Level 10

"Experience Points." Layla said.

[ Experience Points: 850/1250.]

"Oh. I leveled up without noticing. I'm not too far from reaching level 9 either. I'll keep the stat points for now."

The other two checked their Experience Points too.

"I'm at 1730/1750. Pretty much level 10." Salma bragged.

"1490/1750. Still level 9. I really made the least progress here. Should we enter the right tunnel until we level up? Level 10 might be a big deal. Plus, we might as well. Any Experience Points we win now will make the fight a bit easier." Adam said.

"Maybe we can even scratch the Spider Queen out of our plans. Who knows, this way might be a lot easier?" Layla muttered.

"Well, I know. At first, there are groups of 5 spiders. But very quickly, we will find groups of twenty-five. And that's only as far as my senses let me see. Who knows how large a spider colony is." Salma said while puffing her chest out.

As she finished talking, she turned her head back.

"Oh. Some snakes are getting out of The Great Snake's Den. I think there are three or four of them." Salma said.

Just as she said that, Adam had greedy thoughts.

He was not happy being the one who progressed the least in the Dungeon.

"We should..."

Layla was interrupted.

Adam sprinted back towards The Great Snake's Den.

"What is he doing?" Salma asked.

"I guess he is being childish. He has been very responsible ever since we came here. I guess he can have his moments." Layla answered.

They both chuckled and followed him.

[1 Great Snake Baby has been defeated. Congratulations! You have gained 60Gold and 100 Experience Points.]

[1 Great Snake Baby has been defeated. Congratulations! You have gained 60Gold and 100 Experience Points.]

[1 Great Snake Baby has been defeated. Congratulations! You have gained 60Gold and 100 Experience Points.]

[ You have leveled up!]

'I guess Salma should have the last one. Um, wonder if they're gonna get mad at me.'

[ Congratulations! You have reached level 10!]

[ You have been awarded an extra 5 Stat Points for every Stat.]

[ You have been awarded 15 Unused Stat Points.]

[ You have developed the Mana Stat.]

[ You have been awarded 20 Mana Points.]

[ The type of Magic that is most suitable for you is being chosen.]

[ The type of Magic that is most suitable for you has been chosen.]

[ You will now be able to develop Skills related to that Magic Type.]

[ Your Magic Type is: Conjuration Magic.]

[ You have earned the title "Arcane Mage".]

"What is this?"

Adam's arms were suddenly wrapped in a purple light.

"Conjuration Magic?" He muttered.

It looked like the purple light was absorbed by his body.

[ Conjuration Magic is the ability to summon, create and shape. It is the Magic Type used by Arcane Mages.]

"Is that all the information I get?"

He waited for a bit but got no answer.

He focused on his hands.

He noticed that he could kind of feel a foreign power inside his body. It was his Mana.

Unlike the fiery one that Salma has, his was darker and heavier. It wasn't completely dark though. It looked clouded somehow.

He could wrap his hands in the purple light.

Adam instinctively started thinking about the purple light as his Mana.

He kept his hands wrapped in his Mana for a bit.

[ You have developed a new Sub-Skill.]

[ You have developed "Mana Glove".]

"Sub-Skill?"

[A Sub-Skill is a version of a Skill. It is a subset of that Skill. Sub-Skills are not listed on the user's Status.]

"What are Sub-Skills for? And what is "Mana Glove" a subset of? What does it even do?" Adam asked.

[ The Sub-Skill "Mana Glove" makes it easier for you to wrap your hands in Mana. Instead of focusing on your Mana, you can simply think about using the Skill. Sub-Skills make certain actions simpler, which in turn can make their cost in Endurance Points and Mana Points lower. "Mana Glove" is a Sub-Skill of your "Conjuration" Magic Skill. You have summoned your Mana and gave it a shape. The Sub-Skill "Mana Glove" gives you higher Attack Power when attacking using your fists. ]

'I guess I kind of get it. This Mana thing will be useful.'

[A Certain Evil is looking at you.]

Adam felt Salma and Layla arriving and turned to greet them.

"Um, hi. Sorryy for..."

Layla interrupted him.

"Whatever. It's not a big deal. We've been getting all the Experience Points before. It's okay. So? Is lv10 special?" Layla asked.

Adam told them about everything.

"Wow. That would be a great boost to our group's overall strength. If we can all get to level 10, it would be perfect." Layla said.

"Oh! I wanna know what my Magic Type is!" Salma jumped up and down.

"It's probably Fire you know, I mean....two of your Skills are Fire Skills." Adam told her.

"Well, you have a dust Magic Skill. And yet your Magic Type isn't Dust Magic, is it? Hehehe!" Salma answered and crossed her arms with a victorious look.

Adam could not argue against that logic.

"Salma, since you only need 20 Experience Points to level up, how about I take this snake?" Layla asked.

"Sure. I can destroy eggs inside The Great Snake's Den anyway. He's asleep." Salma said.

"I think it might be a trap. How could it sleep after you hit it that way?" Adam pointed out.

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's so strong that it didn't mind?" Salma answered.

"Let's not risk it for twenty Experience Points. Any spider would give that much." Layla said as she got rid of the last snake that was outside.

"Layla, you're going to need 300 Experience Points to get to level 9. And then another 1750. That's a lot of spiders. If they're all Mutated Spiders which give 30 Experience Points, you're going to need abouuuut....."

Layla finished Adam's sentence as he was calculating.

"About seventy of them. But other types give double that, or more. Maybe I should go alone." Layla muttered.

"No. We'll assist you. I'll be behind you with Salma. Salma will tell you where the enemies are and stuff. While I....I guess I'll be holding the torch." Adam said, totally unmotivated by the role he assigned to himself.

They walked back towards the place where the way splits into two tunnels.

They looked inside the right tunnel.

Immediately after looking for a second, Salma readied herself and shot a Fire Arrow into the darkness.

As they saw the Fire Arrow go deeper and deeper into the tunnel, it lit up the tunnel and they could see many many spiders.

[1 Mutated Spider has been defeated. Congratulations! You have gained 15 Gold and 30 Experience Points.]

"Oh. Looks like it hit one."

A series of messages appeared in front of Salma.

[ Congratulations! You have reached level 10!]

[ You have been awarded an extra 5 Stat Points for every Stat.]

[ You have been awarded 15 Unused Stat Points.]

[ You have been awarded 25 Mana Points.]

[ The type of Magic that is most suitable for you is being chosen.]

[ The type of Magic that is most suitable for you has been chosen.]

[ You will now be able to develop Skills related to that Magic Type.]

[ Your Magic Type is: Fire Magic.]

[ You have earned the title "Talented Fire Mage".]

Immediately, Salma's whole body was wrapped in fierce flames.

"Oh. Fire Magic sounds basic. At least I'm talented, so that's good. I guess?"

[The Fox That Blesses Men is looking at your flames with shiny eyes.]

Her body absorbed the flames.

[ You have gained 5 Mana Points and 10 Magic Affinity Points.]

"Yey." Salma said as she jumped up.

"I feel a bit weird." She added.

She looked at her hands.

The next instant, intense red flames appeared.

She closed her eyes for a bit.

The flames slowly became smaller and smaller.

The flames were moving away from her hands and wrapped her whole body below her neck.

She only opened her eyes when the flames were but a thin yellow layer of Mana on her skin.

[ You have developed a new Sub-Skill.]

[ You have developed "Mana Skin".]

"Mana Skin?" She asked.

[ The Sub-Skill "Mana Skin" acts like armor. Not only does it protect the user, but it burns the attacker.]

"Oh! Cool!" Salma shouted.

"Good for you! This is great!" Adam was genuinely happy for her.

"Alright! Come one! It's my turn now!" Layla shouted as she entered the right tunnel.

Seeing the other two grow so much stronger, she felt extremely motivated to catch up.

....

They kept going deeper into the tunnel, fighting more and more spiders.

Most of them were Mutated Spiders, but some of them were Paralysing Spiders and Venomous Spiders.

"Alright. Last one. Let's get something good." Layla said.

[1 Mutated Spider has been defeated. Congratulations! You have gained 15 Gold and 30 Experience Points.]

A series of messages appeared in front of Layla.

[ Congratulations! You have reached level 10!]

[ You have been awarded an extra 5 Stat Points for every Stat.]

[ You have been awarded 15 Unused Stat Points.]

[ You have developed the Magic Affinity Stat.]

[ You have developed the Mana Stat.]

[ You have been awarded 15 Mana Points.]

[ The type of Magic that is most suitable for you is being chosen.]

[ The type of Magic that is most suitable for you has been chosen.]

[ You will now be able to develop Skills related to that Magic Type.]

[ Your Magic Type is: Ice Magic.]

[ You have earned the title "Novice Ice Mage".]

"Ice, huh? Why am I not surprised?"

Her body was wrapped in a blue chilling light.

It was very cold.

She didn't mind it.

She liked the cold actually.

The other two had to take a step back though.

[ The Everlasting Winter is pleased by your progress.]

'Sure, whatever.' Layla thought.

The light was absorbed by her body.

Layla turned to her right and looked at the body of the spider she last got rid of.

She walked towards it and squatted down.

Layla was disgusted by the smell, still, she put her hand on the spider's body.

'Alright.' She thought.

In an instant, the part of the spider's body that Layla laid her hand on was frozen.

She waited for a bit.

"No Skill for me? Not even a Sub-Skill?"

[ Your Magic Affinity Stat is too low to develop Magic Skills.]

"Oh. Really?" Layla shook her head.

"That's a cool ability though." Adam noted.

"Woooow! We're Fire and Ice now!! You should paint your hair white!" Salma shouter excitedly.

"Hahaha... I'm not sure that would suit me." Layla told her sister while laughing.

"Let's head back." Adam said.

...

The three of them walked back to the entrance of the two tunnels.

"Should we train to learn some more about our magic or what?" Salma asked.

"I'm not sure. I feel like we probably wouldn't be able to learn much when we just acquired these. Especially me since I just got a Magic Affinity Stat." Layla answered.

"Let's look at our stats. We have a bunch of them to assign. We'll think about what to do after that. " Adam said.

They sat down.

"Sure. I'll start. I leveled up from 7 to 10. Stats. Show all of us." Layla said.

[ Stats: Strength:32(+8)

Agility: 49(+8)

Dexterity: 34(+8)

Sense: 22(+8)

Magic Affinity: 10 (+10)

Mana: 15 (+15)

Vigor & Endurance: 38(+8)

Unused stat points: 24(+24)

]

"I could work on my Magic Affinity..." Layla muttered.

"I think it would be great if you could use some Magic Skills." Adam said.

"Yes! Yes! Magic is the best!" Salma shouted.

"Alright. Ten points in Magic Affinity, six points in Dexterity and the rest on Agility. Show my stats."

[ Stats: Strength:32(+0)

Agility: 57(+8)

Dexterity: 40(+6)

Sense: 21(+0)

Magic Affinity: 20 (+10)

Mana: 15 (+0)

Vigor & Endurance: 38(+0)

Unused stat points: 0(-24)

]

"No new Skill, huh?"

"Try freezing something again." Adam suggested.

Layla thought for a bit before walking towards a wall.

She put her hand on it and focused.

A portion of the wall was immediately frozen. The frozen part made a rough circle of about 30cm radius around her hand.

[ You have developed a new Skill.]

[ You have developed "Freezing Touch".]

"Skill? Not Sub-Skill?" Layla asked.

[ You have developed the Skill "Freezing Touch".]

'Um. Okay?' She thought.

"Adam? Go ahead."

"Sure. Show my stats to everyone."

[ Stats: Strength: 52(+6)

Agility: 36(+6)

Sense: 51(+6)

Vigor & Endurance: 34(+6)

Magic Affinity: 18(+6)

Mana: 20 (+20)

Stealth: 41(+6)

Unused stat points: 18(+18)

]

"You have two stats above 50." Layla noted.

"Yeah. At first, I was mainly going for Stealth and Agility, but I seem to be gaining Strength faster than the rest. Although it might be because I mostly trained Strength. And Sense well, I poured my stat points in there since it was important for me to localize enemies when I was alone." Adam explained.

"Right. Maybe you should get Stealth to 50 too? Or maybe work on Magic Affinity. Conjuration seems pretty cool. I believe you can summon and create familiars, weapons and a bunch of stuff using magic. It's practical. Getting Agility to 40 could be good too." Layla said.

"Magic! Always Magic!" Salma shouted.

"I guess Magic and Stealth are better for me. I'll put 9 in Stealth and 9 in Magic Affinity." Adam said.

[ 9 unused stat points have been allocated to the Stealth stat.]

[ Stealth 41---->50.]

[ Your Stealth Stat has reached 50.]

[ You have been awarded a Skill due to your high Stealth Stat.]

[ A Skill is being chosen by the System.]

[ Individuality of the user has been taken into consideration.]

[ You have been awarded the Skill "Temporary Concealment".]

[ 9 unused stat points have been allocated to the Magic Affinity stat.]

[ Magic Affinity 18---->27.]

[ Your Magic Affinity Stat has gone above 25.]

[ You have been awarded a Skill due to your high Magic Affinity Stat.]

[ A Skill is being chosen by the System.]

[ Individuality of the user has been taken into consideration.]

[ You have been awarded the Skill "Weapon Conjuration".]

"Wow. Two Skills at once? Lucky!" Salma told Adam.

"Yeah, I guess. Info on both Skills?" Adam asked.

[ Magic Skill: Weapon Conjuration [E]

The user has the ability to create weightless weapons using Mana. The bigger and more complex the weapon is, the more Mana is required to create it. The weapons will have a physical form for a certain time period before disappearing. The quality, strength and time limit of each created weapon depends greatly on the amount of Mana poured into it.]

[ Active Skill: Temporary Concealment[D]

The user has the ability to become invisible for a certain period of time. The user will be harder to notice. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Endurance Cost: 50 Endurance Points ]

"Wow! Invisibility! So cool!" Salma said with shiny eyes.

"These will be helpful." Adam said.

"Want to try conjuring a weapon?" Layla asked.

Adam opened his right hand and thought about making a dagger similar to his Old Assassin's Dagger.

'Let's see what fifty Mana Points can make.'

Purple light appeared in his palm.

It got condensed and slowly took a physical form.

After a moment, he could hold it.

[ You have used 50 Mana Points to conjure a weapon of the type Dagger.]

[ Conjured Dagger [E]. Attack Power: 35. Duration: 5 minutes. ]

[ You have developed the Sub-Skill "Dagger Conjuration".]

"Can I give precise instructions about how much Damage Points and Duration I want?" Adam asked.

[ A high Magic Affinity would be necessary for your control over the Magic Skill to be perfect.]

"Mm. So with high Magic Affinity I can play with how strong or durable I want the weapon to be." Adam muttered.

"My turn! My turn!" Salma jumped up and down to catch Adam and Layla's attention.

"Sure, sorry. Go ahead." Adam said with a smile.

Layla nodded with a smile too.

"Alright, Kayla, show us my stats." Salma said proudly.

[ Stats: Strength: 17(+6)

Agility: 23(+6)

Sense: 62(+6)

Vigor & Endurance: 19(+6)

MagicAffinity: 51(+11)

Mana: 56(+36)

Unused stat points: 18(+18)

]

"Wow. Just how good will I get in the future?" Salma bragged jokingly.

"I know you're joking, but that's a question we should really ask ourselves. Even your Strength and Agility aren't that low anymore." Layla was shocked at her sister's progress.

Adam laughed out loud.

"Oh my god. Just a bit more and you'll be far above me." He said.

"Hehehe! This is the power of a Talented Fire Mage!" She shouted with her hands on her sides, in a triumphant pose.

"You can go nine on Mana and another nine on Magic Affinity." Layla suggested.

"I'm not sure. Fire Arrow is a great Skill and Explosion too. I think just having more Mana Points would be better you know? " Salma explained.

"That makes sense. What you need right now isn't more Magic Skills, it's more uses per Magic Skill. Mana would be at 76. Too bad it's not 80." Adam pointed out.

"True... Maybe I should just go for Magic Affinity too..." She was unsure about what was best.

"Do it. Maybe you'll get something good." Layla said with a smile.

"Alright! 9 on Magic Affinity and 9 on Mana." Salma said excitedly.

[ 9 unused stat points have been allocated to the Magic Affinity stat.]

[ Magic Affinity 51---->60.]

[ Your Magic Affinity Stat has reached 60.]

[ You have been awarded a Skill due to your high Magic Affinity Stat.]

[ A Skill is being chosen by the System.]

[ Individuality of the user has been taken into consideration.]

[ You have been awarded the Skill "Healing Flame".]

[ 9 unused stat points have been allocated to the Mana stat.]

[ Mana 56---->65.]

[ Your Mana Stat has gone above 60.]

[ You have been awarded a Skill due to your high Mana Stat.]

[ A Skill is being chosen by the System.]

[ Individuality of the user has been taken into consideration.]

[ You have been awarded the Skill "Burning Touch".]

"And what are those??" Salma asked with shiny eyes.

[ Magic Skill: Healing Flame [F]

The user can heal many types of injuries, whether those injuries are his or others'.

Mana Points are transformed into Health Points.

Mana Consumption when Self Healing: 5 Mana Points per Health Point regenerated.

Mana Consumption when Healing others: 10 Mana Points per Health Point regenerated.]

[ Magic Skill: Burning Touch [E]

When activated, burning Mana shall be condensed around your hands. Everything the burning Mana touches shall start to burn. The skill's power depends greatly on how high your Mana Stat and Magic Affinity Stat are. The Burning Effect will be more or less pronounced depending on how much Mana Points are used.]

"OH!!! I can heal you now!" Salma shouted.

"Hahaaaaa! This is great!" Layla said. " Since you fight from behind us, this makes it even better!"

Adam got up.

Layla and Salma also stood up too.

"Let's go see what the queen looks like then."