Bloodmark

"Are you okay?"

Bob's voice resounded as he looked at his chicken. He was relieved because of the prompt that told him that his chicken did not die because it became a part of him.

"Hey!"

It still did not reply.

SLAP~

"CLUCK!?!"

The chicken woke up. It was only having a nap because of the pain it felt the last few minutes. And Bob had to wake it up. So the chicken tried to peck Bob in anger. But it couldn't.

"Cluck?"

That is because Bob held the chicken with both hands and brought it to his chest in an embrace. During this moment, Bob did not say anything.

Sob~

He was busy crying.

"Cluck."

Bob was relieved that his chicken did not die. This chicken was the only existence that was stuck with him when he became aware of his existence. It was a friend, and at that time it was his only friend.

"Hey. I-"

Bob said as he choked a bit with his own saliva. It was an ecstatic moment for Bob, who thought that his only companion had died. He recollected himself and spoke.

"I'm glad that you're back." He said as he stroked its feathers.

"Cluck."

After a few sentimental moments, Bob had to read through something to fully comprehend what just happened earlier.

=====================

Character Name: Bob

Level: 13

Class: N/A

Race: Essential

Titles: Keeper

Stats:

-STR: 105 +

-AGI: 5 +

-VIT: 10 +

-INT: 1 +

-WIS: 1 +

-LCK: 10 +

Stat Points remaining: 20

Contracted Monsters: 1/1

======================

*Keeper

-Congratulations. The system has recognized your affection for the chicken and has given you a title.

-Title Effect: The number of monsters that could be put under your command has increased by 1.

-Title Description: The 'Keeper' is a person who had the mental capacity to feel emotion for what others consider as worthless.

=======================

*Chicken(Unnamed Monster)

-A chicken that has overcome death with the help of its owner.

-It is a monster that could continuously grow due to receiving the monster Growth System.

*Warning: Contracted monsters disappear after death.

=======================

Bob read through all of that in one sitting. He could not care less about the effects and was more relieved that his chicken was fully alive.

He was interested in a string of words though.

'Chicken(Unnamed Monster)'

Bob looked at the chicken and nodded his head. He just realized that he never gave the chicken a name despite having lived with it for months. Bob decided it was now time to give it a name. However-

"CLUCK!"

The chicken was still experiencing fire damage from the fiery aura. The status effect was never dispelled and thus the chicken experienced the damage proc once again.

"Oh shoot! I forgot."

Bob slapped his head as he said. He put the chicken back to its basket and ran as fast as he could. The chicken was not in danger of dying but Bob did not like the fact that it was suffering.

*Your chicken's HP value has reached 0.

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

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

These prompts steadily showed themselves every second. Bob got pretty annoyed because of these but instead of getting angry, he used all of his energy to run instead.

By the time Bob reached the river just outside of Donut City. He and the chicken supposedly should have died numerous times but the effects of the Essential Race prevented that.

*The monster's growth system has recognized the constant fire damage your monster chicken is experiencing. The growth system granted a fire attribute on your monster chicken.

"Woah."

Bob was in awe. He did not expect that his chicken would grow from suffering. Due to that, Bob wanted a growth system for himself too.

"CLUCK!" The chicken exclaimed.

Though it now has the fire attribute, it was still hurting from the constant fire damage procs.

"I got it. Chill."

Bob said that as he threw the chicken into the river.

"I shouldn't have done that."

It was a flowing river.

"CLUCK!!?!?"

"I'M SORRY!"

Bob said as he ran, following the current, to catch his chicken.

-

"Cluck."

The chicken said. It was not angry that Bob threw it into the river. However, it was disappointed that Bob would suddenly do it without consent.

"I'm sorry." Bob said. He was sopping wet from diving to secure his chicken.

"Cluck." The chicken simply turned away at Bob's apology.

Bob messed up. He had to find a way to distract the chicken from the disappointment.

"Hey. I'm going to give you a name." Bob declared.

*Naming sequence initiated.

"Woah."

The system prompt suddenly showed itself when Bob intended to give the chicken a name. The chicken also had its interest piqued at Bob's statement and went near him.

"Okay. Since the chicken now has a fire attribute. How about the name Torchic?"

*We can't allow that due to copyright infringement.

"What? What the hell is copyright infringement?"

Bob was troubled at the prompt and rebuked its statement. The system did not answer his question though.

"Okay. Since that's not acceptable, how about 'Hot Wings'?" Bob suggested another name.

*That is acceptable.

*Are you sure? You cannot give your named monster a new name after the initial naming sequence.

Another prompt showed itself to Bob and he tried to confirm his intentions but-

"Ow... Ow.. Stop it!" Bob was pecked at maximum chicken attack speed.

"Cluck cluck cluck!"

The chicken was not happy with the name Bob was about to suggest for it. Bob winced at its persistent pecks and realized that it did not like the name at all.

Bob wracked his brains. His measly 1 INT stat worked to the limit and the other stat called WIS also did its part.

'Think. Think! Brain Blast!'

"Lavanuk!"

*That is acceptable. However, that name is too much to give to a female chicken.

*Are you sure? You cannot give your named monster a new name after the initial naming sequence.

"Yes."

Bob answered. He did not care about the chicken's gender or sexuality since the name was fitting for its existence. And the chicken's reaction-

"Cluck."

Was sublime. It did not care much about whether the name fits its sexuality or not since the chicken was not human in the first place. Only humans made a huge fuss about genders after all.

*Your monster has been renamed to Lavanuk.

Bob felt like he accomplished something. The chicken, who was now named Lavanuk, also felt that it now fully belonged to Bob. The connection between the two has been sealed and they're forever stuck together in life.

"What now?" Bob asked as he looked at the chicken and asked.

"Cluck." Lavanuk moved as if she was shrugging her wings.

So, a wet chicken and a man who was also drenched walked towards the city gates once more. Bob decided that it would be best to at least get a weapon to distance himself from enemies.

Although Bob would never die from any attack or effect, there was one reason why he wouldn't want to get hit.

'Getting hit hurts so much.'

He was not talking in a game sense. It literally hurts Bob. There was a clear difference between Bob and real players; The perception of pain is reduced by the game based on the user settings in their virtual reality rigs.

For Bob, it was different. Since his existence is not an avatar but an entity within the game itself. He gets the full brunt of an attack and that meant Bob felt the horned rabbits horn a hundred percent.

'The back hole still stings.'

He scratched his chocolate starfish and continued walking with Lavanuk in her basket. They both wandered around for a bit before Bob decided to get back to his mother.

"Hmmm. Mom wouldn't be too happy to see me return right now, but I think I should inform her of what just happened." Bob thought.

He didn't think that he would return to his mother within a day. Circumstances happens so it is only unavoidable.

"Cluck. Cluck!"

"Yea. Let's go tell her and perhaps we could taste another meal made by Mom."

Bob really liked Melissa's cooking. So they walked towards the house that was out of place within Donut City. They were still wet when they arrived.

Knock Knock~

Bob knocked on the door. He waited for a while but there was no reply from inside.

"That's odd. Mom should still be in the house."

Knock Knock~

Still no reply.

"Mom! Are you in there?!" Bob asked.

He looked at the door closely and realized something. It was unlocked, and its state was ragged. The door was unlocked forcefully.

"Mom!"

Bob quickly opened the door and looked inside. The usual and neatly placed furniture were now worth no more than a brick. The sofa was like it was scratched by a cat, a large cat called tiger. Everything within the house was destroyed.

"What the hell?"

Bob had an awful look on his face as he slowly walked inside. The lights no longer worked and the dim lighting made the place look grim.

And on the ground, was a fresh mark of blood.

"Mom?"

There lies a mangled body in a pool of blood.