Chương 2: Lazy River.

Where the fuck am I? Nythera awoke on her stomach, lying on damp, jagged stone. Pushing herself up, she glanced around. No way, that's not possible. Around her was mist, beneath, more mist, above, yet again… mist. She sat on a floating rock, the very same kind that the "Butchester", a long dead duke, had used to execute thousands 340 years ago. It pranced around in the river of water in the mists. Haha, what are the chances of that? She manically giggled to herself.

It looks like I will be dying in classic Greymere-style execution, wonderful. The laughter died as a notification from the system pinged her. Title Achieved: Little Leviathan Kill an entity five tiers above you as an unclassed. +5 to all available stats. Pick one advanced stat to unlock: Resilience - Grants +1 health per point of Constitution Attunement - Grants +1 flux capacity per point of Resonance Vigor - grants +1 stamina per point of Endurance.

Title Achieved: Rebel-Spark Kill ten or more classed people as an unclassed. +5 Constitution Subskill gained - Giant-Slayer: When fighting those higher level than you, gain 1% more to all stats per level of this skill. By Kronan, what are these titles? There was no way the explosion killed the inquisitor, it must have been the fall. If they died, everyone died then… Including those blasted backstabbing villagers.

To think I would get so many titles, the most coveted secret of the nobles, by slaughtering a bunch of villagers… She held back the vomit. It wasn't my fault. I didn't mean to kill them. It was an accident. A well-known title was called Trustfall. The reason everyone and their mother didn't have it is because of the requirements.

"As an unclassed, survive a 200 foot fall off a waterfall" Or so it was said. At one point in history, mothers used to push their kids off a waterfall in hopes of gaining a title and changing their fate in life. Alas, the many alleged deaths caused by this is the justification nobles use to hold onto titles. These stats are insane. Titles are said to give a level or two worth of stats, maybe 5 stats in total. This was +5… to every stat I have, summing up to 55! And +5 more for every stat I unlock.

I think I just outclassed most newly classed people with a single title. She felt the difference already, a 50% boost in her base stats. Her grip on the rock ironclad, her mind crystal clear, and her energy, surging from within. Nythera knew what she needed, so she selected Attunement. Maybe now I can actually use that worthless flux cannon. Maybe next time I won't need to blow up an entire cliffside worth of peasants.

I've heard of these in tales from Will, "advanced" stats, authority is one, but that requires owning an actual domain. Which only nobles get… Fucking brats. These though, attunement and uh… I forgot the others. Vitality? These were for high strata delvers! Nythera could only imagine how people would react to seeing this title, multiple levels worth of stats dumped all at once. Given the average class had around 4 stats per level, this was well over 10 levels worth of stats.

Tell no one, absolutely no one, it would only cause more problems. At least this should boost my class selection… and help me when I'm finally strong enough to do something about Tianshiang. A jolt of the rock snapped her back to reality. There was nothing but fog, drifting past her rapidly and churning waters below. Welp, I'm fucked, no way to get out of this one. The rock she was on was no more than two yards wide, barren of anything. The dark slate slickened by water.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Something seems… wrong. The rate at which the fog was drifting by her was speeding up, as was the breeze. The rock jolted. A small wave washed up across part of the rock, rolling off the edges as it tumbled. What in the… not again… Her grip tightened. Another jolt rocked her, nearly throwing her off. She pressed herself against the rock, cold fingers going white, straining to hold on.

Glancing up, all she could see was roiling water and fog ahead. Without warning, the rock fell. Wooooooosh… She plummeted through the air for two seconds… Kerplunk! The rock slammed into water, submerging Nythera. Her fingers went numb as she tightened her death grip on the slowly spinning rock. She felt a pinch. Looking up, her hand was bleeding, cut from sharp stone. I'm fucking dead. She held her breath. Nythera gasped for air as the rock broke the surface, water roiling all around her, rushing forward.

She was soaked and shivering, her mind flooded with adrenaline. The rock swayed and spun in the violent flow. Frigid spray washed over her. On instinct she tried to huddle, but survival needs kept her body flat against the rock, the cold leeching her precious warmth. On every side, fog hung, a reminder of how quick death could come if she so much as slipped. Even beneath her, fog drifted by beneath the water. On a rock, in a river, floating on the fog. No one would believe me if I told them where I was.

I wouldn't believe me. She glanced off into the fog, finding it more comfortable to watch than the river. A dark shadow streamed past her. What the… A fin, far bigger than she was. There's shit living in this mist? The rock jolted again, splashing a wave over her eyes. When she opened them again, nothing was there. The rock continued its voyage, Nythera's enhanced strength and constitution allowing her to hang on far longer than she ever could have before.

Her stamina depleted rapidly as her descent into the white void hastened. Stamina: 50… 49… 48… At this rate I've got all of twenty seconds before I go unconscious. Blood seeped out from her teeth as she ground them together. Suddenly the water beneath the rock gave out, her and her lovely rocky companion plummeting. She felt the flux density skyrocket as she fell. A queasy sensation rose in her stomach. I will marry this rock if we survive.

The jagged piece of stone slammed into the river fifty feet down and all went black…. … A salty smell assaulted her. The sound of swishing water. She awoke and sat up, completely disoriented. Where am I and what is this place? Where is my inn? Brindlehawk? She sat for a minute trying to puzzle the events together, blood seeped from her hands and her nails were ground down to the skin. The sensation of the cold, hard rock jolted her mind back. The events prior came rushing back to her.

Will's death, dark twisting chains, the fluxcell, the peasants, her exploding cannon, and mist. So much mist. I'm… actually kind of cool now, my spell took out two inquisitors! She grinned for a moment. And a whole lot of villagers, but at least I managed to avenge Will… at least I was good for something. The smile disappeared. And then she remembered she was stranded deep in an unknown sea. Fortunately her companion was still present, she patted the rock fondly. Thanks buddy, we made it. Somehow.

Around her whirled a wild array of colors, blues and greens, streaming around and above her. Title Achieved: Lucky Shrimp Survive a depthwell as an unclassed. +5 Constitution, +5 Flux Control, +5 Flux Quality Subskill gained - Flux Sight: Flux can be seen, type distinction and distance scale with level. Well that's certainly interesting, never heard of anything like it. What the fuck is a depthwell? Her face scrunched in thought.

She now had 80% more stats than the average unclassed, and she had gained most of them in the last day, not to mention two new subskills. For an unclassed, I'm probably the strongest in history… Yet even a First-Strata loser could roll me into a Tarcadian leaf and smoke me for siesta without breaking a sweat. My weakness, my naivety is why Father and Will died. I was holding them back, moving with an unclassed is like trying to travel with two boulders chained to your ankles. Her fists turned white from clenching.

Once I get my class, those inquisitors and that Kronan-damned empire will have their heads mounted on spikes, by my hand. The horizon seemed to end in a white wall. Is that… that mist? She could see two islands, one in front and one behind her, but the one behind her was half shrouded in mists of its own. On a floating rock, in the middle of an unknown sea, just lovely. She glanced up, half expecting the sky to be made of fire. Is that a bird?

Above her a silver shape glinted against the sunlight, but she couldn't make out any details. Wait till I'm dead before eating me please. All of her supplies had been lost and her dark green cloak had several long gashes in it. She sat down on the rock and pulled the torn cloak over her to block out the glaring sunlight. Don't suppose anyone's going to come rescue me... I have no means of propulsion, unless you count a flux bomb. Lovely weather though.

It's going to be hard to take revenge from this rock in the middle of the sea. At least my Health healed most of my wounds. As the hours drifted by, Nythera drifted in and out of sleep, huddling beneath the already too-warm cloak, long since having dried off.

"Hoh there, still alive?" a voice boomed across the water.