episode_0027

Jumping from level 2 to level 5 in one go, various additional stats rising proportionally with the level.

An intense emotion surged through his body as if he was receiving instant rewards for all the hard work he had put in so far.

“It’s almost a little over tripled. The rate of increase itself is similar to that in games.”

Of course, Lilyss started as a character at level 15 when she first joined, so this was just a rough estimate compared to the protagonist’s growth stats.

Among several basic abilities, the most explosively growing one would undoubtedly be the maximum mana capacity.

The mana capacity, which had already been close to 300 since level 2, skyrocketed to a bizarre figure of 855 in an instant.

Simultaneously, a cathartic feeling brushed past my chest, overlapping with the pain and suffering of the past days.

“…Indeed, my efforts were not in vain.”

Looking back at the past few days, it was clear that the effort he had put into consuming more garlic than a bear had not been in vain!

The unprecedented size of 855 in maximum mana capacity was proof of that.

If Lilyss were to be used in the actual game, achieving such a maximum mana capacity was a stat achievable around level 30.

However, his current level had barely surpassed single digits, reaching only level 5.

While other stats besides the maximum mana capacity were at a very ordinary level, with just this improvement, Lilyss was no longer a weak character.

…Of course, compared to an average person, he had only gained some combat ability, likely equivalent to that of a rookie soldier, but still far from actual strength.

Well, considering he was in the body of an 18-year-old high school girl in reality, being as strong as a rookie soldier wasn’t too bad.

At least there was no need to struggle to increase the maximum mana capacity further in this lifetime. Just raising it to level 30 would likely surpass even a great mage in terms of maximum mana capacity.

I shouldn’t eat those damn garlic cloves again.

Naturally, the growth wasn’t limited to just the maximum mana capacity.

After increasing to a decent level of 47 from a measly 15 HP, which rendered him unable to fight after taking a hit, Lilyss also saw his pitiful attack and defense stats of 3 and 5 rise to reasonable levels of 12 and 17.

Although he still couldn’t take down a slime in one hit, with 2-3 stable attacks, he could manage to defeat one even without magic or skills.

By the way, even in Lilyss’s state before regaining his memories, there was a memory of defeating a slime.

Slimes multiplying near rural farms after rain was a common phenomenon.

Perhaps the reason why he was at level 2 instead of level 1 when he regained his memories was because of that incident.

Back then, he had fought fiercely for almost ten minutes to barely defeat one. Now, he had become almost three to four times stronger.

Life indeed has its surprises.

…Of course, apart from conventional stats like attack and defense, there were significantly abnormal increases in certain abilities.

“Charm: 12 → 40

Luck: 0 → 1”

While the rate of increase didn’t seem particularly abnormal, the gap was a bit more severe compared to other stats.

Lilyss’s charm, originally in the double digits, quickly shot up to 40, unlike other stats, becoming a staggering figure.

Conversely, luck barely increased to 1 despite leveling up to level 3, a truly dismal growth.

Considering Lilyss’s stats at level 15, it might not be that strange after all.

The developers’ intentions are unclear, but at level 15, the allure of releases is almost reaching a crazy figure close to 200.

Even as I climbed up to that level, my luck never went beyond single digits.

Of course, depending on the character’s personality and role, certain stats could grow explosively, and delayed growth in certain stats was a natural occurrence.

However, from Releases’ perspective, it was a bit hard to come up with anything positive while witnessing that sight.

“Could you please grow more evenly? Where are you lacking?”

Especially since ‘luck’ directly influenced outcomes in battles, it was even more disappointing.

Characters with low luck often experienced effects like ‘the attack missed!’ or ‘nothing happened!’ during combat.

As Releases was also an unlucky character, she couldn’t escape that curse.

Fortunately, Releases was a support specialist in the game, so even with low luck, she was a character whose charm accuracy rate was compensated for.

She had several exclusive skills with a 100% hit rate compared to other characters.

The issue was that the direction I needed to grow in from now on was completely different from the usual way characters are developed in games like “Luminor Academy.”

Should I focus on growing as a support magic user as I did in the academy?

Who would benefit from that? Growing in that manner would just make me easy prey for Edan.

“At least for utilizing the overflowing mana pool, attack magic is essential. Other aspects can be raised slowly.”

Even if the attack magic missed a few times due to bad luck, casting three or four spells to compensate was enough.

To achieve that, I drastically increased my maximum mana capacity to unreasonable levels and even gained the ability to handle triple casting.

Moreover, as mentioned earlier, Releases had some 100% hit rate skills, one of which was the first learned “enhancement skill,” Mana Blast.

“Mana Blast: Expends all remaining mana to deliver a devastating blow to all enemies. Damage is proportional to the mana consumed.”

With a 100% hit rate Mana Blast alone, it could practically be considered game over. With this skill, she could easily wipe out monsters around level 25 in one shot.

Of course, after using it once, until the mana was replenished, not only Mana Blast but no other magic could be used, and there was a critical weakness of having to fight with zero remaining mana if another enemy appeared.

Still, isn’t it a basic human instinct to want to have a surefire finishing move ready, even if it leaves you defenseless for a moment?

It wasn’t like I planned to use this magic to escape Blackwood Manor or anything grand like that.

Even if it was to break free from being Edan’s exclusive maid, it didn’t mean I would take lives to escape.

I just wanted to have it as a last resort in case of emergencies.

“After all, even Mana Blast, which represents Releases’ full power, wouldn’t stand a chance against Harold.”

It was beneficial for mental health to discard unrealistic options from the start.

Anyway, from now on, Releases’ next goal was undoubtedly Mana Blast, so naturally, the skill progression had to proceed in that direction.

In a typical Releases route, it would be standard to increase character durability and support magic, but I boldly decided to skip character durability and support magic and focus on enhancing attack magic.

After all, in the current situation, there wasn’t a better route than that.

Firstly, before delving into the skills, the basic “skill system” of the “Luminor Academy” follows the following rules:

“1. Each character can obtain 3 skill points per level.

2. Each character has several ‘skill trees’ based on their individuality, with the initial skill in each ‘skill tree’ costing 2 points.

3. Upon acquiring all 3 sub-skills within a ‘skill tree,’ one can acquire an ‘enhancement skill.’ Acquiring the initial ‘enhancement skill’ in each ‘skill tree’ costs 5 points, and after obtaining the ‘enhancement skill,’ one can acquire 3 new skills corresponding to the next stage.”

In summary, it means this:

To use Mana Blast, Lily must first learn 3 sub-skills, consuming 6 points in the process.

Additionally, to learn Mana Blast, the first enhancement skill in the ‘attack magic skill tree,’ she must spend an additional 5 points.

Therefore, a total of 11 points is needed to learn Mana Blast.

However, how many skill points do I currently have?

“Remaining skill points: 10”

“A sigh escaped her lips at the unchanging number of skill points, leaving her bewildered.

Indeed, accumulating 10 points at once was quite an achievement in itself.

Yet, did she still wish for just one more point out of sheer greed?

Note that the 2 points used for Clean belong to the ‘support magic’ skill tree, providing no assistance in learning Mana Blast from the ‘attack magic’ skill tree.

Of course, at that time, there were no more efficient skills than Clean, leaving no option but to learn it.

Now, she cannot cancel Clean to learn Mana Blast. Moreover, without Clean, she couldn’t explosively increase her mana capacity.

Ultimately, with regret, she spent 6 out of 10 points to acquire three sub-skills of attack magic:

‘Shockwave’

‘Mana Arrow’

‘Maximum Mana Increase +10’

Honestly, the last skill, Maximum Mana Increase, was not one she eagerly wanted to raise.

Nevertheless, it was an attribute she had to increase unavoidably to learn Mana Blast.

While in the game, it was an essential skill for early-game mana-deficient characters like Lily, but for someone with mana levels similar to a level 25 monster, it might only add a bit of mana.

She decided to save the remaining 4 points for now. They were meant to be invested in leveling up Mana Blast in the next level.

Given Luminor Academy’s characteristic of gaining 3 points per level, it was acceptable to spend around 2 points, but she postponed it since she might need them for character durability or support magic later.

Hastily spending them might lead to a shortage when truly needed.

Playing as the ‘protagonist’ had been done countless times, allowing her to allocate skill points almost instinctively. However, starting as ‘Lily’ marked a new attempt spanning past and present lives.

Considering failure might not offer a second chance, cautious judgment and decisions were imperative.

In such cases, proceeding cautiously was the best approach.

“After all, just learning ‘Shockwave’ and ‘Mana Arrow’ is not a bad outcome.

They could be useful for hunting and surpassing the limits of using all her mana with just Clean.”

Now, I should be satisfied with just acquiring two decent attack skills.

“…Should I start heading back soon?”

Judging by the brightness outside the window, it seems like only about a day has passed.

Given the passage of time, Isabelle and Katarina must have already returned to the mansion with Mr. Mabu, but the distance from the city to the mansion wasn’t too far to walk.

Considering it as a rehabilitation training after being incapacitated in battle, I can take my time walking back.

*Sigh.*

I picked up the money pouch and letter on top of the dresser and made my way back to Blackwood Mansion before the day ended.

…It was about two hours after realizing that I had been lying down for a solid three days.