Strongest Duo Part 1

Chapter 5- The Stranger (1)

So, there is a limit on how many items each slot can carry. Looks like Laila was right on the money. I had a hand on my chin, inspecting a few crystals I'd gathered, adding up to 32. The mass did not particularly matter as one small crystal and one big crystal still equate to 1. And that's for only one slot of five. Three others already have my trusty sword, claw darts, and a bag of rations I gathered before teleportation. I want to save the last slot in case of an emergency. Man... I wonder if there's an Inventory upgrade available somehow... that would be great.

Turning my head, Laila was leaning against a wall, staring into the air. She's probably looking at her Status and Inventory. Looking closely, her white hoodie seems to be slightly singed. Probably the magic from earlier that caused it. I should check up on her soon. Speaking of status, I should peep at mine real quick.

"Status."

A red screen pops up showing my attributes.

Name: Isaac

Rank: Undecided

Strength:5     Agility:4

Durability:4   Mana:0

Masteries: Marksmanship Lvl 2     Swordsmanship Lvl 1

Yep, I still get annoyed every time I see this number. The number 0. The more I look at it, the more it makes me feel inadequate. As someone with a big ego that accumulated through video games, just failing anything gets me irritated. It's just how I function. The only solace is that at least my stats are somewhat balanced. I also managed to rank up my Marksmanship by one level. Figuring out how masteries worked was easy once you discover one, albeit accidentally. The simplest explanation is you just gotta do specific actions to discover them and level them up.

Wait a minute. If I follow that logic... will self-harm increase my durability? No, stop those thoughts. I have no way of healing myself If I were to inflict wounds. I'll have to try this method at a better time.

Waving the screen away, I headed to where my sister was resting and squat near her. "I noticed your shirt got burn marks. You injured?"

Laila glanced over her shoulder. "It's faint. Barely any pain. I was able to mitigate most of the explosion."

"Yea. I saw. You're quicker than me. If it was me, I probably wouldn't have dodged it like you and probably suffered more even with my durability level. I'm guessing your agility is at a 7 or an 8. Maybe you broke double digits?"

"It's at a 9." Laila corrected.

"Congratulations. You'll be the first to get out of the single digits. Maybe."

Laila rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Hand me a bottle of water."

"So unenthusiastic..." I grab the ration bag out of the Inventory and place it in front of Laila. She reaches inside and pulls out a 17 oz bottle of water. After a quick chug, she lets out a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad I thought ahead and told you to pack food and water. We probably wouldn't have survived without food and water."

"Eh. Depends on how long we are in here. Since our phones don't work at the moment, we can't tell how much time has passed."

"Or if we'll be stuck here until we're fertilizer..." She warned, crushing the 17 oz bottle.

I put a hand on my chin, thinking about what to do next. "I don't think we're necessarily 'stuck' if there's a possible exit. Remember the split path those two demons came out of? I'm 99% sure one of those passages leads to an exit of some kind. The 1% on the other hand, I don't have to spell it out, do I?"

Laila stayed silent, eyebrows scrunched up. She usually does that when she's deep in thought. She then speaks up.

"I say we keep sticking together and check out each tunnel one by one. Separating to find an exit doesn't sound wise. What if something were to happen to either of us all alone?"