Chapter 87: The weak seventh Hero

[1x Magical Contract (Rare Quality) gained.]

[1x Magical Ink Pen (Earth stage four) (Rare Quality) gained.]

[1x Gold Ring (Uncommon Quality) gained.]

[1x Opal Gold Ring (Uncommon Quality) gained.]

[1x Silver Necklace (Common Quality) gained.]

[1x Nine Sided Die (Common Quality) gained.]

[1x Blood Bound Bag Of Holding (Unkown Quality) gained.]

[2x Small Bags (Common Quality) gained.]

[1x Small Bag (33x Copper Coins, 35x Silver Coins, 2x Gold Coins, 1x Hollowed Silver Coin.) gained.]

Vincent and Kazumi suddenly felt like they understood a new feature to Soul Dimensional Storage from the Inspection ability. Crafted objects of uncommon rarity or higher would show the crafter, unlike the steel shields, which didn't show.

Ester and Lupa saw Vincent storing the items many times, but it was the first time for Tula. She gasped in amazement at the interesting illuminating scene before her brown eyes.

"So pretty. Big brother is awesome, hehe." Tula hugged Vincent as if she wanted to see this a couple more times.

Vincent flustered by the voluptuous chest pressing against his arm. Shortly, two sets of eyes glared at him for his reddish cheeks, and another hidden pair were looking with intrigue.

"Ahem... Are you feeling better now?" Vincent cleared his throat and gently removed his arm from heaven.

"Yes. Big sister Ester helped me. Big brother's nice sparkly magic made me feel better." Tula then gazed at the steel shield and asked, "Uncle Kass went to the dragon heaven above the clouds, right?"

"Uhmm... yes. He went to heaven because he did a good deed. I could see from his actions how much he loved his niece." Vincent lightly caressed her hair and stood up.

He picked the steel shield with the lions head engraved on it and gave it to Ester while saying, "Ester will keep your shield safe. Ask her whenever you want to hold it."

Tula nodded and switched targets. She lept on Ester and hugged her next.

However, Ester frowned. She wasn't used to feeling such a soft yet annoying sensation on her arm.

"Ester, can I use this Inspection Gemstone on you?" Vincent asked with the gemstone in his hand.

[I understand your idea and agree with your thoughts. We can see if Soul Synch gets tracked.]

"Ok." Ester agreed.

Vincent clenched the gemstone since it didn't have a switch, but it didn't activate. Then he tried to activate the gemstone by his thoughts like how his system works.

A translucent bluish hologram suddenly appeared a few inches above the Inspection Gemstone. The hologram contained a bit more information than what his Inspection ability could provide.

[Name] Ester

[Race] Human

[Condition] Healthy

[Class] Sigil Mage

[Stats] Strength 6 || Agility 9 || Perception 8 || Mana 136

"Wow, that's a lot of mana!" Vincent uttered in surprise.

"No... it's low." Ester sighed at her weak stats.

"What do you mean?" Vincent asked with a puzzled frown.

"I heard that people who have two hundred to three hundred mana are barely considered useful... I also don't know how to increase my mana..." Ester let another helpless sigh.

"Don't worry. I will protect you with my stats." Vincent proudly stated. Then he used the Inspection Gemstone on himself.

[Name] Vincent Agius

[Race] Human

[Condition] Tired

[Class] Mutation

[Stats] Strength 6 || Agility 6 || Perception 5 || Mana 0

Vincent fell on his knees, devastated by the result. The pair of shocked green trembling eyes couldn't believe the hologram in front of them.

The hologram displayed a set of stats weaker than Ester's stats. A petite looking girl was stronger than him. Her delicate arms contained more power and speed than his muscular toned arms.

[Look on the bright side. Your Hero abilities didn't show up. There isn't any indication of you being from a different world either.]

[But this is a low-grade Inspection Gemstone. Let's hope the higher ones can't track your class as well. It's as if only your Inspection can pick up the traces of mutation.]

Kazumi didn't tease this time. The stats delivered a crushing blow to his pride. It was worse since he boasted of protecting Ester with his power.

"What's wrong, my mate? This good girl will keep you safe, hehe." Lupa boasted while patting her chest.

Ester remembered the fear of how Vincent only considered giving up his life if his family could live and asked, "Why do you look so devastated? Didn't we already tell you we don't want you to risk your life for ours? It shows how we need each other."

"Ye, we both need you so we can leave this forest and mate." Lupa placed her arm over Ester's shoulder and said these words with a smile.

"Eh?" Ester gasped. Her face suddenly flared red. She removed Lupa's arm and ran away, hiding behind the cart, burning hot from embarrassment.

[The shy old Ester is back, haha.]

"What's wrong with big sister?" Tula asked with a puzzled frown.

"I don't know. Sometimes her face becomes red. I think that's what happens to you humans." Lupa quickly replied. She was used to Ester's reaction of hiding somewhere from being embarrassed.

"Big brother, Vincent. Is big sister Ester sick?" Tula worryingly asked.

"She isn't sick. She's just lovingly shy, that's all. Weren't her red cheeks cute, haha." Vincent laughed, causing the embarrassed Ester to frown upon hearing this.

'He's making fun of me, but... did Vincent say I'm lovingly shy and have cute cheeks?...' Ester held her cheeks while her thoughts got stuck on two phrases.

'Was Kazumi telling the truth? That Vincent likes a chestless woman like me? He wasn't saying things to make me feel better, was he?' Ester finally concluded what was obvious and had been said to her. That Vincent was interested in her.

"Lupa. Could you climb this gigantic banana tree and scout with your heightened vision? Maybe we are close to a river to resupply our water. Can you check how many more fruit there are while climbing?" Vincent decided to scout the area and later planed on the next course of action.

Lupa shapeshifted her arms. She approached the tree, retracted her claws, and placed her fingertips against the tree. Shortly, she extended her claws one after the other, penetrating the thick trunk.

Lupa started climbing the tree like a professional rock climber. Her human feet didn't provide any support to climb easier, yet she climbed the tree without difficulty.

Vincent, Ester, and Kazumi gazed in awe at the tree-climbing wolf girl. They almost questioned if she was a monkey instead of a wolf.

[I think Lupa might be able to find something at that height. Let's hope she can find a water resource or some fruit trees to hoard into your brand new three cubic meter storage.]

-That was on my mind as well.-

"Uhmm..." Tula gently tugged Vincent's shirt.

Vincent turned his gaze on Tula. He became surprised at her frightened expression.

"Is big sister Lupa a scary wolf? I heard beastman with sharp claws eat bad children." Tula said with a weak, trembling voice.

Ester decided to return when she saw Lupa climb the tree. She shortly saw Tula with a frightened expression tugging Vincent's shirt. Ester soon heard of Tula's fears when she ran over to see what was happening.

"Don't worry, little Tula. Lupa is a good wolf. She will even protect you." Ester warmly said while brushing her brown hair.

"She was beside you for so long. Why fear her now?" Vincent asked, feeling a bit puzzled by the late reaction.

"Big sister Lupa was so cheerful that..." Tula cutely blushed while trying to come up with an excuse and continued, "I forgot to become afraid of her."

[This Tula is a funny girl. The journey is going to have the kind of drama I like, hehe.]

-Do you want popcorn with that? -

[Na... I will just relax on this soft grass.]

"Lupa is a good wolf girl. She loves it when you stroke her fur in her white wolf form. Think of Lupa as a tame dog that constantly begs for attention. Her fur is quite soft." Ester tried to explain how harmless Lupa is, even if she looks threatening in her large wolf form.

"Promise? Is her fur very soft?" Tula asked with a pair of enticed brown puppy eyes.

"Yes, I promise. " Ester promised.

*Thud

Lupa fell from on top of the gigantic tree like a nimble cat. She rose from her cat-like falling position and stretched tired arms.

Lupa turned her gaze on Vincent, Ester, and Tula, but only frowns were on their faces. It seemed she gave them quite a scare.

[Lupa is wagging her tail. That means she might have found something valuable in the distance.]

"Can you warn us next time? You scared us." Vincent asked while his heart increased its beat from this sudden surprise.

None of them were paying attention to their soundings at that time. Apart from Kazumi, the three of them got startled from hearing a thud sound and a figure falling in front of them.

"Ok, hehe." Lupa chuckled. She sat on the ground while informing of what she saw and found at the top of the tree.

"I noticed a strange cloud with a grayer color, yet it didn't look like a rain cloud. I focused my eyes, and I think that I saw campfire smoke in the distance. The smoke was in the direction of the rising sun. The place where Ester said we should go."

"I turned my head left and noticed a long line of missing trees. It seemed strange as if the trees were cut or didn't grow there."

Lupa stopped rubbing her chin. She found it difficult to think of why there were many missing trees linearly. A grin with drool ready to escape her lips soon formed on her delighted face.

"But you know what? Hehe."

"This big tree is filled with hundreds of yellow fruit. I had to resist, or I might not have come down so soon. Reward me for prioritizing you first, and my belly second." Lupa ended her scouting report with the wish to receive a reward.

"It seems you are learning some technical words from Ester. Well, good job. Rest while I decide on the next course of action." Vincent petted her head. He leaned his back against the tree and rubbed his chin while he and Kazumi processed the information received.

[We acquired three essential information about our surroundings. The possibility of people or a fire. The possibility of a road or river and the possibility of a large supply of food.]

-We haven't walked far enough to meet civilization. So I'm a bit worried if the fire is a bandit camp.-

[I could be a soldier camp since we met with soldiers. But something is bothering me.]

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
VisualKoFey

Vincent finally saw his stats, and it wasn't a pleasant sight. He felt embarrassed to spout how he wanted to protect Ester and Lupa when Ester possessed higher stats, and Lupa undoubtedly possessed higher stats.

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