CHAPTER 106.

Frei chuckled looming over the corpse of what had been the oh-so-damn-strong Junior Chimera. It hadn’t been a particularly hard battle, sure, she had gotten a few broken bones and, sure, she had gotten thrown away and gotten unscathed out of that. But all in all, it wasn’t a hard battle, curses were relatively pointless against her.

That said, she was still in very deep pain. All because of her Legacy Branch, which well essentially allowed to beat the shit out of the monster by converting her mana into actual physical power and also durability. Not only that but it allowed her to do other things such as healing herself.

Frei reached down and stuck her hand into the entrails of the monster before taking a very deep breath and absorbing its remaining life force. In a single moment all her body cracked and she even felt satiated and as if she had gotten a good night’s rest. She let go and shook her hand as she draped her cloak over her body once more, and then yawned.

“Well, can’t argue that it feels good to do that,” she said offhandedly. “Hurting myself from fighting fucking sucks though.”

Frei shook her head, while she could use her class to fight it was better for her to not touch it if at all possible. Long cooldowns were a pain after all and letting her defenses be down was an even greater pain. Still, to think that I had to burn my strongest defensive skill from that attack… She thought back about the attack that she had to parry and blow into the sky⁠— that would have most certainly been incredibly painful to get hit by.

Frei stared at her level ups.

[You have reached level 335…

…

[You have reached level 340…

It seemed her level 350 advancement was pretty close now, though she didn’t care too much about growing stronger right now. Nor did she ever. She was always just strong enough to take care of whatever she needed, and right now it was no different. She didn’t need to be level 400 or 500 to figure out how to go to the world of stars. At least she didn’t think. Maybe she needed it to actually go, but without knowing there wasn’t much for her to go off of.

Finally, Frei shook her head and looked at the surroundings before frowning. She was now on her way to regroup with everyone.

Still, there should’ve only been two chimeras, not four… And there was also another thing. The chimeras should’ve been deeper in the valley.

The local lord had hired her to deal with them, though she had just been killing time all this while, conducting her own research on trying to remove the curses placed on her. That said, the process of a chimera being born is quite complicated, so there being extras was seriously odd. But finally, she decided to stop caring about it all too much. Everything had been taken care of and that’s all that mattered.

And well, even if something did came up she’d have to take care of it because she was currently a super-duper-loyal servant. In fact, she was the most loyal person in the land; the perfect hound to do their master’s bidding⁠— well not like Amber was the type to boss her around.

Finally, after a minute or so of walking, she finally spotted Asil the elf, the merchant, Cecile and Amber, who was still fainted. Which was honestly concerning⁠— the girl was borderline unkillable, so was she dying now? Frei immediately teleported in front of the group and wasted no time in asking with concern⁠.

“Is she⁠—”

“No, she’s undergoing an advancement,” he said simply.

Frei blinked. “But she isn’t⁠— Oh.”

Huh. She didn’t really understand how the god stuff worked, but she didn’t question it too much.

“Are you sure you should tell her that?” Cecile asked, voicing her obvious distrust.

“She already did a contract with Amber, what’s the point in pretending,” Asil replied with a shrug.

Frei frowned. “For your own good and for Amber’s own good, don’t tell me more. If the council gets wind of my betrayal and ends up kidnapping me ⁠— which is unlikely ⁠— it’ll be bad for ya.”

At that the elf blinked, taken aback but said nothing. Finally, Frei looked over at Amber and immediately sensed a shift within her, one that made her uneasy. Asil also seemed to look over at her immediately. And Cecile⁠— well she was lost but also followed everyone’s gazes. Finally, sensing the shift in her body, Frei reached a simple and logical conclusion.

The princess is gonna wake up any minute now.

* * *

Amber didn’t know if she had made a massive mistake, but in the end she made the choice following her heart and also logic. She decided that it was in fact, not a good idea to betray Sid’fril and the other spirits for short term gains and that getting such direct help was fucking lame. Sure, if people learned of her choices many people would have expected her to choose the last and third option. But those people certainly didn’t know her well enough, and should most definitely reconsider their opinion of her.

In the end, she had gone with the Advancement of Overload given that high explosive power was probably what she needed the most.

As soon as she finished her advancement, Amber felt her core expand in size, and now it was much bigger⁠— the size of a beach ball to be exact. It was quite the dramatic change in comparison to before. Though she was a bit surprised to see that her Core Advancement had come at a much earlier time than her class one.

Then again, she had just fought some incredibly strong monsters, and her core was most definitely underdeveloped. After all, who knows what size it would’ve been if she had started with it as soon as she arrived in Vir. Though…

Maybe a lot of my challenges would’ve been made meaningless from how strong it started…

Amber shook her head and⁠— pain came. She groaned as light inundated her vision, and the first thing she heard was voices of concern she couldn’t quite make out. Finally, as her face was gripped and she opened her eyes to see a peach fuzz haired woman staring deeply at her, she regained her bearings.

“Frei?”

“You’re really poisoned,” she said, letting go of her jaw.

Amber shook her head, feeling some nausea before sighing.

“Just help me drain my blood real quick and⁠—”

“That’s not how it works,” Frei interrupted. “That venom, or poison, or whatever, is gonna stay in your System till your Toxin Resistance gets rid of it. That or if a high level healer treats it.”

“That makes no sense,” Cecile said immediately.

The elf shrugged in response. “Welcome to the world above 200; everything is a pain in the ass.”

Amber remembered the Abyssal Briroar, and suddenly she had a small feeling that it was probably related to that; at least to some extent.

“So, it’s better we return to the city and let Amber rest,” Asil concluded next to her.

That’s when Amber realized he had been supporting her weight. She decided that thanking him now would be awkward, so she just kept quiet as everyone reached a unanimous agreement. Frei included. So, they began to walk back towards the road, albeit slowly because she was quite tired with the poison.

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“So, how was your fight with the chimera?” the elven woman asked.

And that’s when Amber remembered her annoyance at the situation and shook her head. Not intending to say much.

“Right, I should’ve tried to say it sooner.”

“I don’t blame you too much,” Amber said after a moment.

Frei in response, didn’t say anything more and just kind of looked ahead and avoided Amber’s gaze. Finally, sensing the weird atmosphere Cecile spoke.

“Well, regardless of Frei’s problems, glad we are all alive.”

“If someone died, I think we’d be trying to kill Frei,” Amber said with a sigh.

The peach fuzz haired elf raised her brow. “And what if I was the one to die?”

“Then that’s just a skill issue.”

“... skill issue…? It has nothing to do with my skills though?” Frei frowned thinking about it and Amber just shrugged.

Amber didn’t have a concrete opinion on Frei other than strange, and eccentric. But she ultimately decided to believe the fact that this had been outside of the elf’s control. Mainly because doing this as a prank when she was on thin ice was akin to shooting herself on the foot.

So, with that, Amber decided to stop thinking about it and instead finally take a look at her notifications properly.

First were all her skill level ups.

[Curse Reignition has leveled up from 4th Rank level 3 to 4th Rank level 5.]

[Quick Dash has leveled up from 4th Rank level 4 to 4th Rank level 7.]

[General Weapon Mastery has leveled up from 4th Rank level 1 to 4th Rank level 3.]

[Inexorable Momentum has leveled up from 4th Rank level 5 to 4th Rank level 7.]

[Inexorable Body has leveled up from 4th Rank level 5 to 4th Rank level 7.]

[Recovery of Curses has leveled up from 4th Rank level 4 to 4th Rank level 8.]

[Curse Battery has leveled up from 4th Rank level 3 to 4th Rank level 5.]

[Cursed Rage Synergy has leveled up from 4th Rank level 3 to 4th Rank level 5.]

[Inexorable Manipulation has leveled up from 4th Rank level 4 to 4th Rank level 7.]

[Crimson Fervor has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 2 to 2nd Rank level 4.]

[Crimson Fuel has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 2 to 2nd Rank level 4.]

[Crimson Sense has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 1 to 2nd Rank level 3.]

[Crimson Destruction has leveled up from level 9 to 10.]

[Crimson Break has leveled up from level 7 to 10.]

[Toxin Resistance has leveled up from 4th Rank level 1 to 4th Rank level 8.]

[Elemental Resistance has leveled up from 4th Rank level 5 to 4th Rank level 6.]

[Physical Resistance has leveled up from 4th Rank level 5 to 4th Rank level 7.]

[Magical Resistance has leveled up from 4th Rank level 6 to 4th Rank level 7.]

[Sharp Instincts has leveled up from 4th Rank level 6 to 4th Rank level 8.]

[Quick Recovery has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 7 to 2nd Rank level 9.]

Toxin Resistance had basically skyrocketed from this single battle, and while Amber would’ve normally felt happy but considering she was still struggling to maintain consciousness she kind of just wished it was more effective. That said, her skills had greatly leveled up, though some of her skills remained stuck at their respective ranks and that was because not every skill was used during battle.

Guess it only makes sense. Now, she was considering replacing Cursed Stomp and ⁠— whenever it became possible ⁠— also replacing a few of her Legacy Branch skills. Though, for now she could only move to replace Cursed Stomp. First came taking a look at the options. The first option, which was for reaching level 170 was…

[New Core Skill! For reaching level 170 as a Cursed Inexorable Berserker you have been offered Cursed Creation — level 1.

You’ve grown at utilizing curses in your day to day. And now your mastery over curses has reached a new peak, allowing you to project them to the outside world, giving them solid shapes.]

If there was a word to describe it, it was interesting. It could either be somewhat okay and not the best, or it could either be incredibly good to the point it was a must to have. But Amber couldn’t really tell which one it was. However, the idea of stabbing herself with pins made out of curses and leaving them inside her body sounded fantastic.

She understood that the thought itself was disturbing in nature, but the fact that she could get increased benefits from the curses that were constantly attacking her couldn’t exactly be ignored. That said, she wasn’t all that sure on it.

Finally, she decided to take a look at the next skill that was offered, the one that was for level 180.

My next advancement seems so soon already… It was quite the exciting thing but also a surprising fact as well.

[New Core Skill! For reaching level 180 as a Cursed Inexorable Berserker you have been offered Inexorable Print — level 1.

After exerting your will on the world so many times, you can now force yourself onto the world, leaving a mark of you behind that can be utilized to your advantage, allowing you to trigger skills from said spot.]

Amber thought about it, it was tempting⁠— though she couldn’t really tell how it scaled. How much use she could give it more specifically⁠. Could she for example force it to use Primordial Blazing Bolt? She didn’t really know and perhaps she wouldn’t know.

Choices are hard.

Amber decided to delay things for now, mainly because she couldn’t really make a choice between the two. Both of them could be incredibly good or just okay, and unfortunately she couldn’t really glean what their next ranks were, though one day it may become possible. She shook her head and decided to just distract herself for a moment.

The group had been walking in silence, and maybe that was for the best. Amber took in the destruction in the surroundings; the desolated and corpse-riddled space. Frei seemed to be storing chunks of the various chimeras into her storage ring, though Amber didn’t question it much, it probably had to do with her mission.

That said, when she saw Frei crouch and saw the elf’s bare leg she suddenly had a question in her mind.

“Frei, why are your clothes so revealing? Don’t mages use robes?”

She tilted her head, pondering about it for a few moments. “Complete freedom of movement is nice I suppose. Robes get stuck and are just annoying.”

Huh… Amber didn’t know what kind of answer she expected, but that was that. They all went back to silence, Asil and Cecile made no conversation because well, they weren’t used to Frei which was normal.

Frei was a member of the Arcane Council, but she was also an extremely high leveled individual with a ton of life experience⁠—

And Amber blinked.

I can also ask her for advice.

“Is there a point to my General Weapon Mastery? I feel like I have it down to muscle memory at this point,” she decided to ask.

At that, Asil frowned and Cecile had a worried look as Frei simply pondered over the question. Before finally sighing.

“I don’t mind giving ya advice, but try to not lemme find out about your… god stuff,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “I told your friends the same, though I guess ya didn’t hear given you were passed out and stuff.”

“Right.”

“Anyway to answer your question; aside from the ranks of your skill affecting you, it’s kind of useless if ya got it down. Though if ya got a higher version of the skill I suppose it’d still help you.”

“So what you’re saying is to⁠—”

“Nah I’m just answering your question.” Frei shrugged. “I don’t wanna tell ya what to do.”

Amber nodded at that. All while thinking a bit about the new allies she had made, Frei seemed… trustworthy so far, but she couldn’t really tell yet. Finally, she resolved to get rid of the General Weapon Mastery skill if she found a skill that really needed to be gained. Though neither of the two she had seen were quite there⁠— yet anyway.

Cecile turned to Frei. “So, you’re going to come with us on our journey?”

The elf blinked. “Huh, I’m surprised ya wanna talk to me.”

At that the merchant groaned. “Just answer the question.”

Frei shrugged. “If Amber allows it.”

At that, both of them turned expectantly towards her, Asil seemed to be just focused on the path ahead and nothing more. Amber herself was slightly taken aback given the fact that the topic had already been kind of discussed, but decided to answer anyway.

“We had already agreed that that was the case, yes.”

Frei turned to Cecile. “Well, there ya have it. I can let ya write my reports from now on if that’s what you want.”

The merchant sighed but said basically nothing. All in all, things were slightly awkward but they were bound to improve. Which facilitated travel a bit, though again, actually thinking about it, Amber didn’t really know how to treat Frei because of the whole status quo. She supposed that for now it was better to just remain cordial and not expect anything from her.

At the very least, she wouldn’t be reporting anything about them to the Arcane Council, and that was more than enough for them.

Finally, they were arriving to where the road had been, but Frei blinked.

“Hey, did ya guys like⁠— hide the unconscious merchant or horses? ‘Cause they’re missing.”

At that everyone paused, squinting their eyes as they basically saw a barren road. All that remained was the destruction from the initial chimera attack.

“Maybe they woke up,” Asil said.

“Considering I stabbed ‘em to keep them immobile; unlikely,” Frei said. “So, it’s either the work of a monster or something else…”

“Something else?”

“Yeah, something like other people targeting the chimeras for example.” Frei stretched before glancing to the side, over at the top of the valley. “Those would be quite annoying, especially if they show up without my knowledge.”

At that, Amber paused, and followed her gaze, and for a moment nothing was happening, then a moment later three people walked into view, all of them wearing white robes, all of them were looking at them, and their Appraisal results were self explanatory.

[???. Lvl ???]

[Lightblessed Mage. Lvl. ???]

[Lightblessed Healer. Lvl. ???]

Amber suppressed a sigh.

You can’t be serious.

“Oh, I recognize that guy, last time he hurt me quite badly,” Frei chirped. “Didn’t think the Saints of Truth would show up here.”