“Hnnnng-“ Standing up and stretching, Mia prepared herself for the long trek outside the dungeon. She was still in a bit of pain, but her hp wasn’t going down so she figured it was fine, hurt, but fine.
If anyone was doing worse than her, it was Roy. He had become more withdrawn than before, sticking to himself and not responding to anyone who tried to comfort him, it was getting annoying. She didn’t get what the big deal was, Trevor was handling it just fine, even Dria stepped up and gave it a go and like Trevor, was fine if not a bit shaken. Truly no one could handle it like Mia and Ria could.
But as they started to pack up, Mia said her final goodbyes to Hiiro, then they headed out, stopping at the makeshift camp to pick up the freed kids.
“Big sis!” “Sis!” “Fox lady~” Several kids that were rescued from the Gaia encampment had ran over to the two, the younger ones hugging Ria. They were the ones that Ria and Mia had helped escape, stopping pursuers. A few of them sent puzzling glances to Mia, confused at her changed appearance and unsure if it was the same person.
“Ah- haha, good to see your collars off!” Ria greeted them “We are not out of the woods yet, so be behaved until then?” She patted their heads one by one.
Seeing them chatter among themselves, Mia felt a bit jealous, shaking it off ‘sillly…’ she watched Ria corral the kids together, taking up the big sis role for all of them as they began their march towards the exit “Hm.”
Having the free time and left alone, Mia decided it was a good time to check her status before the potential fight in the city as they had the walk out of the dungeon, the walk to the transport, and the ride itself. It should be plenty of time.
With that decided, she opened up status, and read down the list.
* * * * *
Name: Mia
Status: [Evolutionary Feedback]
Age: 8
Race: Laplace Fox
LVL: 1*
Points: 0
HP: 5,000/5,000 MP: 145,500/145,500
Str: 502 (201)
Con: 500 (200)
Dex: 2,500 (1,000)
Int: 5,437 (2,175)
Mnd: 7,275 (2,910)
Lck: 1
- - - - -
SKILLS:
[Early Riser: MAX]
[Willful: MAX]
[Pain Tolerance: Max]
[Packer: 2>3]
[Jogger: 1>4]
[Item Box:2>3]
[Sneak: 2>4]
[Danger sense: - ]
[Common Language: 3>MAX]
[Spirit Language: 1]
[Chopsticks: 1]
[sewing: 1]
[painting: 1]
[Dyeing: 1]
[Goldsmithing: 1]
[Butchering: 1>3]
[Magic Craftsmanship: MAX]
[Magic Structures: 1]
[Marionette Weapons: 2]
[Float: 1]
[Spiritual Life: 1]
[Mana Control: 3>5]
[Ice Master: MAX] > [True Ice]
[Water Beginner: 2]
[Fire Novice: 3>4]
[Battle Dancer: 4> MAX]
[Martial arts: 3]
[Critical Eye: 4>MAX]
[Battle sense: 4]
[Disguise: MAX]
[Lying: 2>3]
[Presence detection: 1>3]
[Trap detection: 2]
[Acrobatics: 4>MAX]
[Cooking: 1]
[Cleaning: 2>3]
[Petting: 1>2]
[Threatening aura: MAX]
[Dagger Mastery: MAX]
[Axe arts: 1>2]
[Sword arts: 2>3]
[Bow arts: 1]
[Polearm arts: 2>3]
[Trident arts: 2>3]
[Spear arts: 1>3]
HIDDEN SKILLS:
[time: 3]
TITLES:
[Evolved: Stage 1]
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[Partial Spirit]
[Unlucky Child]
[Shrine Maiden]
[Maiden of Snow]
[Mana Tank]
[Torturer]
[Jester]
[Critical Striker]
[Trophy Maid]
* * * * *
There were a lot more new ones than she was expecting and a lot of increased levels since the last time she had checked, even another two titles. Her stats, she already checked that awhile ago so there was no need to go over it again, she hoped she can get into higher level haunts to truly test out the difference. She went down the list, starting at the first new one and the one she was the least interested in.
[Skill: Spirit Language, LVL 1: The language of spirits. You are able to hear, understand, and even speak the language spiritual beings use to communicate. The previous inaudible language now open to you.]
So she knew an entirely different language now? How did that work? She never heard anything like this before, and she never remembered meeting a spirit before… maybe?
She remembered going up the mountain towards the shrine, that place was weird enough and if that thing was a spirit… but it talked normally, right?
“Testing, testing.” She tried to speak it, not hearing anything different about her voice or pronunciation. She noticed one of the kids was staring back at her, causing her to blush and move on.
[Skill: Magic Structures. LVL 1: the ability to erect structures made from solid elements. Further improves the durability and stability of any wall, floor, or ceiling that you make.]
‘This was from the maze and huts.’ She guessed she built so many walls that she got a skill for it, she only had ice to work with but if it made her ice more durable than she wouldn’t complain. Camping outside would be a lot more comfortable as well, she wanted to try making a house, two story, with a kitchen, a bath, private bedroom… ooh a soft bed of snow….
She realized she was getting distracted and moved on.
[Skill: Marionette Weapons, LVL 2: Weapons made by you float and follow your commands like puppets on a string. Multiple weapons can be manipulated like you are wielding them yourself. The amount of weapons you can control like this is based on weight and skill level.]
A compliment to her new way of fighting and was working out for her so far. The range was nice, she could cast other magic while manipulating her weapons, and judging by her increase in skill level for her weapon skills, her manipulated weapons counted for skill exp. She couldn’t ask for a better skill.
‘Need to increase the amount.’ That being her only complaint, her limit was 4 small weapons, 2 medium weapons, or 1 large one. She could mix 2 smalls and one medium, and even split and merge them together mid battle with her weapon crafting but she’d like more options.
“Maybe I can hollow them out…” she mumbled to herself, ice was already light enough as is, and making the insides hollow would possibly make them brittle or sacrifice damage… ah, distracted again. She had been developing a love for crafting ever since she made her first weapons, but that maze had also struck a cord with her.
After this current fight with the church, she wanted to take some time off and just spend a day or two creating a variety of things… maybe try her hand at some sculpting…
…continuing…
[Skill: Float, LVL 1: A passive skill that enables the user to float through the sky at will, turning their body lighter than air.]
‘Passive?’ She didn’t feel lighter, she still felt very stiff, maybe she had to… ‘w-woah?!’
Mia started leaving the ground, slowly floating upward and missing her step and then plopping right back onto the ground. She looked around to see if anyone noticed her short trip into the sky, only noting the same kid was staring at her ‘…ignore them.’ She had to mess with this later, right now all she could gleam from that short period of weightlessness was she had to will it and her weight fluctuated, keeping what ever momentum she starts floating with no obvious way to stop herself besides making herself heavier again.
‘Dangerous’ it was a skill she had to be extremely careful with, less she floats off into the sun.
[Spiritual Life, LVL 1: An inherent ability to partial spirits. Your life is now partially tied to the mana core crystal developing in your heart. When your HP is low you can exchange mana for HP, feeding it. The current exchange rate is: 1hp point = 500 mana]
‘I have a what in my heart?!’ she clutched her chest, that would explain the chest pains. The evolution did mention she was part sprit now but seeing a direct result of that was shocking. What happens if she gets stabbed in the heart now if the crystal survives it? Can she just pump mana into it and keep herself alive?
Probably not at that exchange rate… it was insanely steep. And what does it mean? Feeding it?
It was all worrying, but now that she thought about it, there was another skill similar to this one when she was looking through all the evolutions, she remembered it well because it was the one she was going to choose if not for Laplace, Hoarfrost. Unlike how she was now, part spirit, that one was half and it didn’t have spiritual life, it had spiritual constitution.
Was that the better skill? And was that the skill life was going to turn into once it leveled up enough? She’d have to wait and see.
Last of her skills and the one she was overjoyed she got to keep, true ice.
[Skill: True Ice: LVL -: The absolute pinnacle of ice magic, mythical ice that is said to be able to freeze anything and take decades to melt on its own. The caster can choose to cast regular ice or true ice, true ice freezes everything and is immune to weak levels of heat and fire, freezing even that in place.]
She held back her glee, it sounded amazing. She had cast ice before on Roy and it wasn’t any different than how it was, so that wasn’t true ice. She raised her hand, now on the transport and cast a tiny bit of true ice, freezing the area right above her palm, forming a small snowflake ‘doesn’t seem any different?’ she inspected the snowflake, it looked a bit more see through than her regular ice and it listened to her all the same, maybe it was just stronger?
She shrugged, deciding to test it later she released her will from it, allowing it to fall to the gro-
[MIA! CATCH IT!]
“Eh?!” caught off guard she quickly looked to the ground, but didn’t find it “wha-“
[THE BACK! THE BACK!]
She snapped to the back of the boat, seeing the tiny little snowflake fly towards the wall of the transport. She quickly willed it to fly back to her, resting it in her palm ‘why did It fly towards that…’ she worried what would happen if it collided with the moving vehicle, judging by Ami’s freak out, probably nothing good.
She decided to test it again, this time dropping her will from it and watched as it flew towards the back again. She reclaimed it, staring at the ice ‘why is it doing that?’ it should just fall to floor. She bent down to place it down there herself, when Ami spoke up again.
[Mia, don’t. just will it away.]
‘Eh? Why?’ she paused, willing the snowflake away, just in case.
[It freezes everything, and I mean everything. It isn’t flying towards the back, it froze itself in place once you stopped commanding it and the back is moving towards it.]
“…” she shivered, that was super dangerous ‘So, what would have happened?’ she asked, making another true ice snowflake.
[Don’t know, depends on how sturdy the back is. It would have either cut right through or shattered. The first being not something you want to find out while submerged in water.]
She got rid of the ice, sweating profusely, she still couldn’t swim. ‘When it says everything…’
[it means everything.]
‘Even time and space…yeah, super dangerous…’ another skill she had to be careful with, she wondered how it would interact with her time skills, if she just made a bunch and then went back in time, would it still be there?
[No, your time manipulation supersedes it. But if you do leave a bunch somewhere I’d imagine it would stay there for quite awhile if left undisturbed.]
‘Description did say decades…’ just what did she get her hands on. Checking her mana, it didn’t even cost that much to cast. She imagined it had something to do with her snow maiden title still counting it as ice, but unless she tried making a mansion out of the stuff she figured she’d be fine.
That, however, made her start to question what would happen now if her mana reached zero with that mana crystal in her now… questions for later, it was time to tackle the titles.
[Title: Evolved: Stage 1. A title given to those who have reached level 100 and evolved once. A badge of honor for all species. A title that is proof of additional power that dwells within, resets level to 1 while keeping post evolution stats.
Current evolved level bonus: 2.5x stat total.]
She oddly felt a sense of accomplishment despite the final rush to level 100, she technically spent the most time out of everyone in the world trying to evolve if she counted all that time it spent leveling up time to lvl 2, but she has since acknowledged that some people never evolve… or now as she knew it, got screwed by the first evolution and gave up.
Now for the big one…
[Title: Partial Spirit. You are now part spirit, a race of invisible creatures with strong magic made of mana surrounding a crystal core. Marked by the growing mana crystal in your heart you have started your transformation into one of them but are not enough of a spirit to benefit from their racial perks besides a few racial skills you have inherited, or suffer their weaknesses outside of your developing core, which is fragile until the next stage of development. Spirits are now more open to establishing a friendly relationship with you. Your heart now contains a developing mana core, which feeds on mana in the atmosphere or any access mana you generate. The crystal will develop in time, once fully developed it will replace your heart, turning you into a half spirit.
You can feed this crystal access mana to speed up the process, be careful not to over feed it, causing it to burst. This will result in instant death.]
With this it was official, she was turning into something not completely a fox and the crystal in her chest was what was spearheading the change. ‘Do I not need to evolve again to become a half spirit?’ The wording of this implied it only relied on the crystal. Replacing her heart was scary, but it didn’t seem like she could stop it. It was nice she didn’t have to worry about any additional weaknesses, but that was sure to change once she became half. The only questions now were how long that would take, did she want to speed it up, and what being a spirit entailed.
But that was the final one, she was done catching up, there were several dangerous skills, some more than others, all she had to get used to.
But for now it was time to worry about the church, as they started docking at the guild’s station.