As a member of a religious sect, and apprentice of a priestess, I was floored. While her stats were impressive, what she had in her inventory caught my attention immediately. Those names to those book titles couldn’t be ignored, and I wasn’t sure if she’d forgotten to get rid of them before agreeing to party up with me.

  Maybe she forgot she had them?

  Well, not all of them were questionable for someone of her position at the temple. There was one book here on cooking.

  When she removed her finger from my lips her face was a subtle hint of red. And she was staring me down like a hawk, probably waiting on my comment.

  I gave her a sheepish chuckle and said, “Interesting collection of items you got there!”

  Tanvi’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, her feline pupils diting in the temperate sunlight. “I suppose they are, aren’t they?” she replied, crossing her arms defensively. “Lu, don’t you dare go running off to tell the priestess. I swear on my nine lives—”

  I held my hands up to surrender, trying to keep myself from chuckling at her raunchy stash. “No worries, Tanvi. However you choose to spend your downtime is of no concern to me.”

  “I forgot they were there, okay?!”

  “Well, that tells me how long you had them,” I teased.

  She gasped, her face turning even a hotter shade of red. “It’s not like that!”

  “It’s nothing to be ashamed about. If it makes you feel better, I had a small collection myself back home. So there, we are both guilty,” I caved in and snickered. “Besides the volumes and some interesting items, your stats are pretty impressive, Tanvi.”

  She beamed. “Really? You’re not just saying that to be nice?”

  “Not at all. Level 32, rank B-. But, rogue css?”

  “I’ll be changing my profession soon when I officially become a priestess, like Kai. Before she became a priestess, she was a hunter. And before I was inducted to the sect, I was a rogue thief.”

  “So traditionally, aren’t priests and priestesses healers?”

  “True priests and priestesses are. But we weren’t born into the sect. It’s pretty rare that Kai has such a strong connection to our goddess, seeing as she wasn’t a true priestess. It makes her all the more special!”

  “What makes you a true priest?”

  “Purity of heart, honestly. Even if you were born into a sect, that very important part must apply. So you see now why there are very few healers out there.”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “And you see why you’re extra valuable to Ecuzni!” She smirked. “Our codex appoints a selection of csses according to what it thinks you’ll excel in, based on your strong points. Normally, you can’t change it, so even though my official title would be priestess, I’d still have rogue in my codex.”

  “So you’ll be a rogue priestess?” I smiled.

  “I know, it sounds silly, doesn’t it?! But thems the rules.”

  “Css rogue thief, profession, priestess. Now, there’s a conversation starter. It makes you all the more unique, Tanvi. I’m gd Kai was able to help you.”

  She blushed. “Yes… she is in fact a very special person to me for sure.”

  “So, we raid this beginner’s dungeon and do some leveling.”

  “It’s a tier two dungeon, usually not a dungeon for beginners per say, but I promise, you’ll do fine! You have me in your party!”

  “Heh, no sweat. I’m not worried.”

  After a while longer, we made it to a dry terrain area. But we weren’t alone. When I gnced over my shoulder, I noticed that the field was littered with giant spiders!

  I used [Inspect] on them, each one around the same level:

  [Dire Spider, Level: 14]

  [Dire Spider, Level: 16]

  [Dire Spider, Level: 15]

  “Okay, totally different experience off game,” I muttered to myself. “They look bigger in person.”

  “Oh, you have dire spiders on Earth?”

  “No, just Australia. Those things are huge!”

  “Oh, those are nothing! They can get two even three times bigger!”

  “Heh, good thing I don’t have a fear of bugs or arachnids!”

  “If we beat them together, experience points toward leveling would be split. If you do it solo, you get to keep it all. But the benefit of partying is better chances of raiding these dungeons to the end. Think you can beat at least one of them by yourself?”

  “With this sword,” I said as I drew my Kingsfang from my hip, releasing it from its sheath. “I’m sure I can handle it. Watch Starr for me. I don’t want her getting hurt.”

  “Erm, may I remind you what happened st time when I was left alone with her? Your baby dragon isn’t exactly friendly, you know!”

  I chuckled. “Well, she’s got to get used to you, Tanvi. Just don’t do anything to frighten her, and we should be good.”

  Tanvi looked about as thrilled as a fish out of water. “Right. Nothing to frighten the angry baby dragon, a true monster in the making. You do know that dragons are one of the deadliest races in Etheryn, right?” She pouted. “We should have left her back at the vilge.”

  Starr was prompt to hiss at her comment, and I quickly intercepted her. “Hey, none of that, Starr. Tanvi here is part of the team, which means that we have to respect and protect each other.” I said sternly, looking into the young dragon’s eyes. Tanvi gave me a sideways gnce, looking less than pleased, and then sure enough, Starr tossed her that same energy. “Girls?”

  “I’m not the one trying to start a fight!” Tanvi insisted.

  “Be a good girl, all right?” Starr seemed to understand my words as she stopped all of the hostility and purred softly.

  I let her down gently on the ground a few yards from Tanvi, who instantly shrunk back. When I started to move in toward our target, she started following me.

  It took some back and forth to finally get her to sit and wait for me. I knew she was very protective of me since I healed her, but I needed to keep her safety priority number one.

  When she finally understood my very simple request, I was able to close in, itching to use my new bde for the first time. As I entered the monsters’ territory, the lower-leveled one of the bunch took notice, pausing its seemingly mindless wandering to hiss and skitter toward me. Each of its eight eyes gred at me, its rge, oozing mandibles cpping as the cws at the head of them clicked. I bet it was itching for its next meal. While I was unlike the usual desert fare, I wasn’t on the menu.

  “Lu, be careful not to get too close,” came Tanvi’s voice from over my shoulder. “They can spit venom.”

  “Watch out for spit. Got used to that already.” I paused. “What else should I know about these dire spiders?” I shouted.

  “Web discharge. Oh! And they are actually faster than they look!”

  I grunted softly, thinking that this wasn’t going to be an easy score as I thought. But that didn’t deter me from trying. Thinking about my boxing gym obsession, I was pnning on treating this fight like any other in the ring. Every one of my senses heightened as I watched the spider fan out to fnk me. Its sideways back and forth gait was disturbing, but strategic.

  The spider lunged first, with its pincers poised to strike, but I sidestepped it before diving in with a ssh of my Kingsfang into its abdomen.

  [HP: 90%]

  The spider screeched, recoiling from the shining bde. It quickly regained its ground and retaliated with a burst of web. Reacting just in time, I leaped back, evading the sticky trap. The webbing missed me by an inch, lodging itself into the dry ground instead.

  “Wooo! You got this, Lu!” Tanvi cheered from the sidelines. “You squash that slimy insect!”

  Was it me or did it look like the insect took that taunt to heart? It charged at me with a ferocity that would have made my hairs stand on end if I wasn’t so invested in the moment. Its eyes, all eight of them gleaming, boring into my own, and carried an intent that was unmistakable: kill or be killed.

  I backed up, dodging its vicious leg strikes with my bde as they came. It was fast, just as Tanvi had warned. But my agility was faster. Barely.

  “Stay on the offensive,” Tanvi yelled, sounding like my coach back at the boxing ring. Though being offensive was easier said than done when your opponent was a giant arachnid with eight legs that could probably eat you whole if given half a chance. Being this close to it with such an advantage it had was deadly, so I decided to reel the odds to my favor and finally test out my new skill, [Burning Ssh].

  On the way here, Tanvi told me how to summon sigils for my spells. As long as I had enough mana, and the corresponding skill scroll, it was as easy as going into my codex mid-fight and selecting the scroll from my skill locker with an internal command. [Burning Ssh] was all I had to say in my head for the red burning sigil to form in front of my bde, followed by the skill’s properties. Instantly, my Kingsfang was engulfed in hot fmes. When the spider went in for another stab at me, it was met with the sharp edge of my bde, and the hot fury it was packing.

  I just tore one of its legs off clean, like a steamy knife running through a brick of butter.

  [HP: 80%]

  It wasn’t a critical hit, but that was expected. I needed to strike a vital point, and luckily for me, missing a limb didn’t deter the dire spider. Relentless, it struck at me again, and swiftly, I sidestepped, carefully timing my next strike. Another leg down—it was barricading me, catching onto my pn of aiming for its abdomen. Another venomous spit to keep me moving—I was on top of that too. Anything it tossed at me, I had it covered. I was used to pying defensively, and right now, I was in this lesser monster’s headspace.

  Mind games were Louis’ specialty, and I picked up a few things from him. He said that once you’re in your opponent’s head, it was game over. The opening I was looking for was looking more and more exposed the faster I hacked away at these body parts.

  I knew I couldn’t miss. One shot, one chance. Finally, after my st strike, I found the gap I’d been looking for. The monster’s body shifted just enough as it lunged again, a wild, crippled charge that left one side of its abdomen exposed.

  I lunged forward at the same moment. Time seemed to slow down as I swung the Kingsfang, my fmes licking across the bde and casting long, fierce whips of heat across the sand. The spider’s gleaming eyes went wide as realization dawned on it. A second too te.

  “BURN!” I cried out, sweeping my fming sword in an arc toward its abdomen. I packed it up with a smooth slice, its guts spraying in the wind.

  [Critical Hit!]

  “Yeah! You go, Lu!” Tanvi cheered.

  There was a crunching, ripping sound as my bde cut through hardened carapace and sank deep into supple flesh. The spider screeched and thrashed, flinging its remaining limbs in a frenzy.

  With a roar that echoed in the desote surroundings, the spider writhed and squealed in pain as burning fmes ignited its body.

  [HP: 0%]

  “Give me an L, L! Give me a U, U!” Tanvi carried on, doing cheerleader poses in the background. Well, she sure wasn’t kidding when she said she knew how to dance. I might have to upgrade her from personal hype girl to personal cheerleading solo squad.

  You’ve leveled up:

  Level 8

  [current skill slots open: 0]

  -Free Points Accumuted: 15-

  Level 8? This pure bloodline boost didn’t mess around! Since I’d dropped to Etheryn, I’d only beaten two monsters. Granted they were both slightly higher leveled than me, but I was leveling up so damn fast that it was making my head spin.

  I wanted to join in her celebration, but the fight wasn’t over just yet. Buddy over there just watched me roast his friend, and he wanted revenge.