42nd Looper [Isekai / Time Loop / LitRPG]

They got to take the afternoon off.

They had spent the rest of the day before on 25D, then finished 25C through 25A. Since Rae's group was spending the rest of the afternoon to clear 25J, Penelope got a few hours to herself in her room.

She tugged at the collar of her new robe. Pink had never been her color and it felt weird to be wearing a pink robe, but it gave her +3 to both Magic and Aura. It was the latest piece of gear that she'd gotten. In 25C, she'd finally found a hood to replace the one that she'd been wearing since the first floor. It also gave her +3 to Magic and Aura, which put her at 20 Aura and 3 over the cap of 60 for Magic on this floor.

"It won't be long until you can start increasing your job levels." Jeru interrupted her thoughts. "Once you get your jobs high enough, you'll stay near the cap in everything all the time."

Is that the only reason to work on jobs? Penelope recalled how when she'd cooked back on the first floor after getting her Cooking to level 2, some of the food had begun to get a bonus.

"The biggest boons will be that you'll be able to make your own gear and potions." Jeru chuckled as she fidgeted with her robe. "Basically, once you find gear you like, you can keep upgrading it."

What about the potions? Penelope eyed him. We've started finding Stamina Potions in the stashes that the Demons have with them. At least in the ones that they don't destroy.

On top of the Demons running and hiding in the bushes, they had also begun to destroy their food and potion supplies before the Humans could confiscate them. Patrick had been furious when it started and was still fuming every time they collected ruined supplies.

"Once you have the skills, you'll be able to mix the Shadow Essence with monster parts to create elixirs that can permanently raise people's stats." Jeru shook his head. "It's only twenty points per floor, but that allows people to keep more classes, which means more passives."

But that means that we'll have less experience to go around.

"True, but once you do a full reset, you won't have to worry about that so much." Jeru pulled up the menu. "Have you thought about the teams you want and how you'll convince them to join you?"

Why do you ask questions that you already know the answer to?

"To get you to start thinking about it." The blue Elf grinned as he stretched out next to her on the bed. "I already know that you plan on cutting Dawson and bringing in Nina, but that gives you eight of the twelve you need."

You forgot Circe. Penelope sighed. As much as the other woman didn't respect personal space, Penelope couldn't imagine redoing the first floor without her friend.

"Which leaves you with three more slots to fill. One of which has to be a Healer."

Caleb. It was an easy choice.

"Not Rae?" Jeru looked over at her.

It's going to be difficult enough with Ula alive to get Frederica to step up. Penelope sighed. Adding Rae to the mix is only going to give Frederica less space to take up a leadership role.

"So you're going to give her her own team?" Jeru rolled over on his side. "That gives you Ula, Circe, Judah, Marlow, and Patrick." He clicked his tongue. "You're going to pair Nina up with pre-leader Frederica?"

I have to have Marlow and Patrick and we know what happens if Judah goes over there. Penelope stared up at the ceiling. And if Ula goes over there, then Frederica isn't going to lead the team, and the whole point of recruiting Circe is so she'll be on my team.

"Exactly!" Jeru laughed. "See? It's not so easy."

I never thought it would be. Penelope groaned. But that puts Nina with Caleb, Oakley, and Frederica. She thought for a moment. As much as I'd like to recruit Eldri, Riva would be a better supporter.

"And you want to put a Caster on her team." Jeru nodded. "Fae-Anna is a good choice. If you can get her to learn <Counterspell> early enough, she'll make the squares with spell users simple."

It's creepy when you read my mind, then comment on it. Penelope sighed. "But yes, that was what I was thinking.

"Great! Now for the other problem that you're going to have to figure out. Jobs." Jeru pulled up her menu.

I thought I wasn't messing with jobs until I reached the fourth floor.

"You won't." Jeru pointed at the screen. "I've got all the jobs currently displayed, but you won't be able to train in all of them." He looked over at her as she read the new information. "Mainly because Patrick is keeping up with everyone's capabilities."

Penelope stopped reading to look over at Jeru. You're telling me that every time I reset, Patrick is going to notice that my job stats have jumped?

"Yep." The blue Elf laughed. "So you're either going to have to figure out a way to explain your jump in stats or you're going to have to deal with his curiosity every time."

What about just telling him that I'm a looper?

"NO!" Jeru sighed and shook his head. "Look, we talked about this. The wrong person figures out and it gets back to the ArchDemon at the end of this incursion and…" He drew a finger across his throat. "I'm gone and you get one more chance for this."

Fine. Penelope looked at the list. So how do you propose that I level the jobs without him realizing that I have experience magically appearing?

"Distract him with something else." He waved his hand. "Patrick wants nothing more than to be left alone to tinker with his inventions and Dinmar is full of things that will catch his eye." The blue Elf rubbed his temple. "You just have to find a way to get him to get wrapped up in the town and not look at your stats."

Can't you hide them?

"Sure, if you were the party leader." Jeru pointed at her menu. "But even then, you're going to have to deal with guilds soon and we both know that it's going to be impossible to get you to run a guild right now."

But won't that be Frederica? Penelope let herself feel hope for a moment.

"Yeah, but she's going to make Patrick her second in command, which will give him easier access to everything."

A guess, or you know?

Jeru glared at her.

Penelope couldn't hold his gaze. Even if she didn't have trouble looking people in the eye, his black orbs felt like they wanted to swallow her every time she locked eyes with him.

"Based on who she's having run the day-to-day side of things…" Jeru looked away. "He's the only one that she trusts to get things done."

So I can't hide what I'm doing, but I'm not supposed to let him figure out. Penelope closed her eyes. At some point, he's going to know something is up the moment I reset because there will be too big of a leap in my stats.

"Which is why we need to be thinking about which jobs to focus on now, so you know what to gain experience in." Jeru bumped her shoulder to get her to open her eyes. "Look, the jobs are grouped in clusters alphabetically according to the stat that they will boost."

So I need to focus on the Magic, Speed, and Recovery jobs? Penelope looked at the list. Demonology? Occultism?

"Like I said, some of the jobs are going to be almost impossible for you to gain experience in." Jeru gestured at the door. "Granted, there are a lot of Demons out there, so your Demonology should be a lot higher, but history has taught me that if you raise that one too much higher than where most people are at, people start getting suspicious of you REAL quick."

So I need to focus on Enchanting and Salvaging. Penelope nodded. I can do that.

"And while those three stats you mentioned are good, some Defense wouldn't hurt and you could stand to work on your Aura a little too."

Just not Power?

Jeru glared at her. "When are you going to physically attack something?" He shook his head. "You're a Caster, so stick to your lane."

Gotcha. Penelope looked over the list again. How high do I need to take them?

"You get about 1 stat point every five levels, which in theory, would let you add about 100 stat points in each stat if you took each one of the jobs to level 100, but in Dinmar, you're only going to be able to get into the 30s before the diminishing returns force you to reset multiple times before you level up." Jeru rubbed his chin. "Your Magic is only going to be able to get about 12 stat points, which will be your limiting factor since you don't want to lose your class. Which means getting about that much in your Speed and a little more than that in your recovery."

You think Patrick is going to notice that?

"Do I think Patrick is going to notice how before the boss fight you had an Enchanting level of 1 and then it magically jumped into the 30s after the fight?" Jeru scoffed. "Yeah, he's going to notice."

Just one more thing to worry about. Penelope looked at the list. But it gives me something to think about now that you unlocked the full list for me.

"You're welcome." Jeru sat up and did a little bow. "Now, you need to work on your report for the next column. You know everyone wants to do 26E in the morning."

Penelope groaned as she rolled out of her bed. She'd been hoping for a little more quiet time, but Jeru was right. She needed to have the scouting done by morning.