Drinking with the Boys

It was the night that I've been looking forward to all week. It was Saturday night, the night that I'd be drinking with Uma. I wore jeans and a simple jacket over a white shirt. After making sure that Dad and Marie were asleep, I left my apartment, locking the door on my way out.

It had been a while since the last time I drank with Uma, so I was looking forward to this quite a bit. I know that I planned to keep it a secret, but I wanted to tell Uma about my Skill. Of course, I wouldn't tell him about my Job or the Envious Glutton. I just wanted him to know that I was finally growing. Besides, I trust him a lot, so there's no way he'd tell anyone about my Skill if I ask him to keep it a secret.

"Marrin!" I heard Uma's voice call out to me when I exited the apartment building.

"It's Marin," I sighed, looking over to where Uma stood.

After exchanging greetings, Uma and I started walking down the street. After a little while, we reached the commercial district of City C. There were a lot of people on the streets since it was the weekend. It seemed that a lot of them recognized Uma. There were also some Hero parties patrolling the streets that greeted him.

"You're pretty popular aren't you?" I asked Uma.

"Haha," Uma laughed, "I guess so. I'm B-Rank, but I'm pretty weak compared to other B-Ranks."

"Am I supposed to feel bad for you?" I asked with a blank expression.

"...Sorry," Uma scratched his head as he remembered what rank I was.

"Don't worry about it," I said, "There's actually something I want to tell you about later. Anyway, if you were a Hunter at B-Rank, you most likely wouldn't get so much attention unless you were someone like Beast Tamer."

"That's true," Uma nodded, "It's just because I'm a Hero. Heroes are always seen doing things out in the open, but Hunters are always inside of Dungeons where no one sees what they do."

"Yup," I said, popping the P, "By the way, Uma, those girls have been looking at you for a while, now."

"Really? Where?" Uma asked, looking around.

"Over there," I pointed in a direction.

Uma looked over to where I pointed, though what he saw wasn't a group of girls, but a group of big, burly men. The moment he saw them, he immediately turned his head back to me with a blank expression on his face.

"Why," he said.

I shrugged, letting out a slight chuckle.

"You know that I'm desperate for a girlfriend, Marrin," Uma whined to me, "How could you get my hopes up like that?"

"Shouldn't it be easy for you to get a girlfriend?" I asked Uma, "Not only are you a higher ranked Hero, but you also have the looks."

"That's what I thought too," Uma sighed depressingly, "But for some reason I just can't get a girlfriend."

"Then you must be doing something wrong," I said, "But don't worry. Even if you never get into a relationship, I'll be by your side."

I shot Uma a thumbs up, but he didn't look too happy about it.

The two of us chatted and joked with each other a bit more before we reached our destination, which was a restaurant that we usually hung out at. We started going to this place frequently a couple years ago. Of course, I didn't start drinking until I reached the appropriate age. Though, since Uma was 2 years older than me, he started earlier.

We entered the store. This place wasn't that well-known, but the food and drinks were good. We were greeted by a waitress that had seen us a couple times before, and she led us to a circular table with two chairs that were opposite of each other.

We quickly ordered what we usually got. I ordered something cheaper since Uma said that he would pay for me.

"So," Uma said after we sat, "what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

"I'll tell you about it after our food is out," I told him, "Anyway, what were you up to while I was in the hospital? Did anything happen?"

"Hmmm," Uma thought for a bit before speaking, "Yeah. My party had an encounter with a group of Villains. There were three of them. My party and I were able to take down two of them, but the third one got away."

"Are you guys okay?" I asked.

"My party is fine for the most part, but some of them got a bit scratched up," Uma said.

"What about the Villains? What were they like?"

"The one that escaped has the Job called thief, so it's no wonder that he was able to get away quickly," Uma sighed, "As for the ones we caught, one of them was a tanker and the other was a spearman."

"What were they doing?"

"Well, they're a group that steals from small stores and businesses," Uma responded, "They don't really aim for anything big. When my party encountered them, they had just robbed a store. The group is made up of 2 B-Ranks and a C-Rank. The one that got away is the one that's C-Rank."

"What about you, Uma?" I asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he smiled, "They couldn't even get a hit on me. Anyway, that's enough about me. What happened in the Dungeon?"

"We just encountered a really strong Monster," I said, partially lying, "There's nothing more."

"Marrin, your entire party died," Uma stated, "There's no way there's nothing."

"Hey, it's not like it's uncommon for parties to die to a strong Monster," I said, "and it's not like this is the first time it's happened to me."

"I'm just wondering how lucky you have to be to keep surviving when the rest of your party gets killed," Uma sighed.

"I wouldn't call myself lucky," I muttered, though it seemed that Uma didn't hear.

Sure, we talking about death quite lightly, but in our line of work, death was extremely common. There's no way that Uma hasn't had comrades and party members die before. As for me, there has been countless times that I've been in a temporary party where members die. After all, since I'm lower ranked, I'll be more likely to work with rookies with no experience. It's just a common fact that they're more likely to die. After years of this, Uma and I have gotten used to death.

Our food and drinks arrived. The moment it arrived, I took a bite of what was in front of me. However, Uma hadn't started eating yet.

"Marrin," Uma said seriously, "Before we start drinking, I want you to tell me what it is that you said you wanted to tell me about."

I also put on a serious expression, but it broke apart into a grin.

"There's no need to be so serious, Uma," I smiled, "It's good news."

"Really?" Uma raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

"Well, the truth is that I got a Skill," I said.

"...," Uma was silent.

The two of us were quiet for a couple seconds.

"You got a Skill?" Uma asked loudly, "That's great! Wait, what kind of Skill is it though? Did you get a Job too?"

"Calm down," I smirked before lying a bit, "I didn't get a Job, and to be honest, my Skill is kind of weird."

"Wait, so did you get some kind of rare Skill?" Uma asked.

"I think so," I nodded.

"Well, tell me about it, then!" Uma shouted.

"I will, but could you keep it a secret?" I asked.

When he nodded, I started talking about the details of my Skill.

"My Skill is S-Rank," I whispered, "It lets me obtain a random Skill or a random number from a random Stat of a Monster or person."

Before I could finish my explanation, Uma looked at me with wide eyes. He was about to say something, but I cut him off.

"The thing is that I have to eat a part of the Monster or person," I continued.

The moment I said that, Uma shut his mouth. Once again, the two of us became silent.

"Okay," he sighed, "Now I understand why you wanted to keep this a secret."

I only nodded in response.

"So, what are you going to do with this Skill?" Uma asked with a serious expression.

"I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing," I answered immediately, "I'll try to receive a higher income to support my family."

"That's what I thought," Uma smiled, "So, have you tried your new Skill out?"

"No," I shook my head, "I haven't been in a Dungeon since before I got hospitalized and I'm kind of reluctant to try eating anything."

Uma looked like he was thinking for a moment.

"How about this?" Uma asked, "You eat one of my hairs, and see if that works."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"It's fine," Uma shrugged, "It's just a hair. Besides, this is for you to get stronger, right? Let's see if you can get stronger by eating hair instead of actual flesh or something."

After that, Uma plucked out one of his blond hairs and handed it over to me. I hesitantly grabbed it.

"You washed your hair, right?" I asked him.

"Of course!" Uma shouted.

"Alright," I sighed, dropping the hair into a glass of water that was on the table.

I stared at the hair awkwardly before bringing the glass up to my lips. After gulping and taking a deep breath, I downed the glass of water in one go. I could barely feel the hair go down my throat, but it definitely went down. I took a deep breath.

"So?" Uma asked, "Did anything happen?"

"Hold on," I said, "Let me check my Status Window."

Name: Marin Skye

Age: 20

Sex: Male

Job: The Avatar of the Envious Glutton

Strength: 26 / Speed: 12 / Vitality: 9 / Magic: 1

Skills: Envy of a Glutton(S)

I stared at my Status Window for a good couple of seconds before my jaw dropped.

"What happened?" Uma asked when he saw my expression, "Did it work?"

"Y-yeah," I responded, "It definitely worked… My Strength Stat went up by 16… My Strength, which has been 10 for 4 years, is now 26…"

My heart was beating so fast. It was real! This Skill actually works! I actually got stronger from eating a hair!

For normal Awakened people, they should be able to increase their Stats by killing Monsters. However, that doesn't mean that they can't increase them through normal training. The thing with me though, is that I couldn't increase my Stats no matter what I did. I tried killing Monsters, but I also tried working out. Neither method worked.

The thing is though, that I know that I was able to improve myself physically through exercise before my Awakening. Then, after my Awakening, I was unable to improve my physical abilities no matter what. It was like the SS System was limiting me or something.

Anyway, I felt like crying tears of joy from being able to improve myself after so long.

"That's crazy, Marrin," Uma smiled, chuckling, "Maybe you should try eating another one of my hairs."

I nodded.

After asking for another glass of water, I consumed another one of Uma's hairs. Then, I checked my Status Window again. However, nothing changed.

"Hmm… Nothing is different," I told Uma, "Maybe I can only use this Skill on a specific target once."

"I guess so," Uma sighed, "Well, the Skill would've been completely broken if you could just keep eating the hairs of a single person, right?"

"Yeah, but I want that kind of broken Skill," I sighed.

"Anyway," Uma said, "Should we order our drinks now?"

Just as I was about to nod, I heard the sound of glass breaking. At first I thought that it might be a Dungeon Shatter, but then, I heard a voice inside the store.

"Don't move or else someone in here is dying!"