Chapter 4 - Improvements

The Healing Spell completely healed Karen's external injuries sustained in the fight. Her mental exhaustion, however, was still causing her to feel drowsy. As a result, the two decided to take a short break before proceeding with their exploration. They both went and sat down next to a Hell-Tree.

"Eliza, when I checked the Hellhound's status by Identification, I didn't see a level," Karen said, curious as to what had been on her mind since the fight. How come we're the only ones who have levels?"

"We are not the only ones who have levels," Eliza said as she stretched her body. "Everyone born with a system has levels. Our physical strength and the stats obtained from leveling up are combined to show our stats. Those who do not have a system only display their physical strength."

"So it just means I can increase my strength even without leveling," Karen commented excitedly.

"You can, but each person has a physical limit. Once you reach that limit, you won't be able to go any further," Eliza smirked.

"And what good are the skill points?" Karen inquired further.

"At Level 5, you will gain access to the system skills. You can use your skill points then to get the skills you want," Eliza replied.

Karen nodded her head in response to Eliza's explanation.

One thing, however, still remained a source of concern for her. In spite of being introduced to new things such as the system, she was unfazed. She even felt a sense of familiarity with them. This scared her because she didn't feel like herself. Moreover, the mysterious voice was still a mystery to her. 'Needless worrying won't get me anywhere,' She reasoned.

After a few moments of rest, Karen stood up and approached the Hellhound's corpse. As their weapons were destroyed, she decided to make new ones from the Hellhound's body. "We must properly prepare ourselves." She cautioned Eliza, "We're getting close to the forest's edge."

Eliza gave Karen a puzzled look, so she told her more about the forest. "In Hell, there are only five such forests like this. They are completely covered in dead Hell-Trees, hence the name Hell Forests. The deeper you delve to the center of these forests, the more barren the area becomes, with nothing to eat. As a result, even monsters would not go deep inside. If we come across a Hellhound, it means we're getting closer to the forest's edge. More monsters will arrive from where it came from."

Karen got to work on making weapons for them, while Eliza stood back and watched. Eliza was once again astounded by Karen's delicacy in handling all the crafting despite the lack of craft skills. After nearly three hours, the corpse was transformed into two bone daggers and two pointed spears. Karen's legs buckled from exhaustion. She sat down next to Eliza while holding the new weapons.

"Hey, what kind of life did you lead to be aware of such things?" Eliza curiously asked. If Karen hadn't already come here, she wouldn't have known about all of these things.

Karen solemnly said, "I spent half my life in the wilderness," in-between ragged breaths. Although she wanted to know more about what a Royal Demon was doing here, Eliza decided to curb her curiosity. 'Everybody has their secrets,' she thought.

After some time, Karen eventually succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep while Eliza stood guard.

Eliza was feeling utterly pathetic. It had been a day since she and Karen awoke after their revival, but up to now, Karen had done most of the work while she just reaped the rewards. She had to be rescued from the Hellhound as well. She despised being powerless more than anything else.

She decided to practice a mana circulation technique she had previously learned now that she had some free time. She sat down with her legs crossed and began to sense the mana in her surroundings.

Mana was one of the supernatural energies found in various worlds. Each energy had its own properties and different applications, but mana was the most versatile of them all, as it assisted in controlling the various elements of nature.

After concentrating for a few moments, the presence of mana particles in her surroundings became apparent to her. Their presence was thin, but their nature was very pure. Even if she had been skilled at manipulating mana in the past, she now found it difficult to move it. However, she did not give up and continued to try.

After an hour, when her brow was sweating profusely, she noticed a small movement in the mana around her. The mana particles began to approach her slowly. She then attempted to absorb them into her body with her bare hands.

However, the process was not as easy as she had hoped. When one pure mana particle touched her hand, it made her scream in agony. She was well aware that a strong body was required to absorb mana; otherwise, the body would break down.

She clenched her other fist and bit her lips tightly, trying to bear the pain. She quickly opened her status window and transferred all her available stat points to mana. She felt the pain lessen a little after that. The minuscule mana particle had now entered her hand and was destroying it from within.

'Just a little more! 'Just a little more!' Eliza screamed in her mind.

She'd had enough of being weak. She will not drag Karen down with her because of her weakness. Suddenly, she heard a message, which startled her.

Perseverance (Passive) has been enhanced for five minutes. Stamina consumption is reduced by 30%

Eliza had a crazy idea after hearing this message.

"Damn it! Move!" she yelled, forcing the mana particle into her bloodstream. She then focused all of her attention on it, shattering it into thousands of pieces. The broken particles quickly spread throughout her body via the blood. She experienced excruciating pain all over her body, but it was tolerable.

Just as she was about to stand up, her legs gave way, and she fell. Her vision was obscured by darkness even before she reached the ground.

'Perhaps I shouldn't try so hard,' she smiled before closing her eyes.

Eliza was knocked out. Even in this situation, she maintained a cheerful demeanor. Karen, who appeared to be sleeping soundly, stood up and stared at her for a few seconds. "How can anyone sleep if you're making this much noise?" She said in a small voice.

She picked up Eliza and propped her under a nearby tree. She then took up the bone spear and began to practice various moves. She felt an enormous influx of very pure mana nearby while she was sleeping, but it was not hostile toward her. When she looked up, she saw Eliza practicing with her mana. She felt a tinge of pain in her heart as she noticed the eight-year-old girl clenching her hand tightly. She had no idea what had happened, but because of their bond, she had started to genuinely care for this human girl after their rebirth.

Another monster was approaching their resting place, and she became aware of it. Instead of waking Eliza, she charged at him alone. She believed that her previous battle had made her stronger, and she was eager to put her newfound strength to the test. While moving, she spent all of her stat points on agility and strength.

Agility – 9

Strength – 8

A Hellhound had picked up on the sudden surge of mana. He was getting closer to its source, even though he had no idea what it was. He was in the middle of his trail when he noticed someone running toward him. He howled and dashed toward the stranger.

Unlike before, Karen was able to hold her ground in a head-on fight against the Hellhound. The boost provided by the increase in stats was noticeable. Combined with the bone spear, the Hellhound found it quite difficult to approach her. After an hour of struggle, she was standing on the bloody corpse of the Hellhound.

Level Up

The message rang in her head once more. She wanted to go after more monsters, but Eliza was the priority right now. She turned back and headed to where Eliza was.

Although she didn't want to admit it, the system could help her gain enough strength in a short amount of time to at least stay alive in Hell. This forest was one of Hell's most remote areas. As a result, the Hellhounds present here were among the weakest of their kind. However, when they venture deep into the demon territory, the monsters and demons are tens of times more powerful.

Eliza had already awakened by the time she returned. She only gave her a sidelong glance before asking, "Did you just kill someone?"

"A Hellhound. But how did you find out?" Karen narrowed her eyes.

"Did you forget that we also share all of our experiences on an equal footing?" Eliza stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, there was something like that," Karen embarrassingly stroked her spear.

"Anyway, look at this," Eliza excitedly said.

She extended her hand, and in a few moments, a thin layer of transparent but solid energy enveloped it.

"I assumed you didn't know how to use mana yet," Karen stated, concealing what she had seen.

"No, I didn't," Eliza replied cheerfully. "I only learned while you were sleeping. Furthermore, it is only a minor body strengthening and mana imbuement. Maybe you should look into my status."

Karen quickly checked Eliza's status and discovered a new skill.

Mana Manipulation – E

Now it was something she was familiar with. Mana manipulation was a method for controlling mana. The letter D signified the rank of the skill. L, S, A, B, C, D, E, and F were the ranks of this skill. The letter L denoted the strongest, while the letter F denoted the weakest. And each level introduces new concepts of using mana.

Karen was surprised. It had taken her weeks to learn the F rank mana manipulation, but Eliza had exceeded her in just a few hours. 'This is insane,' she thought to herself.

After a few moments of staring at Eliza, Karen brought up the topic, "How about we level up before leaving the forest?"

"But didn't you say you wanted to develop your strength through your efforts?" Eliza inquired, bemused.

"Of course, I said that, but we don't have that much time. That pulp will keep us alive for the time being, but eating it for an extended period of time is dangerous because it gradually converts to poison," Karen said solemnly. "Additionally, the demons and monsters in this region are the weakest in hell. Their strength will skyrocket once we leave here."

"I don't have any objections," Hearing all this, Eliza just complied.

The two quickly began discussing their plan for leveling up by killing the forest's Hellhounds.