The ground was littered with loot around them, most of them were basic Health Potions, a few D Grade armors that weren't good use to anyone, bronze swords and…
Thor paused, lowered, and scooped one of the shiny golden crystals on the floor. "Mana shards," she muttered, slipping several of them into her inventory.
"It's about time we got some of those," Astensia said. "The road is long"
"It'll help," Asleroc added, "but not yet. It can't make any difference because your cores still need Blessed Flame before you can actually refill."
The women looked at each other, knowing he was right.
The few Miniature Demon spawns that had attacked didn't have enough demon essence to contaminate them, but there were certainly more coming their way, with stronger essence.
Asleroc kept his harsher thoughts to himself:
'There's likely no chance for getting a Blessed Flame here. With the loot drop rate and the chances of actually killing the type of beasts that could drop Blessed Flames, it's just way too uncertain.'
'We need to stop this desperate marching and actually think of a plan, or else this could all blow on our faces.'
'If Astensia and Thor die, I'll have no characters to get points from, and I won't be able to create more characters. I'll be completely stranded.'
His brows furrowed. 'I have to create Opaline sooner. For that, I need more CP. And to get more CP faster, I need Astensia officially on my Character Roster.'
Astensia looked to the sky, shadows lengthening across her face. "It's getting dark. We should keep moving."
Thor concurred to that, turning off the tiny flickers of lightning around her hammer. Asleroc picked up his sword, nodded and followed the two women further into the land of crimson thorns.
As they walked silently, his gaze slid to the blade in Astensia's hand.
Many people believed that Astensia's power lay in her sword.
That was rarely true.
Every weapon as long as it was made with sharp steel could be used by the blonde Heroine to max efficiency.
It became perfection in her hand.
No matter how an archer trained, they would never be as good as Astensia even in her first try of using an arrow and bow.
The same went for all weapons. It was a reflection of her main Skill, Weapon Comprehension, and her title, Heroine of Blade.
Nevertheless, Asleroc's focus wasn't on her magical mastery of weapons. It was her Crescent Cleave Skill, the one he knew could be upgraded.
The higher grade Skill was called Crescent Rend, and the difference between them was night and day.
Crescent Cleave could only be used on one target. With a simple use of her will, Astensia could slice the skin of a beast, spawn, or enemy.
The only thing that could save a target was their armor grade or skin density.
For Crescent Rend, not only was the slice more powerful, tearing through higher grade armors, it could also attack multiple targets at once, with the max being 20.
As long as they were gathered together, not scrambled apart.
In Asleroc's opinion, this was a game changer.
Not only could it help end fights faster and prevent essence contamination, helping her unlock it would officially put her into his Character Roster, and he could finally earn CP from her kills.
With the Skill in fact, she'd rack up kills far more rapidly and the CP problem would start solving itself. He'll have enough to create Opaline in no time!
The problem was, upgrading a Skill was different from learning a Skill.
Astensia couldn't just learn the upgraded version of her existing Skill, she could only learn the base, Crescent Cleave—which she already had—and then upgrade it to its stronger version.
And to upgrade any Skill, the required currency was Skill EXP.
But waiting for them off random fights felt too slow.
Before she could get enough Skill EXP to upgrade the Skill, they would have likely almost fought their way to Brakenkal, if they would even make it.
Asleroc began to consider abandoning the Skill upgrade plan and instead teach her a completely new Skill, the way he did with Thor.
There was only one problem with that approach.
Teaching Thor the Star Crash Ascent had worked because Thor had already been at or very near the level where unlocking the Skill was actually possible.
And when she did unlock it, the Skill caused an increase in her level progression bar.
It wouldn't work like that every time.
Not every Skill could be unlocked at any level, and even when one was successfully unlocked, there was absolutely no guarantee that it would trigger an increase in the level bar.
Thor's case had been extraordinary luck: the right Skill, right moment. It was a pure stroke of advantageous timing.
The conventional way to unlock Skills was through Skill Books.
Skill Books were high-grade loot drops that contained Skills perfectly suited to whoever claimed them.
And these Skills were always carefully calibrated to match whatever level the character had reached, ensuring they could unlock abilities that matched their current power status.
In the novel, traders sold Skill Books too. In this game-version of the fallen realm though, most of the markets were shattered; so loot was the more popular way to acquire any magical items.
But obtaining one was also extremely difficult.
The odds were roughly one in twenty kills for every Demon spawn at Lvl 20 and above, or beasts at Lvl 30 and above. Which meant they were even more impossibly rare to encounter than Blessed Flames.
Asleroc cursed.
He drifted silently alongside the women as they angled west, threading toward the back of the demon spawn horde. If they got lucky, they'd skirt the worst of it.
But Asleroc knew they couldn't depend on luck, and it was past time for him to take decisive command of this situation before their desperate flight led them all to certain death.
"Stop," he said quietly but firmly.
The final footfalls of the Heroines crunched on the ground as they turned.
"What is it, my Worship?" Astensia asked.
Asleroc was quiet for a moment, gazing between them both.
As always, he could clearly see the character profile panel floating next to Astensia. But he couldn't see beyond that. Not her other Skills, current Skills EXP totals or potential Skills that could be unlocked.
He had to have her in his Character Roster to gain access to that kind of information.
"Astensia, how much Skill EXP do you currently have?" he asked directly.
Finding the question confusing at first, Astensia obediently answered. "37 points, my Worship."
Asleroc pressed his lips together in thoughtful calculation. "Upgrading a B-Rank Skill to an A-Rank is usually around 100 Skill EXP."
Astensia tilted her head in curiosity, sharing a glance with Thor before starting to speak. "What are y—"
Asleroc looked at Thor. "Thor, that lightning Skill of yours that shocks a corpse and gives it a few seconds of borrowed life. You have it unlocked, right?"
Thor's jaw set with surprise. "Yes. I do."
Asleroc nodded once, then turned and pushed into the thorns.
The two Heroines stood there in complete confusion.
Astensia took a half-step to follow, but he came back through the briars moments later, dragging a limp Miniature Demon Spawn by one ankle. Purple-black ichor lined the floor where he hauled it through.
He left it flat on the ground.
"The corpse is still warm," he said, stepping back. "Use the Skill on it. Each time it wakes, Astensia, kill it. We'll repeat until you hit a hundred Skill Points."
They stared at him.
"What?" Astensia said, blinking.
"You want to" Thor angled her hammer, "farm Skill EXP off a corpse."
"Yes," Asleroc confirmed without hesitation. "We're circling behind an army. Crescent Rend, Astensia's upgraded form of Crescent Cleave, will cut faster through bodies packed in formation. It's best to prepare ourselves and this is how."
His explanation was simple. Though not completely honest, it still made perfect tactical sense.
Astensia's eyes widened. "My Worship… you know of my Skills?"
Asleroc met her gaze steadily. "Did you not see with Thor? I know all of your abilities."
He glanced up at the darkening sky above them while they stared at him. "It's dark. We'll settle here while you begin."
Thor had no other words to offer. She raised her free arm and whispered, "Reawaken my target… Shock Reanimate."
Crackling lightning spidered off her palm and wired itself into the corpse.
The spawn jerked, seized, and then snarled back to furious life, its face of teeth snapping madly as it lurched to its feet.
SLINK!!
It froze. Astensia had driven her blade cleanly through its chest. The creature fell backwards, sliding down the length of her blade and collapsing to the ground.
Asleroc noticed the notification bubble float beside her head.
「+3」
He let out a breath he had been unconsciously holding. 'Good. It works.'