{Kinetic Strike has leveled up! Kinetic Strike is now level 3!}

{You have defeated an enemy over 6x your level! Additional EXP awarded!}

{You have gained multiple levels!}

Zoe sighed. It was a raspy, dry sound — her body was still mostly cooked, after all. Unfortunately, she had used up all of her mana with the last attack. She hadn’t wanted to take chances. Fortunately, there was an easy way to replenish it.

While the mashed in face of the paladin didn’t look particularly appetizing, beggars couldn’t be choosers. Zoe would take what she could get — whatever it took to survive. As she began to chomp down on flesh and blood and bone, Zoe idly considered her actions since she had arrived in this world.

She would have been surprised, except now she was too tired and desensitized to actually feel it. Before she died back on Earth, she would have imagined that she wouldn’t have the guts to kill someone. Or to resort to cannibalism.

But as it turned out, actually experiencing the life or death situations quickly changed her mind. Also, was it technically cannibalism if she wasn’t human? Food for thought.

Heh. Food.

As Zoe moved down to the neck, she realized she would have to pry open the armor to get at the insides. Like an oyster. I really am going totally insane. With that thought, she sat back to take a breather and wipe her mouth.

{+170 Mana}

That was far, far less than she had expected. Frowning, Zoe pulled up her status.

Zoe Blackwell

Lesser Demon of Wrath - 19

Healer / Kinetic Knight

Abilities: {Kinetic Manipulation - 2, Bronze}, {Heal Wound - 3, Silver}, {Medicinal Diagnosis - 1, Bronze}, {Mana Manipulation - 5, Bronze}, {Cleansing Hellfire - 1, Bronze}, {Kinetic Strike - 3, Bronze}, {Physical Enhancement - 1, Bronze}, {Pain Resistance - 5, Bronze}, {Meditation - 1, Bronze}, {Introspection - 1, Silver}, {Acid Resistance - 3, Bronze}, {Lesser Vampirism - 2, Bronze}

Perks: {Last Defiance}

Mana: 170 / 190

Her maximum mana was equivalent to ten times her level. If that was the same for everyone, then the paladin would have had — what, six hundred? Seven hundred? The monster that had tried to eat her must have just had an absurd amount then. Which begged it’s own questions, like why Alexander had been able to go toe to toe with it.

In any case, Zoe bent down and continued her feast. There was no point in wasting perfectly good mana, after all. And she really needed to heal.

Several minutes later, all that remained was a bloody husk. Which was weird, because the paladin had been significantly larger than her. Where did it all go? Her stomach wasn’t even at all bloated. Very strange.

A tingling, burning sensation at her senses let her know that she had once again exceeded her maximum mana capacity. By just a measly three hundred and nineteen. Damaged, destroyed flesh that had begun to grow numb flared up in pain again. Another toe crumbled.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Zoe rolled her eyes. Nothing a little {Heal Wound} couldn’t fix.

As flesh began to knit itself back together, Zoe lost herself in thought. How far could she push the skill? After all, it was only level three. It felt pretty powerful already, but what were the limits? Would she be able to regrow a limb if she lost it?

She decided that she would err on the side of caution. Although — that wasn’t something she had exactly been good at doing so far.

With nothing else to do, Zoe continued studying her status. She had a lot of questions, most of which couldn’t be answered. A few could. So first, she activated {Medicinal Diagnosis} for the first time.

It barely consumed any mana, but the effects were immediate. The wounds all over her body lit up in her mind as blurry splotches of sensation. It wasn’t painful or even uncomfortable — it was just there.

{Status: critically injured.}

Zoe laughed. Yeah, I think I already knew that.

But perhaps the ability could grow to be useful. Like, what if she used it on enemies? It seemed pretty obvious, though she would have to test it out to both see if it would work and how useful it would be.

After what felt like an hour, her mana had dropped back under her maximum, and she also felt good enough to walk. Her toes had come back, which might indicate that she could regrow limbs — but also maybe not. Heal wound leveled up only once during the entire time, which annoyed her. She had come back from the brink of death! But perhaps there was more to it than that. Come to think of it, many of her skill levels seemed to have come from trying something new.

In any case, Zoe decided it was time to head for the stairs. She briefly considered backtracking and searching throughout the complex for useful items, but decided against it. While she knew perfectly well that it would be a more rational decision, she was just fucking sick of the place. She wanted to see sunlight. Plants.

It had only been a few hours but she was ready to leave. She needed a nice refresher.

With that goal in mind, Zoe began ascending the stone steps. They went up completely straight without any twists or bends. There was hardly any variation, either. Just slick, stone steps leading up endlessly into the darkness. Zoe found that she couldn’t see anything without {Manasight}. Even with the ability active, it was difficult going at first. The only thing she could see other than herself was vague forms of dark brown, representing the shape of the stones.

After a few hours, it grew monotonous enough that she was able to shut off the ability and go entirely by feel. And an hour after that, it was completely automatic. Her mana continued to drop as she healed herself, but she was slowing it down now. She didn’t want to drop back to zero again. Or even anywhere close. Running out of mana had caused far too many problems already.

So instead, she began to {Meditate}.

Entering her core, Zoe relaxed and focused on sucking up as much mana as she could. It started regenerating at a decent pace, but she still didn’t know how much of that was a baseline level versus using the skill.

That started to become automatic as well, which granted her a level in the ability. Now that she was free to focus on something else, she activated the other one, {Introspection}.

Her core space was far brighter this time, a sparkling web of crimson with gold flecks sparking between it. Of course, the core itself was still a messy tangle. It bothered her, strangely — it felt like something she ought to try to fix. But how?

Zoe reached out to touch it with her mind and hit a wall.

A literal, physical wall.

Opening her eyes, she blinked and came face to face with a colossal stone door.

It was engraved with flowing runes and vegetal designs. It was rough work, but also quite detailed. The door was three times her height and half as wide. Turning around, she saw that a large white crystal provided a small amount of illumination.

Turning back around, Zoe frowned. How was she supposed to get through?

A hatch she hadn’t seen popped open.

A visored, metal helmet peered back at her, before jerking back. “Y’all! Y’all! We got a visitor!”

Zoe licked her lips. She was still naked and covered in blood. Not exactly a charming first impression, but it was what it was.

The visored man continued speaking to someone on the other side. “I think it’s the uh… the person you were talking about.”

Another face popped out in front of her — and Zoe realized she recognized it. She was the dark haired woman — the cultist — who had accepted her terms of escape. Only now, she didn’t wear a hood.

“That would indeed be her.”

She disappeared, and Zoe thought she heard rapid whispering. She couldn’t make out any words, though.

“Alright, let her in.”

The door began to groan inward, and Zoe began to sweat. It took about thirty seconds, and then two men in armor far less fancy than the paladin’s were ushering inside.

The cultist — now dressed in a plain leather outfit — gave her a wink and a smile. As the door began to groan shut, Zoe looked around in wonder.

“Welcome,” the woman said, sweeping her arms around, “to the Overworld.”