49 Reaping Rewards (1/2)

Kessiah stood up and shouted with her arms raised,

”That was fucking awesome. Man, you guys had to pull out all the stops to win that one.”

She walked over and picked up Althea who was passed out on the ground. Kessiah glanced towards me. She shrugged her shoulders,

”I guess that's all for today. You can do whatever for the rest of the day. I'll be carrying Althea back to the camp.”

I leaned up, my health regenerating at a rapid pace. In front of me was a dungeon core. It was a black ball with a red, glowing outline. I picked it up,

”Yo, Kessiah. What's wrong with this dungeon core?”

She turned to me and raised an eyebrow. She pointed a finger at me, ”That's an advanced dungeon core. Has anyone ever explained the dungeon cores to you?”

I shook my head, so Kessiah walked over. She reached me, and sat down with her legs crossed. She reached out an open hand, so I set the dungeon core in it. She tilted it, observing it,

”There's five known tiers for dungeon cores. This is tier 2, or an advanced dungeon core. It levels up any skill you have by ten points, and gives you ten attribute points.”

My jaw dropped. I stammered, ”You serious? Ten skill and attribute points? What the fuck.”

Kessiah shrugged, ”It's not as good as you think it is. Take whatever level you are. Now divide that by four. That's how many attribute and skill points you can gain from dungeon cores.”

”So, if I'm level 400, I can only get 100 skill points and attribute points from dungeon cores?”

She nodded, ”Yeah. Exactly. Torix and I already maxed out our dungeon core limits a long time ago. I'm sure I could find a few extra just lying around if you want them.”

I nodded my head, ”Of fucking course I do. Why the fuck are you holding out on us?”

”Well, I had to earn those cores. I figured you should at least see how much trouble it is to get one first before getting as many as you needed.”

I shook my head, ”That's just...so dumb.”

Kessiah pursed her lips, ”Why?”

”Because we've almost died to followers twice. Why in the fuck would you leave us in a weakened state for so damn long? What if I died to Dakhma's strike that one time because you didn't give me the dungeon cores? What if you died because of it?”

I grabbed the dungeon core from her hand. My armor absorbed it. I frowned at Kessiah,

”Do you have them with you or are they somewhere else?”

She sighed, ”Fine, fine. I get it. My bad. Calm down. It isn't like I have to give you anything either.”

I raised my hand up before letting them slap my thighs, ”Alright. I guess you're right. I'll ask Torix for them. See if he wants to help out. You know, stop us from dying or some shit.”

I stood up, but Kessiah reached out a hand,

”Wait a second. I'm sorry. I'll be honest with you. Most people when they first make their builds don't think in the long term. Torix and I wanted to have an in-depth discussion about the ins and outs of your builds before giving you the cores.”

Kessiah stood up, Althea cupped in one of her arms. She continued,

”We figured some real-world experience in fighting would give you guys an idea of what stats are important. Once you guys understood that, we'd give you the cores and advise you on what to put points into. Neither of us thought that all of us would almost die both times we went out purging.”

I sighed, ”Alright, fine. It's ok. I'm just on edge is all. I think Althea and I have a good understanding of what and how to build around our stats. Do you mind giving me the cores now or no?”

Kessiah reached out with Althea. I took her from Kessiah's arms. Kessiah rustled through a knapsack on her left side. She pulled out a ring. She grinned,

”This little knapsack is covered in a nanofiber mesh to make it tough. This-” She raised up the ring. ”-is a temporal field generator. It holds all kinds of goodies, most of them you aren't ready for.”

She put on the ring. A second later, I could hear the sound of her skin being split. It sounded like shearing iron, oddly enough. Crazy how hard her skin was.

Anyways, a little portal opened in front of Kessiah. With a glowing band of white surrounding a starry sky, it was beautiful to look at. Kessiah reached her right hand inside before pulling out four red dungeon cores. She piled them onto her unused arm, like the cores were a baby in her left arm. She raised an eyebrow at me,

”Eight should be enough for now? I don't have anymore on me right now.”

Shocked at her generosity, I glanced away, ”Uh, yeah. Sure.”

She nodded before reaching out with a core in hand, ”I'll feed them to your armor. I'll give you a few extra points for when you gain levels later down the line. Let me know if you need any more later, ok?”

I nodded my head. Suddenly, Kessiah was like a mom. It was really weird. She reached out a hand and pressed the core onto my armor. The core sunk in. Eight later, and I was fully stacked out. Kessiah took Althea from me,

”I'm heading out. Don't stay here too long.”

I nodded before Kessiah ran out of the room at a blistering pace. Once she was gone, I walked over and absorbed the corpse of the Gabriel. I walked around the room, taking in the bits of his armored skin as well then the chains too.

After finishing the feast, I opened my status screen. There was a special prize waiting for me.

Experience from the Gorged SoulSwallower will be added to Gabriel, the Ascended Angel's exp total. +60,000,000 total experience gained.

I gained so many levels from the fight that it astonished me. Since defeating that dumbass bone knight guy, I gained 140 levels. I glanced at the history of my experience gain for a second, and 126 of those levels were from the Gabriel and the SoulSwallower.

A sudden realization snapped in my head. This dungeon was in the quarantine zone. Althea and I both received doubled experience from the big boss man himself. That's why I gained so many levels. That and my obliterator perk bonus that doubled experience from unique bosses.

After that eureka moment passed by, I furiously allocated my points into constitution. After many, many clicks later, the perk menu finally opened up. I'd gained the perk for dexterity.

[Prodigy (Dexterity of 100 or higher. You have (1) level 100 perk left for selection. Choose wisely.) - What takes others years, you do in seconds. Doubles the extra balance, flexibility, and reaction time from the dexterity leveling perk. Adds another 5 points of health per point in dexterity (10 health in total.) Adds another 1/10th of dexterity to perception (3/10th's in total). Doubles reaction time, balance, and flexibility bonuses from points in dexterity. Increases mythical skill cap by 1(4 Total).]

I selected the perk. After checking out my status screen, I still had four points left. I didn't really know what to invest in from here though, so I finalized my choices. I left the four points unallocated for now.

Immediately my armor tightened around me again, but I balled myself into a knot of muscle, making the armor snap. Even if I hadn't, the armor wouldn't have held for even a second. The size I grew was simply too much. The sudden surge of strength didn't hurt the situation either. That wasn't the only difference though.

My angle of sight changed. Not by much, but enough to notice. My heels dug into the floor, not by inches but enough that I perceived the difference. Everything was lower to the ground. After all the points I put into constitution, I thought I would have gained more height. It turned out differently in practice.

My guess was that constitution added a certain amount of weight per level and per point in the stat. As I gained that weight, I gained enough height so that I didn't end up becoming to brawny. If you think about it, someone who's five-foot-tall isn't half the weight of someone who's ten feet tall. The difference in weight between the two ends up being a lot more than just double.

In other words, I didn't have to double in height to double in weight. Constitution also made me denser, meaning the height difference would slow down over time. That meant constitution's height increase would be slow. Still, it would build over time, unlike the sudden difference in physical control. That's a weird way of saying it, but it's hard to describe.

When I took a step forward, I naturally adjusted the weight of my foot depending on surface I walked on. I took a few effortless steps, my feet light as air to me despite being heavy as stone. I leaned against a table, pressing my weight against it. I rebalanced myself, pushing myself up into a handstand on the table.

The table cracked, slumping down. I kept balanced despite the sudden shift. A second later, the table caved inwards, but I kept myself in my handstand without any difficulty. Even with the sudden changes in size and weight recently, this body was my home now. Nothing about it was foreign. For some reason, doing this wasn't surprising. In my mind, it was to be expected.

I let my feet fall forward before turning into a sprint. I front flipped before landing in a perfect split. I glanced down, awe struck at the ridiculousness of it all. I laughed aloud at myself. I was a gymnast now.

A fly flew past me, and I waited till it was behind me. I pulled my legs together, making me stand upright again. Stepping backwards, and off the sound of the fly alone, I jerked my hand back and grabbed the fly out of the air. As I did so, I tried not to crush it.

When I pulled the fly in front of me, I hadn't even torn a wing off the thing. The fly buzzed in between my index finger and thumb, alive and well. I'll admit it. That surprised me. I let the fly go before cracking my neck. The difference from before was starker than I thought it would be.

With that in mind, I checked the beautiful numbers.

Level 496 Attribute Totals

Strength - Increases carrying weight, maximum speed, and physical power 252.6

Constitution - Increases hardness, density, and weight of your body 562.1

Endurance - Increases regeneration of stamina, health, and their totals 567

Dexterity - Increases ease of movement, flexibility, and reflexes 100

Willpower - Increases internal motivation, mana regen, and Mental Res 270