She took a step forward, deciding to take a closer look at the two options presented to her, though careful not to touch them. For all she knew, that was enough to make her choice, and she didn't want to waste it.

  First, she decided to take a closer look at the sword. Contrary to her first thought, she realized that it was actually a good bit longer than her Zweih?nder. It simply appeared smaller at first since she had grown quite a bit taller since getting her Class. Still a wild thing to consider.

  The material of the blade was a matte black, the thin silver streaks running through it making it appear dark grey from a distance. The patterns looked almost natural, grown as if...

  "I think there is something on the pedestal." Elias chimed in, pulling Kiki's sight down.

  True to his words, a small golden rectangle was on the front of the pedestal, and when Kiki focused on it, a new System window appeared in front of her eyes.

  =====

  Ironwood sword

  A large sword made by a nameless apprentice wood-smith.

  This weapon has undergone several experimental treatments and enchantments.

  The wood of the sword is still alive, and can regrow by slowly absorbing blood.

  In exchange, the material has grown more brittle, losing its advantage over base metals.

  =====

  "Damn! That's convenient! Also kinda badass." Elias commented, having read the same description.

  "I mean, it depends, kinda? Sure it sounds nice that it can repair itself, but who knows how durable it actually is? Also, how much blood will it need to repair itself? And where am I actually supposed to get enough blood from? The Hedge Hounds definitely don't have any."

  And wasn't that a surprising thing to realize so late? She wasn't exactly squeamish about blood, but she could tell that its absence had made it easier to acclimatize herself to fighting and killing.

  "Oh, come on, be a bit more excited! It's a magical sword for crying out loud!" Elias complained, while Kiki moved to take a look at her other option.

  It had looked like a crystal ball at first glance, but from closer up, Kiki could tell that that wasn't quite true. It was translucent, sure, but didn't seem quite solid. More like a floating bubble of water, almost. And looking at it even closer, she noticed tiny flashes of light racing through the orb at irregular intervals.

  Unable to tell anything more about it, Kiki took a look at the plaque on the pedestal.

  =====

  Cloud Sphere

  A Cloud Sphere harvested from the Xandarian fields of Xeruvan.

  It is of middling quality, but still contains a trace amount of natural Xar.

  It needs to be bound to your Xum to reveal its Xis.

  The Sphere's Xis is highly likely to be Xart related.

  =====

  "... Does any of this mean anything to you?" Kiki decided to ask the resident fantasy expert for his opinion on what she just read.

  "Ummm... Clearly," Elias started, giving Kiki hope he actually knew what this was, "wherever this comes from they really like to start their words with the letter 'X'..."

  Not even deigning to give Elias an eye roll, Kiki moved back to the other pedestal and took the sword down from it without any hesitation.

  Throwing her rod to the side, Kiki weighed her new blade in her hands. Contrary to the blade's width or thickness, the sword wasn't actually too heavy. It was a bit heavier than her original Zweih?nder, but not by too much, and most of the length it had over her first weapon laid in the sword's handle, giving her more leverage when wielding it.

  Almost more importantly, despite the handle not being covered in leather or anything else, it felt nice and grippy in her hands.

  She gave her new weapon a few practice swings, testing its balance and agility.

  It wasn't quite what she was used to, but some practice would be enough to get her used to it. And even without that, it would still be better than a metal rod.

  The edge of the blade was also surprisingly sharp, more so than necessary, but Kiki assumed that one could get away with a sharper edge if any chips could simply regrow.

  Her biggest concern was the blades width and thickness, as those were much more important that the sharpness when it came to cutting performance. At the thickest part, the blade was almost as thick as her thumb, which would mean that anything she tried to cut, she would have to push apart by that much.

  If her Skill couldn't pick up the slack, her new weapon might turn out to be more club than sword. Which would be less than ideal.

  "Miss, come over here!" Elias called out, interrupting Kiki's considerations.

  Turning towards him, Kiki saw him standing in front of another floating pedestal, though this one was a good bit taller. On top of it, Kiki could see a screen floating, similar to the ones the System gave her, and presumably everyone else, whenever she interacted with it. But of course, this one was for everyone to see.

  As Kiki came over, she noticed that despite everything, Jack appeared to be curious too, ending up right next to her.

  It didn't take Kiki long to read what the window told her, but before she got to the end, Jack already reached out for it.

  "Jack!" Kiki said, infusing her presence with her current opinion of his recent behaviour.

  The older man froze in his action, before his head snapped around to look at her, eyes wide and... scared? Kiki didn't feel good having him look at her like that, but she also couldn't let him keep acting as he wanted.

  Right now, everything is happening so fast that there is barely any time for anything. Even after we are done with the Dungeon, we will still all be busy... As soon as things calm down even a little, I will need to have that talk with him.

  "If you have something to say, then say it." She told him.

  For a moment, Jack looked like he was about to say something, but after a moment his face scrunched up, "I have nothing to say."

  Kiki frowned, he clearly had something to say, and she could guess what he wanted pretty easily based on his previous behaviour.

  Essentially, clearing the Dungeon had given them four options:

  They could 'grow' the Dungeon, forgoing any of their rewards while making the Dungeon a little bit stronger when it recharged the next day. As far as Kiki understood it, it would give them some control over the how, and future rewards would be better, but for now this was not an option they could afford to take.

  They could 'loot' the Dungeon, which would simply give them the base reward and leave the Dungeon again to recharge within a day. So this option was out too.

  The last two were what mattered right now, at least to Kiki and Jack.

  Kiki had no doubt that Jack wanted to destroy the Dungeon. Not only would they get the best rewards, but also get the Dungeon of the estate.

  But in Kiki's opinion: "I suggest we 'drain' it. We get better rewards, and the Dungeon will be off our backs for over a week. But once we have enough people to keep the thing under better control, it will be a permanent resource. if we destroy it, we will be stronger in the short term, but lose out in the long run."

  "Never mind the loot tickets and rewards we could get," Elias chimed in with a perspective Kiki hadn't even considered, "Imagine if we can grow the Dungeon in such a way that it spawns something edible? The river isn't too far. Between that and the Dungeon, we could survive much easier for however long is necessary."

  "True. Good idea. But for now, we have enough food and water, we just need to get the damn thing to leave us alone for a while."

  "Sure." Elias answered, before going ahead and choosing to 'drain' the Dungeon.

  Soon, five small piles start to appear around the Pedestal. Each pile consisted of three translucent crystal shards, each roughly the size of her thumb. And if what the internet had said was true then...

  =====

  Absorb to gain 1 Blank Achievement?

  =====

  The message appeared the moment she picked one of them up. There were five piles, each containing three crystals, for a total of fifteen. She wanted to absorb five of them and get to her next level immediately, but they needed to coordinate.

  Ideally, Jack would finally get his Class, and then he and Elias could grow strong enough to match her, or at least one of them could.

  Alternatively, they could give some Crystals to Purity and the Beckers. WHile they weren't Combat Classers, or at least Kiki didn't think so, just a single point more in their Physical Stats could someday make the difference between life and death for them.

  For now, Kiki dismissed the message and collected those in front of her, before passing them off to Elias who put them all into a small satchel.

  The moment they had collected all of the Crystals, the big pedestal in the center sank back into the colorful cloud, which then began to expand until it reached the same size as the Dungeon entrance had.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  =====

  Please leave the Dungeon. An exit has been provided.

  You have 9:59 minutes left!

  =====

  "Well," Kiki said as she walked over to collect her rod. It WAS supposed to be exercise equipment, and while it wouldn't be too useful any time soon, there really was no point just wasting it. "Let's get out of here."

  *****

  "Do not worry about us over much." Gramps tried to reassure Kiki once again.

  For a good hour they have been discussing what to do with the Crystals they got from the Dungeon, and while Jack had disappeared early on, still unwilling to take a Class of his own, Kiki herself, Elias, the Beckers, and at least one of Purity had been involved in the discussion at all times.

  Kiki was insistent that Elias got ten of them, for a total of four levels, while the remaining five would go to the other three.

  "We not out there fight. You are. Take. Come back!"

  Contrary to what Kiki wanted however, the three older people categorically refused to use the Crystals.

  "Urgh! Fine!" Kiki finally relented after getting pestered from all directions. "I shouldn't have told you that I had enough Achievements..." she grumbled under her breath.

  Quickly, before she could regret it, Kiki grabbed five of the Crystals from the table and confirmed with the System that she wanted to absorb them.

  Still within her hands, all five Crystals exploded into a cloud of shimmering dust, before dissipating away. As soon as the dust seemingly disappeared, one of Purity appeared next to Kiki like a ghost, taking a good look at where the dust should have landed.

  Kiki barely managed to stop herself from flinching. It was incredibly easy to forget that there was more than one of her.

  If I didn't know better, I would think she is... She is doing that on purpose, isn't she?

  All it took was a look at the woman's smug grin for Kiki to be sure of herself.

  "Huh, no dirt." The Purity sitting with them commented.

  Ignoring the old woman's antics, Kiki instead focused on her Achievements. She could choose three, but had six.

  Two of them, 'Dancing on the Edge' and 'Survivor', she had gotten the day before, after the big fight.

  The first, presumably, for fighting for so long on the edge of exhaustion. This one was an easy choice, since it would give her two Personal Stat points, one in Endurance and Vitality each.

  'Survivor' she got for, well, surviving. Its effect was... Kiki wasn't sure what to think about it. On one hand, it supposedly would improve her survival instincts and make her less likely to panic. Which sounded really useful, until she considered that not only did both those effects use the word 'slightly' in their description, but it would also effectively mess with her mind.

  'Dungeon Explorer' and 'Treasure Hunter', which she got when entering the Dungeon and finding the Loot Ticket respectively, were a bit lower on her list. The first would give her a rough sense towards the direction in which she could find the goal in a dungeon, but would be entirely useless in any other situation. The second just gave some points in Dexterity and the Mental Stats. Useful for shoring up her weakest Stats.

  Her final two options were 'Boss Killer' and 'Dungeon Clear', which were both rather self-explanatory. The first gave a point of Personal Strength, while the second would give a point in her highest Personal Stat, meaning Charm.

  I don't think I can simply clear a hundred Dungeons and get the Achievement every time, right? That seems like it would be way too powerful. At most, maybe I could get an achievement FOR clearing a hundred Dungeons...

  After some considerations, Kiki decided that surviving was her highest priority. The effect of 'Survivor' , even if vague, was too on-the-nose good to pass up, and of course, she took 'Dancing on the Edge'.

  For her last choice, she actually decided to forgo the increase to her Charm, going for 'Boss Killer' and its increase to her Personal Strength instead. Her strength hadn't failed her yet, at least not in any critical way, but there had been a few close shaves in the Dungeon, and especially with the boss, where some extra strength would not have been amiss.

  Besides, wasn't a physical fighter supposed to be strong anyways? Of course, her Free Points still went into her Charm.

  Like always, the change that overcame her was an incredible feeling. but for the first time, Kiki had the knowledge and time to truly pay attention to the process.

  It wasn't quite the same feeling of becoming something more, that was much more muted than previously. Probably since she wasn't increasing her Personal Charm. Instead what dominated was a feeling of Power, of Energy and Vitality. Warmth and Cold at once rushed through her body in a rush of energy that at once left her feeling more powerful and more relaxed as exhaustion was banished, and pains she had long stopped noticing disappeared. (Really, it was shoulder pain for the most part. Kiki wasn't sure which of the Stats did the most for that, but just that alone made her choice worth it.)

  But there was more to it than that. She could feel her body swelling with power, both metaphorically, and actually.

  This one point in strength had been enough to take her from a clearly trained, but flat tummy, all the way to showing first hints of a six-pack, and that wasn't to mention the muscle definition she had gained in her arms and legs.

  Kiki had to admit, she had never been too big a fan of the look of muscles on women. But seeing them on herself? They were starting to grow on her already. Both literally and figuratively.

  "Is this the point where someone should mention that doping isn't good for you?" Nikolas comments with a grin, witnessing the changes happening to Kiki.

  *****

  "That's it. I'm done for today." Kiki stood up from her chair with a groan. It appeared that even with her Stats, she wasn't yet beyond having back pain after spending hours hunched over her laptop.

  It had taken them almost half the day to clear the dungeon, then more than an hour to return, get some rest, and discuss what to do with the Crystals they had gained.

  Once that was done, all of them had split up to get some work done.

  Elias, as the IT guy of the estates Security personnel had the job of making sure all of their electronic equipment and internet access would keep working, while also setting up the website Kiki had promised in her video.

  On the other hand, Jack had been responsible for combing what remained of the internet for all the information he could find. Mostly, this boiled down to more and more websites going dark. Which wouldn't be quite as big of an issue if the most affected weren't the kind of websites hosted in massive server farms. Like pretty much every search engine for example.

  At the same time, other websites hosting lists with still working links were starting to pop up left and right, which would be a great thing if half of them weren't riddled with malware. It was good that they had taken every possible precaution possible.

  Kiki wasn't sure if she should despair at the idiocy of her own species, or if she should have expected this. It's both, isn't it?

  Meanwhile, Kiki herself spent all that time across several forums, websites, and the comment sections of her video, trying her best to get a rough read on the situation of the survivors in her vicinity.

  As far as she could tell, there were a few groups that had gathered, and some of them needed help, or had said that they would try to get to the estate on their own.

  Supposedly, several individuals had already tried to get here on their own, but Kiki wasn't too surprised that none had made it.

  The estate was pretty out of the way, and without a sufficiently off road capable vehicle that could go around any roadblocks, one would have to make their way here on foot. She didn't think it would be impossible to do, but the vast majority of people simply didn't have combat capable Classes. And even WITH such a Class, they would be a single bad Monster encounter away from death.

  And considering how hard it would be to come by a gun for the general populace in germany...

  Yeah, reaching here by oneself would not be easy at all.

  Despite all troubles, Kiki had already three missions set up to gather groups of people and bring them back.

  *****

  The sheets felt cold on her skin.

  Not the comfortable, refreshing cold that would slowly warm up to create a cozy hole to curl up in.

  No, it was the disgusting, clammy cold of sheets soaked in sweat.

  Kiki shivered, from the cold, yes. But also fear.

  She could see them, every time she tried to close her eyes. The dead gardener, his feet mangled beyond any recognition.

  She pulled her knees to her chest, grabbing and kneeding her own feet that had started to tingle uncomfortably again. As if to remind her.

  Kiki was tempted to stand up from her bed. Maybe watch a movie, or two. Her mind wandered to the videogames Jason had tried to get her into. Maybe now was a good time to try them again? Who knew what would happen soon. It might become impossible to ever play them again in just a few days, and then she would never be able to truly try them, right?

  She was just about to push herself up when the bruises all over her body flared up at a wrong movement. She stifled a cry of pain and with a 'whoomp' fell back into her bed.

  And the pain reminded her. The fights, the Hounds that bit her, that hit her, that slammed into her. The seas of monsters that had tried to kill her. The thrill and excitement she had felt.

  "I'm insane..." she mumbled to herself.

  The people that were still out there, relying on her to save them.

  No, she had to get to sleep. Tomorrow, she had people to help, and lives to save. She wouldn't be able to do that if she was tired.

  She closed her eyes again. But this time it wasn't him. It was Margret. The closest person she has ever had to a grandma.

  Then it was Nikolas, her husband.

  Elias, the next time.

  Then Purity.

  And even Jack.

  And then it was him again.

  Kian... Or was it Kedi? Fuck! What was his name again!? I asked, right? Why can't I fucking remember his name!? I asked! I did! I... think? Did I? Did I ask? Why did I not even ask for his damn name!?

  A silent sob wrecked her body at the memory, but immediately, Kiki clamped down on it. She had to be strong. Or at least, she had to appear to be so. She couldn't allow her presence to blast her current state of mind through the entire manor.

  Her eyes shot open, staring out into the dark of her room.

  Nonono! Think about something else! Kiki thought as she forced her eyes closed again.

  Let's think about something calming!

  Quickly, she tried to come up with something, and soon, her thoughts found where they wanted to be. She thought of her sword, how surprisingly relaxing it felt to swing, how confident it made her feel.

  The few times she had actually performed cutting tests with it. It was always a bit annoying. She needed some weird straw mats she had to dunk in water for a while and then roll them up. The process was annoying, but she still did it sometimes since getting a good cut always left her feeling satisfied.

  Supposedly, cutting those was a really close comparison to cutting a human limb. She couldn't help but compare it to the feeling of cutting the Hounds.

  It was a feeling she had grown very familiar with on the previous afternoon. It was so very different from cutting those matts. Then again, those creatures weren't anything close to any living being she had known. They weren't human. Not even flesh.

  For a moment, her mind wandered, the feeling of cutting the matts overlaying in her mind with the image of a limb. It was an arm, light skinned and wrinkled. It clearly belonged to an old person. The figure the severed arm belonged to came to mind. Margret.

  Kiki's eyes shot open and she gagged, just barely stopping herself from vomiting at the thought.

  Why... She wondered. Why did I...

  And then she saw it, a shadow in the dark. She couldn't quite make it out, but it had the shape of a dog, a large one. But it looked a bit strange, almost deformed. Almost like...

  She shot up, scrambling back in fear, her hand feeling for her sword, for anything she could use to defend herself from the Monster in her room.

  Instead of a weapon, her hands found the switch of her bedside lamp. It wasn't bright, but it was enough.

  In the middle of her room stood a chair, and hanging over its back was a pile of old, dirty clothes.

  Tears silently fell. Trembling, Kiki sank back into her bed.

  Oof! That scene at the end was anything BUT easy to write. I’m usually not too good with stuff like that, so tell me how it turned out.

  That whole "dirty pile of clothes that looks like a dog" thing actually happened to me when I was much younger.

  Unlike Kiki, I wasn't freshly traumatized luckily, but a tired mind can make up the wildest shit.