Level: 12 (5/100)

  You have 4 points to distribute among your stats!

  Your mana has been fully restored!

  You have unlocked a new personal skill! Skill: Absorption [Level 1]

  Absorption: Allows you to absorb a spell cast against you and return it with the same power within a 1 minute window. (5 minute cooldown)

  "Well, it looks like I finally got something useful out of this scum," Kai muttered.

  He looked at his status panel.

  STATS

  Strength: 14

  Speed: 17

  Endurance: 13

  Intelligence: 18

  Mana: 600/600

  Perception: 23

  After thinking it over for a few seconds, he made his decision.

  STATS

  Strength: 16

  Speed: 17

  Endurance: 13

  Intelligence: 18

  Mana: 600/600

  Perception: 25

  After increasing his stats, Kai walked toward the blocked path.

  "Lyla? Allice?"

  "Kai!" Lyla called out, her voice laced with worry. "Are you okay? We can’t get in without collapsing the whole cave."

  "I’m fine, I’m fine," Kai replied. "Maybe if I help from this side, we can clear these rocks."

  The three of them struggled to clear the path, finally breaking through after several attempts. Lyla threw herself onto Kai the moment she saw him, ignoring the blood on his clothes and the corpses scattered around.

  "I was so worried about you, sweetheart." Lyla stroked his head, as she always did.

  Allice took a look around the area. "Did you do all of this?"

  "Yeah... they wanted to kill me so they could..." Kai cleared his throat. "So they could take you both with them. They were idiots to think they could pull something like that against you."

  Allice let out a small chuckle. "It seems the 'Hero Kai' is slowly returning."

  Lyla finally stepped back.

  "Putting that aside, I’ve unlocked a skill from the System. I’d like to test it out," Kai said.

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  Allice and Lyla exchanged looks. "What do we need to do?"

  "I need one of you to cast a spell at me, first a weak one, then a strong one."

  "I’ll do it," Allice volunteered. "First, I’ll throw a small fireball, and then my fire arrow with everything I’ve got."

  "Perfect. Let’s go."

  Kai and Allice positioned themselves opposite each other while Lyla watched, looking a bit concerned.

  "Fireball!" Allice recited, firing a small sphere of flame at high speed.

  "Absorption!" Kai held his hand out in front of him.

  Just before impact, the fireball vanished completely.

  You have absorbed a spell. To return it, recite "Expulsion."

  "What happened? What did you do?" Allice asked in confusion, while Lyla looked on proudly.

  "I absorbed your attack, and now I can fire it back within a maximum of one minute," Kai explained. With his hand still in position, he recited, "Expulsion!"

  The fireball reappeared, but this time it was heading straight for Allice. She dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the blast.

  "Wow, that’s truly impressive," she remarked.

  "The downside is I can’t do it all the time. I have to wait five minutes to use it again," Kai noted.

  Lyla stepped in. "Well, while it recharges for the fire arrow, let’s see if these guys had anything of value on them."

  "Sounds good. Allice, search that archer over there, try not to get too much blood on yourself," Kai said with a light laugh.

  Kai approached Varg’s body and searched it, pulling out a bag containing 80 silver coins.

  "Well, well, we have a prize here." Kai held up the bag. "80 silver coins. With this, we can go get a good meal, we’ve earned it."

  "This one doesn't have anything," Lyla said, moving away from a body.

  "Neither does this one," Allice added, walking toward Kai.

  "Wait, it looks like this piece of human trash has something else." Kai pulled out a piece of paper. He read it carefully. "It seems to be directions to a meeting point. It looks important."

  Kai showed them the paper. "Should we go? Even if it's just to watch from a distance. Knowing what these guys were like, I’m worried it could be something serious."

  Allice and Lyla thought for a moment.

  "It would be too much exposure. I’m not sure we should go," Lyla replied.

  Allice nodded. "Master Lyla is right. She said you had to keep a low profile."

  "I know, I know, but I won't be able to rest easy." Kai looked Lyla in the eyes. "Please, Lyla."

  She hesitated for several seconds before finally sighing. "Alright, but only from a distance," she answered calmly. Then, a mischievous smile formed on her face. "And tonight at the inn, you’ll sleep with your arms around me."

  Kai blushed but didn't refuse. "Fine. But we have to hurry. It says here the delivery is at dusk, and there shouldn't be much time left."

  "Let's head out then."

  "Wait," Kai turned to Allice. "Please fire your most powerful fire arrow at me, just to check something. The skill has already recharged."

  Allice nodded and recited the spell. Instantly, a fire arrow radiating intense heat shot toward Kai.

  "Absorption!" he shouted, hand in position.

  Extraction failed. Spell is too powerful for the current skill level.

  Kai quickly dove out of the spell’s path. The arrow impacted the cave rocks, creating a deep hole that made the entire cavern tremble.

  "What happened?" Allice asked.

  "It’s as I thought. My skill isn't high enough level yet to absorb spells that strong."

  "We should get out of here. We almost brought the whole cave down with that," Lyla remarked.

  The three of them retraced their steps to leave the cave. After a while, they reached the exit, the sun was beginning to vanish from the sky, taking its light with it.

  "It’s already getting dark. We need to hurry to the meeting point," Kai urged.

  Lyla led the way as the darkness of night grew more evident. They walked for a long time until they finally neared the location. They climbed a nearby hill and hid behind bushes, rocks, and trees, waiting to see whatever was about to happen.

  A carriage appeared in the distance. After a few seconds, it stopped exactly at the spot indicated on the paper.

  "That must be what they were talking about."

  Several men climbed out of the carriage, about ten in total.

  "That’s a lot of people for something simple. It must be important," Allice whispered.

  The men then pulled someone else out of the carriage, an elf, her hands and feet completely bound in chains.

  "Is that... an elf? What is she doing like that?"

  They struck her, forcing her to her knees on the ground. Kai felt a surge of rage coursing through his body.

  "I see what’s going on now," Lyla stated. "They likely kidnapped her to sell her. There’s a very active black market for all sorts of things. Elves are usually sold into prostitution, slavery, or for dangerous missions. Most have a great knowledge of magic and tend to become powerful mages."

  "And those three bastards were going to buy her. That’s why they had so many silver coins," Kai realized.

  "We have to do something," Allice said.

  They both looked at Lyla.

  "I know I said we had to keep a low profile, but we can't ignore this," Lyla decided.

  Kai smiled slightly at her words.

  "Thank you," he murmured as they prepared to move down. "Come on. Let’s go wipe out the scum of this world."