Chapter 28: Featherweight

Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Featherweight

Victor couldn’t believe an entire day had already passed since they set out. Besides, this was the first time he’d ever seen this message in the System. Perhaps his excitement over finding out what he could get from the gacha system had overshadowed his curiosity about the system itself; he’d never even considered what would happen if he didn’t use his Daily Summon.

Brika frowned. Apparently, Victor’s System window looked exactly like hers. Victor noticed the goblin girl’s gaze and, forcing himself to close his System window, picked up his cup of instant noodles and cleared his throat.

"Well, I think I’ll go sleep upstairs. It might be more comfortable for you if I’m not here."

"Do whatever you want," she said, dismissing him with a brief wave of her hand.

That was good. At least it meant Brika didn’t care in the slightest what Victor did. Encouraged by this, he eagerly climbed the narrow wooden staircase beside the table.

Upstairs, the darkness was absolute, but Victor didn’t care much. He continued feeling around with his hands to find the bed, but he tripped over something and fell face-first onto the floor. The resulting noise was pretty loud, as were the curses Victor hurled into the air.

He’d spilled his food.

Downstairs, Brika looked up and shook her head.

’Damn it. I wish I had the same ability she does,’ he thought as he sat down on the floor. He leaned his back against something and reopened his System window, resigned to going without dinner tonight.

[1 Summon Available]

[Cost: Free]

[Perform Summon?]

[ Yes ] [ No ]

’I don’t want to stick around and find out what happens if I don’t use my Daily Summon.’

He mentally accepted the summon. Instantly, the sphere appeared, its vibrant colors swirling around a small four-pointed star inside.

Gray corresponded to Common rarity (C), while blue represented Rare rarity (R). When the sphere turned purple, it meant Super Super Rare (SSR). Finally, gold represented Ultra Rare (UR), a rarity Victor had barely seen before, and only on the one-use item "Let’s Start Over."

When he saw the gold flash by, he couldn’t help thinking about that item and what it meant, as well as the curious fact that a UR-rarity item had come from an SSR-rarity one.

The sphere stopped on gray, another disappointment for Victor.

[Congratulations!]

[You have obtained: Lightweight Feather]

[Description: When you carry this feather, everything you carry becomes lighter.]

The sphere transformed into a feather, which fell into Victor’s hand. The moment he held it in his palm, he immediately noticed the difference, which surprised him quite a bit.

’This is...’

The feather was soft, but he couldn’t see its color.

’It’s a Common-rarity item, yet it has such an interesting effect.’

He’d thought it would be a real disappointment, but he’d been wrong. Even among Common items, there were things like this that were worth carrying around. It wasn’t an ability, of course, but it worked like one. That was worth more than six cups of instant noodles.

’I think this is going to come in handy in a few hours.’

Feeling around the floor with his hand, he found the bed. He climbed onto it awkwardly and stared into the darkness.

With this feather equipped, his journey would be much easier. For starters, his bag full of supplies was pretty heavy. On top of that, carrying the assault rifle in his hands would become much easier.

In fact, he wondered whether the weapon’s recoil would be weaker now that it weighed less under the feather’s effect. Whatever happened, he’d have to test it himself when he got the chance.

Finally, exhausted from the long journey, he felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier. He closed his eyes, believing nothing else would happen, and didn’t even notice a pair of blood-red eyes watching him from the top of the stairs.

It was Brika, of course. She descended the stairs silently. On the table sat the other cup of instant noodles Victor had left behind. With an expressionless face, she approached the table and sat down.

She drank from the cup as if it were water, stopping only when it was half empty. Then she stared at the stove’s flame, which continued to cast a faint glow over the first floor.

It was time to rest. Outside, the mist grew calmer: no storms, no threatening white lightning, and no monsters lurking nearby. For a few hours, absolute silence reigned throughout the scenario.

But suddenly, the soft rustling of a cloak against the wind could be heard.

At the same time, Victor dreamed of the days when he didn’t have to survive or worry about the horrible things that came with adult life. When he was a child, he’d been an exemplary Boy Scout.

He helped elderly ladies cross the street, helped Girl Scouts sell cookies outside shopping malls, and, best of all, joined the group whenever their leader took them into the forest to teach them survival skills.

He must have been around nine years old back then. The group members surrounding him were more or less his age, but there weren’t as many of them as one might expect. They wore green and brown uniforms covered in fabric patches bearing different symbols.

The one with the most patches was, of course, Victor. He was very good at what he did.

The memory shifted to a moment around the campfire. Their leader played the guitar while everyone sang and roasted marshmallows. It was quite relaxing, but a single blink was all it took for everything to turn into absolute darkness.

A whisper echoed, and the sinister figure, wrapped in black cloth and floating in the void, appeared before little Victor.