Chapter 12, A festering weakness

Moving slowly towards the dungeon chamber and climbing through the 3 meter wide cut corner I step into a literal sea of bones. All kinds of bones litter the ground and rise in meter high piles neatly arranged as if to showcase the sheer amount. The chamber itself has a height, width and length of 5, 8 and 12 meters respectively.

I manifest my arcane daggers using a little extra mana before moving any further into the room. Spending the few minutes it takes to regain all my mana studying the chamber I look for clues that could pinpoint which dungeon floor I’ve reached. Carefully moving a few bones aside I study the ground itself. It’s some sort of coarse gravel and not the solid bedrock of floor 127.

The next thing of note is the markings on the dungeon walls. It almost looks like a fire mage has blackened the stone walls with fire magic and soot. Creating a mystifying artwork that none other than its creator would see any meaning in. The soot is smeared and much faded between the floor and 1.5 meters up as if something of medium stature has rubbed against it.

Studying the bones littering the chamber reveals what looks like large lizards and short humanoid skeletons of ugly kids, probably goblins. There’s also a lot of skulls of what must have been truly giant rodents. There’s no meat on any bones and the smell of rot is dulled enough that I can’t identify their age.

In the middle of the chamber stands some sort of stone fountain of different hues. It almost looks like it’s coated in a darker stone than it was originally made from. Choosing this as my next target for closer inspection I wait for my last points of mana to regenerate before moving towards it. Reaching the fountain I use [Inspect] on it not knowing if it's special enough to warrant any useful information.

[Lava Fountain]

That gives me a real clue to tie everything else together and make a guess at my current floor.

“Floor 86 right? It was supposed to have lava fountains and gravel flooring.”

“Yes. It was also supposed to be filled with [Dragonewt] and [Scorched Lizard] monsters. That might explain the lizard skulls in the bone piles and the dragonewts wouldn’t have stayed on this floor when the dungeon broke and the lava stopped flowing. Without anything binding them to this floor they would have most likely gone downwards in search for new pools of magma to nest in.”

I’m probably right about which floor this is but it doesn’t help me with figuring out what killed all these creatures. There are both rodent and goblin skeletons here which is wrong. They must have moved down here from the upper floors centuries ago.

Not knowing any better way to lure out what might have built this graveyard than making an all mighty racket in hopes of attracting it towards me I use [Arcane Missile] three times before sending them all in different directions. They all strike a different pile of bones before piercing 1 meter into them and then detonating, sending bones flying in all directions. One even smacks me in the back of the head fast enough that I don’t manage to dodge it.

The racket caused by literally raining bones is deafening and the largest pile in the room, one I hit, seems to be shaking even after most bones have started settling down. I look at it curiously before it suddenly explodes outwards, sending shrapnel like projectiles in all directions accompanied by a high pitched screech. One piece of bone shrapnel manages to pierce my right thigh, snapping a tendon in half, practically incapacitating that leg.

I fall to one knee as Ari furiously tries to regenerate the damage and not succeeding thanks to the bone still piercing my flesh. Having my hands full with my daggers I manifest a wasteful but necessary limb of arcane power around the bone and use it to forcefully dislocate the projectile.

Still not looking anywhere but at the spot where the largest pile of bones was moments before, I take in the giant form of my new opponent. I assume it might be the culprit responsible for these bones and that I’m currently standing in its nest.

[Murderous Steel Fanged Rat King - Level ?]

Murderous huh? I suppose that might be true if those rodent skulls are its kin.

The black furred murder rat is standing on its haunches glaring my way with beady eyes. It must be 2.5 meters tall standing up as it is. It is rubbing its steel tipped clawed paws together as if in anticipation while chittering, causing a ringing noise to reverberate through the chamber from its steel fangs. Its tail is swishing behind it, smacking the ground and crushing bones to dust, moving too fast to make out clearly. I still think I can see a glint on its tip making me believe it's reinforced as well.

Not giving me any more time to analyse it the murder rat lunge itself towards me, making the 8 meter distance to my position in one leap. Bracing my still healing leg and enhancing muscles with celestial blood I roll forwards underneath the tight space between the ground and the still airborne rat. It manages to scratch me with its clawed paws, tearing a long gash in my left bicep but I pay it back in turn.

Using both daggers in a reverse grip I pierce the murder rat’s underbelly which must have been a soft spot since they go halfways in before my tearing edge starts doing it’s grizzly work. The rat's superior momentum and me coming out of a forward roll tears two wide holes a meter in length along the rat's stomach.

As it spills its innards I rise to my feet on my now regenerated leg and the rat lands in a crouch behind me screeching something fierce before showing me why being away from its sharp fangs isn’t something I should strive for.

With more speed than I thought possible a giant steel tipped rat tail pierces straight through my heart before flinging me across the chamber into a wall. I leave a trail of celestial blood behind in the air before the impact dislocates my right shoulder and breaks my collarbone in half.

Landing on the floor after that embarrassing display I watch in rising panic as the murder rat makes it towards my prone form, trailing gore beneath on the floor. I can barely move as Ari is redirecting every drop of available power to quickly restore my heart while simultaneously doubling the production of celestial blood.

It isn’t even five seconds before the rat is once again upon me but Ari’s quick thinking and action gets my heart pumping power to my limbs just in time. I dodge a downwards paw swipe of the murder rat by rolling to my left. Wincing as my dislocated shoulder and broken collarbone gets the honor of carrying my weight.

As I roll I use [Arcane Missile], giving me a small reprieve by sending it straight into the rat’s right side. It doesn’t pierce deep but the subsequent detonation is enough to jolt the rat a little further away from me. Using the short time I bought, I jump to my feet before enhancing my muscles and slamming my right shoulder into the wall, popping it into place and fighting down a scream as the separated collarbone grinds against itself.

I get into as ready a stance as time and regenerating injuries allow before stepping out of the way of a giant maw closing on where my head had just been and deflecting another simultaneous paw strike with my left dagger.

Not giving the murder rat any time to readjust I counterattack by switching my right hand grip back to slicing and doing a enhanced clockwise spin while lashing out with my arm and dagger like a whip. The spinning, downward momentum allows me to slice a deep gash in the thick neck before I land and use an enhanced jump to carry me a few meters away from the screeching monster.

Tripping on a pile of loose bones and fumbling my landing I fold my legs and lean into a backwards roll, using my now almost healed arms to spring back up facing the rat. I watch as a veritable flood of blood pumps out from its neck to the beat of its heart. It's too much blood loss even for a creature this size and its previous stomach wound had already left it on death's door. Letting out one final gurgling screech while doing a weak and pathetic attempt at reaching me the murder rat collapses, finally dead.

Ding! You have slain [Murderous Steel Fanged Rat King - Level 61]. Bonus experience awarded.

Ding! [Mana Machine] has leveled from [39] to [44]. +[25 AP]

Ding! General skill [Arcane Daggers] has leveled from [16] to [20].

Ding! General skill [Small Blades] has leveled from [23] to [25].

Ding! General skill [Dual Wielding] has leveled from [19] to [24].

Ding! General skill [Jumping] has leveled from [20] to [22].

Ding! General skill [Dodging] has leveled from [5] to [10].

Ding! Skill [Passive Power] has leveled from [195] to [196].

Ding! Skill [Arcane Manipulation] has leveled from [320] to [322].

Collapsing on my ass I yelp as a bone pierces straight through my left cheek. Pulling it out and glaring at the offender while massaging the closing wound I start analyzing the battle while keeping my ears open for any newcomers drawn here by our fight.

It went rather well if I had to say so myself. The rat tail piercing my heart was a bit unfortunate but I’d like to think this was a big improvement from my last battle. My current mana levels are exceedingly close to having bottomed out again however. It’s quite obvious that I have to finish every fight quickly before my mana capacity and regeneration can keep up for any length of time.

“We’ve accumulated 40 attribute points as of now. Do we spend it on [Intelligence] or [Wisdom]? I think we should get one of them to a higher level before raising the other. The question is which one is more pressing.”

“Regeneration might be important if we need to fight battles without proper rest in between but I’d say that our biggest shortcoming is our need to finish every fight before we run out of mana. Our last two bouts have been too short for any regeneration we might get to matter. We need to last longer before raising wisdom.”

“Intelligence it is then.”

Ding! Attribute [Intelligence] has been increased from [123] to [163].

Attribute Points: [0]

Strength: [10] -50%

Constitution: [11] -50%

Vitality: [10] -50%

Agility: [9] -50%

Dexterity: [11] -50%

Intelligence: [163] +100%

Wisdom: [119] +195%

Mana: [547/3260]

Mana regen: [351] / Minute

Having finished the AP allocation I stand up and make my way over to the murder rat corpse. I have to pierce its brain with a dagger a few times before I’m able to pull the cranium apart. I sink my hand deep into the gory mess, rummaging around, before pulling out a dull brown and gray gem. A monster core.

“I forgot to check for one of these on the Weremole because I was more interested in studying the infection.”

“Its core was probably useless anyway. I wouldn’t have wanted a core of something that even The system classified as infected.”

“True, but I don’t think we’ll be able to bring this with us either. We’ve got no storage ring and creating a bag out of arcane material will be too much of an expense to justify it. I’d rather be alive than have a few beast cores.”

“Put it in your pocket and hope it doesn’t fall out. Might want to repair our clothing while you're at it.”

Looking down on myself I notice my left breast bouncing merrily from the torn hole in my crop top and a wide tear in my pants where the shrapnel pierced my thigh. Giving the breast a reaffirming squeeze as a silent goodbye I repair our clothes before putting the monster core in a pocket.

Bending down to pick up my temporarily discarded daggers I get an idea. It will have to wait until we have a higher wisdom but creating sheaths for the daggers to keep them on my waist and not discarding them on the ground might be a good investment. It would keep my hands free and make sure I don’t lose them if I suddenly have to run for it.

Searching the chamber for anything else of interest doesn’t turn up anything and I make my way towards the corridor exit on the other end of the room from where I climbed through the hole. This corridor is 3 meters high, 2 meters wide and very short compared to those on the lowest floor and I can see the exit into another chamber only 20 meters further ahead. My arcane lightsource is bright enough to illuminate much of the chamber ahead before I even enter the passage.

Since I’m still unmolested minutes after having that big and noisy fight I conclude that the next few rooms and corridors should be free of monsters. Not really caring about keeping silent I march down the corridor and into the next chamber. It looks much the same. A lava fountain in the middle and piles of bones everywhere. There’s however a significant decrease in the amount of bones and I assume that I'm safe as long as I stay in this nest.

Not having any reason to stay put here I continue my noisy traversal through 2 more chambers before the bones finally disappear. The murder rat must have killed everything in a huge radius and I would be very surprised if anything came this way willingly. This means that I keep walking at a brisk pace while keeping my ears peeled for any other sound than the soft thuds of my boots and crunching underfoot, any smell other than the gore still covering parts of my clothes and eyes sharp, scanning the revealed path for anything other than gravel and stone.

Moving through intersections and chambers I keep to the right wall and after the third intersection I come upon a curious alcove. The rectangular hole on the left side of the corridor is about 1 meter in height and 2 meters wide. It only has a depth of 3 meters and except for the gravel being much disturbed and the floor being a little sunken in the middle there is nothing special to it.

“This might have been a sleeping spot for the [Scorched Lizard] monsters, Zel.”

“And they would serve as a perfect ambush spot for anyone overconfident enough to overlook it. Not that such a mistake should be possible if one keeps their eyes open.”

Continuing onwards for what must have been half a day I see a steady increase in these hiding spots. I’ve run into 3 dead ends so far but the steady increase in chamber size and number of hiding spots tells me I’m going towards somewhere more interesting.

My fighting spirit is boiling over and my wish for an opponent is granted when I reach the next intersection. There is already something in the intersection when my light reaches it and it’s another rodent but a much smaller one this time. It’s standing on all four limbs with its ears swiveling in my direction. Probably trying to figure out if I’m food or friend.

Its back reaches a height of about 1.3 meters and it has brown fur. Its eyes are positively tiny compared to the head and it seems to compensate with a huge maw, displaying razor-like teeth in a line that stretches too far towards the neck. Not having any reason to deny this monster a fight I do a quick [Inspect].

[Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 40]

Letting out an indignant screech that plainly tells me it has decided I will be its food it rushes towards me. I lower myself into a half crouch, daggers held in front of me with the left one in a reverse grip and rush towards my foe.

When we’re about to collide the razor rat snaps its huge jaws open, showcasing several rows of those horrible teeth in preparation for chomping me in half as I collide with it but I don’t let it. Digging my heels in I lower myself into an actual crouch while sliding forwards in the loose gravel and using an enhanced jump launch myself in an arc just as the maw is starting to close.

I pierce the razor rat’s neck with my left dagger just as I pass over the still closing maw, pulling the blade along with me and tearing the skin and flesh along its 2 meter long spine. Reaching the end of the rat I jank the dagger free before touching down and doing a backwards roll to break my momentum.

Ding! You have slain [Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 40]. Experience awarded.

Ding! General skill [Small Blades] has leveled from [25] to [26].

“Well that was easy.”

Another high pitched screech to object to my arrogant statement and both my legs suddenly disappearing pulled me back to earth. Both in ego and the physical sense. Another razor rat had come running to aid its kin from another path in the intersection and I hadn’t taken stock of my surroundings before patting myself on the back.

Hitting the ground and ignoring the blazing pain from landing on gravel with exposed tissue and nerves I spin backwards just in time to see what must have been my legs get swallowed whole before the fucker instantly goes for another bite.

Digging my left dagger into the gravel I pull myself aside just in time as the maw snaps shut on thin air where I’d been. Enhancing my left arm with everything I got, I push myself back towards the razor rat and doing a little preparatory enhancement mid air slam my right hand dagger straight through the tiny right eye socket, piercing its brain.

Not willing to give up as easily as its dead brother it thrashes and throws me around only aggravating the injury, tearing its brain to mush as the right dagger’s tearing edge gets a good grip on the soft muscle. It takes 5 whole seconds before it finally goes still.

Not willing to make the same mistake twice I ignore the kill notification while taking in my now still and silent surroundings. Nothing is moving and no noise can be heard and after having regenerated my lost legs while remaining on high alert I finally let myself relax.

Ding! You have slain [Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 46]. Experience awarded.

Ding! [Mana Machine] has leveled from [44] to [45]. +[5 AP].

Ding! General skill [Small Blades] has leveled from [26] to [28].

Ding! General skill [Dual Wielding] has leveled from [24] to [27].

Ding! General skill [Jumping] has leveled from [22] to [23].

Ding! General skill [Dodging] has leveled from [10] to [12].

“That was stupid and exciting. Stupidly exciting even.”

“Well the first kill was both clean and badass and even if losing our legs was due to a rookie mistake the enhanced movement you did when launching yourself from our gripped dagger like that was inspiring.”

“Yeah but I’m learning just as you are. Let me just get some new panties, socks and pants on. I don’t want rat blood flowing to where it shouldn't go.”

“And boots! Gore between our toes is nasty.”

“And boots.”

After gouging out the new monster cores and retrieving my old one that was swallowed by the second razor rat I continue following the right wall forwards and it isn’t more than two intersections later that the next razor rat shows itself.

[Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 37]

Killing it in the same manner as the first one, I follow up my backwards roll by turning on my heel and readying my daggers. It was unnecessary this time but it proved to be an effective way of finishing off the first opponent before taking a stand against whatever came next which was what happened on my fourth encounter.

[Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 42]

Seeing a lone razor rat make its way out of a hiding hole made in the wall of the 8 meter wide and long chamber I just entered, I counter its charge the same way as before. Doing a graceful arc over the snapping jaws, almost close enough to brush its nose with my breasts, I plunge my reverse grip right hand dagger down it’s neck, tearing and severing nerves along the spine causing massive internal bleeding before landing and doing the now familiar motion of turning in preparation once I’ve made the backwards roll.

I’m greeted by another razor rat rushing straight at me. It must have been hiding in another hole in the corridor ahead of me and me not having had the opportunity to check had missed it. Not having enough time to get into a proper position for doing another ‘Arc Tearing Spine Slice’ as I mentally dubbed my barely passable technique, I dodge to the side and avoid getting munched on.

I jump back at it so as to not give the razor rat another chance at tasting me. I almost manage to reach the head before it turns its face towards me, opening its jaws and I dodge again. We continue in this strange battle dance for a few rounds before the razor rat loses its patience and tries to snare me with its tail in a surprise maneuver.

I have no idea what a rat brain thinks it will accomplish and instead take this opportunity to jump straight into the attack, slicing the tip of the tail off using my left dagger before plunging my right into its side and pulling it out, trying to tear it open as best I can.

It almost catches me in its jaws when it snaps its neck around with speed suggesting it knew where I would attack. I wasn’t impressed by this ploy, it’s not a very good one after all as it allowed me to get away in time and severely injure it.

I run lowered in a half crouch with glowing daggers in front of me in a circle around the now wounded razor rat. It can’t keep up with me and when its side is presented to me a second time I lunge towards it. Instead of slashing its side and risk getting caught while carving away I make a running leap, spinning over its back with my feet first and getting my chest pointed downwards, both daggers in a reverse grip digging into the spine at two different places, snapping the spine and severing nerves to paralyze my foe from the middle downwards.

Landing on my feet and backing away I watch the rat struggle to move towards me but I don’t have time to give it a quick death. From behind the struggling rat where the unexplored corridor is situated two more rats are rushing at me. One is a razor rat and another a new variant I haven’t seen before.

[Rallying Rat - Level 15]

[Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 35]

It’s a tiny white thing, barely 40 centimeters in height, with huge ears more fitting on a hare which swiveled in every direction as if taking in every sound in a square kilometer. It has too large eyes that shine with a yellow light making it look almost cute if in an ugly sort of way. It’s chittering non-stop, seemingly communicating with the razor rat following it.

Before reaching the chamber the tiny rat let the razor rat pass it before turning around and scurrying away. Then it clicks with its name in my mind and I curse as it disappears into the darkness. It’s going to bring reinforcement and rally them to charge me until it tires me out or overwhelms me with numbers. Checking my mana I curse once more.

Mana: [597 / 3260]

I’ll have to rely on much less mana enhancement when taking down this rat and get out of here before that [Rallying Rat] finds something else to send my way. This will be a fun challenge.

As the next razor rat rounds it’s dying, paralyzed brethren it lunges at me in the same manner I’ve come to expect. Not trusting in having enough strength and speed to do my signature rat slaying technique without enhancement I instead choose to dodge to the right and immediately start running forwards. Hearing the snap of jaws behind me I stick my left dagger held in slicing mode into its side while I keep running past it.

I almost lose my grip on the dagger as it slices through the rat’s fur, skin and flesh only scoring a shallow cut. I hadn’t realized how much I had been enhancing myself to perform like I had been doing. That would explain the horrendous power expenditure I’ve had up until now.

I keep running while looking behind me, seeing the rat spin at lightning speed to face me once again before taking off chasing me. I keep running away to get the rat closer before once again dodging just in time. I incorporate a spin into my dodge to get myself facing the other way on landing to once more do a sweeping slash to its uncut side but having underestimated my momentum and not having enhanced my legs I trip backwards, going into a backwards roll at the last moment.

Coming up from my roll I have to immediately dodge to my left to avoid being decapitated. The rat had agilely repositioned itself in the short time it had been out of my view. I realize that without enhancing myself I’m simply not fast or strong enough to use any previously tried method to take this monster down.

Feeling the thrill of the challenge I let the razor rat come at me once more with maw open in preparation. As it is about to close its jaws on my arms and face I stick my left arm into its mouth, positioning the dagger blade upwards, before getting the rest of myself out of harm's way and await the pain. The jaws almost take my arm off as they snap shut but my mana bone resists the piercing and simply burns in agony as the razor teeth grind against it.

The razor rat seems momentarily stunned as a dagger suddenly pierces through the top of its mouth, exiting above the snout. I almost believe I see it going cross eyed with its small, beady eyes trying to figure out how it hurt itself. Not giving it a chance to recover I slam my right hand dagger straight through its left eye, getting myself tossed violently around as thanks.

As it dies I realize the fault in my plan. My left arm is now stuck and the razor rat's maw seems to have locked up in death, not letting go no matter how much I try cutting it open. Sighing in frustration I disperse the left hand dagger, will Ari to retrieve as much power as possible from my left arm and then use my right dagger to cut it off.

The gushing wound quickly seals itself and starts regenerating but I’m not happy with my kill as I could have used less mana with one well timed enhanced movement instead of what regenerating my whole arm and manifesting a new dagger will cost.

Giving the room a cursory glance I get my bearings before I start running back the way I’d come. I run through 4 intersections following the left wall to make it back to where I’ve been before. Running past one of my previous kills and seeing it untouched I’m sure that there’s no other rat in my immediate surroundings.

I keep running until the next intersection before settling down against the wall. My arm has long since regenerated but I need a breather and time to think. Dispersing my right hand dagger I manifest them both once more but at minimum cost this time. It had been stupid to even give them the smallest bit of extra power as my regeneration isn’t ready for it yet. They had never failed me at the lowest mana cost so I’m clearly too weak to wield anything better.

Yes. I’m too weak. It felt awful to admit it to myself but without the mana enhancing my every movement I can’t stand against monsters my own level. I’ve become deluded into thinking I’m stronger because every fight so far has been short enough that my lacking [Intelligence] hasn't been as much of a problem.

Now though? If there are more than one [Rallying Rat] on this floor then I might die if I can’t hold my ground for any length of time. It seems that the 50% physical attribute detriment had affected me worse than I’d realized. I need to close that weakness before it continues festering. I allow my hidden notifications to flood my mind in hope that they’ll contain what I need to move towards that goal.

Ding! You have slain [Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 37]. Experience awarded.

Ding! You have slain [Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 39]. Experience awarded.

Ding! You have slain [Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 42]. Experience awarded.

Ding! You have slain [Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 45]. Experience awarded.

Ding! You have slain [Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 35]. Less experience awarded.

Ding! [Mana Machine] has leveled from [45] to [47]. +[10 AP].

Ding! General skill [Identify] has leveled from [6] to [8].

Ding! General skill [Small Blades] has leveled from [28] to [31].

Ding! General skill [Dual Wielding] has leveled from [27] to [31].

Ding! General skill [Arcane Daggers] has leveled from [20] to [23].

Ding! General skill [Running] has leveled from [21] to [24].

Ding! General skill [Sprinting] has leveled from [15] to [16].

Ding! General skill [Jumping] has leveled from [23] to [26].

Ding! General skill [Dodging] has leveled from [12] to [18].

Ding! Skill [Passive Power] has leveled from [196] to [201].

Ding! Skill [Arcane Manipulation] has leveled from [322] to [325].

The skill growth is quite decent but I had hoped for more levels. What I need the most right now is more AP. I guess any improvement to [Passive Power] and [Arcane Manipulation] will have about the same effect as increasing my physical stats but there’s no way to effectively level them without battle.

“What do you think Ari? Which physical attribute is most pressing or should we evenly raise all of them?”

“I think the most pressing is [Strength] and [Agility]. We’re both too weak and too slow without any enhancements. The other attributes need to be increased as well but we can do without them for a while longer.”

I agree and set to allocating the points as evenly as possible.

Ding! Attribute [Strength] has been increased from [10] to [17].

Ding! Attribute [Agility] has been increased from [9] to [17].

Attribute Points: [0]

Strength: [17] -50%

Constitution: [11] -50%

Vitality: [10] -50%

Agility: [17] -50%

Dexterity: [11] -50%

Intelligence: [163] +100%

Wisdom: [119] +195%

“Interesting.”

“What is it, Ari?”

“This is the first time we increase our physical attributes in our [Manabody] vessel. It seems increasing our [Strength] has increased the density of our mana flesh, increasing the base power and allowing for even greater enhancements. [Agility] seems to have increased the transmission speed of our mana nerve. Giving us a faster reaction time and faster muscle contractions.”

“This must cost more mana to maintain. Are we providing it at the cost of our regeneration?”

“No, that's the best part. It looks like [Passive Power] has a lot more to give than we are currently making use of. Its high level probably makes the mana absorption very powerful but since our physical attributes have been lacking it has gone to waste.”

“That decides it. We need to grind enough levels to get our physical attributes to at least 20 points each. That would get us back to the attributes of our old biological body. Couple that with a more conservative use of enhancements and we should be able to last much longer in battle.”

Having a plan of action I decide to hunt the monsters of this floor until I can easily take them down without enhancements.

One month later.

I keep killing [Razormouth Scavenger Rat] between levels 35 to 50 without rest before I finally allow myself to check my notifications. A literal cascade of noise assaults our minds as they come flowing in.

Ding! You have slain [Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 41]. Experience awarded.

…

Ding! You have slain [Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 50]. Experience awarded.

Ding! [Mana Machine] has leveled from [47] to [58]. +[55 AP].

Ding! General skill [Identify] has leveled from [8] to [12].

Ding! General skill [Small Blades] has leveled from [31] to [42].

Ding! General skill [Dual Wielding] has leveled from [31] to [46].

Ding! General skill [Arcane Daggers] has leveled from [23] to [30].

Ding! General skill [Arcane Missile] has leveled from [12] to [19].

Ding! General skill [Running] has leveled from [24] to [31].

Ding! General skill [Sprinting] has leveled from [16] to [22].

Ding! General skill [Jumping] has leveled from [26] to [33].

Ding! General skill [Dodging] has leveled from [18] to [38].

Ding! General skill [Sneaking] has leveled from [11] to [14].

Ding! Skill [Passive Power] has leveled from [201] to [210].

Ding! Skill [Arcane Manipulation] has leveled from [325] to [331].

I must have killed hundreds of monsters during this month but it hadn’t raised my level as high as I would have liked. That is the way of things. If you’re going to raise your level by killing creatures beneath you, you’ll have to kill a lot of them. It’s still enough for reaching my self imposed goal.

“Finally, Zel. If we weren’t two halves of a whole I would have thought you liked this floor. We’ve been here for one month too long if you ask me.”

“I know. Stop complaining. I know you’re getting bored without any new interesting data but polishing our skills and raising our levels will keep us alive long enough to collect said data. Now hush. I’ll spend our hard earned points now and you might want to focus on the changes in our [Manabody].”

Ding! Attribute [Strength] has increased from [17] to [20].

Ding! Attribute [Constitution] has been increased from [11] to [20].

Ding! Attribute [Vitality] has been increased from [10] to [20].

Ding! Attribute [Agility] has been increased from [17] to [20].

Ding! Attribute [Dexterity] has been increased from [11] to [20].

Attribute Points: [21]

Strength: [20] -50%

Constitution: [20] -50%

Vitality: [20] -50%

Agility: [20] -50%

Dexterity: [20] -50%

Intelligence: [163] +100%

Wisdom: [119] +195%

“Well? What did you find out?”

“[Constitution] seems to strengthen the bindings between our mana structures. Practically strengthening an invisible overlaying structure that holds our body together even if our mana cells might break.

"I’d guess that getting our constitution higher would give us a noticeably sturdier physique. It might even be able to pull separated particles back together if we were to get it high enough. Like pulling a cut off leg back in place instantly as long as the blade severing it is thin enough.

"[Vitality] is tricky to make out since we’re not hurt at the moment but every change points towards faster regeneration at a lesser cost. There will always be a minimum cost of course but being able to regenerate a limb before said limb even hits the floor might be highly useful. There might even be a little more power in the normal mana blood now.

"[Dexterity] has made the information provided by the mana nerve regarding the state of our mana tissue much more precise. It should give us much better control of fine motor functions, the same as with biological bodies.”

“Interesting. It’s quite a lot like what the different physical attributes would do for a normal human but the minute differences might make ours more potent. We’d have to spend twice the amount of points as anyone else though.”

“Yup. Now to decide on where our last points should go.”

“I vote for splitting them equally amongst all physical attributes and spending the last one on [Wisdom].”

“Why [Wisdom]?”

“The uneven number is bugging me and more regeneration can’t go wrong.”

I get a mental eyeroll for that truthful confession.

Ding! Attribute [Strength] has been increased from [20] to [24].

Ding! Attribute [Constitution] has been increased from [20] to [24].

Ding! Attribute [Vitality] has been increased from [20] to [24].

Ding! Attribute [Agility] has been increased from [20] to [24].

Ding! Attribute [Dexterity] has been increased from [20] to [24].

Ding! Attribute [Wisdom] has been increased from [119] to [120].

Attribute Points: [0]

Strength: [24] -50%

Constitution: [24] -50%

Vitality: [24] -50%

Agility: [24] -50%

Dexterity: [24] -50%

Intelligence: [163] +100%

Wisdom: [120] +195%

Mana: [3260/3260]

Mana regen: [354] / Minute