The Abandoned Hunter

"What the heck!?", Jay was surprised when he saw the changes in the stats.

It was by no means normal, needless to say, it was something that baffled him.

"How could you...?", indeed, he was confused too.

That was because Jake changed his stats in front of him in the blink of an eye, didn't that mean that he could do whatever he wanted with the stats?

He could make him weak by turning all the stats to zero or could make him super strong by raising all the stats just like he did a second ago!

*gulp*

"Who are you?", he asked again.

When he heard the question, he just smiled and treated it as if it was non-existent.

"...", Jay didn't get his answer instead, he got tons of questions after asking that.

'Who the heck is he?'

'If he has the authority to command the system, doesn't that mean he is actually the creator of the system?', indeed, that was a conclusion that anyone would draw after going through the same situation as him.

But oh well, he wasn't answered. That was probably because Jake didn't want to reveal anything yet or probably because Jay wasn't ready to learn about the truth yet.

Regardless, it seemed like Jay had something important to do. 

Of course,e he had to complete the mission, but he failed to understand why Jake had to come here personally. It was definitely not to see what he was up to, indeed, something was definitely going on his mind as if he was plotting something.

"Let's go!", he said after creating the gate again.

There was a lake in front of them but it had normal water, so Jay was confused initially as to why it was named as the blood lake if there was no blood in the first place, but that doubt was cleared soon enough after he entered the gate that Jake created.

"Alright...", Jay didn't say much and just walked into the gate.

Of course, Jake entered it too since he had to show him the way where all the materials were present.

Sebas and Katherine were forced to return to the dungeon, of course, it was because Jay commanded them to do so.

Jay was now presenting a completely different place when compared to earlier. 

"Whe-"

"Where are we?", he asked in a low voice while being surprised by the surrounding in which he was standing at the moment.

"Well, this is the place where you will find two of the four materials that you require...", was what Jake said.

"Ah, so I need four materials altogether?", Jay asked.

"Yes, you need four materials totally..."

"Blood Pearl, Blood Grass, Blood Sand and Blood of the one whose trait you want to gain while evolving...", was what Jake said.

"I see...", well, he learned the names of the material.

After hearing these, he could understand the reason for the name of the essence being associated with 'Blood'.

"Do you see that lake?", Jake asked.

"Huh", when Jay turned towards his right, he found a large lake, needless to say, the water seemed dark.

Of course, it was night here too so it wasn't visible clearly, but he sure did have night vision skill thanks to which he recognized that the thing which he thought to be water was actually blood!

'Ding'

[ You have used the skill Night Vision ]

[ Your... ]

*gulp*

'So it's real blood after all...', he thought and walked towards the lake.

"You will get the Blood Peral from this lake...", Jake said.

"Hmm, Blood Pearl...", well, pearls were usually found deep in the ocean floor, so it was rather unusual to find them in a lake.

Needless to say, it was found in a lake of blood!

"So I need to dive inside this lake?", Jay asked.

"Yes.", Jake answered as if it was nothing.

Well, Jay was already freaked out just from the thought that he would be bathing with blood.

Well, one could barely open his or her eyes in water probably because of its density, needless to say, blood was denser and without a doubt, he wouldn't be able to open his eyes inside the lake.

So he had to think of a way to open his eyes before entering it.

'Do I have any skill that can enhance my vision or protect my eyes from the blood?', he asked himself.

"Hmm..."

Jake didn't disturb Jay after seeing that he was thinking something. Needless to say, they didn't have all the time in the world so of course, they had to hurry soon enough.

'Ah, can the Eye of Darkness help me?', he recalled the evolved skill which he had received earlier.

It had maxed out in terms of level so it could be useful, of course, he hadn't seen its description yet.

'System, show me the Eye of Darkness' description.', he asked the system.

'Ding'

[ Eye Of Darkness ]

[ -> Allows the host to see through all deceptions ]

[ -> Black smokes arising from the eyes would protect the eyes from abnormalities ]

[ -> Enhances all eye-related skills if used simultaneously ]

[ -> A skill that can only be used by the Dark Overlord ]

Of course, the description of the skill was good and without a doubt, it met all the requirements that Jay wanted.

'Ok, with this I might be able to find it...', right after thinking that, he started walking towards the lake.

Well, Jake followed him closely without saying anything since it was Jay who had to do everything. In any case, he had said whatever was necessary, of course, a little warning was left to be given.

Regardless, both of them arrived near the Lake. Jay took a look at the redness of the lake which was clearly visible to him thanks to the night vision skill which was active even now.

He took a look at Jake and found no glow in his eyes. Well, he couldn't even spot any change in the aura.

Clearly, Jake wasn't using any skill or magic, even without that, it seemed as if he was able to see everything clearly even though it was dark.

"Alright then, I will be going.", Jay said and activated the Eyes of Darkness.

'Ding'

[ You have used the skill Eyes Of The Darkness ]

[ Your eyes have been layered by a protective aura ]

[ All eye-related skills would be enhanced ]

'Ding'

[ Night Vision has been enhanced ]

[ The host would be able to differentiate colors with greater detail ]

Night Vision did provide him sight and the opportunity to look at things during the dark, but everything seemed black, white, red, and green, other than these colors, he couldn't see anything else.

But since now the skill had been enhanced, he would have been able to differentiate many more colors too!

Well, he got the second notification because he hadn't deactivated the Night Vision skill. In any case, now he was ready to enter the lake and search for the pearl.

'Wait...'

'This is...'

He realized that his vision was different, way too different than earlier.

It was as if he could spot some weird things inside the lake and could even see the bottom of the lake just by standing outside!

'What is going on?'

He was confused for a moment because of his sight. Needless to say, sometimes it would be freaky to see everything possible.

Of course, not being able to see the surface of the lake because of lack of control on the skill could be dangerous and uncomfortable too!

*gulp*

He could see some strange movements inside the lake.

'What are those...?'

'Fishes?', he asked himself.

'But...'

'Those are too big t be mere fishes...'

'Perhaps fish-like monsters?', he concluded after seeing that their large size.

Of course, he couldn't see them directly, he could spot only their shadows which were large enough just like them.

"Wait! That is..", he was shocked after seeing their shadows.

"Haha, interesting isn't it?", Jake laughed after seeing Jay flinching.

"It's not interesting! It's weird!"

"How can I see their shadows when it's so dark?", he asked.

"Haha, that's a good question indeed..."

"But the answer for that is quite simple...", Jake laughed yet again as if it was nothing.

"Huh?"

"Well, before answering that, Let me ask you a question..."

"What exactly is a shadow?"

"How are they formed?"

"What things form shadows and what do not?"

"And what do 'YOU' think about shadows?"

"..."

To be continued...