Elania had managed to pry a bit more information out of Tanyan that morning before being shut down again by Taniel.

'Seriously, what is his deal?'

The basic information of knowing that levels unlocked attribute points at 10, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, etc. was an important well-established fact and wouldn't hurt anyone for her to know. Yet when Taniel had heard Tanyan explaining, he had all but torn the man away from her blatantly, hidden under a veil of trying to hurry the group out of the waystation.

Still, it was a really important tidbit of information to consider. Suddenly, base levels seemed way more important. Grabbing multiple classes would be a huge drawback… especially as a demon. Her attribute choices seemed to be very powerful, and she wanted more of them. Grinding experience to level right now though, seemed like a bad idea, since hunting would mean leaving the group and crafting wasn’t nearly as effective as killing things.

While the others scarfed down their breakfast, Elania went to sort her things. Not that she had much to go through, but while the others were eating she needed to restore a bit of her 'Power' before they left. It was pretty much as low as it had been since she had first started keeping track of it. She had noticed feeling a bit… weak. She missed the feeling of lightness and effortless movement she had when it was close to max.

[Power: 24/208]

The difference between having about 50 power and now being below 30 was stark. She had concluded that her level of power acted as some type of multiplier, and while she hadn't figured out the exact multiplier ratio, the multiplier 'Power' gave her was logarithmic. Since it seemed to affect everything, she was fairly sure that was how she had managed to fight and keep up with the Darkwalkers.

She wasn’t sure about the Bone Demon and Darkwalker Demon she had faced, but she thought maybe she had managed those because she had more ‘Power’ than they did. She hadn’t seen them actively absorbing any corpses, but from what she had gathered that was also a natural demon ability.

The scary thing was, what if she had high skill levels too? She’d be super strong or good at… well whatever skills she had leveled. Why didn’t demons overpower everything? The only hint she had was that the others had considered her maximum ‘Power’ high. Maybe other demons had much lower power capacities, or couldn’t increase their maximum? The Bone Demon had given her a big chunk of power, but if it had been near max, it was still a lot less than her power limit was now.

'I hate math. High power good, low power bad.’

She hoped not to be affected the same way by using the Mana Shard as she had been by the Darkwalker Essence. That the shard might have been a pure form of energy, but she only had her gut feeling and guesses to guide her.

Picking up the crystal produced the same tingling warmth in her hand than it had in the beginning. But she didn't have time to absorb it slowly this 'morning' so she wanted to test out a theory.

Closing her eyes and focused on the mana—the tingling warmth from before filling her senses as she tried to draw it deeper into her body. There was a slight resistance, but then, like a dam breaking, the energy surged through her.

It took several seconds as she worked to slap an improvised wall down between herself and the crystal.

[Power: 55/208]

[Power: 68/208]

[Power: 79/208]

When she finally managed to rebuild the barrier, the power transfer rapidly came to a stop. Elania could feel the difference between the natural wall she had been relying on before and this new one that she had formed out of her own will, and she was able to slowly make the barrier slightly more permeable.

That was much better, a steady constant stream of energy flowing into her at a rate of one or two per second. She brought up her status and watched the power counter tick up until she cut it off when she was about 90% full.

[Power: 190/208]

Elania smiled, everything having worked out mostly to plan. She'd learned how to block the slow radiation of energy from the crystal as well, so she'd not be forced to wrap it up in a poor attempt to stop it from overcharging her.

Not that she had anywhere else to keep the crystal yet, she wrapped it back up in the bedroll and put it in her backpack since it was probably the safest place for it.

"We're going! Elania, hurry up!"

"Just a second!"

Annoyed, she blew a wayward strand of hair and checked the straps on her backpack and javelin bandolier before sliding a few of the spears into place on her back. That done, she headed out to join them.

There was a big pile of spears at the entrance. She'd leveled up her crafting skill by making them, but there wasn't a real way to bring them all. Maybe someone who used the waystation someday could use them, even if it was just for kindling and firewood.

As the group moved through the caverns again, Elania didn't have much to do but glower at Taniel's back. If he picked up on her mood, he didn't show any hint of it, and eventually, lost herself in her own head, thinking about what she should spend her next attribute point on.

There had been two selections that she focused on: [Reactive Adaptation] and [Essence Absorption (Touch)].

At some point, she remembered something concerning [Reactive Adaptation] from some comic she read about. If she remembered correctly, some super-heroine had it, and it provided the ability to protect against anything... or something.

She frowned, stretching her memory. She hadn’t been a massive reader of classic comics, and she couldn't be sure. She doubted whether it’d have the same effect anyway, considering it had been fiction from Earth. Although she had noticed a lot of similarities between Eladu and the portal fantasy fiction. Maybe someone had visited Eladu before her, and then found a way back and that was how people came up with the idea? The thought of someone getting back was encouraging.

The second skill she thought she had a much better read on. [Essence Absorption (Touch)] would allow her to gain essence from touching things, she thought. That would mean another way to gain 'Power' without killing things. That would be extremely useful when or if her Mana Shard ran out of energy. She didn't think essence from a person would affect her like monster essence seemed to. Although she was worried about whether it might hurt them permanently. She wished she knew the specifics, and of course someone who actually knew the exact effects or was willing to help her test it.

With a sigh, she decided to cross those bridges when she got to them. The other attributes looked useful as well, and the physical attribute ones looked like they would easily make her even more superhuman than she already was when her ‘Power’ was over-maxed. She wondered if normal people got the same choices she did for attributes, but she did not think she'd have luck asking that at the moment. Not with Taniel blocking most of her questions right now.

A halt had her snapping out of her thoughts and looking up. At first, she wasn't sure why they had stopped before she noticed the obvious rockslide. The tunnel between the current cavern and the next had partially collapsed, leaving only a narrow way through, wide enough for only a single person, and that was being generous. They were going to have to squeeze through, and not with packs on their backs either.

Taniel looked back at her and the others, assessing them, although for what she wasn't sure. Combat ability? His eyes settled on her, and she frowned. He wasn't going to send her first, was he?

Elania shifted uneasily on her feet until she had her answer. Thankfully, he didn't.

"I will go first, then Elania, Herrik, Garen, Berrick. Tanyan, you'll be last and keep watch while the others cross."

Elania found herself agreeing with the order. She didn't want to go first, and she probably was stronger than the novices at fighting. She didn’t have much to base that guess on other than their attitudes and status. It was hard to say how strong Taniel or Tanyan was compared to her. If her estimations were right, they were around her age but seemed to have had a lot of training. They were a lot higher level than the others, which probably meant they had killed more monsters than she had at the very least.

Still, while she was inexperienced, she wasn't weak. The lightness of her body from the power rush would not easily let her forget that.

Elania watched closely as Taniel started through the narrow space. He had to drag the basket of [Glow-Moss] alongside him as he went. Other than that, there wasn’t any trouble getting through. She wasn't precisely claustrophobic, but the thought of an earthquake at the worst moment did worry her a bit. At least her backpack would be a lot easier to manage than one of the baskets of moss the monks were saddled with.

"It's clear, come on through."

Taniel's voice echoed a little as it came back to them. Tanyan gave her an encouraging nod, and then she started through. At first, it wasn't that difficult, but once around the corner, the rock pressed in tighter.

The current state of her attire--- two pieces of leather didn't cover up much, and each time she bumped or scraped into the rock, the event was not pleasant. She didn't, or rather couldn't actually get harmed by the scrapes because of [Regeneration], but they still hurt. She wasn't sure how she would have managed one of the larger baskets or if she had a less athletic form.

'I guess all those track-meets paid off. I wonder how self-sustenance affects weight gain or loss? Maybe it’s possible to eat all the chocolate I want without worrying about getting fat?'

As she made it past the tightest point, things began to open up again. That was when she had a horrifying thought.

'What if chocolate doesn't exist in this world?'

"Hey Taniel, do you know what cho—"

"Quiet, there is something in the cavern with us."

"Wha—" Elania cut herself off and hurried to push through the rock. While she was pressed in the narrow passage, the idea of something attacking had her rapidly reconsidering her previous thought of not being claustrophobic.

The cavern wasn't as lit up as the ones they had been traveling through. The moss was absent, and there was very little of the glowing fungus. Should she call for the next person? She didn't want to call someone into danger.

Taniel was crouched nearby, peering over a rock, and Elania hurried over to him. The lack of ambient light meant everything was shades of black and gray, but her vision had adapted nicely, and she didn’t have that much trouble seeing.

"I can't see what it is. It's too dark, my [Darkvision] isn't working, and the torches are with Tanyan."

Elania heard the worry in his tone and scanned the cave, looking for the source of the sound. ‘So he has Darkvision too, it isn’t just a demon thing.’

All her worries dissipated when she spotted some movement at the opposite end of the cavern.

"Don't worry, I can see just fine. It’s just a few Ralfo—"

[Alpha Ralfot]

[You have gained a level in Identify!]

It was the biggest [Ralfot] she had ever seen. The brute was easily three times bigger than the others, and must have weighed as much as a large van or pickup truck. It let out a loud snort and was glaring straight at them as it scraped the ground with a massive hoof.