, giving him credit for the deed. 

[1 Thorny Forest Frog's Gall Bladder has been consumed!]

[Quest Objective Updated: Consume Thorny Forest Frog's Gall Bladders for Analysis 1 / 3]

[Starting Analysis… Estimated time for completion: N/A - Error: Unable to begin analysis due to insufficient volume of materials.]

Seeing the messages pop up, a satisfied smile appeared on Aiden's face. He quickly repeated the process with the other two bodies and watched with apt attention as the notification continued to pop and ring inside his mind. Opening up the last three, he confirmed that the same situation has happened as it did before. 

[Quest Objective Updated: Consume Thorny Forest Frog's Gall Bladders for Analysis 3 / 3 - Completed!]

[Thorny Forest Frog's Gall Bladder Analysis In Progress… Estimated time for completion: 02 hours 59 minutes 58 seconds]

The last message was about the Quest Objective update that he got when they completed the previous quest. What surprised him, however, was that the system seemed to be capable of tracking progression even though he wasn't the one holding the requested items, but Cole who should have no connection with it at all. He couldn't wrap his mind around it at all… How did the system know? Enya wasn't the one holding the reins this time, she was still 'out of commission'. Did the System itself have some sort of sentience? Or was it something else? 

He quickly shook his head, he shouldn't waste time dwelling on this matter, it was pointless. Still, he was even more determined to find out more about this magical construct that resided in his soul and lorded his every step along the way.

He sighed, and shook his head, trying to clear his mind from these troubling thoughts. Focusing on the last notification he opened up to confirm his last suspicion.

[Quest Objective for Optional Quest: Gather Thorny Forest Frog Gall Bladders has been updated!

New Objective has been added: Report back to the guild with the items to receive your rewards! (0/1)]

Sending out a pulse of energy, using his [Dark Sense], he found that Cole was still busy with obtaining the merits of his earlier victory. He smiled and while he still was slightly against it, he swiftly consumed all three creatures with the system. His body slightly trembled at the sudden increase in mass before it calmed down.

Aiden felt as if his body was pricked with tiny needles all over his body, that was quickly followed up by a familiar searing pain. The calm expression on the outside of his face slightly trembled as a result, before it returned to the serene calm that he exerted all the time. New notification began to appear inside his mind a moment later.

[Unknown poison has entered the body that had been neutralized by your [Poison Resistance].

50 XP has been granted to the skill: [Poison Resistance]]

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[You have received damage, your condition has deteriorated!]

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[Current Condition: 78%]

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[Thorny Forest Frog Essence obtained. Received 100 XP]

The messages repeated three times. In the end, he gained an additional 150 Points in his Poison Resistance, giving him a direct increase of 250 XP in the skill, bumping it directly to Level 4 from the original Level 2 while still boosting him to near the Fifth Level. While he did not feel anything during this level up, contrary to the satisfying warmth he could feel when his Soul Power reached a new height, he could still feel that the searing pain become slightly fainter after his level up. Also, his condition seemed to deteriorate less, by only losing 2%, and 1% after the fourth level up. 

In the end, his Condition and his skill were as follows:

[Condition: 76%]

[Poison Resistance (Level 4 - 75 / 100 XP)]

Strangely, while he did feel slightly weary after the battle, there was no pain, despite his deteriorated condition.

Another interesting fact was that even after consuming the three frogs, the system seemingly was unable to gather enough essence from the beast to be able to synthesize a new form for Aiden. He also only received 100 XP for the first body, and 50 for the second and third. This made him wonder, that was the essence less for the second and third, or did the system deliberately offered less for the consecutive absorbs? 

All in all, he still managed to net an easy 200 points, that would if nothing else, effectively double his rewards from the quests once they go back to the guild. 

After finishing his 'tasks', Aiden opened his eyes and stood up. Turning around, he walked towards Cole, who was also doing his finishing touches to the now mutilated remains of the frog he killed. 

As he approached Aiden had a wide smirk plastered on his face. He was very content with this first adventure they had! He had already gained so much… He had to fight gruesome, life or death battles for days inside the Pocket World against fearsome, brutal beasts, and monsters to be able to get similar results!