***Alger The Doubledge***

After receiving the orders from the Chief Shaman, the kobolds who were a part of Nenny's group followed the scent left by their leader and the sneaky snack that he had chased.

As the strongest of them, Alger The Doubledge, who had gotten his name for his weapon of choice, took the commanding role for the time being.

Alger didn't like their Chief Shaman, who wasn't a true warrior, unlike Malgoc. Similarly, he despised Nenny, who was simply pathetic in his opinion. But he wasn't an idiot. He knew who had the most power in the Tribe, so he hadn't joined the Malgoc faction, and neither had he shown any dissatisfaction with Velgo or his ruthless decisions.

In the end, warrior or not, the strong decided the fate of the weak. It was the rule of life Alger sincerely believed. Now, while The Feeble was gone for the time being, he had a chance to prove his worth.

It had taken them some time to find the place where their former leader's tracks ended. Some of the weaker kobolds were tired from climbing the stairs for so long, but he didn't feel weary in the slightest.

The kobold who usually played the role of a scout, Lerok, commented, "I can sense a more distinct monkey scent here. Also, the smell of blood and death."

Alger sniggered. "Hah, do you imply that someone among this planet's sentients is still here, Lerok? Don't be ridiculous, you fool. You are lucky that I'm such a patient leader! If it was Velgo, he would have punished you already for spouting nonsense."

Alger waved his double-edged sword before the unfortunate scout's face as if to prove his point.

"I-it was just a slip of my tongue, sir!" The kobold nervously answered as he almost fell over his ass from panic.

"Ha-ha, relax. It doesn't matter what killed that useless ex-leader of ours. Unlike him, I'm strong. I'll take care of whatever danger is ahead with my Beheader!"

Alger had given his weapon a really fear-inspiring name, but in reality, he had never killed anything other than some small forest animals, none of which was above Level 3. Ironically enough, unlike Players, monsters didn't really need to kill living beings to advance their Level.

Filled with confidence, Alger approached the door and tried to open it, just like usual, but it didn't budge. This made him notice the objects blocking the way ahead from the other side, which were visible through the magical transparent wall.

"What to do now?" the others asked him.

"Isn't the answer is obvious?! These little tricks can't stop me, Alger The Doubledge. My Beheader is a key that fits any lock, aha-ha! Behold my power!"

With this arrogant declaration, he swung his sword at the steel lock. He expected that he would destroy it easily, but that wasn't exactly the case. With a loud bang, the weapon bounced back after barely doing any damage to the lock. Losing his balance, Alger fell down the stairs, hitting his head in the process.

Angered and embarrassed, he stood up, giving a stern glare to the kobolds who tried to hold back their laughter.

As if nothing had just happened, he haughtily declared. "If you can't open a door, then just make an entrance of your own!"

Alger raised his sword yet again. This time he aimed for the transparent wall instead of the door. He was also prepared for the rebound, and so he successfully made a large crack in the wall.

"Can you see it?! Nothing is impossible for me!"

Enthusiastic, Alger continued to strike the wall with Beheader, increasing the crack with each successful hit. It was only a matter of time before it would be large enough for them to enter, and the barricade wouldn't be able to slow them down, either.

Of course, what Alger didn't realize was that if he had instead attacked the glass door itself rather than the lock, everything would have been over way faster. . .

***Lex Lurker***

It made me worried when the sturdy kobold tried to break the door with his sword, but he was unlucky on his first attempt and, for some reason, decided that making a path through the very thick glass wall was the way to go.

"What else should you expect from a dog brain?" Ciesta ridiculed.

You like to repeat that you aren't a cat, but it is me, or do you still hate dogs for no apparent reason?

"It's just you, Lexy."

Oh, did you just give me a cute nickname? That’s the first one of my life! Even Mom just calls me Lex. It really makes me feel that we are getting closer. How about I call you Ci-ci?

"Don't even think about it, Mr. Lurker!"

Don't be angry, Ms. Ci-ci. It's just an innocent joke.

"Don't. Call. Me. That." Her voice sounded disturbingly cold, so I decided to stop teasing her. It would be stupid to piss off a cat that could blast doors with energy beams.

Okay, but you still can call me Lexy. I like it. Though if you were a guy, I'd be worried. But you are a cat, so it's fine. Just you wait, I'll think of a nickname for you that will be to your liking.

"Thanks but no thanks. In any case, at this rate, those guys are going to reach this place within an hour at most. As a bunch of dogs, their sense of smell is good enough to catch our scent, especially considering that you are hurt. Don't you think that it would be better if you choose some Skills to help you out in the meantime?"

When I read about my Traits, I tried to give a mental command to see if I could get any Skills but wasn't successful. What should I do?

"The same thing, obviously. It's just that most options are locked at Level 0."

Following her advice, I opened the needed screen.

[Adaptive Learning]—You can learn a variety of passive Skills that help you to improve both your Attributes and your ability to perform specific actions. Slots available: 3/3. Do you want to proceed to choose your Skills now?

A new message appeared at the end of the description. I mentally replied with "yes".

List of Available Skills

BODY: Athletics, Bodybuilding, Jogging, Calisthenics, Grappling

NERVE: Gymnastics, Sprint, Yoga, Evasion, Accuracy, Stalking

MIND: Calculation, Memorization, Physics, Biology, History, Spatial Thinking, Language Comprehension

SPIRIT: Patience, Relaxation, Mental Reaction, Imagination, Concentration, Meditation

FATE: Faith, Communication, Persuasion, Empathy, Intimidation, Intuition, Ambush

Available Slots: 3

Next Slot: Level 10

That's a lot of Skills. . . Since when have I learned all of them?!

"This list is generated based on everything you did throughout your whole life. Some of the Skills are the same for most people. For example, almost every human has the Communication Skill even if they barely talk to others, like you."

I checked some of the descriptions, and they all seemed rather self-evident based on the Skill names.

Evasion—If you don't want to be hit, then dodge! This Skill slightly improves your ability to move your body away from incoming attacks.

Type: Battle

Development Priority: Agility+

I wasn't sure what the last two paragraphs meant, but Ciesta was glad to help me with that. "There are mainly two types of passive Skills—Utility, and Battle. The first type allows you to effectively progress by training alone. The second type of Skills are useful in actual combat, but it's harder to improve stats with them. Also, the Utility types can give you some useful bonuses that can be used either leisurely or even help you in an actual confrontation. For example, at higher levels, Biology makes it easier to spot weak points of monsters. In general, those two types are mainly different in how you are going to level them up—by training or by fighting."

Just in case, I glanced at the Skill she mentioned.

Biology—You know the basics of the science of life. This Skill allows you to learn information about living organisms and their vital processes more efficiently, memorize it better, and even comprehend new facts intuitively.

Type: Utility

Development Priority: Wisdom+++

Thank you, Encycloesta! I decided to check if she liked this name.

"Don't even think about it, please. . . Anyway, the Development part is about which Attribute is trained the most by the Skill. By default, a Skill improves the main linked Attribute without changing the distribution of your Sub-Attributes, but it changes when there's a Priority. The more pluses you see, the more specialized is the Skill. For example, after training in Sprint, you are going to heavily tilt the scale towards Agility, making you faster than someone with the same value of Nerve, but you'll have less control over your coordination."

Hmm. . . So, any advice?

"As you don't really have a choice to spend your time training, you need to prioritize the Battle types, mostly. Actually, even when it comes to gaining the Attributes, it's faster to do it in constant fights with the battle-oriented Skills rather than in a gym or a library with the ones for training. I think that it won't be hard for you to decide even without my advice, but I'm also sure that you are going to miss one interesting detail due to your lack of knowledge. Make your choice on your own first, and then I'll tell you more."

I really lacked in the physical department right now, so improving on it was a good choice, but just as she said, what I needed was something immediately useful.

After browsing through the descriptions, I chose three Skills that seemed the most promising—Evasion, Stalking, Ambush.

The first one was obvious as I didn't want to be killed just yet, and, lacking armor, dodging was the only way to go. The other two helped me to better utilize my main advantage of being stealthy. Sure, it wasn't a balanced choice in terms of Attribute increase as two of the Skills were linked to Nerve, but I felt it gave me the highest survival chance.

Stalking—Hiding in the shadows, you stalk your prey. This Skill improves your ability to move stealthily while avoiding detection and to track your target.

Type: Utility

Development Priority: Balance++

Note: Effect is improved by [Void Touched]

The System was kind enough to remind me that my personal Trait improved all stealth-related abilities. Strangely enough, it was considered a Utility type.

Is it because following someone stealthily does not necessarily mean that you are attacking them?

The last Skill was a pleasant surprise.

Ambush—You strike when not expected, taking your foe’s life before they know what hit them. This Skill improves the effectiveness of your ambushes.

Type: Battle

Development Priority: Luck+++

I'm not even sure the way I attacked that kobold would qualify as an ambush, and I have never done anything like that before. . .So why is this Skill available to me?

"Who knows, I'd bet on your unique personal Trait."

So, what do you think of my choices? Honestly, I don't think that there are any better alternatives.

"Indeed, under normal circumstances that would be the case. . .But there's one loophole that is available to you that most wouldn't notice. You are lucky that I'm not 'most', though."

I don't understand what you are talking about, not in the slightest. . .

"Instead of Evasion, you should choose Communication," Ciesta said in full seriousness.

"He-he," I giggled before I could stop it. She got me for a moment, didn't she?

I didn't know that you have a sense of humor. After all, you can't even tell the difference between irony and sarcasm. But you're really clever and unexpected in your jokes, that I acknowledge.

"Before you insult me any further, Mr. Lurker, let me explain."

Why are you offended by my sincere compliment? Such a strange cat. . .

"How do you think Attributes relate to your personal abilities? Let's say you invest one hundred points into Mind. Do you think it would make you a genius? The answer is no. A genius with twenty points in Mind is still going to be smarter than a fool with one hundred. First and foremost, the Attributes used by the System are about your ability to manipulate Essence in certain ways. This is where Skills come into play. Let's say you choose the Biology Skill and use it to improve your Mind by ten points. And then someone else just invests ten points through the Player interface. And let's say that both of you started with a fifty percent split between Intelligence and Wisdom. What do you think is going to happen?"

It's obvious that I'll end up being more knowledgeable in Biology than him. Also, as this is a Skill that specializes in Wisdom, its relative percentage will increase.

"Correct. In the case where you did nothing but worked on your Biology Skill and raised your Mind from ten to twenty with it alone, you'll end up having only twenty-five percent in Intelligence and seventy-five in Wisdom. At the start, both INT and WIS were equal to five, i.e., half of your Mind. After training one Attribute exclusively, you get fifteen points in WIS while remaining at five in INT. But that's not all. Compared to someone who had just improved their stats with Leveling, you are going to be smarter overall. The improvement to your memorization and rational thinking would be greater, after all. Still, when it comes to the actual usage of magic, there would be no difference between you."

I get it. So training can give me additional benefits. But what does that have to do with your absurd advice, though? Do you want me to become a smoother talker so that I can flirt with you? Sorry, but my heart is already taken for the time being. Also, I'm not really into animals.

"Did you become a loner because you are like this, or are you like this because you are a loner?"

Is this a variant of this famous chicken or the egg question? The answer is the egg, by the way, because they existed way before the first birds, let alone chickens.

"Let's get back to the topic at hand. . . So, by training a really specialized Skill, like Biology, which has three pluses to Wisdom, you improve only one of the Mind Sub-Attributes. Of course, it works this way only until the seventy-five percentage limit, after which INT would start to slowly climb as well. But what would happen if, for some mysterious reason, the ratio between your Sub-Attributes is enforced?"

Her words reminded me of the description of my Void Touched Trait, and I started to understand what she was trying to say.

Your Charisma is permanently set at 10%, and your Luck is permanently set at 90%.

Don't tell me. . .

"Yes, it's just as you guessed, Lexy," she said in what I assumed to be her playful tone. "Let's say you have a Trait that locks both your INT and WIS to fifty percent. In that case, by gaining fifteen invisible points to Wisdom, you create an imbalance that would be compensated by increasing your Intelligence by the same amount. In your case, though. . ."

It can't be this crazy, right? By this logic, by training my Charisma by ten points, I automatically increase my total FATE by a hundred! How does that make any sense?

"It doesn't," Ciesta replied categorically. "That is why this Trait of yours is so absurd. And it's probably one of the reasons why one of the Administrators took such an interest in you, for better or worse. In the first place, having a ninety percent in any Sub-Attribute is extremely rare, let alone having that ratio locked in place."

Ciesta sat down on the table near the screens and looked at me just like an ordinary cat. As I tried to digest the revelation, I glanced at the screen, confirming the progress of my doggie friends.

Not bad, they are already on the twenty-sixth floor. It seems they aren’t doing a detailed search but just climbing the stairs chasing my scent. At this rate, they will be here in another ten minutes or so.

I still really don't want to miss Evasion. . .

"You can get it at Level 10, anyway. How much more time do you want to waste?"

She was right. It would be stupid to wait for the kobolds here. If I wanted to survive, I'd need to move to the floor below, where it would be easier to hide. I wondered if Stalking could help me to avoid their notice. Then, after their group arrived on the top floor, I could secretly descend even further and hope that they split up to search for me more efficiently.

Wait, there’s a possibility that one of them will stay in the stairway or on one of the floors, and then notice me. Even if I sneak around them all, my objective is to kill at least one of them and see if I can gain Levels. If I play cat-and-mouse with them, then there’s a chance that they’ll send someone for reinforcements, which will make things harder for me. I guess the safest option will be just hiding on the twenty-ninth floor. If they do split up, it should give me an advantage and chance to get rid of all of them one by one. It's time to make my choice.

With a plan—flawed as it was—in my mind, I steeled myself for the battle to come. Unable to think of anything better, I selected my Skills.

You have learned Stalking (lvl 1)!

You have learned Communication (lvl 1)!

You have learned Ambush (lvl 1)!

Do you think I should get my Legendary Perk as well?

"Hmm, I don't think so. First, we need to determine if you really can increase your Levels. If you can’t, then Beacon of Humanity is the better choice. The double-experience bonus won't increase your battle power directly, but with it you can spend more time training and less fighting. Anyway, with the weapons you found, you should be all right even without the Perk."

It's decided then. Let's go!

I placed my weapons and magazines inside the duffel bag in which I’d found the shotgun in the first place. I checked my bandaged wounds and found that they weren't bleeding anymore and had already started to be covered by a scab—indisputable proof that the System accelerated regeneration rapidly.

Without further ado, we left the surveillance room and descended to the floor below. Actually, I could vaguely hear the claymore-wielding kobold crushing the door to the twenty-eighth floor.

I could feel how sneaking around became even easier for me than before. It was as if my steps got even more silent than before.

Hmm, won’t they still find us because of your cat smell? I wondered as I entered a room in the furthest part of the corridor. Only then did I realize that it was actually a female restroom. . . It smelled heavily of Clorox. Hopefully, it would make it harder for the dogs to track us.

"Don't worry about it," Ciesta said without even trying to hold down her voice. Thankfully, she didn't comment on my choice of hiding place.

"They won’t even know that I'm here," she added as a thin shiny barrier surrounded her tiny body. Then she started to get more transparent with each second until she became completely invisible.

Huh. . .I want to learn invisibility magic, too.

"You'll have a chance if you advance your Mirage or Solitude Concepts far enough." Her voice sounded from the place where she had disappeared. "How about accepting the Dungeon Quest and adding the Attribute Points while you wait for that chance?"

You have a point. I replied before doing just as she said. I hadn’t noticed that she somehow was talking as if she already knew which Concept I was going to get.

And so, hiding in the toilet cubicle of the female restroom, I waited for my first prey to visit me.