Pain… Burning and sharp pain that seemed to penetrate through the entirety of her body left Yvette breathless, collapsed on the floor.

Her ears were ringing, her sight blurred, and she almost couldn't differentiate how her body had just been kicked over.

'Pathetic...' A voice whispered in the recesses of her mind. 'It hasn't even been two days, and already you're dying because you deny me,' the voice persisted. 'You're too arrogant,' it seemed to snicker. 'Naively dropping your guard just cause you're in a lowly F Rank Dungeon… Have you forgotten what you are? Who your enemy is? Even now, you refuse to release me as your death approaches—'

"Shit! That's Controller Magic, Paralysis," Harrold's voice drew Yvette's attention.

"...Won't recover in time!" The Mage could faintly be heard as Yvette's hearing recovered, "...Fucking Fire Resistant Armor better cover him!" A ball of fire was thus cast towards Miles and the Tank.

Unsurprisingly, Miles tanked right through the fire as Yvette had come to expect from their encounters with Shadow Shamans. With his Healing Spells and impressive Magical Prowess, it was hardly a mystery how he could brush off such a destructive elemental attack; though, he normally didn't let one land a direct hit.

Unfortunately, her companion wasn't paying attention to the pressing threat that was approaching striking distance with his spear.

"Hgn..." Yvette grunted as she was forced to rely on the totality of her will to move despite her injuries and pain, and draw her bow.

Eyes narrowed as her concentration peaked, a sliver of her completely unused reserves of Magic formed a translucent arrow that was fired from her bow, fractions of a second after it had manifested.

An explosion resounded followed by Harrold screaming, but Yvette had already collapsed to her lack of balance.

'Have you no shame for how low you've been brought? To be rendered to such a state by a ragtag group of lowly E Rank failures… You're a disgrace to our kind,' the voice was beginning to draw Yvette's ire.

However, in the next moment the only thing Yvette could focus on was the sight of Miles' familiar Paralysis Magic Crest flickering and dispersing in the face of the Mage's Combination Fire and Wind Spell.

'Look, now your little friend's going to pay for your incompetence,' the voice continued to jeer. 'He'll die because of your stubbornness and foolishness, and then you'll follow. All of this, simply because you can't accept yourself,' the voice sighed, albeit pleased as it felt Yvette finally begin to react as it wanted.

[Ability "Selenaut" activated]

Yvette hadn't the time nor state of mind to pay attention to the sudden prompt from her stream of consciousness. She was barely hanging on to her consciousness as it was and only had the energy to move for a single second.

A second was all she needed, though, as she moved so quickly it might as well have been teleportation to the Mage who watched his sea of flames get snuffed out like a candlelight as Yvette flicked her hand.

[Skill "Lesser Waxing Earthly Counter" activated]

A miniature, foot-long arrow shot out of Yvette's gesturing hand, crossing the distance to strike the Mage in the center of his chest.

Crack!

The only thing that remained of the Mage was a crater, no less than three meters deep from where he previously stood. Had Yvette not lost consciousness immediately upon unleashing her Skill, all she would have seen of the Mage's remains was the leftover compressed mess of flesh and cloth that was unrecognizable of the person it used to be.

…

The moment Miles regained consciousness, the first thing he did before even thinking was sitting himself up. Doing so, he discovered his previously laying body had been in the middle of being snacked on by a small squad of ten Shadow Inklings.

'So I'm still alive, huh?' Miles thought as he made to check his Status.

[Status:

Name: Miles Trainer

Class: Protagonist (Primary → Secondary Cultivator)

Primary Subclass: White Mage

Secondary Subclass: Pending

Level: 10 → 22

Key:

L. = Lesser

M. = Magic

G. = Greater

Parameters

Health: 66% (Common Bleeding)

Stamina: 77%

Magic: 3% (Rare Meridian Degeneration)

Strength: G. Human (F+) → L. Squad (E-)

Constitution: G. Human (F+) → L. Squad (E-)

Vitality: Human (F) → L. Squad (E-)

Agility: G. Human (F+) → L. Squad (E-)

M. Reserves: Squad (E)

M. Regeneration: Squad (E)]

Miles withdrew his CrysTel and squinted his eyes at the time. Despite the changes to the world, there were still twenty-four hours in a day and Miles had spent about twelve of them unconscious as it would have been the middle of the night had he been outside the Dungeon.

'To think these guys used to give me trouble just yesterday...' Miles thought as he shook a Shadow Inkling off his shoulder.

Amusement in his eyes, he thought, 'Fortunately, it seems these weakest of Monsters are the only ones simple enough to dare approach the site of our ambush. I'm not sure I'd still be alive were that not the case.'

Though he wasn't certain how many had been gnawing at him for how long, his E Rank Constitution and Vitality were clearly evident from the barely noticeable pain he felt. Mostly, he was just numb from the spots the Shadow Inklings had managed to draw blood from.

Miles sighed as he stood up and quickly annihilated every Shadow Inkling in his presence. By picking one up and hurling it at another, the whole "battle" ended in a matter of five moves.

He sighed as he looked at clothing, his weapon, and judged them to be, once again, damaged to the point where he might as well have been stark naked. A moment later, he spotted Harrold's corpse.

"Tch," Miles' eye twitched in annoyance as he clicked his tongue and thought, 'I was hoping he'd have lasted at least until I got some much-needed information off him...' Unfortunately, it seemed he was being plagued by a rather tiresome string of misfortune. 'Whatever.' Miles shook his head and concluded, 'At least I'm still alive.'

He continued to look around before spotting Yvette collapsed between the spot he had woken at and a crater he inferred, through relative positioning, should have been where the Mage had been before losing consciousness. Upon taking a closer look, Miles froze.

For one, Yvette looked… well, very inhuman. She was of humanoid form, but she now had an extra set of arms and her skin was as black as the night. Not like what once was referred to as an "african american," but like litteral a light-swallowing black hole; like, it didn't even look like skin. Moreover, she had a horn; a curved crescent-shaped horn set centered on her forehead.

Yet, Miles only considered her appearance for a second. It wasn't anywhere near concerning enough for him to think twice about. As for what did...

[Yvette {Designated Selenaut} | Level 120 {Status Details Visible}]

[Observed Status:

Name: Yvette

Class: Moonshot Archer

Subclass: Selenaut

Level: 120

Parameters

Health: 1% (Extreme Form Reconstitution)

Stamina: 1% (Extreme Form Reconstitution)

Magic: 1% (Extreme Form Reconstitution)

Strength: L. Regiment (C-)

Constitution: L. Regiment (C-)

Vitality: L. Regiment (C-)

Agility: L. Regiment (C-)

M. Reserves: G. Company (D+)

M. Regeneration: G. Company (D+)]

"What..." Miles stated, not even bothering to put in the inflection for a question. Surprisingly, it was enough for his System to spit out all the prompts he had ignored during the crisis.

[Congratulations, you have Level Up to Level 11]

[Congratulations, you have Level Up to Level 12]

[Congratulations...]

[Congratulations, you have Level Up to Level 22]

[Personal Talent Discovered]

[New Skill Alert]

[New Quest Alert]

[Choice Quest: Define Your Character—

Description: Thrust into a life or death situation for no reason other than your affiliation with Yvette, it seemed to be the best time to test your mettle. You had many options, many possible ways to avoid danger altogether. But, true to your nature, there really only existed one way to resolve the situation without besmirching your ideals.

Choice 1: Kill all your sworn enemies. Honor is cheap in the current era, but to you that only applies when considered against the enemies of humanity and yourself. To show dishonor to an ally of humanity, carelessly incite an ambush before the Dungeon Core of all places, and attack an Ally of the Hero of Fate, in the process carelessly harming you, no less… Only death can absolve the culmination of all these sins…

Reward: 5,000 System Points]

[Quest Completion Alert]

[Choice Quest: Define Your Character— (Complete)]

[+5,000 System Points Awarded]

[Talents:

Name: Negative Magic

Grade: Common

Rate Law: 1x

Description: On one hand, tis but another Common Grade Talent. On the other hand… Negativity and Negative Magic is commonly Graded as Abysmal for Humans. The only thing that's certain is its origin in being galvanized in you by Yvette.

Skills:

Name: Lesser Negative Autonomy

Classification: Innate Common Skill

Level: 1

Description: Apparently, your haste to ridding yourself of emotions in the heat of battle isn't just a personal quirk. Rather, Negative Magic instinctively begins to cycle through your head, keeping you cool, calm, and frigidly aware of what the next best course of action entails. Now, you just understand how to control the process.

Cost and Effect: 1% of current Magic converts to enough Negative Magic to maintain the Skill for a maximum of forty seconds.]

[Conditions To Unlock The Hero's Party Function Of The System Have Been Fulfilled]

[Subject, Yvette, Has Met The Requirements To Join The Hero's Party]

[Subject, Yvette, Has Been Automatically Designated The Party's Selenaut]

[Upgrades To The Hero's Party Function Are Now Visible Within The Shop (System Improvements)]