-Conditions have been met.
-Conditions have been met.
-Conditions have been met.
Yosshaaaa! Here it comes, the moment I've been waiting for!
After cleaning out floor 70 of the the B-ranked monsters that roamed independently, the familiar mechanical voice rang out. This, was the moment I had been waiting for. I had an inkling that I might be able to combine [Darkness Manipulation] and [Spatial Manipulation] into a new form of magic, albeit with certain skill and/or proficiency requirements.
Sitting in the chamber that contained the teleportation array to the 69th floor, I fired up [Skill Management] and began experimenting.
Four hours later, with sweat pouring down my forehead, a tired smile found its way onto my face. The mechanical voice was ringing out.
-Integrating
-Sublimating
-Sublimating
-Integrating overlapping subskills...success.-
-A bridge has been created between the two attributes. Attribute integration commencing.-
-Integrating attributes...success.-
-Reforging skill attributes...success.-
-Integrating remaining subskills...success.-
-Reforging
-Skill Synthesis success.
-A new skill has been created for the first time in 3916 days.
-Uploading skill into
-Syncing
-
-Update and sync has been completed. New
-Conditions have been met. User [Ava Kino] may undergo an
-Y/N-
Oh????? Never did I expect this to happen, I thought I'd just be getting a cool new skill!!
Without a second thought, I hit "Yes".
-User [Ava Kino] has changed
-User [Ava Kino] is the first
-Additional
-Y/N-
Of course, I instantly hit "Yes".
-User [Ava Kino] has acquired the
-User [Ava Kino] is the first [Void Mage] in history.
-Notice. Two copies of
"Ano..."
My head swam with the overwhelming amount of information. No, more than that, it was the fact that I had been brought from rank C+ to rank B. Two small step-ups in rank, and yet how powerful the difference was. In fact, more so than my stat improvements, my skill improvements were what really made the difference. I had just attained my first
There were so many new skills and titles that I really didn't want to get into them for the meantime. I could instinctively feel that my main combat skills were still roughly the same, albeit more deadly, and my overall combat prowess had gone up. I would simply use my skills as usual, and look at them one at a time when I decided to try them out.
For the meantime, my plan was to blaze through the next few floors, wiping out as many monsters as possible and evolving as soon as I possibly could. With greater strength, I could probably leave the [Labyrinth] at a much earlier time that initially projected. I was dying to finally enter a town or city and sleep in a bed for once. More than that, my taste buds were screaming at me for constantly eating horribly stringy and gamey monster meat. I wanted something tender and well-cooked. I wanted sweets. I wanted to drink warm, comfy drinks.
Standing in my way was...69 more floors and the tens of thousands of monsters within them. However, I was also aware that I had left the most dangerous parts of the [Labyrinth] behind. I wouldn't run into any more A-rank monsters and have to teleport and fly for my life. I wouldn't have to be afraid any longer of randomly getting killed by a stray attack from a super high-ranking monster. All that was left in my way were a bunch of small fry, my...prey.
In this [Labyrinth], to the current me, monsters were an EXP delivery service. They were my sacrifices to grow stronger. I wondered if I was becoming a twisted woman with a bad personality, but I banished the thought. Not because I didn't think so or didn't want to think about it, but because it didn't matter. If this is what it took to survive and protect my dream of having a life outside, then that was that. I didn't need to consider it further. No matter how others on the outside might end up looking at me, so long as I could fulfil my own wishes, it didn't matter.
Perhaps I was throwing away some level of humanity. But, to survive amongst monsters, it would be no surprise if one developed some kind of monstrosity themselves. Furthermore, the whole reason I was fighting so much and so intensely was to make sure that when I left this [Labyrinth], I could possess enough strength to command a level of respect and untouchability. It would be great if I could hit the S rank before leaving, but a solid A rank was not shabby either.
To hit S rank, though, I'd have to return to the lower floors and grind out EXP there. It might come to that eventually, but I decided that no matter my rank before leaving the [Labyrinth], I would much prefer to be on the outside for a while before plunging back in for more grinding. I wanted to see what society was like in this world before I spent too much time in this hellhole.
Having reaffirmed my plans, I walked into the teleportation array leading to the 69th floor, not even bothering to activate {Subskill: Void Cloak}. It simply wasn't necessary. Any enemy that I could potentially face was not worth guarding heavily against. It would be over in a matter of seconds. Such would be the fate of my prey going forward.
Now...it's time to hunt.
< If any person were to look into her eyes, they would see the frightening depth of her will to live and push forward, along with her insatiable hunger for strength. Even an A-rank adventurer would surely unconsciously take a step back, facing that indomitable force of will. The bloodlust that seemed to cloak her in a red shadow further accentuated the impression that everything and everyone she looked at were but prey, and she was the unstoppable hunter. That unseen pressure emanating from her body could only be forged through battles of willpower in which one's life was on the line. It was a pressure that could not be quantified with stats or skills. It was a pressure of experience. Perhaps her personality was getting twisted. Perhaps she was in survival mode. Whichever the case, the monsters of the lower floors of the [Labyrinth] screamed in agony as the angel of death cut her way through their numbers, rapidly gaining strength and hungrily devouring them in the form of EXP. Even B-ranked monsters with their HP in the 15-30,000 range survived for no longer than a few seconds as her precisely placed wires and spells neatly severed heads and blasted holes in their chests. In this deep, dark [Labyrinth], one of the most dangerous "monsters" was the amethyst-skinned girl going on a rampage as she wiped out hordes of monsters for EXP, her unchanging eyes and still expression striking fear into her prey. The level for evolution, was close at hand.>>