Hannah looked down at the three treasure chests waiting to be opened. They glowed with an allure that invited all desires, imaginations, and greed. They stood out compared to the rocky cavern floor and the surrounding darkness.
The only lights came from the treasure chests and the most elemental skeletons – mostly Glowy. Hannah patted her hands together and looked back at the others.
The skeletons gave her all thumbs up, and the spectral spiders saluted. Feeling emboldened, Hannah flipped open all the treasure chests, one by one.
The lids swung on their well-oiled hinges with no sound except for the final thunks at the end. She heard a ding from two out of the three treasure chests.
The first two emitted an ethereal light that was enchanting and wondrous. The last one held nothing special other than a leather-bound journal.
The journal was probably the thing Hannah was looking for most. She did, however, have a few new notifications to sort through on top of everything else.
Hannah checked the glowing treasure chests and found their bottoms empty. Their contents were in her notifications. She grabbed the journal, flipped the lid back up to shut the chest closed, and sat on it.
Zarian sat back on his rapidly formed parasite throne. He looked better than he did moments ago.
He had a large amount of vitality now, didn’t he? He could self-regenerate from his wounds at a good pace, especially now that they were resting.
“Can I go over my notifications with you?” Hannah asked.He waved for her to go on.
Hannah accessed her notifications and spoke aloud.
She had a deluge of messages from the system detailing how she’d ‘defeated’ various monster mimics. Those happened automatically based on either assisting or killing.
By having supplied the skeletons a plethora of enchantments to make them a fierce fighting force, Hannah constantly gained some credit for their kills even if the experience wasn’t major.
Still, everything counted, hence her breaking into Level 40 before she even received the notification for defeating the dungeon boss.
<You’ve leveled up from 39 to 40! Stat points dispensed!>
<Congratulations! You’ve reached your First Class Advancement! Please re-select your class!>
<You’ve defeated Devoxklix the Lore Eater, Level 57 Dungeon Boss!>
<Alert! Your Personal Level cannot grow efficiently without the First Class Advancement! All experience earned without the class re-selection will be severely reduced and stored for later.>
Hannah paused there and looked at Zarian intently. He looked back with an unreadable expression.
Deep down, Hannah hoped Zarian hadn’t waited and already selected his class. While he hadn’t been very active except for the boss battle, he would’ve gained a considerable amount for being a colossal presence of logistical support and heavy power. He shouldn’t miss out on all that experience.
“Something got you held up?” Zarian flashed her a smile while holding the evolving dungeon core in one hand.
“No, I’m just soaking in the moment.” Hannah continued with the other important notifications.
<Boss Battle Rating for the Honored Outsider and Fellow Outsider: SSS! You divided and conquered. One held the attention of the immensely powerful Lore Eater while throwing aside wizardly prowess and picking up the sword like a magic warrior – once again! The other took advantage of a weak rune-net firewall that Lore Eater should’ve fixed ages ago. Stellar work, truly. BRAVO!>
<Achievement rewarded! SSS Genius Beyond the Lore Eater (Unopened)!>
“May I?” Hannah asked. “It looks like this is ours to share.”
“Go for it.”
<Achievement opened!>
<SSS Genius Beyond the Lore Eater (Epic): For many centuries, the Lore Eater has consumed the minds of those who’ve fallen into its dungeon. So why not do the same in your own unique ways? With this epic achievement, you are both granted new traits: Lore Eater.>
<Lore Eater (Epic): Once you have an enemy dominated, steal memories and knowledge from their minds using your aura. This works better when you have some means to control aura, granting more efficiency and control. You can also use this to research and study at a more epic pace.>
“FUCK YEAH!” Zarian jumped and landed feet first on the armrests of his parasitic throne. “That’s what I’m talking about! Holy shit, Hannah, this is amazing!”
This was worth the treasury of a kingdom. Hannah couldn’t believe it.
They had come here for additional information on the Forgotten Kingdom. They were already walking out with means to snatch key information from others. And they could now enhance their intellectual pursuits far further than before.
This was perfect for them both.
Hannah needed time to regain her composure. She wasn’t the outwardly emotional sort like Bianca, but she could still get overwhelmed.
She was especially thrilled for Zarian. The epic Lore Eater trait would make it vastly easier for him to study the difficult gravity spell along with others.
Hannah swallowed a sob before recomposing herself and smiling wide enough for it to hurt. “Wow, that … that was unexpected. I didn’t think we can get traits from boss battles.”
“Fuck yes!” Zarian pumped one fist into the air while his other arm held onto Reiki’s dungeon core. He pointed a finger at Hannah. “If it wasn’t for you, we might not have gotten that achievement! Turning the boss monster’s own hidden trap against it for the explosive finish is definitely worthy of something awesome.”
He bounced from one armrest to the other while holding Reiki’s core above his head. “This was why I held back. I don’t think you’ll get the best results by overpowering everything, not in the first encounter with a boss battle, at least. So having you here to slay that boss with an unusual move unlocked the SSS rating and epic achievement.”
Hannah opened and closed her mouth.
All the skeletons – except Loner – jumped around and rattled in joy around Hannah and Zarian. Loner gave two thumbs up. The spectral spiders danced all over.
Para waved around loose tendrils and made the bone spines on the back of the throne quiver. Para even reached out with a veiny hand and patted Hannah on the head.
It took a lot for Hannah not to cry. There would be plenty of tears coming from Bianca once Hannah retold this to the other women with all the feelings she’d felt.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Again, she focused on regaining her composure. She smiled politely at the celebrating summons and flicked through more of her notifications.
She skipped the class advancement for now and focused on the treasures. To her surprise, she was given some interesting choices. She explained them aloud to Zarian.
<You have two skills for the taking: Summon Cube Maker and Summon Wizard Hat. Do you wish to keep both skills or pass them onto another adventurer?>
<Summon Cube Maker (Level 4): Summon a Cube Maker that’s soul bound to you. Point the Cube Maker at a material and absorb cubic sections into the Cube Maker. You then have the option to unempty various cubic materials into different size cubes. The cubes follow certain physics of their own. Scales with Mysticism.>
<Summon Wizard Hat (Level 5): Improve your aura manipulation, aura channeling, and aura power by summoning a Wizard Hat that’s soul bound to you. This apparel can blend with other items you wear. Scales with Mysticism.>
Hannah fell silent and waited.
“Well, hm, isn’t that interesting? Must be a tough choice figuring out who gets what.” He gave her a blank look.
Hannah chuckled and mentally selected Zarian. She passed the Summon Wizard Hat skill to him and kept the Summon Cube Maker for herself.
She felt the familiar upload of new runes to her profile. The same happened when she and Zarian had received the epic Lore Eater trait. They were now greater than they were before with these new abilities.
And yet, there was still more!
She looked down at the leather-bound journal in her hand and tapped it on her thigh. She extended her gauntleted hand and summoned the Cube Maker.
It was the size of a Rubik’s Cube while all brown with gray edges. There was one small hole in the front.
Curious, Hannah pointed the Cube Maker at a section of the floor next to her. The soul-bound item turned on with a suction sound that reminded Hannah of an industrial vacuum.
In no time, a cubic hole that was three feet deep, wide, and long appeared where she pointed. The Cube Maker finished after sucking up dirt, rock, and sediment into the hole.
Hannah felt an informative connection with the skill and knew she had plenty of room for storing more material. It wasn’t unlimited, but the more she grew the skill, the more space she would have.
She could also vaguely tell that the cube maker used unique rules that went against most laws of physics. Despite the magical nature of the Infinita Star System, it did follow certain laws Hannah knew from back in the old world. The cube maker could do unusual things regardless of the natural laws.
“I love it,” Hannah said, cradling the cube maker to her chest. “I don’t clearly know what more it could do. But I love it.”
“Good. Because I’m not trading with you. No take backs.”
Hannah looked up, her eyes widening. The Wizard Hat was bigger than she’d expected. The brim reached out far in all directions and drooped down, covering Zarian’s face.
The cone portion was bent and crooked. If it wasn’t for how thick and solid the material looked, Hannah would’ve mistaken it for something Zarian picked up at a cheap discount store.
“Hey there.” Zarian tipped the front of the brim up and revealed the monocle was back on his face. He’d stored it away during the boss fight. He looked older and wiser with it back on.
Para integrated herself with the hat. Almost instantly, the skill item transformed from a bargain bin apparel to a more sinister and eldritch-style wizard hat.
Not only that, but Hannah could feel the immensity and motion of Zarian’s dark aura. With that hat, Zarian’s mystical abilities were even more potent.
Hannah quickly realized that this venture had pushed Zarian closer toward full-on god-clashing status.
Well, let me take a step closer to getting there as well.
“I’m going to look at my class advancement now,” Hannah said.
She opened up the list. She found a hundred options now. She saw the new version of her old class.
Runic Enchantress Novice had the logical upgrade simply called Runic Enchantress. It was in third place underneath two legendary class choices that had Hannah’s heart racing.
<Runic Engineer (Legendary): This class comes with 2 epic traits. It offers an additional +1 Willpower and +1 Mysticism. This class is neutral aligned.>
Hannah took some deep breaths. She looked shakily at her second choice.
<Runic Subjugator (Legendary): This class comes with 1 epic trait and 3 skills of your choice. It offers an additional +2 Willpower. This class is evil aligned.>
Hannah wasn’t sure if she could handle the evil alignment. However, based on what Zarian had told her, the evil alignment came with the perk of boosted intelligence. That could be helpful, along with having 3 skill choices.
<Runic Enchantress (Epic): This class comes with 1 rare trait and 2 skills of your choice. It offers an additional +1 Mysticism. This class is neutral aligned.>
Hannah quickly scanned through her other options. There were multiple variants of sorceress, mage, wizard, architect, and other interesting classes. Most were rare or uncommon. A few others were epic.
Only one was legendary while most fitting for her, and that was Runic Engineer. Still, she hesitated. What if she was being too impulsive and not seeing something better?
Hannah told Zarian her concerns.
She felt like a troubled woman begging for the wisdom of some eldritch wizard king as he sat on his parasite throne. He lounged loosely in his seat, one leg propped up on an armrest, the core nestled in the crook of his arm and body. He tipped the brim of his hat upward with his hand as he met her eyes with his void-like gaze.
“You know yourself. Do you think you can handle the evil alignment? And are you really going to turn down two epic traits and two additional stat points?” Zarian questioned. “Granted, you’ll miss out on new skills. But do you need more than what you have now?”
Hannah selected Runic Engineer.
She gasped as she felt the System uploading her advancement into her body, like shooting runes straight into her veins.
She felt like she was shedding her past self. She was becoming more of an adventurer aiming to travel far, solve complex problems with violence or guile, and ascend the worlds of the Infinita Star System.
She felt very distant from the woman she once was. She felt much better, more capable, more dangerous.
She felt amazing.
And she had two new epic traits plus some other quirks of the System. She looked at the new quirks first.
<You’ve gained two additional alpha skill slots!>
<You’ve gained three additional beta skill slots!>
The new alpha skill slots were an immense boon. The new beta skill slots, not so much, but they were appreciated.
She swapped her Summon Cube Maker from the beta skill section to the alpha skill section. She could tell it was considerably more powerful now.
<Your actions have deemed you exceptional upon reaching your First Class Advancement. You’ve gained an additional +1 Free Point.>
It really is important to achieve great things in the Star System. An additionally free point might not seem like much now, but Hannah imagined it would stack up incredibly over time.
Hannah ran the math quickly. From now on, she would grow by +2 Willpower, +1 Agility, +1 Wonder, +3 Mysticism, +6 Free per level.
The combination of having a legendary class and an additional free point for being exceptional was beyond anything she could hope for. She saw it in action when the System delivered the reduced experience it kept stored up.
<You’ve leveled up from 40 to 42! Stat points dispensed!>
She quickly distributed her points. Then she finished her report to Zarian by checking on the new epic traits.
How much more ridiculous could this get?
<Runic Mystic Intensity (Epic): You are intensely mystical while dealing with runes, enhancing your Mysticism by an added 100%.>
<Runic Inventive Genius (Epic) Your inventiveness knows no bounds, enhancing your Willpower and Wonder by an added 50% while dealing with runes.>
“Zarian,” Hannah called.
“Yes?”
“Am I … powerful?” she asked delicately.
“As the legendary Runic Engineer, I believe so. I’m not sure if there are many who are willing to risk their life adventuring while doing what you do on the fly.” Zarian rolled his head around, his parasitic hat tilting in odd and creepy ways. “Welcome to the club, Hannah. You’ll need to learn how to hold back more or you’ll crush all the little people at your feet.”
Hannah looked down. Her boots were dirty but whole. She imagined all the little people she could step on.
She wasn’t someone others could push around easily anymore.
It was probably a good thing she would never see her ex-husband again.
“So, Hannah, what now?” Zarian asked, smirking.
He still refused to give away his own changes and advancements. Hannah held back from asking even though she really wanted to. She imagined he would make the revelation once they reunited with the other party members.
Right now, it was still her rodeo.
“Zarian, let’s go pay Rhea Hemlock a visit.” Hannah stood, the journal still in hand. The treasure chests disappeared. “Oh, and let’s make a stop at that bar and get you fed.”
“I want to give you a big and happy hug now.”
Hannah chuckled. “Save that for later. I want to make sure I earn it.”
Zarian blinked at her with his void-like eyes. “You’ve already earned it. But if you need the extra motivation of knowing you have a big, happy hug from me, okay, we’ll save it in the bank. Just don’t let Bianca know. She’ll demand more hugs.”
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