TWENTY-ONE

The rectangular floating box blinked and showed a new set of words. Many words hovered in front of me and they included:

ATTRIBUTES: PSYCHIC (ordinary)

Exclusive skill: Mind transfer(Level 1)

COINS; 11,525

SILVER GEMS; 2

PLAYER STATISTICS:

HP: 80

MP: 10

Physical damage reduction:{Not available}

Magical damage reduction: {Not available}

Strength: 5

Agility: 4

Speed: 7

Stamina: 5

Attack: 10

Defense: 7

Evasion: 15

Fatigue: 20

Intelligence: 15

Mental strength: 20

ARTIFACTS; CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY

Knowledge of the Blizzardkin clan; 45% downloading

'So this is the player's info'

My curiosity wasn't satiated as I looked at the strange words that hovered a few inches away from my face.

What did all that even mean?

And why did the increasing percentage of the downloading knowledge of the Blizzardkin clan make me more nervous with each passing moment?

It was as if a tiny bit of myself was being chipped away with each passing second but I couldn't seem to pinpoint what it was.

The abrupt stop of the wooden cart jerked me out from pondering about my stat and I looked back at Sky where she stood transfixed to the ground, with a look of pure horror on her face.

Moments after that I was filled with fear at the sight that I beheld. A few meters away from us, a couple of cave pavers were at a space that led into the path we were on.

They didn't rush towards us so that meant that we weren't seen yet. They were probably busy with the new paths being paved on the other sides.

Luckily there was an inner room that we had just passed so Hassan motioned with his fingers that we go back there.

But going back wasn't so easy because Sky had to drag me out of the wooden cart and we couldn't risk making any noise to make the creatures look our way.

We were so visible it looked like we didn't make any effort to be stealthy.

"Go on. I got her" Hassan whispered to Sky who was reaching out to put her hands around my chest to drag me out of the wooden cart.

It didn't feel nice being the one that held us back while also having so many doubts about them in my mind.

They had done nothing but help me even when they didn't need to.

"Thanks" I whispered to them. I let my ego take hold of me for a while. Until there was proof that they were somehow working with the instructor all I owed them was gratitude for helping me.

Reaching into the cart Hassan placed one hand beneath my thighs and placed the other behind my back and then pushed the first further beneath my thighs so I rested on his forearm. With that, he carefully lifted me and carried me to the next room.

"Thank you," I said to him when he placed me on the floor of the room.

The room was dark with only the entrance being illuminated by the crystals that lit the path we just came from.

Sky tried to stay close by because of the darkness and in case something dangerous hid in there.

"I'm not comfortable here," She said.

Neither was I, but I didn't tell her that. That place was the safest place to be at that moment. Who knew how many of those creatures were waiting? And they didn't react well to seeing humans so our best bet was to wait.

"Why aren't they coming in this direction?" Hassan asked

" I don't know. Maybe they don't want to. "

"How does your attribute work?" Hassan asked.

It was surprising that he was capable of initiating conversation but I tried to hide my surprise to let the conversation flow. I was curious about both of them and most especially I was curious about Hassan. He had a strange aura about him that I found almost enticing.

"Sky told me about it." He added

"Oh. Okay! I don't know"

"You didn't check the description?" Sky added.

Once again, it was strange how that knew all these things about some things ... I thought about letting go of that encroaching feeling of doubt that bothered me but I couldn't.

"How do you guys know about it?"

" Hassan told me. That was after you slept off."

That was not a good enough explanation; it didn't clear any of my doubts about them.

"You should lower your voice, Jess"

"Oh sorry but what really happened then ... You know... When I slept off"

There was a lapse in my consciousness: somewhere between landing on the snow and waking in a strange room.

"Well, our journey did not stop there. We had to look for a place that was a bit warm so we wouldn't die of hypothermia. Hassan carried you to the nearest cave where we found and hid from the cold. We didn't go further into the cave but stood at a safe distance from the entrance where the cold could barely reach us. That was when Hassan first opened his 'player's profile ' and when I asked him what he was doing he told me "

" Do you have an attribute ?"

"Yes"

"What is it?"

"Mage"

"What does that mean?"

"We are really wasting our time with unnecessary information." Hassan interrupted. I didn't need to see his facial expression to know that he was irritated; at least that was how he sounded. Still, I wouldn't have been shocked if his face had the usual blank expression on it.

"What is a mage? Did you check the description ?"

"Yes, I did. Wait, let me open my profile"

Hassan kept quiet, probably fuming with anger at how he was being ignored. He was right to be angry at our questions because we weren't asking the right things. These things sounded trivial but were probably the most important factor contributing to our survival.

As strong as Hassan was he probably had a limit so I didn't want to find out about his limit. If we could find a way to contribute our strengths we could work as a group and save ourselves.