Chapter 85 - Veronica's New Job Change Is...
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"Well, this should be the last chainmail!" said Veronica, as her body began to regenerate the mass, she used to create the piece of lightweight equipment.
"Good work," said Ervas, as he did his last enchantment in the armor he was using 'Alchemy' on.
Ismene grabbed the chainmail as she inspected the materials and how light they were despite being incredibly sturdy.
"Impressive… and this is also Lady Veronica's clone?"
"That's right, hello," said the chainmail-type clone.
"I can't help but be surprised and a bit terrified every time the pieces of equipment begin to talk, even if I had already seen this for two weeks…"
"Well, not every equipment is my clone, all the materials we gather in the dungeon go into making even more equipment, tools, and items," said Veronica.
"We use Veronica's clones to give it a greater boost to the already crafted equipment… thankfully there are a few talented women with Blacksmith Jobs to give the equipment the last details…"
"Talking about it, it does feel very relaxing to have my body melted with fire and then molded with the hits of a hammer… it does take out the accumulated tension and stress," said Veronica, who had experienced this multiple times through the clones she created that served as materials for the equipment… when they were melded into the conventional equipment, she had to be burned through strong flames and then hit by a hammer (which was also her clone) hundreds of times.
Due to her different senses, however, she did not feel any pain, but strangely enough, felt as if accumulated tension was taken out of her body… She had even considered doing this to her main body but was stopped by Ismene and Ervas.
"You're talking weird things again…" said Ervas.
"I'm already used to this…" said Shade within Veronica's armor.
"It's not weird! You would feel the same if you were made out of metal" said Veronica.
Ismene could not help but release a chuckle over these strong beings, who barely acted in a serious demeanor.
"Even though they hold great wisdom and strength, their personalities really don't show that at all…" thought Ismene.
"Well, how about we change Jobs together?" asked Ervas.
"Oh, alright," said Veronica.
After these two weeks, their Jobs had finally reached level 100. From the standpoint of a simple human adventurer, their growth was outstanding and inhuman.
Usually, as more Jobs one accumulated, it would become harder to level them up, taking months over months for veteran adventurers to level up their Jobs. Even Apprentice Jobs taken later on would require large amounts of Experience Points.
But due to the massive amount of Experience Points that Ervas and Veronica gained constantly through their daily activities, they could easily change Jobs weekly or biweekly.
Veronica gained large amounts of Experience Points every day through her countless clones, which were constantly slaying monsters inside the dungeon while mining, alongside the other clones that hunted while helping the tribe members.
And for Ervas, his plants constantly hunted for prey as well, and his plants often supported Veronica's clones, working together as an army of plant and metal. He naturally gained a shared amount of experience points from his subordinates.
Ismene glanced at the pair with a bitter smile.
"It is even crazier that such strong people can keep changing Jobs at such a pace…" she thought.
In these two weeks, Ismene had grown closer and closer to the party and had formed strong bonds with both Veronica, who she saw as an elder sister figure, and at Ervas, who she saw as a son.
Pekorina, Amelia, and Acathea saw Ervas as a little brother as well, which did not make him uncomfortable in the slightest, but most of the time, they would not let him breathe…
And about Ismene's advances on Jason, they had been futile. The married man has an iron will, and cannot even be charmed by her 'Allure' Skill at a high level.
Most of the tribe had already given up on him, but Ismene was still hopeful…
Veronica glanced at her available Job options after two weeks, she was prepared for a few more eerie and weird-sounding Jobs to pop up at any time.
[Jobs Available]
[Armored Thrower], [Cursed Armor Brawler], [Phantasmal Armored Shield User], [Armored Artillery User], [Soul Breaker], [Metallic Thread User], [Light & Darkness Spirit Caster], [Armored Tamer Mistress], [Murderous Metallic Mistress], [Hollow Witch], [Accursed Shadow Soul Metallic Knightess], [Self-Body Alchemist Crafter], [Cursed Shapeshifting Demon Vehicle], [Tartarus Executioner], [Abyssal Soul Demon Armor], [Wicked Metallic Legion] (New!), [Synthetic Phantasmal Engineer] (New!)
"Two new Jobs, I can see the reason for the 'Legion' Job is related to how I have… pretty much made a legion of my clones… But Engineer? Why?"
Veronica began to ponder why would she got such a Job, that depicted her as an engineer.
The first thought that came into her mind was that she used her clones to create a greater clone… It was a rather entertaining but complicated work.
"Maybe that was seen as engineering to the System? No way…"
Veronica began to think which Job she needed for now… She was still developing her cloning abilities, so the Legion Job seemed enticing. But perhaps something like 'Cursed Shapeshifting Demon Vehicle' could also work, as it would make the transportation methods she had with her clones and herself better.
On the other side, she could enhance her fighting ability with a wide variety of other Jobs.
"Oggoth seems to have been silent these past two weeks, he is most likely gathering strength for a new raid… but perhaps he will evade us and go directly to the Racoon tribe… although I haven't found his hideout, I have stationed a few clones around the Racoon tribe. We haven't interacted at all with them, but Ismene seems to be on good terms with their chief," thought Veronica.
Veronica considered the idea of making her clones more versatile and independent, and choose the 'Legion' Job. Her clones can be used for a wide array of things, even as soldiers, so it was worth it.
[You changed Jobs to [Wicked Metallic Legion]!]
[The Levels of the [Abyssal Soul; Level 2], [Fission; Level 3], [Coordination; Level 3], [Parallel Thought Processing; Level 3], [Fast Speed Thought Processing; Level 3], [Armor Rearrangement; Level 4], [Long-Distance Control; Level 3], and [Surpass Limits; Clones; Level 1] Skills have increased!]
[You acquired the [Legion; Level 1] and [Strengthened Attribute Values; Legion; Level 1] Skills!]
"Oh, it leveled a lot of skills… most likely because it's a new job suited with my current strength… and these two new skills are… Legion?"
Veronica decided to check the information on the 'Legion' Skill.
[Legion: Level 1/10]
A special skill acquired by a being capable of dividing itself almost endlessly, get every clone it creates is deeply connected with its subconscious. Even if many develop alter egos, they are still the one and whole.
This skill increases the independency of created clones, while also giving them the ability to specialize even further in exchange for mediocrity in everything else.
It strengthens the user's mind beyond a mortal, and make it even more connected with each clone.
Level up this skill to increase its benefits even further.
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"Specialize? Does this mean…?"
Veronica then called back one of her spying clones and decided to 'remodel' it.
She decided to make it specialized in spying, stealth, and monitoring.
The clone, which was already small, became even smaller and light-weighted, its phantasmal eyes became wide and crimson red, and its legs became sharp and thin.
The clone became like a small bug. Veronica was incapable of such detail when creating her clones before. She also felt that its senses widened.
However, if she wanted it to be 'stealthier', she would have to learn the 'stealth' skill, of course.
"I see how it is… then if I apply this to the miner clones, the carrier clones, the warrior clones…"
At Veronica's will, her clones began to change… and specialized in things.
Due to the sudden change, many of the clones in the tribe created a small commotion.
"Uwah! What is going on?!"
"My body! It's changing!"
"This… power!"
Of course, all the clones were just acting, they were all Veronica and already knew what was happening to them… although the Squirrel women seemed a bit surprised and watched the transformation with surprise and expectation.
This specialization also included the clones imbued in equipment, which in a result, made the equipment even better.
At the same time, Ervas glanced at his available Job options.
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[Name: Veronica
[Race: Dark Tartarus Living Armor Knightess.
[Age: 0 years, 1 Month, and 3 weeks old.
[Titles: Monster Tamer, Mysterious Demon Knightess, Army of One (New!)
[Type: Undead/Ethereal/Material
[Rank: 6
[Rank Level: 052/100
[Job: Wicked Metallic Legion.
[Job History: Armored Unarmed Fighter, Soul User, Shadow Soul Fighter, Spectral Soul Knight, Apprentice Spirit Caster, Apprentice No-Attribute Mage, Armored Shapeshifter Fighter, Slime User, Apprentice Warrior, Metamorphosis Synthetic Knightess.
[Job Level: 001/100
[Health Points: 3210/3210 > 4360/4360
[Mana Points: 2252/2252 > 5902/5902 (Increased a lot by using Mana constantly with Ervas's help!)
[Strength: 1230 > 1980
[Defense: 1220 > 1770
[Magic: 965 > 1415
[Resistance: 630 > 980
[Agility: 718 > 1108
<Passive Skills>
[Memory Retention; Level 4]
[Special Five Senses; Level 6]
[Superhuman Strength; Level 3]
[Abyssal Soul; Level 3]
[Phantom Form; level 4]
[Mana Enlargement; Level 5]
[Magic Enlargement; Level 5]
[Abnormal Status Immunity]
[Strengthened Physical Power; Level 3]
[Physical Damage Resistance; Level 3]
[Armor Rearrangement; Level 5]
[Absorption Healing (Mineral, Materials, Armor); Level 4]
[Chant Revocation; Level 3]
[Strengthen Followers; Level 3]
[Commanding; Level 3]
[Coordination; Level 4]
[Self-Enhancement; Following (Ervas); Level 3]
[Slime Binding Technique; Level 3]
[Parallel Thought Processing; Level 4]
[Fast Speed Thought Processing; Level 4]
[Surpass Limits; Clones; Level 2]
[Automatic Mana Recovery; Level 1]
[Increased Mana Recovery Rate; Level 1]
[Strengthened Attribute Values; Legion; Level 1]
<Active Skills>
[Hardworking; Level 7]
[Appraisal; Level 6]
[Charge; Level 4]
[Unarmed Fighting Technique; Level 5]
[Javelin Technique; Level 3]
[Shield Technique; Level 4]
[Armor Technique; Level 4]
[Thread Reeling Technique; Level 3]
[Artillery Technique; Level 3]
[No-Attribute Magic; Level 3]
[Mana Control; Level 4]
[Spirit Magic; Level 3]
[Cursed Wounds; Level 3]
[Soul Materialization; Level 4]
[Phantom Materialization; Level 4]
[Tame; Level 3]
[Body Form Manipulation; Level 4]
[Long-Distance Control; Level 4]
[Digestion; Level 4]
[Cooking; Level 2]
[Butcher; Level 2]
[Alchemy; Level 3]
[Crafting; Level 3]
[Body Size Alteration; Level 3]
[Fission; Level 4]
[Mining; Level 3]
<Unique Skills>
[Armory; Level 3]
[Soul Break; Level 3]
[Legion; Level 1]
[Current Armory Slots: 4]
[Slot 1: [Obsidian Semi-Liquid Crimson Dusk Living Armor] > [Grand Scarlet Spider Queen's Dusk Living Armor] [Armor]
[Slot 2: [Medium-Sized Iron-Silver Crab Soldier Exoskeleton Shield] > [Medium-Sized Flexible Iron-Silver Snake Exoskeleton Shield] [Shield]
[Slot 3: [Silver Metallic Slime Soldier Exoskeleton Living Armor] [Armor]
[Slot 4: [Generic Copper Long Spear] > [Golden Magical Ruby Long Spear] [Weapon]
[Bonded Spirits]
[Shade, Spirit of Shadows and Darkness (Light-Attribute)]
[Tamed Monsters]
[Slot 1: [Rank 6: Deep Lake Water Slime, Aqua]
[Slot 2: [Rank 5: Crimson-Eyed Armored Black Widow, Charlotte]
[Slot 3: [Rank 4: Venomous Scales Drake Earth Worm, Nidhogg]