87: Blood in the Water, Part Two

Blood in the Water, Part Two

EXP Gained: 100

EXP: 500/770

WS Tokens Gained: 200

WST: 34205

Checking their bodies, Neve sold off their tridents which increased her total World Shop Token count by an extra 200, bringing her up to 34405. 

Walking back to the Third Floor's safe zone, she left those bodies where they were and halted her progress momentarily. 

Ahlakan, who had been looking out from it, watched her return. 

"What happened?" She asked, noticing Neve's blood-soaked clothes. 

"Ran into a bit of opposition... It's fine, though." 

"I see... Will you be heading back out soon?" 

Neve sighed. 

"I don't think so. It's... It's pretty dangerous. I'm gonna have to get some work done here," she stated. 

"How?" 

"Well, I have my ways," Neve stated before summoning Erin next to her. 

There was a little bit of relief in Erin's eyes as she noticed Neve was okay. The healer felt strangely warm at the sight of it. As always, Ahlakan was a little surprised, but she had gotten somewhat used to seeing Erin appear like this. 

"Uh, Erin." 

"Yes?" 

"I need to talk to you." 

"Hm. That's not ominous at all."

Neve did not offer any sort of verbal response. Instead, she just pointed at a bench and Neve could see the bad feeling in Erin's gut getting even worse. 

"Oh, for goodness' sake."

The two of them sat down and Neve began to attempt to formulate the words she could speak that would soften the psychological blow she was about to deal to this woman. 

She'd never been too good with people, but she was going to give this a solid attempt. 

"So, uhm... You know, you're *really* strong-"

"Evidently not strong enough, if you insist on taking this conversation where I believe it is going, but go on."

"-but, if we're going to keep progressing from this point on... I need you to be stronger." 

"... And, I take it that the main way in which I am to increase my strength is..."

"Yeah," Neve confirmed. "It's the same."

"Wonderful." 

Instantly depressed, Erin fell back against the chair, staring up at the ceiling. Groaning, Neve let her sulk as she took in this unfortunate bit of news. 

That was, until Tamira suddenly showed up. 

"Howdy!" 

"Hm?" Erin looked up just as Neve did, both of them eyeing the snake with some curiosity at her sudden arrival. 

"Hold on," Neve said, standing up and walking away a couple of steps, pulling the snake with her. "What do you want?" 

"What? No, 'hi, Tamira, it is nice to see you'? You're STILL so hostile with me! Even after I've gone out of my way to help you multiple times! You're so rude." 

"What. Is. It?" 

"Fine. look, I was listening in on this little conundrum of yours and I couldn't help but notice that it does seem, to my eyes, like you are a teensy, tiny bit over-leveled. What a dilemma," she said, spinning in the air a few times. "See, when we designed the Hall of the Luminous, I will be honest, we had not taken into account the possibility of a solo, non-damage player tackling it. That is to say, if you were a warrior, assassin, or warlock, we would not be having this conversation right now, but no. You are a Priestess. A class meant to support others." 

"Unfortunately, yeah." 

"So, I got to thinking about ways in which I could help you out here, and-"

"Why?" Neve asked. 

"-I, excuse me?"

"Why do you want to help me?" Neve crossed her arms as she stood in front of the floating snake. 

"I've told you," Tamira said with a smile, "I like you quite a bit." 

[That can't be all... What is she planning?] 

"Anyway, I was thinking of a way to remedy this situation and I thought about this... How about, I buy your levels off you?" 

Neve paused. 

"... What?"

"So, right now, you find yourself at level 77. Your Arcane is maxed out which is nice, but your main source of damage, Erin, can't get anything done at this point. And, of course, the complexity of the opposition you face *will* be increasing with each floor, so the strategy of figuring out simple attack patterns and working around them will not last you too long." 

[Oh, she's straight-up confirming that? I assumed that was what would happen, but good to know.] 

"Of course, you could spend some time grinding out levels for Erin like you had before, but getting her all the way to level 77 would take... A week? A month? Who knows! And, by then, well, Thomas and his group may have already finished the Final Challenge."

Neve sighed. 

As much as she wanted to go with that plan, to simply sit down and have the patience to grind levels with Erin for as long as she needed to, the reality was that there was a real chance that Thomas would either finish the Final Challenge or die before Neve could reach him. 

Neve had to work fast. She knew this. 

"However, what if, instead of trying to bring your summon up to the monsters' levels, we bring you, and the monsters by extension, down to your summon's level?"

"How? Explain the mechanics of it," Neve clarified. 

"As I said, I buy your levels. Meaning, that if we want to get you to, say... 45, just to throw a random number out there, you would have to give up 32 levels' worth of attribute points, but you get to choose each one. Essentially, this is what you call a 'respec'."

Neve was quick to catch the implication here. 

[So, I can keep my 100 Arcane, and just bring down all my other Attributes...]

Tamira grinned. 

"Exactly," Tamira replied. "By the way, you may be wondering why I said 'buy' instead of 'remove'. That's because I would give you a reward for each level!" 

"In WST?" Neve asked. 

"Yes."

"How much?" 

Naturally, that was the question on Neve's mind. She asked out of curiosity, more than anything, since she understood that, there wasn't much in the World Shop she wanted that could help her with the Final Challenge. 

And yet, she was stunned. 

"Oh, how about... 50000 tokens." 

Neve's eyes bulged out of their sockets.

[Holy shit.] 

"Sounds appealing right?"

[That's a huge amount, but...]  Neve replied, [what would I even want to buy?]

"Hehehe," Tamira giggled in a way that made Neve feel like she'd just stepped on a trap. Then again, almost everything Tamira said made the healer feel that way. "I'm glad you asked!" 

The World Shop then opened on its own, in front of Neve. 

"I'll let you in on a little secret, Neve. You already know that this World Shop, here in the Final Challenge, is different from the regular, normal World Shop, right?" 

[A few things are different, yeah. Mainly, the price of internet service.] 

"Indeed. Well, there is one more thing you should know about this World Shop. That being..."  Neve could suddenly hear a drumroll, though no such instruments were anywhere near her. A hidden menu suddenly appeared, then, in the World Shop. One Neve hadn't seen before. "Ta-da! Introducing, the ELITE shop!"

The shop began scrolling through this new menu on its own. And, quickly, Neve understood what it was that gave it its name. Weapons, armor, and items, all of at least mid-tier quality were available for purchase, all of them packed within this new part of the World Shop. 

"This menu is set to unlock once a player has amassed at least 50000 tokens while inside the Final Challenge," Tamira explained. "You were being so hesitant, that I figured I'd let you in on that bit of information right now." 

Although all of this was great and all, Neve showed no signs of happiness. No signs of appreciation. Instead, she stared at that menu, without saying or thinking a word. 

"So, to sum it all up, you give up a bunch of levels and, in return, I pay you those tokens, the monsters all get scaled down so you don't have to stab Erin in the gut for a month, and you unlock this new part of the shop. Great deal, right?"

That was precisely the problem. 

It was a good deal. *Too* good. So much so, that Neve couldn't help but ask herself:

[What's the catch?]

"Hm? There's no catch!" Tamira replied quickly. "Like I said, I just like you. Besides, I don't want to watch you farm for so long, too. My superiors are doing this for entertainment, you know?" 

[... Bullshit,] Neve replied. 

"W-What?" Tamira asked, pulling back as she floated before her. 

It was difficult to ponder this issue due to the fact that Tamira could read her thoughts and could, therefore, see Neve arriving at different conclusions. But, Neve still considered this predicament carefully. 

[You want something,] she thought. 

"Entertainment!" 

[You're going out of your way to try to make me *weaker*. Why?] Neve thought, ignoring the snake's voice in her head. 

"I want to help make your enemies weaker, Neve. I just need to make you weaker in order to do that!" 

Neve paced from one side of the safe zone to another. She could feel Erin's eyes on her as she did. 

[... Come to think of it, the main reason I've gotten this far in terms of levels is because of the Hall of the Luminous,] Neve thought, slowly piecing things together. [I doubt there's anything like it here in the Final Challenge. And, I'm guessing those players who are still left never walked out of the Main Dungeon. So, Thomas and his group...] Neve looked up at Tamira. [There's no way they're even close to my level, right?] 

"Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to say, with-"

[And...] Neve stopped herself from speaking the words in her mind, as the last piece of the puzzle fell into place.

Confident in her assessment, she looked back at Tamira, meeting her curious gaze, and said:

[Take me down to level 50.]

"50?" Tamira asked. "Are you sure you don't want to go lower than that? A few kills here and there, and you'll be right back to level 60 in no time! You'll end up having to level up Erin anyway!" 

[I don't care,] Neve thought, shrugging. [Just do it.] 

Tamira huffed. 

"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you, though." 

A series of notifications then appeared in front of Neve. 

WS Tokens Gained: 40000

WS Tokens: 74405

[Wasn't it 50000?]

"I lowered it since you want to go to level 50 instead," Tamira replied. "This will still be enough for you to open the hidden shop, though."

Then, she saw:

Neve Stephens

Level 50

MP: 310/310 (+300)

EXP: 0/500

AP: 3690

IP: 20

WS Tokens: 74405

---

Attribute Points: 150

Endurance: 1

Speed: 1

Precision: 1

Strength: 1

Arcane: 1

{Warning: You have unspent Attribute Points!}2

[... Gotta admit, even though this is, as far as I can tell, the smartest move I can make right now due to how things went in that last fight, it does hurt to see some of the progress I've made get erased.] 

"You'll feel better once your enemies start dying more easily again," Tamira told her. "I still think you should go even lower. The offer to do so will still be up if you want!" 

[Oh, I won't need it,] Neve replied. [By the way...]

"Yeah?" 

[Judging by how badly you wanted me to do this, I'm guessing nobody in Thomas's group has gotten close to my level. Sorry to say this, but if I get to them before they complete the Final Challenge, if that fight ends up happening, it's probably not going to be as fun as you hope. You should get ready for the disappointment. I'm going to slaughter them.]

At that moment, Neve found an honest smile appearing on Tamira's face. The expression she carried sent shivers down Neve's spine. For the first time in a while, Tamira looked at her like Neve was nothing but a doll in her hands. A cheap one, at that.

Tilting her head a little, the snake replied:

"We'll see about that."

And quickly, she disappeared. 

Breathing out, Neve shook her head. 

[So... I was right on the money, huh?] 

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