Abyssal Awakening - Chapter 869

Chapter 869: Limitations

Alice sat in front of the camp with her arms folded. A deep frown was present on her face.

Next to her, an obscenely large pile of Embryo’s.

Turns out, she was able to store them by the camp if she chooses not to use them. Thus by repeating her farming route and coming back, she was able to keep her pockets empty.

Now came the large issue.

Having perfected her route, Alice was able to get around 3 to 6 kills per run which takes around 2 minutes to accomplish. While it wasn’t perfect, the Embryo’s dropped rather consistently.

After a few upgrades, she only needed one lance to kill them so she began to slack a little.

She horded her Embryo’s, looking for the perfect time to use them all at once.

And this was where the large issue appeared.

Around halfway into her stack of wealth… She noticed that she couldn’t upgrade her stats anymore.

No matter how much she tried to upgrade her speed and everything else, it refused to budge. Even after putting points into everything, these Embryo’s only allowed a certain amount of points to be put into each category.

Meaning…

Alice looked at the giant stack. Her expression reflected on the crystalline surface.

“Urgh…” Alice let out a groan, using the stack of crystals as a beanbag.

A silent tear rolled down her face.

“I wasted my time…” She lamented.

Having fully upgraded everything she could within this area, her stats roughly shaped up to be around E- in every stat with around 30 points in each category. It took 10 to upgrade it from F to F+ then 20 to take it from F+ to E-.

‘Physicality is roughly E-. Which is just a little weaker than my weakened state when I was in the north. My body was in shambles back then as well…’ Alice furrowed her brows.

She didn’t know her stats at her prime but her weakened stats were a good benchmark for now.

The main question now was… should she repeat this farming method for every new Embryo she came across? Recalling the crystal on Monika’s staff, it was clear that there are different levels to each crystal.

By her estimations, the higher rarity crystals should let her upgrade her stats further.

But the question that remained in her mind was if there was a limit to how many of those rarities she could use.

Take for example she could only use 50 embryos of the next rarity? If she was to put all 50 into her speed stat, would the rest be off limits for upgrade?

If that was the case…

‘Guess I’ll be more careful with how I allocate my points. Focus will be… Speed, Spiritual and Endurance. After that… I guess I focus on Physicality more than Strength and Faith.’ Alice finalised her plans as she stood up and glanced back at the stack of Embryos.

Once more, she felt an invisible knife stab her heart.

All that time she could’ve saved…

But discarding it would be a waste as well.

“I’ll have to trouble you guys again.” Alice smiled apologetically while gently tapping the head of a butterfly.

After saying this, several vines and butterflies began to land on the pile of Embryos.

Watching the pile melt away for the next time she rests, Alice gave her body a stretch and left the basement of the building.

She’ll be walking past her farming route to reach the inner city, towards the next checkpoint.

Looking at the beast blocking her way, Alice decided to save on her spells for now in case something shows up that requires her to use it.

Approaching the first beast, Alice aimed her rapier.

She tried to expand her Zone but… the range was so miniscule it may as well not exist. Not to mention the fact that the boundary fluctuated due to her limited capabilities at the moment.

It was simply a case of her body not being able to keep up with her reaction speed as she had already trained to use Zone without Cayla’s assistance.

The beast took notice of her and turned around but its movements had already been memorized by Alice.

To farm efficiently, she had to make sure all variables were accounted for. Naturally, that meant how the beast would react whenever she approached!

*KRK!!!

The instant the beast turned its head, Alice lunged into its range and stabbed her rapier up from below.

The blade pierced the lower jaw and into the head.

Quickly removing her blade before it got stuck, Alice dove through its legs and stabbed it through the chest from behind.

Kicking the beast away, she watched as it disappeared to ash.

With her speed now increased, all it took was two hits in vital areas to kill them.

If she were to miss, it would take about three to four hits in total.

“Hmm… I haven’t tried to go to the rooftops yet…” Alice mumbled, glancing up toward the building obscured by fog.

But with her view limited to this extent, going up would only be exposing herself to potential threats from above.

She didn’t know if the enemies above had their detection range increased.

If she was to accidentally aggro a whole pack of them…

Alice shivered.

She hadn’t died yet but she wasn’t planning on doing so any time soon.

Shaking her head, she followed along the path, killing beasts one by one as she went.

She carefully looked for the butterfly trail but soon ran into a problem.

There was a chasm in the road that she couldn’t cross with her current power. Being careful with her steps, she peered over the edge to see if there was another path she could take but the fog obscured everything.

Since that was the case… the next best option would be to follow along the chasm hoping it’ll end at some point and loop around.

Deciding on the right path, Alice took her time, making sure to kill any beast that might ambush her from above by baiting them out.

Sadly, all of them were dropping the same Embryos as before so she didn’t bother picking them up.

She had no use for them after all.

Following along the path… Alice took a step.

*CRUMBLE!!!

“!!!”

Widening her eyes, she watched as the floor give out under her, leading to the chasm.

Gritting her teeth, she quickly threw herself forward, grabbing onto the ledge.

Hanging on, she managed to pull herself up as cold sweat filled her back.

Her heart slammed against her chest as she looked at the cavity that appeared on the path.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me… I almost f*cking died.” Alice mumbled.

Taking the moment to catch her breath, she let out a sight and stood up.

Now that she knew traps like this existed, she had to be careful with her next steps.

*CRUMBLE!!!

“ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME!” She screamed, throwing herself forward once more and grabbing onto the ledge. Not far from the first trap, a second one appeared. This time, Alice was a little late in reacting and was barely holding on with her fingers.

Using her foot against the dirt to help pull herself up, veins bulged on Alice’s neck as she looked at the path in front of her in anger and annoyance.

This time, she made sure to stamp her foot a few times to make sure the path in front of her was actually stable.

Just in case it might collapse when she stood on it.

There was a period of safety and just when she thought it was over, her next step caused a third pit to appear.

But since Alice was prepared, she didn’t fall victim to it.

Her smile twitched.

If anything, the only saving grace would be the fact that there’s no beast around to bother her with all these traps.

Though…

‘Do I have to be careful with ALL of my steps from now???’ She lamented inwardly.

If she had to be careful about all of her steps… how was she meant to fight? What if she’s about to lunge at a beast when the floor gives out?

Following along the chasm, there were about six more traps waiting for her with varying gaps between them.

It’s as though the realm was reading her mind. The moment she thought it might be safe, another would appear. And when she didn’t think a second would appear so soon, it would be right after the first trap.

Finally, after navigating all of these traps, she saw the chasm narrowing as it would be short enough for her to jump past once she reached the end.

“F*cking finally. At least without a chasm I should be fine. I doubt there’ll be more holes in the floor.” Alice sighed in relief.

As she turned the corner, she heard a stomping sound.

Her eyes snap to the right but it was too late.

A shoulder was in her view.

“You…”

“MOTHER!!!”

“F*CKERRRRRR!!!!”

Alice was slammed towards the chasm by a charging beast.

Twisting her body in the air, she wanted to see if she was in range of the other ledge but she wasn’t even close.

Not yet.

And as she plunged towards the bottom, she braced herself to try and grab onto the wall to slow her fall.

She took a deep breath and her body stiffened.

“F*cking poison…”

She died.

Alice blinked her eyes.

She found herself back at the camp where she was earlier.

Her smile twitched furiously as she recalled the beast that waited for her to appear around the corner.

She revealed an angry smile and walked out of the basement with vengeance burning in her heart.

She ran into the beast blocking the way to the inner city once more.

“Piss off!”

Alice dispatched him with two brutal stabs to the head and chest.

She had one goal right now. To slaughter the beast that waited around the f*cking corner!