[Minor Health Candy] : The crystallization of three heroes' passion for using plants in all the wrong ways. Consume to gain 500 maximum health. Will no longer work after ten uses. Don’t choke!

Already saw that one.

[Minor Strength Candy] : The crystallization of three heroes' passion for using plants in all the wrong ways again. Consume to gain 500 maximum strength, which in turn also gives 166 stamina. Will no longer work after ten uses. It tastes so good!

So these are the two biggest types; what about the small ones?

[Minor Healing Candy] : Consume to restore 5000 health, slower acting than a potion, it is also much less toxic. However, do not take more than one at a time.

I need a thousand of these. That’s much better than the glass vials. And slow acting just means that I can take it before casting the bolts and still get healed during it. Not even a downside.

[Night vision Candy] : Provides ten minutes of enhanced vision in low environments. The taste could be better.

How would Mr. Scribe know about the taste?

[Underwater breathing Candy] : Keep in your mouth to slowly release breathable air. Lasts for ten minutes, be careful not to swallow. Use for deep dives is strongly discouraged.

The name is very misleading for this one. I don’t know if that is better or worse than genuine underwater breathing. More versatile, yes, but so impractical…

[Healing Candy] : Consume to restore 50 000 health. Consuming more than one per week is highly discouraged. Level requirement: 100

That’s a good one too!

[Sleep Candy] : Consume to help enter a restorative sleep. Loses efficiency the higher your level. For personal use only!

That’s seven different types. “You made all of that in just a few months?”

“There were three of us working on it, but yes. What do you think?”

“It’s pretty incredible. Especially the stat ones. Are there stronger ones like there’s a stronger healing one?”

Zerei was observing one of the health candies from close up, holding it between two fingers right up to her eyes. Her green irises reflected in the shiny glaze of the brown candy, “There are, yes. Regular pills from the system give 5000, Major ones give 50 000. Both are very rare, only for high over-achievers in trials.” Then she showed the health candy to Alith, “Can I eat one?”

“You can eat ten if you want. I have like fifty of each of the stat candies, more for the other ones. Already ate all of mine too.”

“Thank you, I will train you well, yes!”

“Fifty thousand… If we can eat ten of those… Oh, are there other stats they can give?” Sofia asked Zerei.

The bird popped the candy into her mouth, and she answered as she chewed, “There’s Agility and Speed, both give some stamina like the strength ones, or so I was told, yes.”

Alith perked up, “No mana?”

“No, no mana. And no direct stamina, either. For some reason, mana is a very rigid stat compared to the other two. There are infinite ways to spend it, but only one way to gain it, only level-ups, yes.”

“Well, that’s a disappointment. It seems I am to be forever stuck with ten thousand mana. It’s still fine for now, but later…” Alith slumped in her seat in dismay.

Zerei finished swallowing her candy, “That would soon become a hindrance, yes. In particular, for fueling rituals and items, be it armor or weapons. I think this is a problem that might solve itself, though, yes.”

“Uh?”

“How so? Do you even understand why she’s like this?” It’s not like this is a normal thing. She’s still linked to my skill, even.

Zerei took a health candy and pushed it against Sofia’s mouth, “Eat up already, yes.”

Sofia reeled back, “Are you in a hurry?”

Alith answered for Zerei, “It takes a while for the stats to stabilize before you can take another one; I agree with the bird. I don’t want to stay here all night.”

“It’s not like I have to eat them here…” Sofia protested while she started to chew on the candy. It’s not bad, slightly sweet. The aftertaste is strange, but I’ve eaten worse… Her health points started to go up, one by one. This is indeed quite slow. “But, Zerei, you didn’t answer my question. How can you guess that Alith’s mana would fix itself?” She said after swallowing.

“Eh, I cannot say for sure, no. But once, a disabled Pri-… Avian, a disabled Avian who had a shriveled mana pool due to a birth defect, made it to the second trial. He came back healed at level 200. He was a pure warrior, so mana mattered less in his case, which is how he even got so high despite his handicap. He never told us exactly how he got cured, but everyone knows it happened during the trial, yes.”

“So there is still a chance…”

“Could things be fixed if I forget your skill?”

Zerei asked to see the skill description of [Maiden Banshee], and since Alith agreed, it happened. Zerei was already getting used to things being messed up when it related to Sofia and Alith. Her expression was all kinds of weird as she read the skill.

“I doubt that would help, no. And losing a way to revive someone is a great loss. Resurrection is not something that should even exist, no. To be honest, I am not even sure that the skill would work as it says. But Pareth can switch skeletons, so I don't know, no. But I would not take the risk.”

---

 

In the empty plains northeast of Couvauz, Sofia was trying to get Alith to guess Pareth’s current form.

“Are you sure I can even guess? I don’t know too many of the monsters in this world.”

“You should be able to. That is if you listened to me when I talked to you.”

“Eh, why make it such a big deal? Did you find a Dragon’s skeleton or something? Zerei killed the giant sandworm? You fried another Siren Queen while I was away?”

“None of those, but I'd say you’re on the right path. Here’s the ritual circle to give you an idea of the size.”

“Woah, yeah, that big. Is it the blind boar thing from the forest you mentioned? Wait, no… Didn’t you say the Ogres were from northeast of Couvauz?”

“I did.” Sofia chuckled.

“The Alpha Ogre? Didn’t you say it could be level 300? Oh… Zerei…”

“You got it!”

Sofia applauded and let the Ogre out of the bag.

Alith was surprised that the sunny day had suddenly turned dark, but she saw the shadow on the ground around her. She turned around.

“...”

Alith looked up. “Boy, you have done some mighty growing while I wasn’t looking. That’s a whole different realm compared to the chicken…” She turned back toward Sofia. Sofia had never seen Alith’s eyes open so wide. She wasn’t even blinking. “What level is Pareth again?!”

---

 

Name : Sofia Aphenoreth

Health : 10995 / 10995

Stamina : 3662 / 3662

Mana : 89000 / 89000

Five thousand health does make a big difference.

Sofia was sitting down in the sun ritual; this was the best setup for her to regenerate mana. She was currently doing two things. First of all, she was spending all of her mana to summon blood to level the skill as fast as possible. And she was constantly turning her bone armor on and off. Zerei had already broken past skill limits before becoming a demon, so she knew what to do.

"Focus, try to feel the mana movements happening when the armor appears. For a toggled passive skill, this is key : the activation is when everything happens. If you want to alter it, this is what you need to change, yes."

Zerei went on to explain that this was much easier to do with an empty mana pool, as you could feel directly where the skill tried to get the mana moving. Sofia needed to keep doing that until she could feel the entirety of the mana changing path when she activated the skill.

To Sofia, it looked like a daunting task. It was unlike [Identify] and [Angel’s Bolt], which were quite straightforward in how they worked and limited in the areas of the body they used. [Armor of bones] was like a complex, layered artwork that she felt she could never fully grasp.

After more than half a day doing this and making very little progress, she explained her worries to Zerei. The demon had long since moved on to teaching Alith how to fight against different types of enemies properly.

She dismissed Sofia’s concerns but still explained, “That’s normal, the system is working for you to make the skill as strong as possible within the constraints of the description, but the system is very rigid. You must have noticed this, yes?”

---