Chapter Sixteen

Elysia gritted her teeth but continued to read the notifications first, checking her kill and level up notifications.

Killed Zombie Level 100 x 1211.

Huh, they were all the same level. She remembered last time she entered the dungeon, they varied a little. Though the gap between level 5 and 6 was nothing compared to 100 and 101, at least in the experience required.

Level up! Level 2 Path of Divine Lightning Control.

Level up! Level 3 Path of Divine Lightning Control.

Insane how over a thousand zombie kills only got her two levels, though to be fair, it was hardly a challenge to kill them. Maybe if she killed them in a more challenging way, she would get more experience. There was no telling if struggling granted more experience. Definitely not something she wanted to test. She would take a few easy levels with little danger over a bunch while barely escaping with her life. Her time delving alone was fruitful, but she’d rather avoid danger like that again. Though her core pulsed in anticipation of the next challenge, contradicting her thoughts.

To put her contrasting thoughts and body out of her mind, she moved on to the next series of notifications.

Killed Lich Level 121.

Level up! Level 4 Path of Divine Lightning Control.

No split experience? Maybe their bond counted them as one, giving them all the full amount. If that was true, bonds were broken. Not that she would complain about gaining an advantage. What Ione hunted down must have been the Lich.

Could she have skipped the boss fight last time if she killed the Lich in the cemetery? Probably not. There was no way she could have kept up with the Lich, especially if it had the support of the skeletons. The best outcome of her first delve was the Lich inviting her down to its lair and even then she was incredibly lucky, killing it the first time.

In fact, if she hadn’t leveled up from the kill, she probably would’ve died. Like several other times. It looked like level up saves wouldn’t be a common occurrence anymore. Not that she wanted to rely on level ups saving her.

Elysia glanced at her family, who were both staring at her with judgment in their eyes. Before dealing with the remaining notifications, most likely involving plenty of snark, Elysia waved toward the stone coffin. “As you probably guessed, the exit is through the coffin. It will drop you into an underground lake connected to the harbor father docked his boat at. I’m going to stay here for a little while to deal with some system stuff.”

Instead of following Elysia’s direction, Sereia leaned against the coffin with Ione laying nearby, both avoiding the still gut covered lightning elemental. Neither seemed in any hurry to leave, causing Elysia to groan in annoyance. She wanted some privacy when she dealt with the system’s sass.

If they weren’t going to leave. They could at least help her out. Elysia stared at Sereia until her twin met her eyes. “Could you please wash the guts away?” Eyes widening, she quickly added, “please don’t spray me too hard.”

Not wanting to the guts either, Sereia swirled her hand, manifesting a shower of water, spraying away the guts from both Elysia and the floor. When she gathered it in a corner, her water flashed a deeper shade of green before evaporating, taking the guts and wood fragments with it.

Elysia stared at the corner with interest. Sereia’s water must have some sort of acidic quality to it. It was really handy for cleaning things. Kind of ironic since her twin wasn’t known for her cleanliness. Not that she could say she was the tidiest person, either.

Since they didn’t seem like they would leave, Elysia released a sigh, then with great reluctance read through the next list of notifications.

Achievement! Perfect clear.

“Nice job! You managed to kill every enemy in the dungeon without taking any damage!”

Reward: 20 Attribute points, Bonus Experience.

In an instant, warmth flooded her body, announcing a level up, which she confirmed with a glance.

Level up! Level 5 Path of Divine Lightning Control.

As the warmth faded, Elysia stared at the achievement notification, confused. That had to be the nicest achievement quote she ever received. Did the system get spanked? No way it was just lulling her into making some unforgivable in its eyes mistake. The system wasn’t capable of being nice.

Achievement! Boss assassination.

“Nice job! You managed to kill the dungeon boss before reaching the boss room!”

Reward: 10 Attribute points.

Elysia’s frown only deepened. Why did the quotes sound a little neutered? They followed the same template with no personality injected. No way would she feel sorry for the asshole system, but she almost would rather have a little snark as long as it wasn’t overboard than the generic quotes.

She shook her head, trying to erase the absurd thoughts. Was she so used to the system’s verbal abuse that she actually preferred it over some generic, almost robotic quotes? Its absence almost made her feel abandoned. No, if the snarky system wanted to leave her alone, she wouldn’t complain.

Still, despite the seemingly different system, she learned her lesson from the mimic. She would read every notification. Speaking of mimic why didn’t she receive a kill notification from it? Did it not count as a kill somehow? It was very much dead, but maybe the system’s interference made it so it didn’t count as a kill. Oh well, with how easily it died, it probably wouldn’t have given her much experience, anyway.

Another thought came to her, causing her to scan the room, but aside from her family and the coffin, it was empty. Why didn’t they receive any crystals? Did Ione leave them behind? No, she would have noticed when they reached Ione. Did that mean the dungeon wasn’t completed? She received achievements for the completion, though. Something screwy was going on here.

Most likely, whatever happened to their crystal reward had a link to her changed system. Not that she had any proof. It just felt like they were linked. While it wasn’t the end of the world, if she didn’t receive any crystals, it was weird.

She put off her thoughts in favor of checking the final notification, which turned out to be just as generic.

Achievement! Boss assassination.

“Nice job! You managed to reach the boss room without triggering a single trap!”

Reward: 10 Attribute points.

Whatever, she wouldn’t pass up on easy attribute points. Actually, maybe she would. They were a pain to spend after all. Speaking of spending, it might be a good time to dump some attribute points. She doubted anyone would interrupt them hidden in a boss room.

After sending another glance at her family, finding both of them staring off into space, maybe looking at their own system, Elysia opened her status.

Status:

Name: Elysia Arashi

Race: Level 5 Divine Sparked Lightning Elemental.

Class: Level 5 Path of Divine Lightning Control.

Charge: 17351/17379

Attributes:

Available Points: 200

Strength: T2-12

Dexterity: T2-41

Endurance: T2-12

Intelligence: T2-41

Perception: T2-41

Proficiencies:

Novice Spear Level 8.

Novice Throwing Knives Level 5.

Affinities:

Tier 10 Level 1 (6) Lightning.

Tier 5 Level 1 Divine Lightning.

Resistances:

Death Resistance Level 1

Water Resistance Level 1.

Poison Resistance Level 2.

Mental Resistance Level 5.

Bonus

+70% (100%) Damage with Lightning.

+10% Damage to undead.

+10% Damage to Arthropod.

+15% Damage to Ladybugs.

Solo Adventuring +10% Solo Experience, -20% Group Experience.

Skills

A Moment In Time.

Bonds

Sereia.

Umbra.

Ione.

Upon looking at her available attribute points, she cringed. This won’t be pleasant. Should she save some for later? No, she may as well get it over with. Who knew if she would have another opportunity? Though she found it hard to believe she couldn’t find time while lazing around on Umbra.

A groan escaped her. She was just finding excuses to procrastinate.

Used to headaches by now, she dumped 59 points into intelligence, raising it all the way to Tier 3. Contrary to her expectations, other than a momentary sharp pain, no other adverse effects happened. In fact, almost instantly, her mind felt clearer as her thoughts fired off in rapid succession far beyond what a human would be capable of.

At least a pre-system human. She wouldn’t be surprised if some mathematician dumped all their attribute points into intelligence on top of some intelligence boosting class.

There was definitely a diminishing return with attribute points. It made sense. There had to be a limit on how fast one could think. Thankfully, with the diminishing returns, the side effects diminished as well.

She waited several seconds expecting some skill choice but nothing came, sparking disappointment. Tier 2 must be special. Maybe she would receive a skill if she pushed multiple attributes to Tier 3. She had the attribute points to do it, so why not? Especially if the side effects were as minimal as they were with intelligence.

Next, she dumped 59 attribute points into perception, also raising it to Tier 3. Despite her experiences with intelligence, she braced herself for her senses to shut off, but yet again, nothing happened other than a slight disorientation as her senses magnified suddenly. Fortunately, because of the quiet boss room, her increased senses didn’t have much effect on her. Though it also meant she couldn’t tell how much they improved, either.

After giving herself a few minutes to adjust, she dumped yet another 59 attribute points into dexterity, pushing all her primary attributes into Tier 3. Her muscles twitched but calmed a few seconds later. A quick test hop showed her body reacted faster than before, but only by a few percent margin if she had to guess.

Still, to improve even a few percent in anything just by dumping a bunch of attribute points was amazing. That couple percent could save her life if her skill didn’t. So far, she hadn’t triggered a moment in time, but that was probably a good thing. Going by the description, it only triggered when she was in a deadly situation. Herding zombies apparently didn’t count.

At the thought of her skill, Elysia stared forward, hoping for another notification. Unfortunately, none came, not even an achievement. An attribute dump must not qualify as an achievement anymore. As much as she wanted to argue the contrary, she really couldn’t.

A glance at her status told her she had 23 attribute points left. Should she split them evenly between strength and endurance? She didn’t see why not. Even if she didn’t need either attribute much higher, it couldn’t hurt to keep them at least close to her other attributes. As she learned earlier, all attributes had a link to one another. Just like it wasn’t smart to focus on one muscle group over others, she needed to keep raising all her attributes.

11 attribute points when into endurance first raising it to Tier 2 23. Her core stuttered, sending a wave of weakness through her body, but like all others, it passed within seconds.

It wasn’t bad, but she definitely wouldn’t be spending attribute points during a fight, not that the small boost would save her. If she needed the boost, the time it took for her body to adjust, even if it was only a moment, negated any benefits.

She gave herself a few seconds to let her core pulsed calm before dumping another 11 attribute points into strength, bringing it even with her endurance. Her muscles tensed for only a moment as a tiny burst of power rushed through them. Definitely the most underwhelming attribute dump, but she should have expected that, as her strength was her weakest attribute.

Elysia hopped a few times, getting a feel for her slightly improved body before turning toward her family and motioning toward the coffin. It was about time they made their escape. They still had to visit their family home before heading south.