Chapter 102 - - 102: Checking Status

Chapter 102: Chapter - 102: Checking Status

We continue through the dungeon. A few monsters appear along the way, but none of them are particularly troublesome. Aeris takes care of most of the smaller ones before I even need to intervene, letting us continue without stopping.

For several minutes, neither Hina nor I talked to each other, but then she finally broke the silence.

"...You already knew about Kajol and me being reincarnated?"

I remain silent for a few moments. There are several possible answers I could give, but most of them would reveal more information than I want to share.

Only after deciding how much to reveal did I reply "Yes. Although it was not confirmed, I had a doubt about both of you."

That is technically true. I had been almost certain about Hina after seeing her behavior, but there is no reason for me to tell her that. There is no benefit in making her even more self-conscious about what she has revealed.

Hina remains quiet for a moment, then she asks another question "Does Elena know about all this?"

That catches me slightly off guard. I turn my attention back toward the passage ahead before replying "No, she does not know anything."

I pause before adding "And it would be better not to tell her right now." It is not because I want to completely hide my truth from Elena. The problem is that explaining everything to her would be extremely difficult.

I would have to explain reincarnation, the game, Hina’s identity, Kajol’s identity, my own knowledge of the original story, and then somehow explain the information Kajol gave us about the second game.

And even after all that, most of the information we received from Kajol remains uncertain. She knows something related to Elena that we do not know.

Something that apparently becomes important in the sequel. But she did not explain what it was.

Hina gives a small nod "I will not tell her anything."

She pauses before continuing "But you also keep this secret from Lucian and the others."

"Don’t worry, I have no intention of causing problems for either of us." We came to a mutual agreement to keep each other’s secret intact.

After that we continued through the dungeon without talking.

A few more turns pass and then I finally catch a glimpse of the central junction ahead. The passage widens gradually, and I can already sense several magical signatures coming from the other side.

I slow down for half a second, then I recognize them.

*They are already here.*

Or at least some of them are approaching, I immediately increased my pace and Aeris does the same.

Hina on the other hand struggled to keep up with us, but she managed to maintain the distance.

As we approach the end of our tunnel, I suddenly sense another presence directly above us. A giant spider drops from the ceiling. Its body is nearly five feet long, with long black legs and a surface that seems to absorb the surrounding light.

[Shadow Spider | Low 4th Tier]

Attributes: Dark (Grade C+)

I was already prepared with a spell as dozens of compressed wind needles shoot forward, ’Piercing Storm Needles’

They tear through the Shadow Spider’s body before it can even land properly, ripping apart its outer shell and disrupting its movement.

And while the creature falls toward the ground, Aeris moves immediately. Several blades of cyan wind slash through the remaining parts of its body.

The Shadow Spider collapses before it can launch a single attack. We did not even have to slow down.

Then I hear a familiar voice from the other side of the junction.

"Oh God! It must be Kai!" That was Ray’s voice.

Taking a few more steps, I reached the central junction and saw the group of four people and two beasts.

Elena was the first person I noticed. She is standing near the front of the group, her long black hair slightly disheveled from the journey, while Lumi is hovering nearby.

Ray stands beside Luna, while another girl is accompanied by a Frosthide Wolf on her side

The moment Elena notices Aeris and me, her expression immediately brightens.

"Haha, we beat you in this!" She says it cheerfully, as though she has just won some kind of competition.

"Only by a few seconds." I answer while looking over the group.

At the same time, the System begins displaying their information.

[Elena Mizo | Human]

Level: 50 | Mage

Attributes: Dark (Grade A), Wind (Grade A)

My eyes remain on the panel for a moment longer than necessary.

*Level fifty, already?*

I continued looking.

[Ray Griffith | Human]

Level: 47 | Mage

Attributes: Sun (Grade A)

[Luna Layton | Human]

Level: 46 | Auxiliary Mage

Attributes: Moon (Grade A)

[Zoe Cottis | Human]

Level: 40 | Tamer

Attributes: Ice Beast Taming (Grade B)

The System then displayed the two beasts.

[Frosthide Wolf | Mid 4th Tier]

Attributes: Ice (Grade B+)

*Level forty tamer with mid 4th tier beast? So that’s how taming attributes works*

[Spirit Hawk | Peak 3rd Tier]

Attributes: Wind (Grade B+)

I looked at Lumi again, she and Aeris did not exist in the original game, so there was never any status information about them that the player could access. I had no reference point for their growth.

But she has already reached Peak 3rd Tier which is unexpectedly high considering how young she is compared to Aeris, reaching Peak 3rd Tier already is impressive.

*Maybe her potential is higher?*

Aeris’s potential is listed as Mid 5th Tier. Lumi may simply have a greater natural potential. If that is true, then I wonder how far she can eventually grow.

More importantly, I wonder whether the System can affect that potential. The player could increase their own strength through the System, so perhaps the same principle can apply to contracted beasts.

If it can...

*Then Aeris might be able to go beyond the potential she currently possesses.*

I made a mental note to investigate that later. But there is something else that interests me far more.

I again looked at Elena’s status.

*She is already level fifty.*

In the game, Elena should have been around level forty-seven during this event.

She would not normally reach level fifty until her third year, when she finally became an evil magic user.

That means the current Elena has reached the level that her original counterpart required almost two years of additional growth to achieve, and she has done it without following the path that was supposed to lead her toward evil magic.

I already knew that Elena had become considerably stronger than her game counterpart. Her combat ability, magical control, and understanding of her own abilities have all developed much faster.

But seeing the actual number makes the difference much clearer.

This shows how badly the unwanted restraints of the royal family affected her game counterpart, where she was forced to keep herself in check for proper royal etiquettes and more importantly to not overshadow Lucian.

Well, the original Kai was also much weaker in the game.

I am already at level 52 while the Kai from the game was only level 46 at this point, and even with two A Grade attributes, he was no match for any of the capture targets—

*Wait a minute.*

I suddenly stopped my train of thought.

*Ralf has only one attribute, so why is his mana so high?*

That question comes out of nowhere, but once it appears in my mind, I could not ignore it.

I have been so focused on comparing my own mana with Aeris’s for the calculations that I completely overlooked something much more important.

If mana simply depends on level and attribute grade, then Hina and Ralf’s mana should be much lower than other main characters. But it does not seem to be the case. That means there must be something else affecting the calculation.

While everyone else is occupied with Hina arriving behind us, I took the opportunity to quietly look toward the invisible System panel again.

*Is there any difference between the mana allocations among attributes of the same grade?*

I do not actually know whether the System can understand thoughts as direct commands.

I have only been using it for a short time, and most of what I know about systems comes from anime, games, and novels from my previous life.

Still, if the Great Master Zandor really did create this thing with keeping the classic isekai system in mind, perhaps he also copied the idea of communicating with it mentally.

Fortunately, the System quickly responds to my thoughts rather than requiring any visible gesture and a prompt immediately appears in front of me.

<Affirmation. Some attributes have higher mana allocations than others. For example, higher attributes such as Light, Dark, and Lightning provide around 50% more mana than the basic attributes such as the four basic elements. While the super attributes provide around 100% more than the basic attributes.>

I stared at the panel *What the hell?*

*So my attributes are not good enough?*