Aftermath

The fight was short only happening in the span of a minute.

While Roz and Shorty had only used their ability from afar, they were another distraction to the beast lowering its focus towards everyone else, no matter how little it was.

Surprisingly, the group wasn't hurt and had successfully hunted their first beast.

An accomplishment they were all happy about, but there was a question burning in all of their minds.

Who would get the Stat?

Everyone stared at each other, more so, it was the shorty, normal-height, and tall guy, staring at Roz and Soren. 

'Do they have a group within a group now? How amusing. I'll take the Stat, but how can I convince him.'

Normal height guy talked first, "I think Zed should have it."

Soren was confused, 'Zed? Who the hell is Zed?'

Seeing that the normal-height guy looking at the tall man. He understood and then laughed inwardly to himself.

'How have I not known his name the entire time? Guess it never came up.'

"I appreciate it I really do, but I think Bill should have it. We need the team strong, not just me."

'Cocky much?'

Shorty looked away a little, not ashamed, but shy that he was recommended.

'So he's Bill. I don't know why but I'm slowly starting to dislike those three.'

"As much as I want to take it, I think Alan should have it. He needs it more."

'So all of their names just happen to come out right now?'

Seeing the situation, Roz didn't like it either. He and Soren were being outcasts in their own made group for outcasts. How did that even happen?

"But that's- "

He noticed Soren put his arm up in a stopping manner. 

Soren started, "We should play a little game, so it's fair. No favorites."

He eyed the three who were close together.

Alan, the normal-height guy, answered, "That's childish and who's playing favorites? We're just closer to each other than you. Nothing more."

Soren could easily tell that was a lie. 

'Where does this guy get off being proud and acting like he was a part of society? He wouldn't even have friends if it weren't for Roz.'

As he thought that Roz spoke out, "I like the idea of the game. It ensures fairness to everyone. To make it reasonable, each time we kill something, we'll leave the previous winners out of the next game."

Alan couldn't refute it. He admitted to not playing favorites so he couldn't push too much on this. He also owed Roz.

Reluctantly, he agreed.

"Great." Looking towards Soren, "Continue talking about the game. I hope it's fair to all."

"Of course it is. I wouldn't suggest something without thinking it through."

This may have been what was said, but internally, he had no idea what to say. All he was trying to do was prevent the Stat from going to the other three. 

'Should I just go take it and use it quick? No, I don't know where or how to harvest it from the body. Stupid lack of information.'

Roz pressured slightly, "Carry on then."

Thinking fast, he came up with an idea.

"The game is simple and I'm sure you've heard of it. Rock, Paper, Scissors."

He expected them to show remembering faces, but no. He got zero reactions out of everyone. 

"Have none of you played it before?"

Roz stared blankly into the air before he remembered Soren's circumstances."You might not know this, but most people come from different worlds and cultures. We all have our ways of getting into the game of war. So no, we have not."

"I see,well how you play is…" 

The game was explained, slowly. It was an easy game everyone learned as a kid. To the others, this was a strange game. They didn't have scissors in their worlds, only something similar to it.

After a miniature lecture on the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, everyone got into their positions. 

They were doing one round because this battle determined a lot, at least for the outcasts.

The developed parties in the city would laugh at their incompetence, but that didn't matter. 

"Rock, Paper, Scissors."

Everyone threw their hands out to their choices. 

Soren chose rock. Not for just any reason, but everyone always tended to choose scissors first and his bet would be right. Three of them used scissors while Bill used Rock, like him. 

'That would be too much luck for me anyway. They can't say I cheated at least.'

The others were disappointed, but one could tell who was rooting for whom. 

Alan and Zed were rooting for Bill and Roz was for Soren. An uneven lineup, but Roz was knowledgeable-Ish and Soren was strong-Ish, compared to them.

They faced each other, once again ready to go."Rock, Paper, Scissors."

'Thank god,' Soren felt with relief. 

He'd gone scissors expecting Bill to go paper. His experience played the biggest part in winning, but the rest of the Sunburned Mosquitos didn't need to know that.

Bill, Alan, and Zed looked disappointed and had lost all will to fight for the Stat. Returning to their normal habits. 

Walking up to Roz, Soren asked quietly, "Um, how exactly do retrieve the Stat?"

What he got in return was a laugh."I'll show you this time, but I won't do so again. I also want the Stats."

Walking up to the dead beast, Roz slammed his hand into the cut eyeball. Eyeball pieces flew everywhere, landing even on Zed's head without anyone realizing it. 

"It's pretty simple, just disgusting. The core is inside their head. A good rule of thumb is to go for the center of their brain, it's usually there."

Feeling something touching his fingers, he grabbed it.

"Yeah, this fellow is the same. Right in the middle."

He pulled out the black ball of crystal. This one was not as pretty as the one he had seen before. The one in front of him was less dark. It was hard to describe, but it was a lesser darkness. 

He handed it over to Soren who quickly wiped off the brain matter and whatever else resided on the crystal sphere. 

Without a second thought, he raised it to his head like last time and felt it go through.

A similar window appeared.

[-Strength stat increased by 1.3x-]

[-STR: 5.2-]