I had glanced into my Status and found a lot of juicy stuff to enjoy from it. First of all, I ended up spending an awfully large amount of time doing absolutely nothing, which ended up making my party get exasperated.
“Maria, why are you standing there doing nothing?” Asked Lucifer.
“AH! I was checking out my Status….” I said.
“But hurry up!” Said Lucifer.
“Don’t hurry, Master!” Said Partner while furrowing her eyebrows back at Lucifer.
The Dragon sighed and simply ignored her.
“Ugh, do whatever you want then,” He grumbled.
Anyways, ignoring the grumpy dragon, a large number of my Skills reached max level and evolved. Before this, my Dark Sphere had stayed at Lv10, but for some reason, it awakened now.
I’ve heard from somewhere that Skills need special conditions to awaken… like undergoing special trials, challenges, and more. Perhaps this entire thing was one? Or well, maybe the experience points pushed the Skills to awaken forcefully at the end.
I ended up laughing at the end, so it makes me the winner, despite having been a complete bastard and asshole throughout this fight.
Anyways, the Skills that awakened in the end were…
The [Shadow Sneak: Lv10] Skill became the [Shadow Transportation: Lv1] Skill. This one skill was a direct upgrade to it. Shadow Sneak lets me become one with the shadows and travel through them as if I were swimming through them. I can transport through shadows even faster with this new upgrade, perhaps several times as fast. It seems that I can even do some short-range teleportation through shadows within my vicinity, but nothing too crazy like going to the other side of the world yet.
The [Magic Damage Resistance: Lv10] Skill became the [Greater Magic Damage Resistance: Lv1] Skill. This was a direct and flat increase, granting me even more resistance to magic damage, and I am a magic tank.
The [Ghost Touch: Lv10] Skill became the [Phantasmal Grasp: Lv1] Skill. Now, this was interesting. The Phantasmal Grasp was upgraded to allow me to grasp souls even more easily than Ghost Touch, which was usually a fear-inducing skill that doesn’t do much unless you get creative with it. Oh yeah, Phantasmal Grasp is the ability I used to pull out souls from near-dying bodies.
The [Lesser Curse: Lv10] Skill became the [Greater Curse: Lv1] Skill. Now my curse had become more potent and cannot be easily resisted through Resistance Skills, although Immunities will always work against them. Also, spells that dispel curses become not so effective.
The [Life Drain: Lv10] Skill became the [Life Absorption: Lv1] Skill. A greater version of Life Drain that lets me directly absorb the life out of someone at a fast pace. It increases its speed when I touch them. If I could use it on someone not so strong, I could drain them out and leave them like dry mummies in an instant.
The [Dark Sphere: Lv10] Skill became the [Dark Sun: Lv1] Skill. Now this one was great, the Dark Sphere of the beginnings had now become a Dark Sun, and its size is around 3 to 10 meters. I can adjust it to my liking… and well, 3 meters is an immense attack if it’s just a ball of darkness… But that’s not exactly it. This thing is not just a ball of obscurity now, it is a Sun for something, and well, it is because it is now covered with Black Flames, which are like some kind of advanced form of Phantom Flame that can consume life, mana, and even souls rapidly, and is very hard to turn off unless light magic is used… so this attack had indeed become deadly beyond belief.
The [Dark Gale: Lv10] Skill became the [Dark Storm: Lv1] Skill. Instead of a gale of dark winds that can cut through stuff, I can generate a storm out of these dark winds and throw it at someone, slicing through their bodies with the power of darkness and even cursing them in the process. I have become a monster through and through.
The [Stealth: Lv10] Skill became the [Masterful Stealth: Lv1] Skill. Lastly, Masterful Stealth is just what you expected, a Masterful way of using Stealth… Yep, that’s it.
What? It’s just a better Stealth!
“And done… I got many Skills awakened, so I was taking a look at them,” I said.
We were currently moving back to the caravan at a steady and slow pace. We had grabbed all the corpses and cleansed the scene of the crime by burning it all with fire courtesy of a new pair of friends, and then we moved forward.
I had plans with the corpse of Catarina and the Vampires, including the corpses of all the other guys. They were, of course, becoming my Undead servants, and I’ve even caught all their souls and have resisted the impulse of eating them up just because I am an amazingly benevolent woman.
Oh, and about the two new buddies we got… well, it could be said it is two rejected Vampires that were more like the victims in all of this. Their boss was really an asshole, to be honest…
“Maria, are you okay? Are your feet not sore? Let me carry you,”
“I can do it too, Silvio! Please, Maria…”
Two handsome-looking ghosts made entirely out of blazing red fire looked at me charmingly, and they wanted to carry me for some reason…
“Ugh, no guys, I am fine as I am,” I said.
“And who do you think you are?! If there is someone that would carry her, it is of course me! Not some puny former vampires,” Said Lucifer.
“What? That would be me, not you! I am Master’s favorite!” Said Partner.
“F-Favorite?!” Exclaimed Emeraldine in shock.
“C-Calm down… Nobody is my favorite. I love you all equally,” I said.
“W-What? Then you don’t love me enough…?” Asked Partner.
“Eh? No, I mean…!” I muttered.
“You three! Stop at once! Maria requires a bit of personal space,” Said Silvio.
“Indeed!” Said Francesco.
“Who are you now?! her bodyguards?!” Shouted Partner while raising an eyebrow.