"Shizuka, wake up." A voice said, as a gentle hand lightly shook Shizuka's shoulder.
Opening her eyes groggily, Shizuka looked up to see Lusha kneeling next to her. Her eyes were red from crying and she had dark circles under them. Shizuka could tell she didn't get very much sleep.
"Nori and Klyn have finished their evolutions and have gone to sleep. I'm going to do mine now, keep watch and if something happens, wake up Nori and Klyn so they can help." Lusha said with a tired smile.
Nodding her head Shizuka sat up and stretched, rubbing her eyes. Sitting on a rock they had setup as chairs, she crossed her legs as she watched Lusha start her evolution.
Glancing over Shizuka took a look at the others tags.
[Nori - Viper Assassin - Level 26]
[Klyn - Wolf Fang Knight - Level 28]
Nori had gained 13 levels off of the Lava Golem, and Klyn had gained 12 levels.
'Looks like EXP is gained based on contribution in the fight, I didn't do much to damage it so I got less EXP than them.'
Looking around Shizuka could see the damage that the fight had left behind. There were dozens of small craters littering the cave floor. The floor and ceiling looked unnatural where the heat from the Lava Golem had melted the rock.
Walking over to the remains of the Lava Golem, she began to sift through them to see if she could find anything to salvage. She stopped when she saw a purple crystal ball the size of her fist.
*PING*
Surprised, Shizuka looked down to see a notification pop up on her system.
[Collect? YES / NO]
Curious, Shizuka tapped on YES.
[Items deposited into inventory.]
[Lava Rock x20]
[Obsidian x3]
[Lava Golem Crystal x1]
[Molten Cuirass (Blue)]
'Inventory? What's that?' She thought curiously.
"Inventory." she mouthed.
A new screen she hadn't seen before popped up, it had the items she just collected shown on a list. Tapping on the Cuirass, Shizuka was surprised when a bright blue light shown in front of her. After the light went away, she saw a breastplate laying on the ground. It was a dark brown with red lines, similar to the Lava Golem, traveling around on it in random directions. The lines were pulsing on the bumpy surface making it seem like it was alive.
Picking it up a new screen popped up on her system.
[Molten Cuirass - Level 40 (Blue)
Fire and heat resistance +35%
STR + 50
VIT + 50
PDEF + 500
MDEF + 150
Skill: Encase yourself in molten rock for 5 seconds. You are stuck in place for the duration but are immune to all damage.
Cooldown: 10 Minutes ]
Putting the breastplate down, she tapped on the Lava Golem Crystal. The same blue light appeared, this time leaving behind a red crystal the size of two of her fingers.
[Lava Golem Crystal]
Tapping on the Lava Rock this time the light appeared again. Looking at it she was a bit disappointed as it was literally just a rock, albeit a black one.
'How do I put them back?' She thought to herself. However she didn't have to think long as just the thought of putting them back in her inventory caused the light to shine again, making the items disappear. Checking her inventory, she saw that the items were listed there again.
After checking to see if she had missed anything, Shizuka went back and sat back down. Surprisingly, the dungeon didn't seem to have a night and day cycle as the same amount of light shone through the cave entrance as when they got there, making it hard to tell how much time had passed.
Shizuka made herself comfortable, preparing to wait for the others to wake up.
***********************
*CRACK*
Shizuka sat up hearing the sound and looked over at the cocoon that had been covering Lusha just in time to see it burst apart into specks of light.
Widening her eyes a bit Shizuka could see that her appearance had actually changed a bit. She had grown a bit taller, her ears had grown a bit longer, her bust had grown and her features seemed more defined.
'She's really going all in on the big sister vibe isn't she?' Shizuka chuckled.
[Lusha - Apprentice Elven Sage - Level 30]
'Looks like she gained 11 levels in total after that fight, she did do a lot of buffing and healing so it makes sense.'
Glancing back over at the two sleeping, Shizuka noticed subtle changes in their appearance that she had missed before. They had both grown a bit taller as well, Nori had dark green stripes going down her tail and ears now, while Klyn was no longer all grey and had a black stripe going down his back.
'I hope I will grow as well when I evolve, that would be really reeeaally nice.'
"Anything happen?" Lusha asked standing up and walking over to her.
Shaking her head half way Shizuka stopped remembering the items she got. Standing up she opened her inventory and pulled everything out, pointing to it then over where the Golem had died.
"Oh yeah, we did forget to collect it didn't we? Guess with everything that happened it slipped my mind." Lusha responded looking at the pile. "Oh this is a pretty decent breastplate, Klyn could use this once he hits level 40. That should help him out quite a bit."
"Go ahead and put it back in your inventory for now. It's too high level for him to use at the current point in time." Lusha said smiling. "I'll wake the others up, we need to make a plan on how we can level up more."
Nodding Shizuka put everything back in her inventory as Lusha went and woke Nori and Klyn up.
Sitting down in a circle Lusha pulled some food out of her inventory.
"Luckily I had some food saved up, so we can have something to eat, but this is all I have. If we want to eat again we'll have to kill something for the meat." she said splitting up the food and handing everyone some.
Shizuka nodded as she ate the food she received. It was a bit of stale bread and some cheese. Food was food though so they all ate it quickly. Plus it wasn't much different from what they normally ate.
"We need to discuss how we're going to proceed in the coming fights. If we run into a situation like yesterday, it won't take long until we are all dead." Lusha continued.
"What if we built a trap and led the monsters into it, that way we could kill them easier? Monsters aren't the smartest after all... No offense Shizuka." Nori said glancing over.
Shizuka looked at Nori and shrugged, continuing to eat.
"That could work, I believe Klyn has an Earth affinity right?" Lusha responded, looking at Klyn.
Klyn nodded, reaching out his hand as a rock formed in his hand.
"Could you make a cage big enough to trap them?" Nori asked.
Klyn tilted his head, thinking for a second, then nodded.
"That's good. When we trap one I want everyone to get a few hits in, however we should let Shizuka get most of the damage so we can catch her up to our level. Once she is able to effectively crowd control monsters we can expand and start fighting without a trap. Does that sound good?" Lusha asked, looking at the group.
After everyone nodded, agreeing to the plan, Lusha stood up. "Then let's get started."
Following the party outside Shizuka and the group went to the opening of the fissure. Klyn stood up front and took a deep breath, slamming his hands down on the ground a magic circle appeared and the ground started to shake. A rock structure started to grow from the ground up, forming a gateway and a wall to block the entrance. Walking through the gateway, Shizuka saw a large hole in front of the gate.
"That should work as long as we can push them into the hole, or they fall in on their own." Nori said, looking down into the hole. It was deep enough for the Lava Golem to fit into.
Looking back Shizuka saw Klyn on his hands and knees, panting as sweat was dripping off his face..
"I will stay here with Klyn to help him recover, Shizuka go with Nori to lead a monster here. Your crowd control should help if something goes wrong and should buy you both some time to get back here." Lusha said, patting Klyn on the back.
Nodding, Shizuka and Nori set off to find a monster.
***********************
They didn't have to travel far before they spotted what looked like a wolf. Except the wolf was on fire with lava dripping from its mouth.
[Lava Hound - Level 40]
"I don't see anything else around, I don't have that idiotic dog's nose though, so I can't say for sure." Nori said picking up a rock.
Throwing the rock towards the Lava Hound Nori and Shizuka prepared to run.
*SMACK*
The rock hit the Lava Hound right in the face which caused it to jump, looking around in anger until it spotted them.
"Bullseye!" Nori chuckled as they started running.
As they ran Shizuka would glance back to check on the Lava Hound every so often. When he started to get a bit too close for comfort she would summon an ice pillar so it would run into it headfirst, stunning it for a second. She repeated this several times. Needless to say, by the time they reached the hole the Lava Hound was right pissed, not paying attention to anything put the two girls in front of it.
"Incoming!" Nori shouted out.
Shizuka used her ice to cover the area in front of the hole to make it slippery, meanwhile making a ramp for her and Nori to run across. Getting to the other side of the hole, Shizuka quickly dismissed the ramp she had made in time to see the Lava Hound Slip 'N Slide across the ice right into the hole.
Despite the situation being so dire the two couldn't help but burst into laughter at the sight of it attempting to regain its balance as it slid into the hole.
"What's so funny?" Lusha asked, joining up with them.
"Ahaha! The.. PFTT.. the way his legs panicked! Hahaha!" Nori stammered catching her breath. "Phew.. Anyways, it's in the hole now."
Peeking over the edge they could see a completely livid Lava Hound attempting to claw his way out of the hole. He didn't get very far as he would fall right back down, making even angrier.
"Alright let's get this guy killed and move onto the next one." Lusha said chuckling a bit.
Shizuka summoned ice spear after ice spear sending them flying into the Lava hound while the others did their respective ranged attacks. By the time it died, it looked more like a porcupine than a Lava Hound.
Collecting the corpse, they repeated the process another two times before Shizuka hit level 20.
"Alright, let's take a break and eat. We have plenty of meat after killing those three Lava Hounds. I'll get some cooked up while Shizuka is doing her evolution." Lusha said as they made their way back to the cave.
Upon reaching the cave Shizuka went over and sat on her bedding, pulling up her system.
[Level 20 reached. First Evolution available. Would you like to Evolve now? YES / NO]
Tapping YES Shizuka saw a new screen pop up.
[ Current Class: Snow Girl ]
A base class provided to every Snow Girl upon birth. Grants basic powers over snow and ice.
+50% Fire Vulnerability
[Three Upgrade Paths Available]
1. Ice Girl
2. Snow Sprite
3.Snow Specter
Tapping on each option Shizuka read the benefits of each class.
[Ice Girl]
The default upgrade path for Snow Girls, your control over Ice and Snow expands.
+150% Ice Damage
+75% Fire Vulnerability
Bonus Skills: Tier 2 Ice Magic, Ice Clone, Living Ice, Frosty Aura -> Icy Aura
[Snow Sprite]
Your connection to nature deepens as you become a lesser spirit.
+50% Ice Damage
-25% Fire Vulnerability
Bonus Skills: Tier 2 Ice Magic, Flight, Shapeshift, Race change: Snow Girl -> Snow Sprite
[[Hidden Class]]
[Snow Specter]
Due to your retained memories, you can carry over your attunement to shadows, melding them with your powers as a Snow Girl.
+100% Ice Damage
+100% Shadow Damage
+50% Fire Vulnerability
+50% Light Vulnerability
Bonus Skills: Tier 2 Ice Magic, Tier 2 Shadow Magic, Shadow Dispersion, Shadow Travel
'Each class is good but Snow Specter might give me a hint as to who I was before I reincarnated. Plus it sounds pretty cool...' Shizuka thought with a slight blush, tapping on Snow Specter.
Ice rose from the ground as it covered Shizuka, lulling her into a deep sleep, she closed her eyes and began her first evolution.
***********************
*CRACK*
The ice around Shizuka cracked and split open as she opened her eyes. Standing up as the ice around her disappeared she saw the other three looking at her.
"Wow what a change! You're still a chibi but you're not a super chibi anymore!" Nori grinned, giving her a thumbs up.
"You look nice! Very cute!" Lusha assured, giving Shizuka a smile.
Looking down, Shizuka could already tell she felt taller than before. Seeing her hair fall off her shoulder Shizuka widened her eyes, holding her hair she saw that her pure black hair had completely changed to a snowy white.
'White hair, white skin, white dress... I'm a ghost now!! What the hell!!' Shizuka shouted in her head.
She needed a wardrobe change as soon as possible....
Opening her status window, Shizuka distributed the points from the past 5 levels and took a look at her new skills.
[ Name: Shizuka
Race: Snow Girl
Titles: Beginner Monster (3/10 Humans killed, +10% all Stats)
Level: 15 -> 20
Class: Snow Girl -> Snow Specter, Enslaved
HP: 1375/1375
MP: 2750/2750
VIT: 40 -> 50 (55)
STR: 40 (44)
INT: 80 -> 100 (110)
DEX: 15 -> 20 (22)
AGI: 55 -> 70 (77)
MDEF: 200
PDEF: 100
Unassigned Points: 50 -> 0
(): Finalized stats after factoring in equipment, titles and buffs (Rounded down).
Skills:
Tier 2 Ice Magic, Tier 2 Shadow Magic, Shadow Dispersion, Shadow Travel, Frosty Aura (Passive)]
Tapping on her new skills Shizuka took a look at what they did.
[Tier 2 Magic]
Reduced cost and increased damage of all magic.
[Shadow Dispersion]
Turn your body into shadows as attacks phase through you.
+50% movement speed when channeling
+50% Damage mitigation while channeling
Cost: 250 MP Upon Activation, 50 MP/Second
Cooldown: N/A
[Shadow Travel]
Become one with shadows as you walk in the shadow realm.
+200% Movement speed when in shadow realm
Cost: 500 MP
Cooldown: 30 Seconds After Exiting
Looking at the skills Shizuka felt pretty happy. Both of her new skills will help her immensely in survivability. She was curious about how the shadow element tied to her previous life, but at the moment they had bigger fish to fry.
She would think about that after they didn't die down here.