Thomas was definitely missing out. Teresa blasted a mushroom with shotgun <Embers> as it grabbed her leg, which could very easily lead to Teresa getting swarmed. She didn't have much experience with grappling, and her fighting style wasn't perfect. Using shotgun <Embers> wasn't exactly Mana efficient, but it was great for when something went wrong.

Teresa had come up with a very generalized way to determine how powerful her opponents were. She tried to guess what their point gain per level was based on how they behaved and fought. Considering these guys were pretty durable and required a bit of Strength to cut through, they probably gained 1 or 2 points of Fortitude per level. At level 45 that would come out to 45 to 90 Fortitude added onto whatever their base stats were.

They used a spore attack that probably used either Mana or Stamina, which likely meant they had at least a point per level in either Endurance or Wisdom, maybe even both. If the spores were magic then they probably also had a point per level in Intelligence if not more, leaving Strength, Vitality, Agility, and Perception as their weak points. Considering they were fungi, Teresa was inclined to say they probably had a point per level in Vitality, it would just make sense. They were pretty quick but nothing absurd, so maybe even a point there.

A good class provided 8 points per level, at least Teresa thought so. Jake, Preston, and Sarah's classes were all rated F+ and had a total of 8 points per level, and while Teresa wasn't sure if the same rules applied to monsters it gave her a basis of what she was up against.

She was trying to imagine what build they had with this information. 2 points in Fortitude and 1 in Endurance, Vitality, Intelligence, and Wisdom would put them at 7 per level, leaving 1 unallocated point to bring it up to 8. That felt like it would make sense, they didn't seem overwhelmingly specialized in anything which made them just a far weaker version of Teresa who had a fire based spell and multiple titles.

Teresa threw her knife at another monster as soon as she retrieved it from the face of a dead mushroom, stabbing the creature in the cap. That knife was hard to throw, and the fact it was still penetrating mushroom flesh probably meant they didn't actually gain 2 Fortitude per level, it was probably something else that gained 2. Teresa's lowest stats were all at 56, so really she most likely had them beat in just about everything.

Maybe they didn't have a 2 per level stat, it could be possible they had a point in Strength and Teresa just wasn't giving them the chance to demonstrate it. The only chance these monsters had against her was their numbers. If they could drain her Mana and Stamina with their spores then she might be in trouble, though realistically she could just retreat before she got to that point.

Not that she was planning on it. Things were going well, she had taken out a little more than a third of them and her resources were still going strong. There was the occasional incident where she had to use shotgun <Embers> or <Dash> when she fucked up, but things were progressing pretty quickly. She might run out of Stamina before killing all of them due to <Sturdy Outer Shell> being extremely resource hungry, but if she sped up a bit and slightly increased how much Mana she was using it might not be a problem.

Underutilizing one resource could also lead to overconsumption of another, balance was important. This was her first time intentionally trying to draw out how long she could fight if you didn't count the slime incident, mistakes were bound to be made. It wasn't too big of a deal, she could leave the low level mushrooms to someone she knew was nearby.

After cutting down another, she felt that similar increase in stats once again. Definitely wasn't a level, was this something she was just gonna have to get used to? What was going on back at The Mall, if it was even them responsible this time. She wasn't complaining, free stats were free stats, and instead continued cutting down the monsters in front of her one at a time.

They may not have pushed her one at a time, but she was nimble enough to kite around the horde of mushrooms and pick off any that overextended. Her Stamina consumption was actually slowing down due to the decreasing amount of spores <Sturdy Outer Shell> was blocking, but she would still run out any minute now. She needed to step it up.

Teresa activated <Embers> and sprayed a full blast stream of fire across the monsters in front of her, scorching their flesh and disabling multiple. They were all in one big horde of angry mushrooms chasing her now, an area of attack spell would be really nice. She could use shotgun <Embers> to take out multiple in one blast, but it was only so good at AOE and wasn't very cost efficient. If the spell didn't instantly melt through the frontlines, then the monsters right behind them would be mostly fine.

She could still use it as artillery though, and she rained down fire atop the caps of the Paralytic Fungi, scorching their tops and drastically reducing how fast they were producing spores. Teresa probably could have done that way sooner, but to be fair she didn't know that was how it would work. If she focused closely she could see the spores coming out from the bottom of the caps, but what she had done still worked wonders.

Within a minute less than half were left, and within two more minutes she was cleaning up the stragglers with <Embers> using the last drops of her Mana. She had cut it close, having less than 100 Mana and Stamina combined at the end of the fight, but Teresa had done it. She had taken out a pretty powerful camp of equal level attuned monsters, and now all that was left was destroying the Portal. That, and one more thing.

"You can come out now, you're not as sneaky as you think you are." Teresa called out, calmly making her way to the Portal at a brisk walk. There was some rustling behind a few trees as Preston made himself visible.

"You almost let a few get away." He said as he approached, the remaining Mana in his <Facilitated Restoration> showing he had been nearby for some time now.

"I knew you were there, those were low enough level that they weren't worth the experience for me but could still be of some benefit to you. You're welcome." Teresa replied cheekily. "I thought you guys had to watch Thomas and Mathew?"

"They are, but we figured if you're taking out a Portal the area should be safe enough for just Jake and Sarah to guard them, sending backup in case something went wrong didn't seem like a bad idea."

"Is that all?" Teresa asked.

"Well, that and the fact they seemed super uncomfortable at the idea of leaving you alone, I mean I was too. From the sound of it, some company might not be the worst idea ever. Sending someone with poor mental health into combat is kind of a recipe for disaster." He answered.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"So they told you about all that?"

"Just the general gist of it, don't blame them. Thomas and Mathew don't know anything, but we're friends and we're all concerned. I don't know any of the details but I can piece two and two together man. Plus backup legitimately is useful to have in case of emergency anyways."

"It's not like I'm gonna kill myself, I have too much shit to do." Teresa told him.

"I sure hope not, but it's not like I was in the way or anything. I just took out the stragglers that tried to leave. Besides, would you leave someone you were worried about alone fighting radioactive monsters in the woods?"

"Probably not, but-"

"Exactly. Point made, yes I'm a genius why thank you. Now please can we take out the Portal? The air tastes like metal, it's disgusting."

"Are you saying you can taste the radiation? Even I can't do that."

"I dunno, but I'm definitely tasting metal. Probably not a great sign, my Fortitude is pretty damn low after all."

"Yeah, that's not great, I'll take care of it." Teresa charged up one last instance of shotgun <Embers> and shot the Portal point blank, heavily damaging the structure. She punched it a few times using the last of her Stamina on <Sturdy Outer Shell>, eventually destroying the Portal entirely. Teresa opened her quest screen to confirm she got the points for it.

Radioactive Portals defeated (city): 2 [95 points]

Radioactive Portals defeated (individual): 2 [95 points]

"Huh, I was expecting The Mall to have taken one out or something, I got another increase in stats mid fight that didn't come from a level up." Teresa said. Among the Mana Crystals on the ground from the shattered Portal she spotted something that she hadn't seen before. It was a silver token, like a large coin. She reached down and picked it up, seeing it had a triangle imprinted on the metal. A quick <Appraise> revealed what it was.

<Item Token (F+): lv 99 (MAX)>

Materials: ???

Status: Ready (100% Remaining)

A small consumable capable of improving an F+ rank item or below. When infused with an item, the token will be consumed and the item's max level will increase to level 100. The item will also be qualified for a Rank Up.

"How do I even use this?" Teresa asked, sharing her screen with Preston. "Like yeah, improving an item's max level to 100 would be great and all, but how do I actually use it on something? What should I use it on? I have a lot of random things that could benefit from this."

"The drop from the last Portal was a consumable as well, right? Do you think that'll be the case for all of them?" Preston questioned.

"No idea, maybe. In the Tutorial I got anything from C4 to metal boots to a guitar, but I think that was because of my class. I don't think we can draw an accurate conclusion from just two Portals, but this could totally be useful. I don't have a lot of items maxed out, but I could use it on either my robes or my staff. Both might be useful, I don't really know though." Teresa opened her status screen to see her experience gains, and she saw that she had in fact gained a point across the board. All of her stats had improved by 1 again, and it didn't take long to see the reason for it.

<Slayer 2>

Kill 5000 beings. +2 all stats.

The title had replaced <Slayer 1>. Teresa still wasn't entirely happy with the idea that she had killed so much, especially considering she had been having a blast while doing it. Was that psychotic? The monsters definitely needed to die, there was no question about that. It was just weird to think about.

"You good?" Preston asked, seeing the look on her face.

"Yeah, one of my titles just improved. I've killed five thousand things apparently, that gets me <Slayer 2>." Teresa explained.

"Oh, yeah I know what you mean. I just got <Slayer 1> when we went back to The Mall for a day, cleared out a Portal and got the title. I'm pretty sure everybody should be really close to it by now, I'm honestly kind of surprised they don't have it already. At first I thought it was cool, but then I sorta thought about how much a thousand is. I don't regret anything, but it kind of weighs on you a bit."

"I think that if each monster had a lifespan of just 10 years, then I've cut short 50,000 years of life. I can't even wrap my head around that."

"On the bright side it also means you've probably saved a whole lot of people's lives as well." Preston said.

"The Mall has what, a little over 10,000 people in it? I've killed half of The Mall's population worth of monsters. It won't be long before I've killed 10,000 monsters, then what? I mean I've got to keep it up, but is it weird I'm having fun doing this? That I enjoy the process?" Teresa asked.

"Definitely a little. No normal person enjoys killing, but is that really the part you find fun?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean are you having fun snuffing these mushroom guys out, or are you having fun at the idea of improving? The idea that you're getting stronger, more capable, the idea that you're doing this to protect people. Do you like the act of killing them, or what killing represents?"

"I don't know, how would I know? I don't want to think I'm the kind of person who likes killing, but I can't deny that I enjoyed wiping them all out."

"Well if killing didn't give any experience and the monsters weren't going to hurt people would you still do it?" Preston asked.

"No, definitely not. There would be no reason to."

"Then I think you're fine dude. A little worrisome with just how happy you are fighting for your life, but you're not some lunatic serial killer. Most of the concern is for your sake really."

"But it is fun, isn't it?" Teresa asked.

"Yeah, kind of. I think I'll enjoy it more once my Fortitude goes up. Feels a little nerve wracking knowing that if I trip while running I might splatter on the ground and die, but I think once I'm not such a glass cannon it'll be a lot less stressful. It's like playing a game on hardcore mode, except I can actually die."

"And it's your first time playing the game." Teresa added, understanding where he was coming from. Preston did have a really unfortunate build that could have probably been improved with some more foresight, to put it bluntly he was fragile. Teresa wasn't even sure how his body could handle outputting enough force to run as fast as he did, or how he was able to stop. He had a lot of Strength and Agility, but his Fortitude was just slightly above a normal human's. Shouldn't his muscles tear or something?

Teresa began sorting through the Mana Crystals, grabbing only the highest level ones and putting them in her <Inventory>. It was already getting full, to the point where she dropped her level 30 Monstrous Salamander Monster Cores and associated Mana Crystals. Between her own arsenal, the tents, and the monster loot, she had to be picky about what she kept with her.

As she grabbed another crystal, she smiled as she got a notification.

Her second class had just gotten its first level up.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.