Ability Showcase
Although slimes were weak monsters that could be killed with a few hits, they were still relatively dangerous for newbies who didn't have any combat training.
With this in mind, Noah said to Alicia, "To be on the safe side, let's try and use our innate string to see its effect. With it, we probably will be able to kill all these slimes faster and safer."
Alicia nodded. "Let's use it."
Noah and Alicia yelled out at the same time, "Red String of Fate!"
The instant the two of them use their innate ability, a red string seemed to have come out of the void and wrapped around the right wrist of Noah and the left wrist of Alicia. The string seemed to have come alive as it exuded a red glimmer as it moved.
The moment the red string wrapped around Noah and Alicia's wrists, they felt as though the shackles on their bodies were lifted and their dynamic vision had also improved a lot, giving them the feeling that they had become much faster.
Furthermore, a sudden force seemed to have flooded their bodies. Feeling this force, they understood it as their mana. Normally, mana was like blood in their bodies, and they could not feel it normally. Only when they were fighting could they feel the rush of the mana in their bodies.
After using the Red String of Fate skill, Noah and Alicia quickly pressed on their sigils and internally called, "Identity panel!"
[Name: Noah Jones]
[Age: 18]
[Occupation: Adventurer]
[Class: None]
[Level: 1 (2/10)]
[Stats: Strength-12 (7), Agility-10 (6), Constitution-12 (7), Magic Power-13 (4), Mana Regeneration-13/min (4/min), Mana Capacity-41 (14)]
[Skills: Red String of Fate (Innate), Sword Slash (Acquired)]
…
[Name: Alicia Jones]
[Age: 18]
[Occupation: Adventurer]
[Class: None]
[Level: 1 (2/10)]
[Stats: Strength-12 (5), Agility-10 (4), Constitution-12 (5), Magic Power-13 (9), Mana Regeneration-13/min (9/min), Mana Capacity-41 (27)]
[Skills: Red String of Fate (Innate), Magic Missile (Acquired)]
…
Feeling the sudden surge in strength, they now had more confidence to fight off monsters. With this newfound confidence, they started to search for more slimes.
After they walked around for a while, they saw the tall grass in front of them starting to move. Seeing this, they immediately prepared their weapons and focused on their senses. Slowly, they heard a plopping sound coming towards them.
Noah nodded to Alicia. Alicia immediately understood what Noah's intentions were. She then raised her staff and yelled, "Magic Missile!"
Her staff instantly burst out with purple light and concentrated together before shooting towards the tall grass in front of them.
Boom!
A small explosion sounded. The tall grass in front of them immediately turned into cinders and the soil turned black as steam started to come out from the blackened soil.
Looking at the amount of damage her Magic Missile had done, Alicia was shocked by her power. It seemed like with their stats combined, they could overpower the monsters in this floor.
Moreover, looking at the amount of experience they needed to level up, each slime they killed was probably worth 1 experience. They now needed to kill 8 more slimes before they could level up to Level 2.
With their goal set, they first pocketed the ball of slime gum dropped by the dead slime before setting off to find more slimes.
This time, every slime they found was either instantly killed by a Magic Missile or a Sword Slash. Each time a slime was killed, a ball of slime gum was dropped. They would be immediately stored in the pockets of the robes of Alicia. Soon, 8 slimes were killed.
The moment the last slime was killed, Noah and Alicia immediately heard a ding in their heads and they instinctively knew what that sounds was. Alicia quickly picked up the ball of slime gum on the ground and placed it in her bulging pockets.
Looking at her bulging robe, Noah smiled and teased her, "Why don't you ask me if you look fat in this outfit?"
"Are you itching for a beating?" Alicia raised her fist to Noah's smiling mouth and rolled her eyes at him.
"We need to buy a bag or a backpack the next time we come to the labyrinth." Noah wiped the smile off his face.
"Ugh, we can't escape the evil grasp of money in this world as well." Alicia wailed exaggeratedly.
"Okay, okay, stop exaggerating. Let's check our identity panel. We should have reached Level 2 now." Noah patted Alicia's back and coaxed her.
With the random conversations out of the way, the two of them pressed on the back of their left hand and internally said, "Identity panel!"
[Name: Noah Jones]
[Level: 2 (0/20)]
[Stats: Strength-12 (7), Agility-10 (6), Constitution-12 (7), Magic Power-13 (4), Mana Regeneration-13/min (4/min), Mana Capacity-41 (14)]
[Stat points: 1]
…
[Name: Alicia Jones]
[Level: 2 (0/20)]
[Stats: Strength-12 (5), Agility-10 (4), Constitution-12 (5), Magic Power-13 (9), Mana Regeneration-13/min (9/min), Mana Capacity-41 (27)]
[Stat points: 1]
…
Looking at the stat points they got, they were quite underwhelmed. But after thinking about it, they looked at each other with wide eyes.
They both had a thought. "Isn't the Red String of Fate skill overpowered?"
There were two scenarios in this situation. The first scenario was that if every time they leveled they would only get 1 stat point, then if they combined their stats with the Red String of Fate, they would definitely overpowered those in the same level and even those higher level than them. However, if they would obtain equal amount of stat points to their level, then their rise would be even quicker and their strength would be unrelated to their level.
If this was the case, then they would rarely be in danger if they do not become muddleheaded and rush to a deeper floor without caution. At most, they would need to guard against other adventurers in the labyrinth. After all, the human heart was the most unpredictable.
"With our lack of combat training, whenever we go into the labyrinth, we should always activate the Red String of Fate. Only when we overpower others in terms of stats are we able to safely walked around the labyrinth. We are not like the people of this world where they would go through some combat training when they were young," Noah said with a serious tone.
"Yeah, let's do that. Okay, let's talk about how we distribute our stat points. With our stats combined, I think that our strength stat should be ignored for now since it is enough for the monsters we are currently facing, same goes for our agility stat. Our current magic power, mana regeneration, and mana capacity is enough for now, so let's add our stat points to our constitution stat to strengthen our bodies. With our strengthened bodies, we will have more leeway if we get injured by accident." Alicia suggested with a calm tone.
Noah agreed with her suggestion and the both of them added their stat points to their constitution stat. Feeling their bodies strengthening, they felt as though a cool wave washed over their exhausted bodies, giving them a refreshing feeling.
"Okay, let's continue our hunt for more slimes." Alicia cheered.
With that said, they continued to look for more slimes. Soon enough, they found a slime on top of a rock in the distance. With a dash, Noah rushed to the slime and his eyes were focused on the slime so that he would be able to react appropriately if the slime noticed him and attacked him.
The slime quickly noticed Noah and quickly spat out a burst of acid at him. Noah jumped to the side and closed the distance between them. With a slash, the slime was cut in half. However, the ball of slime gum that should be dropped 100% of the time didn't drop. Noah and Alicia were confused by the sudden change when a voice sounded.
"Hey, what are you doing in this floor? You people who are over-leveled won't be able to get any experience in this floor, don't you know that?" A middle-aged man in the distance shouted at them. By his side, there was a little kid that looked to be around 8 years old.
Alicia turned to the middle-aged man and said, "Sorry, um, big brother. We are new to the labyrinth, so we are unaware of this matter."
Hearing this, the middle-aged man looked at them with a suspicious gaze before saying under his breath, "New to the labyrinth? With that young man's speed, he should have as many agility stat points as me, so how can it be true? But if they are saying the truth…"
The middle-aged man turned to look at his son, who was by his side, before breaking out a smile and said, "Oh, I see. I'm sorry for yelling at you two just now. My name is Elwin and this is my son, Joey. Since both of you are quite new to the labyrinth, I guess the two of you should be confused about the lack of monster drops from the slime you killed, right?"
Noah and Alicia nodded.
"Then let me tell you about the level system in the labyrinth." Elwin smiled at them.