While the King and the top ten families were at the border to stop the evolved beasts, Ria and her father were in the bunker. There her father was assisting with her breakthrough. Something Furyans dealt with differently than Beast. Those with the mana shell skill were a mixture of both. As Beasts leveled up their body would go through minute changes that made preparations for their evolutions. At lower levels it didn't matter that much, but as they got stronger the time needed for said changes to finish would cause the beast to hibernate. They facilitated their evolution by hibernating in mana rich zones or by hunting and storing mana from other powerful beings before proceeding with hibernation. If they didn't store enough mana, they could die in the middle of hibernation.
The Furyan race would have the opposite approach as their body could not contain as much mana as beast and they gain more mana as they achieve high levels. They had to condense their mana into purer element-based mana. The danger of such a process came when couldn't condense their mana enough to support the requirements of their body, leading to the mana rebounding and injuring or tearing the Furyans body apart. Each individual's body needs to be condensed to a certain point, which the system would display the percentage of how condense the mana is. The pain accompanied was excruciating and only increased as they continued to condense the mana. This would by the main cause of failures as those living in the peace of the city didn't help raise their mental and physical resistance for them to endure pain.
For the might family, they had to condense their mana as it changed their physique. Increasing the intensity of the pain they had to endure and also increasing the power their body could exert did above other Furyans.
Why didn't other Furyans go through a similar process?
Because their bodies didn't need to adjust to the pressure exerted by the mana after it was condensed since without mana shell their body acted porous. This allowed the mana seep in and out of their body and as the got stronger they would gradually develop a domain of compressed mana that form around them. The might family couldn't do this as their mana never left their bodies forcing them to go through a hybrid of the two ways.
With the preparation done, Ria remained in mediation as she accepted the notification to proceed to the next level. Her face scrunched up and she released grunts occasionally as pain flared over her body. Mana in the area was slowly dragged toward her and started to forcibly seep into her body. Her body started to softly glow as she condensed the mana that would circulate through her body making changes to accommodate the increase in density.
Her body begin to slightly radiate heat as her body temperature rose. Her muscles and bones slightly increased in density and became sturdier, and her skin darkened a little to a light bronze. Throughout this process she felt like her body was being ripe apart from the inside as her father wiped her sweat and comforted her as the pain increased. The others in the bunker stayed to themselves as the father and daughter pair dealt with the breakthrough.
The entire event took an hour to complete and before that time passed the guard stationed in the bunker signaled that the danger was over. 45 mins had passed by the time they were informed, the two spent the last 15 mins in the bunker as the others slowly left until the level up was finish. Now left weakened, exhausted, and in need of rest and food for her to recover. Her father picked her up, noticing that she was slight heavier than before.
Making their way towards the small shack they called home, Ria checked her stats:
Name: Ria Might Level:3 Experience 0/100
Health: 111/111 Mana: 75/75 Element: Fire
Stats: Strength: 25 Speed: 27 Stamina: 12 Intelligence: 25
Skills: Mana Shell (passive), Ember Body (passive)
[Ember body]: A skill created due to [Mana shell]. This skill is a slightly raise the resting temperature of the body and during active use of strength the temperature will raise to equal the strength exerted.
She realized that her Stat sheet looked different, but she was too tired to think about what could have been the cause. After she checked the information of the new skill that she had, she fell asleep.
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Noticing that his daughter had fallen asleep, Rio thought about the downfall of his Family leading to them being in this position. After their patriarch, Gin Might, fell in battle against the blessed beast their family went into a decline. While some had blamed the king for not helping them more after his demise, he blamed his family. They had become complacent in their training and without anyone even closely comparable to Gin's strength. The king could only help them so much as the society's needs were a heavy burden for him without any other added stress. This was the reason he made laws that tried to keep those weaker citizens safe from the conflicts created by the Ranked families and their many challengers.
While this was a small step in the right direction with Ria becoming level 3 at the young age of 15. Rio was happy as his daughter showed talent and tenacity that he wished he had in his younger days. Even though he was at the sixth level himself, he couldn't advance because he was one of those complacent family members. He was too weak to push for the next level as his mental and physical resistance weren't high enough to bare the strain. He was still quite power since he had focused on intelligence as a young lad. Now maxed out in terms of his stats, he only had two options:
1. Staying at the sixth level
2. Risking death or severe injury
Due to him being his daughter only parent, he wouldn't take the risk as he didn't want to be a burden to her. During the fall of the Might family, his wife left to return to her family leaving him with his daughter since she had inherited the [mana shell] skill. While he was physically stronger than most at his level, he couldn't compete with beast and his fight skills made him a liability. That left him doing odd jobs that didn't pay well enough to provide for him and Ria leading them to the slums.
Making it home, he laid Ria on the bed and went out again. Knowing from experience the hunger Ria would have afterwards, Rio made his to the market to buy food. For the benefit of his little girl, he would face any challenge, shame, and even death for her to have a better chance. So, behind her back he would allow himself to be used as a practice dummy for extra money since most jobs that his intellect fitted the criteria for also require the use of mana. The familial trait mana shell prevented most of their family members from being hired for most jobs. The money he earned he stored and saved it for his Ria because she needed challenges for her growth, which were provided by the slums.