First Earned Title

Not soon after catching the attention of the beetle, it came to charge at her. It's massive size made it slow, but the space it took up made it hard to dodge. Sun barely moved out of it's way as she hit the floor in a quick roll.

"Damn, this is going to take some time." She says glancing back at it.

It made her realize that it was also having a difficult time. Because the entrance wasn't very big, turning around was a pain. It seemed to not have thought things through before charging at her.

With it's back faced her as it did it's best turn in her direction, that's when she noticed the shiny object between the exoskeleton of it's shell.

"That's what we call a core here. It's of the lowest grade, maybe around F-Grade. But it can still be sold to make some coin. It'll drop once you kill it. Honestly, it's quite shocking to see one attached this soon. Your blessing seems to override your curse in this situation." Roscha explains.

Either way, this was her chance to kill it. While it was taking it's sweet time turning around! Sun ran up to the back of it, using her left clawed hand to plunge it right between it's hard shell. With this method, she could pull out its core at the same time.

The beetle let out a screech loud enough that it nearly bled her ears before collapsing to the ground in a large heap.

She noticed another game screen pop up in front of her eyes.

[You leveled up!]

[You have reached level 2.]

"Can I check my status?"

"SURE CAN."

A glance at her status and she found out that after killing the beetle she was given 5 allocated stat points. Which she decided to put into her intelligence and strength.

Her intelligence had gone up three points while her strength went up two.

The floor began to move beneath her feet.

"It's starting. You might want to hurry and extract the soul."

"No, I'll leave it for once I'm finished." Sun stated.

The moment she said these words two other Horned Dung Beetles were seen trying to squeeze through the tunnel at the same time. They really were such stupid creatures.

"This is easier than I thought." Sun says.

"Told you they lack intelligence." Roscha points out.

Without much of a sweat, she took out the other two beetles. With this she leveled up to the third level. Just killing these two only raised her level up once. Even though the first beetle also leveled her up only one time. What a strange leveling system.

At least the stats were given five for each kill. This may be the result of her Hero's Plight Blessing.

"You are correct. In normal states only one stat is given to a person for each kill, but not all the time. It's a random occasion. But you were given five stat points three time already, It's way too Over Powered."

She had collected fifteen stat points so far, each of them put into intelligence, strength and Endurance.

Her stats now looked like this.

[Stats: Strength: 10 (+5)=15, Agility - 10 (+0), Dexterity: 9 (+0), Sense: 13 (+0), Intelligence: 26 (+5)=31, Endurance: 10 (+5)=15, Vitality: 11(+0)]

With her stat points allocated the way she wish, it was now time for the fun part. The three dead beetles were to become her meal.

"So, how do I extract their souls?" She asked.

"All you have to do is touch it."

Sun approached the closest beetle and laid her hand on it's shell.

"Soul Extract."

Nothing happened.

"You know you didn't have to say the word's, right? Just put your head on it and use mana to extract the soul, that's all."

"Now you tell me."

After extracting the soul from the first beetle she earned a point into strength. Roscha called these Fixed Stat Points. Depending on the type of soul Sun extracted she will randomly gain a Fixed stat point. Though it was not something that happened often.

[+1 Strength]

After taking all three souls, she only gained that one stat point in strength and a title.

[Congrats, you earned the title Beetle Extractor!]

[A new feature to you status have been added, Titles can now be earned!]

[Your ability Soul Extraction has reached Grade E!]

Titles?

"Titles make things quite interesting in this world. Once you gain a certain title you can become even more stronger. Go ahead and check it out."

Sun took a look at the new game screen that appeared in front of her eyes.

[Title Earned: Beetle Extractor

Grade: E

Strength increased by 1 each time a Horned Dung Beetle's Soul is extracted. The chance to gain a skill becomes 10 percent possible.

This title can be upgraded.]

"Woah! Not bad for your first title."

With this title she'll be able to continuously earn a strength stat each time she extracted the soul of a Horned Dung Beetle. That is quite useful.

"I admit. I didn't expect that to be the case. It's quite strange for you to gain such a title this easily. I wonder if it's the Abyssal System working in your favor?"

Whatever it is, she planned on using it to the very end. Stronger. She wanted to be so strong that the heroes of this world couldn't defeat her. Mainly because she read on how the villains always lost to the heroes of their worlds. She didn't plan on being one of those demons.

So, with the use of this title she'll kill as many Horned Dung Beetles until there were no more left to kill.

That night, Sun continued to slay Horned Dung Beetles. By the time she reached level eight, the names above the Beetles had already turned white. She could no longer use them to level up.

"There are still plenty left over though." She says.

'Leave them be. It would be better to leave them for future subordinates anyways."

"It's late out. I should rest up here for the night." Sun stated.

The Horned Dung Beetles no longer choose to attack her do to her level being higher than theirs now. Not just that, it's her constant slaughter of their kind. Sun has managed to bring her strength up to a nice number and has also received a skill focused on her Defense.

Earlier...

[You have obtained a new skill from Soul Extraction.]

{Skill obtained - Horned Armor Shell (E-Grade): A type of hard skin that covers parts of the body. It's durability is strong against creatures of lower level than the user. Skill Duration: 1/m}

Present...

It was a good skill to have. That night she slept on the first floor, it was also how she learned about not being able to dream. She won't miss that too much. It was then at that time, in the middle of the night, that a stranger had appeared.

Sun remembered hearing Roscha's voice in her head trying to wake her up from deep sleep.

Sun finally came to, it was like she hadn't slept for a long time. But she woke up feeling oddly refreshed. It's been said that her curse was supposed to keep her awake at night. With a blessing and curse reacting simultaneously, the one with the highest purity will affect the one with the lowest purity. It will turn the curse into something good.

"What is it, Roscha? Why do you sound so panicked?" Sun asked sitting up from the ground.

"It's a trespasser. There seems to be someone approaching."

Sun stood up after letting out a yawn. "A trespasser? Isn't the Abyss far from civilization? Could it be a monster?" She asked.

"No, a monster would have an evil and dark aura coming from it. This trespasser's aura is faint but I sense a hint of purity. It's definitely human."

Sun rolled her shoulders back. Sleeping on the ground made every part of her body stiff. "I'm a monster with purity aren't I?" She wondered.

"No. You only have a Blessing that can keep those with purity from being able to kill you easily. Your Dark Mana is thicker than you think. It's because your Hero's Plight Blessing makes it even stronger to the point of it being a pure dark energy."

Well, that makes sense.

Sun glanced to where the entrance is located above. Because the Horned Beetles were closer to the entrance she chose to sleep a bit further away. "Shall I go check it out?" She asked already making her way up the side.

At the top of the Abyss is wide opening that led out. If one looked inside there would be nothing but darkness seen. Most people wouldn't dare approach the Abyss if it had been like it was in the past. Filled with strong monsters.

Sun reached the top and stood by the edge. Looking in all directions, she stopped toward the south direction. She could barely make out something lying on the ground a few distances away.

She approached to see that it was the body of a person covered in injuries.

"JUDGING FROM HIS CLOTHES HE'S A MERCENARY. IF HE'S ALL THE WAY OUT HERE THEN HE MUST HAVE BEEN SENT ON A QUEST OF SOME KIND. YOU SHOULD KILL HIM."

That coming from a Goddess's mouth was something she hadn't expected. But she didn't feel a hint of remorse. Killing him seemed like a good idea. She raised her clawed hand to do so.

"Wait! I can't believe this." Roscha's words stopped her.

"What is it Roscha?"

"Now that he's in a closer range I can feel it. Though it's meek."

"Feel what?" Sun asked.

"It's his mana. He seems to be harboring dark mana deep inside him. We should take him in as a prisoner."

Sun stared down at the man curiously. Whatever got Roscha's attention must be really important.

"Alright." She agreed.