A cascade of notifications flared to life before Devi, most congratulating her on defeating an opponent and gaining XP. Annoying. She swiped them away with an irritated flick, the glowing text vanishing into the ether. Maybe the notifications were useful if you weren’t sure something had died, but by the time she checked them, the information was long past relevant.
One notification stood out, though:
XP threshold reached
Lesser Vampire (G) lvl 8 -> lvl 9
+3 all
Devi’s breath hitched as a surge of vibrant energy coursed through her. Warm, electric, and alive, it pulsed through her body like a second heartbeat. It wasn’t painful, but it was intense—her muscles tensed, her skin prickled, and she felt sharper, stronger, and more attuned to the world.
"Every time," she muttered, flexing her uninjured hand. Her movements felt more precise, her thoughts clearer. A faint smirk tugged at her lips, her fangs glinting in the dim light. "Three points instead of one across the board just for drinking blood? Not a bad deal." Her tone carried a sardonic edge. "Of course, there’s the whole ‘sunlight will kill me’ thing to sort out."
That thought sent a flicker of unease skittering through her. The dungeon’s perpetual gloom had been her refuge, but the surface would be less forgiving. No buildings, no shade, and plenty of sunlight ready to turn her into ash. If her intuition was right of course. Though, knowing her luck, the worst thing she could imagine was probably only slightly better than reality.
Shaking off the dark thought, she focused on the next notification:
XP threshold reached
Novice Support (inferior) lvl 9 -> lvl 10
+3 free
This time, there was no burst of energy, just the notification. Her free points waiting for her to assign them them before giving anything.
The next notification made her forget about diving into her Status even a little.
Requirements met: please advance your Class
Note: You will not be able to earn Class based XP until after you have chosen. All Class XP will be lost until your Class has advanced.
Novice Support (G) (Inferior) -->
Novice Mage (F) (Inferior)
Novice Rogue (F) (Inferior)
Novice Ranger (F) (Inferior)
Novice Fire Mage (F) (Common)
Novice Battle Support (F) (Common)
Apprentice Support (F) (Common)
“Well, it looks like level 10 is the breaking point for Classes,” Devi mused out loud. “Though, it might just be for my Class. My Race and Vocation might need level 100 for all I know.”
She once again wanted to strangle whoever thought it was a good idea to give her this System, only to not give her any bit of guidance. Going blind into anything was her least favorite thing. It lead to all sorts of trouble.
Scouling, Devi looked at the options, only to frown more and cross her arms. Most of these felt too familiar—little more than marginally improved versions of her starting options. She rolled her eyes. "Come on, at least pretend this is progression. Slapping an ‘F’ grade next to it does not make it shiny and new."
Her gaze lingered on the missing options she had seen back in the clearing: Novice Tank, Fighter, Healer. Why were they gone? Did she no longer meet the requirements? What even were those requirements?
The good news was that those options felt almost identical to the ones before. The same hum of magic and control from Novice Mage, the same sneaky, agile promise from Rogue, the same subtle pull toward nature and precision with Ranger. The only difference was all three felt slightly more powerful. Probably since they were the upgraded versions, going from G to F, whatever that meant.
Growling softly, she forced her frustration aside and studied the list. Each option tugged at her in a different way. Novice Fire Mage felt similar to the regular Novice Mage but more wild. She could almost feel the crackle of flames flickering out of sight when she focused on that option, a promise of power, and fire. It felt stronger than its counterpart as well, in some unknown quantity she could feel. While they both offered magic, the Fire Mage felt more constrained, as if other options of magic would be forever out of reach. But with that constraint, it offered more power, and more flexibility with fire. It was a trade-off.
She had a feeling this option had something to do with her newest Skill, [Fire Afinity]. It was too much of a coincidence to be anything else.
Novice Battle Support pulled her in another direction, urging her to the front lines. It felt aggressive, a call to enhance allies while standing shoulder-to-shoulder with them. But its muted magic was a downside—its physicality took precedence, and magic faded to a secondary role.
Then there was Apprentice Support, which retained a balance between magic and utility. It was not flashy or powerful alone, but in a group, it could shine. Her enhancements could push allies beyond their limits. But... could she even form a group now? Vampires, at least fictionally, were not known for their camaraderie with humans, and she doubted she would be the exception. The thought of convincing others she was not a threat felt like an impossible task.
She was already different enough, and knew firsthand how even being a bit ‘other’ let others show their uglier side. Now that she was also a vampire? Who knew how bad it could it.
Her fingers brushed the sharp points of her fangs as doubt crept in. She would need blood—eventually. It had been easy to sustain herself on just the bats that had occupied the caves, but, once outside, she’d need a better way of feeding herself. And, if anyone caught her drinking, what would they say. But, the thought of ignoring that need filled her with unease. What would happen if she did? She had no answers, just more questions.
Devi exhaled sharply, her breath misting in the cold dungeon air. At the very least, she could shorten the list down a bit. She was definitely not going to take any of the inferior Classes. None of them stood out much, except for perhaps the Novice Mage, but, if she was going to go the mage route, the common Novice Fire Mage looked far more appealing.
That meant she only had three to choose from now. So much easier.
The choices boiled down very simply. Magic, martial, and utility. Well, the martial still hand hints of magic, and the utility still could do some martial, but, the broad strokes were right.
Her recent tumbles with monsters made her realize just how unfit she was for melee. Sure, she could swing her blade around, and doge attacks, but she had absolutely no idea how to wield any weapons. She felt as if choosing the Novice Battle Support would help with that. Even a tiny bit of help would do so much.
But, it would probably stymie her magic. And her magic was one of the only reasons she was alive. From her very first fight, it had been her magic that had let her survive. Diversifying might help, but doubling down was the better option.
That just left her with two choices. Two very compelling choices. But the real choice wasn’t between the two Classes now. It was whether she wanted to be a part of a group or try to go at it alone. Support would only be a viable strategy long term if she could group up with people. Whereas the mage would let her bring some serious firepower to bear in her fights.
Honestly, neither of them felt well suited for soloing. But, the support was even less suited.
The allure of the Fire Mage tugged at her mind again, a fiery temptation that promised power and destruction in equal measure. She could see herself unleashing torrents of flame, cutting down enemies before they could close the distance. The thought was intoxicating. But the fire wasn’t just a tool; it would consume her choices too. Choosing this path felt like shutting doors she hadn’t even looked behind yet. Magic wasn’t just fire. What if she needed something else? What if fire wasn’t enough?
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Her lips twisted into a grimace. "Enough," she muttered under her breath, pushing the thought aside for now. The temptation was strong, but she couldn’t let herself be pulled blindly into it.
Her attention shifted to Apprentice Support. Rationally, she knew this was the smart choice. Balanced. Flexible. It wouldn’t make her a one-trick pony like Fire Mage. And if she could find a group—or, more accurately, if a group could tolerate her—it would give her a solid foundation. She didn’t need to lead the charge; she could make others stronger, better, keep them alive.
But that was the catch, wasn’t it? If she could find a group. The memory of jeers and scorn burned bright in her mind, sharper than any blade. She’d seen how people reacted to things they didn’t understand. Her fangs, her pale skin, her need for blood—it was a package deal now, and not the kind that won you friends.
Her choice really came down to whether she could make friends or not. And that wasn’t something she could figure out down here. She needed to get back to the clearing and test the waters.
Even though there was a warning that her Class XP, whatever that meant, would be lost, a slight delay might be better here instead of rushing into her class. A large part wanted to claim her upgraded class here and now, but, that would be short-sighted.
With a sigh, Devi closed out of the Class selection screen. She’d figure it out once she got back. And honestly, she probably wouldn’t waste all that much XP on her trip back. She was definitely not going to be going out of her way to get into any fights.
Her next notification brightened her mood though.
Congratulations
You have completed the dungeon
Grade: A
Rewards: 32,400 UC, Claws of the Abyss (Uncommon)
“Well, that is where I got all those credits,” Devi murmured to herself. “Good to know.”
It still felt like a massive amount. Two orders of magnitude larger than her starting amount. However, she had to survive a massive spider, kill said giant spider, craft seven array disks without messing up, fight her way to the big undead monster, kill the monster, trap the wired curse energy, and finally, contain the energy. All by herself.
Putting it all in a list, it was quite a bit. And she had done it by herself. Alone. It would have been far easier with a group. Even with just Mars and Mat things would have been ten times easier. And she might not have lost her hand.
Turning back to the notification, Devi squinted at the last part of the rewards.
“Claws of the Abyss, huh?”
There didn’t seem to be any way to claim them or have them appear. She double-checked the equipment section but found nothing there either. Frustrated, she scanned her surroundings for any hint of a loot chest or glowing artifact where the gloves might have materialized. Her sharp gaze found nothing but the same dim dungeon walls and the fading remnants of her battle.
"Figures," Devi muttered. "Nothing is ever straightforward."
Irritated, Devi closed the notification, only for the bluish light to coalesce in front of her, and then melt into the air. In its place were a pair of pitch-black gloves that seemed to devour what little light remained in the chamber.
The material was smooth yet unnervingly cold, the edges of the gloves faintly shifting like smoke caught in a current. At the tip of each finger glimmered a wicked metallic claw, a near-perfect replica of the ones on the massive, slain beast lying just a few feet away.
As Devi reached out, the mana in the air twisted, converging on the gloves. Tendrils of purple and black energy swirled chaotically around them, consuming any remnants of other mana types in their wake before receding into the fabric.
She could still sense remnants of mana embedded in the gloves, but it felt slumbering, unmoving in some strange shape that she couldn’t quite make out. It felt similar to when she borrowed one of her friend’s glasses to see how they felt and tried to read. She could make out blurry lines, but nothing else. It was the same here. She could follow some of the trails of mana, but, when they faded into thinner or more complex structures, she was left with a blurry mess.
The gloves hung in the air for a brief second before beginning to fall. Devi reached out to catch them, only to have them fall through the space her left hand should have been, sending the gloves to thump dully on the ground.
“Of course, I would get gloves as a reward, now that I only have one hand,” Devi grumbled to herself and she picked up the gloves with her remaining hand.
She had been deliberately ignoring the loss of her hand the entire time, but it kept making its presence known. This just wasn’t the time to break down, and if she spent more than just a few seconds thinking about it, Devi knew she would.
“I am alive, let's just focus on that,” Devi murmured out loud, trying to recenter herself, and only succeeding marginally. She pulled up the next notification to help.
Congratulations
For conquering a dungeon of your level meant for a party without assistance, you have received a title
Dungeoneer I (Uncommon)
+3% dungeon rewards
The new title was a welcome distraction. It only gave a small bonus, but, the I at the end signified it might be possible to upgrade. And, seeing how lucrative dungeons were, Devi was looking forward to finding more. But hopefully, she’d be a bit more prepared. A long time to prepare. No need to lose any more limbs, she had a limited number of those.
Her eyes winded at the next notification:
Please exit the dungeon
Dungeon instance will close in:
23:47
“Shit!”
Devi could see the seconds ticking down right before her eyes, which wasn’t ideal. If she had known she was on a time limit, she wouldn’t have spent so much time figuring out Skills and her Class. She had things she wanted to grab before leaving the dungeon. Quite a few things.
She quickly made her way over to the large monster that lay sprawled in death a few feet away. Even dead it was imposing, towering over her and radiating a faint, lingering malice. Its face a stomach-turning mess of mangled flesh and bone. Probably even some of her own mixed in.
When she got nearer, Devi strained her new [Mana Sight], hoping her new skill could sense if this thing had left a mana stone behind. Something this size would have quite a large one she reckoned. Or she was wrong and size had nothing to do with how large of a stone they had.
The corpse had faint wisps of dark mana floating from it, fading into the surroundings, giving it a hazy appearance to her new sight. Some of the mana seemed to be concentrated in its claws, and a good deal in its feathers, making seeing further inside the creature hard especially since her new sight was only a few minutes old.
Luckily, even the mana-saturated feathers couldn’t hide the mass of energy located near the thing’s spine, a marble worth of mana glowed. It was a few inches deep, with thick webs of energy radiating out from it. However, those veins of mana seemed to be drying up even as she watched.
Not wanting to chance this mana stone dissipating, Devi hurriedly dug into the corpse’s flesh with her dull blade, which was harder than it seemed. Not having a second hand for leverage really sucked.
Thankfully, the skin was far less resistant to her blade now that it was dead, letting her carve into it and pull out the small gemlike stone. She quickly packed it away, along with a fair number of feathers. A few savage chops from her blade freed a few of the beast’s claws.
Devi then quickly scanned the odd dozen other corpses, but, much to her surprise, none of them had a mana stone. She either was super unlucky, or something was going on with them. When she had been hunting bats, about one in three had stones in them, so to go 0 and 14 was really surprising. It could just be her luck, which was known to be shitty, but, she felt it wasn’t this bad. Maybe undead creatures just didn’t produce gems?
Questions for another day, she was on a time limit.
She quickly grabbed a few feathers and claws from the dead monsters before rushing down the dark corridor back to the imposing door. This was the real prize. Her [Mana Sight] showed just how intricate the door was. Strands of multicolored energy twisted and wove their way through the whole structure, thicker ones anchoring themselves into the stone wall, while the more complex patterns focused around the round key she had inserted.
Some strands seemed to fade from view, being too fine for her newly purchased Skill to pick up it seemed. And even the ones she could see were blurry. She had to almost press her face to the door to even begen to make out some of them.
In a flash of inspiration, Devi decided to try out another new Skill.
“[Assess Item].”
She hoped that the door would count as an item, and she could get atleast a bit of information from it. Devi ddin’t have high hopes, but, any information was more than she had now.
[???? (?) (???)]
“Well, that seems so useful,” Devi muttered as she scowled at the notification full of question marks. Maybe it was too hopeful to expect a level 0 inferior Skill to be of much help.
Curious, she turned her Skill to the broken blade she had been carrying.
[Broken Basic Sword Firestarter (G) (Infeior)]
This time, her Skill gave her much more infoarmtaion. It still wasn’t much, but, better than question marks.
Shrugging, Devi turned her attention back to the door. What she really wanted was to take the whole thing out with her so she could study it more, but, that seemed impossible. It was anchorked securly to the cavern wall. She coudln’t even see where the hinges were.
That didn’t mean she couldn’t just take the key. Even though some of the carved runes, and the mana that mirrored them, were split between the key and the door, there were plenty that reised solely on the disk. Enough to keep her occupied for quite a while as she tried to decipher them.
Devi put her shoulder on one of the doors and started the long process of closing them. The second door mirrored her movements as she laboriously pushed the door closed. All the while, Devi couldn’t but be amazed as mana swirled and moved across the two doors, linking them somehow, letting them move much easier than they had any right to.
With one final push, the doors closed, leaving the two halves of the metallic disk that served as a key to merge, forming one single whole.
Devi quickly plucked the key out of its resting place and pocketed it. There wasn’t much time left on the timer, and she really didn’t want to find out what happened if she was still inside the dungeon when it reached zero. Knowing her luck, it would trap her in here forever.
A quick jog later found Devi standing in front of the entrance of the dungeon. The unassuming wooden door embedded in the rock stood before her. It felt like forever since she had been chased in here by the rampaging boar. Though, 17 days was quite a long time.
Devi reached out for the plain wooden door and hesitated for a moment. A sense of finality lingered as if stepping through would sever the tenuous connection she had built with the dungeon. Despite the pain, the losses, and the terrifying fights, this place had been a crucible. It shaped her in ways she hadn’t anticipated.
“Here goes nothing,” she muttered, pulling the door open.