Red didn't know how things worked, like what he was supposed to do to exchange the dead marget with the loot. Or how the process of this exchange worked, he knew nothing. He was holding the dead carcass by the neck and waiting.
A few seconds after he said he wanted to exchange it with the loot, the marget's bloody head turned into blue light particles and spread down, almost touching his hand.
That startled him as he subconsciously threw the disappearing body to the ground. His heart jumped for a moment. This awakening stuff was full of jump scares, and this was the fourth time he experienced such a scary experience.
The first experience was when the curse triggered, giving him the worst pain of his life. The second experience was the marget's ambush. Third was when he realized that he might die in that ambush. Lastly, the dead body turned into blue particles.
It took around ten seconds for the carcass to completely disappear. The blue light particles also dissipated in the air. He was about to ask where the loot was until he found a scroll made of worn-out leather and three colored stones. The colored stone was obscure: two red and one blue.
Red hoped the loot was a weapon to replace his broken spear. He didn't know why he thought that he might get a weapon. However, he got a scroll instead of a weapon. He thought the scroll might be useless, but he held his judgment.
Levelheaded skill had proven to him that there was no useless skill or stuff. This scroll might contain something important. He grabbed the scroll, and a notification appeared in his eyes.
[Do you want to learn Appraisal Skill?]
Red's lip curled into a smile; his eyes shone in excitement when the scroll offered him a skill. He didn't hesitate to say yes.
[You have learned Appraisal Skill.]
He checked his status and found that Appraisal was under the Tier 1 Skill. He didn't mind it being a tier 1 skill after learning how a high-tier skill was costly to use. He tapped the skill to find out what the skill did.
[Appraisal - level 1: An ability to analyze targets, items, and living beings to reveal basic information.]
His first thought was the colored stone. He picked the red stone and waited for a moment, hoping for a notification just like how the scroll worked. After waiting long enough, he attempted to use his first active skill.
"Appraisal."
He called the name of the skill since he didn't really know how to use it. He thought calling it out might work, and it indeed did the wonder as information about the stone appeared.
However, he also felt something weird happened with his body, something was getting drained from his body. He didn't know what it was, but he could sense it, the uncomfortable feeling when something that he didn't know drained from his body.
He could not figure it out, and he was not going to dawdle on something that he had no way to figure out. His eyes focused on the information that appeared before his eyes.
[Might Core (Inferior): An Inferior Grade Might Core. Absorb the core to increase a random Might attribute.]
Red was confused for a moment until he read it for the second time and checked his status screen again. He was confused about what it meant by Might attribute at first, but he realized that it might be related to the numbers below might.
He was excited for a moment, but then he calmed down, trying not to get too excited. He picked the blue stone and used Appraisal on it.
Red felt it again, the same sensation of something being drained from his body. He really didn't think that much and read the appraisal result.
[Magic Core (Inferior): An Inferior Grade Magic Core. Absorb the core to increase a random Magic attribute.]
It said the same thing, but it was for Magic attribute instead of Might. He had a general understanding of the color. Red represented Might, and Blue represented Magic.
Red put aside the Magic Core and took the Might Core. After a moment of consideration, he decided to take the core for himself.
He thought of giving it to the tribe, to make his life easier in the tribe, to gain a good impression from the warrior and the Matrons. But having an ability was more important than all of those things. When everyone turned against him, he could use that power to survive. It was important to get himself stronger before thinking about all of those things.
"Absorb."
He felt the warmth sensation going through his palm, spreading to his body. He enjoyed the feeling of being comfortable. It was the opposite sensation when he used Appraisal earlier. That lasted for five seconds before the stone cracked and turned into dust.
Red immediately checked the status again, wanting to know what attribute had increased.
"Status."
Name: ???
Level: 0
Health: 20 Stamina: 46 Mana: 100
[Tier 0 Might]
Strength: 9 Endurance: 6 Vitality: 3.4 Dexterity: 4
[Tier 0 Magic]
Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10 Arcane Perception: 8 Mind: 8
Skills:
Tier 1 Skill: Mana Sense - Level 1, Levelheaded (Passive) - Level 10, Appraisal - Level 1
Tier 5 Skill: Infernal Berserk - Level 1
Negative Status:
Curse of the Hunter - Level 1
He saw the increase in Vitality. It increased by 0.4. Not only Vitality, but he saw his health increase as well. It went up by 4, and he was happy with the discovery.
Red didn't wait any longer, using the remaining cores, including the Magic Core. He truly liked the warm sensation when he absorbed the core. That was amazing, something he had never experienced before. He checked his status again after absorbing the remaining stones.
[Tier 0 Might]
Strength: 9 Endurance: 6 Vitality: 3.4 Dexterity: 4.8
[Tier 0 Magic]
Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10 Arcane Perception: 8.2 Mind: 8
His Dexterity and Arcane Perception went up this time, but the number was confusing. His Vitality went up by 0.4, and he assumed the number was set to 0.4, but it was not. His Dexterity attribute went up by 0.8, doubling his Vitality's increase, but he got less Arcane Perception.
This told him that the number was not set when he used the core. It was truly random, just like how the core picked a random attribute to increase. That was his conclusion for now about the core, then his eyes moved to the second corpse.
He stood in front of the second prey, and he was tempted to exchange the prey for the loot again. The temptation was so high after finding that he could increase his attribute, getting stronger.
Red really thought hard about it, considering the option until he got an idea, a brilliant idea. At least he thought so.