-------
“And where exactly are you going?” She heard Kaede’s voice from behind her. The ninja was one of the few people that could consistently sneak up on her. She couldn’t wait until her Perception stat got high enough to counter such nonsense.
“Ah, good, you’re here.” Seraphiel turned towards the woman dressed in full ninja garb, with a mask and everything. Rather revealing as such attires went, but supposedly that sort of thing was not out of the purview of ninjas. “I was wondering where I would find you. Saves me the trouble of looking.”
“I’ll note that you didn’t answer the question.” Kaede prodded further, not allowing her to change the subject. Not that she was really trying to.
“I was getting to it. I’m going Ork hunting. For that, I need a teleport. I was actually hoping you could arrange for one, but barring that, I was going to ask the teleport mage that was part of my last mission.” She explained without bothering to hide anything. It was easier to just secure Kaede’s cooperation.
“Uh-huh. I won’t bother asking why you felt like Ork hunting was a good idea. We did discuss your need for some actual combat not too long ago. How were you planning on getting back though? Assuming Theliel did make the portal for you.” Kaede questioned, not letting too much of her feelings slip.
“The plan was to have him open a portal to the same location every twelve hours until I took one back. Or barring that, find one of the elimination teams and hitch a ride with them.” She explained.
“Not a bad thought, assuming he agreed. That would take a lot of power from him though. Are you sure he’d be willing?” Kaede pointed out.
“Yes, well, aside from the experience he would gain, I did assume some negotiation would’ve been involved. I’m relatively confident in my persuasive abilities.” She stood up straighter. She had a lot of Charisma. Might as well put it to good use.
“Alright then. I argued against Mana when she decided to keep you on the scouting teams, and I think this would be a great way for you to grind experience. Carry on.” Kaede gave permission with a nod, and then suddenly just vanished.
Seraphiel made a small, exasperated sound. She’d really hoped Kaede would provide the transportation. Now she actually had to convince Theliel.
-----
Hunting the Orks by herself was not too hard. Hunting their kind was very familiar to her from her time as an Aeldari, and deceptive hit-and-run tactics and guerilla warfare in general were quite familiar to her. In fact, you could argue she was an expert on the subject, even if it wasn’t the tactic she usually preferred. She was often a blunt instrument thanks to her previous overwhelming power and abilities. Let it not be said she wasn’t capable of using different tactics though.
The secret to fighting a numerically superior enemy was speed and unpredictability. She struck hard and fast, often killing off a patrol of Orks, or a small portion of a larger warband, before fading away and escaping into the forest. She struck at different times, at different places, and from different directions, keeping her actions and her targets unpredictable. She never allowed herself to be caught in protracted combat. She launched her attacks, killed as many Orks as she could, and then faded away, taking distance with [Hohō] combined with speeding herself up with [Chronomancy]. None of the Orks could keep up with her speed, and that was assuming they could even react before she was gone. Even if some Ork did manage to chase her and not her illusions, they’d run into invisible barriers made with [Shiten Kekkai].
Her attacks may not have killed too many of the green bastards with every attack, but every time she struck, she left behind bodies. Her most common method of attack was a combination of abilities. She created weapons of hardened light and packed them full of psionic lightning that exploded out on impact. A dozen or so such weapons launched from a distance before escaping left little chance for the Orks to respond.
Other times she created attacks with her Kidō or even conjured waves of psionic Warpflames with energy control. Even if the Orks were sturdy, they couldn't resist either power effectively, and the psionic flames especially burned until she no longer supplied them with power. Sometimes she managed to wipe out entire patrols by charging in the middle of them and killing them in seconds, while at other times she only took out a small portion of larger groups before fading away like a ghost.
She hid her movements with [Conceal] and [Combat Illusions] allowing the Skills that had been lagging behind a bit to catch up. Interestingly, the tactics she used, combined with fighting an old enemy of the Aeldari meant that her Farseer Class was leveling faster than her other Class. The difference came from the fact that she was performing an activity associated with the Class. If she had been fighting magic users or demons instead, then her Shinmei-ryū Class would’ve been the one leveling faster.
That said, it became quickly obvious that murdering a whole bunch of Orks was a really effective method of leveling up her Classes. It allowed her experience bonus from [Been There, Done That] to shine as well. It was a well-known rule that killing someone roughly equal in combat and/or level gave you a full level to at least one of your Classes. It just wasn’t entirely clear what was considered equal. The Orks were not, even if some of them were higher level, as she had to kill more than one, but she was still gaining a full level in her Classes every battle, if the brief encounters could be called that.
It took less than 24 hours for her Farseer Class to reach level 95, while her Shinmei-ryū Class was at level 90. Her Skills mostly kept up until level 85 due to her relentless training beforehand, but after that, the Skills started falling behind. Not badly, but still. Not unexpected, considering the simple nature of her leveling method.
She briefly considered how and why the gods allowed such an easy leveling method as the Orks to exist, but quickly realized that it wouldn't be quite as easy to exploit them for most others. For one, others wouldn’t have two Classes at this level, nor stats that matched hers. That meant they wouldn’t be able to kill the Orks so efficiently. The green bastards would be dangerous to most other people, especially in numbers. They also wouldn’t have her experience boosting Skill, though perhaps in their case, the Orks would be considered equal opponents. Still, this seemed like she was exploiting a hole in the System.
Which meant she was going to exploit the shit out of it!
If the universe wanted to offer her a free buffet of levels, then she’d be a fool not to take advantage! She’d level both of her Classes to 100 before returning, after which she would train her important Skills to cap again. The requirement for becoming a 3rd-class student was only level 80, but nowhere did it say she couldn't overshoot that requirement. Maybe she'd even get the chance to power-level her third Class a bit.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Assuming she wasn’t in too much trouble for sneaking away…
------
"You know, at the risk of making my own punishment worse, I feel obligated to point out that this doesn't really work at my level of Vitality," Seraphiel said, sitting in seiza, a kneeling position where she was effectively sitting on her own heels, while holding a rather large rock in the air with her hands, and three other similarly sized rocks floated nearby due the power of her mind.
[Congratulations! [Advanced Telekinesis] has leveled up from 98 to 99!]
And it could actually be considered training.
“I’m aware. However, most others are not. They don’t realize how ridiculous your Vitality actually is.” Evangeline glanced at her before returning to her own paperwork. “For most people at 2nd-class that would be a harsh punishment. It’s rather difficult to come up with proper physical punishments for people with high enough vitality without the whole thing turning into torture. And most of the mental or social punishments wouldn’t really work on you. You already have no free time, since you train so hard, and going reverse and trying to force you not to train would be kind of pointless as you’d always find a way to do it sneakily. Although I am tempted to try just to see what happens. I suppose I could force you to clean toilets or something without using your powers, but I’m saving that for special occasions.”
They were currently in Evangeline’s office. Despite the results being quite positive, Evangeline had to punish her for disobeying instructions, even if both of them knew it was in name only. “So, how long will you need to get your Skills up to level 100? I’m assuming you’re not leveling all of them, and just those that are necessary.”
"Hard to say exactly, but about a week or two," Seraphiel revealed. Most of her main Skills only needed a couple of levels, but some of the more niche Skills like [Advanced Bonesinging] and [Shiten Kekkai] needed a bit more effort. [Advanced Bonesinging] had evolved last time, so it didn’t matter if that one was capped, but the other one might evolve this time, so she’d rather have it ready.
“Well, I won’t bother wasting my time advising you on your next Class, seeing as you have more experience than most and it’s your own powers. Just keep in mind that level 100 is less about evolving your old Class, which still happens mind you, and more about getting a second one. The first one just evolved at level 50, so the System is usually less generous at level 100. The next Class evolution at 250 will be more about evolving the Classes again, while at 500 you’ll get a third Class. At 750 it’s again more about evolving the Classes, and at 1000 you’ll get your your fourth and final Class, though that one is special in that almost everyone gets major upgrades to their Classes at that point.” Evangeline had really become a teacher at heart it seemed. She looked up from her work again. “I’m just pointing this out in case you were hoping for your old Class to rise in rank.”
“Eh, it’s already so high that I expect it will only evolve around level 1000.” She shrugged in response.
"Well, as you did remind me, I still have to give you the second part of your punishment, which is actually more detrimental to us than to you. You will not be allowed to go on further missions for three weeks. Since you'll be spending most of that time training your Skills and you already got the level you needed, I expect this won't be a problem?" Evangeline placed her quill into the inkwell with a plop, as if emphasizing her words.
“I was kind of hoping to power level my new Class as well, but…” She just shrugged.
"Well, we'll see how many Orks there will be left in three weeks then," Evangeline stated simply, her voice implying the extermination mission would be done by then.
--------
She wiped sweat off her forehead and brought up her status.
Name: Seraphiel (Seraphia)
Race: Celestial (XXX)
Age: 20
Classes:
[Path of the Seer – Acolyte – Rank S] Level 100
[Shinmei-ryū Kamigoroshi – Apprentice – Rank SS] Level 100
Resources:
Psi Power: 34000
Free Stats: 1000
Physical Stats
Strength: 3400
Vitality: 3400
Agility: 3400
Perception: 3400
Social Stats:
Charisma: 2200
Willpower: 2200
Manipulation: 2200
Acumen: 2200
Psionic Stats
Power: 3400
Control: 3400
Tolerance: 3400
Psi: 3400
Skills
Racial and Social Skills:
Gift of Knowledge - 80
Been There, Done That – 100
Gift of Permanence *Passive*
Go Out And Live Among The People - 65
On The Wings Of Angels – 50
Charm Of The Firstborn – 95
Identity Protection *Passive*
Haggling – 7
Boring Armor – 60
Star Of The Show - 1
General Skills:
Weapon King Arts – 100
Martial Arts - 100
Push Through – 100
Multitasking - 100
Dodging - 90
Magic Sight – 100
Cooking – 50
Graceful – 100
Identification & Evaluation – 80
Magical Engineering – 42
Farseer:
Psionic Affinity – 100
Advanced Telekinesis – 100
Energy Control - 100
Advanced Psionic infusion – 100
Advanced Fortify - 100
Psionic Storm – 100
Precognition - 100
Chronomancy– 100
Advanced Bonesinging – 80
Conceal – 89
Shinmei-ryū:
Hard-light Mastery - 100
Zanmaken - 100
Raimeiken – 100
Zantetsusen – 100
Shiten Kekkai – 100
Hohō – 100
Advanced Kidō - 100
Psionic Nova Charge – 79
Combat Illusion -83
Advanced Psionic Focus – 100
Her hard work had paid off. She was saving some of her Free Stats to give her new Class a boost in stats to make it more useful straight away. More useful and easier to train. Assuming she ended up taking a Class with new stats. The status also showed which Skills she was really using, and which she was not.
She made for the showers, and after a quick wash laid down on her bed, ready for her next Class evolution.
She found herself in the same penthouse again. From what she’d heard from Mother, this was really the penthouse Lucifer was using back at home. Or at least a very convincing copy. Being in her old body caused her to feel like she needed to stretch like a cat, but she abstained.
“Go ahead sister, no one’s stopping you.” The voice of Lucifer came from the bedroom. “Certainly not me.” It sounded like he was going through drawers or something.
“I better not. I have a feeling you’d enjoy the view a bit too much.” She quipped back.
“Oh, very good, sister!” He walked out with a wide grin. “A little twisted, but very good nonetheless.”
“Were you cleaning up or something? Holding lavish parties or something?” She asked jokingly.
"Of course I am! Who do you take me for? Had to hide the worst evidence.” He said, and she wasn’t entirely sure if he was joking.
"Speaking of, you've been a naughty boy!" She wagged a finger at him. "What's this I hear about being your Champion? And not mentioning that Mother is here? I'm fairly certain you said you got Father's help in creating this body for me, but now I find Mother here taking credit instead. You wouldn't have lied, would you, brother dearest?"
"You know I never lie." Luci pointed out, almost seeming offended at the idea. "I just might not tell the whole truth either. As your original body was created by both Mother and Father, it was only fair to get them both involved with this one as well. Besides, I don't think you've quite realized how much of an advantage you have. Remember how the System only improves what's already there? Well, once you're an adult, your physical strength and sturdiness will match that of a Dragon, even without taking stats into account. I don't mean that metaphorically either. I mean you'll literally be able to arm-wrestle a fully grown Dragon, and not one of those wimpy ones either. I mean those rank XXX godlike Dragons. The differences between the ranks of the races are no joke. Of course, you won't have the same leverage or mass, but you have your own advantages."
“That reminds me. Dragons are intelligent, so how are their Classes handled?” She asked curiously.
“They get specially designed Classes just for them. They can take a normal Class like Mage as well, but the draconic Classes are simply better. It’s one of the reasons they still manage to retain their advantage despite everything.” Luci explained while walking behind the bar again. As had become a custom, he made drinks for the both of them, before leading her to sit down on the comfortable leather couches. “As to you being my Champion, that’s half correct. As your Mother isn’t really compliant with the rules of this universe, we had to take some liberties.”
“You know I don’t like taking orders. Not from Father, and certainly not from you.” She pointed out straight away.
“And I don’t expect you to. Truth be told, the game between the gods has become somewhat rancid. I just want you here, making a mess of things and giving the gods a bloody nose. There’s no real time pressure, though things around the universe aren’t standing still, waiting for you to get ready. Even I can’t see the future perfectly, so I can’t tell how some of the things will develop, or whether they’ll have an effect on you. Or those you might consider important. Just to be clear, this isn’t a threat or anything, but you of all people know how unpredictable life can be.” Luci explained while taking a seat opposite to hers.
“Anything I should be aware of?” She asked with narrowed eyes.
"Plenty, but I'm not allowed to say. Despite you being my Champion, sort of, I'm not allowed to so blatantly take sides. I can give you a leg up, and a bit of help, but I can't just feed you with all the answers." He took a sip of his drink. "However, I can give you a hint. I would look into getting in contact with Shepard before graduating. Also, the world you were born on might not be as safe as many people assume."
“Doesn’t sound ominous at all.” She grunted.
"Anyway, we both know why you're here. Which do you want to do first? New Class or evolutions?" Lucifer changed the subject, obviously already skirting the limits of what he could say.
“New Class of course. That might influence any decisions I make about evolutions after all.” She replied eagerly.