Chapter Thirty-Five

The moment her strength reached 100, her body locked up. Lava flowed through every muscle as they spasmed. She couldn’t make a sound as her jaw was locked shut. Fortunately, it passed within seconds, but a deep muscular fatigue persisted. Taking advantage of her silky soft backrest, Elysia let herself go limp as an expected notification appeared.

Congratulations! 100 Strength reached!

By reaching 100 in an attribute, you earned a passive skill choice.

Please note this skill will not affect your skill slot, nor will it change if you evolve your class.

An Explosion Of Strength: In a moment of need, a burst of strength may be needed.

Elysia frowned at the lack of choices. What was the point of giving her a choice if there was only one option? Maybe she could reject it. Not that she would. It seemed to be a part of the same group of skills as her others. At least she hoped it was. She didn’t want to find out what her incomplete skill would do. What was the point of a lifesaving skill if it killed her by malfunctioning?

While crossing her fingers, she selected the skill.

Skill learned! An Explosion of Strength.

An Explosion Of Strength: In a moment of need, a burst of strength may be needed.

Effects: Chance of double strength in a near death situation.

Several seconds passed as Elysia stared in front of her expectantly, but nothing else came. In desperation, she raised endurance to 100, hoping she just needed both skills to unlock the full skill despite her body protesting.

Her always pounding core stuttered before going crazy like a diesel run away. Pain far worse than her strength upgrade speared through her chest as her core pulsed faster and faster. Her veins shined as lightning coursed through her veins, causing her already strained muscles to spasm and tear, unable to handle the stress.

Seconds passed that felt like an eternity with no end in sight. Black encroached at the edges of her vision but blissful unconsciousness refused to come. With her enhanced mind, she remained aware of everything, despite hoping she didn’t. She wished she didn’t make the impulsive decision, but with no way to stop it, all she could do was endure.

Suddenly her core stalled before it pulsed at a much slower cadence, giving her hope it was over, only for it to shoot back up to unimaginable levels. This time, however, it only lasted for a few moments before sputtering down to a near standstill.

With the end of the runaway, exhaustion descended. Finally, allowing her to rest as her abused core could no longer support her consciousness.

She awakened with a groan. Her muscles twitched as she stared up at the sky, unable to move a finger. Still recovering, her core pulsed at an extra slow pace, just barely providing enough elemental essence to her body to support it, but nothing more.

Never again. That was hell.

Too exhausted to resist, not that she wanted to, she allowed herself to descend into sleep once more.

The sound of footsteps was the first thing she heard as consciousness returned. She cracked her eyes open to find the Chrotile moving about in formation as if practicing. Upon looking inward, she found her core pulsing steadily though at a slightly slower cadence, but unlike before, she felt no weakness, so she assumed that was the new normal resting cadence.

Assured her core wouldn’t explode on her, she sat up, finding her body respond without effort, strength within her lithe muscles. Before she could do anything else, several notifications appeared in her vision.

Congratulations! 100 Endurance reached!

By reaching 100 in an attribute, you earned a passive skill choice.

Please note this skill will not affect your skill slot, nor will it change if you evolve your class.

Endurance Under Pressure: A boost to last a little longer while under pressure.

Limit Break: Sometimes one’s best just isn't enough. Sometimes one requires more.

Improved Endurance: Sometimes life isn’t a sprint but a marathon.

What skill would create synergy? Improved endurance would be nice, but since she became an elemental, she hasn’t had an issue with endurance. As long as she had charge she could probably run forever. Did she even have a cardiovascular system? She supposed she did, but instead of a heart, she had a core. It seemed to do the same thing. As far as she could tell, she ran of elemental essence or charge. She probably didn’t need to eat, either.

Endurance did seem to affect her core, so it definitely did something. Maybe it improved her passive charge usage. She would need to do some testing at some point or ask Urus after she left Mezo. Either way, she doubted she needed the improved endurance skill, especially if it didn’t allow her to complete her a moment in time skill.

That left endurance under pressure and limit break. Just based on the name she wanted limit break. Who didn’t want to break their limits? Well, maybe not. Something like that probably had costs. Limits were in place for a reason, after all. Still, endurance under pressure was similar enough to her other attribute skill choices. She knew it probably didn’t fit with her previous decisions. It probably had a different synergy. One she might not qualify for if the lack of strength choices were any indication.

Limit break it was then. If nothing else, it would be a handy skill on its own. Though if it didn’t synergize, she was screwed, not that she wanted that skill to trigger in the first place. If it triggered, she was already in danger beyond what she had ever been in before. No reason to seek out death, but she was bound to trigger it eventually in this new world.

Skill learned! Limit Break.

Limit Break: Sometimes one’s best just isn't enough. Sometimes one requires more.

Effects: Chance of removing all limits on one’s body in a near death situation.

She let out a whistle at the effect but quickly moved on to the next notification, one she had been hoping for.

Synergy Detected.

Skills Accelerated Thinking, Burst of Senses, Increased Movement, An Explosion of strength and limit are capable of combining.

Skill Unlocked! A Moment In Time: Sometimes one's best just isn't enough. When a moment of extra time is the difference between life and death.

Would you like to merge them?

Huh, wasn’t that near identical to when she first unlocked the skill? Didn’t her other skills already merge. Even her status said so. Whatever, if they wanted to merge again, she had no problem as long as it gave her the complete skill.

She gave a mental confirmation as she crossed her fingers, hoping it worked.

A Moment In Time: Sometimes one’s best just isn’t enough. When a moment of extra time is the difference between life and death.

Effects: Triples one’s capabilities in a near death situation.

After several seconds with no warnings, she released a relieved sigh. All that work for one skill, but at least it didn’t have a warning anymore. Though she had no doubt it would have some side effects. There had to be a backlash from tripling what her body could do, even if it was only for a few seconds.

With the first goal off her checklist, Elysia relaxed into Ione while watching the Chrotile move in perfect sync as if they could read each other’s minds. Yeah, she was making the right decision. She had no problem with the Chrotile. They didn’t do her wrong, but they simply didn’t work as a team. Maybe if they had time to practice, but they didn’t. It would probably take weeks to get to an acceptable level. Besides, Ione would probably do something more drastic if she didn’t break from the Chrotile.

Elysia’s eyes gravitated to the backpack, which was somehow lying next to her despite not remembering bringing it. Yeah, Ione was her teammate, not the Chrotile. They just worked too well together.

Guilt blossomed, forcing her to reach toward her backpack and open the pocket she stashed the mana crystals. Upon peeking inside, she found several more crystals than she remembered, causing her to glance at Ione.

Images of her using her claws to pull the zipper open with surprising dexterity and drop the crystals inside before transporting the backpack to her while she was sleeping appear in her mind. Pride accompanied the images, though it was tinged with disgust, especially strong when she had the crystals in her mouth.

She gave Ione a loving scratch behind her ears while smiling at her. Yeah, Ione was her team, but first she needed to make things right.

Her elemental pride rebelled, causing her hand to shake as she reached inside the pocket. But she knew if she hid her gains, she would regret it. As far as she could tell, Urus couldn’t read their minds in Mezo, but once she left, she would definitely know.

The question was if she should tell them about the accursed skill crystal. Was it possible to destroy a skill crystal? Urus would probably know, and considering her abilities, she had no use of the skill, so it was probably safe in her hands. But who should hold it until then? In her totally unbiased opinion, she was probably the best option. She couldn’t use it, anyway.

Though would they trust she wouldn’t sell it? Out of nowhere, a shudder ran through her as she imagined Eva with the skill. Yeah, no, that crystal would never make it onto Umbra. It just wasn’t worth the risk. If the Chrotile knew about it, then Urus would know and that would act as insurance that she couldn’t sell it. No way she could escape Urus, after all.

How should she tell them? Thauzo seemed almost too understanding, but she doubted they would take it well if she spilled the fact she basically stole from them. Though not really as all the crystals she took, either Ione or her did most of the work for.

Elysia’s eyes shot toward the Chrotile with suspicion. Did they already know? They had to know every dungeon gave crystals, and they didn’t get any from the last dungeon or this one.

It was hard to know Chrotile culture. Maybe they just assumed they were hers because she or Ione earned them. Still, even so, she needed to come clean. It would only bite her in the ass in the future if she didn’t. She needed a clean break, especially if she wanted to keep a friendly relationship with them and Urus.

Mind made up, she grabbed her backpack and strode toward the Chrotile. As she approached, she caught Thauzo’s eye and, as always, he stopped and turned to speak to Elysia, picking up on her desire from one glance at the backpack. “Hello, young elemental.”

Elysia smiled at the towering Chrotile. “Hi Thauzo” Then she nodded to the other two who as usual stood behind their tank letting him speak.

After a few second pause bordering on awkward she dug in her backpack but before she could pull anything out Thauzo raised his hand to stop her. “We understand and are thankful for the willingness to share but we must refuse. What was earned must stay with the earner.”

Elysia opened her mouth to refute only to be cut off once again. “Urus provides for us if we are in need. You need the loot more.”

Yet again Thauzo struck her speechless. She stood mouth half open unsure what to do. Just in case she glanced at Thres and Thaux, but they appeared in agreement with their tank.

“Still, don’t you want the crystals you earned from the triceratops dungeon?”

They glanced at one another, then Thauzo nodded. “Yes, we provided enough worth to earn compensation.”

Despite her instincts fighting her, Elysia dug in her backpack for a pouch and without letting the Chrotile see she deposited 5 high grade crystals and 10 medium. Far more than they got from the triceratops dungeon, but she felt guilty not giving them at least that much. They probably deserved more for being so understanding of her and Ione. If she were with a human group, she doubted it would go this smoothly.

She closed the pouch and tossed it to Thauzo who caught it then frowned immediately but one look at Elysia who shook her head stopped any protest. “Thank you for your generosity young Elysia we will cherish it.”

“You earned it. We may not have seen eye to eye and I wasn’t the best of teammates but I enjoyed our time together.”

“Likewise. We knew this time would come eventually.”

“Am I right in assuming you three are recovered?”

“Affirmative.”

Elysia smiled at them, unsure about proper Chrotile etiquette in this situation. “Then good hunting. May you find safe but fruitful adventures.”

All three Chrotile slammed their fists on their chests as Thauzo boomed, “May we meet again upon Urus’s shell.”

After she nodded her head, the now group of three turned and moved in unison down the hill, leaving Elysia and an excited Ione alone.