-----
Veronica now done with Jobs Change, decided to rank up, glancing at her available options.
[Evolutions Available]
[Phantasmagoric Scarlet Living Armor Knightess], [Spiritual Arachne Living Armor Knightess]
"These evolutions… Arachne? Knightess? Why Knightess all out of the sudden?" wondered Veronica.
"Perhaps the System recognizes you as a Living Armor woman?" asked Shade.
"But Living Armors are genderless, I do not even have flesh neither sexual organs… oh well, anyways, it's not like I mind," said Veronica, checking both options in detail with her 'Appraisal'.
[Phantasmagoric Scarlet Living Armor Knightess]
A special evolution granted to a Shadow Phantasm Living Armor Brawler who had trained its ability to manipulate its Phantom Form, its armor has scarlet colors, and it is a distinguished and experienced woman. It specializes in offense and agility.
This evolution is capable of strengthening the 'Phantom Form' and 'Phantom Materialization' Skills.
This evolution specializes in Strength, Magic, and Speed.
[Spiritual Arachne Living Armor Knightess]
A special evolution granted to a Shadow Phantasm Living Armor Brawler who has an Arachnid appearance on its armor decoration has a strong connection with Magic, possesses thread-creation skills, and is a distinguished and experienced woman. It specializes in magic and agility.
This evolution is capable of strengthening the 'Thread Reeling Technique', and 'No-Attribute Magic' Skills.
This evolution specializes in Magic, Mana, and Speed.
"Hmm… well, both look good, especially the second one now that I want to strengthen my magic a bit more… and what with that 'Distinguished and Experienced Woman'? Sigh… Hmm, will the second option really change my armor into an Arachne shape? With half of it being a spider and above humanoid? That might be problematic if I want to infiltrate in a human city…" said Veronica, however, even if it were to be as she feared, she could just switch back to her second armor or use 'Body Form Manipulation' to change the shape of her body to an extent.
Selecting this option, Veronica's body and soul were engulfed in a dark aura. Both her Soul Form and her Phantom Form began to strengthen a bit, even if she chose the option that would not level up the skills.
Flash!
[Congratulations! The user had successfully evolved into [Spiritual Arachne Living Armor Knightess; Rank 5]!]
[The Levels of the [Thread Reeling Technique; Level 1] and [No-Attribute Magic; Level 1] Skills have increased!]
To Veronica's relief, she didn't change as she feared, her dark armor only gained a sharper and more slim look, with the armor are of her hips widening a bit, alongside the chest plate, which slowly shaped itself into a breastplate, with two circles.
Such type of armor was often what women would wear… although, in her past life, when Veronica was trying to learn Armor Technique, she was only wearing a simple male armor.
Specially shaped breastplates for women that liked to fight in the frontlines were not rare in Kritias and were specially made for those who had a bigger chest and needed well-shaped armor that could bring more commodity. Especially by resisting impacts.
But Veronica did not have a flesh body below her armor, so such changes in appearance were useless and nothing but aesthetic. However, Veronica felt some changes in her Phantom.
"My Phantom feels… familiar?"
Veronica took off her armored gloves and glanced at her Phantom Form… finding that it was perfectly shaped into a humanoid hand, it even had pale white skin, although it was incredibly translucent.
"So I have already reached this point where my Phantom begins to shape itself like my former humanoid body… But I wonder how does my face looks. Shade, can you describe it to me?" asked Veronica.
Veronica took off her helmet as she revealed her phantom form, shaped into a beautiful young woman to Shade.
Shade glanced at her with interest and a bit of embarrassment. Although he was a spirit. He should not feel attraction to a humanoid, neither anything of the sort… yet he felt like Veronica was really someone beautiful.
"You're beautiful," said Shade.
"…Eh? Shade? I asked you how I looked like, not to praise me! Stop flirting, geez…" muttered Veronica, her phantom appearance seemed a bit embarrassed, while trying to pretend that it was nothing.
"Ah! Did I say that?! N-Never mind… Your appearance… you seem young, like a woman in her early twenties… your hair is scarlet red alongside your eyes, and your skin is pale white, almost translucent. You seem to have a slim face and… a pointed nose" said Shade.
"Oh damn. You are good at descriptions, aren't you? I don't have horns?" asked Veronica.
"Horns? No, you do not have horns" said Shade, waving his small eyeball-like body.
"Then it must be my appearance in… earth, not as Anastacia in my previous life… though I don't remember having scarlet hair and eyes, that's new." Thought Veronica, without sharing these thoughts with Shade.
"How weird, I had horns in my previous life… well, anyways, I guess that's it, time to get out of here," said Veronica, cleaning her armor from dust and getting ready.
However, Aqua came from behind her, carrying a small, cracked egg.
"Gubo! Guubo!" said Aqua.
"What is it Aqua? Ah! Right, your new friend… And Shade also wanted a spider? So, it is perfect. It is getting out yet?" wondered Veronica, taking a look at the white, spider egg.
"It's odd though, spiders used to hatch immediately after the egg was laid. Why is this one struggling so much to get out?" asked Shade, flying around the egg while waving its bat-like wings and opening its eyeball body, its crimson iris inspected the oval-shaped egg.
Crack, crack!
However, a little leg appeared outside of the egg, then another and another.
"Let me give you a hand," said Veronica, taking the bits of the eggshell and letting the little spider get out of her prison.
A little head poked out of the cracked eggshell, the thing that Veronica immediately noticed from it was its size… it was awfully small for a conventional Armored Spider, being around one-third of their original size.
It also had nine eyes instead of eight.
"What a peculiar one this is…" said Veronica.
"Could it be a mutation?" asked Shade.
"Might be… and… hm? One of her legs is underdeveloped, it is smaller than the other seven…" said Veronica.
"I see… and its size is also smaller, much smaller…" said Shade.
Unlike the almost one-meter tall Armored Spiders, this one had the size of a house cat.
"Griish…" it said.
"Here, let me feed you my Mana," said Veronica, doing as she said.
Her mana engulfed the little spider, giving it new vitality.
"Gishi…" it said again, becoming more familiar with Veronica.
The little nine-eyed spider seemed to have become familiar with Veronica due to her face being the first thing that it saw. And she became submissive due to Veronica's incredible pressure.
After she feeds it her mana, the little spider became friendlier as it saw that Veronica did not mean any arm.
"Err… how do I do this? Little one, can you become my tamed monster?" asked Veronica.
"Gisha!" said the little spider, happily jumping over Veronica's arm and then slowly walking towards her left shoulder, it then rubbed its face with Veronica's phantom form face.
"Ahh… she's sweeter than I thought…" said Veronica.
[You have tamed a Rank 2 [Lesser Armored Spider]!]
Veronica had already inspected the room and it seemed that this spider was the only one left alive, which was inside the egg. Aqua was going on a feast eating everything, but it seemed to feel a little life inside and stopped herself from eating it, thinking that it could become a companion instead of food.
"She's also weaker than the others… she's Rank 2 instead of 3…" said Veronica.
"How will she be called?" asked Shade.
"How about… Charlotte? It seems to be a girl," said Veronica.
"Charlotte… it is a nice name," said Shade.
"Guu…" said Aqua.
The three glanced at Charlotte's nine crimson eyes, which shined with innocence. Although she seemed weak, all three of them felt that she had hidden potential.
"Gishi! Gishi!"
As Aqua and Shade played around with Charlotte, Veronica decided to check out her status.
[Name: Nameless (Veronica)
[Race: Spiritual Arachne Living Armor Knightess.
[Age: 0
[Titles: Monster Tamer
[Type: Undead/Ethereal/Material
[Rank: 5
[Level: 001/100
[Job: Apprentice Spirit Caster.
[Job History: Armored Unarmed Fighter, Soul User, Shadow Soul Fighter, Spectral Soul Knight.
[Level: 001/100
[Health Points: 315/315 > 615/615
[Mana Points: 385/385 > 792/792
[Strength: 266 > 560
[Defense: 320 > 683
[Magic: 262 > 465
[Resistance: 121 > 285
[Agility: 183 > 362
[Passive Skills]
[Memory Retention; Level 4]
[Special Five Senses; Level 6]
[Soul Form; Level 4]
[Phantom Form; level 3]
[Mana Enlargement; Level 5]
[Magic Enlargement; Level 5]
[Abnormal Status Immunity]
[Strengthened Physical Power; Level 3]
[Physical Damage Resistance; Level 3]
[Armor Rearrangement; Level 3]
[Absorption Healing (Mineral, Materials, Armor); Level 3]
[Shadow Manipulation; Level 3]
[Active Skills]
[Hardworking; Level 7]
[Appraisal; Level 6]
[Charge; Level 3]
[Coordination; Level 3]
[Unarmed Fighting Technique; Level 3]
[Shield Technique; Level 3]
[No-Attribute Magic; Level 2]
[Mana Control; Level 3]
[Spirit Magic; Level 3]
[Cursed Wounds; Level 3]
[Soul Materialization; Level 3]
[Phantom Materialization; Level 2]
[Armor Technique; Level 3]
[Tame; Level 2]
[Body Form Manipulation; Level 1]
[Thread Reeling Technique; Level 2]
[Artillery Technique; Level 2]
[Long-Distance Control; Level 1]
[Unique Skills]
[Armory; Level 2]
[Soul Break; Level 1]
[Current Armory Slots: 2]
[Slot 1: [Obsidian Semi-Liquid Crimson Dusk Living Armor] > [Grand Scarlet Spider Queen's Dusk Living Armor] [Armor]
[Slot 2: [Medium-Sized Iron-Silver Crab Soldier Exoskeleton Shield] > [Medium-Sized Flexible Iron-Silver Snake Exoskeleton Shield] [Shield]
[Slot 3: [Silver Metallic Slime Soldier Exoskeleton Living Armor] [Armor]
[Bonded Spirits]
[Shade, Spirit of Shadows and Darkness (Light-Attribute)]
[Tamed Monsters]
[Slot 1: [Rank 5: Deep River Water Slime, Aqua]
[Slot 2: [Rank 2: Lesser Armored Spider, Charlotte]
One of the things she noticed was that her stats had increased exponentially compared to her previous times she evolved… however, she knew why.
"Just as my previous life, stats begin to increase exponentially at higher Ranks and more Jobs accumulated… the first ones have a lesser increase, but whenever you reach a certain point, stats will make a jump… this usually happens every four Rank or Jobs… though I only experienced it twice as Anastacia, it might also be related to my Soul strengthening… though my Mana did a pretty big jump, I have to admit it," she thought.
Usually, Rank 5 monsters would have Mana from 40 to 60, meanwhile, Anastacia had more than ten times that, at over 700. However, this was not much compared to some insane character she knew from a Japanese light novel in Earth, which had over one hundred million mana… but it was obvious that things were different in here.
Although Veronica wished that she could be like such a character with so much Mana to spare.
She would have most likely dealt a large amount of damage against the ones that killed her in her previous life as Anastacia, maybe she wouldn't have won either because they were ridiculously strong and over thirty… but she would have at least killed a few.
"Hmm… If I take into consideration the Mana that I can store into my armor, I should have at least a few more hundreds… at least one thousand Mana? Though it does not show in the status. With that much I can conjure Spells and Techniques way freely than the average Rank D or C Adventurer… and if I take into consideration that Shade is sharing its MP with me… even more. Perhaps I am not as insanely strong as that character, but I am at least quite decent… I know he's a fictional character, but I hope he could bless me through my journey," thought Veronica.
Next, Veronica checked Aqua's status.
[Name: Aqua
[Race: Deep River Water Slime
[Titles: Tamed Monster
[Type: Slime/Water
[Rank: 5
[Level: 001/100
[Health Points: 180/180 > 354/354
[Mana Points: 143/143 > 213/213
[Strength: 94 > 215
[Defense: 101 > 231
[Magic: 130 > 274
[Resistance: 138 > 264
[Agility: 166 > 302
[Passive Skills]
[Special Five Senses; Level 3]
[Dark Vision; Level 3]
[Abnormal Status Resistance; Level 3]
[Strengthened Flexibility; Level 3]
[Physical Damage Resistance: Level 3]
[Body Form Manipulation: Level 3]
[Starvation Resistance; Level 1]
[Self-Enhancement; Tamer (Veronica): Level 3]
[Water Attribute Resistance; Level 3]
[Liquid Manipulation; Level 4]
[Mutualism; Tamer (Veronica) Level 2]
[Active Skills]
[Charge; Level 3]
[Projectile Fire; Level 3]
[Absorption Healing; Materials; Level 3]
[Stealth; Level 3]
[Unarmed Fighting Technique; Level 2]
[Shield Technique; Level 2]
[Unique Skill]
[Camouflage; Level 3]
"Aqua also received a considerable boost… she seems to have developed her Mana stat a lot… is it because I feed her mine when fighting together? Maybe because she is always using Mana, even if it's mine, her max amount has begun to increase exponentially. Her Magic stat is very decent as well, and in the rest, she seems very balanced, like an all-rounder. I wonder if I can teach her magic… Would she be able to make a pact with a Spirit?" wondered Veronica, as the party of now four began to walk through the stairs upstairs, the calm breeze and the scent of plants and fresh soil filled her 'Special Sense'.
Greenery greeted their sight, a sea of trees, the bright yellow sun, and a clear blue sky.
Everything was so fresh, colorful, and vibrant, it was as if they had entered a completely different reality than the dungeon's interior.
"So this is… the outside? So… colorful" said Shade.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" said Veronica.
"Guu! Guu! Guu!" said Aqua, excitedly jumping around.
"Gishi…" muttered Charlotte, a bit frightened by the vastness of the outside.
-----
[Name: Charlotte.
[Race: Lesser Armored Spider.
[Titles: Tamed Monster.
[Type: Arachnid/Material
[Rank: 2
[Level: 001/100
[Health Points: 62/62
[Mana Points: 20/20
[Strength: 40
[Defense: 74
[Magic: 33
[Resistance: 63
[Agility: 70
[Passive Skills]
[Dark Vision; Level 2]
[Abnormal Status Resistance; Level 1]
[Physical Damage Resistance; Level 1]
[Armored Carapace; Level 1]
[Self-Enhancement; Tamer (Veronica): Level 2]
[Active Skills]
[Charge; Level 1]
[Corrosive Venom Secretion; Jaws; Level 1]
[Mineral Devourer; Level 1]
[Metallic Sticky Thread Reeling; Level 1]
[Unique Skills]
[Cursed Nine Eyes: Level 1]