Sensations slowly return to me, and just as slowly, I start to wake up. It takes a few seconds for me to understand what I’m feeling or where I am. Still, even half asleep, I’d recognize this place anywhere.
It’s dark right now, but I can see a hint of light starting to taint the window behind Cari. If anything, it makes Cari’s bedroom even more cozy.
I’m buried under a mountain of blankets on top of another, equally impressive mountain of pillows piled onto her bed. Holding me in a loose hug is Cari herself, sleeping soundly.
Face to face like this, her soft breaths brushing my cheeks, I find myself relaxing even more, and it’s a struggle to stay awake.
But the memories come to me soon enough, quickly bringing me to full awareness. I don’t move though, unwilling to interrupt Cari’s peace.
To start, I’m somehow back on the surface with Cari. I know we succeeded in clearing the dungeon, and looked like all the statues released from it died along with the dungeon itself.
It hadn’t been confirmed at that point, but it doesn’t matter. We must have succeeded enough to return. Then I disabled the fatigue suppression of Seeker’s Survival and was pretty much dead to the world from then on.
The last thing I remember is the weird… dream-like place. If I can even call it that. I remember, back when I fought the Ratweaver gang at Tails and Temptations, that short moment where I was in a place just like it after getting punted through a wall by that one big fucker.
So it might not be a delusion. Maybe.
Would that be better or worse?
Whatever. Either way, anything after that is just… gone.
I try to think back on it. The voice I can place easily enough, especially given what she’d said. It was Kiri—that much I was certain of. I don’t exactly remember what she sounded like from the World Notices, but I know how she felt.
It was the exact same. And she mentioned having a debt to me, which matches the feeling I got from the World Notices.
But after that, it’s like my memory drops off into the void itself. I try to dredge it up, only to be rewarded with the most excruciating headache I’d ever experienced. The instant my focus shifts to the pain, my face scrunching up and eyes squeezed shut, it vanishes.
It’s almost as if it were never there. Not even a twinge left in its wake.
Are you serious?
If that was meant to dissuade me from trying to remember, then it failed. I’m just about as stubborn as it gets, and now more curious than ever. So I try again, and the headache returns with just as much vigor as before.
This time, I try to push through it, willing myself to ignore the agony.
It just intensifies. Seemingly endlessly. The harder I try to ignore it, the worse it gets, to the point that it also starts adding even more awful sensations. The taste of copper fills my mouth, and nausea swirls in my gut.
Then it becomes harder and harder to breathe, and I finally stop trying when I feel tears leaking from my eyes.
Okay… that’s not weird at all.
It’s just a nice, obvious gap in my memories. After what I can only assume was a Demi-Goddess grabbed my literal soul and dragged me who-the-fuck-knows-where for who-the-fuck-knows-what.
Sure. Cool. No problem.
I focus on my breathing, unwilling to lean on Mental Suppression to ease my panic. Slow, steady breaths mingle with Cari’s, returning my attention to her adorably peaceful face. Unsurprisingly, seeing her calms me down more than the breathing exercise, and after a few moments, I find myself smiling at her.
Gently and oh-so-slowly, I scoot up in the bed a bit and hug her closer so her forehead rests against my chest. I bury my face in her hair, and when I feel her grip around my waist tighten ever so slightly, I almost squirm with delight.
But I hold myself back. Barely.
To distract myself from just how much I love this girl, I decide to go over my Status. I hadn’t checked since my evolution to Tier One—
Oh my fucking Gods I’m Tier One!
This time, it’s impossible to hold back all of the squirming. My tail struggles mightily against the blankets in its efforts to wiggle free and express my excitement. It fails, thankfully.
There really were a lot of blankets.
Still, it almost feels like I’m literally radiating my joy out. To be fair, I didn’t exactly get to bask in the success. I went from combat, to significantly more awesome combat, then right into a rushed return followed by immediately passing out.
Before I let myself get too wrapped up in the hectic mess that is my life, I focus on my waiting notifications.
You have leveled up! X5
Stats gained:
+10 Strength
+10 Constitution
+25 Dexterity
+20 Intelligence
+20 Wisdom
+10 Charisma
+50 free stat points
Pain Resistance has leveled up!
Level 9 -> Level 10
Notice
The Pain Resistance skill has reached its maximum level.
Pain Resistance has evolved.
Pain Resistance
General, Passive, Body
Helps with managing pain and functioning through it.
+10% pain resistance per level
is now
Pain Suppression
General, Passive, Body
Be it enduring physical trauma that could break a regular person, or hiding your pain from those around you, you find yourself capable.
Grants full control over your sense of pain.
Notice
Mental Suppression and Pain Suppression have merged to become Total Suppression.
Total Suppression
General, Passive, Mind, Body
Your mind and body are strong.
Be it enduring mental or physical trauma that could break a regular person, or hiding your emotions and pain from those around you, you find yourself capable.
Helps with mental compartmentalization and grants full control over your sense of pain.
Oh, that’s very nice.
I mentally probe the new skill and find that I can shift how much pain I feel in any way that I like, and the mental aspects haven’t changed at all. With a thought, I set it so that I only feel a soul crushing two percent of any pain I might suffer.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Just in case.
Can’t go around just… not feeling things. What if I get hurt and don’t realize it? That’s just a recipe for disaster. Or death.
Probably both.
Notice
The Faefox Race description has been updated.
The Manaborn Skill description has been updated.
Congratulations!
You have been awarded the following Titles:
What’s Death?
Weave Walker
Congratulations!
You have reached the second milestone (500) in the Constitution stat.
Your body is supernaturally resilient.
Endurance, bone density and skin toughness significantly increased.
Effects of aging are significantly reduced.
Wait, that’s new. Updated how?
I quickly check my Race and Manaborn descriptions.
Notice
Faefox
A powerful fox-like race crafted from pure Mana, their limitless potential is matched only by their wits and beauty.
The Faefox race is blessed with an enhanced body and heightened senses, and they are naturally gifted with the ability to sense and manipulate mana.
is now
Faefox
A powerful descendant of the Fae, this fox-like race was shaped from pure Mana by the System itself.
As a living example of the unknown magics of the Fae merged with a mortal body, their limitless potential is matched only by their wits, beauty, and propensity to cause trouble.
The Faefox race is blessed with an enhanced body and heightened senses, and they are naturally gifted with the ability to sense and manipulate mana.
Notice
Manaborn
Racial, General, Passive, Body, Soul
You are a being made of mana. It is as much a part of you as it is a part of the world.
You can naturally perceive Mana.
Double your total Wisdom stat and its effects.
Double your base mana regeneration.
This skill can be affected by class skills.
is now
Manaborn
Racial, General, Passive, Mind, Body, Soul
You are Fae.
Sense the Weave, know its ripples.
The soul dances beyond what the body anchors.
The mind binds them both.
Double your total Wisdom stat and its effects.
Double your base mana regeneration.
This skill can be affected by class skills.
My Race description is just about as normal as it was before, but Manaborn throws me for a loop.
Did I just lose my ability to sense mana?
I open my eyes and look around, finding that I can still see the little wisps of ambient mana floating in the air around us. Granted, there isn’t much of it, probably thanks to the runes of the Guild, but they’re there.
So I didn’t. Good. I close my eyes again and snuggle Cari a little closer before turning my mind back to task.
Now then. What’s the deal with the cryptic nonsense?
The soul dances beyond what the body anchors… and the mind binds them both…
Well, the mind binding body and soul seems obvious enough, I guess. I wouldn’t be who I am if I didn’t have a mind. The literal aspects of that are well and truly beyond me, but at a super base level, it makes sense.
Okay, not really—but I can at least guess at it. The rest, though? What the fuck does the body anchor? I can’t even start to figure out what the whole ‘soul dances’ bit is about until I know at least that much.
Uh… System? Can you answer that question?
Notice
Unknown.
What?! Don’t ‘unknown’ me! You’re the System!
Notice
The workings of the Divine, the Fae, and the Dragons are beyond the grasp of the System.
As a member of the Fae, some aspects of your nature are indecipherable.
Your Status will update as new information is discovered, but the System cannot manipulate the aspects of the Divine, the Fae, or the Dragons.
Didn’t you literally turn me into a Faefox? How can you not know what this all is?
Notice
The Manaborn Skill was forced onto your being by the ritual that attempted to tamper with the System.
In order to save your soul from annihilation via outside sources, the System crafted a unique Race that would be compatible with the Skill and forced you to undergo early evolution.
Oh. Well… shit. Thanks, I guess. And, uh, sorry for getting angry.
The System doesn’t respond, of course, but part of me believes it’s thankful for the thought. It doesn’t talk to me often, but when it does, I get the feeling that it’s more like a person than it would like to admit.
Still, I guess I just have to drop the Skill gibberish. If even the System itself isn’t sure, there’s no way in all the hells I’ll figure it out right here and now. So instead of letting my mind stew on it, I take a look at the new Titles.
I honestly hadn’t expected to get any more, given how difficult they were to obtain, so this was a pleasant surprise.
Weave Walker
You walked through the Weave into the unknown.
Bonuses:
+5 Wisdom per level.
+25% to Wisdom.
Seriously? More Fae nonsense?
At least the bonuses are amazing. I’ll never say no to more stats and mana. It seems like it might be overkill, though, given how absurd my Wisdom already is thanks to Manaborn.
But… Weave? Is that the weird echo-y place? Is that a Fae thing?
Ugh. I really need a manual for this shit.
On the plus side, I can already see Cari’s eyes gleaming with a mix of excitement and jealousy.
Moving on!
What’s Death?
You’ve died three times.
And yet, you live.
Morena sees you, and finds your evasiveness cute.
This is her reward.
Bonuses:
+3 Constitution per level.
Your presence slightly unsettles beings attuned to death.
Prevent near-instant true death caused by anything of equal or lesser Tier to your own.
Upon true death, immediately revive fully intact at 10% health.
Note: This effect can only trigger once per month.
Now we’re fucking talking!
Wait—maybe I should… I dunno, say something?
In the past, I’d never have considered it out of sheer spite, but now… yeah. Might be smart to send a quick prayer to the Goddess of Life and Death. Just in case she’s listening.
Or watching.
Or bored.
Hi, Morena. Thanks for the Title. Please don’t smite me like those Church guys? I swear I’m not avoiding you! You look like you give great hugs.
A-anyways, uh… sincerely, your loyal-ish supplicant? Grateful survivor? That girl who keeps dying?
Yeah. That, I guess. Thanks again. Bye!
A big part of me hopes she doesn’t hear my rambling nonsense. I definitely butchered that.
Anyways! The benefits of the title are insane. The stats are always welcome, especially since it got me to the next Constitution milestone.
Immunity to instant death is probably not going to get much use, but having and not needing is better than the alternative. The revival effect is where the real value lay, though.
I don’t exactly remember ‘reviving,’ given the nature of being kinda-sorta-dead and all. But before, I presumably had to rely on my body to heal enough to bring me back to awareness. Now, there won’t be any waiting at all.
It’ll just happen right away.
I wonder… if I were to get vaporized or something, and there wasn’t room for me to come back, what would happen?
Actually, fuck you curiosity. I don’t want to know. That sounds scary as all hells.
The last bonus… well, death attuned people and beings don’t tend to be the nicest anyways. If a friendly necromancer has a heart attack from seeing me, then I’ll feel bad. Otherwise, it’s whatever.
I take a quick peek at my stats to see if I can raise any up to their next milestone, but no such luck. So I just hold on to the fifty free stat points I have, and pull up my updated status with a moment of supercharged All For One.
Status
Name: Emilia
Race: Faefox
Age: 20
Level: 55
Health: 17,931 -> 31,515/31,515
Health Regen: 5,869 -> 11,268 per minute
Mana: 251,930 -> 437,115/437,115
Stored: 874,230
Mana Regen: 1.19m -> 3.49m per minute
Stats:
Strength: 357 -> 371 (1,347)
Constitution: 398 -> 700 (2,538)
Dexterity: 1,138 -> 1,200 (4,351)
Intelligence: 886 -> 926 (3,357)
Wisdom: 3,149 -> 5,463 (19,806)
Charisma: 387 -> 403 (1,461)
Available Stat Points: 50
At this point, I’m not entirely surprised anymore. I’d nearly doubled my health and mana from what it was, after already doing that—and more—from my evolution.
It was no wonder that Tier Ones were held with such high regard, if they’re capable of even half of what I am. That said, the System has hinted at the next Tier.
Of course, I’d heard of Tier Two. But I didn’t have any real information on it, and it never came up in my talks with Cari because it was never relevant to my goals at the time. I kind of regret neglecting anything beyond Tier One now.
As I’m wondering about how I’d stack up to a Tier Two given my absurd boons, Cari starts to stir in my arms. A gentle smile finds its way to my face when she looks up from my chest, barely awake and squinting from the light that’s begun leaking through the window.
Her eyes fly open the moment our gazes meet and she stiffens in my arms.
“Emilia?” she says, her voice barely a whisper.
“Hey,” I reply softly, still smiling.
Then her expression changes to a scowl in an instant. “I’m glad you’re alive so I can kill you!”
Ah… I miss my sleepy Cari.
