Syl

Chapter 65: Reunion

I went upstairs and cleaned myself off, swapping into a fresh robe. When I returned to my room, there was a large plate of food, water, and what looked like a bottle of wine. I threw my ruined clothes into a corner of the room and quietly ate my food.

I wasn't sure what my next goal was. Gramps had told me to live my life and explore the world. The only thing that came to mind was consuming more slime cores and monster profiles, as my evolution had removed my restrictions. My new emblem also encouraged me to hunt for more dungeons. There was also my class and progressing through the adventurers guild. I certainly wasn't starved for options.

'I think I'll ask if it's possible to get ice or lightning catalysts here and if there are any other dungeons. I wonder how far away the Dwarven Empire is and if traveling to it is an option. Getting my tendrils on a silver slime would be my first choice.'

A knock on the door brought me back to reality.

"Come in," I replied, and the door opened to reveal the whole group.

I was surprised at the sudden prompts until I quickly remembered Gamma's orders. I was honestly shocked at Roderick's level and a little afraid. That was a lot of levels in what I could only assume was an advanced class.

Whitney immediately rushed to my side, followed shortly by Evan. I hadn't seen him since the trip back, so I was a bit surprised.

"You're alive! Thank the Gods!" Whitney squeezed me tightly.

"At least you're not as bad as last time," Evan noted and began to cast a healing spell on me.

"Locked in a dungeon for over two days. Lass, the trouble really seems to like you." Roderick said.

"It wasn't so bad. I earned a lot of experience."

"I told you she'd manage. I had full confidence in you, Syl." Kurt said proudly.

"A new class, an ascension, and an emblem. You surely proved yourself." Roderick nodded.

"Wait, new class?" Dewi suddenly asked before looking at me and frowning, "A hybrid class? Did you not get an intermediate pure caster class?"

"This was the first and only class offered to me so far. I thought it might help and figured I could always swap back if it wasn't ideal. It's been good so far, although it's been offering me some Rogue skills now."

Dewi scratched his chin before asking, "If you don't mind me asking, what's your highest magic level?"

I didn't see the harm in answering, "Three."

"You likely overqualified on the one half and underqualified on the other, which is why you were offered a hybrid class," Dewi explained.

"She did qualify for Rogue and Assassin right out of the gate." Whitney replied, "Honestly, I think it's a good thing. You'd be wasting all your previously built-up experience on a pure class."

"Did you at least pick Fire Affinity?" Dewi asked, looking hopeful.

I raised an arm and produced a small flame in my palm, and Dewi looked ecstatic.

"I also can confirm that [Sneak Attack] works with spells. It's likely why I got this class and was pivotal against all the ghosts on the third floor."

Kurt snapped his fingers, "Ghosts! Now I remember."

"Yeah, I had a nasty encounter with a Wraith."

Everyone except Kurt shuddered, who seemed oblivious.

"I got two skills I wasn't sure about, [Ritual Casting] and [Rogue Expertise].

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Dewi groaned, but Whitney seemed happy.

"Grab the last one, especially if you plan on doing any future dungeons, as they can be full of traps."

I nodded and turned to Dewi.

"It's a good skill... But extremely limited, and worst of all, you can't earn it for free. Like most no-level skills or traits."

"Wait, are you sure? I think I've gotten one before..." I tried to remember.

"Likely an integration skill, you can technically earn [Appraisal] for free, but it's such a hassle it's easier to just buy it." Dewi answered, "Anyway, [Ritual Casting] is good, but you need multiple people who all took the skill. Most groups only have one or two spellcasters, and overlapping affinities can be seen as a downside in group versatility. Not to mention, there's also no guarantee your group will stay together. They'd rather spend the point and further advance their own magic."

I nodded along with his explanation. I disagreed with the frugality over a single skill point, but I supposed if you're constantly risking your life as an adventurer, then maybe every point counts. But unlike them, I always had my [Sub-Cores] and eagerly wanted to buy the skill.

"You're healed up physically, but mentally, I think you need to rest and recover. You can talk more in the morning." Evan eventually said, hinting to save our discussions for tomorrow.

Everyone nodded and started saying their farewells and congratulations on surviving the Dungeon Trial. Roderick stopped at the door before closing.

"I just want to confirm with you. There were absolutely no guards outside of the dungeon when you left?"

"None at all. I left the dungeon and came straight back to the inn."

"Thanks, lass. Something reeks. They were under strict orders to immediately inform the guild when the dungeon reopened. Rest well. I'll handle this."

I thanked him and sighed as I sat on my bed.

'Keaton must have done something.'

I bought my two new skills.

After the flood of information washed through my mind, I sighed in relief. While I didn't have that evolution addiction, I certainly was addicted to gaining new skills and traits. It was bizarre to suddenly have a bunch of thievery information inside my head, but I wasn't going to complain if I got to avoid and disarm traps in the future.

I cast [Water Orb], then had Gamma join me in the spell. The ease of our coordination made our previous attempts look like an absolute joke. A regular version of the spell was about the size of an apple, and when I solo enhanced it, it was about the size of a watermelon. Together now with this trait, I wasn't sure if we would even reach a limit as now it was nearing bear size.

I stopped the size increase and then started to compress the water. I was happy to see that I could apply my slime knowledge in such a fashion, and I imagined this version of the spell would have a particularly violent explosion when it hit. When I started noticing the spell construction threatening to unravel, I had Beta join us, and immediately, the spell reinforced itself and was perfectly stable.

'I cannot believe they disregard this skill, even if your partner died or left you. Or perhaps it's not as effective between two different individuals? I guess they wouldn't be able to instantly communicate full intent mentally and expect their partners to obey without question or hesitation.'

I had Alpha join in, then tried to hand over the spell to my [Sub-Cores] entirely. The spell immediately threatened to collapse, and I had to quickly rejoin to prevent damaging my room. I didn't realize how much my own mental capacity contributed to the spell. I stared at my remaining trait points. I wanted to keep a small reserve in case I discovered something in a profile.

'I can definitely afford to buy one more. Is two too greedy?'

After humming and hawing for far too long, I decided to buy two more. Gramps had personally made this trait and vouched for its effectiveness, and [Ritual Casting] now further proved its usefulness.

I integrated both into the experience link and had them immediately join our spell. I then eased off my contribution to the spell. They struggled to hold it at first, but I held off on rejoining unless it started to dangerously unravel. My intervention was thankfully not needed, and the five [Sub-Cores] worked together to hold it.

While I left them to maintain the spell, I wanted to see what I could do with [Chimeric Mimicry]. I changed one of my hands to the badger claws - sized down appropriately. I had previously failed to mimic evolved monsters and assumed I just couldn't for some reason. Was this an upgrade from my evolution or due to a higher level in my mimicry trait? I suddenly regretted not trying them again before evolving in hindsight.

I formed the rocky carapace from the Earthshaker Bear along my arms and stared at the tangled mix of thick black fur and rocky protrusions. It was definitely the trait, despite me not having the prerequisite Earth affinity, but it felt considerably weaker.

'It's still better than nothing. If I get Earth affinity, will the copied trait have its full power? The Dwarven Empire is sounding more enticing.'

I wanted to try mimicking some of the undead traits I had taken from the dungeon, [Undead Resilience] in particular, so I could potentially maneuver amputated body parts. The trait finally applied when I created a fully undead arm. I chopped it off, and it remained under my control, which was fascinating. The unfortunate part was that as soon as I tried to change the arm into anything but an undead arm, the trait immediately ceased, and the limb fell into a puddle of lifeless slime.

I kept experimenting and eventually, with inspiration from the undead wolves, crafted a zombified bear arm, which I could still control once severed. After my success, I felt like I should get some sleep. I looked at the notifications I had ignored while my [Sub-Cores] were hard at work.

'Great job. I wonder if that's [Prodigy] at work, although it is five cores working together and three donating all their experience.'

After setting up some slime depositing and withdrawing loops between them, I finally lay down to sleep. Despite being unconscious for two days while evolving, I knew it hadn't counted as real rest.

'Tomorrow, I hope to get some information about my goals.'