At least, the immense heat cauterized my surroundings in a way that prevented it from leaking all kinds of unknown fluids over me.
Just how big was this thing exactly? If its stomach alone could fit an entire apartment, what did that mean for the rest of it? While I didn't have a time limit of any kind, I still wanted to get out of here at some point in this century.
I was wondering if I would chance upon a vein so big that I could walk through it, but that hasn't happened yet. The biology of this thing was so far beyond me that I had no idea what was going on. If it existed on Earth, it should need some kind of medium to transport oxygen to parts of its body. However, this thing was as far from a normal animal living on Earth as in any way possible. Apart from being entirely magical, this thing was also tier four. Also, since it was probably living entirely underground
I knew that ascending in level and tier somehow made the body more durable and better overall, but I didn't know how it did that. What kind of biological monstrosities get created through the intervention of the Will of the World? What role did mana play in the biological functions of higher-tier beings? How is my own body going to change while living in this world?
All questions I didn't know and may never find an answer to. Still, it was an interesting thing to think about. I personally didn't really mind my body changing in adaptation to this magical world. My experiences here and my very unnatural regeneration are already so far out of the norm for mortal lifeforms that there is basically no comparing them anymore. How much changed within us during the transport into this world?
From here on out, everything is just going to change more and more. At this point, I should wonder if I'll still even be recognizable as Hanah in the future. I had no idea what I looked like after the fall. I strongly doubt that much has truly changed yet, but you never knew.
All those thoughts were cramming my mind as the monotonous nature of my current existence drearily progressed in the river of time. Days stretched on without end and seamlessly blended into each other. Without being able to tell the passing time, speaking of days was a fruitless endeavor to begin with.
For however long I spent here, my brain basically went into autopilot. I did nothing else apart from burning, resting, and sleeping. Again and again, I slowly but steadily grew the extent of destruction I was leaving in my wake. The leviathan was truly a biological bag of miracles. Did this thing even have any other organs apart from its stomach, or was it just a homogenous clump of hard leviathan flesh?
I wonder if it could even feel what was happening inside of it. If so, the feeling of slowly being structurally hollowed out must be maddening. However, I thought it to be almost even more likely for it to feel nothing at all. Its movement hasn't grown erratic at all, and there were no other obvious signs that it had noticed either.
In the end, I didn't really care. In choosing to eat me, it had already sealed its fate in one way or another. Having sympathy here would be misguided goodwill. It took my legs, so I will take its life. A pragmatic form of revenge, especially since my legs had long since regrown, but it was enough to give me motivation to continue forwards.
Still, it was so mind-numbingly boring that I prayed for its inevitable death every chance that I got. I'm begging you here, you stupid leviathan, please just die already, okay? We'd all benefit from this! What's the point of drawing it out for so long? It's already over, just accept it at this point!
...
It didn't. And it wouldn't until much later.
Judging from the progress I made in hollowing it out from the inside, it took me over twice the time it took me to get to the point where I made that prayer in all of my encroaching madness. A dark chapter in my past but not something I need to fret about anymore. After struggling for so long, I had finally made it.
Following an uncountable number of hours and days, I had finally encountered something that was different from the uniformity of flesh that could be found normally. It was some kind of glassy ball that was nestled tightly in the unexpectedly soft tissue of flesh surrounding it. Whatever that thing was, I was certain that it had to be important somehow. It was truly beautiful, but that couldn't possibly prevent me from attempting to destroy it.
Well, easier said than done. If the flesh was already durable, then this thing was like it was made out of pure titanium or something. For hours or days on end, I scorched away at its surface with my blindingly bright bluish-white flame until there finally was some kind of change.
All of a sudden, the thing basically imploded in a shower of sparkling shards, like a ball of hard ice dropped from a four-story-tall building. Just as sudden as the implosion was for me, I felt a weird kind of strength well up inside of me.
Was it dead? Had I finally done it? I immediately checked my status screen to see if anything changed.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
[Name: Hanah Mayflower
Race: Human
Level: 25 (max)
Mana: 149/460
Achievements: [Hero Candidate], [Predator III], [Molten Rebirth], [Slayer of the Leviathan]
Class: Firefly (Uncommon)
Active Skills:
[Candlelight Lv. 19] (max)
[Flash Lv. 2]
[Minor Fireball Lv. 7]
Passive Skills:
[Photo-Thermic Synthesis Lv. 19] (max)
[Minor Fire Affinity]
[Minor Light Affinity]
General Skills:
[Identify]
[Heightened Senses Lv. 5]
[Pain Resistance Lv. 15]
[Fire Resistance Lv. 7]
[Mana Sense Lv. 1]
[Corrosion Resistance Lv. 2]]
... I really did it. There it was, finally, the peak of tier I. Usually the true start of ones' journey, and yet it almost feels like I've already lived a full lifetime. What kind of horrors did I have to endure just to reach this point? Why did it have to be this way? I never wanted any of this! But I barely had a choice, did I?
And now I stand here, very much alive despite everything that wanted to cause the exact opposite. From here on out, everything will be different. No longer shall I be bound by the shackles persistently wrapped around my metaphorical ankles.
On my status, there were a few interesting things on top of the already very interesting 'evolution available'. Both [Candlelight] and [Photo-Thermic Synthesis] had reached level 19 and gained a (max) next to them. Was level 19 the maximum level for tier 1 skills? Reaching that didn't even seem to have given me any new achievements related to that, so it can't be too important in the grand scheme of things. Also why 19? It's such an odd number for a maximum level.
Still, it's proof of how much I relied on those skills down here. The instructor said that it would be extraordinary to get even one skill over level 10 while in tier one and two, and here I am with two skills almost at level 20 while still in tier one. Crazy that I even reached the peak while technically only having slain a single monster in total. I got credited with the spider's demise, but that wasn't truly my kill, was it? Not complaining, though.
Now, the last interesting major change in my status, the achievements. Two new ones, [Slayer of the Leviathan] and [Predator III], the last one seemingly more important as it is written in bold text for some reason. What [Slayer of the Leviathan] was for was quite apparent from its name already. I was interested in the bonuses, though, so I still threw [Identify] at it.
[Slayer of the Leviathan:
You have slain the behemoth of the depths. An ungraceful end for a being of such splendor and yet deserved in the cruelty that pervades existences like these, a price for all those deaths. Freeing the depths of its volcanic tyrant, a ruler will be born anew. That bespoken tyrant of the depths will soon be you.
Awarded for the slaying of the [Leviathan of the Volcanic Depths, Lv. 173]. Let this be a testament to your unending tenacity as you clawed your way to freedom through the unending tide of leviathan flesh.
Strongly increased Affinity with
Unlocked Legendary tier 2 class for evolution
x1.25 Experience gained]
Oh, damn, since when did the system start swinging poetry? Its description is too cryptic for that to be a coincidence. For my first custom achievement, it didn't do this, right? What's the point of it now?
Anyways, the bonuses included one thing I liked in particular. It seriously unlocked a legendary option for my next class? That seems almost unreasonably strong if you consider that [Hero], the strongest and only known legendary class in existence, is also only legendary. While I didn't know how the [Hero] class handled evolution, 'legendary' was the highest grade, right?
While I hadn't seen my other evolution options yet, this almost seemed like a surefire pick to me. What could possibly be better than a legendary class?
The rest of the bonuses, the affinity and boost to experience, were okay but nothing extraordinary. I had no idea what 'strongly increased' even meant, and you couldn't go wrong with even more experience boosts.
Now, before I commit myself to choosing my tier two class, I still have [Predator III] to look at. The text was written in bold just like the words 'Legendary' and 'Epic' were when used by the system. It didn't have any special color to it, but it still had to be good, right?
[Predator III:
Overcoming all odds to slay the gods of the mortal realm. Your potential will henceforth be unbound. May the flower of your existence flourish in prosperity, and may its bloom be crowned.
Awarded for slaying an entity three tiers above you.
x3.0 Experience from higher-tier kills
In case of reaching the peak of the current tier without a suitable class for evolution: Grants one class with the minimum grade required for the respective tier.
Unlocks Tier V]
Huh? What does that even mean? Unlocks tier five? Tier five is locked normally? Why? And why does this achievement in particular unlock it? That very bonus is written in bold, does that mean that there's a connection to how the achievement title is also bold?
The second bonus that unlocks one class of the minimum grade for the next tier upon reaching evolution seemed counterintuitive to me. What was the point of that? With a legendary class to pick, I didn't have to worry about not being able to advance until the peak of tier five if a respective tier six even existed.
Normally, the bonuses were kind of tailored to making more progress and getting ahead of others through power. This, however, was more of a failsafe than anything else. What kind of person gets this failsafe through this achievement but then also fails to qualify for a class evolution? I don't get it at all.
While not strange or extraordinary like the other two bonuses, the 3x experience boost for higher-tier kills was really hefty. It was just a better version of the meager bonus granted by [Predator I], which this achievement evolved from, but you couldn't joke about getting thrice the experience for things.
Fighting higher-tier beings was still dangerous by all accounts, especially since one couldn't see their level, but it should be manageable with a better class, right? At least I won't fail as much as I did against that tier two wolf with just my meager uncommon class. Well, uncommon in name only. While the offensive potential was abysmal when it came to bursting out power, it was almost unmatched in prowess for survival and stationary offense in suitable environments like the volcanic hellscape of the depths.