Chapter 432 (2/2)

The damage couldn’t be considered too much at the moment, and the Skill only lasted for 5 seconds, with a 10-second cooldown, and a 500 Mana cost, but Alana knew these things would improve in time. Plus, in a tough situation, surrounded by monsters, the Reaction boost more than made up for it.

Earlier, when she had been testing it, she had made 6 giant tarantulas looked like statues as she weaved between their many bristling legs. Without even much effort, her spear had flicked outward and impaled four of their brains, leaving her panting, but with only two opponent’s remaining after a single usage. And those two had been knocked off balance from the remnant energy of her attacks on the others, as it splashed outward.

The rest were rather simple to mop up. As the effectiveness improved… Alana shivered. God, she would be almost untouchable in a larger melee. The effect of the splash would be much more muted in a 1 v 1 situation, but the Reaction would make up for that, for sure. Inwardly, Alana had a very strong impulse to challenge the Ghosthound with her new Skills, but she was somewhat shy about it.

After all, he had been the reason that she had obtained them. It would be somewhat rude to immediately use them to bully him…

Hiding a smile, Alana remembered the even more intimidating effect of her Avatar Form Skill. When it was activated, a crimson energy, similar to that of the Ire Skill, exploded outward. However, this time, the energy spread and shaped itself into an Alana shaped golem. Her real body remained in its core, at the center, but the energy body formed around her. It was about 150% of the size of Alana and had the strength and top speed to match.

Of course, her short-term quickness was proportionally reduced, but often, monsters are much larger than people anyways. The Avatar Form would give Alana the strength to go toe to toe with these larger monsters, without putting her own body in danger.

It only took her a few attempts to figure out how to leave her real body somewhere, while she controlled the Avatar Form from afar. Of course, her body had to remain completely still to keep her control over the Avatar Form sharp; if she didn’t stay still, both bodies were at half strength, and basically useless.

Unlike the Ghosthound, she didn’t have the effortless ability to control 100 roots at the same time; she was a real, human woman. But if it could be arranged for someone to watch her body while she moved, it would be easy to scout dangerous areas, without any risk to the team. The increased size, however, was an issue for that…

And based on the reading of the Skill, the size/strength/speed boost would increase with Skill Level. Alana tried to image reaching Lvl 100 in Avatar Form and being able to control a form the size of a building, walking casually next to a mountain range, stepping over small rivers with a single stride. Alana could only shake her head, helpless.

It was strange, but the Ghosthound’s presence made it very easy to forget how her own baseline for ‘normal’ was probably miles and miles away from most of the other people that lived in Donnyton. He had always acted as a rock, even to their sense of reality.

But reaching Level 50, seeing how her growth rates jumped, receiving these new Skills…

These were not the moves of an average person. Alana had always known she was stronger than most, but… right now, it truly hit her how far she had come. How being near the Ghosthound had transformed her from a hardworking track and field star into one of the most powerful people in the Zone, if not the World…

Even still, Alana had been initially disappointed in her Class, based on the name, but Lucifer, of all people, had comforted her when she had spoken aloud of it in front of him.

“Valkyrie of the Red Dust?” Lucifer had asked, in that deep, rumbling voice of his. Alana had nodded, not thinking much of it. There was no real reason to hide it from him.

He had considered it for several seconds, tucking some of his long red hair behind his ears. Then he had simply said. “That’s almost… religious.”

Then he had walked off. Curious, Alana had followed him to ask why, but he had just shrugged. Ace of all people had commented, seeing her confused expression. “Heya, don’t you know where people come from?”

“Ooo, a biology lesson from Ace,” Rose said snidely, rolling her eyes.

Ace just laughed and continued. “Like, in Christianity, what are people? ‘From dust to dust’ and all that. It’s the base form of all. The Mesopotamians believed that humans were made of clay mixed with blood, red clay. That’s what you are, the Valkyrie of the dried blood.”

“Or more poetically,” Rose said, frowning at Ace. “The Valkyrie of Birth. Or Humanity’s Genesis. Don’t let him tease you.”

“Ha,” Alana said, breathing slowly, looking up at the sky. “No worries. That… sounds much better than what I was thinking.”