'Seed of Chaos' System

[Ding! Quest penalty complete!]

[Ding! Quest complete! Perfect clear! Extra rewards granted.]

[Rewards: 50 XP, 1 Chaos Energy, new skill: "Bite", +1 Vitality, new racial trait]

Alesha breathed a sigh of relief as the hunger suddenly vanished, leaving her exhausted. She plopped backwards and laid down on top of the grass. Her eyes closed in relief, the cool, soft blades of grass feeling very nice against the exposed parts of her sweaty skin. Ah, apparently fighting that hunger had made her overheat? No wonder the air didn't feel too cold during the night. She laughed in relief. In all her years, she never thought she'd have to endure such torturous hunger. It had really lived up to its name as a quest "penalty."

Opening her eyes and turning her attention to her notifications, Alesha saw something she hadn't expected, and it made her mentally squirm a little. "Skill… bite?" Her fingers went to her teeth, which she found, to her relief, were completely normal. "Ehhh, System, what is this?"

[... I refuse to answer a question that you are perfectly capable of finding the answer to yourself.]

Alesha's brows furrowed. She could find the answer herself? Oh, duh. Not wanting to pull the awkward "I can't touch the Status Window because it's intangible" stunt that so many of the protagonists she'd read about would always do, Alesha mentally "clicked" on the notification. She was pleased to see that it worked. A new purple window expanded, showing the details of her new skill.

[New! Skill: Bite]

[Bite (active) -- Host's teeth sharpen and elongate, enabling her bite attack to deal notable damage. Teeth return to normal when the skill is deactivated. Host does not have to actually bite anything for teeth to change.]

"...Huh. Hopefully I'll never need to use that," Alesha muttered, closing it and turning her attention to the other rewards. "50 XP, 1 chaos energy, whatever that is, and … +1 Vitality. That's like life energy, right? Oooh I wonder," she said, pulling up her Status Screen with a thought. 

"Yes!!"

*****

Alesha Williams

Age: 22 [Sol years]

Species: Human [for now... hehehe >:3]

Racial Traits: (1)

Level: 0 

XP: 60/100 

HP: 11/11

Strength: 3 

Agility: 2 

Vitality: 3

Intelligence: 9

Psychic: 1 

Chaos Energy: 3/10 

*****

"Hey, why'd you leave the 'for now' comment, System? Please take that off."

[No.]

"... Well, fine then, I guess," Alesha grumbled, looking at her Status. As she had hoped, when her Vitality increased, so had her HP! That meant that the two were linked. This was good--game logic applied.

[Duh,] the System said. [Games just record things in a way that makes sense. I really don't know what other strategy a System like myself would use to keep track of your important characteristics.]

While imagining the System rolling its eyes, a question popped into Alesha's head. "Hey Rogork, if you had a physical body, what would it look like?"

[...]

[Please don't tease me with hopes that can never come true. I'm a formless entity and it does me no good to imagine what I might look like if I had a form of my own.]

This came as a surprise to Alesha. The System was usually so snarky and obstinate that it didn't occur to her that it could be so melancholic. She took a moment to consider. "I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me, wasn't it?"

[... a little. Don't worry about it too much. Just focus on your quest rewards.]

Still feeling a little bad, Alesha took a moment before looking back at her Status Screen. She still hadn't really had a chance to ask her questions about it yet, had she? About the "for now" next to "human," about what Chaos Energy was, and about what her stat values meant in relation to other people. She recalled that the System had written derisive comments next to all but her intelligence, which was by far her highest stat. Did that mean she was physically weak but mentally quick? That sounded about right. She had just woken up from an 8-week long coma, after all. And then there was this new "Racial Trait" thing…

She sat up in the grass with a start. How long has it been since the quest penalty finished? She needed to cover up the fact that she'd been out eating raw meat all night! Asking about the so-called "Racial Trait" could wait. Hurriedly, she gathered up the discarded packaging, rubbed the remnants of blood into the grass to hide it, and dumped the trash in a nearby bin. It was time to go home.