Classless Absorption System or How The World Lies

It wasn't long after they went over their powers that Kotushk was put in charge of exploring. Yami figured it would be easier to avoid an attack with his speed, and he could swap in to help disrupt any monster's attacks with his binding and blinding skills. They did consider Josh as well for stealth, but it was decided that was too weak to rely on at a mere D Rank. Yami also decided that when they did find a target, or were found instead, they would do their best to incapacitate the foe for Arthias to try to absorb.

And so Kotushk walked out of the circle of protection, which only had ten minutes remaining anyways. He chose a direction at random, and set out in as straight a line as he could. His high school military training gave him a good sense of direction in unfamiliar situations, which also leaned into the decision to put him in charge. He left marks on trees with small stones, though they found out early that large enough stones were considered weapons on this world, and they couldn't pick them up since they couldn't equip anything. Yami was keeping track of any developments, and was annoyed that this was covered by the system. Stryker joked that the caveman strategy of 'throw big rock' was removed immediately. 

It wasn't long before they found a living creature, a somewhat large beetle-like insect about the size of a large dog from their previous world. It didn't seem aggressive, and Yami figured it wouldn't take very much damage from them if they fought it, so they left it alone and moved on. Eventually, they entered a clearing in the trees, surrounded on all sides by a strange blue flower growing in the sunlit perimeter. Yami stopped Kotushk from walking into the clearing, citing that he had a bad feeling about this. As his instincts were usually close to animalistic in accuracy, they waited in the trees and observed for a bit.

Soon, they heard a rustling in the underbrush to their left in the clearing. Shortly after, a large, blue deer-like creature poked it's head into the light, blinking for a moment and sniffing the air. Fortunately, the breeze in the forest was blowing towards Kotushk, so the deer found nothing on the wind to give their position away. After ascertaining that it was safe, it cautiously approached one of the blue flowers, sniffing it before nibbling it lightly. Suddenly, at lightning speed, a vine rose from the ground under the deer, lashing around it's neck in violent fashion, dragging its head into the ground hard enough to make the soil tremble. The deer's legs kicked once feebly, and then it was still. The vine then proceeded to loosen slightly, before blood-red thorns grew from its stalk, before wrapping more of itself around the deer and tightening once more. The thorns dug into the deer's flesh, and it began to almost immediately shrink in on itself, as if the body was mummifying at an accelerated pace. 

"Well," said Yami from inside, "that explains why I felt so uneasy. I wish it had only trapped that deer though, I would've loved a chance for Arthias to absorb it."

"We can always wait around for an animal to get caught closer to us," suggested Shane.

"Nah, I think those flowers are intelligent. They might trap us for interfering. Let's move, and obviously, avoid those flowers, Kotushk."

Kotushk grunted, standing up from where they had hid, rolling his shoulders before skirting the clearing. He began to head in the direction the deer had come from, hoping there might be more creatures to hunt that direction.

After a few more hours of walking, they felt a chill run down their spine. Something seemed to be stalking them. 

"Okay. That's not a good feeling in the wild. Quick, use your speed and climb that tree over there. Try to get from that one to another one before we get ambushed."

Kotushk nodded before accelerating, and the world seemed to slow around them. With practiced ease from his physical training back home, he easily scaled the tree near him, and jumped using his momentum from tree to tree, getting in a tree four away from his initial spot. Then he deactivated his power. Soon after, a mildly confused roar sounded out, and a wolf the size of a car jumped into view, sniffing at where they had been only a few moments before. 

"Alright, my turn."

Yami took control after, and immediately blinded the wolf by pulling its shadow from the forest floor over its face. The wolf yipped in surprise before snarling and trying to pull the shadow down with its paws. But before it could do much, Yami called on a couple trees' shadows to bind it with dark tendrils. It was pulled to the ground, unable to move, growling and snarling more fiercely as it struggled. 

"Alright, it won't be down long, so back to you, Kotushk. Punch that thing with a speed boost."

Kotushk dropped from the tree into a practiced roll before time slowed down again and he rushed at the wolf, raising back a fist to bring down when he got close. As they got closer, they saw the shadows holding the wolf down begin to dissipate, but it was already too late. Kotushk rocketed forward, landing a clean hit on the rising wolf's throat, sending it flying back first into a sturdy tree nearby. The crack of its spine against the hard bark left an indent in the tree large enough to cause it to slowly break under its own weight, falling onto the stunned wolf and trapping it beneath its thick trunk. The wolf struggled for a few moments, but it didn't seem capable of escaping the weight laying on its shoulders.

"Alright, Arthias, seems it's trapped, so let's see what you can do. Absorb from it before it suffocates."

Arthias took control, and slowly walked towards the trapped beast, who regarded him with furious eyes. He then briskly climbed over the tree, finding the wolf's tail bloodied and limp on the ground. He reached out, grabbing the tail and activating his ability. His hand began to glow red, and he felt some of the exertion of the day fading away.

"Wow, this is slow. I can feel the tail twitching, and I don't think the wolf is really dying all that fast from it," Arthias muttered.

"Hmm. Can you retell me what it tells you in your mind again about your power?" Yami had a thoughtful look on his face.

"Uhh, yeah, it just says 'just that by point of contact, I absorb one HP per ten seconds from what I'm touching.' Nothing else, really."

"Point of contact... Point of... Wait, you're using your whole hand to grab that tail. Let go, and try using just a finger to touch it."

Arthias did as he was told, and the ability seemed to work the same.

"OK, that's good. Now let's see if this world's inhabitants just don't think outside the box. Touch it with two fingers, spread out."

Arthias raised an eyebrow, but did as told. To his surprise, the drain seemed to speed up immediately. He looked over at Yami in the control room, who was grinning maniacally. 

"Hahahah, damn that's good. Now try one finger from each hand."

Arthias took one finger from each hand, touching the tail on either side, and the drain was the same as two fingers.

"Alright. Perfect. Your power is going to do a lot of damage. Use each finger on all your hands, and cross your feet together to touch the tail with each foot."

Arthias did as told once more, and the wolf immediately sensed its lifeforce plummeting. Twelve points of contact quickly drained the wolf, and in only a few minutes, the wolf ceased struggling, and eventually died. When it did, Arthias received a notification in his mind that sounded similar to the being they spoke with.

:NOTICE - The first ever kill with the ability, Absorption. New unlocked power for this user has been acquired. Killing a being with the absorption effect now has a chance to drain an ability from the target, with reduced odds for higher grade abilities. Congratulations, user! As a special reward for the first kill with this ability, you have received an upgrade to your %(^*&$# - ...:

:ERROR! No system detected. Rebooting... Rebooted.:

:NOTICE - As you had no system before, you will instead receive the basic system. You will also receive one random piece of equipment. Congratulations!:

:NOTICE - Level of target killed vastly exceeded user's parameters! Bonus experience acquired! You are level 5! You may only distribute points when Yami Fier is in control.:

An influx of notifications bombarded Arthias, but the most important one was they now had a system. Yami whooped in glee, shoving Arthias from the control chair and taking over. 

"Alright, move it. We leveled up, I need to get these points in asap. That wolf obviously had a ton of health, and we have nearly none."

Arthias wasn't too annoyed with the abrupt change. Yami was known to take control when he felt like it, which was usually when he got really angry. But this time he was doing it because the system essentially told them they were all extras in this little game. Only he was seen as the true power holder. 

Arthias looked over at Yami, who was having trouble figuring out how to distribute the points though. Apparently, it wasn't something that came naturally, as even their basic knowledge wasn't informing them. Arthias figured it was because they were never supposed to even have one, so that was locked knowledge to them. Eventually, Josh spoke up quietly.

"Maybe say system or something?" He looked at the ground, expecting to be berated, but Yami merely hummed and did as suggested. 

"System!"

A glowing screen suddenly popped up in their vision. It showed their name, Yami Fier, and what could be assumed to be their stats. Each one was at 5, and they had 9 points remaining. They were Strength, Speed, Endurance, Intelligence, Luck, Dexterity, and Willpower. Strength enhanced their ability to hit things with their fists, clubs, and other such weapons easier. Speed made them faster physically, but also made them perceive events faster as well. Endurance raised their maximum HP, and reduced damage taken a little bit after armor values were factored in. Intelligence gave them greater control of their magical skills, increasing their effects or durations. Luck didn't really say what it did when inspected. Dexterity allowed them to aim their strikes and ranged weapons easier. And finally, Willpower made them harder to attack mentally, via hostile mental attacks or persuasive tactics. 

After looking over everything for a few moments, Yami quickly put in two points each in Strength, Speed, and Intelligence. When he tried to put a point into Luck, however, it took all remaining three, instead. 

"Wait, shouldn't we have raised Endurance or Willpower? We need more HP, and being mentally attacked sounds like a cheap way to lose," Stryker spoke up, confused.

Yami looked back and smirked.

"Look, we just beat a wolf with ridiculous advantage in HP over us, without taking a hit, so HP seems useless right now, especially if we focus on hunting them for a moment. And mental attacks? Look at us. If one of us gets into a mental scrap, the enemy is going to find his ass getting ganged up on. We aren't alone in control anymore, we have to work together anyways."

"Good points. Guess we'll have to follow your lead anyway. And you did plan that fight pretty well. By the way, did raising your intelligence feel like it made you any smarter?"

"Hmm, not really. Can't be sure at this low level, though. Anyways, I guess now we have to see what our random item was somehow. Yo Josh, any thoughts on finding that?"

"Well, umm, we didn't have an inventory before, right? What if you just said inventory or something?"

"Inventory!" Yami said through the body's voice. 

Instantly another screen opened up, this time with a grid of boxes that looked like a spreadsheet. At the top of the grid was a blue giftbox. Upon focusing on it, the box appeared in front of Yami's hands. 

:NOTICE - Opening this Present will grant an item based on who opens it. Open?:

"Oh, so I don't need to be the one? Alright, you're up Stryker. Since you got Weapon Learning as a skill, here's hoping you get some sort of weapon."

"Gotcha," Stryker said, sliding into the control seat. "Confirm open."

The blue box began to float into the air, and after trembling a few seconds, it disappeared in a flash of light, and from the light descended a small and hooked bladed weapon attached to a chain and a weighted steel ball.

"Huh, that things called a Kusarigama. Seems like it can be used to wrap around enemy weapons to yank them from their grasp, or obviously just slice them with the blade. And hey look, now I have a 'big rock' I can throw and retrieve at will. Sweet!"

"Good, now we can really hunt. We're going to have to let you get some fighting done though. But now we know what Arthias can do, so we're saving some kills for him. He needs some more Skills to fight on his own better. Move out!"

Stryker stood in the fading light of the day, a slight smile on his lips. Now they weren't so handicapped. And now they would hunt...