NOVEL NEXT Chapter 49: Theory
Zach nodded excitedly. Violina had also leveled up. It would be easier to figure out what exactly made them level up since there were two of them now.
However, Violina's expression quickly cooled.
"So what?" Violina cocked her slightly.
"What do you mean 'So what'? Aren't you excited?" Zach was dumbfounded. Didn't she understand what it meant?
"Why would I be? It's not like I've gained a new skill or anything. It's just a new number." Violina shrugged, slightly confused about why Zach was so excited.
"Ah, you haven't noticed, have you? I am pretty sure leveling up makes us stronger."
Violina raised her eyebrows and looked
"Makes us stronger?"
"Yeah." Zach nodded. "Didn't you notice how Dukiel was significantly more tired than us others, and how I wasn't nearly as tired as you guys?"
"I wasn't exactly paying attention to any of you." Violina shrugged.
Zach sighed.
"Well, that's a shame. Ah, I'm completely fine right now, and I haven't slept yet. But you guys took a nap earlier and fell asleep as soon as you closed your eyes."
Violina just looked at Zach. That wasn't a solid argument.
"Um…" Zach looked around their tiny camp, eventually setting his sights on a big rock. He pointed at it.
"That rock. Can you lift it?"
Violina narrowed her eyes and looked skeptically at Zach. She glanced at the rock.
"Don't think so."
"Try it."
"..."
"For my sake."
If anything, Violina wanted to do it less when Zach begged like that. But she was curious about why he was so insistent. Reluctantly, she got up and walked to the rock. She bent down and wrapped her arms and hands around it, looking for a proper grip. It was about as big as her torso.
It would be heavy, but not necessarily impossible. It depended on if she could get a good handle and if it was stuck in the ground.
Violina grabbed the rock and tried to lift it.
It didn't budge.
Violina felt foolish for even trying. She shook her head like she couldn't believe she had let Zach talk her into it. She knew Zach well enough to know he tended to spout a lot of bullshit.
However, to her surprise, Zach looked shocked and disappointed when she couldn't lift the stone, not like someone who had just pulled a prank.
Violina wasn't sure what to think.
"Well?" She looked at Zach and waited for him to say anything.
Violina's voice startled Zach out of his disappointment.
"...My theory still stands. I guess a few levels just aren't enough to show any significant increase."
Violina's brow creased.
"A few levels?"
"Yeah. A few levels." Zach frowned in confusion.
'What's her deal this time?'
"What's your level, Zach?"
"...Four."
Violina's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. She took a deep breath.
"Mine's two."
"Oh…"
'No wonder.'
Violina glared at Zach like she heard his thoughts. Or maybe she just read his face.
"How are you level four?"
"No idea, though, considering my theory of strength acquisition, I think it has happened during this field trip." Zach crossed his arms and entered a pose to reflect his deep thinking.
Violina frowned and sat back down with crossed legs.
"So, something both you and I have done since entering the forest caused both of us to level up. But you have leveled up more. You've either done more, or you have an easier time leveling up."
"Or both."
"Or both." Violina nodded. She didn't like the way Zach said it since he sounded unnecessarily confident and boastful, but it was whatever. It was more important to figure out how to level up.
Violina glanced at Zach and then at his battle maid angel familiar standing guard only a few steps away. She recalled the times the maid had unsheathed her sword, unfurled her wings, and conjured her halo to slay their enemies. Just earlier during the day, the maid had hunted down those strange assassins.
The thought of those assassins made Violina remember Zach's story about the Underworld.
"Assuming your story about the Underworld is true, did you and your familiar kill a lot of things in the mountain?"
"...I wouldn't say a lot. But are you thinking it's related to killing? Me and my familiar have killed more so we've leveled up more?"
Violina shrugged.
"Just a theory without any credible evidence."
Zach ignored the obvious double meaning of Violina's answer and seriously considered her theory.
Yanael had killed a bunch of powerful fighters in the Giupusta Locale. Then, she had also killed the tasker and the Great Ugor's totem, though Zach wasn't sure that counted.
And after they left the mountain and rejoined the class, Yanael had been the major contributor in every fight against all the monsters they encountered. If he had to point out one person or familiar responsible for the successful and casualty-free hunt of all those monsters, enormous or small, it would be Yanael.
She had killed the most in the class during this field trip.
'That's kind of grim.'
It was a weird realization.
But it fit with Violina's theory that they leveled up by killing monsters or other beings.
Zach's spine crawled with a nasty chill as he had a horrifying thought. He turned to look at Violina.
"...What about humans?"
Violina was about to question Zach on what he meant by that when realization dawned on her.
Would killing humans count?
But Violina's expression cooled down quickly.
"So what?"
"What? How can you be so calm? If both of us are right, then being a summoner and having this interface means you will be rewarded by killing humans!"
"Schh!" Violina hushed Zach to get him to quiet down and not wake the others.
"Zach, did not knowing about it making you level up stop you from killing the monsters or the Underworlders?"
"No…"
"This summoning interface won't change anything. People who kill other humans are going to kill them regardless. I doubt the interface is trying to turn us into genocidal maniacs."
"Are you sure?"
"No."