127: Obstacles, Part Two

Obstacles, Part Two

One day. That was how long Neve was willing to spend getting her Healing Magic skill up a few levels. 

She was only willing to do so due to the discovery they'd made that this floor, it would seem, was going to be composed of mostly undead-type enemies. If that held true, then Neve was confident she could make it through to the 6th Floor in no time at all. 

Plus, unfortunately, it was simply true that at some point, Erin's level would need to be higher, given that Neve assumed Thomas was either caught up already or close to catching up. 

So, she walked up and burned herself over and over again, taking herself as close to death as she could before healing herself back up. 

She did this without wearing anything, with nothing on her but the chip on her shoulder. Using the Angel Set would empower her healing and, thus, reduce the amount of training she actually did. 

It hurt. It was, without a doubt, extraordinarily painful. And yet, Neve's legs dragged her back onto that trapped plate over and over again. 

That was the routine for several, several hours. Neve would walk up, get burned to a crisp, heal herself, and then repeat it all over again. All while Erin watched on with a permanent grimace. 

"You know, when you first started torturing yourself some hours ago, I thought I would enjoy seeing this happen. Like it would be cathartic in some form or fashion, seeing you inflict a fraction of the pain that I have been through onto yourself. Instead, all I feel is... uncomfortable. Is it because I am a summon?" 

"I don't think so," Neve muttered quietly, in between burning sessions, as she mustered the will to keep going. 

"Then I wonder why it is that seeing you do this still does hurt. Just... in a different way." 

Neve tried not to think about that too much. It made this easier to treat this as just another task to accomplish. To think of it like a videogame, only that as her character was engulfed in flames she too was fried like a piece of healer bacon. 

She would rather have done this alone, but she kept Erin there just in case any unseen enemies popped up to try to interrupt this session. 

As time passed, the green sun hanging above them remained there. The nighttime never came. 

Neve's internal clock still gave her a warning that she'd exhausted most of the energy she had, though, as the clock reached 10:00 pm. 

In this one day, she'd managed to get her Healing Magic skill to 54. 

Erin's status looked like this: 

Level 54

MP: 100/100

EXP: N/A

Activity Points: N/A

WS Tokens: N/A

---

Endurance: 40

Speed: 48

Precision: 54

Strength: 35

Arcane: 10

After the last bout of healing, Neve did not bother getting up from the ground for a while. Staring up at the green sun, she called Tamira in her thoughts. 

"Yes?" The snake answered quickly. 

[I want to sell some levels.]

"How many?" 

[Twelve,] she thought, sitting up. [Take me back down to 50.] 

"Aw, come on, don't you want to go a little lower?" Tamira asked, her voice a little too low, too intimate for Neve's liking. "With Erin at level 54 now, if you take your own level a lot lower, she could easily sweep through most of your enemies. On this floor and the next." 

[No,] Neve answered definitively. [Just get me down to where I asked.]

"Suit yourself." 

The transaction was processed. Neve was granted tokens and, once again, she would have to respec. 

Level 50

MP: 10/10

EXP: 0/500

Activity Points: 3690

Influence Points: 30

WST: 37462

---

Attribute Points: 150

Endurance: 1

Speed: 1

Precision: 1

Strength: 1

Arcane: 1

She noticed something, though. 

[Just 15K tokens? That's not nearly as much as you gave me before.] 

"Weeeell," Tamira hissed, "you're only going from level 62 to 50 this time. That's not nearly as dramatic a reduction in levels as last time, no?" 

[... Or, you just don't want to give me too many tokens because you don't want me getting too strong for Thomas to handle.] 

Her speculation received no response. 

[Whatever.] 

"Neve," Tamira said, suddenly, "come on, don't you think you should take things a little easier? I dunno, maybe spend some time with the fine ladies around you? You never know when something might happen~" 

On that ominous note, Tamira left Neve's thoughts and did not return. 

[Oh, come on. Erin's a summon, so permanent death isn't a thing for her. And, Ahlakan pretty much lives in the safe zone, so it's not like any monsters are going to hurt her while I'm gone. What could happen?]

"Alright, I'm done," Neve declared. "Let's head back." 

"Wonderful." 

---

Neve swore she could smell her own skin burning as she made it back to the safe zone, even though the Angel Set was now covering it once more. They only encountered a few enemies on the way, all of them ghosts, but Neve figured it would be better to just run past them, for fear of quickly ending up over-leveled again. 

She allocated her points just as she was stepping into the camp. 

Level 50

MP: 1100/1100 (+300)

EXP: 0/500

Activity Points: 3690

Influence Points: 30

WST: 37462

---

Endurance: 40

Speed: 20

Precision: 9

Strength: 5

Arcane: 80

[Hm... Maybe I should buy something from the Hidden Shop. But, at the same time, I could start saving up for Internet Service. Ah, but there are actually a ton of useful things that I could buy from the Hidden Shop still.] 

Her mind was still going in circles, even as her weary legs, moving on autopilot, took her to her tent on their own. 

As she walked in, her thoughts were silenced as her eyes landed on Ahlakan. 

The girl was sitting atop a stool at the back. She had one leg crossed over the other as she painted something on a tall canvas. Her back was turned to the entrance. 

Neve swallowed. 

[She's... She's topless.] 

"Pick your jaw up off the floor." 

As Erin whispered that in Neve's ear, the healer yelped, jumping back. 

Ahlakan turned toward them and smiled. 

"Ah, welcome back," she said as she put her palette and brushes down on the dresser. "How did your battles go?"

"Quite well, dear," Erin answered for Neve, whose mind was struggling to move past the fact that Ahlakan's body was mostly bare. The lamia moved to the side of the bed opposite from where Neve was and laid down. "Our hero over here was pretty much born to handle this place." 

"Ah, I'm glad to hear that," Ahlakan beamed back at Neve. The healer dipped her head and strode to the bed where she turned around and laid down in the middle. 

She glanced to her right and got a better look at the image Ahlakan had been making. It was the laboratory from the 4th floor, the safe zone. 

Ahlakan got up and sat down on the edge of the bed, looking back at Neve, over her shoulder. 

"Will you be heading back out tomorrow?" 

"... Yeah," Neve replied after she managed to tear her eyes away from Ahlakan's chest. 

Immediately, it became clear, however, that Ahlakan hadn't simply forgotten to put a shirt on or something. 

As she quickly tried to get Neve's eyes on her once again. 

"How long will you be gone tomorrow?" She asked as she crawled onto the bed and laid down next to Neve, so close she may as well have been laying on top of her. 

Neve's right side was on fire. 

"... A while." 

"I think it's best if I give you two a moment to talk," Erin said, getting up. "Have fun." 

She slithered out of the tent. Ahlakan placed a hand over Neve's right shoulder. 

"Is that right?" Ahlakan asked sweetly. Her white eyes met Neve's and clutched them, refusing to let them go. 

Her tone grew a little more serious, though, as she said: 

"Do you recall the things I'd been dealing with? Back home?" 

Neve nodded. 

"Yeah." 

"I didn't know what food was. I didn't know what the rest of the world looked like. I had no clue what the sun that people described in books felt like. And... I could not tend to my body's needs." 

She drew closer. 

"I know that... due to the difference in nature between you and me, some of these things are likely still out of my reach." 

Neve's eyes widened. 

"W-What do you-" 

"Neve," Ahlakan cut her off with a smile, "I would like to think that I am not as foolish as you seem to believe. Firstly, I left Rorvan, but none of my people seem to have followed me. Second, you possess the ability to make Erin appear and disappear at will. And, third, sometimes you put your hands in the air and move them around in weird ways, as though you are seeing something I am not. It's become quite clear that you and I are not of the same existence. Even if I do not know the specifics of it." 

Guilt stabbed Neve's heart harder and more painfully than Lia ever could have hoped to accomplish. 

"But," Ahlakan quickly added, "I do not mind you keeping secrets from me. I do not mind being on my own for so long since I know you have your own duties. I do not mind my odd circumstances, whatever they may be. At the end of the day, it is you who I have to thank for even being here. And I will forever be grateful for that... However..." 

She threw a leg over Neve's body. 

Neve turned her head up, but Ahlakan grabbed her by the cheek and turned her face to the side so she could only look into her eyes again. 

"What you showed me that night in Rorvan, and what we've shared just a couple of times since... I didn't know what I was missing out on. And now that I do, every hour without it is much, much more agonizing." 

Her hand went down to Neve's chest, hovering right over the spot Erin had punched through. 

"... So, if you are to go back out there tomorrow once more, I do not mind. But, *please*, could we enjoy ourselves for a few hours now, at least? I was looking for the right way to ask this, and Erin gave me a suggestion. It's not a set of words that I learned growing up, but she told me it would convey my feelings well." 

She breathed in, preparing herself to say: 

"Neve, could you fuck me?" 

Neve's heart answered before her mind could catch up.

"Y-Yeah, I, sure... Sorry for-"

"Apologize through your actions, please," Ahlakan said. "Make it up to me."  2

Once again, Neve swallowed. 

"... I'll do my best." 

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