Terrel was frozen in place, something within him didn’t let him move under the gaze of Amber. Now, she was staring right at him, he was sure she was trying to say something with her stare, but he couldn’t quite place it. However, he also found it hard to look away; his hairs were standing on end, and even the monster next to him was also looking.
The crimson fires raged in the background, their crackling echoing in the air, and then, Amber took a step forward and she— vanished. A small cloud of dust was left in her spot and Terrel felt shocked for a split second before she heard a shrill cry to his side.
And at the corner of his vision he saw Amber knee-ing the large stone serpent he had been fighting. Chunks of stone flew across the air and he saw the woman’s expression. The world slowed down just for a moment and then it resumed— the snake was sent flying as its hisses filled the air.
Terrel blinked and Amber dashed away to a different knight, he turned only to see him get saved. The centipede-like creature was stunned by a stomp skill except it had traveled instantly and the duration was— it was long enough for Amber to grab it by its tail and throw it crashing against another monster.
The battle was immediately plunged into chaos as numerous monsters turned to face Amber, the only one that was left unattended was Brent’s adversary, otherwise… They were all facing the woman. One was Terrel’s serpent, one belonged to Percy and was akin to a centipede, and the three were reminiscent of a bear, a tall man with elongated limbs and some kind of drake.
For a moment, Terrel questioned Amber’s decision but as he saw the state of his men he realized what she was doing.
She was saving them.
She was saving the men that would most definitely wouldn’t be able to defeat their foes, as for his opponent being taken away… Terrel believed there was some hidden motive to it, but he didn’t think about it. Instead, just like everyone else, he watched. He watched Amber face five enemies at once.
Surely she was fighting much more than what she could chew, except— that wasn’t the case. And everyone was proved immediately wrong when the Maelstone Voidlurker swung at Amber with its club. She blocked it without issue and then she extended her hand.
People immediately frowned, Terrel included. She hit the monster with her palm and of course that achieved nothing—
And fire burst.
A deluge of flames exploded as thousands of cuts streaked across the monster’s body. Stones rippled in all directions and all everyone could do was… pause. The monster was…
Dead.
The Maelstone Voidlurker hit the ground, the flames consuming its body.
It had only taken her one skill to kill one of the monsters. It seemed ridiculous to him— no it was ridiculous to everyone that was watching. Percy was the first one to speak.
“She… really did just kill it in one hit, right?”
“Yeah…” a knight agreed.
“It’s the same type of kill that we saw when ascending the tower…” another added.
Terrel nodded at that, and turned to look at what was happening.
Amber was standing in front of the flaming rocks that had once been a terrifying monster. She was giving her back to them, facing the rest of the stone beasts. Their ferocity had considerably dropped, almost as if they knew the fate that awaited them. A moment later she stepped forward.
“If you aren’t coming then I’ll do it myself—” and she stomped.
All of the monsters were hit at once, cuts and small embers burst around their bodies, immediately setting them ablaze, and the show didn’t stop there. She dashed with inhuman speed next to the serpent and slashed— a wave of energy went past the initial slash and carved deep into the torso of the monster, it hit another monster too.
And then she did it again, and again. Multiple waves of hits engulfed the monsters, destroying stone and leaving multiple cuts behind along with the remains of fires. And that was just the beginning. Everyone saw her effortlessly dodge hits and strike with incredible and unprecedented speed. Then she began to dash to different spots to throw off the monsters.
“Doesn’t she get tired…?”
“By the gods, what am I watching?”
“She is just… something else…”
At the sight Terrel too couldn’t help but wonder about many things. Her speed didn’t make sense to him, it was like a variable that didn’t seem to have limits. She allowed herself to be hit a few times and her durability certainly was much higher than his. And then there was…
Amber teleported mid-air, pointing her sword down at the group of monsters. “Flamethrower.”
And a deluge of crimson consumed the entirety of the monsters whole, finishing them in a single swoop.
And then there was her strength relative to her level…
Terrel couldn’t make sense of it, not even in the slightest. He wanted to understand it, but he didn’t think she would tell him. Why would she? Though he had a hunch.
Perhaps she has a Legacy— No, what am I thinking. It had to be an extremely rare class. Legacy Branches were seldom seen by anyone in their lifetime, even meeting an individual with one. Not only that, but Terrel had only learned of their existence recently.
The likelihood of her having one was lower than her class being something never seen before— that was how rare they were. At this level anyway. Still… Terrel felt jealous but also…
Maybe I can get her to join the knights…? No, that was a ridiculous notion.
He raised his head and saw the woman standing amidst all of the burned corpses of the stone monsters. She was looking down at them with an almost expressionless face.
Someone like her would never agree to that…
A sigh left him as the surrounding knights gasped. Terrel, meanwhile, took the time to collect himself. In the end, it was better to let Amber do her own thing, her presence was already a boon to their training.
Terrel turned to the knights.
“Let us begin to set up camp and rest, Brent will join us in a few hours,” he said simply. “Then we will continue climbing the tower with Ms. Amber.”
The knights paused before nodding and getting to work.
* * *
Amber continued on climbing the tower with the knights. She didn’t try as hard as that floor, but—
Amber kicked. The centaur’s head snapped and it was sent stumbling back before falling over. Its large figure shook the ground and even cracked it, its blood spilling onto the ground as all of the present knights blinked.
[You have defeated a [Forest Centar. Lvl. 115].]
Less experience for defeating an enemy as a group.
Just like that it had died. She turned only to see the panting knights looking at her with shock. Only the captain seemed unfazed, the others however…
“Just one kick…”
“She finished it off just like that?”
“Four hours of fighting…”
They couldn’t believe what had happened.
And that wasn’t the only time. While she wasn’t trying to impress anyone, sometimes it was inevitable.
* * *
In a room full of gigantic ants, she fought with her fists while the knights did their own thing. She abstained herself from using any skills to ensure her resistances leveled up as much as possible, and at first it went well, but the ants grew more fierce in their attacks and they began to use their hard bodies.
It would take about two punches to crack their chitin, and it wasn’t an issue until they decided to start ramming into her— dozens of ants swarmed and piled on top of her and Amber at that moment had enough—
Curse Battery!
Flames and cuts exploded across the group, immediately incinerating all of the ants in the vicinity with a fiery explosion of gore. And when she blinked, once more the knights had seen it all.
Their expressions, unreadable to her.
* * *
And eventually, a week passed. All of the bickering about her had completely stopped after her first display of strength. Amber made sure to not overstep and let the knights do their own things. And so, things should’ve been going swimmingly now. The vice-captain even looked at her with great respect and admiration now! Though, even now, neither he nor the captain answered her questions about what happened in the capital.
Ignoring that part, she should have been happy with the outcome of her acts, but instead she felt weird about it.
A sword clashed against hers, and she stomped. The adversary was filled with cuts as it was momentarily stunned and then— she cleaved right through the plating on its shoulder with all her strength, dissecting the monster in an instant and ending its life right then and there.
The split armor clattered to the ground, flames slowly consuming its remains. The living armor had died just like that.
Amber ignored the notification and turned to see the knights still fighting with a bunch of them. Unlike a lot of monsters, these felt a lot like undead, only dying after taking a lot of damage. However, Amber didn’t care about any of that.
Instead, she observed the knights. They were fighting, sure, but when they weren’t fighting they were…
Avoiding me. Amber could tell from this past week. They avoid me like the plague. Did I go too far?
She didn’t think she did. But this was the outcome.
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At the same time the monsters were a lot weaker in all aspects. They didn’t have strength or speed, nor durability, they had nothing that made them special, so she didn’t understand the… avoidance she was going through.
And at the same time the knights struggled? Weren’t they meant to be the palace knights?
Amber stared at the group ahead, they were certainly coordinated— infinitely more coordinated than she could ever be, but their individual power seemed to leave things to be desired. Though perhaps she was missing something—
And a voice cut through everything.
“Just die already!” It was Percy’s. “Unleash Purgatory!”
And a moment later the room was filled with light and Amber could have sworn dozens of knights were evaporated in an instant. The knights blinked and a commotion broke out between them.
“Why would you use your powerful skills?! This isn’t part of our training itinerary,” Brent bellowed.
Ah right… They were trying to train. Amber had forgotten all about that. Though now she had gleaned that— they were using weak skills on purpose or limiting themselves to certain skills.
The floor was cleared shortly after and they continued on their way.
* * *
Amber continued climbing the tower with the knights, and while at times it was slow she didn’t mind. She was still able to level her skills in an effective manner. She had seen a few level ups here and there that made her happy.
[General Weapon Mastery has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 2 to 3rd Rank level 3.]
[Quick Dash has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 2 to 3rd Rank level 4.]
[Cursed Stomp has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 4 to 3rd Rank level 5.]
[Cursed Cleave has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 4 to 3rd Rank level 5.]
[Cursed Supreme Berserker’s Body has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 3 to 3rd Rank level 4.]
[Cursed Supreme Momentum has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 3 to 3rd Rank level 4.]
And even her resistances had leveled too.
[Elemental Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 5 to 2nd Rank level 6.]
[Magical Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 5 to 2nd Rank level 6.]
[Physical Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 5 to 2nd Rank level 6.]
And she had even gained a level.
[You have reached level 109. 5 stat points awarded.]
+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]
Though, she felt like there was more that could be done. Much more in fact. There was another way of leveling her resistances, and after thinking long and hard she was going to act on it.
Maybe it will help the knights get used to me too, Amber thought, she didn’t like being constantly treated like an alien. First an outcast and then someone feared…
The camp was currently set up, everyone was supposed to be resting after climbing the tower but some knights still sparred with wooden swords. From what she had been able to gather, this was so they could still progress their skills even without fighting— it was slow progress, but progress nonetheless.
And this is where Amber came in.
She smiled walking into the camp, and in an instant all activity stopped as all eyes landed on her. Of course, she paid that no mind and instead sought out the captain immediately, who happened to be in a tent with the vice-captain.
“What do you need, Amber?” he asked.
Brent meanwhile, leaned against the table, waiting for their discussion to be done.
“Well, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, right?” Amber smiled.
“Right…” The captain didn’t seem to be following.
“So, how about your knights train their skills on me?” she asked, basically chirping.
The captain blinked. “Do you gain anything from this… is it related to your class?”
Amber nodded. “Not related to class, but I do get to level my resistances.”
Brent in the background immediately snapped his gaze in her direction, but Amber paid it no mind. Instead she turned to look at the captain who seemed to be deeply thinking.
“So?” she asked.
Finally, he nodded. “I will ask the knights if they are interested.”
Amber smiled at that, and followed Terrel out of the tent, the vice-captain came along too, evidently interested in the events that were about to transpire. And it didn’t take long before all of the four knights were gathered in front of her, they stood neatly in formation.
“Amber has come to me today with an interesting proposal,” Terrel began, and Amber saw almost all of the knights visibly tense except for Percy. “She has suggested leveling skills on her, and in return she will level her resistances from the attacks received.”
The people blinked and turned to look at her as if she was crazy.
“I believe we know that she won’t get seriously injured, but to exercise precaution you will still use wooden swords—”
“Actual swords are fine,” she interrupted. “I can heal myself, and there is a healer too.” She pointed at a knight who blinked. “Plus, he will get to train his healing skills.”
Terrel blinked but nodded, going along with what she was saying. Though, the knights looked at her as if she was crazy.
“So, Amber will allow you all to attack her with your swords in non lethal areas to level up your skills. Who is interested?”
Percy immediately shook his head. “I’m not that kind of person.”
However, the healer immediately raised his hand. “I’d like to help heal…”
Terrel nodded and then turned to the remaining two knights, one was a mage and one was a warrior. Both of them shared a glance before shaking their heads.
So only the healer…? Amber frowned at that.
“Very well.” Terrel nodded before looking towards the healer. “Casper, come with me.”
Then, to her surprise Terrel turned towards her.
“I will take you up on your offer.”
Amber blinked, and to her surprise Brent spoke up.
“I’d like to join too if you don’t mind.”
She felt further confused before smiling.
“Sure.”
And just like that, her resistance training began.
* * *
Amber of course, continued to climb the tower and defeat the various enemies that she had seen. Most of the time it was boring, but she had fun in the ways she could. For example, there had been a pack of bulls that she let the knights deal with except for one…
The monster bellowed in anger as it thrashed beneath her. It had gigantic horns and it was wildly rocking back and forth, a normal person would have suffered numerous sprains from riding it, but Amber—
“This is fun!”
It had been thrashing for ten hours straight. The knights had set up camp some time ago, but they didn’t bother her except for keeping watch on the monster. After all, it would’ve been bad if it rampaged in the camp. However, when the monster tried to do that, Amber would grab it by the neck and squeeze hard.
It also had the side-effect of making it angrier and more focused on getting her off its back. And Amber, of course, saw the challenge in it, and so she kept riding it until the knights picked up their camp.
And after they got tired of waiting the monster unleashed a terrifying bellow before it— died.
“Did it really die from exhaustion…?” the captain asked in shock.
“Yep!” she beamed.
In reply, all he did was stare in silence at the fallen bull.
* * *
Of course, she diligently trained her resistances with both the captain and the vice-captain. The healer, Casper, was there of course. A week had passed since she had asked them to do so. She had asked them about the capital once again not too long ago, but was met with a respectful refusal, which meant questions about the tower were a no go either.
And now, she stood like a tree trunk as the two warriors swung at her arms as if they were lumberjacks. Except instead of axes they used swords, except both of their swords were on fire and covered in magical energy instead of being normal. It had been hard to convince them to do it at the start, but now they didn’t mind.
The healer was also hard at work, given the rate of the attacks.
“How are you even… doesn’t it hurt?” he asked.
“Well it does, I just ignore it,” Amber replied. “Plus, it helps my resistances.”
“You keep saying that…” he said, apprehensiveness evident in his voice. “But it’s just such a gruesome… sight…”
“I do find it inhumane,” the captain grunted. “But, I also acknowledge its effectiveness so I bear with it.”
“Me… too…” Brent agreed through his breaths.
Amber did agree that intentionally hurting someone to level your skills was probably a weird experience. Though, she didn’t think too much about it because she was on the receiving end of it. She had already leveled up all of her resistances once and they were due to level again soon—
And a notification interrupted.
[Elemental Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 7 to 2nd Rank level 8.]
[Magical Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 7 to 2nd Rank level 8.]
[Physical Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 7 to 2nd Rank level 8.]
“Oh, my resistances leveled.” She smiled. “That's enough for today.”
And both of the men stopped mid swing, shaking their heads. Amber’s wounds healed in about two seconds. She had taken off her armor for this given she didn’t want to further destroy it, so she immediately headed to re-equip it. Though as she reached for it, she turned to Brent and Terrel.
“Thank you, though if you both find it inhumane why keep doing it? Surely it’s not only to level your skills?” she asked.
She couldn’t actually imagine actively doing something she disliked or found repulsive outside of pushing her limits. The idea was… off-putting. And yet, the two of them were doing that.
“It is because we serve the king and queen and it is our duty to grow stronger for them by any means necessary,” Brent explained simply. “And while every knight has limits to what they are willing to do, this doesn’t exceed mine.”
“Would you kill a fellow knight?” she asked.
“Unless they betrayed the king and queen, no.”
And with those words he departed. Amber found it interesting, but decided to not ask Terrel or Casper about it. There was something called tact after all. Instead, she bade her farewells and headed for rest.
* * *
Some days later, they cleared the seventieth floor and while it was more difficult than other floors, there was no particular mini-boss or anything. Though at least Amber had leveled up some of her skills and even one of her skills into the 3rd Rank.
[General Weapon Mastery has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 3 to 3rd Rank level 4.]
[Quick Dash has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 4 to 3rd Rank level 5.]
[Crimson Fervor has leveled up from level 3 to 4.]
[Crimson Fuel has leveled up from level 3 to 4.]
[Elemental Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 9.]
[Magical Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 9.]
[Physical Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 9.]
[Recovery of Curses has reached 3rd Rank — level 1
The curses fuel you. You regenerate stamina and health when affected by a curse. The higher the skill level the more effective the skill is.
2nd Rank — Once a day, the skill can enter overdrive, doubling its effect for 30 minutes.
3rd Rank — Curses that hit you will instantly heal you.]
It was certainly niche but she genuinely believed it to be a good rank up. She had also seen another level up.
[You have reached level 110. 5 stat points awarded.]
+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]
She however, did avoid looking at the new Core Skill notification. She was going to look at it later, because right now she had training to do.
Or at least, that’s what she thought. She had gone off to do her necessities, and when she came back to the camp she found all of the knights seemed tense and were looking at her apprehensively. Something was most definitely off.
Naturally she headed towards the usual tent where she would find Terrel and Brent, and just like before they were there. However, their expressions seemed hard.
“Just like the others, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Brent advised.
Amber blinked. “What is going on?”
Terrel stepped forward and spoke. “You expressed interest in what happened in the capital a half a year ago, and I suppose I want to fill you in. As a thank you.”
“A thank you?” She sounded collected, but her heart had skipped a beat.
This is the information I’ve been trying to get for so long now…
“Yes, for letting us join you in this expedition. We have all seen greater growth than ever before.” He nodded. “Which is why I will answer all of your questions in regards to what happened that night.”
Amber paused but nodded. She felt excited but did her best to not show it. It was almost too good to be true. Or maybe it was.
There is no way he is serious right…? She hesitated. Only one way to find out…
“Who attacked the castle?”
“A group that called themselves the Arcane Council, they seemed awfully obsessed with Primordial Spirits based on eye-witnesses,” he stated simply.
He is telling the truth. Amber gulped, she didn’t expect this. I’ll also finally get to ask about the Primordial Spirit and learn the truth about my uncertainty…
This had completely blindsided her and for good reason. And while it should have been a lengthy conversation, there was something she wanted to find out more than anything in regards to the capital. Something that she had been wondering about for months.
“What artifacts did they steal?” Amber asked. “I know they went after the vault.”
Brent frowned. “How do you even know that—”
“It’s fine,” Terrel interrupted. “I am not privy to everything they stole, but from what I heard one is a cube. A divine artifact that is said to curse anyone who touches it with a terrible fate.”
So that’s its curse… Amber nodded slowly.
“And the other and more important one is…” He took a breath.
“Are you seriously telling an adventurer this?” Brent asked in annoyance.
Terrel ignored that as he spoke. “They stole a beacon, a divine beacon.”
“A beacon…?” Amber blinked.
“While it needs to be charged with a ludicrous amount of mana, based on the strength of the organization I personally suspect it shall be fully charged soon,” he continued, ignoring her question.
Fully charged? Amber didn’t have a good feeling about this but made sure to ask the important part in her mind.
“But what does the beacon do?” she asked with a frown.
And the captain explained. He explained something that Amber never expected.
“A divine beacon that can summon a Primordial Spirit from any location in all of Vir.”
Her heart paused.
Ax’thra.