Chapter 24: Level up!
2.6k 32 42
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

Lilith was in the middle of zoning out to some mindless action movie when she got the first messages.

Your party member Siph has killed a Young Wall-Breaker Worm! You gain 1438 EXP! Experience has been doubled by Accelerated Growth (Temporary)! 1/10th of this experience has been added to each Racial Class!

Congratulations, your Class has leveled up! (x28)

Congratulations, you have gained a Racial Class level! (x30)

Congratulations, by leveling up you have unlocked your previously sealed Skills!

Because you reached the level the system judged you would have been at were you born into this system, Accelerated Growth (Temporary) has been removed.

You have leveled up a total of 58 times. Level up 42 more times to remove Weighted Training Body!

Congratulations, you have obtained Growth Up (Minor)!

Growth Up (Minor)
Level 1: 261/100 EXP (Experience gained by increasing your stats by leveling up a Class)
Rank: Uncommon
Each stat has an additional 1% chance to gain a point upon leveling up any Class.
Get stronger, faster.
 Congratulations, Growth Up (Minor) has leveled up! (x2)

Congratulations, you have gained Class Experience Up (Minor)!

Class Experience Up (Minor)
Level 1: 435/100 EXP (Experience gained by gaining Class levels. Rate of gain dependent on Rank of Class.)
Rank: Rare
Increases Class experience gained by 1%.
Gotta grow fast!
Congratulations, Class Experience Up (Minor) has leveled up! (x3)

Congratulations, you have obtained Racial Class Experience Up (Minor)!

Racial Class Experience Up (Minor)
Level 1: 900/100 EXP (Experience gained by gaining Racial Class levels)
Rank: Rare
Increases Racial Class Experience gained by 1%
Your progress will surely race forward now!

Congratulations! Racial Class Experience Up (Minor) has leveled up! (x6)

Congratulations, you have gained Skill Experience Up (Minor)!

Skill Experience Up (Minor)
Level 1: 31/100 EXP (Experience gained by leveling up Skills. Rate of gain dependent on Rank of Skill.)
Rank: Rare
Increases Skill Experience gained by 1%. 
Skills to pay the bills.

Congratulations, Greedy Gallop has leveled up!

Congratulations, Patience’s Payoff has leveled up! (x2)

For leveling up more than 25 times without directly performing a single action that would grant you EXP, you have gained the Title Acolyte of Sloth. As you are the first to gain this Title, you gain the Achievement Original Sin: Sloth and the Title Original Sin: Sloth. Because you have the Title Original Sin: Sloth, and there is no one currently holding Sin: Sloth, you gain the Title Sin: Sloth. Because you have the Title Sin: Sloth, you gain the Titles Disciple of Sloth and Embodiment of Sloth while ignoring the usual requirements.

For leveling up more than 50 times without directly performing a single action that would grant you EXP, you have unlocked the requirements for the Title Disciple of Sloth. As you already have this Title, no further benefits are gained.

Congratulations, you have obtained the Skill Sloth’s Supper!

Sloth’s Supper
Level 1: 20/100 EXP (One experience earned for every 100 received from someone other than yourself)
Rank: Exclusive
If you gain experience from the actions of someone else, you gain 50% more experience.
Who said sitting around doing nothing wouldn’t get you anywhere in life?

For leveling up more than 10 times with a single action, you have gained the Title Acolyte of Gluttony. As you are the first to gain this title, you gain the Achievement Original Sin: Gluttony and the Title Original Sin: Gluttony. Because you have the Title Original Sin: Gluttony, and there is no one currently holding Sin: Gluttony, you gain the Title Sin: Gluttony. Because you have the Title Sin: Gluttony, you gain the Titles Disciple of Gluttony and Embodiment of Gluttony while ignoring the usual requirements.

For leveling up more than 25 times with a single action, you have unlocked the requirements for the Title Disciple of Gluttony. As you already have this Title, no further benefits are gained.

For leveling up more than 50 times with a single action, you have unlocked the requirements for the Titles Embodiment of Gluttony and Sin: Gluttony. As you already have these Titles, no further benefits are gained.

Congratulations, you have obtained the Skill Glutton’s Gullet!

Glutton’s Gullet
Level 1: 0/100 EXP (one experience earned for every 100 stored)
Rank: Exclusive
If you reach the maximum level in a Class or Skill, experience gained for that Class or Skill is no longer lost. Instead, it is stored until you select a new Class or evolve the Skill. All experience put into the storage is increased by 50%.
In times of plenty it is best to stockpile your food. And, perhaps, delaying a meal might make it taste even better.

“So.” Lilith said, pausing the movie. “What’s this about Siph being in my party?”

Kali winked. “I did some messing around with the system and got it to recognize Familial Bond as a party. Party members can choose to share EXP with other party members, and I made sure that defaulted to on. Normally the experience is divided evenly among the party, but since you’re the only one in your party who can actually gain EXP it’s all yours. Go ahead and take a look at your Status now, it should be looking much better.”

Name: Lilith
Race: Perfect Chimera
Current Class: Progenitor
Class Level: 29
Other Classes:
None
Total Level: 29
EXP: 76/100
HP: 920/920 (+3.4/s)
Mana: 770/770(+1.2/s)
Stamina: 930/930 (+4.5/s)
Power: 108
Defense: 87
Magic Power: 76
Magic Defense: 76
Speed: 76
Charm: 56
(Sealed Bonuses from Titles, Achievements, and Skills hidden)

Attribute Affinity:
None
(Sealed Affinities Hidden)

Attribute Resistance:
None
(Sealed Resistances Hidden)

Achievements and Titles
Titles:

Acolyte of Chastity
Acolyte of Envy
Acolyte of Gluttony
Acolyte of Greed
Acolyte of Humility
Acolyte of Kindness
Acolyte of Charity
Acolyte of Lust
Acolyte of Patience
Acolyte of Pride
Acolyte of Sloth
Arbiter of Envy and Kindness
Arbiter of Greed and Charity
Arbiter of Lust and Chastity
Arbiter of Pride and Humility
Benevolent Leader
Conflicted One
Disciple of Chastity
Disciple of Envy
Disciple of Gluttony
Disciple of Greed
Disciple of Humility
Disciple of Kindness
Disciple of Charity
Disciple of Lust
Disciple of Patience
Disciple of Pride
Disciple of Sloth
Eldritch Abomination
Embodiment of Chastity
Embodiment of Envy 
Embodiment of Gluttony
Embodiment of Greed 
Embodiment of Humility
Embodiment of Kindness 
Embodiment of Charity
Embodiment of Lust
Embodiment of Patience
Embodiment of Pride
Embodiment of Sloth
Independent Dungeon
Keeper of Knowledge
Origin of Chastity
Origin of Envy 
Origin of Gluttony
Origin of Greed 
Origin of Humility
Origin of Kindness 
Origin of Charity
Origin of Lust
Origin of Patience
Origin of Pride
Origin of Sloth
Patron
Progenitor
Seeker of Knowledge
Sin: Envy 
Sin: Gluttony
Sin: Greed
Sin: Lust
Sin: Pride
Sin: Sloth
Sinful One
Skill Engineer
System’s Chosen
Tyrant
Vessel
Virtue: Chastity
Virtue: Humility
Virtue: Kindness 
Virtue: Charity
Virtue: Patience
Virtuous One

Achievements:
Dragon Whisperer
It Takes a Village
Original Sin
Original Sin: Gluttony
Original Sin: Greed
Original Sin: Envy
Original Sin: Lust
Original Sin: Pride
Original Sin: Sloth
Original Virtue
Original Virtue: Chastity
Original Virtue: Humility 
Original Virtue: Kindness
Original Virtue: Charity
Original Virtue: Patience
One and Only
Progenitor

Active Skills:
Chastity’s Clarity: Lv. 1
Envious Elevation: Lv. 1
Escape Artist: Lv. 2
Give and Take: Lv. 8
Kindness’ Kiss: Lv. 1
Charitable Contribution: Lv. 1
Lustful Look: Lv. 1
Zoan’s Barrier: Lv. 3

Passive Skills:
Acidborn: Lv. 5
Breath Holding: Lv. 5
Class Experience Up (Minor): Lv. 4
Digging Enhancement: Lv. 2
Electric Resistance (Moderate): Lv. 3
Eye of the Dragon: Lv. 3
Familial Bond (Root): Lv. 2
Fireborn: Lv. 5
Flight Enhancement: Lv. 5
Form Anchoring: Lv. Max
Glutton’s Gullet: Lv. 1
Greedy Gallop: Lv. 2
Growth Up (Minor): Lv. 3
Humble Abode: Lv. 1
Identification Obfuscation: Lv. Max
King’s Knowledge: Lv. Err
Overflowing Strength: Lv. 4
Patience’s Payoff: Lv. 6
Pride’s Palace: Lv. 1
Racial Class Experience Up (Minor): Lv. 7
Running Enhancement: Lv. 7
Skill Experience Up (Minor): Lv. 1
Sleepless: Lv. 1
Sloth’s Supper: Lv. 1
Swimming Enhancement: Lv. 6
Water Breathing: Lv. 5
Weighted Training Body: Lv. Max

Combined Skills:
Advanced Suppression: Lv. 2
            -  King’s Knowledge: Lv. Err
            - Suppression: Lv. 2
Innate Spellcaster: Lv. 2
              - Decipher: Lv. 5
                        - Help Yourself: Lv. Max
                                     - King’s Knowledge: Lv. Err
                                    - Instinct (Knowledge): Lv. Max
                        - Omniglot: Lv. Max
My Other Self: Lv. 7
             - Avatar: Lv. 7
                        - Parallel Processing: Lv. 3
             - Jekyll and Hyde: Lv. 7
             - The Mask: Lv. Max
Patron: Lv. 1
            - King’s Knowledge: Lv. Err
            - Eldritch Abomination: Lv. 6
                        - Breath Weapon: Lv. 3
                        - Dragon Mantle: Lv. 2
                        - Electric Spines: Lv. 4
                        - Light of Knowledge: Lv. 3
                                    - Night Vision: Lv. 5
                        - Mad Scientist: Lv. 1
                        - Ruler’s Right: Lv. 3
                                    - Assimilation: Lv. 2
                                    - Seeker of Knowledge: Lv. 1
                                                - Horrid Fascination: Lv. 2
                                                 - Unknowable Entity: Lv. 3
                                                            - Intimidating Presence: Lv. 1
                                                - Telepathy: Lv. 4
                                    - Vessel: Lv. 5

 

Racial Classes:
Humanoid (Sentient) (Perfect): Lv. 3
Non-Humanoid (Sentient) (Perfect): Lv. 3
Animal (Terrestrial) (Perfect): Lv. 3
Animal (Aquatic) (Perfect): Lv. 3
Animal (Volant) (Perfect): Lv. 3
Plant (Perfect): Lv. 3
Monster (Humanoid) (Perfect): Lv. 3
Monster (Terrestrial) (Perfect): Lv. 3
Monster (Aquatic) (Perfect): Lv. 3
Monster (Volant) (Perfect): Lv. 3
Monster (Plant) (Perfect): Lv. 3
Undead (Perfect): Lv. 3
Dungeon Core (Perfect): Lv. 3
Other: Lv. 3

Special Racial Class:
Chimera (Perfect): Lv. 3

Skill Points:
45

“Is a level 29…supposed to be this strong?” Lilith asked.

“You kidding? Of course not! Not only did I give you a busted Class, you just leveled up every single Racial Class in existence twice. Sure, you’re not getting anywhere close to their full growth potential on any given level,” She paused, smirking, “Yet. But you still gained quite a bit from those levels.”

“What do you mean I’m not getting close to their full growth potential?”

Kali shrugged. “It has to do with how lumping those Classes together works. Since the system doesn’t want to give thousands of stat points with a single level, it’s locked several chunks of the growth rate of your Racial Classes until you unlock them with Skill Points. Don’t worry, though, once you do unlock those it’ll activate retroactively.”

“And what are these Skill Points I’m seeing?” Lilith said, ignoring another pop-up window that appeared, presumably from Siph killing something.

“Racial Class Skill unlocks are quite a bit looser than regular Class unlocks. Instead of set Skills every few levels, it gives you a Skill Point and choices of Skills you can get. Bringing the class to maximum level should give exactly enough Skill Points to get everything. For now, I’d advise leaving those alone. I have something I think would be a good use for them.”

“Sure.” Lilith said. Again, she caught the briefest flash of an annoyed look on Kali’s face but was quickly distracted by the windows that were quickly piling up in the corner of her vision.

Your party member Siph has killed a Young Purple Worm! You gain 1425 EXP! 1/10th of this experience has been added to each Racial Class! Class experience and Racial Class experience have been boosted by Class Experience Up (Minor) and Racial Class Experience Up (Minor), Greedy Gallop, and Sloth’s Supper (This message will display 4 more times before it stops displaying. At that time, extra experience gained will be factored into the EXP shown)!

Your party member Siph has killed a Juvenile Wall-Breaker Worm! You gain 2480 EXP! …

Your party member Siph has killed a Young Wall-Breaker Worm! You gain 1394 EXP! …

Your party member Siph has killed a Young Wall-Breaker Worm! You gain 1440 EXP!

Your party member Siph has killed a Wall-Breaker Worm! You gain 3869 EXP!

The experience gain messages stopped after that, but there were even more messages awaiting her attention afterwards.

You have gained a Class level! (x71)

You have gained a Racial Class level! (x120)

You have reached level 100 in Progenitor! Please pick a new Class!

You have reached level 100 in a Class for the first time! Experience earned while your main Class is at maximum level is lost until you set another class as your main Class. This message will not be shown again.

You have leveled up 100 times! Weighted Training Body has been upgraded to Weights Lifted!

Weighted Training Body
Level Max
Rank: Unique
Your stats were reset by the system. All non-level bonuses to affinities, resistances, and stats are sealed.

Weight Lifted
Level 1: 0/100 EXP (Gain EXP by performing actions while under the effects of Weights Lifted)
Rank: Unique
You leveled up 100 times while the system actively sealed your true ability. You have figured out how to overcome this restriction, removing the seal. Furthermore, this knowledge allows you to temporarily increase bonuses to stats, resistances, and affinities granted by Titles, Achievements and Skills by 100%. Doing so places great stress on your body, however, and Weighted Training Body is reactivated after the effects of Weights Lifted ends. The length of the reactivation is dependent on the time spent in this. You may not be under the effects of Weights Lifted for more than one hour at a time. You may reactivate Weights Lifted while Weighted Training Body is active but doing so will exponentially lengthen the recovery period.
If anyone asks, you can say that yes, you do lift.
Congratulations, you have gained the Skill First Come, First Serve!
First Come, First Serve
Level 1: 927/100 EXP (Gain EXP by gaining stats from Classes you were first to have. Experience gained is dependent on the Rank of the Class.)
Rank: Unique
If you are the first to obtain a Class, growth rates in that class are increased by 5%.
Nature doesn’t discriminate. I do.

Congratulations, First Come, First Serve has leveled up! (x6)

Congratulations, you have gained the Skill The Early Bird Gets the Worm!

The Early Bird Gets the Worm
Level 1: 1,500/100 EXP (Gain EXP by leveling up Classes you were first to have. Experience gained is dependent on the Rank of the Class.)
Rank: Unique
If you are the first to obtain a Class, experience gained towards leveling that Class up is increased by 5%.
I suppose you’re early like the person robbing the store a night before release is early.

Congratulations, The Early Bird Gets the Worm has leveled up! (x9)

Congratulations, The Early Bird Gets the Worm has reached maximum level! Please inspect the Skill to see evolution options!

Congratulations, you have gained the Skill First and Foremost!

First and Foremost
Level 1: 3,300/100 EXP (Gain EXP by leveling up Racial Classes)
Rank: Unique
If you were the first to possess your Racial Class, experience gained towards leveling that Class up is increased by 5%
The oldest is the one most skilled at staying alive. You’re only technically the oldest, but technicalities work anyway.

Congratulations, First and Foremost has leveled up! (x9)

Congratulations, First and Foremost has reached maximum level! Please inspect the Skill to see evolution options!

Congratulations, you have gained the skill Journey of 1000 Miles! 

Journey of 1000 Miles
Level 1: 3,700/100 EXP (Gain EXP by obtaining new Skills. Experience gained is dependent on the Rank of the Skill.)
Rank: Unique
All experienced gained by “introductory” level Skills is increased by 5%.
Begins with a single step. Unless you’re flying. Or swimming. Or burrowing. Or taking public transportation. Or, in this case, sitting around watching movies.

Congratulations, Journey of 1,000 miles has leveled up! (x9)

Congratulations, Journey of 1,000 miles has reached maximum level! Please inspect the Skill to see evolution options!

Congratulations, you have obtained the Skill Alpha and Omega!

Alpha and Omega
Level 1: 1,390/100 EXP (Gain EXP by leveling up Unique Skills or Classes, as well as by obtaining Unique Achievements, Titles, Skills, and Classes.)
Rank: Unique
All effects of Unique Achievements, Titles, and Skills are increased by 5%. Unique Rank Achievements, Titles, Skills, and Classes cannot be stolen from you by any means.
You were the first, and you will be the last. I’ll make sure no one can ever take that from you.

Congratulations, Alpha and Omega has leveled up! (x9)

Congratulations, Alpha and Omega has reached maximum level! Please inspect the Skill to see evolution options!

Congratulations, Class Experience Up (Minor) has leveled up! (x6)

Congratulations, Class Experience Up (Minor) has evolved into Class Experience Up (Moderate)!

Congratulations, Glutton’s Gullet has leveled up!

Congratulations, Greedy Gallop has leveled up! (x4)

Congratulations, Growth Up (Minor) has leveled up! (x5)

Congratulations, Racial Class Experience Up (Minor) has leveled up! (x3)

Congratulations, Racial Class Experience Up (Minor) has evolved into Racial Class Experience Up (Moderate)!

Congratulations, Racial Class Experience Up (Moderate) has leveled up! (x7)

Congratulations, Patience’s Payoff has leveled up! (x4)

Congratulations, Skill Experience Up (Minor) has leveled up!

For working hard towards your goal and gaining an astronomical amount of strength in a short period of time, you have gained the Titles Acolyte of Diligence, Disciple of Diligence, Embodiment of Diligence, and Virtue: Diligence. As you are the first to gain these Titles, you gain the Achievement Original Virtue: Diligence and the Title Original Virtue: Diligence. As you currently hold both Sin: Sloth and Virtue: Diligence, you gain the Title Arbiter of Sloth and Diligence!

Congratulations, you have obtained the Skill Diligence’s Dinner!

Diligence’s Dinner
Level 1: 0/100 EXP (One experience earned for every level gained)
Rank: Exclusive
Experience gained is increased by 5%.
Hard works pays off.

Lilith took a deep breath and opened her Status, looking only at the box with stats in it, as not much else actually changed that she wasn’t already aware of.

 

“Kali.” Lilith said flatly.

“What’s wrong?” Kali answered with exaggerated innocence.

“Don’t you think we’re moving a bit…fast?”

“I don’t think we’re moving fast enough.” She said with a sly smile. “I invite you into my room, change into my pajamas, watch a movie on you with you on my bed, and you haven’t even tried to hold my hand, let alone anything else!” She laughed at Lilith’s unimpressed expression. “Sorry, you made it way too easy. And no, I honestly don’t. Again, busted class. Keeping that in mind, I also just had Siph go torch some relatively high power monsters, although there’s a limit to how strong they can get without the new system, so their EXP is pretty low compared to what they normally would give. Anyway, it’s about time you picked your next Class. I’ve been itching to see how physical combat Classes will stack up…”

“How do I do that?” Lilith asked.

“Ah, right. Just focus on changing your Class. You should get a list of options once you do.”

“Alright. Give me a second, then…” Lilith focused as instructed, and read the window in front of her.

Available Classes:
Archer
Brawler
Chef
Climber
Digger
Driver
Flyer
Gunslinger
Lich
Linguist
Mage
Mathematician
Musician
Progenitor (Reset)
Programmer
Runner
Scholar
Sorcerer
Student
Swimmer
Swordswoman
Wandering Core
Warlock

Status:

Name: Lilith
Race: Perfect Chimera
Current Class: Progenitor
Class Level: 100
Other Classes:
None
Total Level: 100
EXP: 18,595 (Stored)

HP: 7,381/7,381 (+1,481) (+18.4/s)
Mana: 3,825/3,825 (-425) (+6.2/s)
Stamina: 5,550/5,550 (+19.5/s)
Power: 600 (+128)
Defense: 431
Magic Power: 357
Magic Defense: 353
Speed: 335
Charm: 244

Attribute Affinity:
Acid: 65%
Air: 15%
Cold: 15%
Earth: 15%
Electric: 15%
Fire: 65%
Force: 15%
Light: 15%
Non-Attributed: 15%
Poison: 45%
Psychic: 240%
Sonic: 15%
Space: 15%
Shadow: 15%
Time: 15%
Water: 15%

Attribute Resistance:
Acid: 65%
Air: 15%
Cold: 15%
Earth: 15%
Electric: 30%
Fire: 65%
Force: 15%
Light: 15%
Non-Attributed: 15%
Poison: 60%
Psychic: 345%
Sonic: 15%
Space: 15%
Shadow: 15%
Time: 115%
Water: 15%

Condition Resistance:
Charm Immunity
Slow Immunity

Without too much of a thought, she selected Swordswoman.

Error: System access has been blocked by a powerful effect! Please leave the area or somehow cleanse the effect to continue!

Lilith shot Kali a quizzical look. “Why isn’t it letting me change my Class?”

Kali was wearing that frown again. “So. Let’s talk about this. You need to stop letting other people’s opinions sway how you act, especially when it comes to your abilities. If you’re going to be the one keeping the peace when this all goes down, you can’t let everyone walk all over you. It’s one thing to take someone’s advice, but it’s completely different when you’re basically letting them make the decision for you. If you want to really help me out, then I need you to do what you want to do, and I am well aware of what you want to do. So, we’re going to sit here until you do that. “

“Yes, mam.” Lilith said, looking downwards.

“Good. And this isn’t the last we’re going to talk about this, either. We’re going to break this submissive streak of yours at some point, but not now. For now, just change your Class, alright?”

Lilith nodded, and made her choice.

You have chosen to reset Progenitor. Would you like to continue?

Lilith confirmed her decision and was met with a flood of messages.

You have reset Progenitor! Your Status has been updated to reflect this change!

You have gained a Class level! (x99)

You have reached level 100 in Progenitor! Please pick a new Class!

Congratulations, Growth Up (Minor) has leveled up! (x3)

Congratulations, Growth Up (Minor) has evolved into Growth Up (Moderate)!

Congratulations, Growth Up (Moderate) has leveled up! (x2)

Congratulations, Greedy Gallop has leveled up! (x3)

Congratulations, First Come, First Serve has leveled up! (x3)

Congratulations, First Come, First Serve has reached the maximum level! Please inspect the Skill to see evolution options!

Congratulations, Skill Experience Up (Minor) has leveled up!

Congratulations, Diligence's Dinner has leveled up!

Satisfied, Lilith nodded. “Alright. I’ll wait like this until Siph can get me some more EXP.”

“Actually,” Kali said, “I was thinking we could get you your next Virtue real quick. Siph just finished off that nest, so we might as well let her rest back here.”

“Fair enough. What are we doing?”

“Unfortunately, these last two are going to be the most annoying to get. Wrath is going to require you to kill a lot of things, which we’re going to wait to do since it’ll be more efficient later. Abstinence…well, it’s easy but it’ll take a while and it’ll be a pain. Basically, I’m going to need you to go on a fast for a day or two. No food or drink, no entertainment, no contact with others, and unfortunately, no conscious attempts to gain EXP or level up. Just sitting there, probably contemplating life or meditating or whatever. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s effective. Is that alright with you?”

“Best to just take care of it, I suppose.”

“Good. I’ll be working on getting things ready for you to get Wrath while you do that, alright? After we do that it should speed things up a lot. If you head over there,” She motioned to a door to the right side of the room, “I’ve got a secondary bedroom set up. Go in there and don’t come out until you get the Title, OK?”

“Ok.” Lilith said, walking over to the door. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

Look, I can explain.

I fully intended to release this on Sunday or Monday.

I also fully intended to get Abstinence this chapter.

But, best laid plans and all that. So, let's have a little chat. I'm not terribly happy with this chapter, if I'm being honest. I intended there to be more talking and less boxes, but when I reached what is now the end of this chapter I realized I was at nearly 4000 words. So, I had to split the chapter. This chapter is a bit of an outlier with regards to how message heavy it is, so don't expect another chapter quite like this in the near future, as I did not intend it to be this way. That being as it is, I have decided to release it as a bonus so the next release isn't so starved of story content. That being said, next chapter will be Lilith and not Carmen so the viewpoint switches where I actually wanted it to finish. And, hopefully sometime next week, we'll be getting an actual bonus chapter which will also be Lilith's viewpoint, which I'll talk about later.

Oh, and you might have noticed, but I threw a real quick and dirty cover together. I got the photo from the user free-photos on the site pixabay, and slapped the title on in a font I hope isn't too pretentious or too boring. I ended up with a default windows background sort of aesthetic, as I wanted a mountain with trees to (kind of) represent the place where they met Siph, but what can you do?

As a heads up, I am moving in three weeks. This hopefully shouldn't impact releases, as I'm just moving from student housing back to my parent's place, so it's not a huge deal, something that took a day when I moved in. The only likely change is me releasing chapters earlier in the day, but I'll keep people posted if something unexpected comes up.

Also, last housekeeping thing I thought of, I've noticed a lot of other creators have made a Discord for their stuff. Is that something people would be interested in having? If so I'm more than willing to set one up, but if it's something deemed not needed then I won't bother.

Anyway, chapter commentary. You all don't get to see the massive amounts of behind the scenes work that went into this chapter, as I tried to keep experience gains as internally consistent as possible. I didn't want things to just level up arbitrarily, the only thing I wanted to decide arbitrarily was when experience was gained (And, for Class/Racial Class, how much). So, I had to do a LOT of number crunching, and I know for a fact that what's currently listed is not correct. Or, well, wouldn't be correct if the experience gains were all made according to the rules. I didn't account for skills leveling up or unlocking until after all EXP had been tallied for a given 'session', most Skills didn't get the benefit of Skill Experience Up (Minor) like they should have, and a lot of Skills are likely over or under how much they should have just slightly. It's not enough to actually impact the story right now, so I'm letting it slide because that would have caused another enormous headache when I'm doing so much leveling.

Some of you are also likely getting somewhat frustrated that I haven't looked through all of Lilith's new Skills yet, but, rest assured, we'll get to those. Specifically, we'll get to them in that bonus chapter I mentioned earlier, which will just be Lilith looking through all of her Titles, Achievements, and Skills to see their effects. I haven't quite decided on where it'll fall on the in-universe timeline, and might actually be in multiple different 'sections' on the timeline as is convenient to me.

So, Lilith's growth. I honestly did not expect her to grow this fast. However, it should be noted that this growth rate is not sustainable; most of her stat growth is from either Racial Class levels, Titles, or Achievements, not Class. And, of course, those rates are going to slow down fast.

Speaking of growth rates, EXP scaling for Skills and Racial Classes. All "introductory" level Skills and Racial Classes (basically, the first Skill in its evolution tree) start at 100 EXP to the next level, and all Skills and Racial Classes scale by 10%. After a Skill evolves, EXP to the next level is dependant  on the Skill. As a general rule of thumb, the higher Rank a Skill is, the more EXP it'll take to level. For instance, Growth Up (Moderate) starts at 300 EXP to the next level, while Racial Class Experience Up (Moderate) and Class Experience Up (Moderate) start at 400, and the Unique Skills will start at 1,000.

And about Evolution, there are a couple things you might have noticed. First, some Skills automatically evolved while some required a prompt. Those that automatically evolved have no branching evolution paths. There's just one Skill they can become, so the system evolves it automatically (and, in the case of someone without Glutton's Gullet, EXP is not lost in this process, while it would be lost in manual evolutions), although someone can stop the system from doing that if they wish. Second, we haven't even looked at the Skill evolutions Lilith can get. There just wasn't a good time to bring it up, and it won't actually be relevant to growth, so Kali didn't feel the need to point it out to Lilith (More on that next chapter).

Oh, and don't expect to see Lilith's full Status much. It's just too lengthy to put in most of the time. Also, I know the Combined Skills section looks awful. I'm a bit stumped as to how to display the hierarchy of Skills there and make it look good. I had something OKish in my word document but I don't think it translated well. Next time we see it I'll try and format it better.

What you can expect to see is more of Kali whipping Lilith into shape, though. You can't have an enforcer who'll just basically go along with whatever anyone says. It was something of a requirement to get her into this situation (and also because I don't want to dramatically change Lilith's characterization now when I can do it gradually over the course of an arc), so Kali's doing what she can to remedy that now before it becomes a big problem later.

Two more items on the agenda today, the more boring of which would be wall-breaker worms, which are similar to purple worms. For those who don't know, purple worms are a monster in D&D, and in the latest edition they're actually rated about as difficult as some adult dragons. The worms killed here weren't quite as strong (although some older ones might reach that level), and Siph was quite a bit smarter than them (and far more powerful, falling neatly under the ancient dragon category), so it really wasn't much of a task to take them out. An especially observant reader might remember there being a mention of wall-breaker worms a while back, and if you did you've got my respect because I didn't. I was originally using purple worms and happened across wall-breaker worms a while back while looking through the previous chapters to make sure I didn't miss any Skills when transcribing them all (I probably did, too. Let me know if you can think of any).

And, finally, let's give some reasoning for the list of Classes Lilith has access to.
Archer - Lilith has shot a bow (toys count for both Gunslinger and Archer, but Lilith has shot real ones for both of those)
Brawler - Lilith's fought without weapons before (playground "fights" count)
Chef - Worked fast food
Climber - Has climbed trees and mountains
Digger - Digging counterpart to Runner, her brief practice with Geb let her qualify
Driver - Has a driver's license
Flyer - Flying counterpart to Runner
Gunslinger - See Archer
Lich - If that Avatar she has lying around empty (and Kali made sure to take that with them) doesn't count as a phylactery I don't know what does
Linguist - Her language wish
Mage - Knows some magic
Mathematician - Has studied advanced math, also her language wish
Musician - Her language wish
Programmer - Was studying programming in college
Runner - Has done a decent amount of running thanks to Agathe.
Scholar - Unlocked because of a combination of having Student unlocked and having King's Knowledge (You don't need King's Knowledge to get this class, usually you just need to have Student high enough. King's Knowledge provided a shortcut).
Sorcerer - Unlocked because of the magic wish.
Student - Basically anyone who's been to school will have this available
Swimmer - Swimming counterpart to Runner
Swordswoman - Played around with a toy sword as a kid (Has not actually used a real sword).
Wandering Core - Unlocked due to being a Dungeon Core that is capable of locomotion and does not have a Dungeon.
Warlock - A combination of knowing some magic and knowing a lot of Eldritch lore.

I...think that's all I wanted to talk about. See you (hopefully) in a couple of days when I post the next chapter. Regular schedule should resume after that provided there are no unforeseen complications.

42