"So, what's up? You said you had something exciting to tell me?" I inquired curiously, as I took a seat.
"Yes, I know you've been struggling to progress with controlling your Enrage Skill lately, and I've set something up that might help," Smiled Charlotte, before glancing at the time.
Today's the 15th of April, 2169, a little over a month has passed since I began training to control myself while using Enrage.
I've been on four raids since then, all Mid Level Dungeons, which I got through without any trouble.
I've been sticking with the same party as I did with the Goblin Dungeon, things have been going pretty smoothly over this last month...well, everything besides my training with Enrage, anyway.
Also, as Ai warned me, the rate of improvement to my stats through Devour and Drain slowed down drastically, it happened on the third floor of the very next raid I went on after the Goblin Dungeon.
Before, with Devour, I'd get one percent of the physical stats of whatever Monster I consume, which usually meant one or two points from Low Level Monsters, around three to four points from Mid Level Monsters, ten or so on average from High Level Monsters and the Greater Demon, a Critical Level Monster, got me around thirty points.
But now, based on the raids I've been on after the slowdown of my progress through Devour, I need to consume around fifteen to twenty Low Level Monsters for just one point, around eight to ten Mid Level Monsters for one point, and it takes three to five High Level Monsters to net me one point.
As for Drain, it's pretty much the same rate, my MP goes up by one per fifteen to twenty Low Level Monsters, eight to ten Mid Levels or three to five High Levels.
My current stats, in comparison to what they were after the Goblin Dungeon, are:
HP: 378 -> 413
MP: 405 -> 528
Strength: 384 -> 420
Agility: 505 -> 550
Vitality: 373 -> 406
Perception: 501 -> 546
Power Level: 424,300 -> 477,200
Potential: 424,300 -> 477,200
I gained a total of a hundred and fifty nine points to add to my physical stats across the last four raids, and my MP has gone up by a little over a hundred and twenty.
With this, I'm within striking distance of crossing threshold into Ace level, though this last stretch to reach that point is going to be a real grind.
See, a little over a fifth of the points I gained over these last four raids came on the first three floors of the second of those raids, before my progress through Devour and Drain reached the slowdown point, and each of those floors had only around four to six Low Level Monsters.
In other words, a little over fifteen Low Level Monsters netted me over twenty percent of the total points I gained across all four of those Dungeons combined, which really emphasizes how significant of a slowdown my progress has hit.
So, based on the results of these raids, with my new rate of progress with Devour and Drain, average Mid Level Dungeons get me around thirty to thirty-five physical stat points at best, and about the same number of MP points too.
Though, my MP gains vary a lot more since I only get full value out of Drain if I use it while my targets are still alive, which I can pull off by paralyzing them before killing them.
But on the floors where there are especially large number of Monsters, I don't have that luxury, I have no choice but to kill at least some of them before I get a chance to use Drain.
And Ravage isn't very effective for increasing my MP, since the Devour part of it usually ends up killing the Monsters with one attack, before the Drain part of it can consume all their Mana.
I haven't used Void all that much in the Dungeons, though. While it is powerful, it costs a lot of MP to maintain, and it doesn't have the Devour and Drain effects, so killing Monsters with it is kind of a waste.
Not to mention, its gravitational pull affects my allies too. So, I just use it in short, sharp bursts to throw Monsters off-balance.
Naturally, I haven't used Enrage at all.
While I did feel like I was making slow yet steady and gradual progress with my training for the first two weeks or so, I ended up hitting a wall, and I haven't really been able to make any real progress since.
I've kept working at it almost every day, but it's no use, I just can't seem to get any real control over it, no matter how much I focus and try to resist its effect on my mind.
I'm seriously starting to wonder if this training is really worth persisting with, what if it's just a waste of my time and effort?
It's hard not to feel discouraged by the lack of-...
"Uh, hello? Are you listening?" Called out Charlotte, snapping me out of it as she interrupted my train of thought.
"Huh? What? Sorry, I got lost in thought there, what were you saying?" I responded sheepishly.
"I was saying how I might have a way to help you get over the wall you've hit with your Enrage training."
"Oh, right, I remember now...so, what exactly is it?" I responded curiously, trying not to let myself get too hopeful.
"Should be any second now...," She muttered as she glanced at the time again, right as her I-Watch began ringing.
Hm? What exactly has she got planned?
As Charlotte answered the incoming call, she turned her display visible to me.
Oh, it's a video call.
There was an older woman on the screen, she looked younger than Charlotte, maybe in her mid-fifties. Of course, if she's a high-ranked Hunter, then she'd be a good bit older than that.
"Hello?"
"Good afternoon, Frida, it's been a while, hasn't it? Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule, I appreciate it," Charlotte greeted her with a smile.
"No problem. Since you were so vague in your request, knowing you, I figured it must be something interesting. I hate to admit it, but that piqued my curiosity, so here I am. So, what's this about?"
"First, let's start with introductions," Responded Charlotte, before turning her screen towards me and adding, "This young man is Kaivel Intrix, and I'd like you to advise him on something. Kai, this is Frida Hendricks, a retired Ace and Arcane Hunter...the one I told you about before."
Huh? Ohh, I get it now, so that's what this is about.
This woman must be the Berserker she mentioned. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but I can't help but feel cautiously optimistic about this...