Muted explosions echoed across the room as each buried mana crystal exploded. Sam was sure to close the holes in the rock behind each crystal. She read somewhere that it would make the explosion much more powerful. The statement held true because as soon as she set the crystals off, the inverted mountain of stone-like sediment blasted from the roof like a missile, crashing into the droid formation like death from above.

Unfortunately for Sam and her friends, the level seventy-seven elite droid reacted instantly to the sound of the explosions. It raised its shield above its head, protecting itself and two of the other four droids from the main impact of the ballistic stalactite. Sam saw the yellow magic bubble that formed around the elite droid and the two droids it was protecting wink out when it was overcome by the force of literal tons of stone crashing down onto it.

Your party has defeated Multifunction Hyperlite Attack Droid [Level 65]. Bonus experience is awarded for defeating an enemy 10 or more levels above your own.

“At least we got one,” Sam thought, releasing her grip on the structural beam she was holding. She let herself fall to the dusty chaos below, mumbling as she fell, "Hopefully, that damaged the others enough to make our job easier. It's probably too much to hope the elite got mana backlash from the broken magical barrier."

By the time Sam landed, reducing her impact with one of her Kinetic Dampener constructs, Lupie and Nul were already engaging their targets. She took a second to assess the battle.

Lupie, having already morphed into her wolf form, was stabbing at the elite droid with her blood tentacles and trying to use some of them to bind her enemy's metallic legs and arms. It wasn’t going well, though; the droid was tearing the tentacles off as fast as she could make them. Knowing that fighting an enemy without blood would hinder Lupie’s fighting ability, at least in a long engagement, Sam turned to Nul to see how she could best assist in defeating the smaller droids quickly.

Sam saw Nul was being Nul. The small slime was teleporting erratically around the surviving droids, peppering them with attacks, happily yelling "Void Bolt" and "Void Step" with each teleport. The three surviving standard droids were firing white beams of energy from their mana rifles in all directions, trying to pin down the psychotic slime of doom. Sam noted one of the surviving droids firing at Nul was severely damaged from the stalactite, and its legs were still trapped under a chunk of the broken stone. She was disappointed their plan hadn't taken out more of the droids but decided to focus on the damaged one first.

Sam sent a message to Nul, letting it know who her intended droid target was to avoid friendly fire. She summoned a void spear she crafted during their travels and lunged at the trapped droid. The enemy saw her and turned its rifle on Sam, firing a concentrated mana beam at her chest. Sam was prepared for that and already crafted an arcane shield layered over her body. The beam struck her in the center of the chest, and its surprising power threatened to destroy her shield.

Fortunately, Sam's shield held, and her spear thrust struck true, the tip penetrating deep into the droid's head between the two vertical lights. But the droid kept firing. Confused, Sam quickly pulled the spear from the head and thrust it into the droid's armored chest plate. Still, the damn thing kept firing at her.

“What the hell? How do you kill these things?” Sam thought, pulling the spear out and driving it home yet again without result. She turned on Mana Sight and saw her answer after deselecting the blinding light from the droid's rifle. This thing has a mana core powering it! Let’s see how well it functions when I rip it out of its body!” Sam thought when she detected a magic orb beneath the droid's armor where a human's liver would be with her Mana Sight.

Dismissing her spear and summoning an arcane sword, Sam used it to slice open the armor above the mana core, and dismissing the sword, she drove her hand into the droid’s torso with mana-infused strength. She grabbed the core and ripped it from the still-firing droid, her shield giving out just as she did so, letting the beam from the rifle strike her in the side. Sam let out a grunt of pain as the searing heat from the beam sliced through her ribcage, but compared to what she had been through on this planet, the pain wasn’t any worse than a bee sting from Earth.

Your party has defeated Multifunction Hyperlite Attack Droid [Level 67]. Bonus experience is awarded for defeating an enemy 10 or more levels above your own.

“Two down, three to go,” Sam thought and focused on her next enemy after sending messages to Lupie and Nul about the location of the mana core. One of Nul’s targets got off a lucky shot and clipped the slime in its side, blasting a spray of black gelatinous goop across her face, making Sam’s heart sink. “Nul!” she screamed, fearing the worst as the little slime vanished again, making a weird warbling sound before teleporting. Sam knew she didn’t have time to check on her companion and instead focused her fear and rage on the remaining two standard droids.

Jumping over a chunk of rubble the size of a boulder, Sam engaged the droid that shot Nul. She was furious that she let her companion get so close to enemies that out-leveled it by over thirty levels. Sam channeled her anger at herself into her attack against the droid, and it showed. She summoned an arcane war hammer she had crafted from her inventory; as she saw Banta do, the hammer appeared in her hands while she was already swinging down with her arms. Although Banta's attempt ultimately failed, Sam recognized it as a clever way to use a weapon that would be far too heavy or awkward for her to wield. The only issue was the timing had to be perfect; summoning the weapon too early would throw her off balance; too late, and there wouldn’t be enough momentum for an effective attack. Fortunately, her timing was perfect.

With a shout, Sam smashed the giant hammer down on the droid with magically boosted strength, ignoring the searing heat of the beams of energy peppering her torso. Her blow resulted in a satisfying crunch that completely crumpled the droid. It didn't hurt that the hammer she made had a head the size of the old trunk that used to sit at the foot of her bed and weighed hundreds of kilograms. Also, the face of the weapon wasn't flat; instead, she shaped it like the surface of a meat tenderizer.

Your party has defeated Multifunction Hyperlite Attack Droid [Level 72]. Bonus experience is awarded for defeating an enemy 10 or more levels above your own.

Sam withdrew the hammer back into her inventory and summoned her void spear without hesitation. She lunged toward the final standard droid, aiming the spear at the mana core in its torso. The strength of her lunge ruptured the ground where she kicked off, blasting shattered stone and dust behind her as she flew forward at an inhuman speed.

The final smaller droid was still blasting Sam with its rifle from a few meters away, oblivious to its impending doom. Sam gritted her teeth from the constant bombardment of white-hot mana lasers; she had foregone her magical shield to conserve mana, allowing her Rebuild skill to do its job. Unfortunately, that skill didn't stop the pain from the droid’s attacks, nor did her high pain tolerance. She certainly wasn't going to turn off her concept of pain, not since the last time caused her to pass out afterward.

Sam’s void spear stabbed into the droid like it was penetrating tinfoil. The spear's head punched a hole out of its back after splitting the mana core that powered it in half.

Your party has defeated Multifunction Hyperlite Attack Droid [Level 69]. Bonus experience is awarded for defeating an enemy 10 or more levels above your own.

Sam grinned at the kill notification, “Take that, you little oof—"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

She was cut off when what felt like a bus slammed into her doing Mach one. She was thrown like a rag doll across the room, slamming into a nearby stalagmite, her impact cracking the stone and leaving a crater in its side.

“Mistress!” Lupie’s worried voice came through their comms.

“Ugh, I’m okay,” Sam grumbled through their comms as she pulled herself from the broken remains of the stalagmite, “Did you get the number of that bus that just hit me?”

"It is coming for you, Mistress!" Lupie shouted in her mind, adding, "What is a bus?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Sam said, readying herself. The elite droid was barreling toward her, shield first. Its hammer was nowhere to be seen, and Sam assumed it was because Lupie managed to disarm it.

"Oh, you are so dead," Sam told the sprinting droid with a bloody grin, spitting out several loose teeth that were knocked out and already replaced by her skill. The elite droid activated a skill when it was a few meters away, glowing orange in her mana sight. Unfortunately for the droid, Sam had the perfect counter for its shield bash attack. It was revealed when the attacking automaton stopped abruptly, less than an arm's length from pulverizing Sam. A loud crash was heard across the hanger bay when the elite droid smacked into Sam’s kinetic dampener, arresting its forward momentum.

The droid was elite, though, and reacted instantly when its attack was negated by punching toward Sam's head with its free hand. The one holding the shield was crushed by the impact of her spell. Sam met the droid's fist with her own. Their fists colliding sent a shockwave out from the impact. The droid's size gave it a weight advantage, and Sam was pushed back into the broken remains of the stalagmite from the hit. She didn’t give the droid time to press its advantage, though, and forming a void whip, she lashed it across her armored opponent's torso, cutting a diagonal slash from its shoulder to its hip. The two stared at each other, motionless, as they calculated their next move. Then the bisected droid's upper half slid off its still-standing legs, clunking to the ground as the welcome notification sounded in Sam’s mind.

Your party has defeated Elite Hyperlite Sentry Droid [Level 77]. Bonus experience is awarded for defeating an enemy 20 or more levels above your own.

“Nul!” Sam called out through their voice chat.

“Tired. Hungry,” Came the immediate response from the wounded slime.

Sam relaxed a little after checking Nul's status in her party menu and seeing the slime's health was only down about forty percent. Her friend was going to be okay. Calling out to Nul and Lupie, Sam said, "You two come over here so I can heal you!"

At Sam’s request, Lupie trotted up while Nul teleported directly onto her head. Touching Lupie with a mana thread, Sam began healing her friend. She picked up Nul from her head and examined the void slime as she healed it.

“Damn Nul, that looks bad,” Sam said, examining the crispy edges of the wound in the gelatinous creature’s side…or front…she never could tell and wasn’t sure if there was even an actual difference. Holding a hand over the painful-looking wound, Sam tried to focus her healing skill on the worst parts first.

“No hurt, only tired,” Nul said as she healed the wound.

“That’s right. You can’t feel pain, can you?” Sam said, remembering Nul’s maxed-out pain tolerance.

“May I have some blood so I can heal myself?” Lupie asked before Nul could respond to Sam’s statement.

“What? Oh, I mean, yeah, sure,” Sam said, dismissing her armor and shirt so Lupie could stab a tentacle into her heart. She recognized that Lupie wanted to level up her recovery ability, which she couldn't do if she had always been healed by someone else.

She let out a slight groan when a void-coated blood tentacle penetrated her chest, cracking through two of her ribs before beginning to pulse as lifeblood traveled through the appendage and into Lupie. Sam checked her silenced notifications. Using Nara and Parish’s guidance, she learned how to modify her interface to personalize it somewhat. The first thing Sam did was stop the annoying chime from sounding every single time something happened. Forced and general notifications still made the ‘Bing’ sound, but at least she could get it to stop for some other things like leveling up. Sam also muted all her notifications, at least the ones she could. The System still forced through some, but it was nowhere near what it was before. Her modifications made fighting and exploring much less…distracting.

Pulling up her level-up messages, Sam was pleased with their most recent fight.

Race Human/Voidling Hybrid has leveled to Level 55, 7 free stat points received.

Class Arcane Pathfinder has leveled to Level 57, 10 free stat points received.

Sam checked her companion’s levels and was pleased to see Lupie had gone up a level in her race and class, putting her right behind Sam at levels fifty-two and fifty-one, respectively. Unsurprisingly, Nul made out the best, gaining two levels in its race and three in its class, and now had a race level of thirty-five and a class level of thirty-four.

"Hey, Nul, can I suggest how you distribute your free stat points?" Sam asked, quickly adding, "You don't have to do what I say; it's just a suggestion. Hell, I don't even know if you get free points." She had been watching Nul's progression and worried the slime would go the pure caster route, winding up with bottomless mana reserves but virtually nothing in the way of stamina and health.

“Nul Void Mage, take magic,” came the slime’s reply.

"I know you are, little one, but you are also a Void Slime," Sam said. Then, she thought of how to explain what she wanted to say in a way to best get her point across. "Okay, Nul, think of it like this," Sam said, staring at the small slime cradled in her arms. When Nul's large expressive eyes popped open in the inky blackness of its body, she continued, "The droid that shot you was only level sixty-nine, and it took over forty percent of your health in that one shot. Now, I know you want your magic to be powerful. Still, I also think you should at least consider adding a little to your other attributes for a few reasons," Seeing she had Nul's full attention and even Lupie was looking at her in interest, Sam kept going, "One reason is if there is ever something that can negate your magic you will not stand a chance if your other attributes aren’t at least high enough for you to escape especially if the enemy can kill you in one or two hits. Another is if you are a caster, your enemies will not expect you to be…um…very strong or agile, for example. That way, you can surprise them by not only using magic but your other strengths as well.”

“This is wise advice,” Lupie agreed.

Sam had one more point to make, although it was more speculation than actual fact. She hoped Lupie might have some insight into her idea, "Lupie, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe when we evolve, the options presented will be based at least partly on our current attributes and fighting style." Sam questioned Parish about it when they were in the cave, but it seemed that no one knew how it worked, or at least those who did weren't sharing their knowledge. Still, Sam believed she was right because of the wording in the notification she received when her title was upgraded, stating she would have additional options upon her first evolution.

“I do not know for sure, but it seems logical,” Lupie said after some thought.

“Nul, understand. Choose strong, fast, and magic.” The Void Slime finally agreed after a long pause. Then, a moment later, it melted a little in Sam’s arms, saying, “Levels…”

It took a while to get everyone topped back up after the battle. Lupie suffered a lot more damage than Sam had initially thought. Sam was right when she worried enemies without blood would handicap the Bloodmorph in a fight. To remedy that, Sam allowed Lupie to create over thirty blood sacks filled with her blood and store them for later use. When Sam questioned why it had to be her blood and why Lupie couldn't use her own, she surprised Sam with her answer.

"Because your blood is pure beyond anything I have ever tasted or manipulated," Lupie calmly said, as if Sam should have known this fact.

"Huh, who knew?" was Sam's only intelligent reply.

As they were healing, Sam made sure to stay alert. She didn't want one of those patrols to catch them off guard. They were only victorious against the droids because of the element of surprise. Fortunately, Sam’s worries proved unfounded as no other enemies entered the hanger bay while they recovered.

Putting Nul on her head and standing up, Sam noted that the slime was heavier since leveling, but it still wasn't so bad she couldn't manage it. Moving to the elite droid, she stared down at the metallic frame. A milky fluid leaked out of the severed halves of its body, creating a small puddle on the ground. Hundreds of wires, hoses, and cables were visible in the two halves of its body.

Strangely, Sam thought she could still feel some energy coming from the droid. The feeling was so strong that had it not been for the kill notification, she would have probably smashed it up some more just to be safe. She reached down to loot it when her notebook appeared from her inventory to hover annoyingly in front of her face, flipping open to a blank page where, as usual, writing started appearing. With an exasperated sigh, Sam read the message:

Dear sister,

Thank you for relaying my message to the Fae Master. As a reward, I will give you this advice: enjoy the "Technological" marvel you found yourself in. -Petal

Reading the words, Sam was confused, “Why the hell would I enjoy exploring an ancient ship that is likely full of enemies that want to kill me? And what’s up with putting the word ‘technological’ in quotes and capitalizing it? No shit, it's technological; it’s a freaking spaceship, for god’s sake. Just how stupid do they think I—” Sam slapped a hand to her forehead when it finally dawned on her what Petal was trying to convey without telling her outright.

Mumbling, “I am such an idiot,” Sam summoned her quill and wrote: Thank you, Petal, I will. -Sam.

Closing and storing her notebook and quill, Sam took Nul from her head, handed the slime to Lupie, and said, “Here, take Nul. I have to go to my soul really quick." Thinking briefly, she added, "You may want to stand back, too; I have no idea what will happen."

Looking curiously at Sam, Lupie still complied and, taking Nul, retreated a distance away.

Sam assumed a lotus position on the rough stone and metal floor. She was about to become a Technogog Arcana!