Sofia entered Alith’s new room in the Sect, it was right next to hers. Saria was already there, sitting on a cushion next to the small table while Alith was busy watering her plants. She hadn’t been there for a week and her room already looked like an indoors garden.
Sofia sat down next to Saria, “Did you eat the candies yet?
“No, but Alith already did. Did she explain how they work? It’s different than the ones before.”
“How so?”
It was Alith who answered as she just finished watering a row of tiny plants. “The limit isn’t ten per stat this time, it’s around ten in total. Beyond that you might start to actually lose stats due to the poisoning, how many you can eat exactly varies between people. I had to stop at twelve.”
“Oh. That’s a lot less good than expected then… How do you know when to stop.”
Alith pointed at her open mouth, “When you start vomiting blood is usually a good sign it’s time to stop.”
“Alright… Are you sure we should do that in your room?”
“Yeah, don’t worry Sof, I’ve got a skill for that.”
“You do? I haven’t seen your status page in forever.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to look to help me choose a spec, so read up. You too Sar.”
“Are you sure?” Saria asked, a bit surprised Alith would share something so private so easily.
“You’re Sof’s sister, so you might aswell be my cousin or something at this point. Do you think Cinthia would be reluctant to show her status to Sofia, your sister?”
Saria was silent for a second. “You do have a point…”
“I kind of want to see it,” Sofia commented.
“You do?” Alith asked as she also sat down.
“What? Her class is just as crazy as mine, she had a bunch of Recessed watching her all the time. Aren’t you curious too?”
“I mean… Yeah. If you put it like this. But let’s get on with it, ay? I’ve been sitting on my spec choice for months and it’s killing me!”
“Sure, sure, send it all. Which candies did you eat by the way? You had Health, Agility and speed, right?”
“One Health, one agility, ten speed,” she answered just as her status window appeared before Sofia’s eyes.
Damn she actually has more total stats than me!
Name : Alith
Age : 24
Class : [Lady-in-waiting] ♢
Level : 249 ♢
Health : 161 965 / 161 965
(10*lv, 5000 pill1, 2500 filter2, 46 975 filter3, 100k race, 5000 pill2)
Stamina : 348 908 / 348 908
(20*lv, 1666 pill1, 2500 filter2, 46 975 filter3, 100k race, 18 333 pill2, x2 [Genetic Freak])
Mana : 37 350 / 37 350
(150*level, might go up next filter?)
Active Skills (8 / 8)
[Lady Double] - Level 249
[Maiden’s shriek] - Level 100 ♢ (Max)
[Maiden’s Kiss] - Level 201
[Utterly Unimpressed] - Level 200 (Max)
[Professional cleanup]
[Slap of absolute shame] - Level 200 (Max)
[Mental Misstep] - Level 1
[Out of Sight] - Level 3
Passive Skills (8 / 8)
[Accounting] - Level 249
[Split focus] - Level 249 ♢
[Hidden presence] - Level 200 (Max)
[Presentable]
[Refined palate] ♢
[Escape Artist] - Level 2
[Returning blade]
[Shifting Blame] - Level 200
Special Passive Skills (2)
[Heir of fire] ♢
[From the ashes] ♢
Classless Skills (5 / 5)
[Planar shift] - Level 93
[Botany] - Level 100
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[Genetic freak] ♢
[Hero’s luck]
[Identify] - Level 1
Hero blessing :
SSS - [Blessing of Phoenix lineage]
[Mark of Aphenoreth]
“Genetic freak?” Sofia asked right away, “Is that what you got from the fusion ticket?”
“Yep, both [Shinobi] and [Toned] were looking a bit weaker now, and they were both locked classless, so this was a nice way of getting rid of them.”
“Uh, sorry to interrupt.” Saria apologized. “But can I get some context? I’ve never heard of these classless skills.”
“Let me just send you the description of the two skills and the result,” Alith said with a smile.
[Shinobi] ♢ : Grants precise control over your body and weapons, the result of an intensive and resolute practice. Additionally reduces noise produced and visibility of the user in low-light environments. Efficacy tied to maximum Stamina.
[Toned] ♢ : Grant additional capacity to the nervous system. Your maximum stamina is increased by 10000 per 100 class levels. Bonus cosmetic effects.
[Genetic freak] ♢ : The ultimate capacity to wield your body exactly as you desire. Stamina is doubled (This doubles once more at class levels 300, 400, and 500).
“A nice step-up, right?” Alith gloated.
Saria nodded. “You don’t say. That’s a lot of stats. And the hundred thousand from you race is just free? Aren’t you just human?”
Alith turned to Sofia “Didn’t you say you two spent like a week talking back and forth? Did you never mention me or what?”
“No, no. It’s not that. I think I just said Sen fixed your race without elaborating on the subjects. You never told me much about it either, so there is not much to say, to be fair.”
“Right… Well let me explain to Sar and to you. I am now Alith, the first Alith! Or, uh, essentially, a half human - half ghost. I can switch between the spiritual and physical realm at will, get bonus health and stamina that upgrades each filter, and a natural weak mana vision. That’s about it. Sen said that in the off chance I manage to get a kid somehow, it would probably inherit it vampire-curse style. But he wasn’t certain, so I might be the first and last.”
The three young women discussed the ins and outs of Alith’s class for a bit until the subject looped back to her status sheet.
Sofia asked something for clarification although the answer was obvious, “You actually need to train your skills now?”
“Yeah. The good old days of instantly maximum-level skills are gone. But I’m also not stuck at ten thousand mana anymore, and that’s largely worth the trade.”
“Hmm, what about [AvoiDance]? You tossed it?”
“Oh, this one I used so much all the time that it kinda spelled itself like your bolt did. And it capped at 200 so there was no reason to keep it,” Alith explained. “Ah, actually, Sof, can I see your status again too?”
“Of course.”
Name : Sofia Aphenoreth
Age : 21 ♢
Class : [Saintomancer] ♢
Level : 249 ♢
Health : 20 980 / 20 980 (20k + (20/level - 4000))
Stamina : 21 047 / 21 047 (20 067 + (20/level - 4000))
Mana : 417 100 / 417 100 (319 100 + (2000/level- 400 000))
Main Specialization : [Eclipse Skeleton]
Alteration chance : 98%
Secondary Specialization : [Heat Death]
Active Skills (8 / 8)
[Spine of the Black Sun] - Level 209
[Summon Blood] - Level 205
[Maiden Banshee] - Level 249 (Lv.249)
[Graveyard of the righteous] - Level 208
[False immortality] - Level 3
[Skull Choir] - Level 208
[Reign over shadows]
[Saintess’ madness] - Level 1
Passive Skills (7 / 8)
[Blessing of the Deep] - (2/4)
[Vakariazrehafin of Sorrow] ♢
[Exalted Exoskeleton] ♢
[Venerable physique of the primeval void] ♢ - First step Light forging realm
[Bone dominus] - Level 2
[Erredian Rot]
[Runeforged Overlord] ♢ - Level 239
Classless Skills (9 / 9)
[Fast reading] - Level 71
[Way of the Fool] - Level 30
[Sprint] - Level 48
[Identify] - Level 2
[Mana manipulation] ♢
[Evasion] - Level 100
[Radiance] - Level 68
[Quintessential] ♢
[One with Suffering] ♢
Special Skills (1)
[The Book of Skeletons] ♢
Summoned heroes (4 / 4)
[Mark of Aphenoreth]
Alith narrowed her eyes as she read through the status window. “Your age is locked?”
“As you can see.”
“Woaw, I know we all age slower already, but it’s weird to see it be straight-up locked. Like your life can go on forever exactly the same. Well, in my case the counter going up doesn’t mean much either. Half-Ghosts don’t really age much.”
Saria was silent, her expression a bit disgruntled. “I’m already the oldest so…” she grumbled.
“Honestly Sar, you look younger than Sof. So I don’t really see what the issue is eh. Just eat your candies already, I made a bunch of Speed ones for you since you said the stat doesn’t matter. They’re the easiest to brew.”
“Got it, thanks a lot Alith,” Saria responded, back to her cheerful self and already downing one of the Speed candies.
“I already ate my three Processing ones, so I guess I have eight to ten left, right? I think I’ll just go with all Health, since it’s so low. [Runeforged Overlord] already gives me plenty of Speed and Agility when I need them, and I don’t think I’ve ever ran out of stamina in a fight.”
Sofia managed to eat twelve Health candies before she started puking blood.
Health : 80 980 / 80 980
That feels great! Sofia thought, despite still feeling the taste of her own blood in her mouth. Her body had just become four times tougher by virtue of eating sweets. It felt a bit too easy, and that was a nice feeling to have, for once.
Saria soon stole the spotlight, however.
“How many…” Alith asked, bewildered, seeing the pile of candies become smaller and smaller.
Saria ate a total of twenty-six of them before she began to bleed from her nose and eyes.
“Ah, I think I’m done. Thanks for the meal!”
“You should be dead three times over after eating that much, but you’re welcome.” Alith answered in kind.
“Well, I’m rather tough. Now let’s see what I can buy… This just put me past the threshold to buy the lowest-level upgrade of the Aura stat. So maybe I’ll go with that… I’m gonna have to ask Zeph first.”
“Definitely tell us what you buy when you chose, Sar, I’m curious about your shop now. But enough with the candies! Enough waiting! You two are going to pick my specialization, and you can’t leave this room until it’s done!”
Saria shrugged. “What if we disagree?”
“I already have shadowman’s vote, so if you two pick different ones I’ll go with his pick.”
“Alright. Saria and me are pretty much experts at picking specializations now, bring it on!”
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