NOVEL NEXT Chapter 35: Slayer 1
You Have Slain {Goblin (F) (lv 25)}
Experience Granted
You Have Slain {Goblin Horde Shaman (F) (lv 26)}
Experience Granted
You Have Slain {Goblin (F) (lv 25)}
Experience Granted
The kills kept coming in, and Teresa kept getting more experience. With <Embers> in her arsenal, she could afford to be a lot less picky about the fights she picked. She went from one group of monsters to another, and she still had not seen a monster above level 29.
At one point she encountered a group of Wyvern-Fish, the highest level among them being level 29. Teresa was pretty confident that she had actually run into that monster pack before, and she had almost picked a fight with them until <Identify> revealed their levels. Well, now they were dead and Teresa had gotten much stronger in just a day.
She finished off the last of the goblins she was currently fighting, and she felt a sudden increase in her stats. She wasn't due for another level, she had just leveled up again recently. What was that?
Teresa checked her stats, and pretty quickly found the reason behind it.
Status:
Name: Teresa
Race: Human (Earth)
Level: 25 (F) (28%)
Class: Jack Of All Trades lv 1 (F+) (107%)
HP: (239/240)
Stamina: (201/240)
Mana: (420/706)
Strength: 22
Fortitude: 18
Endurance: 19
Vitality: 19
Agility: 28
Intelligence: 53
Wisdom: 49
Perception: 34
Unallocated Points: 0
<Skills> {
<Translate: lv 0 (1.3%)>
<Mana Control: lv 9 (4%)>
<Healing Touch: lv 6 (1%)>
<Facilitated Restoration: lv 8 (68%)
<Identify: lv 6 (20%)>
<Totem Of Life: lv 0 (11%)>
<Magic Wellspring: lv 6 (18%)>
<Embers: lv 4 (39%)>
}
<Titles> {
<System Newcomer>
<Tutorial: Power Hungry>
<Tutorial: First Stage Completionist>
<Tutorial: Level Pioneer>
<Slayer 1>
}
Teresa had gotten a new title, <Slayer 1>. It had been a little while since Teresa had gotten a title, but her heart dropped when she read the description.
<Slayer 1>
Kill 1000 beings. +1 all stats.
A fucking thousand? She had to stop for a moment and read it again. She killed a thousand living creatures. Teresa felt her heartbeat start to speed up, her breathing hitched and she didn't trust herself to move an inch.
She had been so caught up in getting levels and becoming stronger, but holy fucking shit man. A thousand? She had killed so many things, for what? She could excuse a good portion of that number as trying to save Sarah, but she was past that excuse now. The only reason Teresa was still in the Tutorial killing stuff was her own desire to be there.
Was Teresa a psychopath? What was wrong with her? Who the fuck kills a thousand things for shits and giggles, oh look at me my name's Teresa and I murdered a metric shitload of things for my own personal amusement. No, you just don't get it, it was to get stronger, that totally makes it okay.
She paused, trying to collect herself. Was this something she was upset about because of her shitty mental health, or was this something she was genuinely disturbed by? Well, they were monsters after all. It's not like Teresa went around killing a thousand people, was it really that bad? People killed animals all the time for food, was killing monsters for experience so immoral?
It was still a lot to take in. How many people could say they have killed a thousand living things? Pest exterminators, sure, if you counted bacteria then pretty much everyone has killed a thousand things but that obviously didn't count. A couple people in the military maybe? Butchers? Hunters?
That was different, those were all jobs. Teresa had killed a lot of those monsters for the love of the game, she was a monster serial killer. What had those monsters done to her? At least during the waves it was self defense, but it had been a long time since Teresa had killed in self defense. She had actively chosen fights with whatever she could find, it was late in the day and she had spent all of it just killing nonstop.
It was more than a full time job, she was out in the desert for easily 14-15 hours a day for the last few weeks including what would have been the weekends. Teresa had been putting in overtime to kill stuff. Was that excusable?
The air felt too light to breathe, no matter how much Teresa inhaled it still felt like she was suffocating. Her chest hurt, her stomach felt like it was twitching, she needed to vomit. Her skin felt physical pain as she began sweating, it had been a while since she had sweat at all. Being in the sun all day had stopped bothering her as her Fortitude went up, and she simply didn't need to sweat to maintain her body temperature.
Damn it this was annoying, and that was totally a sign she was faking it right? Panic attacks weren't supposed to be annoying, they're supposed to be debilitating. Sure, thinking became incredibly difficult, but she could still sorta think. That's not a panic attack, she just needed to grow up and stop acting out for attention-
Alright, enough of that. Teresa had already decided she would cut it out with belittling her emotions, that was one of the things that led to her trying to kill herself. It wasn't easy, it still felt like Teresa was faking it no matter how reasonable her mind tried to be. Faking it for attention? Whose? She was alone in a desert of monsters that wouldn't hesitate to kill her,
She sat down and decided to ride it out, it sucked right now but eventually it would pass. Was shitty mental health supposed to be annoying, or was that a sign it was something else entirely? Damn, Teresa totally should have gotten therapy by now.
A couple minutes later, her breathing returned back to normal. Her body still felt tired despite her Stamina being alright. Teresa had tried to use <Magic Wellspring> to clear her mind a bit, but it could only do so much. It wasn't a cure for any of Teresa's problems, it was more of a tool that could help her manage.
Alright, it was time for an unfortunately necessary reflection. Was killing monsters for experience okay? They would kill Teresa if given the chance. Besides, who knew what was going to happen after the Tutorial? She needed to be able to find her family, and if possible she would like to help her new friends with that too.
If someone had gone around killing a bunch of animals in the woods for the fun of it before the System, then yeah Teresa would find them psychotic. It was one thing if it was for food or even sport, but just killing a bunch of stuff and not even harvesting their bodies? Kind of wack.
But these weren't just animals, and Teresa was actually gaining something from killing the monsters. She couldn't fully utilize their corpses, she had no idea how she would even go about doing that. Shit, should she have been doing that this whole time? Regardless, morality had changed since the introduction of the System into the world.
It didn't mean Teresa was a saint for killing monsters, if she left the Tutorial now they weren't going to go hurt anyone. Wait, would they? Hell if Teresa knew, but she didn't have nearly enough reason to believe that was likely. Killing monsters in the Tutorial wasn't moral, but it wasn't exactly immoral either. It was just something people did, right? She wasn't nearly well-versed enough in ethics to properly consider the moral ramifications of this situation, but she felt like it wasn't something to avoid.
Teresa would keep killing monsters, life had changed and she wanted to grow stronger. Wait, did that mean doing something because she wanted to gain something from it made it moral? Damn it, if she kept thinking about it like this she was just going to go in circles forever.
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She didn't know enough to say it was immoral or moral, but she wasn't going to stop. It left a bad feeling in her stomach at just how little thought she had put into killing a bunch of living, sentient creatures, but that was the law of the jungle. Or the desert. Whatever.
It was time to do some more potentially immoral monster hunting.
After some searching Teresa found some deer. They were all around level 27, but it didn't really matter too much. Teresa's <Embers> made short work of them, popping the fungal growths on the monsters and melting through flesh. Teresa was also working on her shotgun technique, though it was admittedly unnerving to try. Even if she had healing magic, she didn't really want to experience breaking her arm again and again.
She also kept using <Magic Wellspring> on her enemies, giving her skill a lot of experience. Against lower level enemies she also used <Facilitated Restoration>, getting her the maximum amount of experience possible per fight. Fighting was already back to autopilot, Teresa's stats had caught up to the monster's enough that she could fight higher level opponents again.
It was just running away and shooting <Embers> at monsters as they chased her, assuming they weren't just being melted away in a hose of white hot sparks. A lot of the stronger monsters were able to just tank Teresa's spell for a little while, but it still did enough damage to slow them down. Normally a mage wouldn't have a very good Agility, and even an injured monster would probably be able to catch them.
Teresa had 28 Agility now, a level 25 monster that gained 1 Agility per level would have a minimum of 25 itself, plus whatever stats it had at level 0. Teresa could generally run alongside those creatures, even if they were still a bit faster. Monsters that gained 2 Agility per level would have 50 minimum, and a creature that gained 3 would have 75 minimum.
That was where things got hard, when a monster clearly excelled in a specific stat. If it was really fast, Teresa would have to rely on her shotgun <Embers> to blast them away in one go as they rapidly got close. It was like standing your ground against an SUV about to run you over on a highway, but Teresa could still manage.
The Mosquito Queen had probably been a 3 stat per level specialist in Agility, considering how quickly it could fly. Agility focused enemies were Teresa's biggest threat, as they could speedblitz her if she wasn't careful.
Then there were monsters with a focus in Fortitude. Generally, they were not very quick. Teresa wasn't sure if there was a reason for it, but she typically didn't see many monsters that were specifically fast and durable. Even if she encountered a monster specialized in those two categories, her 22 Strength was probably enough to completely overwhelm the monster in return.
The only counter Teresa could think of against herself would be something that gained 3 Agility per level and 3 Fortitude per level, that would really screw her over. Maybe monsters got their own classes at level 15 too, which could theoretically make it possible for one to have over 100 points in a stat at Teresa's level.
Thankfully, Teresa was pretty sure she hadn't encountered anything along those lines. The fastest monster Teresa had seen was the flying mosquito, the second fastest being a comically quick goblin. That goblin had been dangerous, as the way it ran faster than the speed limit in a residential zone made Teresa start laughing as the fight began. It had sprinted well ahead of the rest of its pack with a dagger in hand, and its little legs were a blur as it sprinted.
Shit, was that what Teresa looked like when she ran? Please don't let it look stupid, running fast was so much fun. It would suck for something so enjoyable to become a source for insecurity.
Anyways, Teresa had melted that goblin's face off. Most monsters weren't great at multiple things. Either they had a really high Agility and that was solved with a shotgun blast of <Embers>, a really high Fortitude that resulted in Teresa jogging away while blasting the monster with regular <Embers> until it eventually died, or a monster would have literally any other stat be exceptional only for Teresa to never find out.
It didn't matter how much Strength or Endurance a monster had if they died before they could utilize it.
While being able to just rely on <Embers> was nice, Teresa was pretty sure her class had started gaining significantly less experience. Interestingly enough, due to her class perk it literally required 150% experience to gain a level. Teresa had initially imagined it would still go up to 100%, just slower, but no. Her class was already above 100%, it just wasn't 150% yet.
Ahead of her was another group of goblins, the highest level being a shaman at level 28. It might be a little risky fighting a miniboss type monster that was 3 levels above her, but it wouldn't be too bad.
Teresa got their attention with a bright <Facilitated Restoration> then waited patiently as they approached. Her own <Facilitated Restoration> and <Magic Wellspring> buffs were still pretty fresh, so she didn't bother wasting any Mana to refresh the skills.
She also didn't try any artillery fire. She had experimented a lot with shooting <Embers> far away, but hadn't seen any real results. Any method she could think of that launched the spell farther also increased the spread of the sparks, making them do significantly less damage.
Against strong opponents like this, it would be better to just conserve her Mana until she could utilize it properly. There were 15 goblins, but only one was a shaman and it seemed rather slow. It was traveling at the back of the group, and it didn't look like it was on purpose.
As the regular goblins got closer, it became time for Teresa to start using her skills. She cast <Magic Wellspring> multiple times, rapid-firing the buff onto each of the 14 goblins in front of her. It didn't really buff them all too much, and it's not like she was buffing the shaman's magic if she just targeted the cannon fodder.
She felt comfortable letting herself go into autopilot again, and her mind drifted as goblins screamed out in panic as multiple were burnt to death. Yeah, maybe she should give some more thought to how ethical monster hunting was. Who knew killing stuff was so gruesome? Teresa would have to talk to someone else about that, since it felt pretty clear she was biased.
She wanted killing monsters to be morally justifiable, it would be the most beneficial answer to it all. Teresa enjoyed the feeling of leveling up, who wouldn't? It was an unfortunate reality that she had to slaughter monsters to do it, but it's not like she designed the System or anything. If she could level up from just sitting at home watching TV, she would totally go with that option.
Once Teresa got the chance to talk with someone who could be more level headed about the subject, she would. Maybe Madeline would be a good person to talk to about that, she seemed pretty opposed to their treatment of the crawlers during the waves. It had been a necessary evil, but Teresa had clearly gone beyond what was necessary at this point. Teresa wasn't exactly the most morally upstanding goody two shoes on the planet or anything, but the <Slayer 1> title had really brought to light just what she was doing.
Goblins melted in front of her, some left screaming on the ground desperately trying to crawl after her. If the initial brunt of <Embers> didn't kill a monster, Teresa would just injure them enough so that they wouldn't be a problem anymore and she could just finish them off later.
It was graphic and brutal, but Teresa could come to terms with that sometime after the Tutorial. Speaking of, what exactly should she do after the Tutorial? Well, heal Sarah obviously, but then what? Find her family, sure, but how? Was she just going to pick a random direction and go that way? She needed to work on a game plan once this was all over.
Soon it was just the shaman left, and it looked pissed. That was understandable considering the horrors the goblin had just witnessed, but that didn't mean Teresa was going to spare the monster. She lifted her palms and fired <Embers> at the monster, two streams of sparks shooting forth.
Before the attack could reach the shaman, a massive cloud of poisonous gas shot out and completely overwhelmed her attack. The <Embers> collided with the poisonous gas, and it actually lost. The Elemental Mana and the poisonous gas canceled each other out, but for every unit of poison that was destroyed, four units of Elemental Mana were destroyed in turn.
The poisonous gas shot forward, consuming her spell and rapidly getting closer to Teresa. Shit. She ran back, her Agility allowing her to outpace the poisonous cloud. She needed to reset the fight and think about something that could turn it in her favor. First of all, she needed to tear her sleeve off and wrap it around her mouth and nose.
Teresa had so much experience using the poison staff herself that this routine was ingrained in her brain, and she had the makeshift mask on in no time. She drew her sword from her belt, as she knew from experience that goblin shamans were terrible in close quarters combat.
New plan, stab the goblin in the face. End of plan. Great plan. Teresa was one of the greatest geniuses of her time, this was easily worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize if they gave those out for monster hunting. Albert Einstein who?
Teresa took in a deep breath and ran forward directly into the poisonous cloud. She would be fine, she had her magical robes that purified-
She immediately doubled over coughing, blood soaking through the rag she called a mask. Her eyes burned and her vision started swimming. Tears of blood dripped out from her eyes, and she felt liquid dripping out of her ears. What the fuck kind of poisonous gas was this?
Teresa retreated awkwardly, struggling to stay standing as the poisonous gas literally burnt her skin. Was her skin absorbing the poison too? She used <Healing Touch> in combination with her <Facilitated Restoration>, and realized in horror that the poison was stronger than her healing.
New plan, get the fuck back. Whoever came up with the original plan needed to be fired, it was a terrible plan. One of the worst plans Teresa had ever seen. Whatever the opposite of a Nobel Peace Prize was, they should give it to whoever decided yeah just stab the goblin in the face. What an idiot.
Teresa managed to find her way out of the poisonous cloud half blind, choking on her own blood as she desperately removed the rag over her mouth and nose. It had gotten soaked, and made breathing through it nearly impossible. Teresa was practically getting waterboarded in her own blood when she wore it.
Now that she was out of the poisonous cloud, she was able to use <Healing Touch> to start repairing the damage. Her Restoration Mana still couldn't destroy the poison within her, but it could repair the damage the poison inflicted.
Unfortunately for Teresa, the poison was still stronger than her healing even outside of the poisonous cloud. She had an idea, and cast <Facilitated Restoration> in one hand and <Healing Touch> in the other. The Restoration Mana from her <Facilitated Restoration> quickly gathered into a ball of flames, and as it very quickly got stronger it tried harder and harder to fly away from Teresa's control.
<Healing Touch> kept it in place, the Restoration Mana from one spell repelling the other. She had gotten much better at this little trick she had picked up so long ago, but it was still incredibly useful.
Teresa's vision began to fade again as the poison in her body wreaked havoc. Trying to run away, make an overcharged version of her spell, all while blind was an incredibly difficult task. Thankfully, Teresa had the mental stats to multitask, and the physical stats to be way faster than the shaman.
Once the green ball of flame was about five times as large as it normally would be, Teresa shot the overcharged <Facilitated Restoration> into herself. The fresh instance of the spell overwrote the passive healing buff she already had, and began doing work well beyond what a normal <Facilitated Restoration> could do. Additionally, Teresa used her <Healing Touch>, which was amplified by the ridiculous amount of Restoration Mana floating around in her body.
The battle within herself had changed to a one sided slaughter, the damage done by the poison being repaired faster than it could injure her. Her lungs went from a shriveled up pair of raisins to perfect condition in seconds, albeit she was still locked in a state of needing to heal herself constantly.
She continued to maintain distance until the poison eventually ran out, and she was faced with a choice. She had two real options. Option one was to leave, find other monsters, and kill them instead. This was probably the smarter option, and depending on how long it took to kill the shaman it might even be more time efficient.
Option two was to stay and fight the monster she wasn't sure how to beat. This was the dumber decision, it was just one monster and there was no real reason to stay and fight. It would give some pretty solid experience due to its level, but Teresa could just as well get some experience from other monsters that couldn't poison her to death.
Teresa drew her bow and nocked an arrow. This was the kind of life she chose to live, was she just going to avoid every problem she ever faced? She had more pride than that, if she was going to beat the Tutorial she couldn't get stopped by a single goblin with crazy magic stats.
Teresa went with option number two.