I

When she awoke, Eva felt at peace. The decision she’d made the night before still felt good. She panicked when she realized she was still in the bath. Her body was making a good impression of a raisin. She extracted herself from the bath and got dressed in the available clothes before heading into the kitchen. Eva poured herself a bowl of cereal. She ate slowly and tried to get her mind in the right place for whatever she’d have to fight. When she was done, she donned her combat gear.

“Continue.”

She found herself in the fighting pit again with similar opponents. The main difference was the element. These wisps were fire-based. Where the air wisps had made relatively pain-free cuts that bled her to death, fire did the opposite. The wisps struggled to kill her, but the fire caused painful burns wherever it touched!

Eva was able to run through the set of five levels without too much difficulty using water Infused✦ attacks. Like the previous time, it was the fourth—with four wisps—that was the most challenging to beat.

In the break room, Eva took stock of her situation. She'd obtained the Fire Resistance▲ Skill along with six total Stat Points. Five from the levels and one from the fire wisps. She added them to her Stats in the same way she had been doing. Even if she couldn't feel the slight improvement each Stat Point was providing, she saw the difference between when she’d fought her first goblin and now. Her body felt great. She was light on her toes, she could lift several times what she used to, and she was much more aware of everything around her.

Once she healed up, she continued. The next five levels were filled with earth wisps. They had a penchant for beating her hard enough to break bones. She struggled to get past them, only able to kill them using attacks Infused✦ with water or air. The biggest issue was that they hit really hard. In spite of her newfound Vitality, she went down a couple of times when facing three or four of them at a time because she would get swarmed and beaten to death before she could bring down enough of them to level the playing field.

Two hours later, a beaten and bruised Eva collapsed into the next break room. Eva soaked in the bath for over an hour while her bruises healed. It had been bad, but it hadn't hit her health all that much. The reason she'd died as many times as she had, was from the critical hits to her head or puncturing a lung with a broken rib. The earth wisps were a pain. Not as painful as the fire wisps, but as deadly as the air ones had been. She had a feeling about what the next few levels would be: water wisps.

Using the time she had available, she planned her attack against her presumed foes. The water wisps would probably be weak to air or earth since they were strong against fire. She also needed to use magic to attack them while physical attacks would do nothing. With a game plan in mind, she rose from the bath. She dressed in her combat gear after lunch and put the six Stat Points evenly among her attributes, raising all of them to an even 16.

The third set of levels for the day—starting with the 41st—were as she’d expected. The enemies were indeed water wisps. Eva noticed that they responded better to air Infused✦ attacks than earth ones. Their attacks on her were centered around drowning her or else knocking her around with water jets. They were a bit of a pain to fight in larger numbers, but she managed to get through the five levels after only forty-five minutes of effort.

As with every rest area so far, Eva distributed her Stat Points, checked her armor, healed, and prepared for the next set of fights.

II

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:3] remaining

The light brought three different sorts of wisp: earth, air, and water. She knew the fight would be difficult since three wisps was where things generally ramped up significantly. She readied herself, waiting to see which wisp would close the distance first.

Eva Infused✦ her shortsword with fire and bit into the air wisp. It was the most dangerous of the bunch, and the quickest. The first attack was not enough to do the wisp in, and it was able to drive a deep cut into her sword arm. She swung again. This time, the fire ate the wisp from the inside out.

The two remaining wisps were not too bad. Both she could kill using air Infused✦ slashes. Though the earth wisp hit hard and the water wisp tried to drown her, she was able to get through both of them with just a couple bruises.

The next level was much the same, though instead of the fire wisp missing, it was the water wisp that wasn’t there. Levels 48 and 49 followed the pattern, subjecting her to a sustained beating from the wisps. Of all the levels she'd been through so far, these four were the toughest. Part of that was just how many enemies she had to fight. Part of it was just how much mana she needed to use. Even switching it on and off quickly made her run out of mana after only a couple of fights.

Eva refused to use potions unless she could at least make it to the 50th level, where she presumed a boss fight might be. This refusal led to many, many deaths. It was over three hours of grinding through wisps before she got her first glimpse at the challenge in front of her.

When the light scattered on the 50th level, there were four enemies. These were the four lesser elementals from the capstone levels of each element. There was one each for fire, water, air, and earth. She immediately drank half of one of her mana potions and the same with a health potion. Based on her previous experience fighting the wisps separately and together, the worst was probably the earth one. Broken limbs and a chance for a quick death meant it had to go.

Eva Infused✦ water into her sword and cut into the elemental. The others were not just sitting idly by. The air elemental cut into her with a strong attack while the water one tried to blast her sword from her hands. The fire elemental did what it did best and burned things. Several swings—and a health potion later—the earth elemental was out of the way. The next was air as it was the one most likely to kill her outright of the remaining elementals.

With one member missing, it was easier to deal with the air elemental. The damage from the water and fire elementals wasn't much. Eva fought through the pain, conserving her potions as best she could. Hitting the air elemental with earth Infused✦ attacks did the trick. She got sliced, burned, and drowned in response, but she was able to bring it down eventually.

The third enemy was the water elemental. For as much as the fire one hurt, it was the one with the least stopping power of the bunch. Eva downed yet another health potion and sliced into the water elemental with air Infused✦ attacks. The water elemental did its best to keep her away from itself while trying to surround her head in a globe of dense water. Thankfully for her, she killed the elemental before it was able to worm the water down her throat.

Turning towards the fire elemental, she drank a mana potion. Eva Infused✦ her weapon with water and readied herself. She did her best to dodge the flames sent her way while she closed the distance between her and her adversary. A single slash caused the elemental to hiss steam. Although it took most of her mana due to how much time she wasted every time she dodged, she eventually put the fire elemental to rest.

Fire Lesser Elemental, Water Lesser Elemental, Air Lesser Elemental, Earth Lesser Elemental killed

1 Stat Point gained

Basic Skill Learned: Dodge▲

Level 50 complete

Prepare to rest

[0:0:0:24] remaining

III

Eva sighed. It had been a long day. Getting through 50 had just about worn her out. She was ready to bathe, eat, and rest. Thankfully she wasn't too injured after the last battle. Getting to it had been difficult, but actually completing it was easier thanks to having the resistances towards those elements that dying repeatedly had provided.

Congratulations! For completing the 50th floor, you may select a prize. Failure to do so within the allotted time will cause a random option to be chosen for you

[0:0:9:47] remaining

The choices remained little changed aside from the Stat Points option.

Novice✦ Skill.

Status Effect Upgrade or Removal.

Upgraded Item.

20 Stat Points.

Eva discounted the status effect option again. The 20 Stat Point one seemed a lot better, but getting some better equipment was what she decided on. The Pierce✦ Skill she'd learned last time still hadn't been used yet, and she was reluctant to choose another useless Skill. She already knew most of her options there, and they weren't amazing.

Choose one of the following:

Medium Armor of Mending✦

As long as a single piece remains, this armor will reconstruct completely over a day

Short Sword of Sharpness✦

Deals 10% increased non-elemental damage

Burning Spear✦

Deals 10% additional damage as fire

Rainbow Shield✦

Blocks elemental damage as if it were non-elemental damage

Boots of the Traveler✦

Agility increased by 10%

The burning spear was out from the start. She didn't want a spear, as nice as that one might be. She liked her swords. The sword was nice, but it was not really needed. With Infuse Weapon✦ dealing extra damage, the one she had was plenty strong for the moment. The rainbow shield—while nice twenty levels ago—would get damaged forcing her to discard it for a basic one. The choice was really between the mending armor and the boots. She already had access to plenty of armor, and moving 10% faster was going to make fighting monsters an easier task, so Eva selected and equipped the boots.

It was time to look at Challenges and Stat Points.

Golden★

Complete the 50th level

Reward: 10 Stat Points

Air Trigger▲

Kill 100 air wisps with swords

Reward: 1 Stat Point

Earth Impact▲

Kill 100 earth wisps with swords

Reward: 1 Stat Point

Water World▲

Kill 100 water wisps with swords

Reward: 1 Stat Point

You're Fire'd▲

Kill 100 fire wisps with swords

Reward: 1 Stat Point

Along with the five from the levels, she had 14 Stat Points to distribute. It was enough for her to have 18 in every Stat, which is what she did. Next, she looked at her Skills.

Throwing▲: 3

Polearms▲: 6

Unarmed▲: 4

Swords✦: 3

Shields▲: 9

Charge▲: 4

Infuse Weapon✦: 4

Medium Armor▲: 3

Pierce✦: 1

Air Resistance▲: 9

Fire Resistance▲: 6

Earth Resistance▲: 9

Water Resistance▲: 7

Dodge▲: 3

A few level ups there—mostly among the resistances—but nothing too shocking. She was happy to see Swords✦ and Infuse Weapon✦ going up by two each.

Before she completed her usual routine, she spotted another letter from Alexandra on the nightstand. Eva sighed as she picked it up. The mere sight of the note caused her body to start shaking. Some of that was fear, and some of it was anger. Most of all, she felt a strong sense of disquiet that the electric feeling of adrenaline running through her veins amplified. Still, the notes she'd seen before were important, so she read the one in front of her in spite of her unease.

Some of you will be nearing the Stat cap about now. If you haven't yet, you will soon enough. Each Stat can have a maximum of 25 before any modifications. You can break through this barrier, but it is costly. It takes 100 Stat Points per Stat to break through. That's 1,000 Stat Points in total!

The good news is that breaking through will cause those Stats' effects to become much stronger. The bad news is that raising the Stats more will cost 10 per point rather than the current 1. Aside from the learning to fight, this milestone is the other main purpose of this Training course.

Together we can turn the tide.

Alexandra

Eva sat there rereading the letter. In a sense, she could understand it; but without experiencing it, there was no feel for it. By her count, some Stats wouldn't be able to reach 25 without breaking through, while others would go past. That brought those pesky Status Effects into the fore. She'd mostly ignored them as slightly annoying but otherwise irrelevant. As it turned out, they were anything but irrelevant.

Of her Status Effects, two would go away on their own given enough time. The third was a sticking point. Without glasses, she was effectively blind to things far away from her. Perception seemed to help some, but it was like trying to see through a windshield with water on it. Making things sharper just highlighted how bad her vision was in the first place. The next chance she got—whether level 75 or level 100—she would remove that Status Effect. Working as hard as she did would erase the negative from being Unfit✦, and eating good meals provided by the break rooms would take care of her Poor Diet▲. Eventually. If they didn't abate quickly enough, she would do something more proactive, even if that was a waste of later bonuses.

Despite her mind being pulled in several different ways, she reaffirmed her resolve to keep doing well. Eva stripped and bathed for a while. The bath did wonders to ease her aching joints and sore muscles. She wasn't a spring chicken anymore. The Stats she'd added to Vitality made a big difference though. Where before she would have struggled to stretch out her muscles in the morning, now she woke up ready to go. It made her realize just how much she missed being young.

Dinner for the third night was chicken masala. She dove into it with reckless abandon. It tasted like joy, and she was left wanting more. A glass of cold water later and she lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. The day had been fruitful for as painful as it was. The resistance Skills would be incredibly useful if she came up against monsters like that in future levels. 5% might not seem like a lot of damage to mitigate, but when that's the difference between getting one shot and barely surviving, it was worthwhile.