Chapter 94: Enter the Edge

Chapter 94: Enter the Edge

Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 623.

Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 12.

Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 12, it has undergone the following changes:This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.

Mana Cost: From 4.82 to 4.94

Health Drain: From 17 to 17.85

Stamina Drain: From 8.56 to 8.99

I woke up to this notification, announcing the new Rank I’d gotten for Noxious Grasp. My work had paid off!

I’d done the math with my Mana/Minute, and realized that, if I didn’t have Light Plate active all night, I wouldn’t end up getting enough Spell XP to Rank it up by morning. Now, it really wouldn’t matter too much if I had to wait a bit longer to Rank it up, but, well, I just didn’t want to. If it was possible for me to Rank up overnight, I wanted to do it.

So, I decided to establish a system with Erani and the Dryad. While each of them were on watch, whenever they saw my Light Plate disappear, they’d come over to wake me up, I’d reactivate the Spell, put it back on, and go back to sleep.

Now, did I sleep well when I had to wake up every hour to put on plate armor? No. But was it worth it for the new Spell Rank? Debatably. I certainly felt like it was worth it, at least. It may not have been completely sustainable to do this every night, but at least for now, I was willing to make the sacrifice of comfort for the sake of an additional Spell Rank.

When I got up and Erani saw the bags under my eyes, though, she seemed to disagree.

“I told you that was a bad idea,” she scolded.

“Still worth it,” I muttered, then yawned.

“You got your Rank-up?”

“Yeah. Next costs 844.”

She nodded knowingly. “Prices really increase as you go on. But with your build, I have a feeling that won’t be as much of a problem for you. At least, not for a while.”

I nodded. With these fast-coming Spell Ranks, Noxious Grasp’s effectiveness would only go up more. At this point, I was enjoying the effects of Venomous Grasp more than the damage, so the additional Ranks weren’t too impactful, but the additional Stamina drain was a huge help. Plus, getting closer to that Rank 20 Upgrade was something I highly looked forward to.

Another thing I was looking forward to was my next Level. After that fight with the Mountain Troll, I’d gotten myself up to 1199 XP, out of the required 1300. Just from passively killing the Ghouls as we went, I was confident I could Level up today.

Level 16 didn’t inherently include anything important – nothing like a Spell or Talent Choice – but it still did have two things I was excited for. First, the extra points in Conjuration I’d get each Level would be much, much more impactful now that I had Exponential Reclamation to boost their effectiveness. So even getting those would end up being a pretty massive boon. The second...

Well, I wasn’t sure if I was excited, or nervous.

When I’d gotten my last Intelligence information rank – back when I hit 16 Intelligence – I didn’t actually get any new information. Instead, I’d gotten something strange.

Intelligence threshold reached. 16 Intelligence.

Your Intelligence information rank has increased.

Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:

-Trailblazer Title has begun collecting data on holder. All future thoughts, decisions, actions, emotions, and movements will be logged.

-Logged data will be used as Intelligence Information Rank increases further.

That was what it’d said. Currently, my Intelligence was at 19. And next Level, I’d get one more, and it’d go up to 20. Since it seemed like I got a new rank every 4 points of Intelligence, I’d get something new then. And, judging by the way that was worded, it’d have something to do with the ‘logged data’ the Title had been collecting on me. Who knew what that’d mean.

So we went ahead and ate ‘breakfast’ – that is, the Mountain Troll I killed the night before. Fortunately, the protection offered by Endurance also extended to protecting one from diseases and food poisoning, so for me, eating it wasn’t a problem. As for Erani, who had a lower Endurance, we just made sure she ate all the good parts from the inside that seemed safest. Even with the base 10 she had in the Stat, she should’ve been protected from the basic stuff.

I had an urge to attack them now that their backs were turned – the Infernals obviously had their hands full, the Human probably had his Mana reserves mostly drained by now, and we could probably capture one of them if we beat them to interrogate them – but I ended up deciding against it. We had no idea what kind of countermeasures they had, including whether or not they had any way to communicate back to wherever they were taking those materials.

So if we attacked and they sent back word, not only would our location become known, but it could take enough time for the Demons to send out teams to find us that enough time could pass for Time Loop to no longer be able to get us back to before we made our mistake. If we attacked them, we’d most likely be forced to use Time Loop right after, no matter what, to make sure that didn’t happen. And I wasn’t willing to use up that resource when in such a dangerous area.

“What do you think they needed that for?” I asked Erani once we were sure the group had left.

“Probably for whatever ambush they’re setting up in here,” she responded. “We know that scout they’d sent out had been returning to a full building that’d been built in the mountains, so this is probably construction materials to add on to that.”

I pursed my lips. If they were actively building something, that only meant we needed to move even faster – giving them more time to finish their construction would only make this harder and harder on us. “Yeah, seems like it. Let’s keep moving.”

But just then, I heard a sound behind me – the growl of a Ghoul. I instantly whipped around and raised my hand, shooting off a few Rays of Frost in the direction the sound came from. The monster’s face froze over as the beams impacted it and my mind was filled with notifications.

And then–

You have slain Level 9 Ghoul.

You have earned 39 XP. Your XP is 1.31k.

Threshold reached. 1.30k XP.

Your Level has increased to 16.

Due to achieving Level 16 in the Minute Mage Class, you have been granted the following benefits:

-You have gained 1 Endurance.

-You have gained 2 Conjuration.

-You have gained 1 Intelligence.

-You have gained 3 Stat Points.

-Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 2 Dexterity, 1 Conjuration, and 1 Intelligence.

-Soft Cap has increased to Rank 9.

-Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 16.

Intelligence threshold reached. 20 Intelligence.

Your Intelligence information rank has increased.

Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have gained the following hindrances:

-You will increase your Intelligence information rank once per 8 Intelligence, instead of once per 4.

Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:

-You may choose an Intelligence benefit to replace your current benefits.

I blinked. Well, that first effect wasn’t very much of a ‘benefit,’ considering it only slowed my progression, but that wasn’t really what I was focusing on here. My mind was drawn to that second line. I got to choose one? And it’d replace my current benefits?

So, it’d replace my ability to see the names of my future Spell and Talent Choices, mainly. If it fully replaced that – something which was absolutely helpful – that meant the new benefits would all have to be even better than what I currently had.

I looked over to Erani. “Let’s find a place to sit and rest. I need to meditate.”