Mixed Blessing System

When it was almost mid-afternoon in that part of Finn Mountain, Lothur and Annaliese arrived in the village they had eaten breakfast in.

Both were sweaty and with many scorpion blood marks on their clothes, with tired looks on their faces.

They had been injured in the previous fights but had recovered, either by the recovery skills of one or by the potions of the other.

But mental fatigue could only be recovered with rest and tranquility, something impossible to have in the opportunities they had had up to this point. Because of this, the two seemed to need a bath, food, and sleep even considering their victorious looks, typical of those who have fulfilled their responsibilities.

"Are you already back? Sigh... I imagine things have gone from bad to worse once again." An old man commented to the two just after they entered the property of the family that owned the cave they had cleared.

Upon hearing this, Lothur shook his head in denial and said. "That's not the case. We have finished our mission and are here to report this to you."

"What?" That fellow got up from the chair he was resting in and took out the toothpick he had in his mouth to exclaim in surprise. "Are you serious?"

As the old man exclaimed, people in the surrounding area began to pay attention to them, with some already becoming hopeful.

"Is it true?"

"I hope so. We've already had voluminous losses because of that scorpion infestation."

Annaliese then said in place of the masked man behind her on her horse. "Yes, we cleared that area. If you want to check, we left all the corpses outside the cave. The inside is clean, as contracted."

The eyes of that man and the people in the surroundings opened wider and wider as hope flowed in their hearts. "I hope you people are not lying. The Cultivation House takes its missions seriously..."

Lothur was not bothered by the comment in a threatening tone from one of the people there, and when he saw the individual he had talked to before breakfast, he said. "Don't worry. Everything is fine. Just send someone to check the area. Then, tomorrow afternoon, my companion and I will stop by to receive our reward and the mission insignia."

Unlike the Morning Star Academy, the missions of the Cultivation House could be paid directly by the contractors, and all the mercenary would have to get was the mission insignia.

What was that for? Simple, to help rank the mercenaries.

Higher-performing mercenaries could access better and more hotly contested missions, such as those for high-level people, usually scarce operations.

As such, Lothur only needed to prove to these clients that he had completed the mission to receive his coins and that thing. Since he was not in a hurry and intended to spend the rest of his time with Annaliese, he was okay with waiting until the next day.

"Oh?" Some people there exclaimed in surprise that Lothur did not come over there arrogantly demanding payment, as was usually the case with some mercenaries.

"All right. I will send someone, and we will deliver the reward to you tomorrow if all is well." The leader of this family, a short man, 1.5 meters tall but muscular, commented.

After hearing this, Lothur nodded to that person and signaled Annaliese to follow back to the place they had stayed earlier.

"What are we going to do now?" She asked him as they rode through the dirt streets of that village.

"We're going to eat something, take a bath, and rest. Later we'll go out for dinner as I promised and see what happens after that." He said as he hugged her tiny waist, making this woman blush at the thought of her brother-in-law.

That said, it was not long before they arrived at the place they had hosted.

...

After they finished eating and returned to their room, Lothur and Annaliese sat in meditative positions in different parts of that place.

Annaliese was focused on relaxing and resting her mind from the hours of the mission, as well as some of the night's travel she had had these past 24 hours.

As for Lothur, he needs to rest, but first, he wants to do some tests...

'I have a lot of EVF points, so it's time for me to try to use that to strengthen myself to at least know how this part of my skills works in practice.' He pondered.

'If memory serves me right, EVF points can be used to increase Constitution, Soul, and life-related quality...' He remembered the words of the system.

'I don't know what this life-related quality is... Maybe it's my life force? My life expectancy?' He opened his eyes and then said in his mind to the system.

'I want to use my EVF through bloodline to strengthen myself. How do I do it?'

The system then answered him, showing a slightly different status screen.

[Name: Lothur Ritter]

[Physique: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger]

[Bloodline: Life Devourer]

[Host life expectancy: 300 years] (+)

[Cultivation: level 8]

[STR: 23.9]

[CON: 46.5] (+)

[DEX: 20.3]

[AGI: 28.3]

[INT: 68.8]

[PER: 68.8]

[WIL: 71.7]

[SOU: (blocked)] (+)

[EVF: 399]

'Oh?' Lothur's mouth dropped open at this unique sight, something he had never seen before and had no idea what was possible to appear to him.

'Those plus signs are where I can add points through my bloodline and EVF. But what is SOU?'

[SOU: is the soul-related attribute of the host. It is still blocked since the host does not have soul power and is incomplete.]

[To complete it, the host will have to use a unique external method *****.]

'What? What is that censored part?'

[The host's level is too low. Insufficient talent to understand such a thing.]

Gulp!

He swallowed his saliva and clenched one of his fists in frustration.

"Sigh..."

'What about my life expectancy? Why doesn't it show up in other situations?'

[That is unnecessary information. The host is only 20 years old right now. In other words, that information doesn't add anything, and so it was suppressed.]

[But once the host has only five years left of life force, that information will constantly appear.]

'Hmm, that makes sense...'

He then thought about the plus beside Constitution and 'pressed' once to see what happened.

[0.1 points added in CON for the cost of 2 EVF.]

...

[CON: 46.6]

...

[EVF: 397]

He frowned as he saw how low the efficiency was. 'Well, that's a stolen power that didn't cost me anything. So, I guess I can't complain too much...'

He then did the same with his life force.

[1 year added in life expectancy for the cost of 50 EVF.]

...

[Host life expectancy: 301 years]

...

[EVF: 347]

Seeing this, Lothur did not think it was terrible, as a year of life could mean a lot to a dying person. But since he still had many advances to make and was a long way from his life expectancy ending, he decided not to add more points to this for the time being.

'I'll put a few more points into Constitution and leave a reserve of EVF for emergencies...'

[5 points added in CON for the cost of 100 EVF.]

...

[CON: 51.6]

...

[EVF: 247]

After doing so, he finalized the operation and saw his normal status.

[Name: Lothur Ritter]

[Physique: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger]

[Bloodline: Life Devourer]

[Cultivation: level 8]

[STR: 23.9] [CON: 51.6] [DEX: 20.3] [AGI: 28.3]

[INT: 68.8] [PER: 68.8] [WIL: 71.7]

[EVF: 247]

...