Chapter 131: Depressed lady
A/N:- I couldn’t find the chief’s name after going through over thirty Chapters. So, in this Chapter, I have given him a name and it’s mentioned in the Chapter.
-----..-----
"Welcome home, Claw!" the man called out as the rider dismounted.
The village chief, Baldon, stepped forward and embraced the man who would soon become part of his family, the mate of his daughter.
Claw was a young man with curly brown hair brushing his neck and a pair of sharp, fox-like brown eyes. Smiling, he returned the hug.
He was the youngest son of the tribal chief, hailed as a young prodigy of Gangaur.
"How is your health?" Claw asked as he stepped into the house, accompanied by a warrior and a server at his side.
"That ambush took quite a toll on you. The old man was worried," he added.
"The chief worrying about me is a blessing in itself," Baldon said, his smile never fading.
They soon entered the front hall, and Baldon gestured for Claw to sit beside him.
As they took their seats, servers stepped in and began offering drinks and fruits.
"Chief, these are some gifts from our house. I hope you and your people will like them," the attendant who had accompanied Claw said with a faint smile, as several men stepped forward carrying baskets.
"Ah, you didn’t have to bring so much," Baldon replied politely.
Claw leaned back in his seat, his broad arms draped over the armrests.
"So, where is my mate?"
The question caught Baldon off guard. He hadn’t expected Claw to ask for her so soon.
"She’s inside. Shall I call her?" the chief asked.
Claw shook his head and rose to his feet. "I’ll go see her myself. Mela, keep the chief company while I’m gone," he said before walking deeper into the house.
A servant led Claw further inside, guiding him toward the young lady’s quarters.
He walked with long, confident strides, a smirk playing on his lips. There were things he needed to tell her before he took her away from this place.
.....
Luke lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
His thoughts were tangled around the dungeon. There was a limit to how often he could enter it within a certain period.
Since he had cleared the first stage today, he wouldn’t be able to challenge the second level for another two days.
He wasn’t in a hurry anyway. For now, his focus was on stabilizing his newly developed Gamma Pod and improving his physical condition.
After distributing his available stat points, his current stats were:
[Stats:
Str: 16 → 18
Spd: 16.5 → 19
Def: 18 → 19
Int: 15 → 15.5
Gamma: 480 / 560]
His Gamma count hadn’t reset yet, as that required a proper night’s rest. By tomorrow, he would be back at full strength.
From what he experienced today, he could already tell that moving forward would only grow more dangerous and demanding.
Earlier, he had a favorable start against three hyenas. They were weak but cunning, yet Luke outpaced and overpowered them with ease, leaving them no chance to retaliate. Even then, one of them managed to escape and led him straight into something far more dangerous.
Just thinking back to that cave made Luke feel like he had done something absurd.
Taking on more than ten beasts at once in a confined space and killing them within minutes... it didn’t feel real.
Still, his instincts and the little experience he had gained in the wild had helped him greatly, along with the sharpened senses he had developed over time.
But the moment he let his guard slip, thinking he could finally take a breather, something far larger attacked him.
Just thinking about what could have happened without his magical abilities sent a chill down his spine.
Still, he didn’t dwell on possibilities that never came to pass.
He slowly rose from the bed and asked the system, ’Tell me something. Can you add another attribute to my stats?’
[What is it, host? Based on your request, the system can consider making a change.]
’I need a bar to measure fatigue. I’m having trouble understanding my current state.’ He had been fighting for nearly an hour today, chasing, searching, pushing himself. Then came the nausea when his Gamma drained.
And yet now... he didn’t feel particularly exhausted or sluggish. It made it hard to trust his own body.
A fatigue stat would help him stay in control. If his body was tired but he couldn’t feel it, he would at least know when to rest and avoid long-term damage.
[Host, you can unlock the desired feature by leveling up.]
So he needed to level up.
That was expected. He wasn’t getting anything for free.
He had gained a fair number of points recently. Once he crossed the next threshold, he would level up again.
Click
At that moment, the door opened, revealing his mother.
She looked exhausted, her eyes red from crying for too long.
"Sit here," Luke said gently, pulling out a bottle of water from his inventory and offering it to her.
With his help, she drank a little before he sat beside her and took her hand in his.
"You look tired. How are things?"
"Laila... she’ll need some time to recover. Despite everything between them, they were together for a long time."
Luke exhaled softly. "Trust me, Mother. She’ll live a better life without that burden. He was nothing but dead weight, someone who made her suffer every single day just by being there."
If he had been disabled, it would have been understandable. But he had two working arms and legs, and he was stable enough to at least try to find a job and earn something.
Luke might have been a coward in the past, but he still helped around the house, trying to make himself useful in any way he could. That man, on the other hand, was nothing but a lazy burden.
Monica fell silent for a moment before saying, "How about you go talk to her? She needs someone right now... and at the moment, only you can give her the comfort she truly needs."
Luke hummed. "Are you sure about this? We don’t exactly have a good relationship."
Monica gave a faint smile. "I know my Luke well enough to say that, in a time like this, he wouldn’t abandon a family member."
Luke sighed. He hadn’t told her about the promise he made to Laila, but he had a feeling she wouldn’t object. If anything, Monica would accept it without hesitation.
Leaning closer, he placed a soft kiss at the corner of her lips and whispered, "Go get some rest. You look really tired."
"B-But...we earlier decided to..." She quietly protested, reminding him the unfinished business they had this afternoon.
Luke chuckled seeing how shy she still becomes when it comes to sex
Resting his hand on her head he told her, "We have all our lives to enjoy ourselves. But today you have already gone through a lot. So now, just sleep, okay?"
Monica looked into his eyes for a few more seconds before nodding. "I understand. But please don’t stay up late, okay?"
Luke nodded in agreement before he tucked her under the cover and finally stepped out of the room.
Let’s comfort the depressed lady now.