A NEW SKILL

The green light illuminated the dark room, casting its dim radiance on the lifeless monster.

Its exoskeleton was a glossy black, like the surface of silver-painted ebony. It stood almost four feet tall, its legs spanning an impressive six feet. The tips of its legs were so sharply pointed that they would put a needle to shame. Its eyes were darker than its skin, dyed in a blue liquid, with grotesque holes from which its blue blood seeped.

Leo gazed at the beast, a wide grin stretching from ear to ear.

"A creature of such caliber will undoubtedly lead to a bountiful harvest... Perhaps I can even undergo evolution," he contemplated, the prospect of change widening his smile.

Grabbing the creature by its legs, he flipped it onto its back, exposing its vulnerable underside.

"Let's dig in," he exclaimed as he plunged his dagger into the point where the monster's appendages connected with its body, easily breaking through the beast's defenses. Despite his superhuman strength, he was sweating profusely.

Leo continued to peel away the tough exoskeleton, striving to expose as much muscle and flesh as possible.

CLANG!! The exoskeleton fell to the ground.

"How hard is it to make such a sound? ... Let's check my status window before I eat it," Leo pondered to himself as he believed he should have regained a lot from such a monster.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

24yrs 10mnths 1wks 1days 18hrs 10mins

NAME: Leo Allen

RACE: Human

Evolution: ???

AGE: 17/85

Soul energy: 502/50 ~ 552/50

Vitality: 70/150

Strength:36

Agility:36

Endurance:73

Intelligence:60

Mana: 0

Skills:

Poison resistance: 20%

Motion sense: 5%

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"No evolution, but I got a skill...wait, a skill," Leo remarked, taken aback by the newfound ability.

Monsters with strong soul energy could sometimes pass their dominant skills to their slayers because these skills were embedded in their souls. The alpha spider was one such monster. It had consumed numerous creatures, both beasts and humans, brought to it by the lesser spiders, which had made it incredibly powerful. This skill was inherent in its nature, and its proficiency was unmatched.

Leo, as its executioner, was fortunate enough to acquire this skill. It allowed him to sense even the slightest movements, and with higher proficiency, he could perceive echo images from the sounds he heard.

Excited about his new skill, Leo celebrated with a bite into the spider monster, its blue blood painting his lips.

"Ah!" He screamed in pain, coughing up a mouthful of blood, his vitality plummeting.

He steadied his breathing, slowing his heartbeat to mitigate the poison's effects.

"This poison is potent... It affected me even before I reached its poison gland," Leo thought to himself, his teeth clenched, wincing in pain.

He sat down cross-legged, sweat trickling down his face.

"Huh," he said to himself as he noticed the pain had subsided, his vitality stabilizing.

"Ten percent from just a bite... I don't think I can finish it here. Let's take it back to the hideout," Leo stated.

He broke another glow stick, adding to the luminance of the first one. The dark room was now better lit, revealing its contents.

Broken desks littered the room's floor, with skeletons caught between them, their beautiful uniforms torn apart by debris and what appeared to be marks from monster claws and fangs.

Tablets, phones, and other educational devices were scattered across the floor. Some were completely wrecked, while others were covered with spirogyra, seemingly untouched.

Leo shifted his gaze, focusing on the curtains that still hung on the windows.

"I never understood why the upper classes chose to use curtains in their classrooms... Well, whatever, they come in handy," Leo thought to himself as he ripped the once glossy grey curtains, which had now lost their beauty and looked more like a rug than curtains.

He wrapped the monster's body in one curtain and its exoskeleton in another.

The room echoed with the sounds of dragging as he pulled the two toward the location where he had encountered the alpha spider.

Now that there was no immediate threat, he meticulously searched for any clue that might help him find his way back.

With the glow stick's light illuminating the room, he discovered a hole in the ground that he believed was the path he had come from.

He tossed one of the glow sticks into the hole.

"My vitality is too low for another fight," Leo exclaimed as the light revealed the lesser African velvet spiders, the very ones who had captured him.

"Convert."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

24yrs 10mnths 1wks 1days 14hrs 25mins

NAME: Leo Allen

RACE: Human

Evolution: ???

AGE: 17/85

Soul energy: 552/50 ~ 2/50

Vitality: 70/150

Strength:36 ~ 47

Agility:36 ~ 47

Endurance:73 ~ 84

Intelligence:60~ 71

Mana: 0

Skills:

Poison resistance: 20%

Motion sense: 5%

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With a newfound surge of power, he leaped down, the spider legs serving as his weapons, broken spider limbs held in each hand.

The two-inch weapon, formed from the legs of the alpha spider, pierced the abdomen of a spider that leaped toward Leo.

Before he even landed, he was overwhelmed by the spiders as they jumped on him, their tarsal claws and mandibles attempting to cut through his seemingly impenetrable skin.

He chuckled to himself as he realized that despite their efforts and weight, he could still stand.

Using his toes as a pivot, he spun around, slashing at the monsters with each turn, making quick work of them

They continued to crawl towards him, driven by rage at the sight of their brethren falling.

Leo continued to slash, and despite their numbers, he did not feel tired, creating pile after pile of monster corpses.

With the little intelligence they had, they knew this fight was futile as they scattered away.

Leo looked at the corpses in front of him, feeling a tinge of happiness that he quickly extinguished as he thought about how the outside world would be.

He pondered how this apocalyptic event had changed the outside world, the beasts, and the inherent nature of people.

"Huh, I shouldn't get cocky," he said to himself as he shook his head, dispelling thoughts of invincibility.

With one giant leap, he jumped through the hole back to the room from which he had descended.

The twelve-foot jump felt like just a few meters with his newfound abilities.

*********

"Guys, open up, I'm back," Leo called out as he knocked on their hideout's doors.

He had been gone for half a day, and after filling his stomach with enough poison from the lesser African velvet spider monsters, he felt it was the right time to return.

He continued to knock, but there was no reply. Fearing that something might have happened, he kicked the door open, only to find no one inside.

With a panicked expression, he searched for any clues to their whereabouts.

"You have to think about the attribute you wish to increase when you convert your soul energy; if not, it will increase what it feels is most needed."

"Thanks, I could have accomplished a lot today if I had known this earlier."

...

...

Voices echoed in the hallway, voices he recognized. Leo dashed back outside, Mark and Anne walking toward him.

"Man... you look like you've seen a ghost," Mark remarked as his gaze met Leo, who still wore a worried and panicked expression.

Anne stared at Leo intently, as she had never seen him with such an expression. No matter what they had faced until now, he always wore a calm and calculating demeanor, showing only a hint of emotion when he spoke to Mark.

She found him a mystery, and while she was fairly certain he liked her from the countless times she had caught him stealing glances, his, recent behavior left her less sure.

Leo quickly changed his expression, replacing it with a warm smile.

"I just thought you might have croaked without me here," Leo teased, happy to see them alive and well.

"We went for a hunt because we didn't want to fall behind... We got a pretty good haul from those packrat monsters," Mark said as he got closer to Leo. He added, "You seem to have grown stronger. Those pack rats shouldn't pose much of a threat. Where did you go?"

They walked into their hideout and crept through a hole into the spider monster's nest, their base bedroom.

Leo proceeded to tell them about his adventures, omitting the parts that might make them worried.

"Good for you," Anne remarked.

Mark emptied his bag, showing what he had obtained from the hunt.

Weapons, jewelry, and strange books covered with gold, just like the one they found in the first packrat's nest.

"These weapons look sturdy," Leo remarked as he picked up a silver dagger with strange engravings on it.

"Speaking of weapons... I think I can make a bow for you," he added, directing his words to Anne.

"Really... Wait, you can make a bow?" Anne inquired, her curiosity overshadowing her gratitude.

"Shouldn't be that..." RUMBLE!!

Leo's words were interrupted as the building shook followed by a thunderous sound.