"Kyak, Kyak! Meat, Meat!"

[Fireball], [Fireball], [Fireball].

"Meat..."

[Fireball].

"Uhm, does this child not run out of mana?" Asked Salia who had been walking behind Alviona, a girl that was casting Fireball spells for nearly two hours straight now. Not even a single goblin had survived her onslaught.

After the incident with the goblin captain, Alviona had grown weary of the dungeon raid. Her excitement, while still present, was overshadowed with slight fear and worry for the well-being of Mira. She had to protect this party from any danger, no matter the cost, even if her existence was to be questioned. After discussing the best course of action, Mira had concluded that it would be best to let Alviona take the lead. She had also instructed the child not to use any spells aside [Fireball].

While Solomon could be forgiven due to his mana being finite and having an appearance of a seasoned mage, Alviona was not in such condition as she appeared to be too young, beautiful and frail. Mira had covered up Alviona's mana pool statistic by tricking Ironmight into thinking that the child was an offspring of a Demon and a Pure Blood Elven male, thus resulting in her powers being ten times stronger than that of a commoner. She had also lied about their origins, stating that they hailed from the Elven Island. Fortunately, the members of Ironmight had taken the bait and had linked the events that unfolded with Alviona's origins. It would somewhat explain why the girl could utilize so many different spells that were not known of or recorded in history.

"Kyak! Filthy humans..."

[Fireball]

*Bell Chime*

Continually casting [Fireball] has enlightened you in the path of Fire. You gain +5% permanent damage dealt by the Fire element.

Hmm?! This is new, thought Alviona, who had not read such a message before. Is there a use for increased damage though? I can just cast a different spell that is not Fireball, no? Or I could apply more force. Hm, I do not understand how any of this works yet. Ah. It is interesting. Now my curiosity is aroused.

"Kyak!"

Not again! Won't you meanies stop harassing me?!

[Fireball], [Fireball], [Fireball].

You have slain a total of 521 goblins within the last three hours. You gain a more in-depth knowledge of how to exterminate these creatures. +14% permanent damage dealt against the Goblin race.

Okie. Wait! Has it been that many meanies already?! Oh, no! I am sorry, Mr. Goblins. I promise you that if you stop trying to harm my grandma or me, I will play with you.

"Kyak, that one is dangerous! Retreat! Retreat, Kyak!"

Yay! Finally! I can drink water now. My skin is so itchy that I feel like I will die. Mr. Solomon, can you please take over for a few minutes? I need to quench my thirst.

Solomon nodded and moved in front of Alviona, allowing her to retrieve her barrel and elegantly drink the refreshing liquid.

Puah! Water is bliss. Cool, relaxing and rejuvenating.

"Hm. Ironmight, mind stepping back a little? I would like to talk to my granddaughter in private for a few minutes. It is a girly talk, so please no eavesdropping," said Mira, getting interested in Alviona's condition. After seeing that the members walked away, she approached the child. "Darling, is something wrong? You keep drinking too much water, and it is not good for your health. Are you experiencing dehydration? Do you want me to break the contract and let you leave the dungeon?"

Alviona was confused by Mira's words. "G-grandma, have I done something wrong?! Am I causing trouble?!" She asked, her eyes slightly starting to tear up.

"No, no. It's just that you are drinking far too much liquid. It is not normal to intake that much."

"B-but... I feel too hot otherwise. If I do not drink this much water, my skin will peel off, and my essence might start to leak out slightly. I don't want to damage my body," replied Alviona while sobbing.

"It is all right, child. Please, do not cry. I did not mean to scare you or tell you something that would upset you. I understand. But why would you skin peel off?" Asked Mira in a sweet voice to try and cheer up the girl that was sincerely sobbing, beautiful tears dropping from her cheeks. Seeing her face, the elf could not help but land a gentle kiss on her granddaughter's hot cheeks and wipe away her tears. This action seemed to bear fruit, as Alviona slowly started to calm down.

"B-because of my temperature. I require a lot of water to keep my body cooled down. The heat emitted by me converting raw energy into mana reaches a point of 8,000 degrees in Celsius. As such, I need to keep my internal temperature as low as possible. Any water I store within three days time is used to cool my body down. However, when I am casting so many abilities I require even more cold liquid," replied Alviona who embraced her grandmother even tighter, until finally calmed down. "Grandma, can I ask a question?"

"Yes, certainly! Go ahead."

"Grandma, I keep hearing weird sounds in my head that are not originating from Mr. Tock. What do those words mean? It keeps saying that I acquired fire affinity and such," said Alviona with a puzzled expression. For the girl that was this young, she understood nothing of how the world she inhabited worked. She had an idea of how to use mana and how to convert her raw energy into one, but everything else aside that was a mystery for her.

"Ok, I can explain that to you. How about I show you what my status bar looks like?" Asked Mira.

"Yes, please. If I may."

"All right. Take a good look; I will allow this to be revealed to you ok?"

A moment after, Alviona witnessed Mira's statistics information that was nothing like her .

Name: Mira Race: Pure-blood Elf Title: Druid that tamed Alvanor

Class: Druid Class proficiency: 100/100 Schools of Magic: Divine: Ultimate Elemental Major Health:

6,322/6,322 (+15 per second)

Mana: 8880/8880 (+5 per second) Level: 210 Current EXP: 8,243,558,487 Next Level EXP: 420,214,964 Vitality: 58 (30+ 28) Resistance: 55 (20 +35) Strength: 23 (5 +18) Dexterity: 35 (10 +15) Agility: 21 (11 +10) Intelligence: 59 (45+14) Wisdom: 122 (22+100) Elemental Affinities: Fire +20 Water +20 Earth +20 Wind +3 Electricity +7 Active Effects: Nature's blessing Increases healing done by 80% Draconic Set of Talei Increases all defenses by 7 points, Mana regeneration by 150% when below 30%, and Regenerates +15 HP per second

Earrings of A'kai Increases the regeneration rate of armor barrier to 50 points per 5 second from its base value. Necklace of Daiu Increases damage dealt by [Whirlpool of Fire] by 27%. Nosering of Ma'nej Increases Fire, Water and Earth affinities by +5 Alvanor's Wife

Immunity to mind control

Wand of Eternity Increased spell potency by 33%

"Grandma, I do not understand the meaning behind those numbers or words. Also, this is not what my [Status] looks like," said Alviona with a pout. The girl was overwhelmed by what she was seeing and did not understand what each statistic referred to. What is level, She wondered.

"Ok then. Listen closely. This status bar is the most vital information for yourself and your foes. Spies will often try to find out those numbers to understand how to deal with you. The most critical information about you is your health. If it reaches Zero, then you will die. HP consists of various things, such as Fatigue, thirst, hunger, Mental Stability, Body condition, etc.

Next, we have mana. Mana is what I already talked about two days ago. It is the total amount of mana-well that you possess.

The level is equivalent of how many times you spent experience points to gain an attribute point. Each level provides one.

Now for stats.

Vitality increases your overall health pool and dictates how healthy you are.

Resistance is related to poison, petrification, crowd control and curses. The higher it is, the more chances of you resisting said status.

Strength relates to how heavy of a weapon you can lift. Martial schools of magic users rely on this stat to equip heavier equipment such as chainmail, plate and other types of armor that I am not familiar with.

Dexterity relates to spellcasting speed, weapon attack speed, and the delay between spell draws.

Agility only affects movement speed. The agiler you are, the quicker you move. Spells can influence this stat and increase it beyond the mortal realm. However, this stat cannot be raised past 25 naturally.

Intelligence dictates the potency of your spell damage and the tier of spells that you can learn. Level 5 is the current highest known realm of our world.

Lastly, Wisdom. This stat dictates how much mana pool you have and how quickly you regenerate it. Holy schools of magic are also affected by this stat.

Active effects come from various sources, be it blessings, equipment, and passive skills aquired.

Elemental affinities show how well and quickly will you learn to use said elements. That is about it. Any questions?!" Asked Mira after finishing her half-an-hour long explanation about stats window. The elf was quite curious to see what Alviona had to display for her stats since she was not an ordinary child.

Alviona listened to Mira patiently. After she was done, the girl somewhat understood the gist of it. However, she had a few questions to ask.

"So, if your health reaches zero, you will die. I understand this. However, how do you determine how much damage is taken? Does the armor not protect you?"

"Yes, it does. Here, let me give you an example. Can you please touch my armor? I will allow it to reveal its stats."

The girl did as she was told.

Draconic Set of Talei: Barrier Strength 8378. Physical Defense 49. Magical Defense 63.

A legendary set forged by Alvanor from the remains of his best friend that protected his loved one. Indestructible by regular means and is soulbound to Mira.

Increases all defenses by 7 points, Mana regeneration by 150% when below 30%, and Regenerates +15 HP per second

"So, as you can see, I have quite a defense for a Druid. It is the top tier gear. However, please keep it a secret ok? We do not want anyone aside ourselves to know this. Promise?" Asked Mira, extending her pinky finger.

"Okie, I promise," replied Alviona who understood the meaning of the gesture and replied by moving her pinky and interlocked it with Mira's. "But Grandma, I do not understand. What if someone cuts your vital points? I learned a lot when I was inside my . Besides, aren't your breasts semi-exposed? Only metallic thingies cover them. Your chest area is completely unprotected and so is your abdomen. So how..."

Mira did not reply. Instead, she stabbed her chest area with the gladius that Alviona gave her. Interesting enough for the child, nothing happened.

"W-what?!" Gasped Alviona in surprise.

"Well, the protection does exist. The Barrier Strength represents that. For you to touch my vitals and kill me, you would require to break my armor Barrier first. To add an insult to the injury, the said protection takes 56(49+7)% less damage from any physically incurred injuries and 70(63+7)% from magical. Does that make sense?

Also, about the design of my armor. While I do understand why you are questioning it, I will say that it is all about practicality and aesthetics but in my case, it is also about history. This set was gifted to me by my husband, and as such, I value it a lot.

My gear is light and is supposed to provide me the best defense while also giving me room to move, breath and cast spells in. If I wore plated armor, I would most likely choke inside of it. That equipment is heavy and requires a lot of Strength stat too. I am a druid that heals others and also provides backline support. So as you can see, my Strength is the bare minimum to wear my light armor. Rest is for healing potency or damage.

Speaking of which, Alviona, you will find items that you will like and end up wearing yourself. If heat is really the problem for your body, I highly suggest staying away from heavy armor and instead stick to something like mine. It has good insulation. Plus... your bust size, while smaller than mine, is still large enough to be crushed in the plate. Wearing full armor with that size would be... wrong," replied Mira with a grin. "Does this make sense?"

"I guess so," replied Alviona. "So I should not seek to wear a huge plate armor but instead find a lighter gear. I like moving around, and standing still is frustrating for me. If I have protection like yours and can keep my body cool with the sort of clothing and style of armor that you just told me about, I will be happy. As I said, I need to keep my body as cool as possible. Otherwise, I would risk damaging it. Thank you for your lesson, grandma," said Alviona chirpily.

"You are very welcome, child. However, there is one thing I want to know..."

"Yes?"

"What does your status bar look like?"

"I do not think I have one yet. It says it is not active. Hold on; I think I can turn it on though."

has been completed. After analyzing every given information acquired about this world, your status bar has been generated.

"Ah, there! It has the stats that you spoke of. Would you like me to show you my ?" Asked Alviona with her eyes wide and sparkling from excitement.

"Please. I am truly curious."

"Okie. Let me see how I can do that. Ah, grandma, I figured it out, but you might not like it."

"What is it?"

"Grandma... I need you to cut your hand with one of my feathers. It will have instructions to allow you to see my status bar. Don't worry, I did not spread my wings but removed only a feather. Here you go."

"Uhm, sure." Mira did as Alviona told her. It was odd how sharp her feather was like, because even the slightest touch without removing her gauntlet caused Mira a deep cut. Her entire palm was now aching.

An unknown source of damage caused you to lose 10 HP.

Interesting, thought Mira as her hand started to bleed. This innocent feather penetrated right through my armor barrier and even did damage to the actual equipment! Furthermore, corruption?!

Corruption is spreading. -100 HP, -120 HP, -200 HP.

"Grandma, relax and do not worry. I will not let harm come your way," said Alviona, seeing that Mira looked confused. She quickly finished her instructions and sucked on her grandmother's bleeding thumb. A few seconds afterward, Mira's health returned back to normal, corruption stopped spreading, and an image was revealed within her mind:

Name: Alviona Physical Body Stats: Primary Race: Unknown Creation Vitality -566 Secondary Race: Pure-Blood Elf of Unknown Origins Resistance 99 Ultimate Creators: Reiolle - Mother; Archill - Father Strength 1 Biological Parents: Sofia - Mother; Duncan - Father Dexterity 3 Essence Age: 1.3 years Agility 5 Physical Body Age: 18.3 (Permanent) Intelligence -537 Level: 0 Wisdom -884 Health: Obsolete for Essence Mana: Obsolete for Essence Health: 10,387/10,387 (-0.03 Per Second) Power: Infinite Mana: 0/200 (+200 per conversion)

"S-say what?!" Gasped Mira, confused by what she had seen. The image faded away fairly quickly, and yet she remembered everything she read. "C-child. Why are your attributes in negatives?! And... Oh my god, you are dying every second that you exist!" Exclaimed Mira in shock, panic, and surprise. What in the name of all Gods of Dedrillon and Mother Nature was going on?!

"My mommy made my body, so I can not answer. There are no records of this for me. Why, is there something wrong?!" Asked Alviona hurriedly.

"Y-yes. There is a lot wrong with your stats. No creature in this world has a stat below 0. You have a whopping three of them and in numbers that are greater than 30! I am six centuries old, and in my entire life, I have never heard of or seen anything like this. Ever," said Mira in a low voice so that she would not scare the child like she had several times already. The elf did not want to see her granddaughter cry again. However, this situation was too odd, and dangerous.

Forget about the stats. I can take that much shock knowing that Alviona is not of this world. But, what is up with her body dying at such a rapid pace? If my calculations are correct, she is supposed to die every 96 hours! Oh my god! Don't tell me that the amount of food she consumes alongside this much water... No, it is the only explanation. Could it be that the heat she produces within her body causes this?! Her cells are probably dead, and the blood is getting evaporated. It explains why she also gets dehydrated so quickly. Good grief. This is just ridiculous. Then... Did her creators not think of this?!

"Alviona, are you feeling all right? Do you need some more water? Are you perhaps, hungry? Do you feel any itchiness?" Asked Mira in panic and to help out the child as much as possible. She was surprised when Alviona grinned and shook her head.

"No, I already ate enough. Thank you very much for asking, grandma. As for water, I already had enough intake. My body has cooled down now. Do not worry, I am feeling all right! Let's continue exploring. I want to play more. Please? Pretty please?!" Asked Alviona with her large, adorable, and pleading eyes. Seeing that the girl was in high spirits and did not suffer anything unusual, Mira nodded. However, the elf was not able to shake off the shock that she had received. Her alert level to the child's well-being was through the roof.

************

[Fireball], [Fireball], [Fireball].

"Kyak! Ack, ack, ack, Kyak!"

You have dealt 380 damage to fifteen goblins and have slain them instantly.

Alviona and the party have followed Kornel's directions for nearly one hour and a half. With the child taking the lead, many goblins have been exterminated and nobody had been injured yet. However, no matter how long they walked, the dungeon seemed to be endless.

"Kornel, I do not understand. Why are we not near any treasures so far?! What the hell is going on?" Asked Brunor who was starting to get impatient. The rest of the Ironmight party was of the same opinion. Only Alviona was enjoying this trip so far.

"I am telling you, we should be close to the entrance that will lead us to the lower floor and the treasury. There will be a goblin fortress soon and afterward; we are gold!" Replied Kornel nonchalantly.

The man did not lie. After walking for fifteen more minutes, the said fortification came into view.

*Swoosh, Swoosh, Swoosh*

The sound of arrows being loosened rang throughout the dungeon. Over 300 arrows were launched towards the party. Mira was quick to react and cast her [Mass Greater Blessing Of Earth]. Alviona's shield, thankfully, had blocked the arrows with the help of Mira's ability.

The goblins that witnessed their attack fail decided to hit the giant drum. As the sound rang through the ears of the party, the doors of the fortress opened, and the sight of goblins fully covered in plate armor came into view. Harpies were visibly flying behind them, preparing their Electricity based shock attacks.

"Crap! Harpies! Move aside..." (Brunor)

Before Brunor was allowed to finish his sentence, Mira who was fed up watching the developments decided to switch her role from support to full out offense. Waving her wand around, she cast her [Mass Paralysis] and [Whirlpool Of Fire], and after ten seconds, both the goblins with their death hounds and the harpies perished.

You have dealt 88,360 damage in an area. You have slain 19 goblins and 23 harpies. You gain 3,312 Experience points.

"Oh, my God! You people are too strong! Madame Mira, I was not aware that your damage dealing abilities were on par with your healing," said Salia in awe. It was hard not to be inspired by the elf that had displayed potency both in Divine schools of magic and Elemental. Mira did not seem to pay much attention to Salia and instead was watching at the fortification.

"The situation is not good. Take a good look over there. Do you see the undead skeletons past the goblins? There is an undead Lich there. The air feels too chilly and heavy. I can not deal with that type of enemy. It is impossible as I have no Divine weapons or spells in my arsenal." Said Mira a severe tone. The situation was bad. Nobody appeared to possess any means of defeating an undead Lich, a being that could cast protection barrier on all of its lesser creatures and atop that cast curses to weaken the enemies. The worst part of this case was that the said barrier would reduce incoming physical and magical damage by 95%. The only way to deal with such foe was with Holy weapons or enchantments.

"I can help you with that," said Alviona with a smile.

"Child, we understand that you are very powerful, but in this scenario, it would be impossible for you to do anything," said Brunor and Salia. Mira seemed to agree with their statement and nodded in affirmative.

"I think we should hear her out. Look at her eyes filled with determination," said Hayden who was looking into the mysterious bright orange eyes.

"All right. Fine. What is your plan kiddo?!" (Brunor)

"Yay! I need Lucas to give me his bow, please," said Alviona chirpily.

Lucas did as he was told and gave her his item.

Ebon Longbow.

Rank: Rare.

Physical Damage 483, Penetration 10, Magical Damage Modifier 3.

Active effects: MultiShot - Ability to fire over three arrows simultaneously with 29% (+0.7 per dexterity stat) accuracy.

Alviona handed the bow over to Solomon and gave him her command, to which the man nodded.

"Now, I would like all of you to wait until we finish," said the girl as she touched the ground. A massive wall erupted between her and the party. Only Mira was left inside to watch the event unfold.

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Hehe, I won't do anything. Mr. Solomon will," replied Alviona chirpily.

As she said these words, Solomon removed an arrow from his magical pouch. It was the one he had picked up from Sofia, when she attacked him as a warning, back when they first met.

"Well then, let's test this," declared the man as he moved his right limb for Mira to see. It was the first time he had revealed his skeletal arm that was pulsating with mana.

"Oh, my!" Gasped Mira in surprise from what she has witnessed. "S-Solomon, are you... an undead?!"

"Is it even relevant when we talk about the fact that I am Alviona's creation?" He asked mockingly to tease Mira.

The elf ended up being left speechless and nodding. What she witnessed afterward was Solomon charging the bow and letting loose. A bright light was emitted from the arrow as it flew towards its target - the Lich. After the impact, a ghastly scream resonated throughout the area. Shortly after, bones started to fall all over the place as there was no mana to feed the undead skeleton bodies. This confirmed the target's annihilation.

Solomon handed the bow back to Alviona and moved his limb back to its original place, concealed. With this, Alviona undid her ability and moved the earth back to its place.

"Here you go, Mr. Lucas. Thank you very much for... uhm, Mr. Solomon, can you dispose of that man?" Asked the child with a bright smile, pointing at Kornel who seemed to be preparing his dagger.

Solomon jumped to immediate action as he cast his [Chains of Darkness] ability, allowing three black chains to appear from his thumbs and latch onto the man. Slowly but surely, Kornel's life force began draining.

"W-what?! W-why?! What is the meaning of this? Have you betrayed us?!" Asked the Ironmight members as they readied their swords and pointed them at Alviona. However, what followed afterward was not what they had expected.

"K-kyak! H-how?! How did you know?! K-kyak!" Asked Kornel who was paralyzed and dying.

-50 HP, -80 HP, -300 HP, -400 HP.

"Well, Mr. Goblin, that is a secret. I told myself yesterday that as long as you were not a meanie, I would not harm you. But, you were about to stab our friends! Friends don't hurt friends. So you had to be punished," replied Alviona with a bright smile. Her voice was reminiscent of a song sung before a good night's sleep. With that, Kornel perished and instead of a man's corpse, a tiny goblin remained with a vial of transformation potion.

"B-bastard! So he had planned it all along?! Oh, my god!" Said Salia after seeing what had happened. It all made sense now. The goblin lured adventurers and gave them little treasures so that more would be interested and start streaming in. After some time, it would lead the groups from weakest to strongest and get them slaughtered. Rinse and repeat. After entering the dungeon, it became evident for the Ironmight discovered missing party members that all had their faces chewed off, and nothing but their equipment remained.

The treasures were still vast though. Anything that did not belong to the deceased adventurers was moved into Ironmight's inventory for sale, personal use or trading. As promised, Alviona was allowed to pick out two items of her choice.

After careful consideration, the girl looked at three items and debated which one to take.

The first item was a lance.

Lance of Spite.

Rank: Uncommon

Physical Damage: 77

Magical Damage: 122

Active effect: Any ability damage dealt by your Martial or Magical abilities, will deal 3x more damage.

The second item was a Hat.

Needlessly Large Hat of a Witch

Rank: Legendary

Barrier Strength: 900

Requirements: 50 intelligence, 50 wisdom, and 35 Strength. Will become Soulbound upon equipping.

Active effect: Wearing this hat will make people unable to see your face properly.

The third item of interest for the girl was a broken purple-colored stone that had no stats except for a "Legendary" rank.

Without any hesitation, Alviona pointed towards the Lance and the Hat.

Mira sighed. "All right. And are you sure that you want to keep that useless hat and the lance?!"

Alviona nodded, her mouth forming the brightest smile existing in the world and her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Ok. Brunor, may we keep these two items as per our contract agreement? Do you have any need for them?"

"Nope. You may keep it to your heart's content. Heck, tell you what. Since Alviona liked the broken crystal so much too, how about she keeps it? Consider this as a gift for helping us clear the dungeon and saving our lives from traitors. I am forever in your debt. All of us are. Also, please do not get discouraged. As useless as these items might seem, your granddaughter is truly an amazing person. She seems to have keen eyes so I won't be surprised if this junk will somehow become pure gold. Mark my words! Ha, ha, ha!" Laughed Brunor sincerely. Nothing but oddity came out from this raid, and yet they had survived thanks to the girl.

With that, it was decided to allow Alviona to keep the three most useless items acquired in the loot history of the world.