10. Meet The Leader of The Dark Clan

[SYSTEM ACTIVATED]

[PROCESSING YOUR DATA...]

[10%...35%... 57%... 68%... 89%... 94%... 100%]

[PROCESS COMPLETE]

[YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED ONE MAIN MISSION, MAL!]

[TAP THE MISSIONS BOX IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR MISSION RESULTS]

In the silence, Mal pressed the 'Mission Box' icon on the homepage. The system screen in front of his face changed to a few gray squares with a padlock symbol on them. Mal pressed the box on the far left at the top, then a green tick appeared. There is a mission status that reads:

[Mission Status: Successfully Completed]

Mal then swiped through the mission window. Apparently, the gray padlock had disappeared and was replaced by a description of a new mission.

[NEW SUB MISSION]

[Goal: Find four 'Klorang' leaves to create a stamina restore potion]

[Location: West Side, 30 Meters From The Vandelmork Building]

[Mission Reward Points: 100]

[Penalty: Your Stamina Points Will Drop So Much It Affects Your Consciousness]

[Time Required: Tonight]

[Time Remaining: 1 Hour 30 Minutes 59 Seconds]

Mal's cynical laugh immediately sounded after reading this description of his mission. Has the system in his head gone mad? It was late at night—towards the early hours of the morning even. But why did Mal have to look for the four 'Klorang' leaves?

After all, Mal didn't even know what the shape of the leaf of the klorang meant was. This system is indeed strange.

"Is my stamina reduced by a lot?" muttered Mal. Finally Mal came out of the 'Mission Box' menu and pressed the 'Seeker Profile' menu.

Changes appear on the system screen.

[Name: Mal]

[Level: 0/60]

[Position: Guardian]

[Energy: 550/1000]

[HP: 100/100]

[MP: 100/100]

——————————

[Strength: 0]

[Agility: 0]

[Intelligence: 0]

[Mentality: 0]

[Defense: 0]

Mal's eyes widened after reading her 'Energy' caption. Wait, how could his energy points drop so much? Even though as far as he could remember, Mal didn't do anything that could drain energy.

"Meiden, tell me. Why is my energy points draining so much?" Mal couldn't help but ask Meiden.

Waiting for a few seconds until finally came Meiden's voice.

"Does Mr. Mal not remember what happened before he fainted?" Meiden asked instead.

Mal exhaled roughly because he was annoyed with Meiden's reaction. "I asked you. Why answered with questions?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Mal. If Mr. Mal can't remember, what I said you won't believe me."

"No, I will believe your explanation."

"Okay. Before Mr. Mal passed out, Valkery did a conscious energy withdrawal. It affected Mr. Mal's consciousness, and in the end Mr. Mal's energy was drained. Because of that, your energy points decreased quite a lot."

Mal just kept quiet hearing Meiden's explanation which became the voice of the system in his head. He shook his head repeatedly. This is too preposterous.

"Your explanation..." Mal's sentence didn't finish. For some reason he couldn't speak.

"Does Mr. Mal not believe my explanation?" Meiden had already interrupted before Mal continued.

"No. I mean," Mal was confused for a moment, "how does Valkery do the conscious energy withdrawal? What's the point? Oldeen also said something about Valkery earlier, but I can't remember any of that."

"Before master fainted, Valkery held master's shoulder. That's when all of your energy was sucked out causing master to lose consciousness. I think Valkery did that because master went too far against what Chief Yuro said."

For a moment, Mal was silent. Trying to recall the debate that occurred between him and Olcra. Gradually, from vague to crystal clear, Mal recalled the atmosphere of tension created by the two of them arguing.

Everything that happened before he passed out was now clear.

Mal grimaced and closed his eyes, instantly feeling uncomfortable.

"Why can't I control myself?" grunted Mal angrily to himself.

"Don't worry, Mister Mal. Energy can be collected again after you complete the mission given." Meiden tried to calm down.

With one hand covering part of his face, Mal still grinned. Now he's thinking how to look for clove leaves in the middle of the wilderness—also, in the early hours of the morning?!

***

The night was so dark when Mal ventured to walk through the jungle.

With a torch in hand, Mal looked around. Actually, Mal wasn't sure if he could get four clove leaves either. But since he didn't want his energy to run out tomorrow, his only option was to do the mission.

Mal brushed aside the bushes that were up to her knees. Several times he winced feeling the sharp leaves penetrate his jeans.

"Why is it so difficult to find clove leaves?" muttered Mal.

Mal actually felt anxious about the air blowing in this forest. If only the flame of the torch died, Mal didn't know what to do.

"Meiden, show me how a clove leaf looks like," Mal said, still having trouble getting away from the bushes.

Before long a system screen appeared in front of his face. Mal was a little surprised to stop his steps.

[PROCESSING KLORANG LEAF GUIDE]

Mall took a shaky breath. As a result, he waited for a while until the system's blue screen showed the information display of the clove leaf.

[Klorang leaves grow in damp areas in the forest. Unlike leaves in general which have flat sides, klorang leaves have sharp sides. Chlorine leaves will be found at the bottom of the tree, coiled around the tree trunk]

'Very unhelpful information,' said Mal to himself.