[Congratulations on completing your mission.]

[Mission Difficulty: Extreme]

[You have received 20 AP.]

[Your class has responded.]

[+2 AP to Psych Attribute.]

[Select 2 Attributes to receive +5 AP.]

[Select 1 Attribute to receive +2 AP.]

You’d think that 20 AP seemed a little small to me by now, since I’d ground out several hundred from the second system liberation I’d performed. You’d be so wrong.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t much to spread around at this point, but, ignoring Intuition for now since it was already above 100, that still left a lot of stats to increase to that standard. Since I’d been putting twice as much AP into my magic attributes as my physical, those stats were looking neglected. I shored up my Strength and Sturdiness with the +5s, and put the +2 into Psych, giving it both +2s. I’d been hoping to see it go up on its own, but it hadn’t even raised a single point on its own that I remembered.

Apparently being able to use AP on Psych was a double-edged sword. Others, for whom that stat was hidden, could raise it on their own through training and experience, but I had to accept by now that that didn’t seem to apply to me. So, I had one more stat than most people to pour AP into, one more bottomless bucket that cried out to be filled.

[You have received a spell book.]

It was another grey colored Null spell. I wasn’t surprised—I'd learned so many Fire spells now, how many could be left?

Required Intuition: 41

Induce a hypnotic trance with your words.

Now it was time for the moment of truth.

[Analyzing mission...]

Or, perhaps it wasn’t quite time yet.

[Congratulations. You have made an exceptional achievement.]

[Achievement Type: Mission]

[Killed 500+ Gorilla Frigus and the Gorilla Frigus Rex using nothing but fire attacks.]

Reward: New Personal Trait

Your fire-based attacks bypass enemy fire resistances up to 50%.

[Congratulations. You have made an exceptional achievement.]

[Achievement Type: Monster Hunting]

[Killed a BOSS-type monster on your own.]

Reward: AP +10

Huh. Well, it’s certainly not unwelcome! I have to say though, I’m happier about Fire Resistance Immunity.

[Mission analyzed. Gathering data...data gathered.]

Okay, NOW it was the moment of truth.

[Mission Rating: 3.6]

I restrained myself from screaming in glee.

Poorly.

“EEEEEEEEEYEAAAAAAH!”

[Your has responded.]

[Upgrade progress percentage has exceeded the remaining required progress. Capped at 100%.]

[Upgrade the ?]

“YES!”

The bead appeared in my hand. It glowed more warmly this time, and I could also feel it increase in size. It was now the size of a large marble, and its faint glow had gotten only marginally brighter.

(Upgrade progress 0%)

Use to evolve a class to the indicated Grade. Complete floor missions on High or higher difficulty with a high mission rating to advance upgrade progress. Missions on Floors in higher Areas grant more upgrade progress. Repeated Floors reduce earned upgrade progress by 80%.

Only usable in the .

It had more text now. I wondered if Edwin or Clatenis even knew about the new part. Ehh, they probably did.

[Mission Rewards]

Clarity Toque Magical Map Potion of Agility (Medium Quality) 0.5 G4 Coins (50 Brock Coins)

A Magical Map again...maybe there was a reason the Tower had given me one again after I’d given up the last one. Well, I was able to keep this one thanks to the new contract. I was a bit crestfallen at just how much less money had resulted from, I thought, still a respectable rating. Yes, it was more than I’d gotten from the Tutorial, but that had been two difficulty levels down. The difference between a 3.6 and a 4.0 for money had turned out to be obscene.

All the description of a Magical Map said, then and now, was [Generates a map of the immediate area in your Tower Menu. Consumed upon use.] But this time, I could access Grosstin’s knowledgebase for more detailed information. I made a mental note to do that later.

The description of the Potion of Agility was just as helpful as the one of the Magical Map. [Temporarily replaces the drinker’s Speed stat with Agility. Duration: 45s.]

I didn’t know exactly what that did either. I’d have to request the knowledgebase release information on Agility too. Or maybe Bruzigan or another team member knew?

The Clarity Toque seemed like the highlight item of the lot.

Bronze Grade Consumable Headwear (3 uses)

Improves Chef skills more quickly when worn. Effects cease after 6 hours of wearing per use.

With that, it was time to leave the Neutral Zone. After paying my respects to the statues in the Extreme exit room, I nearly ran into Mewi coming out of the Very High difficulty exit room next door.

Nearly, I say, because the negative associations with bumping into someone were so strong from the last time that I almost fell over without actually touching him in my rush to back off.

He laughed. “Nice to see you too. So how’d you do? I got my first 4.0.”

“Wicked! As it happens, you beat me this time. I only got a 3.6...” I looked around, making sure no one would over hear what I said next, “though that was still enough to get it to the Bronze upgrade level. We’ll talk more about that later.”

“Right. So we’d, uh...better get back to it, huh.”

“No reason we can’t stick together on the way to the teleport. But yeah, we’d better go find our escort.”

As it happened, the escort found us. Edwin was waiting for us personally at the entrance to the overall pantheon. “There you two are! Excellent work so far, two systems apiece liberated already.”

“Oh, I’m sure the others are working just as hard,” I said as we got into an armored car. There was no more open opposition to the Federation in Satslik, but there was always the possibility of assassins.

“That may be,” said Edwin, “but other than Anna, they’re all veterans who have served their factions for a decade or more—much longer still in Bruzigan’s case. Seeing you two youngsters keep up with them does my heart good. But before we get sidetracked, I promised you both a special reward once you cleared the 3rd Floor.”

He took out two spell books from his storage ring. “These two spells are some of the most useful ones known in the Area. I’m sure you’ll understand why.”

Enhance all physical attributes by 20%. Duration: 10 minutes.

Enhance all mental attributes by 20%. Duration: 10 minutes.

“Stat buffs,” I breathed, “substantial ones.”

“Exactly. They should help you two a lot going forward.”

Both Mewi and I learned them immediately. From there, the discussion turned to our rewards. Mewi had gained, in addition to the money, a good weapon, a ring that powered up his defensive buffs and barrier spells, a berry of some kind that would temporarily reduce the mana cost of his spells, and I had a feeling he’d gotten something else, but he was being tight-lipped about it.

I saw no need to hold back on what I’d gotten. “An Agility Potion...” said Edwin, “too bad it’s only Medium quality. That’s a Rank 3 potion, with an extremely useful effect.”

His explanation on Agility took up most of the rest of the ride to the teleportation area. I had to admit, it sounded massively beneficial. It really was too bad that it was only a single one that lasted for only 45 seconds.

For the 3 minutes until we arrived, Mewi looked very lost in thought...