Abyssal Awakening - Chapter 868

Chapter 868: Enhancing Stats

Standing in this strange space, Alice observed the six options available to her.

There were no name for them but Alice could roughly sort them into the following categories.

Power, Speed, Physicality, Spiritual, Endurance and lastly, Faith.

These were the same stats that the North used when determining a person’s power.

Only this time, instead of instincts, the last node was brimming with holy power thus Alice dubbed it as faith for the time being.

‘If I remember correctly, when I visited the North, my stats came out to Power – D, Speed – C, Physicality – E, Spiritual – SS, Endurance – A and Instincts at S. Then I suppose the first step would be to get to where I was before.’ Alice mused to herself.

Even if she was using a speed based weapon right now, going for something familiar was still the best choice.

Especially when venturing into the unknown.

But with this realm, the rules were all different.

If she was to increase her power, would her speed increase naturally? Or if she was to increase her physicality, which is technically her defence, would endurance rise?

Then there was the question of Faith.

If she was to raise the faith stat, how would it affect her as a person? Would she, as someone who dislikes the three gods, suddenly become a devout believer?

And if she does, what kind of god would she believe in? Velouria? Or would it be a new one that’s unknown to all.

The final stat was forbidden territory for Alice. At least for the moment. Without knowing exactly how it’ll affect her, she won’t put a single point into it.

Regardless, with 10 ‘points’ at her disposal, Alice split it between Speed, Spiritual and Endurance.

She needed the speed to navigate her fights, Spiritual to enhance her casting capabilities and finally endurance so that she can actually last decently long in a fight.

Running out of stamina was her worst nightmare, especially for someone who’s used to running around a lot.

‘Three in speed, three in Spiritual and four in Endurance.’

Confirming her selection, Alice shivered as she felt invisible hands crawling all over her body.

A gross sensation that almost made her lash out but it would simply be a waste of energy. She couldn’t interact with them after all. However, with these hands, she felt as though her body was being modified like clay.

The strength that surged through her body, the coursing of energy.

She couldn’t quite use the energy freely though. If she had to describe it, it’ll be similar to the arrays she created. What little energy she had, she’ll inject into an array to cast her spells.

And in this case, Pale Lance.

As Alice opened her eyes, a smile appeared on her face as she hopped on the spot a few times.

It’s as though the shackles surrounding her limps have loosened to some degree.

“Hou~ So that’s what it feels like. This sudden growth… It’s different to the steady growth that comes with training and hunting. I suppose it’s similar to learning how to reinforce my body.” Alice mumbled.

Landing in a neutral stance, she quickly unsheathed her rapier and stabbed it against the empty air a few times.

A rapid double swipe into a backstep stab.

She could still feel her stamina being drained but at least she could continuously fight for several combos rather than just one.

And as for her energy… her capacity grew slightly. Not enough for another cast of her skill but the difference could definitely be felt.

But now that she was practicing with the rapier, there was a large issue that she was facing.

Wielding the weapon with one hand and the flexible blade. Not to mention how thin it was, causing a constant risk of breaking.

‘Limited cutting power, bad against armour. I’ll have to be careful so the blade doesn’t get trapped between the spikes otherwise I’ll lose my main weapon. Though… having one hand free does feel a little wasteful.’ Alice sighed inwardly.

All of the combos that she could think of right now limited her to one handed flourishes that kept her opponent at bay.

Against low level beasts like the ones she’s facing, it’ll work wonders. Especially since her reach was miniscule to begin with.

The length of the rapier helped compensate for this. But with this advantage, the disadvantages will be glaring once she begins to fight heavily armoured beasts.

‘Well… I guess that’s for future me to care about. The most optimal plan… would be to kill the beasts and gather as many Embryo’s as I can.’

Pausing for a moment, Alice couldn’t help but laugh.

This sensation, this feeling of pleasure, this growth.

“Jeez… I need to be careful.” She narrowed her eyes, licking her lips.

“At this rate I might get addicted to this more than mead.”

The dopamine of visibly feeling her efforts being awarded, the loop of killing and getting stronger… it was a dangerous sensation.

The claws of addiction digging deep.

Stepping out of the basement, Alice glanced up.

Like before, the position of the beasts were the same.

Thinking about it for a moment, Alice couldn’t help but wonder if…

Walking up towards the beast calmly, Alice didn’t cast her spell at all.

Instead, she waited for it to try and ambush her from above.

Jumping back right before it lands, Alice lunged forward with two rapid stabs before stopping.

Making sure the beast was firmly aggroed to her, she turned and ran towards the next closest beast.

She wanted to find out how much she could optimise this method of farming Embryos.

Would her spell have enough power to puncture both beasts?

As the second beast burst out of the sewers, Alice jumped onto its head and flipped backwards.

Pushing her pommel against the beast’s lower back, she poked her head out and made sure the other beast was in range.

Pale Lance!

*BANG!!!

The lance pierced through the torso of the first beast and through the second. Despite the injuries, they were still alive.

Jumping back, Alice made two quick swipes with her rapier against the beast’s achillies tendon and went for a finishing stab.

Only for the beast to die before her stab even connected.

‘One spell two slashes.’ Alice noted in her mind.

With the first beast dead, she glanced to the second beast who died from the Pale Lance.

Both the damage of her Pale Lance and slashes have increased. It wasn’t enough to kill in one go but it was a start. Which led to a thought.

What if… she was to aggro every single beast nearby and hit them with every Pale Lance that she could muster?

‘No, I’m being too hasty. I need to test Pale Lance a little more before I do something like that.’ Alice quickly shook her head.

Walking over to the piles of ash, she picked up a single Embryo.

The other didn’t drop anything but there wasn’t much she could do about it.

Swinging her rapier then resting it on her shoulder, Alice took a moment to catch her breath while planning out the route ahead.

Based on her stamina, outrunning more than three would be impossible. By the time she aggroed the fourth, the first would’ve caught up and crushed her against the floor.

So if she could find a method to kill three reliably, it should save her some time.

‘The most optimal route would be to find a third near the camp. At least that way I can rest immediately after killing them.’

Following her previous route wouldn’t work since there’s too much space between the beasts. Opposite the camp was one, to the left was another.

Turning towards the inner city, Alice wondered if there was one nearby.

If there was…

At this point, Alice couldn’t help but wonder.

These beasts that reside within the fog filled city, do they have a conscience? Would they feel fear after being killed so many times? Or were they simply mindless beasts with no thoughts of their own.

And if that was the case, could fear be introduced to their system?

Shaking her head, Alice kept her guard up and ventured deeper into the city in search of a perfect location for lots of kills.

###

“Heh~ Seems like little flame is enjoying herself. She might be a better fit for this realm than I had thought.” Monika muttered while sitting atop a building.

She crossed her legs and observed Alice with amusement in her eyes.

From Alice’s perspective, she was surrounded by fog. But through Monika’s eyes, the city was clear as day. She could see where all of the beasts were hiding, the route she was taking and the turns she had missed.

Even the ‘lurkers’ trying to find an opportune moment.

Alice had adapted and accepted her situation rather quickly and taken the initiative to engage with the new laws put into place.

A feat that not many would accomplish as they struggled to get the first kill.

After all, they didn’t have the calm or experience to kill without any powers. They would’ve died a few times before succeeding, thus allowing the realm to sink its teeth into them.

But Alice hasn’t died.

Yet.

The question now was, how long until her first death? This realm was not a fair one.

The floor may suddenly collapse, poison may fill the air. A beast might even kick you into a chasm and let you fall to your death. The chances of dying was always high.

“I guess I don’t need to keep an eye on her. And here I was being worried since her base stats are far lower than most.” Monika stood up and gave her body a light stretch.

Turning around, she glanced at the dark spire against the crimson blood moon.

The tyrant of this city… That was going to be Alice’s first roadblock.

Thinking about it for a moment, she tapped her staff and a butterfly landed on her finger.

“Let me know when the little flame reaches the tyrant okay?”

Seeing the butterfly fly towards the spire, Monika smiled and left the area.