<~> Chapter 323The color of the sky and the grass in the dungeon had faded and become less vibrant in the time that we had spent recuperating. It was as if the energy inside the dungeon had mirrored our own once the seriousness of what had been unleashed had sunk in. We caught the four other adventurers up on what had happened before we saved them. It was good that we had been able to rescue them, but we hadn't been able to stop Felketh's avatar from being summoned, which didn't bode well for the world. The news brought down the mood, but they hadn't seen it, so I don't think it was as real to them as it was for us.
Everyone had already eaten and finished recovering their strength, but we weren't quite ready to leave just yet. For whatever reason, this dungeon didn't spawn its exit portal at the end. Because we hadn't been the ones to kill the dungeon boss or destroy the dungeon, we hadn't even found out the name of this dungeon, nor gotten any of its treasure. We would never know what this dungeon was called unless one of those cultists took credit for destroying it and released the information ter.
Because there was no portal and the dungeon's mana reserves were failing, the only way we were able to leave was by flying to the beginning of the dungeon manually, which thankfully was a lot easier with two additional casters of a simir level in our group. I wasn't sure exactly what their csses were, but both Aquil and Samuel had enough mana to cover the cost of [Winged Cloak of Light] on everyone that I couldn't maintain it on myself.
The trip to the beginning of the dungeon was a lot more pleasant without the constant threat of being attacked by banshees. Even Sibyl, who was reluctant to rely on the wings again, rexed pretty quickly after flying for a while. It was by far our longest flight on the wings, but the time went by quickly since we didn't need to be on edge the entire trip. Everyone was given a chance to py around with them, do loops, and release some of the tension from the extremely stressful time we've spent in here. None of us were exactly sure how long it had been, but our estimates hovered around two days at least. That also didn't account for any time shenanigans like the st dungeon we had been in, but that didn't seem like it would be the case this time. I really hoped that wasn't the case this time.
After our long flight, we needed to wait by the exit so that everyone could regenerate their mana back to full. It sounded like we would be waiting for another quarter-bell or so before we finally left. We didn't know what we would be walking into outside, so we needed to rest here as much as possible. None of us thought Felketh would still be in the area after he escaped, but it was a good idea to be in the best shape possible while traveling back to Traehall, even if he wasn't there.
Since I had the downtime, I decided to go through my notifications and see what I'd earned from all the fighting we've done since entering the dungeon. I had been pnning on waiting until we returned to town, but this was as good a time as any.
[Your party has coordinated to defeat a horde of Banshees][Your party has coordinated to defeat a horde of Shadow Stalkers][Your party have defeated 2 Shadow Chimera Malcontents][Your party has defeated a Undead Chimera Enmity]
At some point, the number of banshees and shadow stalkers we killed combined into the word horde. I had seen this before, the st time we fought shadow stalkers outside of the first dungeon we destroyed. I wasn't sure at what point the number got big enough to roll over, but we had fought a lot of banshees in this dungeon. The system had already seemed to be giving us diminishing returns after the bridge, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.
I continued on to the more important notifications.
[Your level has increased from level 58 to level 60][Error: MlstCalcInc() cannot be called in low power mode][Apprentice Magic Swordsman has increased from level 8 to level 12][Error: ClsRnkInc() cannot be called in low power mode][Flying has increased from level 16 to level 30][Error: SklRnkInc() cannot be called in low power mode][Light Magic has increased from level 32 to level 40][Error: LtMgkRnkInc() cannot be called in low power mode][Light Manipution has increased from level 24 to level 35][Error: SklRnkInc() cannot be called in low power mode][Swordsmanship has increased from level 44 to level 45][Error: SklRnkInc() cannot be called in low power mode][Ice Magic has increased from level 6 to level 15][Error: IceMgkRnkInc() cannot be called in low power mode][Enhancement Magic has increased from level 18 to level 22][Error: EnhMgkRnkInc() cannot be called in low power mode][Internal Magic Manipution has increased from level 5 to level 12][Error: SklRnkInc() cannot be called in low power mode][Pack Tactics has increased from level 15 to level 18][Error: SklRnkInc() cannot be called in low power mode][Mana Sense has increased from level 13 to level 17][Error: SklRnkInc() cannot be called in low power mode]
[Global Alert: [Status] is currently running in low power mode]During low power mode, all knowledge shared through the [Status] system is temporarily disabled. Any knowledge gained from level, css, and skill increases will be queued until low power mode is disabled by the system administrator. Please note that users of the [System] still receive the other benefits of level, css, and skill upgrades, such as scaling benefits and stat allocation. As compensation, all local [System] cooldowns are removed for the duration of low power mode.
I went white as a sheet when I read the alert. "Guys! There's something wrong with the system!" I called out.
Everyone gave me confused looks until those expressions became looks of horror as each of them whispered"[Status]" under their breath and checked out what I was talking about. Immediately, there was panic in the group as everyone began to talk over each other about what all of this meant. I had expected there to be confusion when I told everyone about it, but I was still a little caught off guard by how scared all of them suddenly were. Then it hit me... it would be like if someone told you that gravity was on the fritz. A fundamental constant in their universe was partially broken right now.
"QUIET!" I yelled. Surprisingly, it worked, and everyone's eyes were now on me.
"Everyone, calm down. I'm sure the system is fine. Look at the global alert. It says that it's only in low power mode. That means that it isn't broken, it'll go back to normal once Sorsette fixes it," I told them.
Morrigan gave me a worried look and took a step toward me. "Lilith... Why would Sorsette put the system into 'low power mode?' I've never heard of this happening before."
I frowned. The answer was obvious to everyone, but no one wanted to say it. "Felketh," I said simply. The silence that followed hung there.
"The war of the gods," Torien said.
Yefen gave each of us a terrified and confused look before shifting his eyes toward the stairs. "We... we need to get back to Traehall. There could be... panic! We need to get back and make sure everyone is safe!"
I gave the man a concerned look. "Yefen... The town has been under siege by demons for a while now. I was told it had only gotten worse after your team found this pce. The only reason we were able to find you was because Brominn had made it back to town, and he nearly died getting here. They're as safe as they're going to be."
The huge man's eyes met mine. "Miss Lilith, you don't understand. This... The system having problems is something far scarier than demons. Demons are dangerous, they can kill you, but there's hope. Powerful people with lots of levels can come and save you from those. If you've made it here, that means the city still stands because of those people. But if those people no longer had their levels... could no longer get stronger..." He started to trail off, frightened by his own words.
"Enough!" I said forcefully. My sudden rebuke shocked the man out of his doom spiral and made a few of the others who were hanging on every word of our conversation jump. "I spoke with Sorsette myself. I'm a [World Traveler]. We talked about the system and how it works in a general sense. The system helps you guide your strength, and I suppose it also shares information about things like spells... but the system isn't how we get stronger. Absorbing magic is. As long as we continue to fight, learn, and train, we'll continue to get stronger. This world existed before the system. It's only a bit older than the first war of the gods."
I sighed and scratched at the base of my horn. "There is still hope. Nothing is lost, not even the system. It's in low power mode. That means Sorsette is doing something about Felketh right now. This conflict is now way out of our hands. All we can do is go back to Traehall and hope that the gods deal with this themselves."
Everyone started exchanging looks, and a few of my friends hugged each other for comfort. There were a few low whispers as everyone processed everything, but I stepped away to open my [Status] again. There was something about the alert that had stood out to me.
I reread the paragraph before looking at the part I was concerned with. 'all local [System] cooldowns are removed for the duration of low power mode.' I didn't know which cooldowns were local cooldowns, per se. However, there was one specific cooldown that I was concerned with. The css changing cooldown. In the past, I skimmed around and opened things up, but I didn't find the spot that actually expined the css-changing cooldown. I think I had only ever been told about it or seen it when it was greyed out.
With the system in low power mode, I needed to allocate the rest of my stat points and take advantage of low power mode to finally unlock the Will stat. If I got stuck as a [Priest of Knowledge and Innovation] for a day, that would be less than ideal, but if something did happen to the system, I didn't want to miss out on the free stat points. Based on what I knew of how the system worked, once the points were allocated, they permanently empowered your body. It was part of the reason why the succubus transformation was so powerful. I haven't ever heard of anything else that could refund stat points.
With a final acknowledgement, my css changed to [Priest of Knowledge and Innovation]. As expected, I opened my status to see the new Will stat listed among my other attributes. Now was the moment of truth... I tried changing my css back and... It went through! I let out the breath that I was holding. Individually, I swapped to each of my other avaible csses just to see if it would unlock anything new, but I didn't have any luck with that. After that, I set my css back to [Apprentice Magic Swordsman] and pulled up the description for Will.
[Will]Will influences the ability to exert your mental strength in challenging situations and negate magical effects. As Will increases, the user's mind is better protected from mental attacks and allows the user to better resist magical effects targeted at the user. Higher Will allows the user to focus longer, push themselves to do things they don't want to do, and shrug off magical effects.
I nodded, happy with the outcome. Will seemed like a good defensive stat. The free ten points I gained from the switch were nice, but I didn't know if it was a good idea to invest in it... There were a lot of abilities that Will countered, but I don't know if the thirty points I had unallocated would make much difference. Then again... The twenty I put into my Endurance stat did seem to help quite a lot. For that, it seemed like the early points seemed to have had the most noticeable impact, so it might be a good pce to put them after all. Most of my other valuable stats were about even now. I could put some more into Magic Control to catch up with my css boosted Magic Force, or Vitality for some added reassurance, but I don't know... I feel pretty well banced.
I once noted that min-maxxing didn't feel as viable in this world, since you had to live with the consequences of a low Vitality stat, for instance. Maybe I should take the same stance with my Will and improve it now, just in case I can't improve it in the future? Thirty Will doesn't feel like a lot, but it'll stay ten forever if I don't put something into it.
After a lot of hemming and hawing, I went with my gut and distributed my points to shore up that weakness a little. I didn't have anything else that could protect me from mental attacks, so twenty in Will was better than the base ten that I have. I then put the other twenty into Magic Control to give me better mana efficiency. Lately mana has felt like a limiting factor, so the additional control would go a long way. It also helped with my ritual magic, which had been really useful.
Now that I had finally made my choice, I opened up my entire status so that I could copy everything down, just in case. I had accumuted a lot of things on this page since I've come to this world, and I didn't want to overlook something. Just in this st dungeon, a spell I had never used before, [Lightfoot], had saved my life when I caught Sibyl.
[Status]Name: Lilith BaphometRace: Greater Succubus [Race Hidden - Dispyed as Beastkin (Sheep)]Gender: FemaleCss: [Apprentice Magic Swordsman] Lv. 12Level: 60
Stat Spread:Strength: 120Vitality: 110Charisma: 10 (1010)Luck: 20 (1020)Finesse: 70Magic Control: 140Magic Force: 100 (296)Speed: 70 (100)Endurance: 30Will: 20
Karmic Energy: 10000
Unallocated Stat points: 0
Avaible Csses:Bck Cat Lv. 10Seductress Lv. 1Novice Prostitute Lv. 20Apprentice Prostitute Lv. 1Novice Merchant Lv. 7Novice Light Mage Lv. 5Novice Illusion Mage Lv. 1Novice Swordsman Lv. 1Apprentice Swordsman Lv. 1Intermediate Swordsman Lv. 1Expert Swordsman Lv. 1Novice Magic Swordsman Lv. 20Apprentice Magic Swordsman Lv. 12Priest of Knowledge and Innovation Lv. 1Novice Ice Mage Lv. 1Novice Soldier Lv. 1Novice Crossbowman Lv. 1
Skills:Haggling Lv. 15Swordsmanship Lv. 45Illusion Magic Lv. 10Light Magic Lv. 40Light Manipution Lv. 35Uuna Riding Lv. 13Linguistics Lv. 10Ritual Magic Lv. 25Drawing Lv. 23Mana Sense Lv. 17Luck Magic Lv. 15Enhancement Magic lv. 22Flying lv. 30Intimidation lv. 1Internal Mana Manipution lv. 12Cartography lv. 8Ice Magic Lv. 15Marksmanship Lv. 5Pack Tactics Lv. 18
Css AbilitiesMerchant Skill - CalcutionsProstitute Passive - Resist DiseaseProstitute Passive - Magic FingersProstitute Skill - Ease PainProstitute Skill - Freshen UpProstitute Passive - Tight FitProstitute Passive - Group DynamicsProstitute Passive - Go UnnoticedProstitute Passive - Resist SleepProstitute Skill - Center of AttentionProstitute Skill - NightcapMagic Swordsman Skill - Magic EdgeSwordsmanship Skill - Slicing Fsh
Special Passives:Soulbound CompanionsSpecial drop rate upDouble Down
Skill Abilities:SightspeakSynergistic ConnectionBde MaintenanceCreate Simple Copy
Innate Abilities:Karmic RetributionBeing of Karma
Racial Traits:Succubus ConstitutionSexual Appetite Lv. 50Succubus BondGreater Succubus Shifting
Titles:[World Traveler - Hidden Title][Origin of Succubi - Hidden Title][Dungeon Destroyer][First Explorer][Early Intervention][Demon Hunter][Follower of Sorsette][Mother of the Succubi - Hidden Title]
Spells:Light Magic:Light OrbLight BeamLight SignalLight ScribingLight BurstLight WardLight SiphonLight DomainReveal IllusionsChromatic HaloBlinding CrescentArms of LightWinged Cloak of LightLight ShieldBrilliant LaserFortification of Light
Illusion Magic:Zone of SilenceEchoMirageDisguiseIllusory CurtainStill Invisibility
Luck magic:Melee HexCoin FlipDie NudgeBckjackA Touch of Good LuckWagerCarouselManipute Probability
Enhancement Magic:Fme ImbueBde WaltzFocused PerceptionLight ImbueLightfootArmor of LightHasted PerceptionAugment StrengthAugment SpeedFrost ImbueCloak of DarknessHarden Skin
Ice magic:Ice ShardFreezing GraspWall of IceCreeping Frost
Arcane Magic:Arcane Variant Zone of Truth (Boon)
Oof, I forgot how unwieldy that got when I listed everything, including all of the spells. Still, I wrote all of it down into my endless notebook. It wasn't like I was cking for space, or worried someone would be able to look at it while I had this nice book.
When I finished and looked up, I noticed that everyone had been waiting for me. Overall, everyone looked pretty nervous once they had looked over their status. I was confident everyone would be fine though. One way or another.
Saine
Hello! Something strange is happening with the system, isn't it? Under the circumstances you get an extra long status this time. On another note, I'm back from my semi-break and I'm going back to my usual schedule of Sunday and Wednesday for Lilith and Monday and Friday for Umbral Feast. That means the next chapter comes out Wednesday! Reducing my load during the holidays helped a lot and I feel like I'm in good shape again. I hope all of you had some happy holidays, and thanks for reading!
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