Syl: Chaper 68 - 76 (Patreon)

Chapter 68: Leaving Town

After grabbing all our supplies, we headed back to the inn for a farewell party, although I found out that the rest of Roderick's team would also be coming to defend the rear caravans, so it wasn't really goodbye yet. There was plenty of drinking, and they convinced me to partake in the fiery beverage. I only relented since I had my partial fire immunity.

After the party, I fooled around with my mimicry. I wasn't going to be able to use it much while on this caravan, unfortunately, as I needed to keep up my disguise for a bit longer. I enjoyed the company, and they were fun to be around, helpful, and genuinely kind individuals, but I craved being unrestrained.

For my adventurer disguise, I was happy being basically a pure elf, as it had the most benefits, but there was one trait I wanted from the human profile.

<[Untapped Potential]

Greatly increase the speed and ease of learning new traits and skills.

This trait has no levels.>

It took a bit of trial and error, and I had to identify myself a few times till I had enough human parts, but my profile still showed my race as an elf. I had high hopes for [Untapped Potential], especially if it worked together with [Prodigy].

<[Prodigy]

Receive extra experience towards improving traits and skills.

This trait has no levels.>

My final adventurer loadout was the following:

[Elven Reflexes LV 6]

[Elven Marksmanship LV 6]

[Elven Glamour LV 6]

[Nature Commune LV 4]

[Mana Sight LV 6]

[Enhanced Agility LV 6]

[Lowlight Vision]

[Untapped Potential]

I had tried to copy [Mana Well] or [Enhanced Intellect], but both were unavailable. It looks like the fused trait [Soul Mastery] prevented me from doing so. Strangely, I could copy [Enhanced Agility] despite it being somewhat baked into [Elven Reflexes]. I thought I'd keep it for now and see if I noticed any difference.

[Lowlight Vision] was unranked, so potentially, I could not earn it from what Dewi had said, but I thought I'd still try. I threw my leftover trait budget into [Nature Commune] just in case someone asked me to speak to a plant or something to prove I'm an elf. I would have liked to have grabbed [Thick Skin] from hobgoblins, but it was highly noticeable and would ruin my built-up disguise.

'Once I've gotten some more practice with custom spells, I'll probably keep some points in reserve for things like [Enhanced Fangs], then channel it through a [Psuedopod] and pretend it is [Water Magic].'

Before I went to bed, I made sure to spend [Slime Conversion] and deposit away the slime. My storage felt rather full when I realized I still had an absurd amount of water stored away from my magic practice.

'I guess I can't blame Gramps for being forgetful, as I'm guilty myself.'

<Proficiency gained. [Sub-Core Delta LV 2] improved to [Sub-Core Delta LV 3].>

<Proficiency gained. [Sub-Core Epsilon LV 2] improved to [Sub-Core Epsilon LV 3].>

I woke up to my two newest [Sub-Cores] leveling up together. I was eager for them to catch up and finally progress together.

'As great as it is to have more of them, I think I might have gone a little overboard. I probably should hold back on more and focus on quality. I'm sure Alpha is dying to reach level five.'

I went downstairs and received a bear hug from Trevor when saying my farewells and thanking him for my room and food. His strength was frightening, and if not for [Mana Reinforcement], I think he might have splattered me. He even gave me a bunch of extra food for the trip, as Kurt had told him I had a storage bag with preservation, and lamented how I had turned our dungeon trip into a picnic.

I decided to head to the guild as that was our meeting spot, and besides Tabitha, there was nobody else there yet. We chatted a bit, and she offered some advice once I got my Silver rank, as it seemed she had full confidence in me.

"Since you have stealth and plenty of hunting experience, I'd suggest extermination quests. They give you a target with a general location, and you head out and kill them. If you combine that with your harvesting potential, you can double dip on income since you'll be paid for the job done and your resources."

"How does the guild keep track of my kills?"

"If it's a quest you've officially accepted, your necklace will keep a tally. If it's something you've killed without a quest, then you can bring back a body part from the monster. Most adventurers don't bother harvesting from weak monsters, so they usually cut off an ear as proof."

"That's certainly convenient."

"Yeah, we really need to thank our predecessors who keep requesting more features. I shudder to think of having to investigate false quest claims."

Tabitha demonstrated by giving me my escort quest.

<Quest accepted: Escort merchant caravan to Kaerlin. Silver rank.>

"Once you reach Kaerlin, you ask the merchant to confirm the quest completion, and your necklace will register it."

"What if he refuses to?"

"It very rarely happens, but if it does, go straight to the guild and report it. We take contract breaches very seriously, and a merchant would be stupid to get blacklisted from posting quests."

I thanked Tabitha for all the advice as we waited for the others to slowly arrive. Roderick was next, and the three of us casually chatted. I learned that Roderick was engaged, and his fiancée wanted him to stop risking his life. Which was why he wanted to take over as Guild Master as one of the highest leveled adventurers in the entire town. I got a few pointers for the escort quest as well.

"Wandering monsters are unlikely, as they tend to avoid large groups. Our main threat will be bandits, which you are to kill on sight." Roderick explained.

"I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention capturing them."

"No. The laws are very strict with banditry. If you did capture any, then they would be executed immediately. Bandits won't hesitate to kill you, so you shouldn't hold back."

"There are sometimes nobles who post quests to capture a bandit leader or deserter so they can make a public execution. But I'd advise against taking those quests with your set of skills." Tabitha added.

Once everyone arrived, we needed to head towards the northern gate to meet with the caravan. Before that, Kurt and Tabitha approached me.

"Guess this is goodbye for now. Good luck, Syl. If you need to contact me for advice or questions, feel free to reach out through a guild branch. Although any guild staff should be willing to answer your questions, especially once you're officially Silver rank." Tabitha said and gave me a big hug.

"Thanks for the help, Tabitha. I'm glad you put up with all my questions."

"Hey, it's the least I can do. I'm going to get a big raise once you reach Silver."

Kurt looked at me and gave a cheesy grin and thumbs up, "I'll catch up and meet you out in the world, Syl! Once I'm Silver, I'm heading out. Try to leave some monsters for me to kill."

I laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "I'll tell them to look out for Dualblade Kurt."

"Damn right!"

The group laughed and also said their farewells. It was a three-day trip, and the group would likely stay in Kaerlin for a bit before returning. When I enquired what we were protecting, I could only groan at the response - slime and mana potions.

The merchant was a portly-looking man named Darius. He was well-mannered and seemed excited by having his caravan protected by Roderick and a rare elven adventurer. If I had my chimeric evolution before joining the guild, I could have created an amalgam disguise for myself and avoided a lot of attention.

'Well, I can always do that when interacting outside the guild.'

"Are bandits really going to want to steal slime?" I asked Roderick, who was seated next to me on one of the wagons.

There were four carriages, with ours at the front. Whitney and Dewi occupied the rear carriage. Evan, being a healer, shared one with one of the merchants in the center. Roderick was handling the horse since I had no experience handling animals.

"You'd be surprised, lass. Mana potions can get pricey if they are high quality. More mana means more healing, more spells, more everything. Nobles have their kids chug the things like water so that they can raise their magic skills."

I nodded at the explanation and made sure to keep watch. Perhaps I'd gain some experience with [Perception]?

"Keep your eye out, but I don't think we will see anything until tomorrow. It's too close to town. So you can relax a bit," Roderick said.

It was boring, so I had plenty of time to practice [Mana Manipulation] while looking around. The occasional conversation with Roderick was welcome, and I was looking forward to camp tonight when I could discuss some magic with Dewi.

"So why are you out and about, if you don't mind me asking?"

I couldn't be honest here, but Gramps' suggestion did resonate with me, "I want to explore the world and fight a ton of interesting monsters. Learning more about magic seems interesting, so I might visit the guild that Dewi keeps going on about. I also want to go see the Dwarven Empire."

"That's quite the bucket list you've got there. Sounds like being an adventurer is the ticket to all of that. If you do visit the dwarves, a quick way to get into their good books is to offer them a good drink. The stronger, the better."

"Thanks. I appreciate all the advice you and your group have given me."

"I can't speak for the others, but I like raising new adventurers. It's why when I got asked to dial back on the adventuring, I knew raising the next generation would be my new goal."

"Like Kurt and myself?"

"Yeah, Kurt's getting there. Lad's certainly got the determination. I'd have him join our team officially if we weren't disbanding. Feels like a disservice to have him join only for a few months."

"That's a shame. Your group works well together."

"Yeah, but when we got together, we knew we all had greater ambitions than being adventurers in a small town. Dewi wants to join the Mages Guild as if that wasn't obvious. Evan's being recruited by one of the larger temples and wants to spread the healing around. Whitney's plan is private, so you'll have to ask her."

The rest of the day was uneventful, as Roderick had expected. We stopped to make camp. After showing me the supplies Tabitha had purchased for me, Roderick taught me the basics of setting up the small tent. I then had the group explain how they usually did watch rotations during the night to avoid ambushes.

'Well, when I'm solo, I'll just melt a hole to hide in. Much safer than all this.'

Chapter 69: Caravanning

During the evening, I had some magic tutoring with Dewi. I showed him my empowered [Fire Arrow] and [Acid Dart] as well as the modifications I had managed with [Water Whip]. He seemed reluctant to critique my customization of the water spell and was upset that I hadn't given the same love to my fire spell.

"Empowering a spell is a rather basic customization, and the sheer quantity you maintain without causing the spell to unravel is impressive. I'm just upset you haven't tried to tinker with it in other ways." Dewi bemoaned.

"She only recently got fire magic, though." Evan countered.

"I know..."

"I'm open to suggestions. When I saw the whip spell, it was relatively simple to come up with the idea of adding a ball of compressed water on the end. I'm basically just adding a [Water Ball] at the tip." I explained.

"Who the hell thinks to compress water?" Dewi asked.

"It's what happened when I empowered the [Water Ball] spell," I answered. Obviously, the real inspiration had come from treating the water like slime and my talents there, but I couldn't admit that.

"Sure, okay. But then, why haven't you tried to make a fire whip?"

"That sounds like a good idea to burn your hands." Evan commented, "Oh... I suddenly realize what happened to your hair and eyebrows when you first gained magic."

"With risk comes rewards." Dewi smirked, "Anyway, you could manifest the spell away from your hands. Or perhaps use that bubble spell to make a flame shield?"

"Oh sure, surround yourself in the magically fueled fire. What could possibly go wrong?" Evan said, dripping with sarcasm.

I pondered a bit, as it wasn't a bad idea. Thanks to the red slime core I had eaten, I was practically immune to fire now. However, it would be a more offensive shield than a defensive one, as I couldn't foresee it blocking any attacks.

"I didn't think I could use a spell from another affinity to construct a new spell. I thought creating a magical whip was something inherently special to water magic."

Dewi chuckled before answering, "Sorry, sometimes you're such a prodigy and do things so naturally that it's always surprising when you don't know the basics."

"I'd hardly call custom spells basic..." Evan shook his head.

"Anyway, think of the spells you've learned as patterns. Now, you just need to apply that same pattern to another element. Simple!"

Evan was about to say something before Dewi gagged him by slapping his hand across his mouth. His explanation made sense, and I was willing to try, although not in the way he wanted. I took the "pattern" for [Fire Arrow] in my mind and started to build it with water mana. After some trial and error and tweaking, eventually, I had a water arrow floating in my palm.

"See, I told you!" Dewi exclaimed triumphantly, "Although I was hoping you'd have made a fire whip."

"I'm not. I'd rather keep my hair." Evan said dryly, "Regardless of what insane expectations this hothead has, that is not a simple thing to do."

"Don't be so dramatic. I tried to do it the second I got my first Air spell." Dewi scoffed, "Besides, it looks like Syl has a decent level in [Mana Manipulation], so I had zero doubt."

Despite Dewi's begging, I didn't attempt the fire whip. If the spell went wrong, I didn't want to explain why I was unharmed by a backfired spell.

I ended up agreeing to take the midnight watch with Whitney, which proved extremely valuable as she gave me some tutoring in [Perception]. However, it brought up some bitter memories of the brief tutoring I received from the goblins. Whitney's skill must have been extremely high, as, by the end of the shift, I had gained a level up in the skill and two of my traits.

<Proficiency gained. [Perception LV 1] improved to [Perception LV 2].>

<Proficiency gained. [Dark Vision LV 3] improved to [Dark Vision LV 4].>

<Proficiency gained. [Thermal Vision LV 1] improved to [Thermal Vision LV 2].>

When I asked her about [Dark Vision] working together with [Perception], she seemed somewhat bitter.

"The final level was a bitch to get, but it was totally worth it." Whitney had said.

"You should also be on the lookout for a trait called [Eagle Vision]. From what I heard, it lets you see further, and if you've reached max level in a trait like [Dark Vision], then they work in conjunction."

"Did nobody at the guild have it?"

"Nope, not in a small town like ours. If you find it before me, you gotta show it to me."

Sadly, none of my profiles had the trait; otherwise, I would have shown it to her and purchased it myself. However, I hadn't eaten any birds since I did the water bath trap back in my early days.

This also made me wonder if I could fly if I ate a bird. I had wings from those pond bugs I could try enlarging, although it would need to wait until I was alone.

"Sure, I don't mind. Although I hope you'll reciprocate."

"Gladly. Frankly, as much as I love the guild, I don't like how some members hoard knowledge of rare traits and skills."

"Does it happen often?"

"Mostly just the companies. Occasionally, there's a Gold ranker who stumbled upon something amazing and flew through the ranks, but I can at least somewhat understand why they'd be reluctant to share their success."

"Companies?"

"They are almost like small guilds, or perhaps large parties would be more appropriate. They form groups amongst their own, provide private training, some even have their own contracted crafters."

During our watch, I spotted some wolves lurking in the dark, thanks to [Thermal Vision], and easily dispatched them by sniping them with some long-range [Acid Dart] spells. They were low-level and hardly worth the experience, but with them skulking around our camp, they clearly had ill intent.

'Wow. Things have changed if I'm considering leaving behind low-level monsters. Past me wouldn't ignore any source of experience or slime mass.'

I deposited them and harvested them when I had the privacy of my tent. I had taken each wolf out with a single spell aimed at the head, which ruined most of their fangs.

"Note to self: acid magic is bad if you want to keep harvestable materials."

During breakfast, we all debriefed our watches. Other than the few wolves I had spotted, there was nothing noteworthy.

"With all the death recently, I can imagine the forest is starting to swarm with new life." Roderick had mentioned.

"Should keep the rust ranks busy. Maybe our town will finally have more than ten silvers." Dewi chuckled.

It was about midday when I noticed something blocking the road up ahead. I climbed up to the top of the wagon to get a better vantage point and saw what appeared to be a makeshift barricade. I reported it to Roderick.

"That's rather brazen of them," Roderick commented, looking slightly surprised.

"Should I go ahead of the caravan and destroy the barricade?"

"You could. But it might be a trap to leave the caravan defenseless."

"I guess the other option is to proceed as a group, and I take out anyone approaching."

"More reasonable than leaving the caravan alone. Remember that is your quest goal. Lots of adventurers tend to get hotheaded and rush after glory."

"Actually, I have an idea too. Dewi did say I should practice some custom spells."

During one of our conversations, Dewi mentioned that elemental magic had a benefit over others in that you utilize existing materials to cast your spells. Normally, this was used to save mana, as it was far cheaper than creating water from scratch.

"Fire and Water is lucky in that it is rather cheap to cast, even if you create it. However, Air is the ultimate in efficiency as it's everywhere. Casting Earth magic from scratch, however, is extremely expensive." Dewi had said.

I planned to create a custom version of the [Bubble] spell on each caravan. Being classified as a buff spell, it would maintain itself until sufficiently damaged or its duration expired. I also still had a stupid quantity of water in my storage, which I now could put to good use. I went to the rear caravan for my first cast, which the rest of the group watched curiously.

I didn't care about the mana savings and wanted to get rid of the excess water, but it would simplify the spell a little if I could skip the creation portion. As I withdrew the water, I immediately started casting the spell, grabbing my [Sub-Cores] to help with the assistance. The formation flowed effortlessly with the backing of my five helpers, and I even added extra density to the water and some mana reinforcement since I had so much leeway with the spell. I likely could have made it even more impressive, but I worried about going too far.

The spell snapped into place and formed a clear bubble focused on the caravan, large enough to encompass the entire entity and include the horses. I was honestly very happy with the results. I explained that it would follow the focus point and that projectiles could easily pass outwards. I also explained that in the dungeon, it could easily block skeletons but not zombies, although I wasn't completely sure about the strength of this modification.

"Damn... I was worried about her being corrupted, but I forgot about myself." I overheard Dewi mumbling.

"What do you mean?" Whitney asked.

"Kurt was right. These water spells are pretty awesome."

"Guess you should swap your experience distribution and get Water affinity next." Whitney chuckled.

I cast a spell on the remaining two caravans, each now protected by a bubble, before finally going to my caravan and casting it. I didn't want to test whether I could modify the spell to allow entry after casting it, so I just saved ours for last.

"Very impressive spellwork there," Roderick commented when I returned, "and good thinking."

"I think I might have accidentally converted Dewi to Water magic," I said with a chuckle.

"Now that is bloody hilarious."

I took position on top, on the lookout for any approaching danger. Roderick had warned me not to hesitate if anyone approached, and I said I'd melt the barricade once we got close enough.

"I'm just glad you didn't say you'd immediately explode it with a fireball. Dodging burning debris raining down is not fun."

Chapter 70: Bandits

The caravan continued down the road as the crude blockade approached. Syl stood atop warily, looking around for any approaching hostiles. Roderick almost felt sorry for whatever brigands decided to ambush the merchants, as they likely had no idea what they were dealing with. Roderick had seen an impressive magic cast like this before, so he was no stranger to the wonders possible through enough mana and dedication, but never had he witnessed it used so casually. When they were within shouting range of the barricade, a lone man stood atop it and yelled at the group.

"Surrender your goods, and we'll let you live!" He demanded.

"Do I offer them surrender?" Syl whispered.

"You can, but they are dead either way. Banditry receives the death penalty, and they know that." Roderick answered.

She seemed to think briefly before nodding and raising her hand. Multiple luminescent green magic darts formed and fired rapidly at the barrier.

"Shit! Fire at will, men!" The man screamed before one of the projectiles struck him.

Arrows began to rain down from behind the barricade, but all the projectiles harmlessly bounced off the bubble spell. Tarps began to lift off, with men hiding in the holes. Roderick overheard Syl muttering a complaint about her [Perception] skill not being high enough. Roderick was ready to intervene but halted when he saw a water ball flying toward one of the holes. Despite its small size, when it collided, it erupted into a massive torrent of water, flinging the bandits across the ground, and one body even bounced off the bubble.

"Gods. So much water in such a tiny ball. No wonder she's tempting Dewi." Roderick chuckled.

Syl cast her spells with brutal efficiency, and Roderick was rapidly beginning to understand why Harris was so concerned. This was one elf who had seemingly never touched magic before. Imagine what a Grand Magus or Archwizard could do.

'I'm glad she's on our side.'

A few bandits reached one of the bubbles, but their attacks couldn't penetrate the magic defense. Roderick noted that they were barely above level five. Syl took out the ones near the bubbles with arrows from her enchanted bow. Roderick thought the dungeon must have sensed her former archery skills and rewarded her appropriately as the deadly bow easily took life after life.

'I bet those archery skills took out the Forest King. I'd almost say it's scarier than her magic, with how she hasn't missed a vital point.' Roderick thought to himself.

"Come on, Syl, where's the fire magic?" Dewi shouted nonchalantly.

"I'm worried it might damage the bubbles!" Syl responded, finishing off the last melee combatant.

The remaining bandits were cowering behind the rapidly melting remains of their barricade.

"We surrender!" one of the men screamed, dropping to his knees.

Syl turned towards Roderick with a questioning look, but he shook his head.

'I'm glad she has a conscience, even if it is bandit scum. I hope nobody takes advantage of her goodwill.' Roderick thought.

He was also relieved that she took the quickest method to execute them, an arrow to a critical vital. Some adventurers liked to drag it out, which was unfortunately understandable when you'd witnessed some of their more gruesome crimes, and Syl could easily do that with her corrosion magic.

Once the last of the bandits were dealt with, Syl melted down the last of the barricade and then washed away any remaining acid from the path. Roderick was about to question why she was doing that when he realized it might have harmed the animals or even damaged the caravan.

'Well, she's certainly getting full marks.' He thought with a chuckle.

"I think that's all of them. I can't sense any others." Syl said, looking around.

"You got all of them. I'm a little sad you didn't notice the tarps covered in dirt. I might have had to intervene if you didn't set up the barriers beforehand." Whitney answered.

Everyone helped loot the bandits and gathered the remains together for a pyre. Syl's fire kept going out unless she maintained it with mana, so Dewi stepped in and cast a higher-level fire spell, which scorched the remains into ash.

"If you leave too many corpses, there's a chance they will rise as undead if there's too much essence in an area," Roderick explained when Syl questioned why they were burning the bodies.

The rest of the day's journey was uneventful. Darius and his staff thanked Syl profusely for the protection and watched in awe when she dispelled all four bubbles in a burst of water upwards, leaving a small rainbow.

When the coast was looking clear, Dewi even walked alongside the caravan to hound Syl for an explanation of her water explosion spell. The explanation of compressing water went over Roderick's head, but Dewi seemed entranced by the explanation. Dewi proposed that maybe she was raising the water mana's concentration, but Syl just shrugged and said it felt like compression to her.

'Thank the Gods, I'm not a mage.' Roderick chuckled to himself.

In return, Dewi explained how he had been manipulating Fire mana and what he'd managed to do so far. Again, the conversation went over his head, but both seemed pleased with the knowledge transfer.

'To think she's cooling down our resident hothead when he was trying to convert her to a pyromaniac.' Roderick chuckled to himself.

Syl gladly volunteered for the late watch with Whitney again to get some more [Perception] tutoring. Her diligence was outstanding, and Roderick could only hope that when he joined the guild staff, he'd get such enthused future adventurers.

It was only his party around the campfire, and he wanted to hear their opinions on the attack. Syl might be able to overhear them, as it was rumored that those pointy ears could hear a pin drop, but he wasn't concerned if she did.

"So. What did everyone think of her job?" Roderick asked, breaking the ice.

"Perfect marks from me. Any fight without a single injury is a blessing." Evan responded honestly.

"The only thing I could knock her on was not spotting the hidden bandits or the scouts that spotted us beforehand. But considering her precaution with the shields, it was irrelevant, and as soon as she gets some more levels in [Perception], it'll be a non-issue." Whitney responded.

"Overwhelming magical superiority." Dewi declared, "The lack of fire was disheartening, but as Syl herself said, it might have disturbed the shielding since they are opposite elements. I'd have no problem dealing with that many bandits, but not so cleanly or quietly."

"I liked that she swapped to a bow when they got too close to the bubble. She didn't want to risk her magic breaking it." Evan added.

"Her bow work was amazing. When we were gathering the dead, I noticed every single hit was a vital shot." Whitney added.

Dewi was about to open his mouth, but she beat him to the punch, "Bla bla bla, don't tempt her away from magic." Whitney said with a cheeky smirk, "Her magic shield protected everyone. Nobody is going to try to sway her, but this helps explain how she dealt with so many forest monsters."

"Indeed. This was beyond her demonstration when we were against the wolves." Roderick commented.

"Well. We gave her a junk bow, and she was recently a prisoner. Can't exactly blame her for not being her best." Evan pointed out.

"Kurt said she was looking into skill fusions like Attack Mastery." Whitney answered, "If they fused for a higher rank, it might explain the better performance."

"Ranged, Accuracy, Magic..." Dewi started counting off with his fingers, "Melee?"

"With how much Kurt was bragging about those water flails, no doubt," Whitney answered.

Dewi whistled, "Must be some nice bonuses all added together."

"So you've heard our thoughts. What about you, Roderick?" Evan asked.

Roderick sighed. He wasn't happy because his complaint sounded like nitpicking or attacking her character, but it was true in the harsh world, "My only concern is that she's too naive. When the bandits surrendered, she wanted to give them mercy. I worry that attitude will lead to her being taken advantage of, or worse, a knife to the back."

The group remained silent while they pondered Roderick's words. Evan was the first to break the silence, "I agree. She's probably better off working solo jobs or auxiliary roles in bigger operations than joining a dedicated group."

"Yeah, I can imagine some asshole not sharing the loot with her, and she'd think it was normal. The guild automatically splits quest rewards, but any bonus loot or treasure is unmoderated." Whitney added with a hint of frustration, "Running solo would certainly let her put her stealth skills to use as well."

"And then she doesn't have to worry about collateral damage." Dewi said nonchalantly, "As much as I love you guys, not needing to worry about blast radiuses is so much fun."

That earned him a slap from Whitney, although mostly in jest. They continued to chat throughout the night. About their plans in Kaerlin and teasing Roderick about his upcoming wedding. Until Whitney excused herself to take a nap before her watch was due.

I woke up eager for my watch duty with Whitney. The day had felt like a bust, and I gained almost nothing from that encounter, so I hoped to salvage something with some [Perception] tutoring. All the bandits put together gave me one class level, and even my customized bubble spell hadn't leveled up my water magic. My single class level didn't even give me a revelation.

'Well, at least I proved it was possible to improve the spell. And at least the chat with Dewi was fruitful.'

Dewi had pointed out that another way to modify a spell was to split it into multiple projectiles. So far, my spell modifications have only conformed to the principle "bigger is better.". I would have thought multiple projectiles would have fallen under multicasting. Dewi admitted he also had the same thought until he reached [Fire Magic LV 6] and received the spell [Fireflies], which created hundreds of tiny little flames with a single casting.

"When I first got the spell, I had thought I got scammed." Dewi had admitted, "I mean, the previous level was [Fireball]! I was expecting something with more oomph, but then I realized I was being taught the building blocks of splitting a single spell into multiple projectiles."

He demonstrated this by forming five fire arrows in a single casting. I had tried to replicate it by creating two water orbs, but it was tricky even with me observing it firsthand. Dewi had hoped that by showing it to me early, I'd find some success before one of my learned spells installed the knowledge directly.

Likewise, he couldn't understand compression, as it baffled him, and even when I demonstrated it to him multiple times, he couldn't replicate it. He also said what I was doing seemed physically impossible, but it was happening right before him, so he couldn't deny it. He also theorized that, in reality, I was compressing the water mana and not the physical water.

'It's too bad I couldn't just tell him that I had gotten the inspiration from my old [Slime Density] trait.' I thought bitterly.

I did wonder if I'd ever feel comfortable enough revealing my actual race to someone. Would they believe me if I said I wouldn't go evolution crazy? Maybe I could build up a positive reputation in the guild. Or the alternative is to get strong enough that revealing myself wouldn't put me at risk.

'Well, that's for future me to worry about.'

Chapter 71: Silver Rank

This time, our evening watch went uninterrupted by wolves, and the night seemed peacefully calm. I graciously received more advice and tutoring from Whitney on my [Perception] skill, and she also said tomorrow, since an attack was unlikely, she would give me some locks and tools to practice [Rogue Expertise] on.

During the last leg of the journey, Roderick agreed to swap seats with Whitney, and I got to work on trying to pick the locks. After succeeding a few times, she handed me a strange metal object, instructed me to dismantle it, and then put it back together. It took a lot of trial and error, but eventually, I was successful and instantly rewarded.

<Proficiency gained. [Rogue Expertise LV 1] improved to [Rogue Expertise LV 2].>

The tutoring bonus was no joke, and after discussing it with Whitney a bit, she also said she was exploiting the first-time bonus.

"Whenever I meet a new smith, I ask them to make a lock and ask if they have any blacksmith puzzles. No matter their skill level, it's triggering the first-time bonus."

I thanked Whitney for the valuable nugget of information, but she brushed it off, saying it was the least she could do after I supplied her with such fine daggers.

Eventually, Kaerlin came into sight, and it was massive. I stared in awe at the city, which seemed circular in design and surrounded by an outer and inner wall. Whitney explained that since Kaerlin didn't have a dungeon to regulate essence flow, there was more monster activity, so the city required much sturdier fortification.

We had to show our guild tags at the gate to gain entry, and unfortunately, I was attracting a lot of unwanted attention. I seriously needed to consider creating a human disguise. Before we left for the guild, Darius and Roderick approached me.

Darius thanked me profusely for protecting his shipment and wondered if I'd be willing to be hired for the return journey in a week. Roderick politely refused for me and said that his group would gladly take the quest. Darius seemed a bit disappointed but eventually marked my job done.

<Quest complete. Payment has been deposited into your account.>

I was surprised that I didn't even need to return to the guild to be paid, although we were still going there to report in and for me to receive my Silver promotion. During the trip, Roderick explained that one of the reasons for the quest system behaving like this was to reward any final heroic deeds. Since your guild savings could be left behind in a will to your next of kin, it could encourage someone to give a last-ditch effort to defeat a disastrous monster.

"Doesn't that encourage people to be suicidal?" I questioned.

"Possibly for some truly desperate. But the intent was that if you were going to die anyway, rather go out in a blaze of glory than a quiet whimper." Roderick said proudly.

Kaerlin was crammed with people—it actually made me feel uncomfortable. I followed the group closely to avoid losing them in the crowd. The adventurers guild was located against the inner wall, supposedly for the convenience of the city's inner circle inhabitants. The building was massive, easily dwarfing the town's branch. The group chuckled at my surprise.

"This isn't even one of the biggest guilds." Dewi pointed out.

We entered and officially reported our arrival, which was the polite and recommended thing to do when first arriving. Then, the others went to find an inn, leaving only me and Roderick behind. Roderick took me to the second floor, where we sat inside a well-decorated room and waited for a guild staff member to arrive.

Thankfully, we didn't wait long before a tall woman with short raven black hair entered the door. I estimated she was older than Roderick but younger than Harris. Although her armor looked light, it brimmed with mana, and sheathed at her waist was a long and thin blade. I could see it crackling with a thick and yellow mana.

<Lisa [Guild Master]; Human LV 28; Thunder Blade LV 50.>

'Wow, the guild doesn't joke around if it can crank out high levels like this.'

Both she and Roderick immediately cracked smiles at seeing one another and embraced in a friendly hug.

"Roderick, you bastard, good to see you still kicking around!"

"I've still got a few quests left in me before I settle down for my desk job."

"I still think you should at least get to Gold, but I guess slime town doesn't mind."

"Hey, you won't be mocking slime town soon when our Silvers go loose on the world."

"Well, that's certainly one way to increase your guild master's salary."

She then turned to me and gave me a lookover.

"And fate dropped an elf on your doorstep. I swear the other guilds will be livid at your luck for getting her to register."

Roderick must have channeled Kurt and Whitney combined as he gave the smug grin before replying, "Oh, you have no idea."

"I'm Lisa. Nice to meet you." She said, offering a handshake.

I got up to shake her hand, "Syl. Nice to meet you, Lisa."

We all reseated ourselves, and Roderick handed over some documentation to Lisa. She took a moment to read it.

"Very nice. You more than qualify for Silver rank, and both Harris and Roderick are backing you." She said, "Also, it's nice to see another hybrid class, as I got a lot of flack for picking one myself. It's always nice to prove others wrong."

"I'm assuming Warrior and Mage rather than Rogue like my own," I questioned.

"Yeah. My parents wanted me to be a Mage since I had Lightning Affinity. But I couldn't meet the expectations of the Mage's Guild, so I became an adventurer. I was always strong and liked swords, so I decided to become a warrior, and my party was grooming me to be their tank. One thing led to another, and I ended up unlocking Spellblade. I took it and was kicked out of the party, did some solo adventuring, built a name for myself, then landed up running this joint."

"Are hybrid classes that hated that you'd be kicked out just for picking one?"

"No, but I was the sixth member and specifically recruited because they expected me to eventually fulfill the tank role. I've never had my class offer me a [Taunt] skill, and even though I could get someone to show it to me, I wouldn't be able to fit the role anymore. I honestly can't blame them for kicking me."

"Yeah, the healer and tank role is crucial in long-term groups. There can be plenty of politics, drama, and poaching." Roderick added, "You're lucky in that regard, lass, although unfortunately, I can imagine many parties trying to recruit you just for the wow factor of having an elf on their team."

"I can see why Whitney recommended I stay solo for a while," I muttered. Roderick nodded in agreement.

"It worked for me. Considering you also soloed a dungeon, I can easily see it working for you." Lisa said, "Plus, most Rogues hate when they can't sneak past things due to their noisy party."

Roderick gave a brief rundown of what happened during our trip. Lisa nodded along and then smiled as she reached into her pouch and pulled out a silver chain attached to an ornate-looking crystal.

"Well, I've heard enough. Welcome to Silver rank, Syl. Here's your new tag." She said happily and slammed it down on the table, "Now pull out your old tag so we can transfer it over."

I pulled out my tag and placed it next to the new one. The cheap coppery chain was easily noticeable compared to the silver, and the crystal was noticeably smaller and lacked any engravings or sigils. With a casual wave of her hand, both crystals shone bright. The old crystal was the first to go dark, followed shortly by the new one.

"And you're officially promoted to Silver," Lisa said, gesturing for me to claim the new tag.

I picked it up and promptly wore it. I also updated my equipment profiles to use the new necklace. Lisa briefly went over the benefits of my latest tag. It could hold up to three quests, be used to make transactions, and, most shockingly, interact with the [Mapping] skill. If my quest had a location or area in particular, I could filter that info into [Mapping]. At my current level, it would only give a sense of direction, but Lisa said later levels of the skill gave a visual map. Likewise, if I were in a party with other Silver-ranked or above members, they would appear on my [Mapping] skill.

"If this is what I get for Silver, I can't imagine what Gold or Platinum get."

"I won't spoil the surprise," Lisa said with a wink.

Silver also came with other benefits. I would have a higher selection of quests available and be granted entry to any guild-managed higher-level dungeons. I could also access the guild's knowledge library, although some of it was restricted to higher ranks, and make requests from the guild's craftsmen, information brokers, and so forth. The rates were usually cheaper than third parties, but sometimes, you simply had to go elsewhere if you wanted truly unique or specialized services.

"I'm assigning Luke to be your handler while you are here. He's a little on the young side, but he grew up here and is a polite, hard worker. When you come in tomorrow, ask one of the receptionists for him." Lisa said, "Are there any quests in particular you're interested in or specialized in?"

"I'd say monster extermination, especially any with rare or harvestable parts," Roderick informed.

"Oh? Someone actually bothered to learn the [Dissection] skill?" Lisa asked with intrigue.

Roderick laughed heartily, "Lass, you gotta show her. I bet you'll blow her mind."

I shrugged and pulled out a few of the harvested wolf parts and the Gigatoad hide. I wanted to sell my parts anyway so I could potentially buy a slime core. Lisa looked frantically between the materials and stared at me.

"Good prank, Roderick," Lisa said with a chuckle.

"It's no prank. I gave her a carcass, and a few moments later, she popped out with it harvested. She even somehow salvaged the fur."

"A looting skill?" Lisa mumbled to herself.

"Looting skill?" I questioned.

"An extremely rare skill given by the Gods. Usually at birth or by doing some major accomplishment." Lisa answered, "It turns monster corpses into treasure, but it can only be done shortly after their death before their essence leaks out."

I shook my head before answering, "That sounds amazing, but I don't have anything like that. I can't give the details, but it involves [Dissection]." I answered.

"I can confirm that, as the corpse I gave her was already starting to rot," Roderick added.

"Why the hell are you even bothering with adventuring?" Lisa answered with utter honesty.

"I want to explore the world. Not to mention the experience." I answered.

"Spoken like a true adventurer." Roderick laughed.

I dumped all my materials onto the table, as Lisa said the guild would pay for it all. I kept the evolved badger and bear parts, as I'd planned to hand those in after doing some questing. Besides the Gigatoad, it was just a few bear, boar, and wolf parts. Lisa said I could expect it to all be deposited into my account promptly.

We finally left the guild and started walking to the nearby inn where we would be staying. Roderick had said it was a little pricier but worth it for the safety and convenient proximity to the guild. Also, much to my disappointment, he admitted that the food was not as good as Trevor's.

'Damn...'

Chapter 72: Books

We had a bit of a celebratory dinner at the inn for my promotion. Roderick's retelling of Lisa's reaction was full of amusement, and the rest of his party laughed along.

Whitney asked if we would be questing together while they were in the city, but Roderick had advised against it. He said that regardless of my actual contributions, it would be seen as their party babysitting me and would be bad for his and Lisa's reputation for approving my promotion.

I lay down in my bed and sighed. Everything since the goblins had felt like a rush lately, although part of that was my fault for rushing into the dungeon. Part of me wondered if I should try to tell them the truth, Whitney might accept it, as she seemed closer to me than the others for some reason. Dewi was another candidate, as his fascination with magic and knowledge might be enough to sway him. I could even try to bribe him with mana potions.

<Syl. Silver Rank Adventurer.>

Using [Identify] on my tag revealed my name and rank, likely to avoid people faking it by swapping the chain. Progressing through the guild seemed to hold a lot of benefits, and their interactions with the system and skills were fascinating. Could I make myself so reputable that my true origins wouldn't even matter? The counter to that would be that I'd be so valuable I couldn't be allowed to roam free.

When I woke up, I skipped breakfast, as this inn didn't include it with the room. The others hadn't woken up yet, so I headed to the guild to see if I could meet Luke and find an interesting monster to eat. I asked the receptionist to meet him, but apparently, his shift wouldn't start for another hour. I instead asked if I could see the library, and after confirming my Silver rank, they led me to a large room filled with books.

I was introduced to the librarian and stared in shock at the shortest man I'd ever seen. He had a wispy black beard that nearly touched the floor, was stout, and was built like a rock.

<Thern [Guild Staff]; Dwarf LV 24; Glyph Mage LV 28.>

'A dwarf!' I thought to myself.

"Gods, an actual elf left the bloody forest!" The dwarf interrupted my thoughts, "I thought I had drank too much when I heard the rumors yesterday."

He slapped himself as if to check that he wasn't still drunk, then blinked a few times, examining me closely.

"Nope. You're real, or I'm dead drunk."

"I'm Syl. Nice to meet you."

"Fuck, and you're polite? Aren't all you tree huggers hoity toity with a twig up your arse?" He slapped himself again.

I could only stare in confusion as the dwarf continued to slap himself. I wasn't sure if beating yourself up could sober you up. I recalled Roderick telling me that dwarves loved alcohol, so I withdrew one of my canteens inside myself and added a hefty amount of ethanol to the contents, then faked withdrawing it from my pouch. I offered the canteen to the dwarf.

"What's this pigwash you're offering me?" He asked, taking a big sniff, and his eyes widened in surprise, "And you know dwarf custom as well? I must be dreaming."

He took a swig and stumbled. I immediately cursed mentally. Did I screw up? I mean, it came from a trait labeled [Poison Slime]. While my mind was frantically going through escape plans and disposing of the evidence, the dwarf corrected himself and looked at me with a big grin plastered on his face.

"Gods, that's a powerful drink, no flavor and pure kick." He said with a hearty chuckle. He took another swig and then slapped his desk repeatedly.

"I feel like a mule just kicked me in the head!" He said, although, despite his words, he seemed pleased.

'Who the hell wants a mule to kick them in the head?'

"If you're drinking this stuff, I swear you must be a reincarnated dwarf trapped in an elf body." He gave a hearty chuckle, "At first, I didn't like how it sticks to the back of the throat, but I think it's growing on me. Honestly, it's extremely thick, like trying to drink custard. I guess maybe that's why it's so potent."

'Oh... I forgot to lower the density of it; I'm so used to compressing my slime automatically now I assume it's my default.'

"Glad you liked it."

"Like it? I love it. I think you give this to any dwarf, and as long as they aren't a sissy, they'd love it." He slapped his belly and gave another hearty laugh, "Names Thern. Sorry for being rude earlier. I'd never met an elf before, but my pa did and said it was truly unpleasant."

I felt shell-shocked at how quickly his attitude flipped. One minute, he was cursing at me, and after just a few sips, he was still cursing, but now I was like his best friend. I'd need to thank Roderick for his advice.

"Nice to meet you, Thern. You're the first dwarf I've ever met, so I didn't know what to expect. But an adventurer friend advised me to break the ice with alcohol."

"Ha! I'd kiss your friend if I ever met him. Damn good advice. So, what can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for information on slimes. Locations, preferably nearby, so I can hunt them. Also, information on any that can be used as mana catalysts."

"Slimes, hey? Interesting... They do make good catalysts since they are usually very pure, although killing one while keeping the core intact is tough."

He pulled out a ledger and started going through it. He confirmed my rank and then started marking down books. In the end, he gave me three books. Two seemed to be sort of a bestiary of monsters, and the final book was a rudimentary introduction to mana catalysts.

"There are more, but sadly, you're limited by your Silver rank."

"Speaking of silver, I heard the slimes can be used to make earth catalysts."

"Ha! As if anyone would be dumb enough to use them for that." Thern chuckled, then noticed I wasn't joining in on the laughter, "You're serious?"

"Yes. I'd really like to get a silver core."

Thern scratched his beard, "I mean... If it's just a core and not a live slime..." He started murmuring and pulling more and more at his beard, "Maybe if you had barrels and barrels of this alcohol."

"How many barrels." I immediately answered, "I can make it happen."

Thern seemed a bit shocked at my sudden answer. He scratched his beard deep in thought, "At least ten, possibly twenty..."

"Done."

"Calm down, girl! Bloody hells." He shook his head and took another swig, "Look... I'm not exactly high up in the dwarven community, but my pa has some connections. I planned on going home for a vacation in two months, but I could push it back to three months and take you along."

"I'd love to visit the Dwarven Empire." I replied excitedly, "Why push it back, though?"

"Well, if you can make Gold rank in two months, I won't have to."

"Why would I need to be Gold rank, though?"

"The empire doesn't let non-dwarf adventurers enter unless they are at a minimum Gold rank or a non-combat class. Dems the rules. You'll also need to grease a few palms, and being Gold would go a long way to help that."

"I guess I'll have to speak to Luke about that."

"Good plan. Luke's a good kid."

I spent the next while rapidly paging through the books, using all my cores to search for any mention of the word slime. The catalyst book sadly didn't go beyond the basic elements, and slime catalysts were absent beyond water and fire. Us blue slimes could be used as a water catalyst, but the author lambasted it as extremely wasteful and would harm the mana potion industry.

The first bestiary dealt with Iron to Bronze rank monsters, and it only mentioned blue, green, and purple slimes. The blue entry included a detailed description of capturing and transporting one safely. I had to resist the urge to destroy the page. For the other book, it mentioned red, white, and yellow. I found it a bit odd it didn't mention silver and pink. I was getting a little disappointed until, near the end, there was a page on orange slime. I eagerly read it.

Orange slimes are exclusively found in Silver-rank and above dungeons. They are currently rated an upper Silver-rank threat. Orange slimes do not engage directly and instead lay traps by coating areas of the dungeon in their slime mass, which they can remotely detonate at will. The slime is usually a dull orange when inert and glows brightly when detonation is imminent.

DO NOT walk over orange slime patches, even if you feel the slime is far away, as they have an innate tremor sense and can feel your steps throughout the dungeon. It is recommended to take another path than walk down a trapped hallway. If you must pass through its territory, then sufficient quantities of water can wash away the slime in an emergency. The ideal solution is using Ice spells, which will render it permanently inert by freezing it.

Initially, they were considered a Gold-rank threat but were reduced as they don't actively hunt outside their territory and can be entirely avoided with a little common sense. Praise the Gods that they do not spawn naturally in the outside world. Currently, there is no known use for their slime or cores.

Another slime I had to add to the list, although perhaps only once I had obtained a white slime and presumably ice magic. Although, if I did encounter one, I could wash it away. I placed the three books back on the desk with Thern.

"I'm surprised there doesn't seem to be a slime catalyst for air."

"Perhaps from one of the mutations? Maybe one of the slimes on a floating island." Thern replied.

"Are there any floating islands nearby?"

"There is one that can float within a few day's travel of the city. Thankfully, its usual path doesn't float over the city, or we'd have to worry about monsters raining down on us."

He consulted his ledger, went for a stack of scrolls, started looking through one, and then looked at a calendar. "Should be within range in a week or two. It floats to the West of the city. Good luck chartering a flight."

"How does one usually get to one?"

"The magical route is making good friends with an advanced air mage. Otherwise, a monster tamer who's tamed a large enough flying beastie."

'Well, I can hopefully just fly myself.'

"Assuming I could find a method, are there any restrictions?"

"No, just getting onto one is trouble enough. They are almost like mini-dungeon ecosystems with all the unregulated essence and can be quite dangerous."

"Well. I guess I better start working on getting to Gold. Thanks for the help, Thern."

"Always happy to help someone who shares booze as good as this! I can't wait to tell my pa we might be having an elf visiting. He's gonna lose his shit."

I thanked him and let him keep the canteen. I said I'd bring him a refill when I came next to visit, and the pure joy on his face was quite a sight. I left the library and hoped that Luke was finally in.

Chapter 73: Quests

I had lost track of time in the library as Luke had arrived for at least an hour or two. I decided I'd ask Luke if there was a skill for keeping track of time, and it would certainly help if I chose to live in a dungeon or cave for a while and eventually return to civilized society. Luke was a short boy, probably no older than fifteen. As if showing the wealth difference between branches, this branch had individual booths engraved with sigils that dampened sounds to prevent eavesdropping. Luke also offered to take me to a private room if I felt the sigils weren't good enough, although he personally vouched for them.

"So Miss Syl, Master Lisa tells me to emphasize jobs with harvestable monsters, but do you have any preferences or a particular fighting style?" Luke asked, "You can be vague if you want, but it helps to prevent sending a Nature Mage against any monsters with fire abilities or warriors against ghosts, for example. I'm sworn to secrecy, on my honor and Master Lisa's."

I blinked slowly at the endless words coming from the boy's mouth, "No problem, Luke. Offensively, I've got Water and Fire magic. I'm also good with sneaking and can use a bow in a pinch."

I decided to keep my Corrosion magic a secret for now. I mostly wanted to see if the other branch has shared that knowledge with this one. Luke took in my words and nodded as he shuffled through some parchment.

"I think I got one that's perfect for your Water magic... There's a small silver mine nearby, which was invaded by a salamander." Luke began, "Their scales are worth a lot, although they can be tricky to harvest. The only issue is they breathe fire and can be exceptionally deadly. How good are you at dealing with fire?"

'I mean, I'm practically immune.' I chuckled to myself.

"Not an issue. I can handle some fire."

"Noted, just be careful. I'd even recommend buying a Fire resistance potion if you don't have one already." Luke warned, "But thankfully, they are rather weak in vitality, and if you can bypass its defensive scales, they go down rather easy. Drowning it with Water magic is another option."

<Quest accepted: Exterminate Salamander in Kaerlin Mine. Silver rank.>

"Since you are heading in the area, you might as well take a general extermination quest for rock elementals. If you can harvest their mana crystals, they are worth a lot, and the miners will be thankful." Luke also said, pulling out another piece of parchment, "They are slow, so easy to deal with by any good mage. Their cores can be a bit fragile, so be careful when you're harvesting."

I couldn't see any reason not to, so I also accepted it. I'd likely kill any monsters whether I had a quest or not, so it was nice to be paid for the effort.

<Quest accepted: Exterminate Rock Elementals (5) in the Kaerlin Mine area. Silver rank.>

After a moment of looking through his documents, he found a final quest for me, "You're not scared of spiders, are you?" He asked, and when I shook my head, he smiled, "Since you have Fire magic, these should be easy for you. You can burn their nests and get quite a few easy kills."

<Quest accepted: Exterminate Spiders (20) in the Kaerlin Mine area. Bronze-Silver rank.>

"Twenty seems like a big jump in numbers compared to the elementals?" I queried.

"Ah yes, this quest is a bit variable; Silver rank spiders will count as five, Bronze will count as two, and Iron will count as one. Your guild tag will allocate them all automatically, so you don't need to worry about that."

"That's certainly convenient. Thanks a lot for the quest advice, Luke."

He blushed and smiled, "No problem at all, Miss Syl. I'm just doing my job. Do you have any other questions or requests?"

I nodded and asked if there was a skill or trait that helped with keeping track of the time. Luke nodded and fetched an older staff member to show it to me, as since he was so young, he didn't have the points to spare on a utility skill. The skill was simple; it was called [Time Keeper], unranked, and thus likely only available through purchase. The trait felt a little barebone as it told you the current time, and you could also use it to set a timer. I didn't purchase it, but I was glad to have the option now.

For my request, I asked if the guild could find me any slime magic catalysts and noted I was looking for Ice and Lightning in particular, although I'd gladly take any that wasn't water. I'd gladly take some free levels in any of my other slime traits. Luke nodded and said he'd check in with the supplies and local stores for me, and it would only cost a minor finders fee. I mentioned that I'd gladly take even a raw slime core, as it might be easier to find than a finished product.

I thanked Luke for his time and hoped he'd be successful. I told him to let Lisa and Roderick know I was heading out if they asked for me. When I was leaving the guild, a few adventurers approached me to ask if I wanted to join them on their quests or if I needed any help on my own. Roderick had warned me that this was very likely, not only due to being an elf but also due to my high levels and unique class.

"Sorry, I'm running solo for a bit until I can establish myself. Thanks for the offers, though. Maybe next time?" I responded, and thankfully, they all seemed to accept that response. Once again, I made a mental note to thank Roderick for his advice. At least I got two skills out of it, although I had started to ignore Gamma's constant notifications and promptly raised the levels on the filters to above twenty.

<Proficiency gained. [Identify LV 3] improved to [Identify LV 4].>

When I activated my [Mapping] skill, I could feel three tugs pulling me northward. Navigating through the city was easier than expected as I continuously walked towards one of the large gates I could see in the distance.

To avoid attention, I used [Vanish] while walking. Whitney had recommended it to me during one of our watchtime conversations as a good way to avoid unwanted attention, as the presence obscuring would work even if I wasn't actively trying to stealth away.

"It makes the average person sort of overlook you - it's very convenient. Although anyone with even a smidgeon of [Perception] will see right through you."

I was just glad to stop having people staring and pointing at me. When I reached the gate, I dropped [Vanish], startling some of the commonfolk, and presented my tag to the guards. My silver tag seemed to cause some recognition amongst the guards, and they hastened my exit approval. I wondered what their reaction would be if I was Gold rank.

Once I was beyond the wall, I proceeded at a light jog before eventually sprinting towards my quest marker as if it were a glowing beacon in the distance. If I compared this to hunting in the forest and randomly looking for prey, it felt like a joke due to the convenience.

'And then they will pay me for doing the job. Not to mention the reward for harvesting it, which I'd do anyway.'

Much to my frustration, people were on the road, so I couldn't just drop my disguise. I received some waves and cheers as I ran past, clearly showing the popularity of adventurers. Luke told me I would travel north along the road, which eventually forked towards the mine. If I walked, the total travel distance was about half a day's journey.

I had the benefit of infinite stamina, but I still hoped I'd eventually get Wind affinity for even speedier travel. Although I was already zooming with [Mana Reinforcement] on my legs combined with my mimicked agility traits.

Along the path, I saw a group of travelers assaulted by large greyish creatures. They had snouts and large tusks on their heads but were fat and humanoid-looking. My immediate thought was they were some strange evolution of boars.

<Gurk; Orc LV 5; Barbarian LV 12.>

<Bork; Orc LV 8; Barbarian LV 15.>

<Flurk; Orc LV 4; Shaman LV 8.>

'So those are orcs? Strange and hideous creatures.'

The two guards were struggling, so I grabbed my bow to aid them. I would have cast a spell, but I was worried about casting into melee. I quickly nocked an arrow and fired it at the eye of one of the orcs. My shot landed perfectly, although the orc barely shrugged at the wound.

"Oi! Some bastard shot my eye!"

"Shut up, Gurk, you still have one more!"

"Get back! I'll deal with them!" I shouted to the two guards, who seemed relieved at my appearance.

"Look, Bork, it's a pretty lady."

"I can see that, Flurk."

"I can't."

"Use your other eye, you idiot!"

"...Right, sorry."

I tried firing more arrows, but now that they were looking at me, they blocked their vitals with their arms. The arrows still struck, and I could see the blood, but they just seemed to shrug it off.

"She's a feisty one, ain't she?"

"Would make a good wife."

"She's too small for you two, I call dibs."

"You the smallest. You can't call dibs."

The humans had thankfully backed away from the orcs during my distraction. I was feeling quite repulsed by these creatures. It was no wonder the humans didn't trust us monsters if this was what the other intelligent monsters had to offer. The level of intelligence here was highly questionable, though.

The shaman waved his hands and launched a rock at me, which I dodged with a quick sidestep. I then rapidly channeled an empowered [Fire Arrow], aided by my [Sub-Cores], and launched it at the shaman.

"Oi, she's magic too!" The shaman shouted before the fiery bolt pierced into his chest cavity. He staggered backward and was trying to rip the flaming bolt out of his chest. I quickly fired two more, and he went down.

"Ha! Can't call dibs if you dead!" One of the orcs shouted and kicked the smoldering corpse.

"Big talk for such a little guy! Then he goes and dies! Stupid, Flurk!"

"The first one to grab her gets her!" The other orc shouted. His companion grunted in acknowledgment, and they both charged at me.

I broke out of my momentary stunned confusion and ordered all my cores to form [Fire Arrows] in tandem and fire at will. Magical projectiles continued to barrage the orcs, and they didn't even bother trying to dodge or anything. Their mindless lack of self-preservation shocked me, and I could only assume it was due to their lack of feeling pain.

The weaker orc died before reaching me, and the other swung his axe, although with such a slow and easily telegraphed attack, it was simple for me to dodge. I continued to dodge his blows, causing him to scream angrily before he finally fell to a few more flaming arrows.

'Honestly, I think that was one of the strangest fights I've ever had...'

I doused the flaming corpse before stuffing it into my storage, then proceeded to repeat the process with the remaining two. I'd eat them once I was off the road and away from witnesses.

The humans tried to thank me for the rescue, but I waved them off and continued towards my quests. I'd wasted enough time with this short distraction, and I didn't feel like repeating the same song and dance of them being fascinated by an elf.

Chapter 74: Into the Mine

I was so eager to get away that I forgot to look at my gains from that fight. I peered over the notifications.

<Proficiency gained. [Evasion LV 3] improved to [Evasion LV 4].>

<Class Experience threshold reached. Shadowcaster is now LV 6.>

<5 Skill Points are now available.>

<Proficiency gained. [Sub-Core Delta LV 3] improved to [Sub-Core Delta LV 4].>

<Proficiency gained. [Sub-Core Epsilon LV 3] improved to [Sub-Core Epsilon LV 4].>

I was very pleased with [Evasion] finally gaining a level, and both Delta and Epsilon closed the gap. Only gaining a single level in class felt a little disappointing, especially since it had no new revelations. I was feeling the newfound difficulty of raising my race levels now.

Thankfully, there were no further distractions by the time I reached the mining camp, which looked mostly deserted except for a few rather jumpy-looking guards. I introduced myself and said I was with the guild here to exterminate some monsters. After overcoming their shock, they looked thankful and relieved that someone would finally deal with the monsters.

"Usually, the spiders and elementals get cleaned out pretty regularly, but ever since the salamander moved in, they've been growing in numbers." One of the guards explained.

"No worries. I'll be dealing with it." I said, flashing my Silver tag, which made them look very happy. "Please don't let anyone else come down. I don't want them accidentally getting caught in my magic."

"Of course, Miss Syl, thank you for the warning." They saluted, and after awkwardly copying the gesture, I entered the mine.

My [Dark Vision] immediately kicked in, and I also traded [Nature Commune] for [Thermal Vision]. Once I got a bit deeper, I'd throw away my disguise. I also blanked my name and class, as it felt like as long as I didn't blank everything on my profile, I'd be gaining at least some benefit from my mimicry levels. If my class was more generic, it might have been fine to leave it alone. When I got deeper, I withdrew the orcs and devoured them. Like the other humanoid monsters, [Dissection] was silent in valuable parts, and I only kept a single right ear from each orc to show the adventurers guild.

<Profile [Orc] complete.>

The orc profile suggested they were on par with a hobgoblin, indicating they spawned naturally as a higher monster tier. I could only assume that was similar to how yellow slime could spawn without originating from the lowest blue slime. I noticed they could not take [Enhanced Intellect] and chuckled to myself a little, as it felt like a severe understatement. The reason for their indifferent attitude to my attacks was they had a racial trait [Pain Suppression], which I had no desire to purchase, but I may borrow it when I decided to work on leveling [Defy Death].

When I entered a larger chamber, I felt like I could finally test out wings. I grabbed the wings from the Blood Bugs, enlarged them, and reinforced them with mana. When I didn't achieve liftoff, I added an extra pair of wings and reduced my size somewhat. After some trial and error, I managed to get a half-decent hover going. While I was glad to finally have some success with the idea I had so long ago, my gut told me I should seek out stronger wings if I wanted to go higher.

Now that I had satisfied my curiosity with the wings, I turned into the Venom Barbed Badger. I was tempted to use the bear matriarch as the base form, but I felt like I might struggle to fit in the mineshafts, and the badger also opened up digging options. I swapped out the badger nose for a wolf one and added some rocky hide for defense, then spawned two tendrils and formed them into the Blade Wolf tail. I identified myself, curious about what it would even show.

<Blocked; Chimeric Monstrosity LV 33; Blocked.>

'Simon had said that I should be able to manipulate it more since I have a mimicry-related trait... He didn't and could already block his name, so I should be able to do more.'

I experimented a little while wandering down one of the passages with a scent. My goal was to remove my name, as monsters normally didn't have one, so if I was mimicking one, I should be able to remove it rather than block it. I kept mentally poking and prodding my name while trying to mentally prompt it by thinking thoughts of hiding or removing it. I felt like I was on the verge of something, but maybe I needed a few more levels. One thing I did manage while experimenting with my class was changing its display.

<Blocked; Chimeric Monstrosity LV 33; Mage LV 17.>

'Okay, that's not my mage level. Is it adding my spellcaster levels together or something? Well, it's at least better than showing something obscure like Shadowcaster.'

I made a mental note to revisit my name at a later date. Meanwhile, in the caves, it appeared I was following a trail for the spiders as I started to find plenty of webbing. The first spider I encountered was big and hissed at me as I approached it.

<Giant Spider LV 9.>

I launched a [Fire Arrow] at it, causing it and its surrounding web to light up in a blaze. It screeched and flailed as it burnt to death. I pulled out my necklace from my storage with a tendril and checked my quest progress.

<Quest Progress: Exterminate Spiders 1/20.>

'Okay, so that's an iron-rank monster.' I thought and redeposited my necklace. I was glad it seemed to keep track of my quests despite being in my [Core Storage]. I ate the smoldering remains of the spider, and [Dissection] seemed very disappointed in a lack of harvestable parts.

<Profile [Spider] complete.>

Regrettably, this spider didn't have a new poison or venom for me to sample, despite its profile hinting at it, but I looked forward to whatever the Bronze or Silver-ranked spiders would have. [Wallcrawling] didn't seem all that useful, considering I could already do that by manipulating my slime adhesion, but at least I gained [Web Spinning]. I killed two more spiders before discovering a new one, which looked slightly smaller and more streamlined.

<Jumping Venom-Lobber Spider LV 11.>

'Well, that's quite a mouthful of a name.'

It was remarkably jittery and bounced between the wall, roof, and floor. I imagined it must have a decent [Evasion] skill. During one of its micro-jumps, it launched a globule of venom at me, which landed directly on my face. I had to give it points for accuracy, but it was for nothing as I consumed it with slime.

<[Neurotoxin] has been sampled. [Poison Slime] updated.>

'Another one for the collection.'

It kept jumping and spitting at me. I tried firing flaming arrows at it, but my prediction of it having invested in [Evasion] proved true. Eventually, it seemed to think I must have been affected by its ailment as it moved in closer and started hopping at me, then jumping away. I noticed it had little micro legs at the front that unfurled into tiny scythe-like arms and began slicing at me.

I thought of overwhelming it with an oppressive number of flaming arrows but opted to gather mana and cast [Nova] for its first real offensive use. The spider must have sensed that the attack was coming, as when I completed the spell, it retreated with a jump but was still caught in the blast radius of the empowered spell. It shrieked and flailed on the floor, and I finished it off by grabbing it with tendrils and dragging it into consumption range.

The profile was updated, and looking at my quest counter, I see that this counted as a Bronze-rank monster. [Dissection] finally had some work to do and harvested the small little scythe blades from its frontward legs. The evolution path was interesting, as it came from a branch different from the giant spider and further evolved. I also read through the poison's description, which was a nasty piece of work. The simplest way to describe it was a lethal version of my paralysis poison. I would have thought paralyzing an opponent was enough already to leave someone helpless, but apparently, this spider had other plans.

I kept exploring the tunnel when my mana sight caught something in one of the walls. I finally got to put my digging claws to work and put them to good use, revealing a fist-sized nugget of silver. I gave it a quick identification and appraisal to answer my question.

<Mana-Enriched Silver Ore.>

I had to resist my desire to absorb it, as I was concerned that it wouldn't retroactively apply to the silver slime trait if I got it later. I reluctantly deposited it and continued my journey through the webbing, occasionally burning it away with [Kindle].

I could hear the sounds of combat echoing through the tunnel. I wondered if the different spider species were fighting one another or if it was another monster. The wolves worked together, but I wasn't sure if spiders held that same camaraderie, especially between different species branches.

I shrunk my form to a smaller, stealthier size and let [Vanish] do its work. The first monster I noticed was another jumping spider, lobbing its blobs at something. I also saw the jumping spider's unevolved form; instead of lobbing poison, it similarly fired webs. I slowed my pace and sneaked forward more to notice what they were fighting - a pile of rocks.

<Rock Elemental LV 17.>

'So that's a rock elemental. Guess the spiders aren't happy with its presence.'

Luke wasn't joking when he said they were slow. By the time it completed swinging its rocky limb, the spiders were nowhere near the point of impact. The strength behind the blow was terrifying, shattering the rocky floor easily. A few giant spiders were hanging from the ceiling and shooting webs at the elemental, seemingly answering my question about them working together.

While they were all distracted, I decided to try an experiment. I lowered the tendrils of slime and snaked my way into the room. While they progressed further in, I started using [Vaporize Slime] and leaking ethanol gas throughout the room. I was tempted to use one of my other poisons, but it would only affect the spiders since the elemental seemed to be shrugging off whatever poisons the spiders were lobbing at it without any care. I kept my tendrils the same color as the floor, which, combined with [Vanish], prevented the spiders or the elemental from noticing me.

I continued to watch the fight with amusement while I laid my trap, only occasionally moving a tendril out of the way of a spider's landing zone. When I felt like the room was primed, I rapidly formed an empowered [Fire Arrow] using all my [Sub-Cores] and flung it to the golem as quickly as possible.

Before I could even think that this might have been a bad idea, the room erupted into an explosion of flame that would've made Dewi drool with envy. If my ears were real, I think they would have burst. The mineshaft trembled, rocks fell to the floor, and I had a moment of panic where I thought I might be burying myself alive, but then I remembered I could dig myself free with [Acid Slime].

<Jumping Spider LV 6 defeated. Experience gained.>

<Jumping Spider LV 9 defeated. Experience gained.>

<Giant Spider LV 5 defeated. Experience gained.>

<Giant Spider LV 8 defeated. Experience gained.>

<Giant Spider LV 4 defeated. Experience gained.>

<Giant Spider LV 4 defeated. Experience gained.>

<Jumping Venom-Lobber Spider LV 13 defeated. Experience gained.>

<Racial Experience threshold reached. Chimeric Mimic Slime (Blue) is now LV 3.>

<4 Trait Points are now available.>

<Class Experience threshold reached. Shadowcaster is now LV 7.>

<6 Skill Points are now available.>

Notifications flooded my mind as I weathered the blast. I was extremely thankful I wasn't stupid enough to enter the room, as my tendrils directly in the room had been scattered to the winds from the shockwave.

Chapter 75: Afflictions

'Okay, note to self, no explosions underground.' I grumbled as I looked at the partially caved-in room.

I turned on my acid and, combined with my claws, quickly freed myself from the slight rubble that had fallen on top of me. The lack of a death notification confirmed that the rock elemental was still alive, and I saw the wreckage consolidating and forming into its vaguely humanoid figure again.

'Damn, does it look bigger than before?' I wondered to myself.

Fire magic was clearly not the way to go against the rock, which left water and acid, or I could try to eat it with slime. Dewi had said my magic skills were falling behind my rogue skills, so I was leaning towards getting some more magic practice. While it was slowly freeing its limbs and consolidating the nearby rubble into itself, with my [Sub-Cores], we formed three groups of two and targeted the rocky legs of the elemental with [Acid Dart].

As if sensing my building mana, it turned to face me as the first barrage of spells blasted against its rocky hide. With [Mana Vision], I noticed that it was trying to reinforce its body by infusing the rock with more mana that shone brightly from its rock-crystal core. It felt like I was fighting an alternate version of myself in some ways, as it had a fragile core (according to Luke) protected by rock and even used [Mana Reinforcement].

As fast as I could melt its legs, it was reforming them, and I wondered if we would be trapped in a perpetual stalemate. I regretted not asking Luke for more information and wondered if I should ignore trying to preserve the valuable core. Since the creature did not threaten me, I kept this up longer. It took a while, but I noticed it was getting smaller each time it reformed, and some excess rock was sacrificed to reform its legs. [Mana Sight] also revealed that its aura of mana grew considerably weaker through each reformation.

'So I could destroy its resources or wait until it runs out of mana. Likely, that's how adventurers defeat slimes without damaging their cores. Well, unless they have crazy death magic like Simon.'

<Proficiency gained. [Corrosion Magic LV 2] improved to [Corrosion Magic LV 3].>

<[Corrosion Magic LV 3] spell [Erode] learned.>

I cheered as I finally got a new spell. I read over the description while my [Sub-Cores] weakened the rock elemental. The spell was a debuff, and it lowered physical defense. While I wish it had lowered magical defense, I was glad to finally get a spell under the debuff template.

I ordered them to stop attacking the elemental, which was now only the size of a small dog. It had lost almost all available material, and its mana aura was sputtering out. I cast my new [Erode] spell on it, and much to my surprise, Gamma showed me its [Identify] profile.

<Rock Elemental LV 17.

[Erode] 30%: 4min remaining.>

'[Affliction Tracker]!' I shouted mentally. I had completely forgotten the skill since it was baked into [Identify]. It didn't help that shortly after getting it, I fought the undead, who were immune to all my afflictions at the time.

When the rock elemental approached me, I grabbed it with a tendril. It tried to squirm, but in its reduced state and with so little mana, it couldn't resist. I tried eating some of its rock, but it didn't count towards unlocking its profile. Like slimes, it appeared I needed to eat the crystal core. However, I would not eat this one, as I still hadn't solved my issue of killing it without damaging the core. I planned to absorb the next rock elemental I found right from the start, so I wanted to use this one to meet my harvesting goals.

I kept dissolving away at its rock, although the first to give out was its mana, and the rock encasing it crumbled away into loose debris. With the help of [Dissection], I isolated the valuable crystal core and cleaned off all traces of rock until only a beautiful crystal remained. It looked like a clustered star and was colored like brown-stained glass.

<Rock Elemental LV 17 defeated. Experience gained.>

I deposited the crystal and then harvested what I could from the smoldering remains of the numerous spiders taken out in the explosion. While there was little on offer from the spiders beyond a few fangs and tiny scythe blades, I did gain another skill level.

<Proficiency gained. [Dissection LV 5] improved to [Dissection LV 6].>

I was surprised it took this long, and I could only blame the undead for their lack of resources, which prevented it from being the first skill to reach six. I checked my quest progress and only had a quarter of the way to go with the spiders, although, at the rate I was killing them, I was sure I'd go above my quota.

'Especially because I want to try out some afflictions.'

I had to dig through some rubble to find the tunnel onwards, which had partially collapsed. Despite numerous webs, I struggled to find more spiders and concluded they must have retreated further from the explosion. I did find another rock elemental, smaller than the one I initially found before I fed it extra rock. The first thing I did was cast [Erode] on it.

<Rock Elemental LV 11.

[Erode] 30%: 4min remaining.>

I cast the spell again on it, each time increasing the duration, but the effect remained at thirty percent. By now, the golem was attacking me, but I gave it a blob of slime so it could harmlessly attack devoid of any cores. With my [Sub-Cores], I cast an empowered [Erode], trying to maximize the spell as much as possible to see if there were any changes.

<Rock Elemental LV 11.

[Erode] 45%: 4min remaining.>

The result was surprising, as it overwrote my original Debuff with the new one, but it had a more substantial effect. Repeated castings of this new empowered version boosted the duration like normal, but the percentage remained the same.

Curious to see the effect of its reduced defense, I smacked it with a tendril and was quite shocked to see its rocky form buckle and crack from what I considered a relatively subdued attack. I used one of my blade tails to slice into the Rock Elemental, avoiding its crystal, and bisected it effortlessly. Using both bladed tendrils, I rapidly cut it apart like gutting a fish, separating its crystal housing from the rest of its materials. Then, I immediately grabbed it with a large pseudopod and devoured it.

<Profile [Elemental] complete.>

I read through the profile. Their crystal was their being, just like us slimes, but they infused their mana into a material using the trait [Mana Infusion]. Then, they had a racial trait [Elemental Amalgamation], which let them create their bodies out of a material that matched their affinity as long as it was infused with their mana.

<[Mana Infusion]

Infuse your mana directly into an object, material, or substance.

Infused mana dissipates at a greatly reduced rate, preventing others from infusing unless they first remove your mana or greatly overcome it.

Unlocks further Traits and Skills related to Mana Infusion.

This trait has no levels.>

'It sounds cool, but what does it do?' I questioned the profile, but sadly, I did not receive an answer.

I tried shifting into the elemental and borrowed both traits. Still, unfortunately, I lacked the required affinity, so when I infused the rocks with my mana with [Mana Infusion], I couldn't use them with [Elemental Amalgamation]. If I wanted to disguise myself as a rock elemental, I had to create fake rocks out of slime instead. I dumped some water and infused it with mana, and then I could finally use [Elemental Amalgamation]. I created a watery body, but it felt rather lackluster compared to my slime. Hilariously, [Identify] even called me a water elemental now.

'I would have probably gotten [Elemental Amalgamation] if I chose the Aquatic mutation.'

I decided to buy the trait. I had quite a few points remaining, and since it had no levels, I'd likely be unable to earn it for free. Another reason I wanted the trait immediately was in case my next class level gave me a revelation now that I had the trait unlocking new skill options.

<Trait [Mana Infusion] obtained. Trait Points remaining 3.>

While winding through caverns, I accidentally returned where I had started before encountering my first spider. I shook my head and consulted my [Mapping] skill to retrace my steps. There must have been a tunnel I missed somewhere. When I finally found an opening that had partially collapsed and dug through, I suddenly received an update.

<Proficiency gained. [Mapping LV 3] improved to [Mapping LV 4].>

When I activated the skill again, a minimap appeared within my vision that showed my immediate surroundings. I could see the tunnel passages, revealing another tunnel that had also partially collapsed.

'Tabitha wasn't joking about this being a critical skill for adventurers. While Simon's dungeon was pretty small, navigating a larger one without something like this would be a nightmare.'

I finally found another spider; it was low-level but enough to test my afflictions. The first one I wanted to try was [Poison Mist]. While the spider tried and failed to bite and poison me, I cast my spell, surrounding it in the strange purple mist.

<Giant Spider LV 4

[Poison Mist] 20%.>

'That description isn't exactly helpful...' I complained.

The longer the spider remained in the poison mist, the higher the percentage ticked up. When it reached one hundred, a duration finally appeared.

<[Poison Mist] 100%: 4min remaining.>

When the purple mist started to fade, I recast the spell. As long as the spider was within the mist, the duration did not begin to count down. However, I still wasn't sure what the mist was doing besides that it had vaguely poisoned the spider.

I formed a tendril into a rapier, perfectly copying the one I had eaten from Keaton, and with two quick stabs, injected [Poison Slime] into the spider using paralysis. I watched as the first stab applied seventy percent to the spider, the second reached the maximum, and the spider immediately collapsed and froze.

<Giant Spider LV 4

[Poison Mist] 100%: 4min remaining.

[Paralysis] 100%: 7min remaining.>

In an effort to experiment, I used [Vaporize Slime] on some more paralytic poison slime. It slowly added to the duration that was ticking down. While thinking about what to try next, I was interrupted by a sudden notification.

<Giant Spider LV 4 defeated. Experience gained.>

I was frustrated that it had died, and I assumed [Poison Mist] was the culprit, as I had kept the two wounds to inject paralytic slime minimal. I could only conclude that [Poison Mist] did damage over time, although when I dissected the spider, I couldn't exactly see traces of the poison, unlike my paralysis poison. Its organs looked fine, and other than the two stab wounds, it had no visible damage or harm to it.

'I mean, it is a magic spell. I guess it just does magical poison damage or something.'

Chapter 76: Debuffs

While hunting for more spiders, I found a passageway with a highly sulfurous scent, which I figured was the pathway to the salamander. I decided to avoid it for now, as I wanted to experiment with more spiders and still needed to kill three more earth elementals. With some backtracking and alternate tunnels, I finally found another giant spider.

I trapped it within slime and force-fed it sleep gas until it eventually fell unconscious. What was interesting about it compared to my other afflictions so far was that it had a midway point that inflicted the [Fatigued] condition. I'd have to ask Luke if the guild had a lexicon of status conditions.

Now that I had a valuable test subject, I wanted to experiment with the Debuff spell construct. I picked Water Magic for my tests, as I worried both Fire and Corrosion would kill the spider if something went wrong. I didn't want to sound ungrateful, as the defense Debuff sounded extremely valuable, but I wanted to reduce magic resistance or perhaps even affliction resistance. Working with my cores, I started dismantling the spell construct for [Erode].

I spent hours trying to combine the Debuff construct with water mana, and I had to reapply sleep poison to the spider to refresh the dwindling duration multiple times. One thing Dewi had not told me about this was that magical backlash sucked big time. When the spell failed to form, it would not only waste the mana expended entirely but cause it to explode within my core violently. The damage was primarily superficial, likely due to the backlash not being too significant, but the mental strain was taking its toll. I borrowed the orc trait temporarily, but mental damage, or whatever this was, seemed to ignore their pain nullification.

During my hours of spell modification, two more giant spiders came to investigate one by one. The hours of silence and lack of explosions must have made them feel safe to escape whatever hole they crawled into. At least it wasn't much effort to capture them, and now I had a backup in case my first spider met an untimely demise.

Between my tinkering of the spell, I would also cast [Erode] unmodified to examine the spell a little closer and hope to find some hidden insight. Finally, all my trial and error paid off, and I had a new Water Debuff. I held the formed spell in place and examined its construct proudly, and all the corrosion patterns were successfully rewritten with water mana. I thoroughly memorized the spell pattern before casting it on one of the spiders, and a new Debuff appeared.

<[Permeable] 30%: 4min remaining.>

'Yes!' I cheered before I was flooded with notifications.

<Proficiency gained. [Mana Manipulation LV 3] improved to [Mana Manipulation LV 4].>

<Proficiency gained. [Affliction Mastery LV 1] improved to [Affliction Mastery LV 2].>

<Proficiency gained. [Water Magic LV 3] improved to [Water Magic LV 4].>

<[Water Magic LV 4] spell [Torrent] learned.>

Before I looked over my new spell, I cast [Permeable] again on another spider and cheered at my success. I'd go as far as to say this was my very first official custom spell and not just an enhancement or customization of an existing spell. I was giddy as I looked over [Torrent]; it seemed simple in execution and was a large burst of concussive Water. I cast the spell against one of my [Permeable] spiders and watched its body launch against the cavern wall, where it splatted into its untimely demise. With the spell affecting such a large area, its intended use was likely to get enemies away rather than deal damage.

'Perhaps I could focus it down and concentrate it into a more offensive use.' I pondered, 'Although I want to finish experimenting with my debuffs before I get sidetracked with customizing another spell.'

I cleaned up the remains of the splattered spider before I started my next batch of spell tinkering. I was replacing it with Fire this time, and my tinkering took less than half the time as my first spell. The reason was that, in my first approach, I discovered that I couldn't just replace the entire pattern with Water, as parts of the pattern were the Debuff portion. But now I could start tinkering with [Permeable] instead of [Erode] and focus on replacing the Water with Fire.

Once again, I examined the completed spell carefully before I cast it. Compared to the Water one, its formation had some very minor adjustments. It was more complex than simple find-and-replace, much to my disappointment. The ease of making the required minor corrections was likely thanks to my latest level in [Mana Manipulation]. I cast the spell and grinned with glee at the new Debuff.

<[Flammable] 30%: 5min remaining.>

I noticed the Debuff time differed, perhaps due to the extra level I had gained in [Affliction Mastery]. I cast [Permeable] to see its time.

<[Permeable] 40%: 6min remaining.>

I momentarily stared at the Debuff in confusion when I realized I had also gained a level in [Water Magic]. I concluded that the duration was my combined level of [Water Magic] plus [Afflicton Mastery], while the strength of the Debuff was entirely on the magic portion unless I boosted it. With that out of the way, I cast [Fire Arrow] at the Debuffed spider and watched it rapidly burn up far faster than any of the previous spiders.

The last thing I wanted to Debuff was resistance to ailments, which was considerably more difficult than expected as I needed to somehow identify the poison part of the Corrosion Mana in the [Poison Mist] spell. Even assisted by my [Sub-Cores], it felt complicated for some reason, but now I was trying to tinker with intermediate magic. The magical backlash was immense, and after three failed attempts with no further progress, I decided to shelve it for now. Perhaps a higher level of [Mana Sight], [Mana Manipulation], or both would let me more easily identify the individual components of the Corrosion Mana.

Working with Fire or Water mana was much simpler in comparison, which was explained by their basic affinity types. As if proving a point, I had successfully recreated a fire whip spell in only three attempts. I cast [Flammable] on the spider and lashed it with the burning whip; with a fiery crack, the spider perished, its body also rapidly burning up. Double dipping on their weakness by applying [Flammable] certainly felt like cheating.

<Class Experience threshold reached. Shadowcaster is now LV 8.>

<7 Skill Points are now available.>

<Your class has revealed the following skills: [Subtle Afflictions].>

<[Subtle Afflictions]

Your afflictions can be affected by [Sneak Attack], bypassing resistances based on skill level.

If the resistance is significantly overcome, a greater contagion will be inflicted.

Your afflictions have a chance to not notify their target based on your highest stealth-related trait or skill.

This skill has no levels.>

'Oh... Right. That also explains why the spiders died so easily. I forgot about [Sneak Attack]. This skill sounds great, fitting with the whole magical assassin image.'

<Skill [Subtle Afflictions] obtained. Skill Points remaining 6.>

'I'm wondering if I'm using my skill points correctly. Perhaps I should consider asking Luke or maybe Whitney. I've never tried using points to level up a skill.'

<Would you like to spend 3 Skill Points to upgrade [Corrosion Magic LV 3]?>

'No! Damn, that's expensive...'

<Would you like to spend 5 Skill Points to upgrade [Vanish LV 5]?>

<Would you like to spend 2 Skill Points to upgrade [Perception LV 2]?>

I tried a few different skills, and the cost scaled directly, which was horrifying. I definitely would need to ask someone about this. Interestingly, when I tried to upgrade [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 6], I got an error message.

<Highest earned skill is LV 6. Upgrade cannot be purchased.>

'I guess I don't have to worry about that with traits since I have [Mana Slime] at ten. Not that I think I'd ever want to use trait points on buying upgrades.'

There were things I still wanted to experiment with, but I was not feeling great mentally from all the magical backlash. I actually considered hiding in a hole and taking a nap. I was concerned that I could be blamed if someone came looking for me or the salamander left the mines. I continued through the remains of the spider tunnel, casting [Flammable] into [Fire Arrow] to swiftly deal with any arachnids I came across.

The effects of [Subtle Afflictions] were remarkably noticeable, as none of the spiders noticed when I debuffed them. The [Sneak Attack] bonus seemed to be applying a fifty percent bonus to my affliction.

<[Flammable] 45%: 5min remaining.>

If I empowered the spell, which also boosted it by half, and combined it with [Sneak Attack], I could effectively double it.

<[Flammable] 60%: 5min remaining.>

Stacking multiple effects together seemed incredible, and I wondered if it could go beyond one hundred percent. Perhaps doing so would allow things to go through immunities? It was definitely a thought worth exploring once I had more levels.

Much to my disappointment, I couldn't find any more Bronze-ranked spiders, so I didn't gain a level when I ran out of the multi-legged nuisance to eradicate. I had completed my spider quota a while ago, but I was beginning to worry because I still needed to kill three more rock elementals, and I couldn't find any. I consulted my map, but the only pathway left was towards the smell of sulfur and likely the salamander.

'Well, hopefully, they are down there. They could also be above ground; the quest just says they are in the area.'