Chapter 212 - Death?

Surprisingly, the name and description of the new specialization wasn’t in Draconic.

So I translated the name correctly.

[Heat Death] :

Passive effects :

Reduce damages to the body by 50%.

Your body can entirely self-sustain on its own mana.

When losing a limb, the contained Mana will be evenly distributed throughout the remaining parts of the body instead of being lost.

Spells and Skills energy loss over time reduced by 20% (Class level/10; maximum 50%).

Passive Mana cost of fueling enchanted objects and rituals reduced by 20% (Class level/10; maximum 50%).

Absorb 40% (Class level/5; maximum 100%) of the remaining Mana from nearby deaths; excess will be lost; absolute effect; 200 meters range (Class level).

Active effect :

If magic would cause you damage, negate the magic.

Cost : 200% of the magic’s original mana value. (400 - class level; minimum 100%)

All stat growths *4

Each line that Sofia read left her more and more speechless.

“Yeah. It was worth it. Very, very worth it.”

The lost limb effect is nice. And so is surviving on mana like a Demon.

Skill energy loss I’m not so certain about what it means, does it mean the dropoff from Angel’s bolt is reduced by 20%?

Just like a shot arrow, a thrown bolt would lose energy as it traveled, slowing down and becoming weaker, and all magic did this. Sofia had never thought it was very consequential due to how fast the Angel’s bolts traveled and how close her targets usually were, but it was a net positive effect anyway.

Reducing the mana upkeep of items and the cost of rituals was also good, even if it wouldn’t make a big impact right now.

But the actual meat and bones of the skill were the last two effects.

Let me get this right. I can get mana back from the book Skeletons when they die?

From all ‘deaths’? I have a very good feeling about this.

And it says ‘Absolute effect’. Does that mean it will work even under the [False immortality] rune’s mana regeneration interdiction? If so… I can summon some guys from the book, regenerate my mana, cast a few runes, dispel the skeletons and get 40% of their mana back?

It’s a bit of a tedious setup but that would let me have more mana to use while the runes are on, potentially even sustain it through a long exploration.

And the active effect is just… This alone justifies never investing into Health points anymore.

“Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. This doesn’t help at all against physical attacks. Well, one thing at a time. Alright, I’m done here. Woah, that took a while. I hope everyone else hasn’t died of old age waiting for me.”

The air in the bedroom was stuffy. Sofia quickly ate a meal from her storage ring and cleaned herself in the small attached bathroom. She stored her things, including the book on Draconic and the gachapon boxes that she decided she would open later and prepared herself. There was an extra white toga in the room, like the one Sen had given her which she had been wearing until now, so she changed into that.

Her clothing set from the first trial had fully regenerated just hours after she had woken up, but she was tired of wearing the same thing all the time. She walked out wearing not much, just the white toga, the crown, her black glove and two rings.

“There we go. A trial well executed from start to finish. Now to pay off the debts.”

Sofia stepped out of the room for the first time, she was greeted by a curved and sloped corridor with doors to what were probably similar rooms spread about every dozen meters. In front of each door was the same small sign ‘Please walk up.’

Sofia followed the instructions, she knew she had to call for Sen eventually but she was curious as to where the corridor led. Her silent walk gave her some time to relax and think about the future in a way that wasn’t ‘how do I make my skills more powerful’.

Scripture… I wonder how high I should go before I try this. Is level 400 enough? Do I need to go even further?

Or could I finish him now?

I should maybe try to meet with Cardinal first, since he was investigating the mind parasite plague. Since I’m immune to them I would be a great help to him, and that would surely slow down whatever plans Scripture has. But getting closer to Scripture is also a danger.

And I don’t want to indiscriminately kill all the church members…

Or… I stop evading my past, and I go back to Sovuln.

I’m stronger now. I should be able to reach it, the island. It’s no issue if there are thousands of monsters on the way, I have a similarly gigantic debt to get rid of. I only need to remember Valeure’s warning and stay clear of the tide’s epicenter. We weren’t so close to it anyway…

I wonder if Alith would come with me on this pointless quest.

I… I don’t want to go alone…

…

At the end of the corridor was a simple office with little decoration, a desk and two opposing chairs.

Do I need to ring the bell?

Sofia’s hand reached for the rope attached to a small bell but Sen appeared before her before she could even touch it.

“Finally out, are we? Did everything go well?”

“I took on a bit of a debt and Draconic is a pain but it was alright otherwise, I like the clothes.”

“It’s nice to wear, right?” Sen approved happily, “sometimes wearing simple ordinary clothes is comforting. Anyway, this is actually a decent timing. You took so long in there, everyone else is about finished too.”

“You wanted to see me before I leave?”

“Yes. I still have dealings with you, Sofia.” His tone had become serious all of the sudden.

Did I break something I shouldn’t have?

“I have something to show you.”

Sen teleported both of them to the top of the tower again. Victory wasn’t there, the large arena platform had retracted and the access of the stairs down to the waiting room had reopened.

“Where’s the big guy?” Sofia asked.

“Did you think he stays here at all times? He’ll be back for the next challenger.”

“I see. Why the top of the Spire?”

“Follow me.” Sen said without more explanation as he started walking down the stairs.

We’re going back to the waiting room?

“You see Sofia, I lied.”

“What d- Oh. The waiting room… The scoreboard? What, were you not actually one of the two who got there before me?”

“No, I lied, because the scoreboard wasn’t broken. Of course it wouldn’t be. Not when the last person to reach this place stepped here merely nine months ago.”

“Then why…?”

“I needed you to not see it. As simple as that. I thought you would perform better like this.”

What in the world is he getting at?

“We’re here.”

“It still looks broken to me. Is this some kind of illusion magic?”

“No, I actually broke it because you finished the maze earlier than expected so I was in a hurry. Ehrm, anyway. This is no special privilege, I’m just doing my job to the best of my capacity. I will repair it now.”

Sen clapped his hands, and the hole in the wall fixed itself, the scoreboard regained its usual luster, and one by one the usual glowing characters started appearing on it.

‘Floor 100

Known people who have failed on this floor :

Sen

Saria

Current rank : 1

(You are currently ranked at the bottom of this floor’s list)

Should you complete this floor, you will climb to rank : ERROR’

Sofia stared at the scoreboard for a while. Her mind was empty.

She had witnessed many things above her comprehension, but never had anything messed with her mind so sharply. Something happened that hadn’t shown up in a very long time, a spontaneous [Blessing of the Deep] resistance prompt.

[You have been affected by : confusion. But your skills negated the status]

Like a dam blowing up, Sofia’s thoughts crashed down on her, a tidal wave of irrepressible feelings.

She turned back, her eyes staring holes through Sen.

Sen understood the unspoken question, he nodded.

Sofia fainted. Pareth appeared and caught her long before she had any chance to hit the ground, before even Sen could make a move.

“You really care about her, don’t you? Help her through that one for me, won’t you? I’m not allowed to say anything more, but give her this when she wakes up.”

Sen handed Pareth a small envelope.

“And this is where I leave, I’m already bending the rules too much, any more and it could become dangerous. I’m bad with farewells, so maybe this end isn’t too bad. You should disable your displacement immunity to make the teleport easier on yourself, the Spire won’t give you a choice anyway. Good luck, Skeleton.”

Author's note:

And that's it for Book 2! Did you like it? 

I know it was fun to write at least, now to get on to book 3.

I'm not too sure about how exactly I'm going to arrange everything for the next arc yet, so it's not impossible that tomorrow's chapter could be a bit late, if so, sorry in advance ૮⸝⸝> ̫ <⸝⸝ ა

And for you who's been sleeping at the back of the classroom, Saria is Sofia's previously supposed dead sister. No need to thank me :')