Chitin breaks against the blows of my companions, and then rises again as puppets of Amelie. She can control five of them, now, much more than at the start. By now, I wonder if the dreadarmor she controls is stronger than it was back at the dungeon.
Slowly, blearily, I blink. I’m alive. My mana is full. I cast [Suppression] - and then Bay pokes me in the side, making me wince, interfering with the skill. “Don’t waste your mana,” she says slowly. “You need it, Snow.”
“... Right,” I say. Amusing, isn’t it? That my first thought, while ying on the floor in a soupy heap of blood and pus, my first thought is to debuff our enemies. Well, I suppose [Suppression] is what I’ve been doing all my life, so it’s no real surprise.
More mana flows into healing me, my entire vessel emptied, and that pressure against my sternum disappears. I breathe a little easier, then pull more mana into me from the glowing core in my body. And then I heal some more.
The fighting dies down. I get fed again, and today, I can even move my arm a little. It still shakes too much to get the spoon in my mouth, so Opal does it.
I look at them. “Mention the aeropne once and I will get upset,” I warn them.
“The train-”
“Opal.”
“Right, right,” they say, then give a soft ugh, scratching the back of their head. “Sorry. Here, silly Snow. Eat.” And, miraculously, for once, they manage to do something without cracking a quip every five seconds. Truly, I am impressed.
This time, I am also wise enough to check my notifications.
[Level up! 19 > 22]
[Css up! Deconstructor 9 > 10]
[Job Up! Enchanter 5 > 7]
The world was watching. And it saw me survive. It saw me… well, triumph is a strong word, but at the end of the day, that is what happened. I have nine stat points to allocate. With a heavy consciousness, I pce three in heart. It hurts my soul, but it nourishes my body, and more of my wounds vanish.
I still have six more, though. And since I have a healing spell, well, more mana is almost as good as more health, right? Probably. Surely. I pce six points in vessel. Then, I call up my status.
Name: Snow Okiyama - Ion
Floor: 1
Css:
Job:
Lv. 22
Heart: 20
Power: 6
Vessel: 74
Skills:
[Suppression lv. 10][Selection lv. 8][Solidification lv. 6][Deconstruction lv. 7][Inscription lv. 3][Flesh Restoration lv. 4]
Okay. I’ve gotten a few natural points, too. If my calcutions are right, that’s… three natural in heart, one in power, and two in vessel. A small smile spreads on my face. That’s rather wonderful.
With the points allocated, I also spend a little bit of mana on healing. And, for the first time in a few days, I get to see from my left eye. It’s sticky, and blurry, and it makes a disgusting squelching noise every time I blink, but I do see from it, just a little. How charming.
Then, there are only two more notifications.
[You have caught the Eye of the Embrace.]
It’s ominous, and it feels different from the others. I know the others. Creeping Darkness is a bit petty, the Master of Suffering a bit of a jerk, the Maniputor trying to sabotage me, and so on… but none of them are like this.
None of them are heavy.
When I read the message, I feel a weight on my chest. Like someone pressing down on me, as if I dove too deep in a pool. It presses against my ears, against my ribs, and it tries to force the breath from my lungs. It’s heavy, unbelievably heavy. Withering, gnawing, rotting, welcoming.
There’s no need to repeat the message. I know exactly what the Embrace is about. And I know why it watches me, too. I just don’t know its end goal.
[The Creeping Darkness tells all the others it was there first!]
[The Master of Suffering ughs at the dispy. It, for one, welcomes the Embrace.]
A few more notifications pop up, but I wave my fingers through them, dispelling them into clouds of stardust. They don’t matter. I pause. I waved my fingers through them. I raise my arm in front of me.
My skin looks… well, it’s hard to tell, with poor eyesight and dim light, but it looks much better than it did. I smile, just a bit. A little longer. All I need to do is wait a little longer. A day? Two? Three? Then I can go back to using my mana for useful things, like practice. I cannot let the other humans pull ahead of me.
Finally, just one more thing to focus on.
[Congratutions!]
[You have raised your first skill to level 10. For your exempry performance, you have acquired 1 css change voucher.]
[Congratutions!]
[You have reached level 10 in your first css. To continue advancing, change your css with a voucher or via tithe. Additional details will be revealed. Brace.]
More information pours into me, making my head pound. Changing one’s css and job isn’t simple, not at all. Earning vouchers to advance is usually done by sacrificing requests. A voucher is worth about three minor requests, though that changes depending on the css. Tithe, on the other hand, is different.
It consists of completing quests for the tower itself. Effectively, hunting down people that there are bounties on, cleaning infestations, dealing with… rifts? Going through dungeons, bringing back interesting materials, or demonstrating outstanding prowess.
The most common versions of tithe are advancement achievements and tributions. The first is doing something so exempry that you are permitted to move on, having shown full mastery of your css. I could have done that had I [Deconstructed] the charging spell, or bits of the pilr, maybe.
Tributions are the other common method. Those are a petition to the tower itself - a decration that you are either worthy or deserve to be struck down. You will be presented a challenge to earn your advancement.
For my first css change, I am spared this trouble. Instead, I trigger the voucher, and the options pour out in front of me.
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