Ch: 118.3
Added 2023-04-23 07:02:23 +0000 UTCLV: 82 Experience: 836,754/ 1,484,280
Health: 1,784.96/2,530
Stamina 1,388.34/1,697
Mana: 561.22/1,030
Vitality: 253.05
Endurance: 100.40
Strength: 156.06
Dexterity: 156.06
Senses: 62.75
Mind: 65.64
Magic: 103.42
Clarity: 79.34
Status Points: 70
Skills:
Tier 1:
Meditation (LV80), Running (LV80), Blacksmithing (LV75), Hammer Skills (LV70), Axe Skills (LV60), Cleaning (LV57), Chanting (LV52), Mining (LV51), Drawing (LV48), Trading (LV48), Cooking (LV47), Sword Skills (LV40), Acting (LV36), Dagger Skills (LV35), Wood Carving (LV32), Sewing (LV32), Dancing (LV32), Pugilist Skills (LV16), Alchemy (LV15), Spear Skills (LV2)
Tier 2:
Sense Mana (LV81), Double Step (LV68), Charm (LV50), Hammer Arts (LV50), Measurement (LV49), Axe Arts (LV39), Steady Hands (LV35), Intimidating Shout (LV34), Writing (LV32), Mathematics (LV31), Increase Price (LV22), Lower Price (LV20), Sword Arts (LV17), Gourmet (LV15), Dagger Arts (LV13), Marching (LV5), Shout of Valor (LV3), Pugilist Arts (LV1)
Tier 3:
Mana Manipulation (LV67), Expel Mana (LV64), Weighted Strike (LV47), Double Strike (LV46), Precise Strike (LV45), Flash Step (LV39), Contract (LV22), Poison Resistance (LV12), Enchanting (LV10)
Tier 4:
Mental Resistance (LV63), Mana Skin (LV60), Inject Mana (LV56), Extract Mana (LV40), Magic Blacksmithing (LV36), Magic Threads (LV32), Air Walk (LV24), Empowered Spell (LV20), Ironclad Agreement (LV8), Multi-Strike (LV7), Appealing Deal (LV3),
Tier 5:
Sense Soul (LV41), Soul Manipulation (LV22)
Tier 6:
Soul Devourer (LV17), Experience Transfer (LV3)
Increased Skill Levels
Running (LV80) 4,000exp
Cleaning (LV54-57) 11,100exp
Chanting (LV52) 2,600exp
Dancing (LV31-32) 3,150exp
Pugilist Skills (LV12-16) 3,500exp
Sense Mana (LV81) 8,100exp
Double Step (LV68) 6,800exp
Steady Hands (LV35) 3,500exp
Pugilist Arts (LV1) 100exp
Mana Manipulation (LV66-67) 19,650exp
Expel Mana (LV64) 9,600exp
Double Strike (LV46) 6,900exp
Weighted Strike (LV46-47) 13,950exp
Precise Strike (LV45) 6,750exp
Flash Step (LV38-39) 11,550exp
Poison Resistance (LV6-12) 15,750exp
Mental Resistance (LV63) 15,750exp
Inject Mana (LV55-56) 27,750exp
Magic Threads (LV29-32) 30,500exp
Empowered Spell (LV18-20) 14,250exp
Multi-Strike (LV6-7) 3,250exp
Sense Soul (LV41) 20,500exp
Soul Manipulation (LV20-22) 31,500exp
Soul Devourer (LV11-17) 98,000exp
Experience Transfer (LV1-3) 6,000exp
Skill Experience: 374,500exp
Crafting Experience: 1,491exp
Fighting Experience: 8,409,773exp
Total experience Gained: 8,785,764exp
Okay, now I feel bad for giving Tabitha such a hard time reacting as she did when she saw her updated status page. I only earned a fraction of the experience she did, and it was taking everything I had not to shout or do something embarrassing to celebrate.
Was it a coincidence we both gained seven levels? Probably, but then again, if I could’ve handled all the experience, I'd have gained another ten levels on top of what I did—maybe more.
But wait, something wasn’t right; the numbers felt off. Tabitha said she got around twenty-seven million experience, over three times what I got. Still, I thought I transferred over something like eighty percent of all the experience I gathered. So by my math, Tabitha should've gotten something like thirty-four million, not twenty-seven. What gives?
And wasn’t forty million a little low overall? Tabitha said that soul horrors were only formed from people above level 140. Some of the experience dissipated after I absorbed most of it, but not enough to equal that much. What was going on here?
“Is something wrong? It’s unusual for you to be this quiet,” Tabitha’s concerned voice echoes throughout the dark room. “Is it possible you did not level?”
“No, I got seven levels too,” I inform her in a soft voice so she stops worrying.
“You don’t sound that excited,” Tabitha observes.
"I am; I'm just wondering why we got so little experience," I frown in confusion.
“We gained fourteen levels between us, and you think that isn’t enough? Were you expecting to reach level 100 in one go?” Tabitha laughs mockingly.
“That would’ve been nice. If that were the case, we'd have a better chance against the winged serpent," I sigh. “It's just; you said soul horrors were formed from high-leveled individuals who passed away under extreme conditions. I thought we might get something like ten times the amount of experience we did. But we got less than forty.”
Hearing me toss out such a large number, Tabitha's breath catches, and her laughter turns into a coughing fit. “I see,” Tabitha wheezes after she catches her breath. “I could see how that might bother you.”
Tabitha is quite good at hiding her emotions, but I know not even she can easily write off that much exp. “What do you think?” I ask Tabitha for her expert opinion.
Tabitha hums softly in thought. “Honestly, I'm of the opposite mind. We were lucky to get as much experience as we did.” I’m about to ask why, but Tabitha predicts that and explains her reasoning before I can say anything.
“Yes, soul horrors are made from high leveled individuals, and if what you say about them being made out of experience is true, they should consist of tens of millions of experience points. But you forget, unless they have a steady source of souls to feed from, they’ll slowly fade away. If we encountered them thousands of years ago when they were first formed, you might have gotten that much exp. But then again, they would’ve been much stronger back then,” Tabitha points out.
I feel a chill up my spine. From what Tabitha is suggesting, the soul horrors were on their last legs, and they still almost killed us. “Oh,” I mumble.
“I’m not trying to downplay your accomplishment,” Tabitha clarifies, hearing the disappointment in my voice. "I am merely trying to help you reign in your expectations.” Tabitha’s voice turns heavy. “I doubt I’ll ever be able to repay you for what you did for me, for not only my arms but for the levels as well. It would've taken me over a decade of hard work to get to level 105, and even that might not have been enough. You say you wish we got more, but this is already too much.”
"But you really shouldn't," I tried to tell Tabitha, but she didn't have it.
“But I do,” Tabitha says firmly. “I’ll find some way to pay you back, even if it costs me my life.”
Sighing, I give up on trying to convince Tabitha, she doesn’t owe me anything, as it wasn’t getting us anywhere. We both believed we owed the other and were too stubborn to admit otherwise. “I look forward to the day,” I say with a hint of sarcasm. “Maybe we should talk about something more upbeat,” I try to shift the conversation.
“You were the one unhappy with the experience you got,” Tabitha smugly reminds me. “But if you want to change the subject, I suppose I can humor you. So what are your skills looking like? Anything good?"
“Good would be an understatement,” I preen. “So many of my skills leveled, I don’t know where to start. I wish to test everything out, but I’m still tired."
“How is your Health, Stamina, and Mana doing?” Tabitha inquires.
“My Health has recovered to 70%, but it’s recovering slowly." After two days of rest, you would think it would be higher.
“Your body is probably still flushing out the winged serpent’s poison. It will likely take a few more days for you to recover fully, but distributing your status points will help. What about your Stamina and Mana? I assume both are similarly reduced,” Tabitha hits the nail on the head.
“Stamina is better at 82%, but my Mana is the worst of the three,” I tell Tabitha. “I used almost everything I had to save your arms, and what little I had left was further exhausted while fighting the soul horrors. I don’t know what it was like before I passed out, but it was probably below 10%. It's been two days, and I’ve only recovered a little more than half my mana back.”
I didn't want to, as I was steadily raising my Mana stat through hard work, but if I wanted it to recover anytime soon, I would have to waste a few points manually raising it.
“That makes sense,” I sense Tabitha nodding her head in the dark. “I wasn’t aware you used so much mana on me. Most mages would’ve collapsed if their mana dropped below 20%. So for you to fight in that state, it’s certainly impressive.”
“Well, I had good reason to,” I blush in the dark.
"Thank you again," Tabitha repeats.
“Poison Resistance went up seven levels. It’s at level 12 now; do you think it will go any higher?’ I ask, trying to brush past Tabitha's thanks, as it would just lead us in a circle of thanking each other again.
"It's possible," Tabitha tells me. "Though your body should've processed most of the poison by now.
It's just the bit left that's hindering your healing."
"Are you sure? I don't want to doubt you, but that poison was powerful stuff. Even with my increased skill levels, I don't think my skill’s strong enough to overcome it.”
"But it's not just your skill,' Tabitha reminds me. "The anti-toxin potion you drank did most of the work. So even if your Poison Resistance were only level 1 or you didn't have the skill at all, your body still would've eventually broken the toxin down. It just would've taken a lot longer."
“Is it the same for you?” I ask.
"Not exactly; I had an easier time purging the poison because my Poison Resistance is much higher than yours."
"Really, what level is it?" I ask in the heat of the moment, forgetting that it wasn't normal for teachers to share their exact skill levels.
But, surprise, Tabitha answers me. "My Poison Resistance has been stuck at level 60 for a long time, but thanks to our winged friend up there, I’ve finally broken through. It only cost me a fortune and almost dying to do so,” Tabitha darkly jokes.
"Almost dying seems to have that effect," I chuckle with Tabitha. "We almost died, but at least twenty-three of my skills leveled, and I gained two new ones."
"Oh, two new skills?" Tabitha sounds interested.
Damn, I got caught up in the moment, but then again, it wasn't exactly that much of a secret. "Yeah, I unlocked Pugilist Arts and the second one," I pause to find the right words. "The second one was the skill I got for transferring you the exp.” I purposely leave out how the skill works, not that Tabitha couldn't infer with how much I've already disclosed to her. I also don't mention that it's tier 6, as that would be another can of worms to deal with.
“Probably from using your hands to fight off the soul horrors,” Tabitha guesses. She also tactfully glosses over the more interesting skill, sensing I didn't want to talk about it. "Did your Hammer Skills or Dancing level up? It's good that you unlocked another skill, but you should still focus on those two."
“Dancing went up two levels, but I didn’t have the chance to use my hammer against the snake,” I hang my head. “It’s still over there in the corner covered in poison.”
"Don't try touching it until you properly clean it with your magic," Tabitha reminds me. "The potions we drank neutralized what was in our systems; it won't help us against anything new.”
“And we don’t have a third,” I frown bitterly. “Fighting the snake will be hard without them.”
“That’s true, but at least we know it can spit poison," Tabitha points out. “And knowing is half the battle. Because we know what the lesser dragon is capable of, we can devise a plan suited to our strengths and not his. But before that, we must heal. So, take some time and distribute your status points; I’ll do the same.”
"But will seven levels each be enough?" I can't help but ask.
“You’d be surprised what seven levels can do,” weirdly, Tabitha sounds quite positive.
“It sounds like you have an idea. Is it any good?" I lean in anxiously.
“It’s not really a plan,” Tabitha bursts my bubble before it can get too big. “I merely already know how I’m going to distribute my status points.”
“Can I get a hint?” I ask.
Tabitha hums in thought. "I suppose I can tell you. I'm forgoing putting many points into Vitality and putting the majority of them into Strength. I couldn’t do much against the winged serpent's tough hide with my current Strength, so I’m focusing on that.”
“But isn’t that against your build? Can you afford to do that?” Unlike me, Tabitha was highly specialized like her Master; shouldn't she focus on her Dexterity?
“I think you misunderstand me,” Tabitha corrects me. “I’m still placing points into Dexterity as that will always be my priority. I’m just using points I would’ve placed into Vitality into Strength instead.”
“But my parents and Master always tell me I’m supposed to place a percentage of my status points into Vitality, as it will help me live longer. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
Tabitha laughs so hard; she groans in pain. “That’s good advice. As humans, we live relatively short lives, so it’s natural that we try to stave off aging as much as possible. But some things are more important. For example, I already have a relatively high Vitality. The only reason I still put points into it is to extend my peak training years. But since you effectively cut out a decade of harsh battles, I can afford to distribute my points differently. Does that make any sense?”
“It does,” I nod along, even though the gesture is meaningless in the dark.
“I’m glad you understand,” Tabitha sounds pleased. “Now I’m going to distribute my points and rest some more. I suggest you do the same.”
"Do you need any water or some of the jerky?" I offer Tabitha some of our remaining supplies, as she might need them to recover.
“I can hold out another day. You have some if you need it,” Tabitha flips my question back on me before going silent.
In the dark, I reach for my water skin. It’s still contaminated with toad eggs, but after emptying it and refilling it the last few days, they’ve lost most of their toxic properties. There’s still a slight numbing sensation when I swallow a mouthful of the tainted water, but other than that, there are no other symptoms. I want to drink more as I'm pretty thirsty, but I only allow myself a single mouthful to conserve what we have.
Closing the water skin, I set it aside with the rest of my gear and lay back down, close to Tabitha so that I can react if something happens, but far enough away that it isn't awkward between us. Tabitha and I had only been talking for twenty minutes, but it felt longer than that, and even though my Stamina was relatively full, I still felt tired.
However, before I fall asleep, I pull up a smaller version of my status page and distribute my points like Tabitha suggested.
LV: 82 Experience: 836,754/ 1,484,280
Health: 1,955.42/2,700
Stamina 1,577.84/1,836
Mana: 591.22/1,060
Vitality: 270.00
Endurance: 100.40
Strength: 181.00
Dexterity: 181.00
Senses: 62.75
Mind: 65.64
Magic: 106.00
Clarity: 79.34
Status Points: 0
The relief I feel from distributing my points is almost instant. The 17 points into Vitality jumpstarts my recovery, and the more minor aches and pains I felt melted away. Of course, I still had a lot of recovering to do, but it was a start.
Similarly, the three points into Magic help my struggling to recuperate mana pool, though not to the same degree as my Health. I had to put a few points into it to increase my recovery speed, but as I couldn't waste much, I only put a few points into it.
The bulk of my points went into Strength and Dexterity, as I would need them the most against the winged serpent. Whether we fight the beast or run, I couldn’t fall behind Tabitha, as that would be a death sentence for her. She has made it abundantly clear she would sacrifice herself for me, so if I can’t at least pull my weight, she’ll likely throw herself in front of me to buy time.
I'm unsure if I'll be able to outrun the lesser dragon with my new stats, but I can try.
I need to heal faster, I tell myself as I start to drift off to sleep again because as soon as I was, it was strategizing time.
The winged serpent will find the hard way we aren't as weak as we were a few days ago, that I could guarantee.
**********
2,700 words.
A little late in the day, but I’m trying hard to stick to a chapter every other day. That said, I might make mistakes, so it's your guys' job to point out anything wrong, as you did in the last chapter.
I went back and slightly edited chapter 118.2. Much of it is the same, so you don't have to reread it if you don't want to. I simply changed some of the dialog as people pointed out Tabitha wouldn't yell with them being in a dangerous place, and I toned down her distaste of Sense Soul as some people thought it was childish of her, and I had to agree to an extent. Other than that, the chapter is the same.
Please continue to give me your opinions, as they mean the world to me, even if you think others might not agree. Thanks for reading, and as always, stay safe.
P.S. Here's a little something extra. I haven't built Tabitha's status page out all the way yet, but here's her stat distribution, at least. It's slightly different than a few chapters ago when Aaliyah estimated her values, as she shouldn't be able to judge all of them accurately and will continue to be oblivious. I just thought you guys would enjoy seeing how Tabitha distributes her stats.
Tabitha’s Stat Distribution:
LV: 98-> 105 Experience:
Health: 3,790-> 3,800 Stamina: 2,013-> 2,163 Mana: 870-> 900
Vitality: 379-> 380
Endurance: 84-> 89
Strength: 141-> 180
Dexterity: 238-> 260
Senses: 81
Mind: 48
Magic: 87-> 90
Clarity: 42
Comments
What does clarity do really.
James Everhart
2024-10-06 23:39:57 +0000 UTCShe got Pugilist Skills in chapter 31, and now she got Pugilist Arts... a little error maybe :-)
Alteron
2024-02-25 20:39:35 +0000 UTCI miss this story so much
Steven Palmer
2024-01-19 01:17:37 +0000 UTCIs everything alright with Kosnik? I mean id like more updates but only if hes doing ok
Rage Vanes
2023-11-24 18:42:54 +0000 UTCI think it was stated that she wanted to travel the world and she would need to be strong enough to gather her own materials for blacksmithing and if she has already encountered at least 4 entities lvl 100 or higher just in the landscape around her village then she would need to be around 180 to 200 just to face the rudimentary dangers traveling in mana dense zones and when facing high level individuals.
JimmieBean
2023-09-24 21:08:16 +0000 UTCI can see use in the exp share skill being that when she uses soul absorption she can bleed off the extra exp that she can't take in.
JimmieBean
2023-09-24 20:57:41 +0000 UTC"But you really shouldn't," I tried to tell Tabitha, but she didn't have it. -->"But you really shouldn't," I tried to tell Tabitha, but she *wouldn't* have it.
Valderan
2023-05-06 02:33:18 +0000 UTCI like the idea of her being able to put her mana threads through her musculature to increase density and strength. An internal mesh or weave that acts like a powered endoskeleton. Plus if she messes it up then it would probably act like piano wire shredding through her muscles which would be a valuable learning experience and nail down how nothing is free, easy or risk free.
Valderan
2023-05-06 02:32:38 +0000 UTCYeah, I do find it odd that despite all the cool things she can do with magic, she has more points in strength than mind and magic combined, and she is at risk of running out of mana quite often.
Gryxx
2023-05-05 20:21:30 +0000 UTCWhat about body sculpting. Or flesh forging. Some kinda skill that could later when maxed develope regeneration as a tier 5 skill
Scott Fellman
2023-04-29 05:44:53 +0000 UTCWhat she did feels a lot more like, idk, second or third aid. Maybe a skill like Mending, same tier, would fit better?
Arcane
2023-04-27 03:57:57 +0000 UTCThat is something that I am expecting, but that isn't what this idea is about. Right now Aaliyah uses a hammer, is expecting to make it lighter, but it's still going to stay a heavy weapon meant to bludgeon things into paste, so her current style of darting in for large attacks is probably going to stay around, just with the added possibility of longer bouts before disengaging - a method that opens her up to counters, and to deal with those, she is currently waiting for openings. This idea is about making said openings, instead of waiting around for the opponent to make a mistake: force them to dodge or otherwise deal with the attack right before moving in. Think in terms of tenths of seconds, not full sentences between ranged and melee: throw the chosen projectile, wait a single moment to see which way the opponent starts to move, and flash step in accordingly. No time for even the shortest chants, not at flash step ranges, just grab a throwing weapon previously secured with mana threads, let it fly, grab back onto the hammer with both hands and move in for the follow up attack.
WickedlyDesigned
2023-04-27 02:19:58 +0000 UTCI think once she finally learns how to cast spells more quickly that will be her ranged type attacks.
Derek Walker
2023-04-26 23:58:50 +0000 UTCHonestly does she need more STR ? She is a total monster with it currently, and probably just needs higher skill levels to properly use it. More mana and mana related things is probably better for her overall future as a magic blacksmith / magic swordsman.
Display Name
2023-04-26 13:35:55 +0000 UTCI think a few things mitigate this: How many people know Tabithas exact level before she left to train Aaliyah. I would guess maybe only pacore, as it’s likely something of a social norm to not constantly identify peoples level. If this is true, then what most people will see is Tabitha went to war and came back a year+ later with 9 levels. That is extreme but it can be fudged… As for Aaliyah, only pacore, pitz, Tabitha and her close family and master know her level. All but the first three can’t even judge levels so they won’t know. Pacore and Tabitha will stay silent, and I think pitz will stay silent to not draw attention to Aaliyah.
Derek Walker
2023-04-25 23:11:04 +0000 UTCEven if Tabitha is 100% reliable, the minute they run into someone that knows them and has the estimation ability alarm bells will go off. 9+ levels in less than a month?
Jon Oliphant
2023-04-25 23:03:17 +0000 UTCI would have liked for her to get a skill named First-Aid (T3). This would be a variant of healing as she didn‘t use any healingmagic on tabitha but still fixed the positions of her bones. This would not make her a healer and still keep her on course of a smith. But it would be a usefull survival skill.
Timo Immig
2023-04-25 12:29:21 +0000 UTCThat skill enable her to more efficiently use her STR rather than augment it with additional power. If she would use the threads internally to empower her muscles i can see it being applicable but that seems like a new skill or a higher tier variant of the skill.
Frotzy
2023-04-25 09:38:09 +0000 UTCShe already has that, its mana threads. with it she can wield heavy weapons and transmit her full STR stat into her swings without the worry to be carried away with the weight of her strikes. Tho it would be cool if she could augment that further with magic (as what you implied)
Ermgon
2023-04-25 09:35:57 +0000 UTCI can understand the STR from a story point of view to keep crafting but maybe possible for her to get some mana strengthening skill in the future to translate her insane mana manipulation and magic ability for str without having to put all these point into the stat. Seems like a more Aayilah progression, use her abilities and statspoint for more than others to really progress ahead of the rest.
Kalle
2023-04-25 09:28:45 +0000 UTCI am kind of hoping they defeat the shadow? poison? dragon and she gets something like a 50-100 points of vitality from the heart.
Jon Oliphant
2023-04-25 08:57:58 +0000 UTCI can see the investment into strength and dex, but it has to do with Del being her master and teaching her things that are less than useful. She wants to work with Tier 4 and 5 materials and the only way she is thinking of doing it is hitting it. It's pretty obvious free form spell casting offers her much better ways to process materials. What was it that Del said way back when? Dwarven smiths could make incredible materials with their bare hands? I doubt that was done with strength alone. The above said she really does need to put more into the magic side, what's more she really needs to take some time and try to plan for herself. Tabitha's excuse for not investing in vitality (I don't need another 10 years of good health now???? WTF?) was just out there. Her blindly following Tabitha here was rather pointless. I guess where I was going with this is Aaliyah has always been more than a bit self sabotaging, and I can't think of a time when she actually did the work and saw things to completion. She had 12.5 Earth years to find out about the world and didn't bother. Hell she didn't know about her damn village of 400 some odd people (Based on the percentage death in goblin subjugation). Apparently she never bothered to find out how much she should have been charging Kervin for her pots, pans and knives. Ohh and lets not talk about her larping Dylan Mulvaney larping being a girl. Oh the frog is too cute to kill, it's a cute crab, oh they are just goblins maybe they will grow up nice. So this is pretty much par for the course for her. Now the above is understandable. I have certainly run across people in real life who are even worse and it does hint at the evolution of her character.
Jon Oliphant
2023-04-25 08:47:13 +0000 UTCA random thought, independent of current events: I believe Aaliyah needs some ranged options in weapons. More specifically, she needs something she can use to create an opening to charge into. The classic historical example would be small maces (they were used in Italy to good effect as openers/line breakers), axes (think francisca), or throwing crosses (German Wurfkreuz). Or she could lean into her way above baseline strength, and simply use ball bearings. The goal with any of these wouldn't be finishing fights, but creating opportunities to more effectively leverage her ability to do damage.
WickedlyDesigned
2023-04-25 08:14:40 +0000 UTCAt the maximum range, that’s about 1 million exp in skills, (including all the other ones that leveled) which feels commensurate with the risk/difficulty/novelty of the various challenges she faced.
Derek Walker
2023-04-25 07:18:01 +0000 UTCLooking back at earlier skill gains and tried to extrapolate what should’ve felt like reasonable skill gains here: Mental Resistance: up 5 levels to 67. She should’ve gotten a level or two from overcoming the killing intent of the serpent and then 3-4 from the events after including a level from doing the mana surgery on an almost empty mana pool (she got 4 levels when she fought the soul eater) Soul Devourer: up somewheres between levels 25-30. The bird gave her 3 levels, so she should get 3 levels here for her first soul horror, two levels for the gigantic one. Then for roughly remaining 15 soul horrors somewheres on average 1/3 a level to 1 a level to get to 25-30. Hitting 30 could make sense because she will have utterly exhausted the most obvious use and hence need a breakthrough Manipulate soul: up 12 levels to level 31. As this is a base skill for soul devourer, it will gain some levels from manipulating the dozen arms (something she hasn’t done before) stealing the goddesses power and digging into her soul should get her to the test, and then transferring exp should be the breakthrough to 31 Sense soul: 43-44. The breakthrough comes from sensing the goddesses power then trying work through the resistance the debris created Exp Share: level 5-10: she transferred 27 million exp, a literal soul crushing amount, and using both pulses and a continuous flow of exp over an extended time. This should be worth a lot of levels. Magic Threads: 32 is not unreasonable, but using the threads on multiple body parts over an extended period of time seems like it could be another 2-3 levels or more here Inject Mana: while it went up two levels to 56, I feel injecting mana across someone as strong as Tabitha and continuously doing this for several minutes should’ve pushed this past the breakthrough to 61. She’s never used inject mana like this so it makes sense as a level 60 test. Mana manipulation: 2 levels is fine, if the previous two skills level a lot. But if there levels are less, it feels this should be higher. Tier 4/5 Mana mending/healing/surgery skill: 3-5 levels. Mentioned this in a reply comment, but if air walk and magic threads are separate skills from mana manipulation, the surgery should be a separate skill as well. It’s as distinct or more than then air walk or magic threads. It feels to be tier 5, since not even the best healers in Scholl can replicate this. But it could be a “tier 4.5” skill like Tabithas sword master skill
Derek Walker
2023-04-25 07:15:01 +0000 UTCI feel like there could be more explanation as to why she didnt gain more levels. Using the gods (crystalline) to drill would have destroyed a ton of it. She was drilling through the mainfestation of experience after all. Maybe she used the exp to form the bridge that exp transfer uses.
Matthew Dennis
2023-04-25 06:20:25 +0000 UTCThanks for the chapter! While I agree with most of the other comments that 7 levels gained seems kind of low, the lack of new skills / skill level gains hits me a lot harder. Especially the amount of skill levels gained feels very off to me, like how is she supposed to level some of them if these feats only gave her one or two levels. Anyway, looking forward to the next couple of chapters!
Flusspferd
2023-04-25 04:57:21 +0000 UTCPacore is bound by contract to protect Aaliyah and not expose her secrets. So ultimately irrelevant if she does.
Derek Walker
2023-04-25 01:50:51 +0000 UTCI do see that but I feel like Tabitha is too Loyal to Pacore not to say
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-25 01:34:25 +0000 UTCShe won't be a god, even a hypothetical level 100 Aaliyah at 18 is still much weaker then Tabitha, Pacore, and Pitz and people like them. Their normal skill levels are just higher. Her soul skills are different but she keeps those locked down for the most part so won't in general be counted as a combat ability. She also likely wont reach level 100 in skill until at least 20.
Derek Walker
2023-04-24 23:52:29 +0000 UTCI don't see how the cat is out of the bag. Only Tabitha knows and she wont tell anyone. Besides, I have a feeling they will kill the serpent and will play off her exp gains as the serpent + goblin hordes.
Derek Walker
2023-04-24 23:50:07 +0000 UTCIn some way i can see why the auther is holding back, he is telling a story, and making her a god at age 18, would be bad for the story.
Alteron
2023-04-24 23:41:23 +0000 UTC25 in one year already seems alot, but essentially the entire story has taken place the year Aaliyah been 15, so in chapter wise its actually not as big as it seems
Derek Walker
2023-04-24 23:32:39 +0000 UTCThe XP share is a nightmare ability, what's worse is the cat is already out of the bag. Soon as word gets around she is going to have the whole world trying to enslave her.
Jon Oliphant
2023-04-24 23:30:39 +0000 UTCWhen she turned 10, her level was 38. So the last 5 years have seen her gain at least 45 levels. This year she has gained 25 levels. (still should be higher, she should've gotten 10-15 here, for a total of 28-33 levels this year)
Derek Walker
2023-04-24 23:30:10 +0000 UTCHow many levels did she passed in the past 5 years?
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-24 23:07:56 +0000 UTCIt doesn't need to be extremly fast progression, as Timejumps would allow for Steady improvements even though months have gone by.
Timo Immig
2023-04-24 19:42:12 +0000 UTCAlso think he gonna pick up his other students too?
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-24 19:14:35 +0000 UTCSame! Hope Pacore and Pitz are there waiting
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-24 19:13:19 +0000 UTCI cant wait for her to get back home and everyone sees how much she's improved.
Rosy Bramble
2023-04-24 19:11:15 +0000 UTCI do share your concerns as well on the exp share. This is progression fantasy and as the name implies requires progression. My preference being fast progression that leaves everyone else in the dust. Lol.
Pagemaster
2023-04-24 18:42:46 +0000 UTCThank you for the correction. I saw Pugilist Skills under Tier 1 and got them mixed up. I have edited my original comment.
Pagemaster
2023-04-24 18:32:39 +0000 UTCPugilist Arts was tier 2. The exp share makes me uncomfortable though… either she won’t ever use it again or 2) to use it she’ll be giving up on millions of exp herself thereby slowing her leveling speed.
Derek Walker
2023-04-24 17:40:14 +0000 UTCI have to agree. Everything was all hyped for a delicious progression steak with a bottle of wine, but all we got was a few crumbs wth a glass of water. 7 measly levels when it definitely should have been around 12-15 levels. One low tier 2 pugilist art which would been fine if she had also unlocked a tier 4 or 5 healing skill as well but she didn't. We also got the tier 6 exp share but we already knew we had that.
Pagemaster
2023-04-24 15:34:03 +0000 UTCI mean no disrespect .. but placing a cliffhanger on the last chapter and then followed up with something underwhelming as this. It's kinda disappointing lol
Mortamir
2023-04-24 13:25:03 +0000 UTCWhat's yall fav chap ?
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-24 12:27:51 +0000 UTCOne last round of math since I went back and reread some older chapters: The goblin fight, the bird fight, and her brief training stay in the ruins combined for 410k in skill exp, while here fighting off the serpent, saving Tabitha’a arms, fighting the mini army of soul horrors, picking up a tier 6 skill and stealing powers from the goddesses netted 375k in skill exp. Given the extreme challenges she just overcame and the limits she had to push her skills, these skill gains here don’t seem that much at least relative to what came right before it. Aaliyah could’ve just mimicked almost all these skill gains with another 2 weeks of peaceful training in the forest… making the risk reward trade off seem sort of pointless. In the bird fight, one use of soul devourer gained 3 levels. Here fighting roughly 20 soul horrors, and manipulating way more soul hands then usual and absorbing about 200x more exp then ever before got 6 levels… This is deep into the math weeds here but: Each soul horror turned out to have about 1.7 million exp. When she absorbed just one appendage from one, she described it as containing a lot of experience, and painful to absorb in. Now part of this is due to the emotions, but it’s also partly implied there was just a lot of exp there. One use of soul horror on the bird absorbed 180k in a matter of seconds, suggesting the exp from the soul horrors should’ve been much higher given how quickly she is normally able to soak in exp. Just her natural rate of exp integration implies she should’ve absorbed a massive amount before even sharing with Tabitha. And given her soul already had about 15-16 million exp, it should’ve been able to support more then what she was left with. And on mental resistance she got 1 level just from mana training in 117.1. That’s the same gains she made here, which makes it seem very implausible.
Derek Walker
2023-04-24 09:37:59 +0000 UTCKevin ( The merchant ) has his Charm skill over 50. He uses it along with his Trader skill to get better prices. Aaliyah could easily do the same.
Sondadir
2023-04-24 07:23:12 +0000 UTCMaybe sign a contract with him and Pitz
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-24 03:43:32 +0000 UTCBtw have we seen any church or holy temple in the cities yet or nah?
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-24 03:40:11 +0000 UTCI remember Pacore said she had a wild beauty to her from her charm level
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-24 01:58:37 +0000 UTCDon't know how she will level it now
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-24 01:58:14 +0000 UTCFor what’s it worth, pacore talks like he has at least 3: when he uses defender of all he says “my favorite tier 5 skill”. Obviously possible to say that with only 2, but he likely has 3-4. For Aaliyah, her soul skills are all anomalies and even Tabitha was just riding Aaliyah’s wave there. If we assume most people get a tier 5 skill around level 100, then Aaliyah getting a “normal one” in the 80s would be par for the course given how high all her other skills are. At the end of the day, whether it’s tier 4 or 5 isn’t a big deal, as opposed to the fact it’s missing entirely
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 23:48:30 +0000 UTCCharm's been at 50 for a LONG while, and I don't know why, but I want it documented that I'm getting a vibe it'll come in handy with either the dragon or soon afterwards. Somehow. Idk I just feel like it's reached a narrative dueness
Imagine Baggins
2023-04-23 23:45:57 +0000 UTCOh, also, kosnik4 didn’t mention anything about potential mana skills, I don’t think. I’m pretty sure I saw Kyfe’s comment saying something along those lines. I read his story too so I think I registered him as the author lol
Arcane
2023-04-23 23:22:38 +0000 UTCThat’s kind of what I’m saying. She did a lot, but I don’t know if she did enough to justify a Tier 5 here. Her other Tier 5s are singularities- virtually nobody else is going to be in a position to acquire it the way she did, it’s probably specifically because of her reincarnation and all it entails (stronger souls, more stat points before they can be distributed, etc.), which is said to be an astronomical anomaly. We know that the most powerful humans in the story so far only have about 2 Tier 5s, so they have to take crazy levels and circumstances considering reaching level 120+ means risking your life constantly. I think she isn’t too far from a non-esoteric/circumstantial Tier 5, but perhaps it requires more usages of her mana Skills to justify a Tier 5. I do think she should’ve gained some kind of Skill for it though, so that she could more tangibly develop it as a base for that Tier 5.
Arcane
2023-04-23 23:16:00 +0000 UTCAnd if Reel finds them, that’s ridiculous. The magic forest is enormous. He should have absolutely no idea where they are at, and it’s doubtful he has the armor or skills to not die of mana poisoning either.
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 23:02:39 +0000 UTCHer core mana skills, which she is an actual genius at, are not esoteric skills and those are boosted by those other stats. Also, Tabitha can be the heavy hitter here. She just dumped her points into STR and DEX because 1) that’s her build and 2) she actually has the skills to get in close and do damage, unlike Aaliyah who’s movement skills are still close to Tabitha’s level. Aaliyah, unless she uses her soul skills is here for support, which are her mana skills. Her ridiculous running level already makes her fast enough for this. And if not she could thrive 10 more into DEX, 10 into Vitality to heal and the rest into mind/magic stats.
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 23:00:55 +0000 UTCI would guess that if she studies with a healer later she can put one up easily.
MikeL
2023-04-23 23:00:21 +0000 UTCWhen she fought Reel it was said she didn’t look tired after the fight. I guess her fighting style with less movement allows her to have a lower endurance than Aaliyah who relies on moving around a lot.
MikeL
2023-04-23 22:59:21 +0000 UTCThing is though for the next battle Strength and Dexterity are absolutely needed to inflict damage to the lesser dragon. As Tabitha said she didn't have the stats to inflict damage, despite her skills. Survival and winning trumps esoteric skills. Aaliyah's magic skills aren't going to help her do damage and bring down the snake. Her core build of her tier 1 to 4 skills are and those are boosted by STR and DEX. A double precision multistrike to its head will hopefully spall its skull into its brain. Also the fight will probably end up 3 on 1. Reel ran off a few chapters ago, where else would he run to then to check in on the golden goose?
Endymion2314
2023-04-23 22:24:15 +0000 UTCIt’s not clear it was just too much exp, as she also sacrificed vitality, got a tier 6 skill and a dangerous one at that for the first time, and other stuff. At any rate, her soul is stronger now being a higher level, her soul skills got stronger as did mental resistance, and finally she should’ve absorbed a decent amount (2-3 levels worth) while her soul was basically collapsing, she then should’ve offloaded what she couldn’t handle, and then took what she can which should’ve been another 7-10 levels if not more. 20+ total levels may be excessive but 10-15 is well within the plausible range given the circumstances
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 22:09:38 +0000 UTCThis time she redused her expiriance until it was tolerable. So that is 7. That time it was 8 and that was to much.
Håvard
2023-04-23 21:56:20 +0000 UTCI have re-read the chapter again. It mention in the chapter Seven potentially being special because they both gained seven levels. It feel it is not because it is already established cannon in story that you can gain more than seven levels at once. Please refer back to Chapter 62 where she gained 8 levels from the defeat of the Soul Devourer from 64 to 72.
Pagemaster
2023-04-23 20:29:49 +0000 UTCFor me personally I do wish the level a little higher but I dont mind any new skills or medical ones right now tbh and the stats maybe more into magic and senses too
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-23 18:44:54 +0000 UTCIts not just about what her soul can handle... But Aaliyah needed to regain control of herself to not be a danger to Tabitha, she could have alot more due to her skills but not remain awake
fuble878
2023-04-23 17:23:32 +0000 UTCIf the skill is mend bone, possibly. If the skill is mana surgery less likely. On the mana front, all the underlying skills are there. The surgery part is harder to justify but she is very clearly using sense mana to get an anatomical map, and using blacksmithing to piece materials back together. While a non traditional base, those are so high leveled it should be sufficient. Really this justification also works for mend bone too.
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 17:17:06 +0000 UTCOn the medical speculation, could not getting a skill be due to lack of under pinning skills? Like med bone could be a tier 5 but without the basic healing skill she could not get it and she perhaps lacks something required to get the skill?
Tom Henman
2023-04-23 17:12:12 +0000 UTCDon't get why she didn't get any medical related skills, be it stuff like [Anatomy], [First Aid], [Surgery], or more advanced like [Mana Surgery].
PaperMache7
2023-04-23 16:51:07 +0000 UTCMost likely they are fighting the lesser dragon?
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-23 16:45:48 +0000 UTCPerhaps there are still some more yummy soul horror around?
Luboš Hemala
2023-04-23 16:43:42 +0000 UTCI have no idea what you’re talking about ….😶
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 16:40:59 +0000 UTCPersonally, I only find retconning annoying/bad if it's not logical or if it's something random for no real purpose. Like the Green Lantern being gay now, despite decades of him not. The explanation for lack of XP might have been cooked up after it was pointed out in the comments, but it is logical and consistent with the world building, so gets a pass from me. I know how intense your questions about how everything works can be, Derek. 😂
Kyfe
2023-04-23 16:36:23 +0000 UTCBandits, overloaded fire spell
Kyfe
2023-04-23 16:27:18 +0000 UTCIt might not be a size thing, but a resilient thing. It makes sense that someone 20 levels higher, even with a smaller soul, would have a tougher, more resilient soul.
Kyfe
2023-04-23 16:20:06 +0000 UTCI think the lack of new Mana Skill is probably due to not having a narrative direction planned out for it less than Aaliyah actually earning one as if it was real life. That being said, I CAN think of a logical explanation for the lack of new Skill: She described it as Mana Sewing... Aaliyah SUCKS at sewing, as she has repeatedly claimed in prior chapters. Maybe, because of the nature of the action, she needs more practice with it to formally unlock the Skiill.
Kyfe
2023-04-23 16:14:18 +0000 UTCA prey animal that stops fighting is dead, so they fight to the death. A hunter that gets injured to the point it can't hunt anymore is dead, so they'll avoid any confrontation that puts them at more risk than the food is worth. The winged serpent or what it was may just decide that it's not worth it to fight them. There will be other prey.
Oskatat
2023-04-23 16:13:41 +0000 UTCHer STR is wasted because 1) it’s inflated by her magic threads allowing her to swing heavier weapons than anyone else her size/ STR stat and 2) while in some sense all stats are helpful in some situations, she is clearly lacking in the magic/mental related stats. 10 points there are comparatively worth so much more than say 10 points in STR. I am not saying Tabitha gains were bad, I’m saying if Tabitha gained that, Aaliyah’s should’ve been ridiculous then given how much she carried.
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 16:01:03 +0000 UTCI think that you are being a bit unfair. Tabitha basically saved Aaliyah's life, in the circumstances Tabitha getting sense soul as well as a fair few levels make a certain amount of sense. As it stands we don't really know anything about Experience Transfer either, it is a Tier six skill after all. In regards to Aaliyah's stat distribution strength won't be wasted, she does need it for forging. Plus it will only result in more force when in combat. I do agree somewhat about you points on her skills, sense soul in particular but I don't think seeing the soul horrors would help the skill and I think that there are likely some shenanigans in regards to the gods.
An_Amazing_Username
2023-04-23 15:54:02 +0000 UTCOr the dragon is possibly keeping them at bay
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-23 15:33:45 +0000 UTCMaybe the souls left already by the time they got killed by the lesser dragon
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-23 15:33:12 +0000 UTCWas Aaliyah's soul not mentioned to be very large for her level/age? I seem to recall her having to explain why as she was reborn with some memories.
Tom Henman
2023-04-23 15:25:16 +0000 UTCI’m honestly skeptical about that explanation. One, it has the feeling of being retconned in after several comments the last few chapters pointed out what a plausible exp gain should be. More substantively. These soul horrors live in a magic forest with a lesser dragon killing all kinds of animals. These soul horrors should still have access to at least moderately sized animal and magic beast souls.
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 15:16:38 +0000 UTCThanks for the chap! Also nice 7 exp! Also like the explanation of the Soul horrors
Penguin Glutton
2023-04-23 15:10:52 +0000 UTCI agree the chapters were so awesome. Then the let down. We only get level 82 with no new skills except XP Share and a tier 1 pugilist skill. Maybe if she had gotten 2 or 3 new tier 4 or 5 skills it might have softened the blow of only getting to level 82, but she didn't which I find very odd which other commenters seem to agree about. I actually mentioned on STR thing in another comment. While yes it has been very useful in crafting it has never really been what has saved her life. Typically it has been magic/soul skills. Let's see if I can remember her life or death battles off the top of my head probably not but I will try: 1. Goblins - overloaded them with magic 2. Hob goblins - i will admit strength helped in this battle though her speed it what really got her through. 3. Chameleon spiders - magic senses saw through their camouflage. No amount of strength would have helped if you can't see the dang things. 4. Soul Devour-er - Strength was utterly worthless. Sacrificial magic to win. 5. Pacore - she lost but it was her magic senses that let her see his armors weakness. 6 Forest Goblins - strength was useful but once again her speed and other skills did more. 7. winged serpent - i guess she was able to run away faster and get through the wall 8. soul horrors - guess what isn't effected by the physical strength stat. lol. add-on forgot about the bandits. blew herself up with magic to win.
Pagemaster
2023-04-23 15:00:58 +0000 UTCI don’t think magic healing would be too amazing or broken because it drains so much of her mana pool. That the cost is so high is indicative of it being a tier 5 skill, like Pitz’s multi shot tier 5 skill is so powerful she can only use it once a month from the strain
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 14:54:42 +0000 UTCThe only thing I can think of is magic healing might be too much a cheat/crutch that the author wants to avoid. Because otherwise as you and others have said she deserves something for that amazing feat. I was thinking it could be a variation of threads, or magic analysis, or push her manipulation way higher as she showed fine control. Anyway interesting.
Justin
2023-04-23 14:50:55 +0000 UTCI mean, sense soul and even manipulate soul seem underwhelming if we are comparing them to “take out army skills”. She basically did something impossible in saving tabithas arms, and I also find “impossible” skills are a good fit for tier 5. Even if it’s not a tier 5 skill, there should still be some very advanced tier 4 skill here. That air walk is distinct from mana manipulation, but combining 2 tier 4 skills, a tier 3 skill, her blacksmithing and sense soul skills is definitely enough base for a new skill. I think justified for tier 5 but minimum a new tier 4 skill.
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 14:49:29 +0000 UTCWhat’s frustrating here is Tabitha basically did almost nothing and made out like a bandit: 7 levels at her relative level is tremendous along with a tier 5 skill. Feel Aaliyah who did all the work got basically scraps. The new tier 6 while seemingly nice, seems like a skill only meant to slow her leveling down since transferring 27 million exp netted her 3 levels? How much does she need to transfer to even get to level 15? Enough to level probably like 25 times… Another thing that gets lost, STR is already overinflated for her. Her magic skills allow her to swing much heavier weapons meaning her effective STR is a good deal higher for combat then anyone else with the equivalent stat. Just another reason why wasting STR is pointless. I guess the only thing that would make this better if they kill the dragon and actually she soaks in another 10 million exp with soul devourer or something. But I feel if that isn’t going to happen. Even sense soul only leveled once, and she has to directly sense the power of the goddess, sense new creatures in the soul horrors, and had to push her skill to sense through the debris around her soul. The way some of these skills leveled here means she’s gonna need be the worlds most suicidal person to gain skill levels anymore since apparently that’s what needed for even a few levels
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 14:39:57 +0000 UTCSo I think they should kill the winged serpent and gain a dragons might or specialized mana skill from it
Scott Fellman
2023-04-23 14:38:48 +0000 UTCI’m hoping there’s an explanation as to why she didn’t end up getting a Skill. Kosnik4 did imply in a comment that those skills existed, but said ‘she probably won’t get them’. I was theorizing that this could end up being a Tier 5 Skill, but, thinking about it, it might have been a bit much for her to get a Tier 5 Skill here. They’re the most ‘magical’ thing in this story, we’ve seen them take down armies, and all of the ones we’ve seen someone acquire have been due to Aaliyah’s unique circumstances. Perhaps there are extra conditions for normal’ Tier 5s, and she only hit one of them, and with some more practice in the Skills that feed into it (like getting magic threads through the first breakthrough), it could lead to something on that level later on.
Arcane
2023-04-23 14:27:31 +0000 UTCThe last chapters were all so hype, and the end result was 35 more points on STR… Exp share seems nice but it’s basically a skill she will almost never use, or just purposively designed to slow her down…
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 14:19:53 +0000 UTCThanks for the chapter!!
Undead Writer
2023-04-23 12:49:06 +0000 UTCHave to agree. In this entire series, strength has only been really useful in crafting. Every real battle that she has fought it has been magic/soul powers that have saved the day and definitely not strength. lol.
Pagemaster
2023-04-23 12:34:46 +0000 UTCAayilah have repetedly blamed herself even when she should not. Seems out of character to not try to shore up something that almost hurt someone else, and futher more almost made her lose her eternal soul and become an abomination
Frotzy
2023-04-23 12:27:53 +0000 UTCAlso, the fact that she almost killed Tabitha due to failing to control her own skill seems like a thing that would make her MUCH more likely to invest in magic stats so that she never lose control like that again.
Frotzy
2023-04-23 12:23:44 +0000 UTC5hr
Captdeth
2023-04-23 12:22:54 +0000 UTCI personally am very disappointed in this chapter. 82 that is it? She uses the literal powers of a god, tier 6 skill, to take xp and that is all she got even considering she transferred out a lot? I guess I should have expected it the instant the word "majority" was used to describe the transfer. I just expected more.
Pagemaster
2023-04-23 12:17:27 +0000 UTCI agree with some of the other commenters on here. Another level in mental resistance and couple in soul manipulation would be more satisfying imo as the reward based on what she did. However, I do think the levels in mana manipulation etc are fair for healing Tabitha's arm.
benzene96 -
2023-04-23 12:06:03 +0000 UTCI am completely flabbergasted at investing in Strength here. It was [Magic] that saved her and Tabitha in the last 2 battles and aftermath - it was certainly NOT strength. And she just gave 3 points to Magic and nothing to Mind/Clarity/Senses. She needs to invest in Magic / Mind / Clarity and just enough Dex to avoid the serpent and certainly NOT Strength. She will not be the main damage dealer here - but her [Mana Skin] will be vital to keeping herself alive. And for that she needs Magic not Strength. We have already repeatedly seen lack of Mind and Clarity being a major problem with her - she simply isn't able to MENTALLY keep up in combat. These stats are dangerously low. More Clarity will likely have given her control over her soul abilities too. Yet AGAIN she invests most of her stats into Strength and Dexterity. Investment in Strength is utterly useless here. And she actually healed Tabitha - that was something extraordinarily innovative - even confirmed by Tabitha. But no new skill for that ? That accomplishment puts most of the other skills to shame. If one is going to get a skill for [Pugilism] for wildly flailing around using soul tentacles against soul horrors and not [Magic Healing] for a deep, intensive, desperate technique for knitting flesh and bones and preserving limbs that most contemporary healers would have amputated, then I question the very basis of the skill system in this world. It doesn't make any sense. Why would she get [Pugilism] instead of [Magical Mending] or [Flesh/Bone Manipulation] ?
lenkite
2023-04-23 11:40:33 +0000 UTCThinking on it a little more, the 7 levels stills seems really underwhelming in the following sense: Aaliyah’s level went up about by about 9%, tabithas 7%. We do know Aaliyah’s soul is more robust then most, and her skills add additional resistance. It seems she shouldn’t have had to give that much exp to Tabitha in order to calm the strain on her soul. A 60/40 distribution would’ve seemed more justified, or about another 4 million exp getting her to at least 85.
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 09:40:39 +0000 UTCI thought pacore had a similar build as Tabitha. I think the low endurance was explained/justified by having high grade armor to account for that. It’s still not clear how exactly endurance and vitality work in combination, so I am not sure if that’s a satisfactory explanation.
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 09:21:08 +0000 UTCIt will be interesting how they explain to their “Master”/“Evil Overlord” and to the world at large how they got so much level without condemning the MC to end up the equivalent of an milk cow but for exp.
Quendolayne
2023-04-23 09:09:04 +0000 UTCAs always, thank you for the chapter! You're doing an amazing job and I admire the effort you're taking to stick to a schedule! If every other day is too hard, just do one weekly- we can wait. Burn out is no fun and I definitely feel you deserve the rest.
S10NN4CH
2023-04-23 09:00:56 +0000 UTCA soul's size seems to be a mix of talent and exp. Del is unfortunately not that talented, relatively speaking. (Also his level was first mentioned to be 87, so I am not sure if he ever crossed 90, much less into the mid-90s) Aaliyah's parents are pretty talented, at least as indicated in the rewrites which is why Del's soul is not much larger than theirs. Tabitha, as well as Pacore and Pitz, are geniuses, so their souls are naturally bigger then Dels, plus they are also higher leveled. So it's almost certainly not the case her soul is 3x larger than Tabitha's. Before last chapter, given the level gap of 23 levels, Tabitha's soul was likely still much larger.
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 08:40:59 +0000 UTCThanks for the chapter! I've been meaning to mention this for the last few chapters, but the statement has been that Tabitha can take more experience because she has a larger soul than Aaliyah. Except it has been established that a mid-90s soul (Del's) is only about 50% larger than her parents at ~level 40, and hers was _3 times_ that size, and was heavily implied that it was the reason she could pick up skills so easily (as if they were scattered upon the ground, according to her brother). So her soul should be around 3x Tabitha's as well, and able to handle much more of the experience. Maybe if the explanation was that the amount of experience layering the soul gives it the strength it needs, irrespective of relative size?
Stephen Pearson
2023-04-23 08:33:15 +0000 UTCPretty sure she only got those as the skill itself was inside her soul at the time she absorbed it. Skills seem like they are attached to the higher soul, the portion she's been told NOT to touch. The Soul Horrors are made from what's left after death and extreme emotions. So stats based exp and rage, the skills left long ago.
Endymion2314
2023-04-23 08:04:19 +0000 UTCIf she absorbed about a few million exp (about 3 million here) before starting the transfer to Tabitha, the numbers work out fine and there does not have to be any loss. I think it's hard for Aaliyah to gauge how much she absorbed while not conscious in her body.
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 07:59:24 +0000 UTCFrom my understanding, you could level skills through repetition almost up until you reach the next threshold test, or at the very least before the first threshold test. The mana thing not being distinct does not seem like a convincing explanation, otherwise, air walk and magic threads would just be covered by advanced applications of mana manipulation and not be listed as separate skills. She did something even more distinct from those skills than what she did when she originally got air walk or magic threads (as compared to mana manipulation at the time) Besides dexterity, (which is questionable given how fast her high running and movement skills make her) I think investing in those other stats would help her in combat as well, at least in the long term. She has sufficient DEX and STR now that her real advantages are her auxiliary mana skills. Putting stats there will allow her to train longer, and level faster those mana skills which are ultimately the root of most of her success (along with her soul skills, which would also likely be helped).
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 07:51:39 +0000 UTCI had hoped that like when she helped kill Lennard Grey, she would steal some new skills, both for new growth, and for hints about the civilization.
Alteron
2023-04-23 07:46:14 +0000 UTCHmm, she pushed 80 percent to Tabitha, but Tabitha received 27 million. So there's loss in the exchange using Exp. Transfer. That loss rate will probably decrease as the skill levels. So 8m times 5 is 40m total from the fight she was dealing with. She made to transfer 32m of it, but 5m was lost in the act of transfer. So about a 15 percent loss rate.
Endymion2314
2023-04-23 07:42:17 +0000 UTCNo healing skill?
Robert
2023-04-23 07:41:31 +0000 UTCPretty much agree regarding Mental resistance and Soul manipulation. Though admittedly mental resistance is pretty high already so maybe that's why. But yeah, manipulating goddesses should imo be worth more. Soul Devourer is fair imo. As far as I know or think, skill gains shouldn't just be able to level repetitively from the same source as it doesn't make sense. Leveling a skill should be about learning something new and getting better at the skill's action. And really while the action was very new, I don't think Aaliyah being unconcious most of that time did much in that direction nor does the fact it was 20 times the same process repeated. No new mana skill really is sad but I guess she didn't do anything clearly distinct from her existing skills. She did get pugilist arts from it though :D And lastly, while senses, mind and clarity would certainly be immensely helpful with her skills there's still a need to specialize and cut corners somewhere. An even build just wouldn't keep her alive unfortunately so while sensing mana better while her crafting would be cool it doesn't really help with combat.
Tjark
2023-04-23 07:41:13 +0000 UTCOh yes thank you for the chapter, I thought the status screen was broken for awhile. The conversation between the two was also well worth waiting for. I can only hope we get more of this they do have a lot to talk about. Tabitha is still a bit weird. I can see going low on vitality its share of the points here. She has a plan to deal with the dragon and needs to implement it. But it's still the key stat and there are still plenty of levels for her to hit. The answer to "do you want to live forever", is usually "I have considered it". She also seems light on endurance in her build. Can't say with certainty but usually once you have enough HP you want to toughen up those HP so they don't run away.
Jon Oliphant
2023-04-23 07:33:13 +0000 UTCHonestly felt this was a very underwhelming status update. The few that stand out: mental resistance: only leveled once, and that was after facing the killing intent of the dragon and fighting off the mental pressure of absorbing all that experience Soul Devourer: Aaliyah killed a few goblins, some exp from a bird, and like one contract from Grey, and leveled 11 times, yet here she fought like 20 soul warriors and got 6 levels? No new mana skill from healing Tabitha is the most painful Soul manipulation: gained 3 levels but she not only handled massive amounts of experience, but she also stole a fragment of the Goddesses' power, this seemed it would've been pushed much higher And as someone else has already pointed out, it really is wild that Aaliyah refuses to invest senses, mind, and clarity given her build.
Derek Walker
2023-04-23 07:27:45 +0000 UTCWhat I fall to understand is why senses are so neglected, seems like a mayor part of her kit and should synergise with both her crafting and sence mana/soul
Frotzy
2023-04-23 07:18:32 +0000 UTCThanks for the chapter
Alteron
2023-04-23 07:15:05 +0000 UTCFirst! Thanks for the chapter. Little lower exp than I was expecting but around the range. Glad you had an explanation about the 'lack' of experience. I liked the thinking of stat distribution. Good work!
Justin
2023-04-23 07:03:19 +0000 UTC
