Original Translation: APM
Editing: Legit-rikk
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Food. Food! Foood!
Slowly and careful to not slurp, I chew what my threads have reeled in.
<Skill proficiency reached. Skill [Satiation LV2] has become [Satiation LV3]>
<Skill proficiency reached. Skill [Divinity Area Expansion LV4] has become
[Divinity Area Expansion LV5]>
<Skill proficiency reached. Skill [Taboo LV8] has become [Taboo LV9]>
Over the next several days I increase my pace and continued to advance. While looking at the automapping of Lady Wisdom, I can see that I have traveled a considerable distance. It seems like the middle layer covers the undulating and meandering space between the upper and lower layer, like it is covering the whole place fully. Unlike with the Upper Stratum, it’s nice that the whole thing is one long path, but it’s stupendously long.
There were several vertical Mother sized pits along the way that She probably uses, but I stayed away from all of them. Don’t be conceited now, just because you killed a Fire dragon, me! I have a hunch I still can’t beat mother right now.
I’ve started thinking about that mysterious attack that Mother threw out during her fight in the Middle Stratum; I mean, that had to be the same [Dragon Power]-[Breath], right? It’s hard to get a concrete guess, but it would be no surprise if she had it.
That would mean she’s already slayed dragons.
Oh man…
There’s no way I can win against her.
That’s why I won’t go near a place where she might be loitering around.
I proceeded along the Middle Stratum without any trouble after that.
Fire dragons? Not even a fire Wyrm appeared. As you all know by now, the Middle Stratum monsters are vastly lower in level then Lower Stratum ones. That is probably why there are so few strong Monsters.
I have detected some fish that could be eels, but they don’t ever come out of the magma. If I shoot them with my breath or spells, they just withdraw further into the magma. It’s the same story with catfish.
In fact, even the seahorses, which so troublesomely charged me at the beginning, run the moment they see me. I can one-shot them with my breath before they realize it, but as evaporating them doesn’t give any food in return, it’s just a huge waste in terms of consumption. Even if there was, it would sink into the magma.
So I can’t eat anything, so what?
It still gives exp, but its cost-effectiveness is very off-turning. So, I’m only going after the monsters who actually go on land. If I don’t consume SP meaninglessly then it’ll last me a while.
Since my fight with the Fire Dragon I’ve also gained a little exp, compared to back then I am halfway done. But that still means I have half the levels left, so it looks like evolution is still a long way off. I’m constantly trying to conserve my SP, all of the relevant skills are leveling super slowly.
Welp, I guess it can’t be helped.
If I could eat as much food as I want, I wouldn’t need to regulate it so much, but I want to have some SP in reserve should I meet another Fire Dragon class enemy. And even if I don’t, if I’m not careful then I may just straight up starve to death. That’s why I can’t squander my SP away.
In exchange for that, my MP related abilities have grown considerably.
[Poison Synthesis], [Magic Combat Act], and various types of evil eyes have all risen.
In the magic department, [Shadow Magic] reached level 10. And as expected, the derivative skill was [Dark magic]. Even after hitting the Countermark, [Shadow Magic] still gives me the same delicate feeling as ever, that’s why I am going to focus on leveling [Dark Magic] first.
[Space Magic]’s level has been rising fairly well, but I still don’t have access to teleporting. Its level rises steadily, but the slow growth rate compared to the other magic makes me a bit anxious and excited.
Unsurprisingly, [Poison Synthesis] and [Poison Magic] levels also hit max. However, what was surprising, or rather unsurprising, was that the derived skills turned out to be quite similar to each other: [Medicine Synthesis] and [Treatment Magic]. Does it have something to do with the fact that good medicine always tastes bitter?
Anyhow, I finally obtained a way to recover! Until now I’ve relied on level ups and [Automatic Recovery], so it’s great that I’m now able to heal myself instantly.
Well, its level is quite low, and I couldn’t confirm the strength of the effect because I hadn’t had a situation where my HP was reduced. One of these days, when I can afford it, I am going to reduce my own HP and try it out.
[Heresy Magic] also reached max level. But its derivation turned out to be quite the problem child.
It’s [Taboo].
Thankfully the level didn’t rise but I thought my heart stopped when the announcement came.
Well, it didn’t rise at that time, but over the past couple days it went all the way up to Level 9 before I knew it. Level proficiency is working against me now! Only one more to go.
Some of my evil eyes have also evolved.
[Cursed Evil Eye] gave me [Jinx Evil Eye]. To my surprise, the drained HP and other things are now returned to me. In addition, its power also increased, so it’s a definitive improvement to before. It cannot absorb status, but absorbing SP in itself is huge. So now I can first drain them with the evil eye, and then slurp them up for increased nourishment.
[Paralyzing Evil Eye] also evolved into [Inert Evil Eye]. It’s not normal paralysis anymore, it seems to inflict the enemy with some kind of time stop like attribute!
Even with paralysis the monsters were still able to move slightly; but with this upgraded version they literally can’t move. I guess that this [Stasis Evil Eye] uses a mix of paralysis and another attribute that I haven’t come across yet.
However, even when looking at the skill list, I can’t see any suitable attributes for it…
Ah well, I still win if my opponents are ever caught by it, so it simply means that I’ve become stronger.
[Heavy Evil Eye] also went up a level, but didn’t go all the way up to the max. To make up for that, I got [Heavy Resistance] instead. However, acquiring it means my weight training efficiency dropped a sharp bit.
And finally, [Telescopic Sight]. It derived a skill named [Clairvoyance].
It’s a broken skill which not only expands the effect of [Telescopic Sight] but also adds the effect of clairvoyance. Which means I can now see through walls and beyond.
But when I hear [Clairvoyance], I expect something like being able to see everything throughout the world. This feels more like an extension of [Telescopic Sight].
There’s a certain something that I’ve been able to see with this skill for a while though.
A long slope to the top.
It’s been a while.
I had to go through a lot, but with this I will finally be released.
Goodbye and good riddance, you hot magma filled place.
I’m finally home, Upper Stratum.
APM - Translation 