Chapter 15 - Leveling Up!

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●[𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐞(𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭).]

➤[𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧(𝐀+), 𝟎.𝟔 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝟎.𝟕 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚, 𝟎.𝟑 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝(𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞), +𝟏𝟎 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.]

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Staring at the digital interface, Mercedes's lips couldn't help but rise. A smile was plastered on her face as she stretched her arms while sitting on a comfy chair. She had gone through a lot of things to triumph against the finale of the main quest.

Now that it was finally in front of her, an echo of relief enveloped the entirety of her body. At long last, Mercedes relaxed her body.

As Mercedes read through the notification she had received after the main quest's completion, she noticed some changes in the rewards of the main quest. Spade did tell her about the revaluation of the main quest reward, but she never knew that it would change this much.

The communication skill she was supposed to receive after the quest's completion turned into something else. It became better than ever before, which was a welcome change for Mercedes.

It turned into a skill known as Domination.

Mercedes had no idea what the skill did, but she was somewhat excited to test it. Other than the skill, she also got the expected rewards and her first-ever title.

"Dignified, huh..."

"I wonder what that title does to my status," Mercedes questioned to herself as she kept gazing at the Dignified(Title). A second later, she closed her eyelids, and the information tab materialized before her eyes. Within the information tab was the title, Dignified.

―<▼>―

[𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝]

●[𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞. 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞(𝐀) 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭(𝐀).]

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Mercedes glances at the information tab with curiosity burrowed deep within her eyes. She started reading through the information written in the interface and discovered a lot of things regarding the title. The words written in the information tab were precious.

"So these are the applications of titles. They will give me additional skills and attributes that are only available along with the title." Mercedes muttered to herself and continued. "Mental Resistance and Morale Boost."

"Quite some interesting skills."

'A passive skill and an active skill. It seems that my luck is good, and it looks like titles are efficient in gathering skills. Though this does make me wonder. Can I only receive title through quests?' Mercedes thought to herself, wanting to know more about titles.

"But... This isn't the time to be investigating."

"*Yawn...* I'm tired after working for an entire day. I want to sleep."

Mercedes stood up from the comfy chair and looked around the Cafe. It wasn't clean as before, but it was far from dirty. There should be no need for it to be cleansed of filth. Besides, her mother should have hired a janitor for their Cafe.

"I'll continue taking a look at my newly gained skills tomorrow." Mercedes left the Cafe and entered her home. Passing through the living room, Mercedes walked upstairs, heading to her room.

Regine, who was in the kitchen, noticed Mercedes passing by. She wanted to have some dinner with her daughter. But as she realized Mercedes's exhausted state, Regine stopped herself and gave a beaming smile.

"Take care, Mercedes," Regine murmured to herself before continuing on what she was doing in the kitchen.

Mercedes opened the door of her room and entered. After closing it, she threw herself to her soft and comfy bed. She yawned as she tightly hugged her fluffy pillow. Though, never did she notice one thing she had forgotten.

The newly gained experience was enough for her to level up.

Deep at night, when darkness covered the skies along with thousands of lustrous stars, Mercedes was trembling while asleep. Cold sweat dripped from her pale body as a silver light enveloped her. It was time for her first level-up.

[𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐔𝐩 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝.]

[𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐀𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐒.]

While asleep, a familiar monotone voice echoed throughout her mind. It was at this moment Mercedes started gritting her teeth in pain. She felt her blood boiling as her bones got pulverized into pieces. During this process, a notification emerged.

―<▼>―

●[𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐔𝐩.]

➤[𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟎 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟏…]

―<▲>―

Leveling Up was a painful process since it required Mercedes to have her genetic information edited by AEGIS. And because of the instantaneous genetic modification of AEGIS, an immediate mutation shrouds her body.

Her body was breaking apart as it was mutating to become something better than it was before. Change comes along with suffering. Suffering results in growth and evolution.

The leveling process lasted for hours, with Mercedes screaming inside herself. No matter how much she had done to open her mouth in order to scream. Her jaw was locked in place, and she was forced to scream from within.

It was a horrible experience to go through, and it wasn't momentary as one would have thought.

Such was Mercedes's first horrible night.

With hours passing by, the golden sun slowly rose from the lines of the boundless horizon. Following sunlight was the revelation of the blue skies and their fluffy white clouds. It was early in the morning, and within a certain room was a disheveled bed.

In the disheveled bed was a young lady who had incomparable beauty. Despite being covered in silver and silky sheets, her body structure was fully revealed with utmost resolve. With smooth and pale white skin, along with silky brunette hair, she was a beauty meant to rival the zenith.

Her name was Mercedes Reed, the Host of AEGIS.

*RING!* *RING!* *RING!* *RING!*

An alarm sounded out early in the morning. A pale and smooth arm emerged from the sheets and turned off the alarm. A yawn echoed throughout the room as Mercedes stepped out of her comfy bed. Walking towards the bathroom, she wanted to take a bath since she felt disgusting.

However, as she entered her bathroom, she noticed something strange in the mirror. Her recently gained appearance was already gorgeous enough, but what she was gazing at in front of her was different.

"I-Is this me?" Mercedes uttered in shock while touching her slightly-velvet cheeks.

On the mirror was a beautiful girl with sapphire-like irises that resembled expensive gemstones. Along with her gorgeous face was an hourglass body with a good chest-to-waist ratio. And it didn't even end there. Her body was taller than before. She might have gained 5 centimeters of height.

"What happened to me?" Mercedes didn't know what to feel after staring at her beautiful body in the mirror. The change in her appearance recently was enough to throw her off. But this? What would her mother and little sister think of it?

They might question if she was the Mercedes who they had lived with. Being accused as an imposter wasn't out of the possibilities that could happen. Though, Mercedes understood that these were nothing more but her paranoid thoughts.

What they do in reality might be different.

"*Sigh...* I can't believe this." Mercedes was happy about the change, but the annoyance that would come with it will be something she would have to adapt to. Although, such was the price of beauty. After all, nothing in this world would be free from responsibilities.

Mercedes took a bath and decided to think about it while cleansing her body. And during the steamy time, she enjoyed her body more than everything else. Touching her smooth and pale skin while also testing her rounded chest was quite an experience.

Some might consider her a pervert of some sort, but this was a natural reaction for someone who gained a seductive body.

Half an hour later, Mercedes walked out of the bathroom with a bath towel covering her alluring self. She stepped forward and opened the wardrobe to pick her clothes for the day. Seeing her clothes in the wardrobe, Mercedes realized that she lacked clothing.

Most of her clothes were plus size, which was far from the current weight of her body. She glanced upward to the ceiling and murmured. "I need to buy some clothes."

"I'll have to borrow from my mother first."

As Mercedes wore some temporary adjustable pajamas, she noticed a few notifications from the notification tab. The notifications rarely emerged during her sleep. They would be stuck in the notification tab waiting to be opened, which was a good feature.

Mercedes wouldn't want to hear notifications while sleeping. She'll be sleep deprive, not being able to do anything.

"I have quite a lot of notifications."

"I wonder what happens during my sleep."

Even though she went through a horrible night, Mercedes seemed to have forgotten the horrifying experience of having her bones pulverized and her blood boiled. But this was for the better, as she might have gotten traumatized if it had become a clear memory to her.

Thinking about the possibilities of what might have happened, Mercedes realized something important. She forgot about Leveling Up. With this realization, she sighed to herself as to how she could forget such an important thing.

"So this is the effect of my level up. I'm curious what it did to my stats." Mercedes silently muttered in curiosity. The only way for her to know the answer was by going through the notifications and opening her status.

With no hesitations or delay, Mercedes opened the notification tab. Notifications surged one after another as they occupied her sight. There were a couple of them, and most of them were extremely important to Mercedes.

Mercedes gazes at them as her eyes furrowed with concentrated focus. She reads every single one of them, taking ten minutes to completely read and understand them. After the reading session, Mercedes once again sighed.

"So that's what happened, huh."

"I can't believe this," Mercedes mumbled before laying back in her bed. The notifications didn't disappear from her sight since she didn't wish for them to disappear. They continued to dwell as countless thoughts passed through her mind.

"Leveling Up In Reality... It seems a lot more complicated than I previously thought."