Chapter 132 - Level 100 (Patreon)

I am the most normal here. Yup, totally. Fight me if you disagree. Lily, my last hope, the only person who seemed somewhat normal, showed me the middle finger, wrecked my thoughts and stepped on that last hope, kicking it away.

My last hope is dead, and I'm the only normal here.

Okay?

Okay.

Anyway, it's kind of fun watching Tess struggle as we try to hunt down one of the sparrows, and the said sparrow continues to dodge all of her attacks, no matter how quick they are.

Could I try to replicate the traps and maybe create a few more to hunt the sparrow? Yup, I could try that, and that's exactly what I did, but I gave up after a few minutes. Left without any result, and my head hurting just from looking at the intricate structures etched into the small metal disk.

I tried to remember as much as I could and I'll continue to observe it a bit more as it might be useful for the future, but there is no way in hell I'll be able to replicate it anytime soon.

So here we are, two hunters stalking our prey and getting our psyches hurt more and more with every failed attempt to hunt them.

So I do what a normal person would do. A javelin hovers over my shoulder, as long as me, and filled with tricolored mana, threatening to explode any second if I lose control over it. It's slim, it's sharp and beautiful. And best of all, it's dangerous.

Sparrow Obliterator 3000.

"Do you want to hunt it or evaporate it?" Tess says snarkily, but I can tell that it's her annoyance after an unsuccessful hunt talking.

At this point, it's way too late to hold back Tess! The sparrow looked deep into my eyes, examined them, and chuckled in my face. Bambi, sparrows, goddamn were-something monsters on each floor. They all exist just to piss me off. So just for this once, I'll vent a bit!

I breathe out and [Focus], and the javelin over my shoulder starts rotating, similar to the way a bullet would after leaving a gun barrel. I spin it faster and faster until it's just a blurred mess of tricolored mana, and I hear ringing in my ears from how hard I'm trying.

Then my heart beats, and I wait.

Two heartbeats.

I wait.

Three heartbeats.

Need more.

Seven heartbeats.

A bit more.

Ten heartbeats.

Good!

I push against the javelin with all the force I can muster and even use a surge to give it even more before it leaves my range.

The javelin flies faster than ever before, a high-pitched noise sounding in the surroundings as it pierces the air, and in a split second, it reaches the sparrow, totally obliterates it in an explosion of feathers, and then continues to pierce houses in its way.

And it just goes and goes on, and even a few seconds later, I can still hear it crashing through the houses until a few moments later we see and feel an explosion far in the distance.

We then rush towards the place where the sparrow was and find only tiny pieces of feathers that weren't obliterated by the javelin. There is not a single piece of meat, not a single bone to bring back to doggo. The javelin... the Sparrow Obliterator 3000 did exactly what it was made for.

Huge success!

Even the looks Tess is giving can't diminish my happiness. She'd better not think I didn't notice that tiny smirk on her face as she glanced at what is left of the sparrow.

*****

We did a bit more while hunting. I was able to gain two more levels, and Tess leveled up too.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to hunt any sparrows no matter how much we tried. Not a single trap worked. Sneaking didn't help at all, and they even noticed the tiniest threads of mana that I tried to create.

That's when we decided to leave the sparrows to the natives and their traps while asking them to tell us more about the mice they mentioned before, another source of their food.

So here we are, in the sewage part of the city. Fortunately, it's been long unused, and only monsters crawl around, so that's something, right?

It's nicely built to the point where it surprised me how much work the builders of this city did, even while hastily building the last livable city on the planet. The sewage tunnels are made out of gray and red bricks, and in the middle of them, there is a canal with walkways on both sides. On the roof, there is a weird moss growing that emits a soft greenish-yellowish light, illuminating the tunnels.

This time, Lily is joining us as I wanted her to level up a bit more, so I and Tess only fight when a stronger monster appears, leaving everything else to Lily while providing moral support.

I'm missing one level to reach level one hundred, and one level to reach level thirty in [Armament]. So I'm not getting that much from weaker monsters, but in a group of three, the stronger ones could appear while I also help Lily to level.

It's a win-win for everyone other than the Rottenfang vermin that Lily continues to delete from the face of this world. I continue to observe her skill, maybe in hopes that I would be able to learn it, but nope. Nothing. I can barely feel its effects. It's as if the skill is even disintegrating the mana I use to perceive its effects.

It's a truly dangerous one, and the brunette is learning to control it more and more, getting advice from me and Tess as well. She also continues to restore her arm, and she is already up to the wrist, forming a hand.

She giggles as she says she is really trying to make it stronger and thinks that she succeeded in making her own muscles firmer.

I don't know how much it will show when there are people with plenty of strength stats and yet their muscles look the same as before, but it's a really interesting test, and I'm curious about the result.

As we walk and Lily fights the monster, me and Tess have a little disagreement.

"Nope, I don't think we will get a subclass anytime soon. The earliest is when we enter the fourth floor." I say.

"The system likes rounded numbers. It might unlock at level one hundred. Both you and I got the side quest to get 3 skills to level thirty and reach level hundred for a skill upgrade. We both agree that this skill upgrade token will be able to upgrade an already upgraded skill."

"That's true."

"So I think there are some requirements the system has for you to unlock a subclass. I think one of them is having a twice-upgraded skill and level one hundred."

"I agree with that. But as I said, the system is an asshole. It might give you better side quests after you finish this one, but the subclass will be unlocked either on the fourth or fifth floor. That's just how it rolls."

Lightning crackles from her hand, and the chameleon bat sneaking up on us falls down, dead and burned, while she continues as if nothing happened. "I still think the new side quest will be to fulfill more requirements, and the reward will be a subclass."

Poor naive Tess, you don't know the ways of the system!

"Nope, some sort of upgrade token at best, or maybe rare gear? But I don't think that will happen. There is already a reward of rare gear for the floor quest, so the system wouldn't give it away in a side quest..."

I'm interrupted by Lily coming back, her wounds once again healing, with white mist flowing out of them.

"Anything fun you guys are talking about?" She fixes her hair a bit while her gaze shifts between me and Tess.

"I'm explaining to Tess how assholish the system is, and she doesn't believe me."

"Nat thinks the system works the way he would design it."

Huh? Did I just get dissed?

But there might be some truth to it. I would totally do some things the system does right now and have fun observing people in the tutorial.

To that, Lily laughs, "You're right! I can totally imagine Nat doing some things in a similar way the system does."

Oi, you should be helping me.

"You know," the petite girl moves closer to the blonde and whispers loud enough for me to hear while looking at me, "Nat is like a cat, and the system also sometimes feels like a cat."

"What?" Tess blurts out, and the confusion on her face is quite funny to watch.

"Lily, what animal is Tess?" I decide to tease her a bit more, and Lily pauses, giving it serious thought.

"Tess is a chameleon," she then says without any hesitation, as if it's a sure thing.

"Because of her eyes?"

As a reward for my innocent joke, a small flash of lightning fires at me, and I cancel it out with disruptive mana I shoot in its way, further annoying Tess.

*****

A few minutes later, we find the first mice. It's as big as a smaller dog, with a short tail and a well-rounded body, and it moves slowly, wobbling on its short legs, its fur black.

An easy hunt, you would say?

Nope.

The moment we look at it or send mana towards it, the animal disappears into the shadow, and its presence is gone.

A bit later, we find another one, and the same thing repeats.

And then again.

Even when I try to quickly light up the surroundings with my flames, there is still a shadow under the mice.

Not even [Disruption] reaches it quickly enough. I barely start forming the skill, and the mice are gone.

That's when we decide to rely on side quests a bit more and the traps of the natives, and move deeper inside the city, hoping to find another source of food.

But first, this.

[Lvl 99 > Lvl 100]

Congratulations! You have successfully completed your side quest - Side Quest: Reach Level 100. You have acquired - Reward: Body Upgrade Token.

Level 100 at last.

*****

Next Chapter  

***

Author note:

After thinking about it a lot, I have decided to change "reward: Body part upgrade token" to just "Body upgrade token".

No matter how much I tried, the Body part upgrade token just kept reminding me too much of a trait or passive skill. I did have a few really good ideas, but I couldn't make them work.

So yes, it's now "Body upgrade token" and I'll go and change it in the chapters.