Communicating with humans is tough, you know?
I'm already bad at text-based conversations online.
My social skills are probably bottom-tier, honestly.
Gah—I can't believe such a massive wall is standing between me and delicious cuisine!
Well, it's not like I need to panic yet.
Becoming an Arachne is still a ways off.
Besides, I can't even talk about it until I get out of the Middle Layer.
After eating the Earth Dragon, I ate three eels too.
Even after evolving, the eels tasted better.
Is this technically a downgrade?
Since I ate so much in one go, my Overeating stock maxed out.
I always assumed the cap was 1000, but it turns out I can store up to 1100.
Looks like my capacity increased with the evolution.
Right now, I've got way too many Stamina Points stockpiled, so I'm burning through them by activating Ki Combat and Dragon Power simultaneously to drain my energy.
Dragon Power also consumes MP, but if I don't burn through MP it'll just keep piling up, so this works out perfectly.
At the same time, the Magic Department is working on raising its Proficiency in Space Magic.
Green lines are darting this way and that.
But the level still won't go up.
It's a magic that cost 500 Skill Points, and its growth rate is on the slow side.
Compared to my other magic, the Proficiency needed for a level-up is considerably higher.
Well, it's been gradually accumulating, so I imagine it'll level up eventually.
Speaking of Skill Points, I've been a little torn on what Skill to pick next.
If I'm going for a Skill I can grab at 100 points, the Evil Eye variants I haven't collected yet are still the way to go—but if I save up a bit more, there are some pretty good ones still on the table.
Like the remaining Seven Deadly Sins skills.
These should be on par with Pride—totally broken abilities that I definitely want—but even the cheapest one, "Sloth," costs 1000 points.
Saving up that much is a real pain.
Also, Gluttony—the one I once thought might be the evolved form of Overeating—isn't available for some reason.
The other Seven Deadly Sins names are all there, which is weird.
There are also skills that seem to correspond to the Seven Virtues.
I don't know much about that side, but they're supposed to be the counterparts to the Seven Deadly Sins, right?
There are a few that look like they fit.
But there aren't seven of them either.
Is there some kind of rule governing which skills exist and which don't?
Another one I'm curious about is the "Hero" skill.
Unlike the Seven Deadly Sins series, its description doesn't contain any mysterious language, but it's extremely powerful.
Well, "curious" is about all it'll ever be, since it asks for something absurd like 15,000 Skill Points.
There's also a "Demon King" skill.
Same deal as the Hero one, but at 5,000 points it's a bit cheaper.
If I were going to grab one of those, this would be the pick, though the moment I do I'd probably receive the Demon King title.
It's a high-performance Skill, and it'd be fun from a novelty perspective, so I'd love to grab it, but...
For now, I think the safe choice is to pick up the higher-tier Evil Eyes.
There are a few upper-level Evil Eyes I can't get at 100 points.
They don't compare to the broken skills, but they're accessible at a reasonable cost, so I'm leaning toward going for those.
In any case, to earn more Skill Points, I need to defeat Monsters and gain Experience Points.
But there haven't been any Monsters around for a while now.
The ones that were led by the Earth Dragon have all been wiped out, and even though I've moved quite a ways from there, there's not a single Monster in sight.
Well, that's not entirely true.
They're all hiding inside the magma and refusing to come out.
I can tell through Detection that they're desperately trying to flee or conceal themselves.
And the reason they're fleeing and hiding so desperately?
They're running from me.
It's probably because of my Fear-Inducing title.
Oh, and Intimidation too.
These two effects combined are enough to send every Monster running in terror.
The speed at which they flee is on par with those Metal slimes from that classic national RPG.
The instant they spot me, they bolt like startled rabbits.
Some of them even have the Stealth Skill by the time they've been hiding for a while.
How desperate can you get?
When they flee this hard, I can't even hunt properly.
And unlike those Metal slimes, defeating these guys doesn't even net me that much Experience.
My current Level is 15.
I've finally surpassed Level 10.
Since Zoa Ele are an upper species, and I'd already seen the next evolution requirements, I knew I'd need to exceed Level 10.
Crossing that threshold really does make a difference for an upper species.
Looking at just my magic-related stats, I feel like I could hold my own even in the Lower Layer.
In fact, my numbers are starting to approach part of the Earth Dragon Kaguna's stats that I caught a glimpse of.
Huh?
When did I get that strong?
I'm just now realizing it.
Come to think of it, with Earth Dragon Kaguna's stats, I only successfully Appraised the HP and such, but wasn't it around 3000?
If it's just magic stats, couldn't I put up a decent fight?
Seriously!?
Could I actually take on an Earth Dragon!?
No, no.
Calm down.
That's an Earth Dragon we're talking about.
It's gotta be my imagination.
Yeah, yeah.
I only caught up in magic stats, after all.
Ah, but I really have gotten that strong, haven't I?
No wonder the Monsters are running away.
When someone this powerful is also spreading fear through Intimidation or whatever, anyone would flee.
I'd run too.
Oh wait, this is about me.
Still, this is a problem.
I can't level up like this.
What should I do?