NOVEL NEXT Chapter 277 – Leveling up
The field around her rooftop cabin probably wouldn’t put me to sleep, but if I were weaker, it could be a problem. The natives of the tutorial are dangerous, and my experiences since starting the second floor have only confirmed this. Even Thalen, Isola, and Obelia showed their true colors in the end.
Well, maybe that’s too harsh. It's clear that they had their own interests in mind and prioritized them over a random group they’d only known a few weeks.
I wonder if it's something that becomes more apparent the longer you live. Obelia and Isola were probably over 50 years old, probably closer to 100, by comparison, their experience with us was much less than that. So it's not much of a wonder, in the end, that Obelia attempted to kidnap Lily, while Isola was willing to kill me without hesitation.
I do not hate them for that, but at the same time, I have my own priorities and I won't hesitate when it comes down to it. That's the kind of world the tutorial has thrown us into.
My weak disciple begins to stir, and slowly she opens her red eyes. They are clearer than before, showing no trace of hidden pain.
At first she seems dazzled by the thermal orbs floating in the air, then her gaze falls on me, before finally settling on the room itself. Her little body stiffens, ready to jump up and fight, but she meets my eyes again, as I return her gaze.
I don't say anything, but she calms down.
“You can eat and drink if you want,” I gesture at the supplies next to her, “Or you can sleep if you prefer, but we need to move tomorrow. There are also a few mana stones you can practice with if you feel up to it.”
I leave her to her decision as I sort through the items I looted from the old capital.
As I’m going through them, I hear movement, as she carefully takes long, slow sips of water; followed by the sound of chewing. I, meanwhile, separate the contents of my bags into two piles.
I left some of them at the lake, but none of them are very valuable. Different varieties of hardwood, iron, old weapons, and armor. Things I wanted to examine if I got really bored, nothing important. Still, I’ll go back later, if only to sell them if I can’t use them for anything else.
I found a lot of items during my looting of the capital, but most of them were in such a terrible state that the system only offered a single shard for them. Just like that, my plans for the city were ruined.
After that, I chose to focus on quality over quantity, the piles in front of me now are the items that made the cut.
The first pile contains items I'm currently thinking of selling. Some rings, mana stones, a bracelet, a small shield, another amulet, and some chainmail. Each one in the upper tier of rare grade at most.
Then there is the second pile, I intend to keep these. Mana conductive paint, pieces of arcanadium, endurium, shards of ethercrystal. The bracelet from the auction that had a strange reaction to my Primordial Energies, high-grade mana stones, some decent mana batteries, an interesting upper rare dagger, The epic aqua arcana vial, some more metal, crystals, and mana stones containing inscribed information.
There is also all the food I have and bottles of water, as well as some gold and jewelry, in case of need.
Checking the pile, I estimate that the food should be enough to comfortably last us a few weeks, maybe even months. Most of what I've brought is very calorie-dense. Plus, I don't need to eat that much anymore after my body upgrade.
We’re a bit lower on water, but we should have enough for at least two weeks. I also have an epic vial that I can use to store water. There is currently a lot of water from the lake, but that’s poisonous, seeing what it did to my disciple.
“Master?” a soft voice sounds from behind me.
“Hm?” I just ask without turning.
“Won’t you eat with me?” There’s a strange quality to her voice. It's hard to describe.
When I turn to her, she is sitting there, small, thin, her red eyes seeming to glow even in a room filled with shadows, and small horns poking through her hair. It almost seems like she sees some importance in eating together.
Is it some kind of custom?
“Sure,” I say, turning away from the pile, and sitting on the floor across from her.
She smiles, but it seems strained. She is deciding what to think of me, as I am her.
I'm supposed to be her master, teach her, and protect her. I gave her food and clothes and started teaching her, yet she got poisoned because of my inexperience and hurt while we were teleporting.
Yet, she can't just run away from me or hate me for that, without me she would die, and quickly at that.
I can’t change the facts, whether I like them or not, I can only strive to work on the things I can.
“Is this a custom where you're from?” I ask as she carefully splits the food between us, using clean pieces of cloth to set out the food and water.
She does so awkwardly as if she is not used to it, but there is some joy in her movements. The kind of joy a person experiences by doing something they always wanted to try.
“Yes,” her answer is short and we leave it at that.
When it's all set up, she waits and looks up at me, and I take the first small bite from the dried fruit.
She watches me eat, her big red eyes once again reminding me how young she is. My disciple is even younger than Isabella, yet she is so different.
Finishing the fruit, I then take a sip of water, and that's when she also starts eating and drinking more water.
No matter how hard she tries, her movements are awkward, revealing her hunger, and when she is nearly out of food, I place a bit more in front of her.
The little half-demon devours it all, and when it's done, she says two simple words, “Thank you.”
[You have defeated Veilshrieker - lvl 13]
[You have defeated Veilshrieker - lvl 26]
[You have defeated Veilshrieker - lvl 31]
[Lvl 214 > Lvl 215]
Bit by bit, I finally level up. Even these weak monsters seem to count, and it looks like I was really close to leveling, and they pushed me over the edge.
All the stat points immediately go to support my ever-growing mana.
The entire time, I keep my eyes on the little half-demon as she fights a level 2 Veilshrieker.
This one is smaller and much weaker than the ones I’ve been killing, they’re too much for her right now.
Wielding the dagger I gave her, she overpowers the creature. The way she fights is raw and aggressive. That’s how someone weak fights against stronger opponents. Not to win but to wound and frustrate the opponent enough that they don’t bother to fight her.
Well, at least she doesn’t seem to be a scaredy-cat, and everything I teach her, she does her best to implement, taking in my “teachings” like a sponge. Her [Concentration] helps with that too, even though it’s not as good as my [Focus].
When she’s done, she turns to me, and I point at another monster that I’ve been holding with my [Redistribution]. She turns, and I release it, and then the fight starts.
The little half-demon is nimble and fairly talented. Someone like her should be capable of reaching a higher level. Unfortunately, unlike those of us in the tutorial, she doesn’t have to deal with the monsters gradually getting stronger. No matter how cruel and dangerous Hell difficulty is, there is some fairness to it, and on the 1st floor, the monsters were strong, but only to the point we could mostly handle.
Unlike us, my disciple lives in a world of constant war and no place to go and find monsters matching her level. There isn’t even anyone who would bother to help her.
When she finishes the monster, she turns to me, “Level 9.”
Good, she is close to reaching level 10 where she should receive her first trait. This is a point of curiosity for me. Will her system be similar to mine? Logically it should be, at least partially, with a few huge differences. Currently, I'm inclined to think that the system within the tutorial is here to help us grow stronger faster than we would outside of it. Or maybe I'm wrong, and the outside system issues quests similar to the floor and side quests we’ve been receiving.
Even while babysitting my silly disciple, I’m constantly practicing, especially examining my Thermokinetic Mana Heart and its ability to compress mana and how much it affects my Primordial energies. Once in a while, I even compress mana into the black one, just an orb as small as a grape, and force it under my control.
[Focus - lvl 43 > Focus - lvl 44]
Compressing and controlling my mana is getting easier in combination with my new passives and my new trait. That's when I do it outside of my body to create a black mana dagger or black orbs. Absorbing it into my body is something I’ve decided to save for dangerous situations where I have no other option. Even if I wanted to try, it would be dangerous training it now, with the Veil Guardian around. The monster seems to have skills that allow it to track mana to a scary degree. And it being close to level 300 makes it even more annoying. I thought there weren’t supposed to be any strong monsters in starting zones, but this one doesn't seem to care.
(Nathaniel?)
While keeping my eyes on my disciple as she’s fighting, Darren, one of the survivors, calls over the crude communicator and I accept the connection.
(Do you call because you want to pay me for the items I left you since you only sent me to that annoying granny?)
A short silence. He’s probably thinking about how to pay me back. Surely.
I fire off a mana projectile throwing the monster to the side before it bites into the little half-demon. My disciple doesn't seem to be pleased and attacks with more aggression, the dagger stabbing into the monster. As before, she seems to have some talent for strengthening her body with her mana, like I used to do at the start of the first floor.
(She said it would be safe to cooperate with you, so I wanted to meet up.)
Well, it looks like it could be easy to finish at least one of the side quests, even though this one only offers some food and water as a reward.
(Maybe later, I will contact you.) Not giving him a chance to answer, I turn off the communication.
"Come here," I instruct my disciple.
She lifts her eyes and obediently pushes herself back to her feet, even though she just started resting after finishing the monster.
"Stab me," I tell her.
Her expression changes as she activates her [Concentration]. She thinks just for a few seconds and then she nods.
Mana flows through her body and her red eyes seem to shine as she shifts on her feet, twists her body, and stabs me with her dagger. Her height leads her to target my belly with the thrust, and I take a small step backward, causing her to lose her balance as her strike misses.
Quickly reclaiming it, my disciple moves again, taking two short steps towards me, and lunges again, this time aiming at my leg.
Once again, I take a small step to the side and she loses her balance.
The third time, she aims at the leg again, but when I change my position again, she doesn't lose her balance. Her footwork is slightly different as she adapts her movements.
"Good, now continue," I release one more monster from my hold and it starts screeching, pure hate in its eyes.
"Yes, master," my disciple nods and faces it.
As before, I'm surprised by her cold behavior, but I guess that's her skill, even though it's surprising to see it in someone so young. It reminds me a bit of Isabella when she was still under Sophie's [Geas].
A few more hours pass, and with pauses in between, she finally kills one of the last monsters.
"Level 10!" a happy smile flashes across her face and she rushes towards me.
For a moment, it looks like she wants to hug me, but she stops and her expression changes to nearly scared as she realizes what she was about to do.
"Traits?" I ask, breaking the silence that ensues.
"I got offered five of them, there’s Mana Circuit, which you’ve mentioned, and then there are Elemental Resonance, Sensory Expansion, Arcane Intuition, and Natural Resilience. But master, it's weird. I thought you were unable to pick your trait and only awaken it."
Then she gives me the descriptions. All of them sound useful. Elemental Resonance to attune her to elements, Sensory Expansion to strengthen her six senses, Arcane Intuition to move her mana more reflexively, and Natural Resilience to strengthen her body and make it more resilient or something.
All of them pale in comparison to the first one.
But her note about awakening traits instead of picking them is interesting. Are only people who go through the tutorial capable of picking their traits? Is my disciple fake or real? And is it possible that people outside of the tutorial only awaken traits at certain levels?
"Pick Mana Circuit," I tell her in the end.
To my surprise, she doesn't even ask why and just picks it, and that leaves me at a loss for words. The little girl just looks up to me. Big red eyes, small horns near her hair, and an expression of trust.
The little half-demon tilts her head, "Master? Is everything ok?" she asks innocently.
I have noticed that she started showing me more trust after I "saved" her and after I fed her a few times, but this… this feels heavy.
"It's fine, how many traits can your race have?" I ask, just in case. Humans can have only 3, so I'm curious about others.
"Only four," the little half-demon says.
"Only four?" I ask.
She nods, "I heard some powerful demons can have five."
I don’t think I would like full demons.