My small solo excursion into the outer core cost me quite a lot of mana, so I had to take some time to recover. Veraxia took and absorbed the crystal from the soldier she saved me from. Not that I thought anything about it. She saved me after all.
I meditated my mana pool full and then urged Veraxia to go back to the outer core. Since we were fully rested and recovered, there was no reason to delay it any further and if we hurried, I might even be able to get my hands on some mandibles. I did not need them anymore, but having some couldn’t hurt. The paralytic effect of those bristles was astounding and might turn out to be useful in the future.
Also, after learning that the Exapoda Queen recognized me as a threat, I changed the situation. At the moment, she only resorted to taking away the weapons I fought with until now, but she would inevitably learn that I was a threat even without them.
Veraxia and I deducted that at that time, the hive likely would not hunt me like prey, but like an enemy to exterminate. Their priorities would change from hunting and eating me to simply killing me with all they had. And when that time came, I had to be ready, which is why had to get stronger. The best and fastest way to grow was to fight and kill.
And so, Veraxia carried me back to the outer core. Both the journey to the entrance and the descent into the chamber took only a tiny fraction of the time it took me on my own.
At the bottom, we actually found the mess of a corpse Veraxia had made last time, but unfortunately, she also destroyed the mandibles. When I gave her a look because of this, looked at the tiny fragments that were once big, powerful weapons, shrugged, and looked away.
I clicked my tongue, kicking one of the fragments in frustration. “Unnecessary,” I grumbled under my breath.
Leaving that behind, we were planning to go deeper into the chamber today and enter the roots maze. There were only two paths that led out of the entrance area into the maze. One was formed by a root that obstructed almost the entire left side of the area, but about halfway through grew downward into the ground, leaving some space between itself and the next ‘root wall’. The second one was a lot narrower, which existed beneath one root that grew beneath another, raising it slightly from the ground and creating a small entry.
The only ones who could pass through the second were drones and me, which could be helpful in case I had to flee, but it did not allow Veraxia through, so through a process of elimination, we could only take the first entrance.
“Are we sure entering this is a good idea?” I asked as Veraxia approached the maze.
“It is the only way.” Her reply was simple, but she was right. We had to get through this maze to find the Exapoda Queen, so we were left with little choice in the matter.
Beyond that point was a simple path that led ahead and at the end split to the left and right, but rather than the structure of the maze, I was fascinated by its appearance. After the skeleton chamber, the lair’s condition seemed to gradually worsen the deeper I went, but surprisingly, inside the maze, there was an abundance of plants growing. Other than the usual moss and vines, there were bushes, grass, a kind of plant that resembled a vine, just with large, yellowish leaves.
“There are a lot of things growing inside here,” I commented as I let my hand run along the wall, brushing through a plant or two every now and then.
“Those roots are the main supply of nutrients and life force for my bond tree. Some of it occasionally seeps out and boosts the growth of flora and fauna. After exterminating every other resident species, the Exapoda gradually ran out of food, so this is what keeps them alive.” Veraxia spoke with a calm, but she clearly held back some emotions regarding her statement. I never had something like a bonded tree or place to call my home, but I imagined having others invading it, and trying to take it from you was not something to take lightly.
Although she did not say it directly, the Exapoda preying on the life force from these roots was likely the reason behind her bonded tree dying. They were essentially stealing its life force, gradually causing it to wither away. Consequently, if we removed all of the Exapoda, nothing would interfere with the life force anymore.
“We should dispose of all the Exapoda.”
“That is precisely why we are here, is it not?”
“Yes, but I meant before challenging the Queen. If we reduce their numbers, the amount of life force stolen will reduce. It would give us more time to make me stronger.”
That was another of my concerns. I just recently learned that I could even harm soldiers, but still had trouble fighting them on my own. And the Queen was the oldest of all Exapoda, so she had the most time to level, so gathering a few more levels before challenging her was probably the better choice.
“That… is about what I planned on doing.”
“Really?”
“Really. You did not seriously think that I was going to fight the Queen with you like this, did you?”
Rude. And reasonable. Still rude though.
“Reducing their numbers will not only give us more time, it will also make our fight against the Queen easier. Not only level-wise.” Veraxia paused, but when I had nothing to say, she continued. “The Queen is like the heart of the hive. The moment she is in danger, the entire hive will drop whatever they are doing and rush to help. I think you can imagine how that would look for us.”
“Not good,” I answered.
Veraxia nodded. “Even if you were stronger already, we would still have to whittle down their numbers a little. We are killing two bugs with one stone.”
I let out a short laugh at the fitting expression.
***
Even though we were progressing fast through the maze, nothing interesting happened for quite a while so I had some time on my hands to… do nothing special. I tried around with my mana a little and I couldn’t do more than that. Traveling like this was quite enjoyable.
I hated walking, not only because of my weak constitution but also because it was the activity that had occupied most of my time since coming here.
So having this burden taken from me, I was very fond of this kind of moving about. Not only was I freed from walking on my own feet, but we were also faster and I had the leisure to train while moving without having to watch my step for random holes in the ground.
In time, we arrived at a small clearing that was different from all the narrow paths. It was slightly wider, circular, and to no one’s surprise, occupied by a bunch of bugs.
Since we were both in top form, we decided to just fight them then and there. There were two soldiers and a few drones. Veraxia distracted the two soldiers while I was about to take out the rest.
Drones were not much of a threat anymore, so I conjured a sword made from mana and started slashing away at them. Once I was done, I was surrounded by corpses, and blue blood stains on my clothes. I left the corpse circle and went to assist Veraxia.
When I got to her, one of the soldiers had already been killed, while the other barely hung onto life. After seeing me approach, Veraxia disengaged.
Despite being on the verge of death, when the soldier saw me, it reacted as if none of its injuries existed, falling into an explosive frenzy. I was a little surprised by this, but quickly gathered myself, and conjured a mana spear. Blinded by frenzy, the soldier kept running straight at me, impaling itself on my spear.
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[Novice Witch] has leveled up! Stat points have been allocated! 1 Free Stat Point acquired!
[Novice Witch] is now Level 35.
A single level was nothing groundbreaking, but it was progress nonetheless, rather than that, I was already satisfied with my performance. And, as a result of our victory, I now had two level 41 mandibles coated in parasitic poison.
“I thought you were over those things,” Veraxia remarked from the side.
“I am, but who knows, maybe we will need them at some point,” I argued back. Honestly, Veraxia was probably right and they were unnecessary, but I wanted to take them since I could use them from longer distances.
Veraxia let the matter slide and instead started to extract the mana crystals. I tried it, too, but Veraxia was much faster than me. She precisely knew where it was located, while I diced the whole front half of the soldier, creating a mess of flesh, blood, and intensities. Eventually, I found a small purple stone and raised it into the air triumphantly.
My moment of triumph was interrupted by a series of damp booms, I flinched and turned around, where I found Veraxia, sitting on her rear and slapping her giant claws against each other, imitating a clap. I pouted, slightly offended by the sarcasm.
“You take one?” I asked eyeing the crystal at the green monster’s feet.
“No, my body has still plenty of energy left, you take them. We gotta turn you into a murder machine after all.” She put one of her claws beneath the crystal and flicked it towards me. Physically inept as I was, I caught the flying crystal with Telekinesis instead of my hand.
With both crystals in hand, I let Veraxia place me on her back again—something I had grown used to and did not mind much anymore. The moment I was on, she started moving, while I started absorbing the first crystal.
***
It was not too long after I had absorbed the second crystal when we came across another clearing. Of course, there were a dozen or so bugs, too. On our way, we also encountered one or two drones, but we did not stop to fight them individually. Instead, Veraxia picked them up with her tail, held them in front of me, and stabbed them to death. It was more of an execution than a fight, but that did not matter.
Like before, Veraxia and I started clearing out the Exapoda.
[Unregistered] has leveled up! Stat points have been allocated! 3 Free Stat Point acquired!
[Unregistered] is now Level 28.
[Novice Witch] has leveled up! Stat points have been allocated! 1 Free Stat Point acquired!
[Novice Witch] is now Level 36.
As my levels increased again, a question appeared in my mind. “I wonder, what level is the Queen?” I voiced my question while allocating my newly acquired stat points—into Dexterity and Vitality.
Even with my combined level of 64, I was still not on the same level as a level 41 soldier. While I could hurt and kill them now, I still needed Veraxia to help me, but even Veraxia told me her body would only be able to compete with enemies in the 70-ish range. It was quite late, but it was probably about time I learned how strong the enemy we wanted to take down was.
“That is difficult to answer. The last time I got a glimpse at her, she was at level 90,” Veraxia responded calmly, despite the shock that this news carried.
I mean, I expected the Queen to be at a higher level than the soldiers, but level 90 was even more than I imagined. It was even twenty levels above Veraxia. Wasn’t that insanely bad news? Now I understood why Veraxia wanted us to take down the other Exapoda before the fight. There was no way we could battle a level 90 enemy while also being assaulted from all sides by drones and soldiers.
If we wanted to bring me on a similar level to the Queen, then we would still have to kill dozens, maybe hundreds of Exapoda. No, not we, I, and only I, had to kill those Exapoda.
That in itself was not the problem, but was there even enough time or Exapoda to kill that many? Okay, technically I only needed 45 levels in class and species each to achieve a combined level of 90, but would that be enough? Just being the same level as something was not necessarily enough to make me an even match, as even now, I was not a match for soldiers twenty-level below me.
Maybe I should aim for the next Specimen milestone and hope to get another mysterious skill out of nowhere that will save my day. But as I racked my brain, another part of Veraxia’s answer finally registered in my mind.
“Wait. When was the last time you saw her?” I asked, worry apparent in my voice.
Veraxia seemed to think for a moment. “A month, maybe?”
A month… Considering the type of growth I experienced in only a few days, that was more than enough time to grow significantly stronger.
“You do no need to worry. Like the rest of the hive, the Queen has no sources of experience anymore. She likely only leveled one or two times, if at all.”
That was at least a little reassuring.
Before our conversation could continue, we came across another clearing that was just waiting for us to clear it out and kill all the bugs waiting there for us.
You have slain [Exapoda Soldier | Lvl. 41]. Experience will be awarded. Bonus Experience for slaying a higher-leveled enemy will be awarded.
You have slain [Exapoda Drone | Lvl. 22]. Experience will be awarded.
…
…
You have slain [Exapoda Drone | Lvl. 23]. Experience will be awarded.
[Unregistered] has leveled up! Stat points have been allocated! 3 Free Stat Point acquired!
[Unregistered] is now Level 29.
[Novice Witch] has leveled up! Stat points have been allocated! 1 Free Stat Point acquired!
[Novice Witch] is now Level 37.
Well, now that I had an idea of where I needed to be each level brought me closer to my combined level of 45. At level 50 of my species, I would reach another Specimen milestone, though I would likely reach level 50 in my class long before that. Seeing as this was the case, I wondered if there was anything similar to evolution from my species. “Novice” implied that there was something above it, else there would be no reason for the extra descriptor.
So after draining two mana crystals of their mana and suffering the pain afterwards, I decided to share this question with Veraxia. After all, she was all-knowing and super smart. She did not disappoint as she nodded her head while carrying me through the maze.
“Humans call it ‘Class Advancement’. It never had any relevance to me, so I never looked into it, but from what I heard, it is quite similar to evolution, the only difference being that classes seldom change the fundament of your being.”
“And when does it happen?” That it was similar to an evolution was all that mattered. If I somehow were to improve or evolve my class, it would be a great help in our upcoming fight.
“There are multiple, but to my knowledge, the first one happens at level 50.”
I had just taken a guess before, but it seemed like I was correct. If so, then I had a new short-term goal to achieve. I could not tell as of right now, but there was a good chance it was going to be very beneficial, and depending on its impact on my strength, it might even put me on a level of strength to compete with the Exapoda Queen in Veraxia’s stead.
Also if the advancement was anything like the initial class selection, then maybe I would even get a skill or two.
From that point onward, we kept exploring the maze and cleared out all the Exapoda we came across. Thanks to my new way of handling my mana, even if I used two to three hundred mana to make spears, as long as they did not break or I let go of them, I could absorb the mana again, so I wouldn’t tire out that easily and with Veraxia being my legs, even my stamina was unimportant and I could spend it to my heart's content in battles. To some degree, at least.
[Unregistered] has leveled up! Stat points have been allocated! 3 Free Stat Point acquired!
[Unregistered] is now Level 31.
[Novice Witch] has leveled up! Stat points have been allocated! 1 Free Stat Point acquired!
[Novice Witch] is now Level 40.
After reaching a combined level of 71, my stats increased tremendously.
Vitality: 60
Strength: 39
Agility: 85
Dexterity: 50
Intelligence: 135
Willpower: 135
Perception: 95
Faith: 0
Intelligence and Willpower were still far ahead, but especially after the recent changes in my fighting style, this would stay like this for a while. Besides that, Perception and Agility were the stats boosted by my class, but I could not claim much of a difference even after they grew to where they are now.
Probably the most notable change would be my Agility, thanks to which moving my body felt a lot less… burdensome. Before, all kinds of fast or strenuous movements were very difficult for me. Even now, my body feels heavy, weak, and slow, but I observed how drones and even soldiers were requiring me less and less effort to keep up with. Although I was still far from athletic.
Overall, it was hard to say anything too specific, but my body started feeling better. As if it was continuously improving, albeit in small and slow steps.
The biggest change in my stats was not my stats though. It was my mana.
Mana: 5,546/5,632
My mana pool was growing steadily, to a point where I couldn’t even spend it all in one fight. That was far from a bad thing since that meant I always had a huge reserve of mana in case I got injured.
Still, with so much mana, I couldn’t help but want more skills to use. My current arsenal was fine, but still far from perfect. But for the moment, I still tried to make mana projectiles to fire over long distances. With the amount of mana I had, I would be able to shower bugs in flurries of attacks.
I dismissed my status and focused on our surroundings. This was by far the longest we traveled and the most difficult. Veraxia claimed over roots or squeezed beneath them, occasionally requiring me to jump off.
At the end of this path we were following for quite some time now, we found another clearing, but this time, there was no big group of bugs waiting for us, just a single one. The moment I laid my eyes upon it, I recognized that this meant trouble because the Exapoda before was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
[Awoken Exapoda Soldier | Lvl. 55]