Liliana walked back towards a familiar clearing, grinning at her success for the day. All told she had made out like a bandit, as far as levels were concerned. She was up to level 12 and had finally unlocked her Rank when she hit level 10. Her Rank was only 10 as well until she hit level 20 and hit Rank 9 and got her Class unlocked.

Her stats were still a bit unbalanced as a result of her putting the points where she thought they’d be the most useful for right now. Dexterity was at the lowest with 24 points, then Vitality at 27. With [Regeneration] it wasn’t as important to pump the stat too high. She was mindful to grow it so she could hopefully avoid future Vitality training rounds with Silas. Her highest stat was Charisma currently at 34, after that Speed, Endurance, and Strength were at 33. Then Intelligence at 31 and Wisdom at 30. Strength and Endurance were serving her well, letting her destroy the low-level monsters faster. Something that became more necessary as she leveled and needed more and more Slimes to get close to leveling. She had decided against going further into the forest in search of the higher-ranked Slimes today. She had run out of Health tinctures towards the last few hours and didn’t want to risk making her way home with a severe injury [Regeneration] couldn’t heal.

Sure no one had been severely hurt by a Slime, yet. Liliana didn’t trust her luck that she wouldn’t become the first. Probably earn some ridiculous title for it too. Like [Slime Fodder]. If it existed.

Endurance, Strength, Vitality, Speed, and Intelligence had gotten 1 extra point during her massacre. It was a considerable increase, it normally took her a day or more of training to get points in the physical stats but she also usually only had an hour or two a day to devote to training those. As opposed to the hours she had for reading, her lesson work, and other ‘noble lady’ skills. Which leveled her less physical stats. She’d been out today from dawn till dusk pushing herself, and the System had rewarded her efforts. She might only be level 12 but she’d estimate she was fairly strong for it. Anyone who had gotten their points purely by leveling wouldn’t be able to match her at the same level now, she was certain. The thought that she had finally started to gain power made her giddy and as she forced her tired body to practically skip into the clearing where she could hear Silas and Astrid waiting.

“Silas!” Liliana called out as she entered the training clearing. The man humored her by pretending to just notice her though they both knew he’d probably heard her plodding through the forest several minutes ago. She grinned brightly at him and watched both Silas and Astrid pause for a moment, blinking.

Ah, the sudden extra fourteen points into Charisma must be working, Liliana estimated. While Charisma didn’t make one more attractive it did slowly build your presence, almost like a weak Aura. The other two shook off the effect, Silas faster than Astrid.

“Looks like you were successful, level 12 huh?” Silas asked as he looked over her nodding.

Liliana smiled proudly, twirling in front of them though there was little in the way of physical changes. None of her stats had been increased enough to justify a forced physical change yet. The muscles she’d built training had provided ample material for the Strength and Endurance stats to enhance.

“11 levels are fairly impressive for one day, though gaining levels at low levels is easier since the creatures around your level aren’t too intelligent or strong yet,” Silas continued and Liliana wilted at having her accomplishments lessened.

“Considering you were a fumbling little flower several months ago and not a recruit who already had some experience and physical training it’s impressive still,” Silas comforted, quickly realizing that Liliana had taken the original comment badly. She immediately brightened under the praise, soaking it up.

“Are you injured?” Astrid asked, forcing herself between Silas and Liliana as she grabbed the girl and twisted her around to look for any cut or bruise. Liliana sighed and let herself be manhandled, she was fine now. She’d used [Regeneration] while she walked back and after she’d run out of Health tinctures a few times. So she had no injuries, but a few extra levels in the rather useful skill.

When Astrid was sure that Liliana wasn’t hiding any fatal wounds from her she was tugged into a tight hug. After a brief moment of surprise, Astrid didn’t usually initiate hugs, Liliana returned the embrace happily.

“I’m dirty Auntie,” Liliana warned and Astrid huffed a laugh.

“I can see that,” She said pulling back and Liliana enjoyed the moment. Right now Astrid wasn’t treating her as a Duke’s daughter, she was treating her as just Liliana.

“So same plan for tomorrow?“ Silas interjected from where he’d been pushed to the side.

“Yea, until the Duke is back,” Liliana confirmed, that had always been the plan. It meant she’d have a week of leveling ahead of her. She knew that it would slow down as time went by. She’d need to venture further and further out to find creatures who could give her meaningful experience as she advanced. Which would cut her time spent leveling as she had to be back before nightfall. But she hoped to be level 30 at the very least, her personal goal was level 35 since she’d be Rank 8 by then. It would mean she would be able to look for her first Bond finally since she could get a creature Rank 8 or higher. Preferably higher.

“Good,” Silas nodded in approval though Astrid still looked against the idea. However, she certainly seemed to have calmed, having Liliana come back uninjured today had done much to assuage her worries.

“I see you took care of your weapons,” Silas nodded at her naginata. Her daggers hadn’t seen any use, they simply hadn’t been necessary. She much preferred the range of the polearm, it kept her from getting dirtier than she already was.

“Yes! She took care of me, so I took care of her,” Liliana answered, a phrase that Silas himself had used. Compared to her the naginata practically shone. She had taken care to periodically stop and clean or sharpen it as necessary. Before she had headed back she’d even taken care to apply oil to the blade and haft, to be sure it would be in perfect condition.

“Good, I’d have taken her from you if you hadn’t cared for her,” Silas nodded with a proud smile and Liliana grinned once more. It was with reluctant movements that she handed the weapon back to him. Though he exchanged a larger bag of cleaning materials to her for it that she handed off to Astrid to carry. Since they’d be heading back she didn’t want to be caught carrying a parcel like that around, it would raise suspicion. She also took the chance to hand Astrid her bag full of herbs she’d gathered, and the pitiful bag of cores.

“I’m ready for a bath,” Liliana lamented as the trio made their way back, Silas chuckled behind her.

“Oh I bet, I’m surprised you stayed away all day My Lady,” he commented, switching back to using her title as they got closer to the manor. Liliana mourned the more familiar tone he used when they were in their training clearing but understood. If he didn’t switch now there was a chance he’d forget and if the wrong people heard Silas could be severely punished for such an infraction.

“I needed levels!” She answered easily, and it was true. She might not relish being coated in mud, goo, and sap but she would deal with it. If she didn’t get power she would die, and a bit of discomfort was worth keeping her head.

Silas chuckled behind her and Astrid sighed in defeat, two opposing reactions to her proclamation.

“You sound like a true adventurer, My Lady,” Silas informed her and Liliana glowed under the unintended praise.

“Unfortunately,” Astrid commented and Liliana gasped in mock indignation.

“Astrid! You wound me!” Liliana cried out, keeping herself quiet as she could to avoid drawing attention to them. Astrid shook her head and refused to look at Liliana, missing her rather excellent portrayal of being mortally wounded by Astrid’s cruel words.

They separated at their normal point and the journey back into the manor was far easier than the trek out of it this morning. Liliana practically dove into her tub, sinking deep into the divine waters. Astrid was a bit rougher with her than normal, a necessary evil to rid her of the accumulated grime of the day. By the time the bath was done Liliana hardly had the energy to eat before she collapsed into her bed, asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

“Okay, I can do this. I can do this,” Liliana hyped herself up as she stared at her newest adversary.

Horned Hare

Level 18

A Horned Hare that has an affinity for air. Speedy and hard to pin down thanks to their magic as well as adept at sending out blades of air from its horns. The horns are also sharpened with wind magic, making them deadly in close quarters.

Rank: 10

She’d finally out-leveled the Slimes in the area, which capped out at level 15. She was on the third day of her leveling quest and she finally had to move on to stronger opponents if she had hope of progressing further than level 16. The creature that sat before her innocently eating clover was her best chance at getting the necessary experience to further herself.

Her hesitation wasn’t born of fear over its level advantage or apparently considerable battle prowess.

No, her issue was it was so fucking cute.

How could she bring herself to kill something with fur so plush it looked like a living cloud? With elegant white horns twisting from its head like an organic crown? Was she truly so desperate that she could murder such a precious creature in cold blood?

No, I’ll find something else to kill. Liliana decided and she went to move away from her position when her foot stepped on a twig, snapping it with a loud crack. Liliana mentally cursed her low Dexterity and her new but low [Stealth] skill.

Should’ve put more points into Dexterity with that last level, Liliana mentally chided herself as the warm brown eyes of the Horned Hare locked on her.

“Hey there little buddy,” Liliana cooed, hoping the creature was intelligent enough for her Charisma to have an effect. She’d found that with Slimes at least Charisma had no impact, they simply weren’t smart enough to be affected by the stat. For a moment it looked like the Hare would fall to her charm until she saw Wind gathering at the points of its rather impressive 4 point rack.

“Fuck!” Liliana cursed as [Dodge] activated and she barely got out of the way of a barrage of [Wind Blades].

That’s a cool skill, can I do that with light? I wo-NO! Focus! Liliana dodged another attack, bringing her naginata into an attack stance she sliced out at the Hare. It sped away before her blade could gain purchase and a sharp spike of pain erupted across her thigh as the creature scored a glancing blow as it repositioned.

Liliana grit her teeth, eyes narrowing in anger as warm blood trickled down her leg. It didn’t feel severe, but her adrenaline was pumping through her veins, dampening her pain while enhancing her other senses.

With a thought, Liliana activated [Regeneration] and [Enhancement] at the same time. Mana flooded her system and she moved. Gone was her hesitance to attack the cute creature. It had dared to defile Astrid’s gift to her! For such a sin death was the only justice acceptable.

Her speed was far improved with the boost, enough that the Hare now seemed to be moving at a pitiful speed. Liliana had little trouble dodging its attacks and her blade whistled through the air too fast for the monster to avoid as it sliced through its neck cleanly.

Liliana stared at the corpse, [Enhancement] still running through her body for the next almost two minutes. She’d barely needed thirty seconds to kill the Hare.

“That was perhaps a bit overboard,” Liliana admitted to the air. Horned Hares were fast, and had strong magic but they had pitifully little Vitality or Strength as a trade-off. Monsters almost always min-maxed their stat points, giving them glaring weaknesses humans didn’t always share.

Suffice to say Liliana hadn’t really needed the boost [Enhancement] had given her speed. She’d been a bit surprised at how fast it had moved originally but as the adrenaline left her system Liliana realized the Hare had likely been the same speed as her, if perhaps a bit lower. Flushing at her reckless action Liliana looked around to be sure someone hadn’t miraculously seen her make such a fumble.

“We just...won’t tell Silas about this,” Liliana told herself and nodded. Yup, this mistake could go with her to her grave. As she shook out the energy in her body she knelt to look at the corpse.

“Well, it’s certainly easier to get Core’s from these than Slimes,” Liliana murmured. She hadn’t needed to destroy the Core to kill the Hare, its Vitality was so low cutting its head off had done just as well.

“Benefit of fighting monsters with actual bodies, I suppose,” Liliana mused out loud. She had grown accustomed to speaking out loud to herself, a habit carried over from her previous life. It helped at times like these when she was alone with no one else to speak to.

Liliana slumped slightly when [Enhancement] ran out, taking a chunk of her Stamina with it. The skill did have a second cost that [Identify] had shown when the skill had reached level 10. To activate [Enhancement] she had to give it Mana, but once it was over it took a tithe of Stamina. It took half again whatever Stamina used while the skill was active, which could be a sizable portion. It was partially due to her training the skill up while she leveled that had gotten her more points in Endurance, she was running her Stamina down constantly.

Shaking off the tiredness from a sudden drop in Stamina, Liliana took out one of her daggers and poked the corpse. Unlike the game, it didn’t vanish into a pile of loot. Not that she’d truly expected it to, but it would’ve saved her having to butcher it to get to the core.

Liliana stared at the corpse for a few minutes, building up her courage. Horned Hare’s pelts sold for a good bit. 10 coppers per pelt, if only because they were softer than velvet. Some nobles liked having their cloaks lined with their fur which meant demand for them was higher than other low-level monsters. It took a lot of pelts to line a single cloak after all. They also provided some natural defense against wind, meaning cloaks made with them were quite warm in the winter. Their horns were also used for some alchemical concoctions. Though those only sold for 3 copper to a pound.

It meant if Liliana wanted to gain money quickly she’d need to learn how to properly skin the Hare. With little faith in her likelihood of a salvageable first try, she sheathed her dagger and pulled out the smaller skinning knife Silas had given her the day before, expecting her to soon start hunting things that would warrant it.

With a silent prayer sent to the System for a skill, she started her work.

Twenty minutes later Liliana had blood up to her elbows and a bloodied, torn and ripped pelt that she doubted anyone would pay for. But she had a core in her palm and a new skill floating in her vision.

You have met the requirements for the General Skill [Skinning] Would you like to accept this skill?

Liliana accepted without examining the skill, it was clear what it was used for and she was just happy to have it. Tossing the ruined hide to the side Liliana put her core in her bag before looking at her hands in dismay. Blood had dried all over them and she had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last of the day. The scent of blood didn’t fill her with nausea by now, no she had gotten used to such smells in her previous life. An inevitable side effect of spending so much time in a hospital, people tended to bleed there. Despite her experience with blood, however, she did not enjoy the feeling of it soaking into her clothing or drying on her skin.

“Next time could I get a [Dismantle] or a [Loot] skill, please System?” Liliana asked the air, pausing for a moment in hope that the System would respond to her for once. She’d read about it in novels in her last life, Systems that reacted to character’s words.

However her System did nothing of the sort, and if it did Liliana wasn’t special enough to gift such things to. With a pout, she stood and grabbed her naginata once more.

“Guess I already have blood on my hands, time to find another bunny,” Liliana sighed as she moved forward. She dropped into [Stealth] as she went, hoping to level the skill into something useful. She was on the outskirts of the area marked for the Horned Hares and she was hoping to run into another one or two.

Her wish was granted as she spotted another Hare a few minutes into her search and Liliana approached quietly. Readying her naginata she burst into motion and this time when the Hare reacted Liliana could see its speed matched hers. Ready for its opening attack she wove to the side, getting steadily closer to the monster.

A game of cat and mouse ensued for a few minutes as Liliana tested out the Hare, learning their attacks and patterns. She dropped into a habit she’d had when playing the game. She’d take her time with the first monster of a type, learning everything she could about them before she finally killed it. The behavior carried over and Liliana teased out every possible attack and evasion maneuver she could from the beast.

Not the best Endurance either, Liliana noted as the Hare began to flag, sides heaving with tiredness. It made sense if they were pumping most of their stats into Speed, Wisdom, and Intelligence.

Satisfied with the information she had gathered Liliana shifted her attack. She went from light strikes meant to poke the creature into responding to real killing intent. The Hare couldn’t keep up any longer and soon it too sacrificed its life’s blood to her as her blade cut its life short.

Liliana knelt by the body and resigned herself to her task. This time Liliana had a slightly less mangled pelt and perhaps a bit less blood on her hands as she finished skinning the creature. She had leveled in the skill as well but she discarded her latest attempt. She might not know how to turn a hide into something that could be used to make clothing but even her untrained eye could see it would be useful for maybe being a rag.

“Need to get a Spatial bag so I can just toss the corpses into it, get Silas to skin them for me,” Liliana grumbled as she stood and tried to wipe what blood she could onto her pants. It only made more of her red-coated and she sighed. Soon the smell of blood would probably alert the Hares that she was around before they even saw her.

“Nothing for it I guess, need to get the pelts to get the money for a bag so I don’t have to get the pelts myself,” Liliana groaned and barely stopped herself from rubbing her eyes. The last thing she needed was blood on her face as well.

For a brief moment, Liliana considered heading back home if only to avoid getting more blood on her. She had to say she’d rather deal with mud over blood any day. The thought was quickly discarded, if she wanted to level she’d need to fight monsters. And most monsters had blood, it was something she’d need to grow used to.

Looking at her hands and wrinkling her nose at the cloying scent of iron Liliana sighed before heading off to find another rabbit to slaughter.