"Wow! Are all of your fights like this?" Jake asked as he and Nathan came out from where they had been hiding during the fight.

"Depends on what 'this' is referring to," Alice answered offhandedly, still occupied by her new Skill.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Reward: Skill

Necrotic burst Lv 1

Costs 2 Mana and 3 Stamina

Upon impact, release a burst of necrotic energies.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It definitely sounded like the long-awaited offensive Skill. Annoyingly, it was one of those with a rather vague description, meaning she would have to experiment to find out what exactly the Skill did.

"I mean this brutal and dangerous," he clarified his question.

"Well, obviously. We are fighting against magical creatures more than capable of defending themselves, after all. Anyway, are you ready to get your mark?" Alice asked the duo.

"Sure," Nathan answered.

"Debby, you upgraded your marks, right?" Alice asked via telepathy.

"Yes, I can now mark three more people, and the range actually doubled, so I can already reach HQ. Do I still need to mark Nathan in that case?" the answer came immediately.

For a moment, Alice considered the question before giving her answer,

"It would be good. We still have to split up if we continue leveling, and it would be annoying to find them otherwise if Andy drove them away."

Having Debby put a Mark on Nathan had been Daniel's suggestion. At some point, while planning their next steps, Nathan had remarked that he and Jake didn't want to go too far away from Andy's territory but stay within teleportation range since the both of them were relatively weak without the buff.

At the same time, they had also come to the conclusion that it wasn't a good idea if the groups stayed together for too long, in case Andy sent people after the two again. If it was just Jake and Nathan, they didn't have much problem getting away, but with Alice's group, that wouldn't be possible anymore.

Apparently, the Skill he had used before to come and get Alice's team, was the only one that allowed him to transport large groups, and that particular ability actually only allowed him to temporarily visit a place and take something back with him.

Instead of a normal teleport that allowed him to go from point A to point B, this Skill had him go from point A to point B, so he could bring other things from point B to point A, but nothing could stay behind in point B.

So, to establish communication and allow them to meet up again after Alice's group had done what they needed to do, Daniel had suggested putting a Mark on Nathan. Nathan himself had agreed to that without hesitation, increasing Alice's trust in the two by quite a bit.

Compared to Andy's troops, who had to return to base after every failure to get information on the opponent's location again and would lose a significant amount of strength if they left too far away from their base, Alice team could hound them until they ran out of Mana no matter where they ran.

Side by side, the two men and women walked around the monster's corpse, rejoining the rest of the group.

"Give me your hand," Debby said as she came towards them, immediately activating her Skill once they came into contact. "And done, now we can contact and find you even at larger distances."

"Thanks, we count on you. I don't think we would be able to do anything about this situation without your help," Nathan said, already activating his longest ranged teleport.

As light and space swirled and distorted around them, Jake too said his farewells, "Good luck, and a good hunt."

With a strange, slurping sound, the duo disappeared from in front of their eyes, producing a pop as air rushed in to fill the vacuum they left behind.

"You can still feel them?" Alice asked out of curiosity.

"Yes, somewhere in that direction," Debby answered, pointing roughly towards the university.

Thoughtfully, Alice looked at the sky. It was already getting quite late, and now that she thought about it, she could barely believe how much had happened in just a single day.

"Okay, it's getting late, so let's find a place for the night. Debby, do you think you can reach Michael from the house with the bunker?"

"Should be possible, yes."

"Okay, then contact Michael and tell him to get the rest of the council ready in about an hour. In the meantime, that's where we will stay for the night. As long as there aren't any monster-moles or another school of street sharks, that place should be the safest around."

"Girl, don't you go and jinx it," Ava immediately complained.

__________

Luckily, there hadn't been any more hard fights. There was only a single case of a few monkeys attacking them, which was resolved quickly and without any injuries. Rather, it even gave Alice a chance to test out her new offensive Skill. If anything, this was what resulted in the fight's biggest casualty.

Apparently, the necrotic energies were emitted from her body, causing her ax handle to completely rot through in mere moments. The weapon still did its job of killing her opponent, but it also cost her her backup weapon.

"They will talk about it and tell us the result tomorrow, but we are supposed to continue preparing until then, no matter what the result is going to be," Debby conveyed what Michael had told her. "Aside from that, they had some interesting findings back at the base.

First of all, it seems that some monsters have so-called magic crystals in their chest. The cooks found it when butchering a Flasher. They still don't know if the Flasher was a special case or if Raptors and monkeys simply don't have any, but they are going to test it out.

The important part is, however, if you hold the crystal, you get a system message. Apparently, for that particular crystal, it said that it still holds three of ten Mana and asks if you want to absorb it. For that reason, Michael asked us to try and find more of them since they might turn out useful for us."

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Hmm... My flesh grafting will definitely come in handy to get them out, and they might help to speed up the enchanting process if we find enough of them," Alice pondered.

"What happens if you absorb the Mana?" Ava asked curiously.

"They haven't tried yet, since they only have a single one. But since there was a system message, they assume it won't be anything bad," Debby answered before continuing, "Secondly, they found that Skills seem to have a second tier. Up to level five, you can upgrade them normally, but from level six onward, it costs you a so-called level-five-skill-points. As the name implies, you get one every five levels, and they only appear in your Status screen after you used the first.

The important bit is, however, that the Skill gets an upgrade. The first confirmed case was for someone with a Skill that allowed you to shoot magical projectiles. After the upgrade, they can now summon several at the same time and even bend their flight path to a certain degree."

Immediately, Alice looked at her own Status.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Name: Alice Liddell

Level: 22 (22)

Level-5 Skill point: 4

Class-primary: Necromancer 77,1%

Class-secondary: Warrior 81,6%

Resources:

Stamina: 21/21

Mana: 15/15

Soul energy: 20/20

Primary Stats:

Muscle-density: 30+5+20%

Stamina: 20+1

Mana: 15

Magic power: 15+4

Secondary Stats:

Soul energy: 20

Vitality (B): 0+4

Bodyreformation (T) 6+10/100

Mana regeneration (T) 18/100

Leg strength (B) 10+10/100

Skills:

Soul collection Lv 1

Soul sense Lv 3

Undead constitution Lv 1

Flesh grafting Lv 1

Soul absorption Lv 3

Soul-binding Lv 5

Bone armor Lv 1

Necrotic burst Lv 1

Taunt (B) Lv 0+2

Pack mentality (B) Lv 0+1

Monstrous strength (B) Lv 0+2

Buffs:

Monkey soul: (2)

Magic power +4

Leg strength +10

Taunt +2

Raptor soul:

Muscle-density +1

Stamina +1

Pack mentality +1

Troll soul: (2)

Muscle-density +4

Vitality +4

Bodyreformation +10

Monstrous strength +2

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

She had already eleven Skills, although three of those weren't actually her own. That meant she had eight Skills, five of which were actually still at level one. Alice realized that her Status was actually a bit of a mess and that she would have to think about how she wanted to continue from here on out.

In terms of Skills, she still didn't have a movement Skill, but at least she now had a defensive and offensive one. Since she was pretty much a tank either way, she didn't think that she would need a movement Skill any time soon. Someday, she wanted one, but for now, she thought that she was fine in terms of Skills.

But while she was fine with the Skills she had, now that the possibility of upgrading them came up, getting all her Skills to level six was rather tempting. However, there was no way that would happen in any short amount of time. So, she had to decide which Skills would be actually worth it and focus on those.

The first candidate was, of course, Soul-binding simply for the reason that it was only a single level away, so she would upgrade that one first.

Then, of course, there were Soul sense and Soul absorption, both of which were already at level three. Of those two, she abandoned Soul sense for the moment. It was definitely a useful Skill, she couldn't deny that, but Alice couldn't imagine any kind of upgrade to it that would make a significant enough difference. Soul absorption, on the other hand, just gambling on the possibility of becoming capable of using it on others would be worth it.

Of the remaining Skills still at level one, Soul collection and Flesh grafting were the first she dismissed. She might give each of them a level soon, but they weren't worth it to bring them all the way to level six. Rather, her two newest Skills would have priority, as they would contribute the most to her absolute combat power.

And finally, there was Undead constitution. It was, Alice decided, the first level one Skill she would try to upgrade. For one, because she was curious. Between all the Skills she had, this was the Skill where she was the most interested in what an upgrade may do to it. But more importantly, she wanted to upgrade it because it was most definitely the Skill that saved her life more times than any other.

However, she couldn't only think about her Skills. Her primary Stats were far from what she wanted them to be. To be precise, each of them at thirty without any buffs. But she also wanted one or two additional secondary Stats since Alice thought that those had incredible potential for the future, but the ones she had weren't the kind she could actively train.

"...lice. Alice!" Ava's voice ripped her out of her thoughts.

"Hm? What?" Alice was confused.

"I was asking if we have forgotten to mention anything Andy told us, but you weren't paying attention apparently."

"Sorry, I was a little lost in thought. What did you tell them?"

Quickly, Debby went through the details she had conveyed to Michael.

"Yeah, you got everything, as far as I can tell," Alice answered.

"Okay, I'm going to take first watch, and I vote that our leader here gets tonight off. She has gone through enough shit today," Ava said into the round.

Before Alice could complain, Debby lifted her hand, "Agreed." From the wince in her expression, Alice could guess exactly what situation the woman was thinking of as she said that.

Quickly, the rest of the group agreed as well. With a sigh, she accepted the situation.

Before Alice knew what had happened, Ava had already pulled the helmet off from her head, pushing it down on her lap. Ava leaned forward, looking directly down into her girlfriend's face. "Are you sure you are okay?"

Alice lifted her head a little, giving her girlfriend a peck on the nose, that being the only place she could conveniently reach. "Yeah, I'm fine," she lied, lying back down in Ava's lap.

"Your legs are too bony," she mumbled as she nuzzled her head into her girlfriend's thighs, allowing them to distract her from the pain and thoughts of murder and assassination as she drifted away into a fitful sleep.

__________

Listlessly, Alice poked with her fork around in her can of ravioli. No matter how much it reminded her of a camping trip, she just couldn't be happy about it. Because, if this was a camping trip, then it was the sort that only had all the bad experiences of something like that, but also with an added side of almost getting killed and planning assassinations.

Alice yawned. Too much had happened on the previous day all at once, and despite having had a good long sleep, she felt exhausted. What didn't help either was the fact that she wouldn't be able to get rid of the dirt, grime, and blood covering her body and armor. Even if she could ignore the smell, she felt slimy and sticky. Not to mention that going to the bathroom like civilized people had become impossible as well. The only consolation was that she didn't need someone to accompany her, thanks to her Soul sense.

What I wouldn't give for a long, hot bath, some music, and a good book.

Silently, she buried her laments in the depths of her mind, going back to business.

"How far did you get with the enchantments yesterday? And how are we in terms of enchanted weapons and ammunition?" Alice asked Harry.

"I got two enchantments done and even leveled up the Skill itself. In terms of enchanted guns, there isn't a lot left, and while still have a lot of ammunition, I would suggest that Daniel, Debby, and Max stay out of fights as much as possible."

"Didn't we plan ahead for five days? Shouldn't we still be fine?" Debby asked confusedly.

"Yes," Harry agreed, "But I miscalculated quite a bit. We got into more fights than I thought we would, and you are wasting more bullets than I thought you would. Besides, we are also going to stay here longer, aren't we?"

"Hmm," Alice considered what her teammate had said, "that means we will have to restructure our tactic a little. Carl, from now on, please stay on the defensive. Always keep an eye on our backline."

"Sure," the man immediately agreed.

Alice was pretty happy that everyone in the group was so easy to work with. Carl was the most problematic of all if you could even call him that. And even he wasn't a problem as long as she stayed reasonable, and his job implied that he could either impress or protect his wife.

"Debby, has the council come to a decision yet?"

For a moment, the woman's eyes turned glassy before focusing back on Alice, "No. Apparently, they plan to make an announcement during breakfast and allow everyone to be part of the decision-making. This is a very important one after all."

"Probably a good idea, though I guess it's going to take an eternity to make a decision like that. Anyway, are all of you ready? We've got some monsters to hunt today!"