Growth System

It was a beautiful day on the Donut Plains. Birds were chirping and flowers were blooming. In these plains, 2 mages were burning some mobs with a spell.

"Hey look! That guy is one-shotting all of the cubs!"

"Don't worry about him. He probably used all of his stat points on STR. He doesn't know that AGI increases armor values and that VIT increases his HP pool and regen."

"Yea. He's going to have a bad time."

-

*You have slain a Lvl 7 Brog Cub.

*You gained 25 experience.

*Your experience has passed the threshold. You have gained a level.

*You are now Lvl 12.

*You have gained 10 stat points to distribute.

Bob went wild killing more than just a couple of bear cubs. The bear cubs had a lower level than him so the exp he gained was not very efficient. Throughout his repetitive motion of looking for a bear cub to hunt and kill. Our determined hero-

"I'm bored."

-lost his determination.

He killed all of the bear cubs in one shot with his cracked sword until now. The only way for him to enjoy the action was to fight something that gave him more of a challenge.

*Your weapon 'Cracked Sword' has exhausted its durability.

*The item disintegrated.

"Cluck"

The chicken made a sound. Bob could feel that it just laughed but he didn't want to do anything about it. So Bob just continued killing all of the bear cubs he could see as he walked further from the city.

"This is boring."

*Your exp has exceeded the threshold. You have gained a level.

* You are now level 13.

Bob has now reached level 13 by killing bear cubs with his bare hands. The weapon he brought was practically useless as he could still one-shot the bear cubs with his fists.

"Hey, system. How do I level up faster?"

*Processing.

*To level up faster, you must kill monsters that have a higher level than you. Be careful, higher leveled monsters deal a lot more damage, and your measly VIT and AGI would not last you more than 1 hit.

"Oh? Are there any higher leveled monsters here?"

*Processing.

*Your location is currently in 'Donut Plains'. The nearest area with a monster that has a level higher than you is Pepper-mint Hills.

*Would you like to follow a guide path?

"Yes."

The familiar blue trail of light once again showed itself to Bob. This time, it was heading to a place that elevated because the place was named Pepper-mint Hills.

It was a hill filled to the brim with pepper and mint but no peppermint. Of course, it was also inhabited by monsters.

"Pepper Demons."

Bob stated as he arrived at the base of Pepper Hill. There were 2 obvious hills in the vicinity. One was named Pepper hill which was filled to the brim with pepper and Pepper Demons. The other was named Mint Hill which was overflowing with mint and of course, Chocomint Demons.

Bob looked around and saw that there were plenty of players within Pepper Hill while Mint Hill was barren. There was an obvious reason for the disparity in the number of people within the hills.

'Nobody likes choco mint.'

And Bob, also did not like choco mint so he stayed in Pepper Hill. He looked for a solitary Pepper Demon to fight, which he soon found.

"I wonder what level these guys are." Bob said.

He could not see the level of his enemy because the display showed [Lv ??? Pepper Demon] when he found it. Bob did not know what the question marks entailed so he did not hesitate to fight the demon.

The demon had large round ears like an elephant. They put their ears on their head like a sombrero. The ears were half of its height with the demon's height being 1 meter tall.

It had red skin and scrawny arms with very sharp claws. In contrast, they did not have sharp teeth but perfect ones. Makes you wonder which dentist they go to.

Bob rushed at the solitary Pepper Demon by himself wearing nothing but newbie equipment.

-

Other players noticed Bob's sudden rush. They noticed that he was wearing newbie equipment which caused them to snicker.

"Lul. Why is a newbie here? This is a level 40 area."

"I don't know. Maybe he's intentionally lowering his level to enter level limited dungeons?"

"Who in their right mind would do that?"

"True."

"Just let him be."

There was a reason why a level 40 area was placed near a frontier city. The monsters within Peppermint Hills were softer than most monsters of that level.

The Pepper Demons and Chocomint Demons all had very annoying abilities that could kill a player should they be careless.

-

"Hup"

Bob smashed his fist into a Pepper Demon.

Pip~

His fist made a cutesy sound as the blow landed.

*You dealt rubber hammer worth of damage.

*You have entered within the range of 'Fiery Aura'.

*You will now take continuous fire damage until a dispel is cast on you or you are drenched in water.

This was the reason why parties were necessary for the Peppermint Hills. Pepper Demons have an aura that could burn a player down to their last bit of health. The damage was not astronomical but they stay indefinitely and they can stack with auras from different Pepper Demons.

"Cluck!?!"

"Oh no!"

Bob's chicken also suffered the same status effect.

*Due to the status effect 'Pepper Fire', you suffered 10 damage.

Bob saw the prompt and he could feel the heat too. His chicken was not spared too. If this continues, his chicken will become hot wings.

"Ah shoot!" Bob exclaimed.

No matter how unbalanced Bob's stats were, his level was too low to fight enemies of this level.

Bob ran from the battle, heavily worried about his chicken which was about to be roasted alive. Bringing with him is a stampede of Pepper Demons that were attracted due to his screaming and running.

-

"Hahaha. There's that newbie! He's running!"

"I knew it. Well, it's none of our business."

"I know, the thing is that he's running towards us."

...

It took them a moment to realize.

"Holy smokes, he's running towards us!"

"Time to do the family technique. Run if you want to live!"

So now, a stampede of monsters ensued until Bob and the two players made it down the hill and outside of the range of aggro. They all escaped Pepper Hill.

-

Bob ran with chicken's life on the line. After escaping the stampede, Bob bolted as he asked a question.

"System! Where's is the nearest body of water?"

*Processing.

*The nearest body of water from your position is in Donut City's source of life, the Icing River. If you are looking for puddles of water, sorry but you are in a plain biome. Tough luck.

"Ah."

Donut City was a bit too far and Bob could feel the weakening signs of life from his chicken.

Bob still ran despite his hopeless situation. He wanted to be one step closer to the cure of their status effect. He did not want his chicken to suffer the fate of death.

*Due to the status effect 'Pepper Fire', you suffered 10 damage.

Every time the damage procced, Bob felt hurried to make it towards the city's river.

*Due to the status effect 'Pepper Fire', you suffered 10 damage.

'####' Bob wanted to curse out loud but he used all of his energy to run. He could not spare any more thoughts so he just ran and ran while carrying his chicken in his embrace.

*Your HP value has reached 0.

*You are an Essential. You can't die.

*Your HP is set back to minimum.

Upon reading these prompts, Bob looked at his chicken worryingly.

"Hey!"

"....."

"Hey!!!"

"...."

It did not reply.

Bob slapped his chicken, with velocity enough to cook it.

SLAP!

It did not react.

"...."

Bob could no longer say anything. His knees gave in and he kneeled as all of the energy he had was expended, he was running on fumes since earlier.

"Hey."

Bob said. His voice was soft and low. His arms gave in to the weakness so he had no choice but to lay the chicken from his embrace to the ground. Bob did not shed a tear, not yet.

"Hey. Come on, we have to go home."

Bob does not have a home though. His mother kicked him out to make him stronger.

"Hey. I need your help. My chicken is missing."

Bob's relapse began acting up. His personality as an NPC began to show itself.

"Can you help me find her?"

The only difference was that these lines were different from his script.

"I haven't given it a name yet."

The chicken did not reply though. The only thing that came into Bob's vision was this.

*The system has recognized your love for your chicken. You have received the title of 'Keeper'.

*The system has used the power of friendship, your chicken is now one with you. The effect of your race 'Essential' also affects your contracted monsters.

*Your chicken is an Essential. It can't die.

*Your chicken's hp is set back to minimum.

*Due to your chicken recovering from death. It has been given a growth system as a monster.