The System II

Her brown eyes expanded to their extreme. What was with this ridiculous system? She read the description in front of her again and again until she was sure it was no illusion. Reducing the mana consumption of fifth circle spells by 50%, she could not even imagine a fifth circle spell, let alone its tremendous mana requirements. A fifth circle mage was considered a national treasure in the Kingdom of Kraus, her homeland. A single mage of such caliber was enough to put fear in the heart of legions of soldiers.

To such an existence, this trait was no less the nectar of the gods. It will effectively double their strength. Then to a second circle mage, for whom the reduction was 75%, this trait was essentially a divine gift. And that is without mentioning the second and the third effect, which were equally preposterous.

"Is this real?" She couldn't help but ask.

'Of course, it's true, foolish girl.' Artium answered in haughty tone. 'As you grow, the trait will grow with you, not to mention other traits that you will gain as your body becomes strong enough to handle them.'

***

Marcus was a bloodborne vampire almost 100 years old. He was a loyal servant of his lord and held a prominent position in his court. He was a competent third circle mage, on the verge of the fourth circle, proficient in Blood magic and all four elements of Elemental magic. Furthermore, he was also quite proficient in the Vampire combat techniques of his clan.

So it came as a great surprise to him, when his lord ordered him to personally chase down and capture a mere Silver rank adventurer that had just recently become a second circle. He was even further shocked when the lord placed five more bloodborne and 25 lesser vampires under his command for this mission. In his opinion, this was the very definition of overkill.

Nonetheless, he obediently accepted his lord's order and set out the very next night. They were able to trace the target to the port city of Kraviz. There they found that she had already set sail for the country of Chemor across the sea. Apparently for a quest provided by the adventurer's guild.

Luckily, Marcus had been ready for this situation and had a ship ready. They immediately set sail in their specialized vessel. They caught up to their target in just a fortnight, barely a day's journey from the coast of Chemor.

Marcus had immediately ordered an attack on the transport ship that had no weapons and were easily forced to make dock at a nearby island. He had sent his team as soon as night fell to attack the camp formed by the survivors, killing most of them and some of them ran into adjacent forest, but they would soon be wiped out by the pursuing teams

Unfortunately, the girl was not among them. She had timely left behind her shipmates and travelled inland. Marcus had formed different teams to search for her last night, and it was only a matter of time before they found her. Each team had at least one bloodborne mage and four lesser vampires, that weak girl had no chance of resistance. He just hoped they wouldn't harm the girl too much, so he could present her to the lord in a suitable condition

He was currently standing in the captain quarters, chartering the return voyage. The coming thunderstorm would at least add four days to their journey, but it will also benefit them. By hiding the sun, it would mean they could search for the girl even during the day.

Boom! He heard a crashing sound coming from outside.

"What are they up to now?" he spoke up, thinking it must have been caused by the other two vampires that were currently present on the ship. He quickly left the table and went to open the cabin door and reprimand the bumbling fools.

However, as soon as he opened the door, a ray of sunlight crashed into his face. He screamed in pain and scrambled to get out of the sunlight. He quickly used his blood magic, forcing his blood to rush to his burnt face, healing it faster than normally possible.

Upon regaining his senses, he looked up to find the canopy covering their ship filled with holes that were letting in the deadly sunlight. Down on the hull, he saw one of his subordinate lying on the ground with his head separated from his body slowly turning into ash and the other one engaged with a mysterious figure in a deadly fight.

Before he could move to help him, the figure dodged the lesser vampire's frantic claw attack and used his extended hands to throw him into one of the sunlight mirror. The vampire screamed in agony, but was soon silenced by a silver dagger to the heart.

***

Freya skillfully dodged the vampire's claw and grabbed his hands to throw him into one of the light pillars. She swiftly stabbed him in his heart, turning him into a pile of ash.

[You have killed a level 14 'Lesser Vampire'. +214 Exp points.]

A similar message appeared before her eyes as the one before it after she killed her second vampire after gaining the system.

[You have levelled up to Level 13! +5 Distributable stats point.]

A new message appeared before her eyes, but before she could completely comprehend it, the voice in her head spoke up.

'Be careful, the next one is quite powerful.' Artium warned her. 'Keep your distance, and fight close to the sunlight.'

"You bitch!" The last vampire shouted, "I'll have your head for this." His unsheathed his sword and pull up his hood to cover his head. He approached her, sword at the ready, avoiding the sunlight.

Freya also walked forward with her dagger held forward and the second hand ready to cast spells. She stayed close to the beams of sunlight, knowing they were important to her survival.

The vampire brought his sword in a downward slash aimed at her eyes. Freya brought up her dagger to block the slash, but the sword broke through the dagger easily and continued towards her head. Her eyes widened, but she quickly dodged to the side. The sword also changed its trajectory and chased after. Not expecting this, Freya stumbled backwards, the tip of the sword passed above her eyes, leaving behind a shallow cut. Luckily, she passed through a beam of light, preventing the vampire form following through.

'Put all the available stat points into Agility, quickly.' Art spoke in a hurried voice.

She did as he asked, but before she could feel its effect, the vampire went around the beam, his sword ready to tear her to shreds.

"Fireball!" She quickly threw a fireball in his face. Only this one was much more powerful than she had ever cast.

The vampire leader slashed at the fireball, expecting to cleave it in half, but it exploded in his face with such ferocity that it threw him backwards. He quickly regained his balance and looked at her in a stupor. How could a measly fireball be this powerful? His eyes turned colder and he once more approached the girl with much more caution, but the explosion had created some distance between them.

Freya had made full use of time bought by the fireball and had several second circle spells at the ready. Normally, even two of these spells would exhaust her completely, leaving her an easy prey for her opponents, but that was not the case any longer. She could cast four times as much spell and with greater power too.

"Raging Flame Snake! Shattering Ice! Lightning Bolt! Shearing Wind Blades!" She shouted with all her will. A giant snake made of crimson flames roared as it erupted from her hands to devour the target in front of it. A line of sharp ice spikes propagated towards him along the floor. A bolt of blue lightning also emerged following the snake. The last spell created four crescent blades of wind that also flew towards the vampire.

The Vampire leader staggered at the sudden onslaught of the spells as he barely avoided the opened maw of the fiery serpent. Regaining his bearing, he swiftly brought his blade upward, beheading the snake. He leapt over the approaching ice spikes while also avoiding the explosion of the snake. He was intent on the avoiding the spells that were in no way merely second circle spells. Yes, he had recognized his opponent as the target of their quest after she had easily cast so many second circle spells, but he was quite an experienced fighter, so he was easily able to avoid the spell.

Now he was facing a lightning spell that had spread to cover his left. He couldn't move to his right as there was a glaring beam of sunlight. He quickly stabbed his sword into the ship's hull and retracted his hands. The electric spell hit the large metal sword ad was absorbed into it. The vampire quickly jumped forward and twisted his body in unnatural ways to avoid the sharp wind blades. He was finally in reach of his target. He extended his claws in towards her, aiming to inflict a few cuts and tiring her out before knocking her unconscious.

Unfortunately for him, Freya had just boosted her agility. So not only was she able to follow his movement unlike before, but she was also able to keep up. She ducked under his attack and unleashed the final spell she had at the ready.

"Greatsword of Ice!"