Chapter 8  : Lyrica

[Class Up requirements met. Would you like to Class Up into Snow Girl ★?]

Shiro was about to confirm when she realised something. Class Ups for a monster maybe different compared to the Class Up a human would experience.

In her past life, she remembers seeing a monster evolve before their eyes and it was a spectacle. You couldn’t not see it. A beam of energy emerged from the monster as a cocoon formed around it.

If that was to happen in the middle of a plaza...

Shiro shivered slightly thinking about the consequences.

’The best way would be for me to enter a Dungeon. I’ve got some time before I need to head towards the school dorms where I would be studying for now so I should be fine.’ She thought as she brought up her map.

She remembers the Dungeon signs being that of a tower. There were several E rank Dungeons nearby and the closest one was just a 5-minute jog away from where she was.

Storing everything away in her inventory, Shiro jogged over to the Dungeon.

Due to her high AGI, it didn’t take too long for her to arrive.

This Dungeon was a public one as anyone can enter when they want to. There are restrictions to how many people can go in there at a time though. If a Dungeon is higher than level 10, one would need at least a party of 5 E ranks to enter.

From what she could hear from the surroundings, this Dungeon was a particularly weak Dungeon so anyone can go in. Even solo.

It was good that she could enter alone. However, even if she couldn’t, she would have just find another chance to Class Up.

Her task was simple. Go in, Class Up, come out. Nothing more nothing less.

Entering the Dungeon, she saw that she was in the middle of a plain. Slimes were jumping around as one tried to attack her.

[HP: 3795/3800]

’...’ Shiro looked at the blue slime which dealt 5 damage to her.

Crouching down, Shiro gave the slime a smile as she reached out her hand.

Tapping the would-be forehead of the slime, she froze the slime instantly and shattered it.

Jogging a safe distance away, she made sure that no one is around her before confirming the Class Up.

Blue light appeared near her as it formed a silk-like layer which wrapped around her body.

Shiro could feel her powers increasing as she gained knowledge about her new skills.

[Class Up complete]

[Name: Shiro

Race: Snow Girl (Evolution Criteria yet to be met)

Level: 21

Class: Snow Girl★, Nanomancer

HP: 3800/3800

MP: 4800/4800

STR: 35 (+25)

VIT: 30 (+40)

INT: 60 (+50)

AGI: 60 (+5)

DEX: 21

DEF: 10 (+32)

Unassigned Points: 20

Balance: 5,000 USD

Equipment (Tap to Display)

Skills –

Snow Girl ★:

Tier 2 Ice magic, Passive Regeneration, Blessed by Ice, Snow Magic, Faded Snow Movement, Cold Aura.

Nanomancer:

Dagger Creation.

Other:

Mini-map, Inspection, Disguise, Power Boost(Equipment), Fire Spirit Blessing(Equipment).]

The silk cocoon unwrapped itself as Shiro sighed in relief.

’Thankfully I didn’t Class Up back in the plaza.’ She thought before checking out her new skills.

[Snow Magic:

Magic which has high synergy with Ice magic. Snow Magic is primarily used to obscure sights, used as a medium for Ice magic and control enemy movements to a certain extent.

Current output power: Tier 2(Matches Tiers with Ice Magic)]

[Faded Snow Movement:

Turn a portion of your body into snow as you increase movement speed and gain a certain amount of damage nullification. With enough MP, you may even regenerate a limb (Unusable at this moment in time due to low MP).

+50% movement Speed

-30% damage taken

Cost: 300MP upon activation, 50MP per second]

[Cold Aura (Passive):

The area around you will always be cold and fluctuate depending on your anger and bloodthirst.

+10% Ice Efficiency

+10% Snow Efficiency]

She smiled seeing Faded Snow Movement as it would help her a lot in a fight.

After she had Classed Up, it rewarded her with 20 points straight up. She put 10 points into her INT, 5 points into AGI and the last 5 into DEX.

This bumped her total MP to 5300.

Walking back to the Dungeon gate, she left with a light smile.

The people were surprised seeing her exit so fast as they saw her enter a few minutes ago. But they shivered slightly when she walked past due to the low temperature.

As she was walking, Shiro couldn’t help but notice some changes to her skin. After her Class Up, her skin became much smoother and soft looking that she couldn’t help but give it a pinch and poke.

Her skin was cool to the touch as it was rather refreshing.

’How nice.’ She thought.

To outsiders, a beautiful young girl was walking whilst prodding her own arm.

As she made her way to the school, she saw the building situated in the middle of several open fields. There were branches connected to the main building as she could see a separate building which seemed to be the lodging.

Walking over, Shiro looked at the students in curiosity. Most of them were well dressed and seemed to be curious about her as well.

Well.... Mostly the fact that she’s barefooted even though Shiro herself doesn’t really mind.

Arriving at the lodging, she checked her guide once more to make sure the location is correct.

Matching up the map in the guide with her own minimap, Shiro sighed in relief.

Knocking on the door, she heard a beep as an audio cue kicked in.

-Due to the lack of Student ID, please state in simple words the reason for your arrival. –

’*******!!!!! Like hell I can speak!’ Shiro cursed in her mind as this was annoying her. She wished she could learn how to write this language quickly so she can actually communicate. Though it still wouldn’t help in this situation as she needed to speak.

While she could try to speak out, it would just seem like she’s opening her mouth without actually saying anything. Maybe it was due to her monster physiology, but no recognisable language came out of her mouth. In fact, no noise came out except for a few cries like Ah or Oh.

As Shiro’s frustration grew, the temperature around her dropped as frost could be seen forming over the device.

"Erm, hello? Excuse me?" A shivering voice rang out behind Shiro as she calmed down quickly.

Turning around, she saw what seemed to be an Elf.

She had long blond hair, pointed ears, emerald eyes, a delicate face and modest body proportions. Her height was roughly half a head taller than Shiro.

She sighed in relief as she felt the temperature rise again.

[Lyrica LVL 10 – Elven Swordswoman]

While Shiro was inspecting Lyrica, she was also inspecting the Shiro.

[Shiro LVL 21 – Ice Mage]

"Wow! Level 21!" Lyrica said astonished at Shiro’s level.

"Erm, so I saw you struggle with the voice recognition. Do you need help?" She asked with some nervousness in her voice seeing Shiro stare at her so intently.

Shiro nodded and held up a piece of paper. She remembered Emilia telling her to show this to the lady at the reception so it might help her out here.

"Hm? Let’s see... Er name, Shiro. Age...13?! Disabilities... Mute? Ah so that’s why." Lyrica couldn’t help but smile wearily as it was truly unfortunate.

For those without a Student ID, they had to state the reason of why they were visiting. Yet the girl in front of her was mute so how could she state the reason as to why she was here?

"Here, I’ll take you inside." Lyrica smiled as she scanned her ID and opened the door.

’What a nice girl.’ Shiro thought with a smile.

Following her in, they walked towards the registration till.

"Excuse me." Lyrica called out as a middle-aged lady walked up.

"Lyrica? Who’s this?" She asked peeking over at Shiro.

"Err.. She’s Shiro. And she seems to be a new student. She’s mute so she couldn’t get in." Lyrica said as she gestured towards Shiro.

Seeing that the woman in front of her should be the receptionist, Shiro brought out the files.

The woman saw the files and understood what Shiro needed. Taking the files, she started to work away at her computer.

Shiro wanted to say thank you to Lyrica but could only sigh since she wouldn’t be able to understand her.

"Done. Here is your student ID. Your room is on the 3rd floor room 306, next to Lyrica’s. You can help each other out." The lady said as Lyrica nodded.

"I’ll show you the way." Lyrica said eagerly as she went to grab Shiro’s hand.

However, she flinched slightly feeling how cold her hands were.

Shiro frowned at her hands and could only give Lyrica an apologising smile.

"No worries. Is it something you can’t control? I saw it get colder when you got annoyed outside." Lyrica said as Shiro nodded.

Shiro was surprised at how observant she was.

Lyrica walked in front of Shiro as she showed her the way to her room.

"So your uniform should arrive tomorrow. Your timetable should be on the tablet. As for the lessons, we can choose whichever lesson you want to go to. You just need to be able to pass the end of year exams." Lyrica said as they arrived.

Shiro pulled out her file as she showed it to Lyrica.

Pointing at the words, Shiro shook her head.

"The information is wrong?" She asked.

Shiro pointed again as she shook her head.

"Is there something missing?" Lyrica asked taking a second read of the information.

Shiro frowned but gained an idea.

She pointed at her throat and made an X sign.

"I know you’re mute." Lyrica nodded.

Shiro then made a writing motion and made an X.

"You can’t write either?"

Shiro nodded. She then pointed to her eyes before pointing at the words and made another X sign.

"You can’t read either?!" Lyrica said surprised.

’How did she survive till now?’ Lyrica thought as she had an idea of what Shiro was asking.

"You want me to help you with reading and writing?" She asked not sure.

Shiro nodded quickly with a smile.

"Oh that’s simple then. I can teach you about it every day when you have time." Lyrica smiled as Shiro nodded.

Entering her room, Shiro sat down on a chair and leaned backwards. Her mind started to wonder as she thought about the girl she just met.

’That girl, Lyrica... She shows symptoms of a low self-esteem. Not only was she concerned over the impression she made on me, she was also slightly reluctant to put herself first. Her body posture showed that she tried to make herself seem smaller than mine.

Rather than saying when she had time to teach me, she was worried about whether or not ’I’ had time to be taught.

The most likely causes of this are poor performance or family issues.’ Shiro thought looking at the wall connected to Lyrica’s room.

’I should see if I can solve this for her as payment for teaching me how to read and write.’ Shiro thought. She wasn’t the type to repay hatred with 100 times the hatred. Nor was she one to repay kindness with 100 times the kindness.

However, she did like to treat people who gave her a good impression. A whim if one had to classify this.

For a girl like Lyrica who treated her well on the first meeting, Shiro would try to help her resolve a problem in return for that kindness.

###

Lyrica who returned to her room sat by her bed.

’Was my impression on her ok? Was she freaked out by me? What if she doesn’t want to be friends with me? I should be fine right? I mean she wanted my help.

She needs MY help. Someone actually needed MY help. But what if I disappoint her with bad teaching?’ Lyrica thought with a nervous frown.

"I was too hasty... What if I can’t teach her well enough." She muttered with a sigh.

Looking at her tablet, Lyrica searched up the best ways of teaching reading and writing.

###

Waking up to a frozen stiff bed cover, Shiro’s smile twitched as she knew this was most likely going to be an ongoing problem.

She looked over at the clock and saw that it was 7:30 AM.

’Hmm, a little early I guess.’ Shiro thought as she rubbed her stomach.

Taking out a few mana stones, she threw it in her mouth as she had a look at how man E ranked mana stones she had left.

[E Rank Mana Stone x132]

’132? Should last me for a while. Though with that being said, I should probably hunt a few more monsters to get my stock filled.’ Shiro thought as she noticed her increased intake.

Previously, 3 to 5 mana stones could help her through the day. Now, 5 mana stones were a small snack for her.

Considering the pattern, Shiro was sure she would eventually need to eat a warehouse full of E rank stones just to fill her stomach.

*Knock Knock Knock

Shiro heard the door knock as she walked over and opened the door.

’Lyrica?’ Shiro thought seeing her still in her pyjamas. She had dark circles under her eyes as she pulled out a thick notebook.

"I’ve done it.... I’ve found the best way to teach reading and writing to you." Lyrica said as she smiled.

Her eyelids were drooping every so often as Shiro frowned slightly.

’Did this girl stay up all night to compile this?’ She thought.

Shiro held the helms of her pyjama as she dragged Lyrica back to her room.

Shiro pointed at the bed as her eyes bore into Lyrica’s.

"Huh? Shiro you want me to sleep?" Lyrica asked as Shiro nodded and took the notebook. She pushed Lyrica onto the bed gently as she looked at her.

Shiro made a sleeping motion as she pointed at the pillow. Her eyes seemed to only take yes for an answer.

Lyrica decided to relent to the comfort of the bed.

The moment she closed her eyelids, she fell asleep almost instantly.

’Heh, what a foolish girl.’ Shiro though as she covered her up.

She sat down as she looked at the notebook in her hands.

[Efficient Notebook for learning reading and writing.

Creator – Lyrica Valenstaine]

Shiro could only sigh seeing the effort Lyrica put into making this even though they’ve barely met.

’As the first person I’ve met at this school, I’ll give you some privileges.’ Shiro thought before turning to the notebook. She wanted to see if she could decode this notebook and study on her own.