[Farenna, listen.]
"..."
I kept walking as fast as I could, leaving the place I was having 'that' nightmarish experience behind.
[I am sorry for not telling you the details.]
"Shut up! I don't want to hear your voice now."
[You need to control your anger or else—]
"Can you shut the fuck up for a while!? You're only making this worse!", I snapped at her.
I mean, who wouldn't? Even though my soul was of a man, I still resided in a young girl's body so the feeling of being defiled enraged me.
"You said I would tarnish Bona Dea's name, right? But now I'm thinking it was actually your fault!"
[... I apologize in behalf of—]
"Shut up! I'm so fucking done with you!"
In the distance, I saw an imp strolling casually. It was carrying something like a small backpack.
"Ugh! Fuck you and fuck this darned place!"
I threw my spear in anger towards the imp's direction. It then pierced its body right in the middle of its abdomen, killing it instantly.
[Congratu—]
"Shut up! I know what I'm doing!"
I jogged towards my spear and pulled it away from the imp's remains, ignoring the jaw that appeared and swallowed the remains with a big chomp. After that, I only kept walking with no direction while dragging my spear with my right hand.
"It'll be bad if I meet any human now…", I whispered to myself. "Guess I'll head straight down."
I decided to go into deeper floors. Well, I felt kinda strong since I one-shotted a behemoth with ease.
"Dea…"
[...]
"Distribute all my stat points.", I commanded.
[... How would you like to distribute it?]
"10 for STR, the rest to AGI, DEX, and INT equally."
[Affirmative…]
Once again, I could feel a surge of power burst inside my body. I continued walking right after, without opening my mouth even for a bit. I needed time to rest my head for all these bullshits.
"Man, after this, I gotta look at my status, huh?", I sighed. "I wonder if it somehow can be made simpler…"
[... You actually can access your status in a simpler way.]
Dea suddenly responded to my idle talk. It was awkward, really.
"Why didn't you tell me? And don't answer with 'you never asked' thing. I need a proper answer."
I got tired of all these bullshits happening to me. The stress from my own responsibilities, combined with the incident earlier, made my head dizzy. I could almost guarantee that I would get real mad over something so small if that were to happen. Deep inside my heart, I was hoping that Dea wouldn't be the trigger.
[I was created only to guide you to grow stronger. At that time, you did not have a single clue regarding your situation…]
She paused midway.
[Thus, judging from your intelligence and experiences, having you see all the authorized information was the most efficient way possible.]
"But what happened was the opposite, though…"
[Not at all. You became more aware of yourself. And that is good enough if I have to say.]
"Aware of myself, huh?"
[You being created this way is not only to complete your tasks. Someday you will understand.]
"What are you to me? My mom?", I smiled a little bit.
Gradually, the awkward atmosphere between us subsided. By the time I reached the 7th floor, Dea offered me something.
[Do you want to open your status in a simpler way?]
"Okay…", I replied shortly.
I still couldn't forgive her, to be honest, but I definitely needed her guidance.
[Affirmative.]
A moment later, a panel similar to the one I usually saw appeared in front of me, but it was way much simpler, showing only the important parts of it.
———————
Status
———————
Name : Farenna
Race : Lv. 7/30 Blood Nymph
Status : Sealed; Stressed
Sync. Rate: 10.01%
———————
HP: 200/200 MP: 100/100
SP: 65/120
———————
STR : 22 LUK : 5
AGI : 25 DEX : 20
INT : 17 VIT : 23
Unallocated pts: 0
———————
I didn't know what to say. Why didn't she do this from the start? A lot of unexplainable things were corroding my mind just because of those ridiculously detailed parameters.
"I'm stressed out…"
[...]
"Hey, can I ask you a question?"
[Yes?]
"I leveled up a bunch, right? Why didn't my HP go up?"
[Before that, I must explain something first…]
Dea cut her words in the middle.
[Generally, a normal human only has 10 to 15 HP, while Divers have 50 to 80 HP at most.]
"Okay, let me guess.", I stopped my legs for a second. "Me having 200 HP is some kind of a monster to them?"
[Correct. A regular behemoth has only 150 HP, while the one you killed earlier—]
"Stop. Don't talk about something related to the core incident. I don't wanna talk about it."
[Roger that.]
We went silent right after. I started moving my legs again until I found a large lake made of boiling lava. The scenery was not half bad, although there were no plants at all. There was also an island in the middle of it, with countless red crystals protruding on each side of the island. No matter how tempting it looked, it was obvious that it was some kind of trap. It awoke a nostalgic memory inside my head where a man was baiting a group of asuras towards some newbies.
"How could I forget about this place…?", I mumbled softly to myself.
[Yes?]
"No, nothing."
I turned my body and started walking towards a different direction.
[Do you have something in your mind?]
"Don't be playing dumb. You already know what I'm thinking, don't you?"
[Hearing it directly from your mouth is much better.]
"You're talking as if you have emotions. Haha."
I giggled a little bit. Well, I kinda knew Dea also had her own emotions, even if she tried to deny it.
[If it is the current you, you will be able to defeat those asuras.]
I stopped my legs after hearing that.
"You sure about it?"
[With a little bit of effort, you definitely are capable of doing so.]
"Man…", I pulled a string out of my dress and ponytailed my long hair with it, revealing a pair of tiny black horns above my temples. "I guess I have no other choice then…"
I dashed and started running around the shores of the lake. I was kinda bewildered seeing how fast I was running. Even after running for a while, I felt no sign of tiredness at all. Raising my stats was definitely worth it.
"Where is it?"
In my past life, I spotted a way to get across the lava pond easily. If I weren't mistaken…
"Found it!", I grinned in excitement.
There I spotted some stepping stones that didn't drown in the lava. Strangely enough, every single one of them was arranged as if to let someone cross the lava pond by stepping on each of the stones.
"Should I slow down? Nah, right?"
I kept running at my maximum speed until I reached the first stepping stone. I had had to jump carefully, in my past life, but now, I didn't feel I needed to.
[Do not worry. Your balance is perfect.]
"Yeah, thanks."
I kept jumping on the stepping stones as fast as I could. Probably it was because of my small stature that I could maintain the balance better, or perhaps it was because I was no longer human and had my stats raised, I didn't know the exact reason. But the only thing I could feel at that time was thrill and excitement. In a matter of seconds, I already set my foot on the island.
"Phew! Safe landing!", I shouted while raising my spear like a flag. "Now, where are they?"
I turned my head around to grasp the situation. No asuras were there. It was strange.
"Hmm… Did I remember the wrong place? No, right?"
I was doubting myself but something told me it was the right place. In my past life, the moment I set my foot on the island, those nasty asuras appeared from nowhere. But this time, it didn't happen.
[Scanning the perimeter… Warning! A strong presence of—]
Dea's words were cut abruptly by a sudden earthquake.
"W-What is happening!?"
The ground was shaking tremendously. A crack on the ground appeared in the middle of the island. And then, the real nightmare began.
"HRRRGGGHH! WHO DARE WAKE ME FROM MY SLUMBER!?"
A roar echoed from the crack. The crack then split wider and wider, revealing a pair of gigantic fiery hands grabbing on each edge of the crack. With a single pull, it jumped out from the hole with a bang, showing off a huge body seemingly made of charcoal and liquid fire. My gut instinct told me to run, but my body didn't listen to me. I only trembled, in fear and agony.
"W-What is that thing!? Dea! Dea!"
Dea didn't respond to my call, making the situation more horrendous than ever. The gigantic thing turned its head around. Its red eyes were inducing terror to anyone, unfortunately at that time, I was the only one there. It easily spotted me since I couldn't move an inch.
"YOU!!! A NYMPH THERE!!! ARE YOU THE ONE WAKING ME UP!?"
It pointed its giant hand at me. I only responded by nodding my head in panic as quickly as I could. What could I do then?
"I SEE… WHICH FACTION ARE YOU IN?!"
Faction? What faction!? What was it talking about!?
"ANSWER ME, YOU LOWLY HALF-BRED IMBECILE!!!"
Just as the situation got worse, a loud ring appeared in my head.
[Farenna! Tell him you're from the Devatas' faction! Quick!]
Eh…? Who was talking before? Was it Dea? Her voice was differen—
[Quit thinking irrelevant things for now! Just answer him before it's too late!]
"I-I'm from the D-Devatas' fa… Faction…!", I stuttered real bad.
The giant snorted and laughed after that.
"OH HOO!! YOU'RE AN ALLY THEN! AHAHAHA! SORRY FOR STARTLING YOU, LITTLE ONE!"
"Eh…?"
Did his tone change?
"THE NAME'S SURTR! THAT GODDAMN ODIN SEALED ME IN THIS PLACE! I THANK YOU FOR RELEASING ME FROM MY SEAL, HAHAHAHA!"
"Uh oh….", I felt my consciousness leaving my body.
"WAIT, LITTLE ONE!?"
It seemed I fainted while standing still.