Status window.
Lexi full bio level 13 [https://i.imgur.com/oE1oPYH.png]
Foresight Grants user ability to see the future. Length and duration at current level: up to 35 minutes in the future for 35 seconds. MP required: 53 [https://i.imgur.com/yDHaUFC.png]
Hindsight Grants user ability to see the past. Length and duration at current level: up to 30 minutes in the past for 35 seconds, can only be activated upon touching the specific object or person whose past the user wishes to see. MP required: 50 [https://i.imgur.com/ZWRRW51.png]
Flow Allows user to see effect of flow of time on object, person, or surroundings with different variables by level. Current level allows user to see up to 6 variables’ impact on six items or persons, up to 1.5 days in future MP required: 36 Note: types of variables that may be used differ according to Intelligence points [https://i.imgur.com/3QIsdBG.png]
Bend Allows user to force FLOW on an object or objects depending on level. Current level allows force FLOW on two objects. MP required: 50 Note: probability of success is dependent on combination of Intelligence, Charisma, Luck, and M-ATK points [https://i.imgur.com/SblmPEv.png]
Guide Indicates items and people of important to player’s journey. Level 10 unlock: Guide leads user towards items and people of importance from up to 200 feet away. Level up to unlock additional abilities. [https://i.imgur.com/l3aDshI.png]
Sight Allows user to see information about others. User can view levels of people and items - both those that have been shared and those that have not been shared. Level up to unlock additional abilities. [https://i.imgur.com/gTSKqiq.png]
Clarity Allows user to see past illusions in accordance with user’s level. Current level: 13 Illusions that are level 13 and below do not work on user [https://i.imgur.com/0A60fj0.png]
Intuition Allows user to see warning signs over people, objects, monsters, and locations. Synchronizes with Guide. Current level: user can see simple warning sign in color starting from yellow (some danger) up to red (danger imminent). No warning sign will be displayed if no threat is detected. User can see one target of threat. Note: danger may not be directed at user [https://i.imgur.com/6eNvQda.png]
The boosts from equipment are a bit much, but I’m not complaining.
Even the simple pearl earrings Jordan had gifted her perform a function by improving her health and stamina recovery rate.
Maybe this time I won’t be such a burden.
Closing the menu, Lexi smiles a little when she sees Vena cantering back to them on Socks, a brown pony she’d received from the Dawn Duke and named for the white patches on its coat above all four hooves.
She seems to be enjoying this.
The half-elf hasn’t stopped beaming since they left the capital, eyes shining every time birds fly overhead and wind rustles trees, taking up her role as scout with gusto by constantly scanning for threats and riding ahead of them to peer into the distance before turning back around to rejoin the trio.
It’s a little embarrassing being made to train against monsters with Vena watching so carefully, bow at the ready to assist, but it’s especially embarrassing whenever the petite beauty claps loudly every time Lexi finishes her fights.
With Vena around, they have plenty of fresh catch daily for dinner, and Lexi always smiles when she sees how gentle Ray is as he teaches the half-elf how to cook.
A day before they’re due to arrive at the dungeon, they detour to a small town in the County of Chermneugh to stay at an inn, Lexi glad to have a dinner partner who also has to keep her head covered all through dinner.
Maybe it’s nerves, but she’s drinking faster than usual since they’ll be starting their raid tomorrow.
Forget about that weird dream. I was probably just seeing things anyway since I’d been so badly hurt. Focus on now.
While Eric, Ray, Jordan, and Elise have told her as much as they can about what dungeons are like, which monsters she can expect, and party mechanics, the memory of the ambush by shapeshifters still lingers despite Lexi herself knowing she’s equipped with more and stronger protective gear, and traveling with a half-elf scout.
No one says anything about her excessive drinking, for which Lexi is grateful. The last thing she needs right now is to be told she’s a disappointment.
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Welcome to dungeon #6,290,544. Player #2,342,592’s entry recorded at 1506 hours on the 7th day of the 5th month of the year 601L. [https://i.imgur.com/Pwu4ZG1.png]
Ugh, get out of my face.
When the screen disappears, Lexi quickly takes a look around, remembering what Elise had warned her about ambushes being common immediately upon entry while players are distracted by welcome messages.
Well, I was expecting this.
It’s a crumbling old castle being reclaimed by sand blown about by cold winds.
Sand and cold winds when it’s daylight? That means the surroundings aren’t a typical desert. Wonder if it’ll get hot at night.
The amulet from Jordan keeps her warm, but Lexi worries about temperature changes since she’s as terrible with heat as she is with cold.
I have fire resistance but that’s more for elemental and magic attacks, not climate. Elise is the only person I know who can control the temperature and humidity around her so that she’s always comfortable.
Vena leads the way, her elven heritage keeping her from forming footprints even on the sand, and Lexi takes a moment to think.
That player number...that was the number on my welcome package. That means I’m the 2,342,592th person the system brought here in the 600 years that elapsed between Emperor Luxendia battling the hordes at the corrupt tower and me popping up near Breaker.
Players had first been brought in to save the Founding Emperor, dying in droves in order to hold the tide back long enough for Terrans to build a defending wall.
Since there aren’t any records of the number of players who died during that war - all books only noting it as “many” or “multitudes” - if we look at it in another way it’s an average of about 3,904.32 players brought in from other worlds annually, or 325.36 players a month.
She recalls what she’d been told months ago, about twelve spawning locations and the longest a player going without appearing at one being an average of nine months, though the secret palace records note that Hargreaveses can have lulls of up to five years between appearances.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Assuming 325.36 players a month across all spawn points, that’s approximately 27.113 per location per month.
That’s almost one a day. How many people failed to activate their welcome package, or faced penalties from failure to adhere to the conditions, or just got killed immediately upon spawning? Unless we assume more than a million died in that first war, and about 1.2 million more were brought in over the next 600 years before I arrived - but even then it’s 2,000 players a year, 166.67 a month, and approximately 13.89 per location per month.
I know there were plenty of other major wars since the founding of the empire, but this system is really just bringing us here just to kill us off. Look at how it creates dungeons with monsters that ambush players immediately upon entry, while we’re distracted by the sudden pop up.
...I’m going to that corrupt tower and wringing the truth from that crazy bitch if it’s the last thing I do.
Wait. When I completed the welcome stage, the system said “Crystal Tower Version 5.2.39.14 commenced”. Does that mean this is the fifth edition, with 23,914 updates and bug fixes in between?
Lexi likes numbers, but dividing her player number with the version number just gives 4.471 which doesn’t seem to mean anything.
That version number...unless it means that each update sees this many players brought in? Multiplying version number with my player number gives 1,227,316,745,088. That’s a BUTTLOAD of human beings dragged over here to die - we don’t even have 10 billion people in the entire world where I’m from, but if the system managed to get more than a trillion over without anyone really noticing, then maybe it’s that parallel / alternate “real world” thing at play.
She’d enjoyed watching sci-fi shows with her dad, but hadn’t really paid attention to the science or pseudo-science whenever multiverses came up, so she just files the hypotheses away for later and resolves to finish the raid as quickly as possible.
Vena, you’re incredible.
The half-elf has taken down five zombie looking big cats attempting to pounce on the party from above within seconds, allowing Eric and Ray to quickly finish off the rest of the monsters that appear from behind them and further down a narrow corridor on their right.
Zombies, huh. I used to love zombiepocalypse stories - used to watch all the shows and play all the games, but right now I’m getting more a little freaked out by these things up close. I suppose it’s a good thing none of them are humanoid.
Akara seems to throb in her hand, and Lexi smiles under her mask.
Thank you, Akara. You’re a sweetheart.
The blade pulses warmly at the thought.
I suppose this has something to do with affinity.
If so, how do I raise it further?
When Intuition alerts her to an incoming attack from behind, Lexi spins and instinctively flings her dagger at an approaching decaying bear-like creature.
Nice!
Akara pierces clean through, before doubling back and creating another hole in a decomposing head on her way to reach Lexi.
Does this have something to do with Dexterity? Since it means I’m good with my hands.
No one says anything, since the eerie quiet of the dungeon weighs heavily, but Ray and Vena smile at her, though Eric of course continues on as though nothing much happened.
Someone’s back to normal.
He’d been a bit on edge even after she’d recovered from her injuries, but Lexi supposes he’d also decided that the best thing he can do now is make sure none of them die on the quest.
Animals. So far, we’ve seen only zombie animals.
What types of monsters did protagonists usually face in webtoons, when they fought the undead? Skeletons, resurrected knights and mages, stuff like that I think. Necromancers as the ones responsible for calling forth the dead, but there were also creatures called ‘lich’, right?
Jordan had given her a handwritten copy of the palace’s secret bestiary, which documented monsters players had faced in dungeons over the years, and she recalls spotting an entry titled Lich King.
A powerful wizard or king who returns from death and commands their similarly undead army.
But...why the animals? If the Lich was a human in their past life, wouldn’t it be zombie mages or knights instead?
Animals...could it be an ex-druid?
But only players can be druids, right?
Unless...
She doesn’t have time to think about it further, not when Eric yells at her to focus as they’re suddenly swarmed by more zombie beasts.
Without the luxury of time and range, Lexi has no chance to use her active skills, which means she has to rely solely on passive skills and whatever combat techniques Eric has drilled into her.
I’m not going down without a fight, not again.
Stepping out at an angle slightly with her left leg, she swings her right, making sure to use her hips.
Gotcha.
It connects, the sound distorted by the lack of taut skin, sending the hog looking thing staggering as she follows up quickly with Akara, letting the momentum take her into a spin.
That’s another down.
A large bird swoops in, and Lexi dodges while slashing, spilling blackish innards as she silently thanks Brienne for the new mask.
And another.
The foursome make quick work of their opponents, then they move on immediately, not wanting to linger and attract even more monsters to their location.
I think I need to create an inventory pouch soon.
At the rate Vena is loosing arrows, despite trying to reuse less damaged ones, the half-elf might run out before the end of the raid.
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Thank you, Jordan.
The earrings he’d given her are all that’s keeping her on her feet, as the raid party hasn’t had a chance to rest for more than an hour since entering the dungeon.
This can’t go on. I’ll be a burden to everyone soon.
Despite the expensive rejuvenation tonics they’re carrying, Lexi also knows the limited quantity means they have to be used sparingly.
I should have created the inventory pouch before this.
She doesn’t have time to think about the what if’s, not when Eric raises the alarm again and Vena is letting arrows fly in quick succession.
Dammit.
Her kicks are less sharp and impactful now, form crumbling in the face of exhaustion, and desperation drives her to backhand a monster that’s come too close for comfort.
Oh?
As soon as the gauntlet on her right forearm comes in contact with the creature, little sparks seem to fly and singe rotten flesh while shocking the undead wolf slightly.
That was lightning, wasn’t it?
Thank you, Brienne.
Smiling to herself, Lexi charges towards the stunned monster with renewed vigor.
Die, bitch.
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Finally! A safe zone!
It’d taken them two days - including a hellish battle in the decrepit dining hall - to reach the third floor of this castle, which she’s only starting to realize is more like a tower than a typical medieval fortress-dwelling.
Although the system notice states they only have a maximum of twelve hours in this room, Lexi isn’t about to complain.
That’s twelve blessed hours of rest.
Eric forces her to eat, the sandwiches they’d bought at the nearby town somehow not squashed despite the fighting, and as soon as she’s swallowed the last bite she takes another gulp of water before lying down and curling up.
Good night, world.
The sadistic redhead shakes her awake when they have an hour left in the safe zone, making her consume more food and water before instructing her to use Foresight as the timer on the screen counts down towards zero.
That’s right. Foresight doesn’t work on a dungeon before I’ve entered it, another stupid restriction by the system.
When she tells the Hawk Commander of what she’s seen, he comes up with a plan in seconds and makes her use Foresight again.
Someone’s being cautious.
He usually doesn’t ask her to look into the future again if his first plan works.
I guess that battle with the shapeshifters left us all with scars.
After three uses of Foresight, Eric gives her an MP recovery potion before deciding on a course of action.
Then, just as the timer indicates they have three seconds left in the safe zone, he flings the door open and they rush out, Vena leading the way.
It’s a good thing the half-elf has keener hearing than them, because Intuition is ridiculously distracting for Lexi in this dungeon. Vena’s arrows pare down the pack of undead wolves coming from their left quickly, then Eric charges forward to clear the rest of the path as Lexi runs after him, Ray taking up the rear as her shield.
> ”Tanks usually stay on the front lines in battle, Lexi, but don’t forget that you’re the priority - without you, the others will be trapped in the dungeon forever, unable to exit. So when the four of you are moving through the dungeon, Ray will need to keep you safe from back attacks and shield you whenever the other two are busy. Eric is the damage dealer, and Vena is the scout - they’ll alternate between the front as necessary, but under NO circumstances are you to let yourself be first or last in the group when you’re on the move, even if you’re all under attack.”
Elise had told her that, somber tone and fierce purple eyes imprinting those words on Lexi’s heart.
Raid parties usually have two players, just in case one goes down. But these three only have me - I can’t die in here. They’ll never be able to get out if I do.
> ”Undead can be killed with healing spells, but it’s best that Vena conserve her magic for us.”
Eric had said that yesterday, which means they have to kill the zombie creatures the hard way, since Vena has only just started learning healing magic and they don’t know how much they’ll personally need her spells.
It’s another three days before they reach the next safe zone, Lexi having to be carried by Ray since she’d long run out of stamina despite Jordan’s gift and the rejuvenating tonics, then she doesn’t have enough energy to feel anything when she sees the notification.
This is the final safe zone before the boss fight.
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CHAPTER 26 END