Nera almost said no, afraid to hurt herself. After all, she didn't understand what it was. But despite her fears, reluctantly, she said "yes" in her mind.
In doing so, she felt a very strong headache. She held her head in both hands as she moaned in pain. It was an agonizing pain that would make any normal person not think twice and kill themselves to end their suffering, however, Nera was anything but normal. She had gone through many experiences, constantly suffering from pain because of it; often she had wished for her own death. She could only endure this torment because she still hoped that she could one day escape and return to her family.
She continued to feel a lot of pain in her head that eventually forced her to pass out.
- The next morning -
Nera woke up face down on the bed next to the monster nuclei. As soon as she opened her eyes she saw something that baffled her: a window like an open but transparent book was floating in front of her face.
She got up and the window followed her movements. It was very strange. Luckily, she had learned to read with her older sister Elsa, so she started to read what was printed on the window that looked much like an open page from a book to her.
_ _
You installed the [Hunter Card] prototype.
Option to use inventory: accessible.
Option to view your status: accessible.
Option to loot monsters: blocked.
_ _
Nera looked at the image with a confused expression. Her two eyebrows were scrunched together, expressing her confusion. She had never seen or heard of anything like this before.
'Why was this item in my room? Is this also some kind of test I'm being tested over?' Nera was lost in confusion; the more she tried to think about it, the more confused she became about it.
'Prototype? What does that mean?' Nera wondered, not knowing the word which she had never heard of before.
But more important to her now was to know what those functions were. She didn't know what the inventory thing was, but she had some idea what the status might be. Concerning the option that was blocked, she didn't give it much thought.
As soon as she thought of inventory and status, two translucent windows appeared in front of her. One window was dominated by large empty spaces full of icons. There were six spaces going down and ten across, for a total of sixty icon slots. There was also what looked like a coin counter in the lower left corner.
In the other window was a panel which showed something telling her status-related information.
_ _
Nera
· Human race
· Current class: None
Classification F - Level 0 - 1%
_ _
Attributes
· [Energy] (Mana): 0.12
· [Strength] (Human): 0.58
_ _
Nera, although confused, tried to remain calm and comprehend everything that was happening. A few seconds later, she started to pant and the status and inventory window started to shake and close.
Feeling very tired, she laid down on the bed. 'That made me very tired. Do I waste my energy if I leave these windows open?' Although she was curious and doubtful about it, she could do naught but test and find out for herself.
Noticing how tired she had become, Nera started to feel her eyes become heavy, but before she fell asleep completely, she did not forget to hide the monster's nuclei under the bed.
-
The next morning, Nera was sitting on the bed with a monster core in her hands. While she meditated, she remembered seeing her older sister Elsa did this. Because of that, it was not difficult for her to imagine that it would help her to turn on the multicolored lights.
Unknown to her, Nera had been meditating for a long time. In her hands, the core of the monster fell apart, as the energy contained in it was completely absorbed by her.
'It's the same feeling that I feel when I'm very tired and finally get a glass of water to get rid of all the tiredness, but it's even more intense!' Nera felt immersed in the sensation. She didn't expect it to feel so good meditating using a monster core. Usually, when she did this, she felt very tired, but now she was feeling refreshed and full of energy.
_ _
Nera
· Human race
· Current class: None
Classification F - Level 0
_ _
Attributes
· [Energy] (Mana): 0.22
· [Strength] (Human): 0.68
_ _
'With just 1 monster core, I made 10 multicolored lights form. It seems that each light is equal to 0.01 energy and strength.' Nera calculated as she examined her status.
There were still 9 other monster cores each the size of a tear. She knew that these would help her a lot with sorting the colors, although it would take a long time for her to absorb them.
'It is better to wait until I get some food and then I can go back to meditation.' With that in mind, Nera went to the bathroom to shower to get rid of the sweat from her body.
-
A commotion was caused in the laboratory. Someone had stolen a prototype from the chief scientist in the lab; in addition, it was something the scientist had created by luck. He was still analyzing how he had managed to create it, but someone had the courage to steal it from under his nose.
"I want the one who stole it dead!" The man in a white coat said aloud, so furious that he even spit while shouting. It was like he could eat someone alive, he was so angry.
Upon leaving the bath, Nera went back to her bed. She was waiting for the guard to be able to bring her food. Then she could go back to meditating.
But... hour after hour passed, and nobody came to bring her food. Nera thought this was strange since it never happened before.
'Are you guys having a problem? Hope so!' If possible, she hoped that someone would discover the place and destroy and kill all these villains. But that was just her wish, which she knew would not be easily accomplished.
Nera, with her small frame, let out a long breath. It wasn't like she was very hungry. Because of that, she didn't really care if they were going to bring her food now or not.
But there was one thing she was sure of: something happened. Although she didn't know what it was, she hoped those bastards were having a hard time.
Yawning, she murmured, "I'm getting sleepy; I'm going to sleep. Apparently, they won't come today."
_ _
{Edited by: Azurtha}