Chương 126: Ch. C0.9-1

A sudden feeling of deja vu interrupts my speech.

"Was that a /$b%4§#"%-§?", asks Elly astonished, looking around frantically.

And another word that fails to translate.

"A what now? I noticed nothing out of the ordinary, I just had a feeling of deja vu."

"Strange, I could've sworn those were dealt with... uh, I once overheard something about a demonic superweapon that tried to manipulate time, but it didn't achieve anything and should've been destroyed. Maybe they are producing the sequel here? But how would it get into our time-stopped area... Ah, forget it. So you were saying?"

Dead girl walking is keeping a lot of secrets from us again...

"That I know where I stand on the matter? Look, I trust you, mostly, but I see no proof for what you've claimed. Especially when all evidence points to the opposite. The old farts had more than enough time to do something about it if it was really an issue, and they didn't for eons. I wasn't even given a heads-up while it still mattered, so I have to say my family comes first; I'll take that certainty over a random fairytale, thank you very much."

Elly looks down, defeated, "Understandable..."

Now you make me feel bad, "Maybe it amounts to nothing but I'll concede one thing. Originally, I planned to milk this dungeon bonus round for all the exp we could get. Given that everyone has now [Sleepless] and [Ageless] plus the option to add several additional classes, we could've gained a leg up over whatever is guarding the big price. But if now thanks to Lucia's flash of genius we only need to get a couple of Class Cores and then exp barely matters anymore, I'm willing to pass on that."

"I guess that is all I can ask for."

"So, do you have any idea how we would do that? There obviously is no exit to this dungeon, and there doesn't seem to be a final boss we could beat either; how else can we get it to end?"

She mutters something to herself, "...dungeon, yeah, right."

Why does this sound like I misunderstand something fundamentally?

Elly takes a moment to gather herself, takes a deep breath and then looks me in the eyes, "This isn't anything that follows the usual rules, so my ill-gotten knowledge is pointless. But... I have a suspicion. Not one I'll live long enough to see tried out, mind you. You might've noticed that the atmosphere became less intense, at least it feels like that to me, and you probably know the major event that happened recently."

"You mean that I distributed more Hybrid classes? But there were already thousands of those before. I don't see how that relates."

She points at me, "But not for patient zero."

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"You mean me."

"Yeah. Admittedly, all of this is just circumstantial evidence and it might as well lead us down the wrong path, but I believe that you gaining several more Hybrid classes is the key to ending this nightmare."

Is that why the black dots disappeared? I don't really understand how any of this works. Scratch that, it makes no sense in the slightest. But if Elly believes... I might as well give it a shot.

And here I thought I wouldn't have to make this bizarre Hybrid stuff worse. Thanks, destiny, just thanks.

"How many would I need?"

"Maybe two or three additional ones."

I could gain the next when the class reaches level fifteen, which is only three away. Only three more Hybrid classes created with skill sacrifices if I understand the skill right. But what then? Level thirty for the one after that is almost unreachable and you can forget about level forty-five for the third. Not without Lucia's exploit or a Hybrid-granted skill that lets me cheat the System even more.

"I hope that is not on a timer, that would be level thirty or forty-five, no idea how to reach that in a reasonable timeframe. What trick are you holding back that would help us with that?"

Elly shrugs, "None, I've got no tricks up my sleeves. If I had I would've told you ages ago."

Just great. A new leveling goal that is even steeper than the one I had before all of this, and back then I could still exploit the flood monster via rain spells. That option is now gone, no nice dungeon farming either.

While I mull over my non-existent options, Elly suddenly sighs and stands up, "I feel like my time is almost up."

"Have the glitches already eaten that much into you?"

"Yes, so, I want you to listen to my final request", she materializes her sword, "A duel to the death. Show me that I can leave you to your own devices without regret."

Before I can even answer, she rushes at me and takes several swings. I barely manage to avoid most of her slashes by taking a few steps back. Instinctively, I extend my claws and try to fight back.

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