She met Spewn fist for fist, albeit hers was covered in stone and it screeched as both of their hands broke.

Ione didn't have pain resistance on, and she stared at her crumbled, bleeding hand, open-mouthed, before she quickly activated [Arcane Flesh Healing]. She turned her other fist to metal.

It took great difficulty for Ione to figure out how to take down Spewn without killing him, but she took immense pleasure in believing that she could.

Ione’s ability to see, even if Spewn was incredibly quick, the little creature's fast movements made her lips curl into a grin. Yet, it was quickly wiped off when Spewn ducked under her metal-coated jab and she felt a root graze the skin, just so, of her right eye. So infinitesimally light, but caused her pain like no other. A quick jerk of the body and she crashed into a tree, causing it to split apart. She received a notification as she threw on [Pain Resistance] and covered herself in layers of rock, metal, rock, metal, and repeated until it extended out the maximum range she had: 2.5 meters. With a mental switch she turned on [Meditation] and [Meditation of the Flesh] as she held her breath. The effects of each, together, thankfully outpaced [Arcane Flesh Molding] and [Arcane Flesh Healing] so it helped ease the strain, although when she looked at her health she became confused.

HP: 1779/2,010

HP: 1799/2,010

HP: 1819/2,010

Instead of healing her health in increments by 50, it became 20. Her right eye itched as her gaze filtered in the notification.

Status afflictions (1):

* Poison of Root - You have been poisoned! Roots are burrowing within your body. Effect: Weakened Reaction Time | Health - 30/s. Time left: 2:00

1:59…

1:58…

Little bugger!

It made her ill, but she grasped her eye and pulled, and while she couldn't see anything, through touch, she could tell there were tiny roots intertwined with the optic nerve.

That’s why my reaction time is weakened. I have actual roots in my fucking brain right now.

She needed to think of something and something quick. Spewn had great advantages in that, it knew the forest, was LVL 257, had a mentor for who knows how many years, and had a poison ability.

Ione had two advantages: her stats and her being a reincarnator, albeit, an untraditional one.

Spewn was strong, but she was stronger and it would underestimate her and her class.

Ione had not yet had the chance to see her rewards from killing Belan, the brothers, and escaping the Orphanage so she quickly accepted all of them while Spewn hobbled around her in a circle, poking and prodding. Thank fuck for [Spatial Awareness].

INBOX

6,000 EXP

30 attribute points

Bangle of Strength

Mending Bandage

Accept Rewards?

Hell yes.

She waited approximately half a second before she heard 2 dings, then checked her page.

DING! F̷̝͇͕̈̈̕l̴͚͔͓̉̓e̸̬͋ş̵͓̹̈̌ẖ̸̽́w̴̢̹̌͌̈́é̶͍̩̿ạ̴͘͜v̷̱̻̺͐͂e̷͓͛r̶̨̩͓̉̌̂ LVL 7-> F̷̝͇͕̈̈̕l̴͚͔͓̉̓e̸̬͋ş̵͓̹̈̌ẖ̸̽́w̴̢̹̌͌̈́é̶͍̩̿ạ̴͘͜v̷̱̻̺͐͂e̷͓͛r̶̨̩͓̉̌̂ LVL 8 - 6 attribute points received

DING! F̷̝͇͕̈̈̕l̴͚͔͓̉̓e̸̬͋ş̵͓̹̈̌ẖ̸̽́w̴̢̹̌͌̈́é̶͍̩̿ạ̴͘͜v̷̱̻̺͐͂e̷͓͛r̶̨̩͓̉̌̂ LVL 8-> F̷̝͇͕̈̈̕l̴͚͔͓̉̓e̸̬͋ş̵͓̹̈̌ẖ̸̽́w̴̢̹̌͌̈́é̶͍̩̿ạ̴͘͜v̷̱̻̺͐͂e̷͓͛r̶̨̩͓̉̌̂ LVL 9 - 6 attribute points received

Ione was flabbergasted.

What the fuck is my classes levelling equation?

At that moment, she was sitting at [1,666.1] in her EXP bank, if she used the common equation; [Level] x 90 x 1.23, she would have been at level…20, as opposed to her 9.

She suddenly wanted to die, dramatically of course. Her leveling speed was cut by more than half. Half! That’s awful! She was going to have to figure it out after the fight.

With a heavy heart, Ione instantly looked at her free attribute points, and she knew it was time to put the 223 somewhere. Her constitution stat was the lowest, but she didn’t care since her class focused on Wisdom, Stamina and Dexterity. Besides that, she could heal herself, which was dependent on mana. The lowest out of the three was Wisdom, so she took the plunge and threw it all in, making the attribute go from 417 to 640. Her highest attribute to date.

The change was immediately felt, as if her very soul dipped into additional power, and she knew the attunement between her biological body, and the inorganic substances she’d consumed was increased. Her mana pool topped out at a whopping 4,800 points.

She slapped on the Bangle of Strength, which gave her a 1.2x boost in her total strength attribute, making it go from 480 to 576. Then, she tied the Mending bandage to her other wrist as it gave an additional 50 points of constitution, just as an added precaution.

She could hear muffled yelling just as she quickly finished tying the bandage and she knew her time was running out, just so, as now there was another problem; she couldn't breathe. Her body needed some form of oxygen and she didn't want to open a hole that allowed a root to burrow its way in. It also didn't help when Spewn started to use the offending tubers to rip out chunks of her defenses, which forced her attention to regenerate them.

She thought about it, then acted.

Her shell melted away around her in pounds of flesh as she separated it from her body and she burst out of the fetid pile, flinging bits of the viscera around her and on Spewn. She could hear Spewn exclaim disgustedly, “Ah! What is the meaning of this?” As she grabbed some of the flesh, then used [Dash] and [Arcane legs of Momentum] to rush at the green creature. It frantically pushed bits of tissue out of its leaves, before she flung the meat back into its face. Spewn screeched in frustration as it was launched from the force of her throw and she followed the trajectory. The little green creature came to a stop, and used roots entwined at its feet to make up for the height difference. It proved slightly difficult to meet Spewn fist for fist, as it used its small height to its advantage, but she had managed to keep up by sprouting her own fist of stone to meet theirs. Though, the little brute threw her a new one when roots violently burst out of the ground to encase her body.

Ione coated her limbs in sharp metal, and the roots just as easily were cut when they attempted to constrict her movements. The girl laughed as Spewn snarled, and it’s movements doubled in speed, with every punch that landed on exposed limbs, 75 points of health were removed and she knew she was going to be in trouble. It helped that she was able to use [Total Body Control] to move her heart, liver, and kidneys closer to her tailbone, which she had coated in metal. She reinforced her skull, ribs and neck with the same material to give additional protection.

The area around them was slowly deteriorating, each punch caused a shockwave that ruffled leaves and flattened grass. Trees were destroyed as they either threw each other into the towering conifers, or broke them to use as battering rams.

She was having the time of her life.

This is what I was born for! She thought as she took another punch to her protected stomach and she felt the urge to throw up. Her teeth reflected a slight sheen of blood that rained down from the roof of her mouth, and, despite the poison she had in her system, she was matching Spewn.

She looked at the remaining time left: 1:38.

Keeping up, at level 9.

Her eyes were wide open, completely engrossed in the punches and roots that aimed at her body and she dodged with incredible speed and finesse, flipping over roots that strived to dig into her midsection, and she used metal blades that protruded out of her back to slice them before they could wiggle back around. This occurred while Spewn just as easily dodged her swipes. Yet, she had a plan. As Ione slowly got the little creature used to her weak punches, she decided to psych it out. One punch was thrown to its left, Spewn dodged to the right and Ione watched as she conjured a solid metal fist out from her forearm, perpendicular to her arm, and clocked the creature right in the temple, or where she thought it would be. Spewn's concentration lapsed for one second, but that was all she needed. With both hands outstretched, she created a ball of stone and metal, much like the one she had before and captured Spewn within. The only caveat was that she had to continuously touch the ball, but that was fine when she weaved layers of stone and metal so thinly against each other that she suspected even she would have trouble breaking out. It was also extremely heavy, to the point where she had to lower it to the ground, else she would tip over and let go.

I can constantly regenerate the little prison, Ione thought, if her facial expression was to be seen by ordinary folk, it would have looked monstrous; her eyes were still wide, and her mouth was slightly opened, lips upturned, bloody teeth on display. Ione took a deep breath, [Total Body Control] allowed her to relax her airways and she quickly transferred the oxygenated blood to her heart, where she lowered her heart rate. The adrenaline she gave herself was slowly tapered off. Rather than a free fall, it was more like a gentle glide, and she felt normal again. Better than normal.

She felt fucking fantastic.

Now, all she had to do was wait. She could see Spewn frantically try and get out, and she hoped that it didn’t have a resistance to… a lack of oxygen? Carbon dioxide? She wondered as she patiently waited to see what the little green guy would do. In the event that the little turd did escape, she readied her stance, prepared to throw the ball far away from her if push came to shove, and lo-and-behold, roots came at her again. She made her own little ball prison around herself, and it just became a matter of time before who would succumb to the lack of oxygen. Fortunately for Ione, the creature's movements inside the ball drew to a standstill and the roots outside of her defense fell to the ground.

She looked at the time left on the poison again.

1:13...

1:12...

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

1:11...

Ione knew she couldn't wait too long, she didn't want the Treller to be on her ass for accidentally killing its servant, so she quickly absorbed the ball and out tumbled Spewn, looking as irate as any 2.5 foot green creature with no discernable features could look, whilst it quickly huffed air.

It sat there, stared and breathed heavily before it launched into a tirade. “How dare you make a fool out of me! You are level 7! Don’t think this means anything, you pathetic Elf. I let you win! I could have easily killed you many times over. But I did not because I wanted to see what else you could come up with. Don’t get overconfident! You have much to learn and you best learn right now, that you are out of your level bracket!”

“But, you didn’t escape my attack.”

“You didn’t attack me, you put me in a ball!”

She countered with, “yes, that removed your ability to breathe, thus, an attack.”

It shook with undiluted rage and pointed a trembling finger. “You only won because you’re a trickster, you tricked me! And if you trick me again, you will regret it. I didn't even get to use my super secret powerful move, so you should be scared! Yes! Shake in your poorly made shoes, Elf!”

“Hey! I like these shoes.” She sulked and looked at her poorly made shoes, but then her brows furrowed, and she turned her gaze back to the angry creature. “Wait, so is it you who let me win, or is it that I tricked you? Which one?”

It screeched. “No no no no!” Then stomped its little foot on the ground. It started to ramble again, but Ione cut it off.

I’m so over this little gremlin.

“I think you need to chill.”

It stopped, and stared incredulously. “No, you troublesome Elf! I do not need to become cold,” It huffed.

‘Uh, that’s not what I meant. Just…relax. Calm down, take a seat, take a load off.” She modeled the behavior and sat down. Then took a deep breath and started to regain her mana, stamina and health.

“No! I will not sit down!” It argued.

She wanted to wring its little neck, but she was sure it didn’t have one. No-neck Spewn.

“Okay, suit yourself.” Ione shrugged, then started to do some mental calculations.

Her only frame of reference was the equation she’d learned from Amahn, and given how her class didn’t particularly look…common, in fact, it looked quite the opposite, she knew her numbers would be skewed.

Okay I’m good at math, but not that good.

Ione was also lazy and she hated math. Just in time too, as the poison ran its course.

“Hey, Spewn?”

Silence greeted her, but the wretched thing turned its body towards her in attention. Good enough.

“Do you know the leveling equation for a strange class?” She asked.

The only thing Spewn did was look at her. Ione pursed her lips in displeasure.

“Do I need to put you in the ball again?” She bluffed.

Spewn laughed. “Ha! You think you could capture me again, so easily?” Before it took a step away.

The white haired girl held in her amused smile, and just looked at it expectantly.

It sat down with a huff of defeat, then said, “It’s [Level] x 185 x 1.89.”

Ione wasn’t going to lie, she was surprised Spewn knew math.

She nodded in thanks, then laid herself down to the earth, thinking.

I’m so fucked.

~~~~~

Spewn and Ione sat there for a while, Ione in her thoughts, thinking about how she was going to level up, and Spewn who didn’t want to bring Ione to the dungeons, but had to. They were a creature of their word after all.

Ione had tried to ask questions about their attributes, but the little green fellow was less than forthcoming, and in fact, quite distrustful. She didn’t blame it. She wished she asked Coranne while she had the chance, but she didn’t want to give anything away about her own stats. Not even a tiny hint. Her being a reincarnator had already given away enough, and the last thing she needed was her monstrous attributes being known. Ione supposed she could have done it in a roundabout manner, but Coranne wasn’t dumb. The nun may have even gotten Fellis to figure it out.

The nun may have even gotten Fellis to figure it out.

Paranoia sprung into Ione’s heart again. Had Coranne used Fellis to find out other information about Ione? She thought about the times Fellis asked her questions, ones that probed into her status page:

“Hey Ione, how many skills do you have?” Fellis had asked on one of their training days.

Ione turned to her sister. “As many as I need.”

Another time.

“Ione, you’re super strong, what’s your strength attribute?”

“As high as I need it to be.”

The white-haired girl giggled to herself when she thought of her answers, but really focused on the nature of the questions. They were normally asked when no one else was within earshot, and generally came out of nowhere. Now, Ione could suspect it was due to a child’s curiosity, and Fellis was curious about many things, but she had never asked the others their stats, or skills, even when they displayed clear progress. Fellis could very well not care about the others, but that would be far-fetched; the girl had enough time to bond with the group and see their potential grow.

Ione laid down on the ruined dirt and contemplated. Another thing she’d have to address with the duo.

The question came to her.

“Spewn?”

“Yes, Elf?” It drolled.

Okay, we’re gonna have to stop that.

“Call me Ione, please.”

“I will call you whatever I please.” It said with a haughty tone.

“Okay then, little green dude.”

Spewn stood up. “I am Spewn!”

“Okay, small hilly creature.”

It stomped its foot. “I am Spewn!”

She rubbed her temples. “Do you get what I’m putting down?”

Spewn tilted its body. “You’re not putting down anything!”

Ione’s face reflected pain and sadness. She hoped one day to find someone who understood her.

Her hands were splayed, palm side up. “I mean, do you understand the irony? Please, tell me you do.”

The green creature stared at her, before it shifted back into a sitting position with its back to her.

Like a petulant child who knows they're wrong.

Ione decided to let the silence speak for itself before she asked her question. “How many attribute points do you get when you level up?”

“Six.”

“Thank you,” she said with a smile. Of course, Spewn didn’t say anything back. “Is this the same for all class types?”

“Yes.”

Ha. One-word answers. She thanked Spewn again.

She did some quick math, and her eyes widened. Internally, Ione screamed in jubilation.

Barring the 200 attributes she had received from her quests, she had attributes that would be within the 400-500 level range.

Her fists clenched, and her breathing deepened. Ione quickly controlled the adrenaline that burst through at the revelation and set herself at base level.

Could I already end the war? Could I leave Whisperwind already?

No, she was becoming overexcited. Ione needed to increase the tiers of her passive and active class skills, and actually acquire Class Aptitude Skills.

“Spewn, what are the dungeon levels here?”

“100, 200, and 300.” It said, still pouting. Its stomach audibly grumbled and the creature stiffened.

Ione shook her head, then took a meal out of her ring. It appeared to be some sort of spaghetti, noodles with a red sauce, and meats sprinkled throughout. She handed the plate to Spewn with an exuberant, “thanks!”

The way Spewn stared at the plate made it seem as though she offended it, and before it could reject the offer, Ione quickly said, “it’s food. Not poisoned. I know you’re hungry, just accept it so we can move on.”

A moment passed before it outstretched its tiny hand, the creature took the plate and then with its other hand, tightly gripped the noodles. It brought the clenched food into the curtain of leaves that covered its face, she heard one big sniff, and Spewn loudly slurped on the spaghetti, hand and all. With movements that implied amazement, it reverently grabbed another handful before it noisily slurped those down too.

Once it finished, it brought the plate to its mouth and Ione warned, “don’t eat the plate, it’s not food.”

It slowly drew the plate away from its mouth. With short steps, Spewn set the plate down in front of her with a mumbled, “my gracious thanks, Ione.”

Progress. All I needed was food.

She gave a “you’re welcome”, and then suggested they head to the first dungeon and Spewn agreed.

Just before they left the ruined area, Ione noticed it had started to repair itself, the trees regrew right before her eyes, and lush grass and other foliage decorated the barren ground once again.

“Uh, Spewn? The forest just regrew itself?”

It stood proud. “Yes! My master has control over this forest, and can shape it to their whims! That is how great and powerful my master is.” Spewn then started to ramble about the Treller and Ione half-tuned it out due to the revelation she just had.

The Treller knew she was in the forest as soon as she stepped foot in it. It had to have known. She glanced out of her peripherals and didn't see the being anywhere, nor did she sense anything peculiar, yet the forest regrew, right before her very eyes. It knew the damage they had wrought, and then sought to repair it.

Why did it wait to confront me?

Something she would ask the Treller later, when she encountered it again.

The walk was long, and winding, but they eventually came to a small clearing. A magnificent door stood in the middle, made of dark wood and ornate gold, covered in limp, old, and decaying ropes.

Ione looked at Spewn in question. “This is the first dungeon?”

“Yes, for those who would be level 100.” It seemed to give her a wary look. “Which I don’t think you need! You greedy El…Ione!”

She held in her laughter, then gave a quick reply. “I’m not greedy. I need to get stronger and it’s going to take a while for me to level up. Besides, It’s a big flex to say your starter dungeon is level 100. This’ll just give me an idea of what dungeons really are.”

“You do not know what dungeons are?” It said in an incredulous tone.

She gave the creature a quick run-down on her life at the orphanage, and how little she actually knew, and Spewn nodded in thought.

“They knew you would grow strong.” It clenched its fist, and continued, “and they aimed to stifle you!”

“That they did, and they will get their dues.” Ione said, with conviction.

They gave each other a look, and with a nod Spewn used some roots to take off the barrier separating her and the mysteries within.

“I will tell you this, Ione.” It said once the door was barren of rope. Spewn’s demeanor changed, as if they were mimicking someone. Ione’s lips quirked up. “Every dungeon is different. A different layout, different monsters and different loot. You will get a ranking based on your performance and the higher the ranking the better the loot.”

“Thank you, Spewn, I appreciate the info.”

It nodded, then continued. “The boss will be the highest leveled being, and can be tricky based on the domain they reside in.”

Ione tilted her head in gratitude before she decided to push her luck. “Can you mark it on this map…” Of which she pulled out of her backpack. “Where the next two dungeons are?”

It took a step back and screamed, “Greedy!” Before it ran away into the forest.

Ione stood there with her mouth hanging open, brows furrowed. “Uh, okay.” She shook her head and looked at the door.

Well, no use wasting time. She pulled open the door and she was greeted with a desert area. In the distance she could see tall cactus trees and something that suspiciously looked like a pyramid.

Well, thank fuck for [Heat Resistance]. She could already feel the blistering sun on her skin, and she had yet to pass the threshold.

One step was all it took to enter the dungeon and the wooden opening slammed shut on her before she could change her mind. Not that she wanted to. Then, a notification appeared in her vision.

You have entered the Dungeon: [Grazing Heat of the Sun]

Level Recommended: 100

Warning! You are 91 levels short, experience rewarded increased.

Nice.

She could see some monsters prowling in the distance, cat-like creatures that had massive spikes on their backs and bulging muscles.

Absolute fucking units.

Her feet began a trudge forward that grew into a jog, and then quickly evolved into a run. Ione stopped just a short distance away, to see if they would attack her once she had crossed their vision, and sure enough, with one glance and a howl, four of the monsters sprinted in her direction. She readied herself, legs shifted into position and she quickly grew a double-sided metal halberd about 2 meters in length. It was heavy, but with her strength the weapon was easy to wield.

A quick [Inspect] showed their levels.

[Sand Prowler] - 102

[Sand Prowler] - 98

[Sand Prowler]- 105

[Sand Prowler] - 115

This is going to be a piece of cake.

As soon as one of the Sand Prowlers jumped her, she used the halberd to slice it, her lightning quick reflexes caught the feline by surprise as it yelped before being cleaved in two. It landed wetly on either side of her and she dashed forward. A chorus of growls, pained hisses and yowls filled the desert air and Ione ducked, dodged and weaved between the increasingly agitated beasts.

Not a Ding! was heard, however and she wondered if she would receive the experience until only after she completed the dungeon.

Despite the immense level difference, it took very little effort to kill the creatures. She stood, surrounded by their carcasses before she tried to loot them, but before she actually could, their bodies melted away into the sand, leaving nothing behind.

Aw. I really wanted their pelts.

They were a sandy color, and seemed thick. Something that could probably fetch a pretty price from a merchant, though, Ione still held out hope for her rewards until after the dungeon was completed. Maybe it would give the pelts at the end.

She looked towards the pyramid, and decided that was where she needed to go. She was eager to see what the boss was, and with determined and light steps, she headed in the direction of the towering structure.