Her sword sang through the air, and with it, death followed.
Her first encounter with the beast of the forest, a Dark Panther, was of no threat. Even when the level was over level 30, it was clear that its resistances and defenses were nothing compared to the overwhelming power of a Dragon Warrior. Barely wasting any resources, Mikella continued onwards.
Meanwhile, her power grew, her levels substantially rising little by little. And as her level grew, her confidence soared. Her view of herself rising further than ever before.
She fought against several creatures of differing sizes and even species, figuring out her own fighting style on top of fighting against the numerous creatures with special abilities.
For instance, she fought against a bear-like creature that could burrow into the ground, surprising her with ambushes from beneath. Thankfully, her Dragon Descent was perfect to avoid those attacks.
Another time she fought against what looked like a lizard man near the river. It fought with magic, shooting torrents of water that could cut through the bulky trees with ease. That was a difficult fight for some defensive fighters, but thankfully the torrent could be casted every five seconds, allowing Mikella to charge and wreck the monster. That didn’t stop the creature from causing severe damage to her right thigh when it tried to stop her rampage.
It left with her thigh barely called a thigh, blood seeping through to the point where her muscle could be showing without the skin. Luckily, that was the only rare instance where she managed to drink a Health potion, allowing her to recover her injuries faster and keep going. Her Meditation also helped plenty, restoring her leg up to its former marvelous state.
Lately, however, she’s been feeling pretty agitated. It was not missed by her party, which only made her worse in comparison.
She knew something was off, but she wasn’t sure what it was.
First, she was upset at her own weakness. She was upset that she didn’t think she could cut those opponents down in a single blow despite the clear skill and superiority in combat. Then as she realized the issue was with the difference in levels, she was upset at her partner.
She was upset at Zeke. She hated the fact that he was partaking in her experience points while having the time of his life learning useless runes and playing with Clara. He should be out here fighting to earn the XP, not comfortably reading books and slacking off.
The next thing on her list to be upset at was none other than the soldiers. Myra and the others were just tag-alongs. They all knew it, yet they won’t admit it. Mikella wasn’t the sort to confront such things, but the way they also leveled up despite Mikella dealing the last blow and practically carrying the fight all by herself didn’t feel satisfying in the least.
Even Myra was becoming a disappointment. She kept attacking foes that should’ve been easy to deal with, yet she struggled to fight against a single solo creature despite calling to fight it themselves. It got to the point where she was damaging herself pointlessly, causing Mikella to end the fight then and there with a quick strike.
Myra didn’t seem okay with that, but Mikella didn’t care. If she was upset, then she should’ve fought better. But at least Myra was trying. The brothers for instance were only useful as meatshields, and they weren’t even that good. Even Mikella could take a hit that would destroy these tools and their worthless shields without batting an eye.
Then, finally, she was upset at the townsfolk, the people that are, by far, the worthless bunch she had ever seen. The crafters were okay, she can deal with them since they provide an actual service, but there were actual places of entertainment like bars, restaurants, and other mundane entertainment businesses.
They were all fine with just sitting around doing nothing while the real warriors fought with their lives on the line. Now she understood why the people in the old world never appreciated the soldiers in the military. They’d rather let them die than to fight themselves.
It aggravated her. It made her nauseated. She didn’t even want to go back into town as time passed. She just wanted to keep going out there and fight monsters, gain levels and the true experience of fighting. Instead, she had to return back to the town that by all rights, the monsters should’ve taken over it by now.
Finally, she had enough. Mikella dumped her teammates and left on her own. She had enough of them. They were just leeches anyways. Mikella could always investigate the cause of the horde anyways, and so far they haven’t found zilch of the cause. But as the days passed, she knew one thing.
There won’t be much of a horde if she just killed all the monsters that could make up one.
And now, she faced one of the creatures of that very horde, the very one that almost killed Zeke by throwing the boulder at him.
The Big Boss Monkey, famously being around late Expert Rank–which at the time was impossible for Mikella to face. But now, her levels high and her attributes higher, she knew she could face it.
Looking back at the past notifications, she saw the list of all the levels she gained and the boosts she got, all put together into this status page that has been steadily growing this entire time.
This was the very thing that helped her stay sane this whole time. Her steady progress, her power growing. Her will manifested into the world through her fighting style.
> Level Up! You are now Level 27. You gain 14 free points (14 FP total).
>
> You have gained +7 STR from your class.
> You have gained +7 DEX from your class.
> You have gained +7 END from your class.
…..
> Kinetic Perception Level Up! It is now Level 5.
>
> You have gained +1 DEX from your skill.
> You have gained +1 END from your skill.
…..
> Sword Mastery Level Up! It is now Level 7.
>
> You have gained +1 STR from your skill.
> You have gained +1 DEX from your skill.
…..
> Pain Resistance Level Up! It is now Level 6.
>
> You have gained +1 VIT from your skill.
> You have gained +1 END from your skill.
…..
> Meditation Level Up! It is now Level 5.
>
> You have gained +1 INT (x2) from your skill.
…..
> Acrobatics Level Up! It is now Level 6.
>
> You have gained +1 STR from your skill.
> You have gained +2 DEX from your skill.
…..
> Hawk Eyes Level Up! It is now Level 6.
>
> You have gained +2 STR from your skill.
> You have gained +1 DEX from your skill.
…..
> Heavenly Strike Level Up! It is now Level 4.
>
> Decreased stamina and mana consumption.
> Increased damage.
…..
> Dragon Descent Level Up! It is now Level 3.
>
> Increased speed and maneuverability (x2)
> Decreased stamina and mana consumption. (x2)
She had improved immensely over the past month. She was well above herself back during the horde battle, and she could get even stronger with her free points.
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She started to consider putting points into Spirit. She often found herself running out of Mana after using Heavenly Strike so many times, but opted out of it as she was doing just fine with her Dragon Descent and a good handle of her sword, which also improved impeccably.
Dragon Descent became such a focal point of her fighting style. She was worried at first that she was relying on it too heavily, but realized soon after that she may need it more considering her opponents. The Big Boss Monkey dashed towards her, bringing in a punch from the air.
She dashed away, her Dragon Descent activating and distancing herself several dozen feet without breaking a sweat. It was also augmented by her Acrobatics which only strengthened her movements further.
She backhopped away, her body so light like a feather that she ended up spinning herself over. She wasn’t trying to make a show or anything, especially not alone.
Her body was lighter than she was used to, but she managed to fix her sudden jolts of speed and lightness by twirling her body around when she could. She often found that doing so also helped her avoid any potential attacks coming at her from the side rather than just hanging in the air limply.
It was the work of her tremendous Dexterity. Without it, even with just a few points with Vitality and Endurance, who knew how many torn muscles she would’ve had by now?
She fell to the ground, barely touching it with the tip of her foot before she rushed ahead, her sword at the ready.
The monkey managed to jump back, and once again tried to get into melee combat with the Dragon Warrior. The boss monkey was strong, its muscles rippling through its furred arms as it tried to strike at her with punch after punch. What she guessed from this monkey boss is that it relies mainly on its Strength. While that wasn’t such a big issue, the real problem came that the monkey actually knows how to use that strength.
The monkey didn’t just swing randomly to try and hit her like most low-leveled monsters. It tried to catch her off guard, even throwing feints by striking her side weakly, and in return using a heavier fist to deal with her after she dodged.
But each time, she managed to slink away with grace. Her Hawk Eyes were fully active, helping her to find the weak spots in between the strikes.
As she struck back, she managed to evade its attacks. It often ended up just grazing her lightly, shaving off her skin with bits of blood trailing behind.
But that didn’t make her nervous. It made her driven. As long as she keeps this up, she’ll have enough energy to outlast this creature. This was a tougher fight by far. Most other monsters would’ve changed tactics by now, giving up on trying to catch her off guard, and instead either attack in range or just run away.
Thanks to her Meditation leveling up throughout the month, she could keep the skill active even while in combat. It was slowly regenerating her resources, keeping her in the fight for longer.
But this monkey kept going. It knew that she had a limit, and it tried to find it. But Mikella kept dodging all the while trying to stab with her sword. Each strike was laced with the power of Heavenly Strike, using what little Mana she could to end the fight quickly. And each time she nicked the monkey, sparks traced along the edge, giving that little snippet of pain and stunning it momentarily for her to keep up with its fast speed.
But before she could finally pierce its abdomen after launching a wide strike, the monkey swept its feet across, blowing a cloud of dust at her eyes. She closed them by instinct, and quickly jumped away using her combination of skills. She just barely missed having a powerful swipe coming across her head as a powerful airquake blew against her, blowing the entire cloud of dust away in the process.
She landed backwards, noticing that the monster was letting out heavy breaths. Meanwhile, Mikella still had more than half of her stamina remaining.
She grinned. The look of her yellowish eyes glowed faintly as she saw her chance.
This beast can’t even keep up! For something so high in levels, strong, it's pathetic!
The voice in the back of her mind roared in fervor, the Sword of Lightning acting along as electricity coiled around her blade.
She dashed forward, all of her skills working in tandem as she stabbed at the monkey to finish it off. The boss monkey tried to back away, its muscled legs pushing off against the ground, but that only pushed her harder.
She picked up her sword and charged her forearm with about a quarter of her Stamina. Kinetic energy swirled and condensed within her muscles, causing it to nearly bulk up from the excess energy.
It was a side effect of pouring so much Stamina without having the proper stats to actually contain it within her body or even the level for it, but she did so regardless.
It was painful, just as one would expect from their arms suddenly increasing in size, but the kinetic energy then swiftly traveled through her sword by the hilt, appeasing the flow of kinetic energy as well as the pain.
Lightning coiled around her arms, bursting her veins and riddling her with her own blood, but the pain was nothing as she roared and stabbed with her sword, piercing the monkey.
The force of the blade made the air explode, splitting the sky with an intense roar as it aimed straight at the monkey’s chest and slammed right through it. The blade of lightnin not only pierced it,, but also flung it forward with tremendous force, landing itself straight to a tree. It created a crater in it, making a large network of cracks through the wood that should’ve broken it.
The monkey was left dangling there, hanging on the crater with its downed body.
But Mikella didn’t stop there. She ran forward, pushing off a dust cloud with her feet as she jumped high into the air, and extended her leg.
She kicked the torso, forcing more power into her leg with her kinetic energy which then smoothly traveled along to the monkey. With one definitive strike to it, the tree broke in half along with the monkey that shared its fate.
The tree fell, and the Big Boss Monkey fell over as well. Mikella let out a winded breath, gripping her sword tightly as she swung her blade to get rid of the excess blood.
There wasn’t even blood left on the tree. While blood pooled under the corpse now, the blow was concise enough to not leave behind a splattering of blood all over it. She’d like to say that she made the blood evaporate from the sheer force, but that wasn’t the case… at least not yet.
Still, it would’ve been difficult for her to pull that off had she not accepted the new class skill when she reached level 25. She looked up at the skill, smiling as she patted herself for her foresight.
> Class Skill learned: Aerial Advantage
…..
> Class Skill: Aerial Advantage
> When a Dragon Warrior goes to the air, they have no equal. When you are in any kind of environment where your feet doesn’t touch the ground, your Dexterity and Strength increases appropriately. Increases stat bonuses according to the level of the skill.
She was always glad that she chose Dragon Descent instead of Aerial Advantage back then, but considering her last options, Aerial Advantage clearly became the top favorite. The first Class skill after reaching Level 25 was a skill called Dragon Strike. It was a fairly simple skill, similar to Heavenly Strike, but mostly effective against dragon-based monsters. If this was when she faced the wyvern, she’d probably finished it instantly.
But right now, with so many beasts that were not even dragon-based, not even those lizardmen she faced earlier, it wasn’t worth it. The second one was decent, but not enough. It was called Roar of Might, an intimidation type of skill that would scare off monsters of lesser levels or willpower than her own.
Honestly, she wanted to kill the monsters to gain levels, not scare them away. What would be the point?
So she went back with Aerial Advantage, figuring that her being off the ground would happen more times than her facing dragon based monsters. And apparently, even the kick to the monkey was enough to activate the skill.
The skill increases damage based on how far up she was in the air. She didn’t believe that there was no limit, considering that she could have chosen this skill at level 20 of all things. And she had no way to fly in the air, but she certainly had no reason to put down the chance of getting more power in a certain moment in combat.
She looked back at the corner of her vision, expecting a blinking icon. It showed as she expected, and pulled it up expecting a level up.
It wasn’t a level up.
> New Title available:
>
> Overachiever:
> You are not satisfied doing the bare minimum. Even defeating foes stronger than you is not enough to sate your greed for more.
>
> You have gained +2 STR from your title.
> You have gained +2 DEX from your title.
>
> Title Skill attained: Give me more.
…..
> Give me more (Title), Level 1 (Maxed)
> It’s not enough. It’s never enough. That’s why you want more. Increases experience gain by 1% per Title Skills you own.
Her eyes widened. She didn’t realize there was such a useful Title Skill. She knew her earlier title skills were useful, and were even responsible for most of her winnings, but she quickly changed her current Title to this one for that sweet XP gain.
She looked up her status screen, mesmerized by her own power.
> Name: Mikella Ashton (Overachiever)
> Race: Human
> Dragon Warrior: Level 27
> STR: 62
> DEX: 75
> INT: 12
> SPI: 20
> VIT: 30
> END: 52
> Free Points: 0
>
> General Skills:
> Kinetic Perception (U) Level 5
> Sword Mastery (U) Level 7
> Pain Resistance (U) Level 6
> Meditation (C) Level 5
>
> Acquired Skills:
> Acrobatics (R) Level 6
> Hawk Eyes (R) Level 6
>
> Class Skills:
> Heavenly Strike Level 4
> Dragon Descent Level 3
> Aerial Advantage Level 1
>
> Title Skill:
> Give me more (Title), Level 1 (Maxed)
Despite the massive gains she made for herself these past few days, the idea that beating a powerful boss didn't even grant her another level made her seethe in rage.
Useless mage.
Mikella cursed at Zeke. She knew that half of her experience points went to Zeke, and now she can’t even forgive that useless mage for taking that XP away. She was satisfied that she managed to beat a monster double her level, even if she finished it in a heartbeat. If she had made a single mistake, sure enough, a body part or two would’ve been lost.
It was a worthy fight, and the rewards were just… split across, just like that.
Not even receiving a title appeased her. It aggravated her. If she could, she would just march right back into town and shove her sword down his gullet–
“Mikella.”
Mikella’s shoulders jumped before spinning around to find none other than the Captain of the military force walking towards her. Her voice was… oddly sharp, almost like a dagger straight into her heart.
Was she mad?