Chapter 82 - The Weaver's Map II

An extremely exhausted Claire lumbered over to the nearest wall as she reverted to her lyrkrian form. The level up that ensued in the battle’s aftermath had restored her battered body, but she didn’t immediately jump into the next altercation. She needed a break. The crab had been far tougher than anticipated, and it had even known more about her weaknesses than she had.

Sylvia appeared beside her as she sat down and leaned against the rock face. She had no idea when the fox had vanished, or where she had even gone, but the timing seemed to suggest that she had been watching the battle from some place or another.

“Before you ask, I’m fine,” said Claire.

“Uhhh… I uhh…” The fox blinked. Thrice. “I wasn't going to ask.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Well you should!”

There was an awkward pause as one halfbreed cast a suspicious glare and the other averted her eyes. The interaction persisted for several seconds, with the fox eventually breaking into a cold sweat and backing down.

“A-anyway, are you going to keep fighting them? It looked like you had a lot of trouble with that one.”

“It’ll be easier next time. I know what they do now.”

“Well… if you say so. How many levels did that one give you anyway?”

“Let me check.”

Claire popped open her log and reviewed the most recent entries. The goddess had already read them out to her, but the words had gone in one ear and out the other—not that they went through her ears in the first place.

Log Entry 1821

Manathief has reached level 10.

Log Entry 1822

You have slain a level 78 Llystletein Cotton Crab Corsair.

This feat has earned you the following bonus rewards:

- 6 points of agility

- 4 points of dexterity

- 7 points of spirit

- 4 points of strength

- 15 points of vitality

- 9 points of wisdom

Log Entry 1823

You have leveled up. Your health and mana have been restored and all harmful status effects have been cleansed.

Your racial class, Frostblight Lyrkress, has reached level 51.

Your primary class, Llystletein Bloodthief, has reached level 55.

Your secondary class, Llystletein Force Mage, has reached level 44.

You have gained 24 ability points.

Each lyrkress level gives… 12 ability points. That’s a lot.

Log Entry 1824

You have unlocked a new spawnable food item.

Log Entry 1825

Frostblight Lyrkrian Martial Arts has reached level 5.

Log Entry 1826

Lyrkrian Shapeshifting has reached level 6.

Log Entry 1827

Paralyzing Gaze has reached level 7.

“Three, one in each class,” said Claire.

“Oh, that’s not too bad! There’s like a hundred of them hanging around, so you’ll probably gain a lot more by the time we find our way out.”

“Maybe.” The lyrkress cast her gaze on the corpse. “Why does it bleed cotton?”

“I think Al set them up that way because people need clothes, and making everything with leather and pelts and stuff isn’t going to cut it.”

“I don’t think people that get captured by borroks can kill these.”

“Oh umm… about that…” The fox turned to face the wall. “So this is gonna be kinda awkward, but Crabby Crags is kinda special, like the equitaur’s chamber. It changes based on who’s in it, and since you dragged me in with you, they umm… are a bit stronger than they’re supposed to be. The one you just fought was actually supposed to be a grunt. It probably wouldn’t even have been ascended if you came alone.”

The lyrkress shot the fox a glare. “A bit stronger? That one was level 78.”

“I promise It’s not as bad as it sounds! They give more experience this way, so you’ll level up a lot faster.”

“You really need to start telling me these things earlier,” grumbled the bluescale.

“I tried, but you dragged me in before I could. It’s not even my fault this time!”

A frustrated sigh escaping her lips, Claire pinched Sylvia’s cheeks and gave them a tug. They were surprisingly squishy and stretchy. The furball’s face grew to nearly twice its usual width before offering any resistance.

“Stop that! It feels super weird!” The vixen pawed at the other halfbreed in an attempt to break free, but Claire’s grip was tough as iron.

“Have you learned your lesson?”

“I have, I have! So let go already!”

“Good.” Nodding in satisfaction, the bloodthief released the cheeky critter and got to her feet.

Sylvia massaged her cheeks and pressed them inwards, as if to counteract any potential stretching, before she finally began to speak. “Well, um… on the bright side, I don’t think it’s so bad that you can’t handle it. Maybe. I think.”

“Didn’t your father say that this place was supposed to stop giving me experience eventually? How does that work, if the monsters get stronger with me?” asked Claire, as she stretched and made her way over to the crab’s remains.

The corpse had been mangled by all the damage, but that wasn’t to say that there weren’t any pieces to salvage. Even if brittle, the shell still had its uses. The tips of its legs were sharp enough to be fashioned into blades, so she tore a few of them off and strapped them to her thighs. She was tempted to break off another piece of its exoskeleton and forge it into a makeshift shield, but she couldn’t think of a way to equip it. She didn’t have the rope or leather she needed to create a fastener, and it was hardly durable enough to be worth the resources even if she did. Conclusion made, she pushed the idea off into one of her mind’s furthest recesses and focused on the dead crustacean’s main features.

“Oh, well there’s actually a limit to how strong they can get and ummm…”

Claire sighed as she picked up one of the crab’s arms. “They’ve already reached it, haven’t they?”

“Yup.” Sylvia flashed the most innocent smile she could manage. It didn’t work.

“Of course they have.” Her very annoyed conversation partner gave her another brief stare. “Is there any way to get out without solving the maze?” She raised the projectile launcher and aimed it like a bow as she spoke.

Though impressive in life, the cannon was depressingly disappointing in death. Its appearance and use appeared to suggest that it was some sort of gun, but in reality, it was nothing but a hollowed out piece of shell, a claw too atrophied and deformed to be used as a pincer, let alone a cannon. All the stones that had emerged from its barrel were magical spells, propelled not by any sort of physical mechanism, but rather the formulae from which they were formed. In other words, the oversized barrel was a catalyst, no different from a treant’s branch or a unicorn’s horn in anything but shape, size, and quality. And that was precisely why it left Claire perfectly unimpressed. She didn’t need a wand. The previous battle had reminded her that the shard in her chest provided the same function. It was more difficult to aim than the average casting implement, but that was a problem that the heavy cannon failed to rectify. Considering its inferior quality and blatant lack of applicability, there was simply no point in taking it with her.

“Umm… Kinda, but you still have to find them, so it’s not any less of a pain in the butt.” Sylvia’s ears drooped as Claire’s tongue flicked through the air. “I’m really sorry. I can leave if you want.”

“You’re already here, and you wanted to see it. You might as well stay.”

“Really?” said the fox, her tail flickering to life. “Thanks! I promise I'll try to make it up to you sometime!”

“I’m holding you to that,” said Claire.

“Y-you are? Does that mean you’re still mad?”

“At myself.”

“Oh, whew… I thought you were mad at me.”

“I am.”

“Wait, you are!?”

“Just a bit.” Claire smiled, softly.

“Bu—wait a second!” The fox stamped both her feet against the ground and barked. “That’s the face you make when you tease me!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said the half-snake, with a perfectly blank expression.

“It’s kind of creepy how good you are at doing that.”

“I-I’m not creepy…” Her eyes tearing up, she whimpered, cowered, and made a face akin to that of an abandoned puppy.

“W-wow uhmm… that was really convincing. Are you sure that’s not a skill?”

“It’s not.” Claire fixed her expression, discarded the cannon, and retrieved the crab’s final limb.

The meat hook quickly proved itself incredibly potent. A light flick sent the reinforced weapon out from the end of its arm and into a nearby wall. The collision left only one of the two objects damaged, and it wasn’t the dead crab. While it wasn’t easy to control, she could get it to go roughly where she wanted. The only problem was that she couldn’t get it to retract. She tried pulling on its various parts, snapping the hook back towards her like a whip, and even reaching into the arm and tugging on the muscle inside, but nothing seemed to work.

“If you’re trying to do what I think you are, then you probably want to put some mana into it,” advised the fox.

With a nod, Claire heeded the advice and poured her magic into the shell-covered limb. She had already learned her lesson from her experience with the runecloak, so she started with a tiny sliver, and worked her way up after noting the distinctive lack of a sudden explosion. It took roughly fifty points for the retraction to reach combat-worthy speeds. It wasn’t a large investment by any means, but it was certainly more than she would have hoped. Playing around a bit more, she confirmed that she could reproduce the phenomenon consistently, and that she needed roughly twice as much mana to reel it in midswing.

Once satisfied, she raised the arm overhead and rested it on her shoulder, as the knights often did with their spears and greatswords. “Thanks.”

“No problem!” Sylvia’s lips curved up into a smug grin. “See? Aren't I just super useful?”

“When you’re not making the monsters stronger for no reason.”

“Hey! Didn’t we just decide that it was your fault!?”

“No.”

“Ughhhh… Why do you always have be so bitter about everything? You’d be much happier if you stopped holding grudges.”

“Noble ladies don’t hold grudges.”

“Uh huh…”

Ignoring the fox’s blatant disbelief, the shameless blueblood began moving towards the rocky hallway. She started with a confident stride, but slowed as she felt a sudden discomfort in the lower middle part of her body. Her insides had suddenly started twisted themselves into knots. It was the same strange feeling she had experienced when her stomach rumbled, only far worse, and in a completely different location. Rather than coming from the area just behind her legs, it felt like it started between her flippers and ran roughly halfway down her tail. The awkward sensation was only one of the odd things happening to her body. She kept wanting to flick her tongue and her tail was acting up. Paying close attention to it was the only way she could get it to stop fidgeting.

“Claire? Is something wrong?”

“I think I’m hungry again.”

“Well, it is almost lunch time. It’s too bad I don’t have any more fish…”

“I can get us something.”

Claire dropped the hook, walked back over to the wall, and sat back down.

Llystletein Authority

Actions

- Establish Safe Zone (Cooldown: 3 days)

- Expunge Waste As Mana (200MP)

Spawnable Drinks

- Borroqua Velva (100MP)

- Cosmogoblitan (50MP)

- Honey Barbearian Cocktail (100MP)

- Mimicosa☆ (500MP)

- Raven Rocket Fuel (100MP)

- Stale Water (25MP)

- Turtle Soup (200MP)

- “Turtle” Soup☆ (2000MP)

- Vampire Pup Blood (100MP)

- White Wolf Wine (150MP)

Spawnable Food

- Borrok Brain Sashimi (250MP)

- Cotton Crab Cake☆ (4500MP)

- Fried Frog Wings (300MP)

- Grilled Veaber Tail☆ (2000MP)

- Hellhog Bolognese (500MP)

- Pulled Orc (150MP)

- Spicy Shaman Sundae☆(3500MP)

- Stale Bread (25MP)

- Toadem Tiramisu☆(2500MP)

- Watcha Burger☆(3250MP)

Even knowing that they would be bland and disgusting, Claire found herself gravitating towards the meatier options. It was only then that she realised that she had a sudden craving for flesh. The urge was so convincing that she was tempted to take a bite out of the crab, despite being fully aware that its insides were filled with cotton.

She stared at the authority skill’s menu for a few moments before deciding to request a plate of veaber tails. If names were anything to go by, the only other options made primarily of meat were the borrok brains, the crab cakes, and the pulled orc. She was curious about the crab cakes, but she didn’t feel like sitting around for an hour and a half to regenerate the mana she needed to summon them. Likewise, the borrok and orc-based dishes were also immediately dismissed. The species they were derived from were revolting and she didn’t even want to imagine eating them.

Still not as disgusting as the thing that happened with the catgirl statue. A shiver ran down her spine. Oh great… Why did I have to think that? I’m such an idiot.

“What are you making?” asked Sylvia.

“Food.”

“Well, I know that much, at least! I mean more specifically!”

“Meat.”

“That’s not very specific…”

“I know.”

Claire grit her teeth and closed her eyes as she tried to erase the intrusive thoughts running amok in the back of her mind. She had almost completely forgotten. But now, they were back. Fortunately, they weren’t in full force, but she still had to take several deep breaths to fight them off, to stop herself from bashing her head against the wall.

Log Entry 1828

Llystletein Authority has reached level 6.

You have unlocked a new action.

A weight appeared in her hands as the goddess’ voice rang through her mind. But she kept her eyes sealed. They didn’t open until she took a series of slow calming breaths. She had expected the fox to have already started eating, given how long she had taken, but she wasn’t. Sylvia was looking at her, her brows crinkled, but too hesitant to speak.

“You can have as many as you’d like,” said Claire.

“Oh umm… thanks,” said Sylvia, her ears drooping. She shot another few glances in the lyrkress’ direction before finally retrieving a piece of meat, sitting back down, and slowly nibbling away.

Claire, on the other hand, tore into her meal with ravenous ferocity. She shoved tail after tail into her mouth, shell and all. Her jaws would creak and groan each time her teeth tore through the rocky exterior. But she didn’t care. The pain helped keep her mind clear of all the thoughts she didn’t want to entertain.