For now, the only thing he could tell with some certainty was that the system seemed capable of quantifying their physical and mental attributes. For what reason, he could only guess.
Now, if he went even further and assumed that Syrn possessed something similar, could this system be what allowed her to use those strange powers she had shown them up to now?
If so, did that mean there was a chance that all of them could eventually achieve similar feats as well?
Had they really just been transported into some fantastical world where people could use magic or some other strange power with similar effects?
And then there was the strange panel floating in front of him, looking almost exactly like a game interface.
Frost suddenly paused as his mind made a strange connection.
'Wait... A system...' His expression slowly became strangely melancholic. 'The system trope?'
Frost had never been much of a fan of the system trope himself, but it was ridiculously popular in the webnovel market, so he was at least somewhat knowledgeable about it since he occasionally liked to read fictional stories.
And the more he thought about his current situation, the more uncomfortable the similarities became.
A strange new world, monstrous beasts, and supernatural powers.
And now a mysterious system that looked like it had been ripped straight out of a game.
'This scenario feels strangely similar to some system-trope fictional story...'
Frost stared blankly at the translucent blue panel for several seconds.
'Just great.'
The more he thought about it, the more things seemed to make sense, but since this was some sort of trial, what exactly were they supposed to do?
And Syrn had said they had been taking in a bunch of otherworlders, so did that mean more people from Earth had been appearing here?
If so, what exactly had happened to Earth?
Were they just stuck here?
Frost's thoughts suddenly came to a halt.
'Wait a minute...'
His eyes widened.
'What happened to Mom!?'
Frost's heart rate suddenly picked up.
His mind had been so preoccupied with everything that had happened up until now that he hadn't even had the chance to properly think about Earth, but the moment he did, his thoughts immediately went to his mother.
His breathing quickened slightly.
'I hope she's okay...'
She was all he had.
Losing her in such a fashion would be quite heartbreaking, especially when he hadn't even seen her properly in days.
She had been working double shifts for a while now, and their schedules had barely lined up enough for them to spend any meaningful time together.
Just as Frost was lost in his thoughts, another panel suddenly flashed into existence over the one already floating before him, a bunch of new text written across its surface.
[Congratulations! You managed to survive the attack of a Centikraken!]
[Calculating rewards...]
[Soul Script Rank: Dormant → Awakened]
[+1 to all attributes]
'Son of a...!'
Frost felt like cursing.
This thing really was treating this like some sort of game! And that was all their struggle and near-death amounted to!?
A single stat point to all attributes.
"Wow..."
Frost let out a condescending laugh.
'I almost died for one stat point. How laughable.'
He might have imagined it, but for the briefest moment, Frost thought he felt a negligible twitch pass through his entire body, almost like something had changed beneath his skin.
The sensation was so faint that he quickly dismissed it, especially when he began hearing a few whispers from the people around him.
'Looks like they got a similar message as well.'
Though some people still seemed far too dazed to care, seemingly ignoring the notification altogether.
Frost glanced toward Lois again, only for his eyes to be met with quite a generous sight of her underboob, which had been left exposed after a large section of her top had been torn sometime during the chase.
His cheeks immediately flushed, and he quickly looked away.
A second later, however, his eyes unconsciously wandered back toward the exposed skin. Frost immediately caught himself.
'For fuck's sake...'
He forced his gaze toward the horizon instead.
Unfortunately, once again, Frost found his gaze wandering toward her, except this time, he caught a certain detail that he hadn't noticed before.
Lois shifted slightly, just enough for the tear in her grey top, which ran around the lower part of her chest, to expose a portion of her back. He could see part of her bra strap and so on, but what immediately caught his attention was the strange black ink on her skin.
The black ink seemed to be only a small part of a larger whole.
'Is that... a tattoo?'
Frost's eyes widened slightly.
The closest student to being a delinquent in Frost's eyes was Jason, and even that guy didn't have any tattoos on him, since something like that could cause problems in the future with certain employers and almost every government job.
It made even less sense for someone as reserved as Lois to have any sort of ink on her body, much less something hidden across her back.
And the more the wind shifted her torn top, occasionally revealing a little more of the strange tattoo, the clearer it became that it wasn't a small one either.
Frost narrowed his eyes.
'How odd...'
There was something strangely intricate about the little he could see.
In any case, Frost eventually tore his gaze away from Lois and looked back toward the translucent panel floating in front of him.
After the recent changes, this was what his status looked like now:
{[Evolution System]}
{[Status]}
[Name: Frost Carter]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 19]
[Bloodline: N/A]
[Soul Script Rank: Dormant → Awakened: Lv1]
{[Physical and Mental Attributes]}
[Strength: 8 → 9]
[Agility: 7 → 8]
[Speed: 7 → 8]
[Vitality: 9 → 10]
[Stamina: 8 → 9]
[Intelligence: 16 → 17]
[Perception: 12 → 13]
[Willpower: 14 → 15]
{[Rune-Based Attributes]} N/A
{[Skills]} N/A