With the battle over, Verena opened her system to check her notifications, and she was shocked.
Level up! New skill point available!
Level up! You have gained 2 stat points!
Title [Late Bloomer] triggers: Bonus stat point gained!
Level up! New skill point available!
Level up! You have gained 2 stat points!
Title [Late Bloomer] triggers: Bonus stat point gained!
Level up! New skill point available!
Level up! You have gained 2 stat points!
Title [Late Bloomer] triggers: Bonus stat point gained!
Six levels. It took her a moment to realize why. She was only level eight, while the men they had been fighting were all at least level twenty, so she was getting a relatively high amount of experience for fighting so far above her weight-class. And that was just from the two she killed. With Marianne's egregious boosts to her experience gain, and sharing a total of thirty percent of that with Verena, she quite likely got more experience from Marianne's four kills than she did for her two. All of that added up to cause her to jump up six levels.
As she started to look through her skills, Marianne spoke, next to her. "Verena, I got a level from that fight."
Verena turned to Marianne, curious about the confusion in her tone. "Is that somehow a bad thing?"
Marianne shook her head. "No, it's just... I only just reached level thirty-nine. I'm well above these people's levels, and should still have a fair ways to go before I level up again. It doesn't make sense."
Verena shakes her head. "Marianne, you're forgetting some important things. First of all, you had the assassin after your level up. He likely wasn't a pushover, so you weren't nearly as far from a level as you're thinking. Second, you're now getting a total of fifty-nine percent more experience than otherwise. A level up from those four isn't nearly as out-there as you're thinking."
With that explanation, Marianne was satisfied, and she turned to Verena. "What about you?"
Verena chuckled. "Six levels."
Marianne was baffled. "Six?"
Verena just nodded, giving the explanation she had come to, which satisfied Marianne. Then, they started hunting through her skills to see what was available. Three skill points and nine stat points was a lot to go over. Eventually, they decided on the new choices.
[Rallying Cry](Active Skill): Inspire strengthened morale in those around you. All allies who can hear you gain an extra 20% resistance to all mental effects, and become entirely immune to all demoralizing conditions. (Duration: 15 minutes)(Cooldown: 3 hours)
[Shared Immunity](Passive Skill): Any passive resistance or defensive abilities you or a [Bonded Companion] have affect you and all [Bonded Companion]s.
[Statistic Binding](Passive Skill): Replaces the value of a single stat score with the corresponding score of a [Bonded Companion]. (Does not apply any other bonuses to the affected score.)(Chosen score & [Bonded Companion] can be reselected, with a cooldown of 1 week.)
[Rallying Cry] had been a skill she gained access to after her breakthrough when they left Crimson March, one of the several leadership skills she had been offered. [Statistic Binding] was a skill she had access to from the start, one of the ones her and Marianne had considered taking before. [Shared Immunity] was a new skill that had just become available to her, and it was undeniably the most important of the three.
After taking a look over the system interface, and how it categorized different skills, they confirmed that [Untraceable] was, indeed, considered a defensive skill. That meant two things. First, Verena no longer needed to use her [Connected Copying] skill to stay hidden from their pursuers, and she immediately switched the chosen skill to copy Marianne's [Umbral Heart] skill, giving Verena her own shadows to fight with. Second, it meant that, when Verena got additional [Bonded Companion]s, they would also be hidden by the skill.
At Marianne's insistence, Verena put a few of her stat points in Strength, instead of just putting it all into Charisma. Finally, Verena used [Statistic Binding] to copy Marianne's Dexterity of one hundred, which had a matching impact on the strength of her copied [Umbral Heart]. Finally, she took another look at her updated status page.
Name: Verena Tavanor
Race: Vampire
Gender: Female(Hermaphrodite)
Age: 70
Titles(10): [Unbreakable Will], [Hope of the People], [Battle Maid Liege], …
Companions: Marianne Whispwind([Battle Maid], [Bonded Companion])
Class: Avatar of Connection
Level: 14
Strength: 15 (13+2)
Dexterity: 28 (18+10) (Overlaid: 100)
Agility: 20 (12+8)
Vitality: 31 (28+3)
Intelligence: 22 (18+4)
Will: 66 (62+4)
Charisma: 60 (55+5)
Arcane: 12 (8+4)
Passive Skills(6): [Bond of Power], [Calling of the Heart], [Unified Growth], …
Active Skills(3): [Lover’s Boon], [Connected Copying], [Rallying Cry]
With her level ups out of the way, Verena and Marianne continued their trip, feeling even more secure with their new knowledge and strength. With her ability to use the Sanguine Claw without concern, her new shadows from copying Marianne's core skill, and a Dexterity of one hundred, also courtesy of Marianne, Verena was already becoming a force to be reckoned with. She wasn't strong enough to match Marianne, yet, but most normal people at Marianne's level would find themselves in real danger, against the level fourteen vampire.
The rest of the trip passed uneventfully. This wasn't much of a surprise, since they were traveling along a major road, one that connected a territorial capital to the capital of it's respective province. The most dangerous part of the trip was the latter part of the first day and the earlier part of the second day, since that was when they were furthest away from the cities. At the start, they were too close to Crimson March, and the city guard patrolled the surroundings. Near the end, they were too close to The Soaring Cliffs, and the area was constantly crawling with adventurers who would swiftly deal with any threat. For those reasons, the encounter with the slavers came right around the end of the time where there was any real danger, and the last leg of the trip was peaceful.
As they neared the city, Verena checked with Marianne, confirming that she had never visited, before. For that reason, Verena was very eager to get there, as she wanted to see Marianne's reaction to seeing The Soaring Cliffs for the first time. Marianne, for her part, was intrigued. What was so special about the city that her love was so excited for? Her first look at the city silenced all of those questions.
The Soaring Cliffs wasn't named as such for nothing. The city was in a massive crater, at least three miles in diameter and almost a mile deep at the bottom. However, it wasn't the crater that was so awe-inspiring. It was what had, seemingly, happened to all the displaced terrain that had once filled the crater.
In the sky, both in and above the crater, all over the city, were massive chunks of floating earth and stone, suspended in place. The floating land masses had apparently been carved out and excavated to form buildings, or even entire neighborhoods, and they had been connected by an intricate network of bridges and airborne transportation. The sky was full of figures, primarily avian beastkin with a smaller number of dragons, mostly in human form. At the very center of the complex network of connected, floating landmasses, there was a massive, emerald-green gemstone that was constantly outputting massive amounts of air-aligned mana, which seemed to be singlehandedly keeping the entire city afloat.
Looking down into the crater, the city below didn't lose out in the slightest to the city above. On the ground, the city had apparently been constructed to take advantage of the massive amount of air mana that permeated the region. The entire city seemed to be constantly in motion, the air mana being channeled through a myriad of constructs to power various mechanisms and amenities. There were columns of upward-flowing air all over, allowing travel from the crater to the upper-city, and they were constantly busy.
Marianne was staring at the city in awe as Verena just smiled at her. As they stood there, a few guards approached them from the edge of the crater. "Ma'am, are you wishing to enter the city?"
Verena stepped up as Marianne tried to recover from her shock. "Yes, we are. Is there something wrong, sirs?"
One of the guards glanced at Marianne for a moment. "First time?" After a nod from Verena, he returned to business-mode. "There's been an uptake in criminal activity, recently. In particular, there's a large group of slavers that have been causing trouble in the surrounding region. Duke Maurice has ordered that all people entering the city pass through inspection."
Verena nodded calmly. "That makes sense. We actually ran into a few of those scoundrels, earlier today."
The guard looked surprised. "Oh? How many did you encounter?"
Verena suppressed a scowl at the man's surprise. "Six of them. Though, if they're all the same strength as the ones we fought, they could have had twice that number and not been a danger to us."
The guard scoffed, shaking his head. "If you're going to lie to us, you could at least make it believable." The second guard just shook his head, giving his companion a disappointed look from behind. The first guard, however, just kept going, oblivious to his partner's gaze. "Every man in that company is at least level twenty. Larger groups of them have posed a threat to patrols of trained guards, and I'm supposed to believe you two delicate little flowers could take on one of their parties?" The second guard moved, seemingly to silence his companion, but he was beaten to the punch.
Marianne, having regained her composure, glared at the first guard. She took a single step forward, and vanished. To most, it would seem as if she had used some kind of teleportation, but Verena, knowing Marianne's stats, and having a Dexterity to match, was able to see the movement of her stepping around the guard and stopping behind him. The guard jumped as she spoke. "If you value your position, I'd suggest you check your tone."
The guard whirled around, instinctively taking a swing at Marianne with his gauntleted fist. Marianne, of course, just effortlessly dodged the attack. The guard took a defensive posture, staring daggers at Marianne. "And if you value your life, I'd suggest you check your words. Threatening a city guard is a serious offence."
Marianne shook her head in disappointment. "I never threatened you, you dunce. I threatened your job."
"Ha!" The guard let out a short, derisive laugh. "And how, exactly, do you expect to back up such a threat?"
Marianne's cold smile just got wider. "Well, I highly doubt the Duke is very fond of his guards acting with such disrespect towards the heir to one of his favored houses."
The man hesitated for the first time, while his partner stiffened, turning to Verena with a look of realization. The first man recovered his composure, scowling at Marianne. "What? I'm supposed to believe that you're a noble?"
Marianne calmly shook her head, but before she could speak, the second guard smacked the man upside his head. "Graham, you idiot! Look!" He pointed to Verena. Graham turned around with a look of irritation, but he immediately froze when he looked at what his partner was pointing at. A clasp, holding the front of Verena's vest together, that was bearing the seal of house Tavanor.
Graham went pale as Verena smiled coldly, flashing her fangs. "What? Is something wrong? Where's all that arrogance and misogyny, now?"
The second guard took a nervous step back. "M-my lady, please. He didn't-"
Verena cut him off by raising her hand. "Yes, he did. Now," She turned back to Graham. "You're lucky this isn't Tavanor land, or I would just deal with you, myself. The Sanguine Claw is always hungry." She ran her hand along the hilt of her sword. "However, luckily for you, we're in Duke Maurice's territory." She took a step forward, causing Graham to stumble back in fear. "So, here's what's going to happen. You two are going to take me to your superior officer, I'm going to have a nice, long discussion with him about the conduct of his guards, and then the two of us are going to go into the city and, hopefully, never see your worthless face again."
Graham just nodded meekly. "O-of course, my lady." He quickly led Verena to the guardhouse on the edge of the city.
When Graham knocked on the captain's door, and called out, a deep, frustrated voice echoed out from within. "Damnit, Graham! How many times have I told you!? You can't just-" The door swings open, revealing a large orc woman. The moment she saw Verena, she cut off, taking a moment to look her over. After getting a look at the clasp on her vest, she sighed heavily. Then, she turned to Graham, growling softly. "Graham, you sit your sorry ass down right there until I'm finished." She pointed at a chair against the wall, nearby. Then she looked back at Verena, sighing heavily. "Please, come in."
Once they were in her office, she gestured to a couple chairs, inviting the two women to sit. "Now, I'm gonna ask you what happened, but I've got a feeling I already know the answer. You aren't the first person to have an issue with him, but so far, it hasn't been bad enough to warrant serious punishment."
Verena proceeded to explain their encounter in detail. When it was over, the orc woman just shook her head. "Alright, first and most importantly, I'd like to extend an apology to you on behalf of the city guard." Verena just nodded, so she continued. "Second, I'd like to assure you, this won't be happening again, at least not with that asshat." With another nod and a faint smile, she kept talking. "And lastly, I want to extend a 'thank you' on behalf of myself."
Verena raised an eyebrow. "And what, exactly, would that be for?"
The captain just smirked. "For finally giving me a good reason to have that fucking moron discharged." Verena's smile slowly widened. "He's been giving me problems ever since my promotion. He doesn't take kindly to having a woman as his superior officer. I'm sure you can imagine why." Verena nodded. "He's been trouble, but so far, he's been just careful enough to avoid serious punishment. For example, this is the first complaint I've gotten in over a month. If you were a commoner, the best I'd be able to do is write him up and dock his pay for a couple weeks. It should be more, but the higher-ups think I'm exaggerating because he doesn't like me. Politics in the chain-of-command, and all that bullshit. With this, though, he's done.
"While I, personally, don't think his behavior is any less bad if it's towards some random civilian, those above me don't feel the same way. Treating a noble with that kind of disrespect, especially the heir to one of the most important houses in the province? He's fucked. Thoroughly, undeniably, unequivocally fucked."
Verena grinned. "Well, I'm perfectly happy to help get an arrogant misogynist out of your hair. Do you need anything from me, to make sure he can't wiggle out of it?"
The captain thought for a moment, then smirked. "Do you have a personal seal with you?" Verena nodded, holding up her signet ring. The orc then slid a paper across the desk to her. "Write down what happened, and put your seal on the report. It'll be impossible to ignore, that way."
Verena happily did so, writing a detailed account of what happened before stamping her seal into wax, provided by the captain. Such a thing was beyond overkill, for something like this, but Verena hated people like Graham with a burning passion. So, she was happy to help get rid of him, especially because, as a member of the city guard, he was a representative of Duke Maurice. Verena liked the Duke, and stopping Graham from harming his reputation, if only a little bit, was a welcome bonus.
Once everything was in order, the captain held a hand out to Verena. "Again, thank you."
Verena smiled, giving her a firm handshake. "My pleasure." As she turned to leave, she hesitated, turning back for a moment. "By the way, I never got your name."
The orc grinned. "It's Holly. Captain Holly, of clan Skystone." Verena smiled, recognizing the name. Clan Skystone was an orcish clan that lived in The Soaring Cliffs, a rare occurrence, as most orcs were nomadic, living off the land and taking orders only from their own.
As she left, Verena smiled back at her. "Well, it was nice to meet you, captain. I hope we see each other again." Walking out of the guardhouse, Verena could hear Holly yelling at Graham, which just made her smile even wider.
Marianne spoke up as they stepped out onto the street. "She seemed quite nice. I don't think I'd mind being around her, long-term."
Verena glanced at Marianne, momentarily confused. Then, she realized what her lover meant. "Oh... I hadn't even thought about that." Considering for a moment, Verena smiled. "I can't say for sure. I'd need to get to know her better, but she certainly made a good first-impression." She turned to start looking for a place to stay, but when she turned around, there was someone standing directly behind her, looking up at her with an expression of awe.
The young woman was rather striking. She had bright yellow eyes and two pairs of small horns growing from her head. She had a long, white, reptilian tail, and a pair of white wings on her back. At first glance, she looked to be barely eighteen years old, but Verena knew that wasn't even close. It didn't take much effort to determine that the woman in front of her was a dragon, and based on the size of her horns, Verena guessed she was a little over a hundred years old. Although, the first words out of her mouth made Verena doubt that conclusion, for a moment.
"That was so cool!"