"You want what?" Sarah asked with a frown on her face.
"I want to accompany you. I want to help." Said Neil with an annoyingly bashful smile on his face.
"But… you’re so… frail. You’ll be ripped apart in seconds." Sarah answered and poked a finger into one of his rather unimpressive-looking forearms.
Neil looked at her dejectedly and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I may be right now. But I will get stronger. I am on the path of conflict now, just like you. And my… skills necessitate me getting… well, hurt."
"Show me," Sarah told him with resolution in her voice. Neil looked like he’d reject her, but then he looked to the side with a sigh and showed her his specializations and skills. But not everything. "You’re a smart one, huh?" Sarah mumbled with a smile and wanted to look at what he showed her.
"Not like someone else here." Sarah heard a quiet mumble from behind her. She turned around to glare at Melissa, but she innocently smiled at her.
Now it was Sarah’s moment to sigh, and she distracted herself with the information in front of her.
Body (Mid): Adaptation Evolution (New) Active Skills: Fear Suppression (Adaptation): Suppress the effect fear has on your body for a short while. Warning: You still feel the fear. Rapid Regeneration (Evolution): You can rapidly regenerate your body for a high Magic Power cost. Potentially fatal damage to your body and/or mind will trigger a stronger version of this skill, using all your available Magic Power. If there isn’t enough Magic Power to heal all the damage, non-crucial parts of your body will be converted into Magic Power to enable this process. Warning: Using this skill on healthy body parts may lead to tumors. Passive skills: Heightened Regeneration (Evolution / Adaptation): Your body heals and recuperates faster on its own, as long as you have above 50% Magic Power remaining. Negative effects on your body are lessened. Cockroach (Evolution / Adaptation): Every time you come close to death and survive, your body will undergo an evolution, which will strengthen you. - Poison and acid resistance: Your body is adapted to handle extreme amounts of poison and acid. - Magic Energy Resistance: Your body can contain a high amount of foreign and/or distorted Magic Power, without getting damaged. Warning: The soul might still suffer from the effects. Neil still looked to the side, obviously feeling ashamed. Sarah smiled gently, stepped forward, and laid a hand on his shoulders. "There is no shame in the name of your skill. Carry the insults of the system with defiance, as they will only make you stronger. Neil looked at her with tears in his eyes and also laid his hand on her shoulders. They stood like this for a while, wiping away the odd tears that streaked down their faces. Sarah finally had someone to share her pain with. Melissa, on the other hand, could only look on in confusion at the incomprehensible scene in front of her. "Alright, Cockroach," Sarah said and laid her arm around his shoulders. "I’d prefer you’d not call me that," Neil mumbled dejectedly. "Cockroach?" Melissa asked with confusion on her face, and Neil buried his face in his hands. "Let’s go hunting!" Sarah shouted, trying to gloss over the embarrassing situation she had created for Neil, and started dragging him with her. It took quite some time to go down into the underground with him, as he wasn’t as fast as her. But finally, down there, he looked around in awe. "This place is so strange and beautiful. I mean, the sky outside is fascinating too, but scary after what you told me." He said while looking around with a smile on his face. Sarah wanted to answer when her senses warned her of imminent danger. She turned around to face the incoming threat and already wanted to shoot out her tail to poison whatever was attacking her, but she was too slow. A being of enormous mass barreled into her from one of the tunnels and knocked her to the ground. Too many limbs attacked her from above, and her brain and nerves were on fire from trying to react to everything. And as fast as the being came, it also disappeared from above her again. She looked around in confusion, only to see Neil lying in a tumbled mess on top of one of the mutants next to her. Only this mutant had too many limbs. Neil was thrown off of the being and flew through the air a few meters, only to fall to the ground with his arms bent at unnatural angles. Even though she was worried about the fool, she had to react now. She pounced on the being and started swinging her claws at it. But to her surprise, it started to block her. They went back and forth, wildly swinging at each other and trying to somehow overwhelm the opponent. The mutant was massive, but still somewhat weaker than her. But his five arms made the difference. She tried her best not to look too closely at the disfigured face with its two gaping maws which split the slimy black skin from top to bottom of its head. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Sarah tried to use her tail but immediately regretted it. It used up too much of her attention to use her tail in a fight, which caused her to pause for a fraction of a second. The being noticed this gap and tried to disembowel her with one of its claws. She felt the sharp claw rip through her skin and muscles like they weren’t even there, but it stuck in her protective bone plating. Even though the pain was excruciating, she had to use this gap. When the creature tried to pull its claw out of her stomach, she used the pulling force and jumped forward. She pumped her whole body full of magic power and felt her muscles swell painfully. With a mighty roar, she dug her claws deep into the creature and started ripping it apart. With a nasty tearing sound, three arms and a part of its upper body were, ripped off of it, and it screeched in pain and rage. But it still wasn’t dead. Weirdly shaped bones and guts looked out of its open side, but it still started attacking her with its leftover arms. Sarah’s magic power enhancement of her muscles receded, and she was momentarily weakened, having trouble defending against the creature. A moment of dizziness overcame her, and the remaining claws loomed dangerously over her head. But a snail flew at its head and threw it off balance. Neil stood a short distance away, breathing heavily and holding his bloodied side. "Finish it already!" he roared at her and snapped her out of her daze. She jumped forward, threw the being to the ground, and started pummeling its head. Bones and teeth cracked under her fists, while Neil threw himself onto its remaining arms, so it couldn’t defend itself anymore. She had to cave heavily in its head until the abomination finally stopped moving. Defeat 100 normal enemies (6/100) Defeat 2 elite enemies (1/2) Defeat the dungeon boss (0/1) Eat 100 snails (7/100) You have gained multiple levels.> Sarah looked at the system prompt, and her face became hard. Neil on the other hand shouted in joy and triumph, only to whimper in pain after straining his still injured body too much. "We did it, Sarah! This was so fucking scary! I think I am in shock or something." Neil shouted with a slight tremor in his voice. And shook her shoulder. "We did it. But it was a shitshow." Sarah answered and looked him in the eyes. "The only reason I am still alive is your interventions. And it was also dumb luck that you even succeeded and are still alive. We need to get better at fighting." She had noticed with resignation, that she was everything else than adept at using her various powers. She had a lot in her arsenal, but usually just stuck to one thing during a fight. And thinking back to the fight when she had tried to use her tail, it had taken up too much concentration. They nearly died against an elite enemy. There was still another one somewhere out there, not to mention the dungeon boss. "Uhh Sarah," Neil mumbled and looked down at her with a horrified look on his face. "You… you still have an arm sticking in your stomach." Sarah looked down and only now noticed, that the claw including the ripped-off arm was still sticking inside of her. And with the realization came the pain. She gritted her teeth and ripped out the claw. Another wave of pain overcame her, and her blood splattered on the ground and started sizzling slightly. Not thinking too much about it, she grabbed a little of the glowing moss and pressed it onto her wound. Contrary to her expectations, the pain subsided somewhat. "Huh." She was only able to say, not quite understanding the weird effect of the plant. "Are you okay?" Neil asked and touched her shoulder gently. "I’m fine cockroach, thanks." She answered with a smile and patted his hand. "This moss seems to help with the pain. But I’m probably only surviving this because of my poison body." She said with a laugh and wondered for a moment if she had gotten even crazier by now. But she soon concluded that this would be only helpful to her in this crazy world. "Do we go back and rest?" Neil asked and helped her stand up again. "Go back? Rest? Are you insane? We came to fight. And that’s what we’ll do. And while we’re at it, we’ll train how to get better at it." She answered him, and Neils's gentle smile disappeared. "But… we’re injured. Is this a good idea?" "Can you move?" "Yes?" She punched his shoulder and he stumbled to the side. "Then get your shit together. We are fighting against time. Who says these creatures can’t find our hideout? This elite enemy probably found this place of entry for us, because I killed a few of its kind around her. Who says, that they can’t follow us back to Melissa? And besides… I have some open business with Denise." Neils's fear-filled eyes hardened upon hearing the hateful name, and he started smiling again. Only this time, it wasn’t his usual gentle smile, but one filled with malice and anger. He nodded and punched her on the shoulder. She smiled and nodded in appreciation. As if of one mind, they started moving deeper into the cave system, while talking about their skills and how to best use them. The hunt had begun in earnest.