Chapter 159: Post Battle Reflection And Lodestar Review

While everyone else went around fixing up the ship for smooth sailing across the continent, I retreated to my room to rest.

A rest I had clearly earned. After all that banter with an overgrown eel, I was feeling considerably more tired than my outward appearance was giving away.

This caused me to move with low groans despite the happy, fulfilled expression I was wearing for the crew’s benefit.

This was my victory — one of many to come. The thought settled into my chest like warm water, refreshing and promising.

I climbed onto the lower bunk and straightened into the warm mattress, my body practically melting into the fabric as the accumulated tension of battle finally loosened its grip. For a few moments, I just lay there, letting the craziness of the fight replay behind my closed eyes.

Flying above a raging sea. Trading words and flames with something that could swallow ships whole. The rush of wind, the roar of that massive body cutting through waves, Kassie and her crazy movement blazing through the storm.

I could say I was pretty much used to the whole thing now. And in fact enjoyed it — which probably said something worrying about my mental state, but I chose not to examine that too closely. Flying while knowing that a single slip meant death was not as easy to confront as it looked, but I’d found an effective coping method.

Selective amnesia.

’Don’t think about it. Problem solved.’

I sighed and brought up my summoner’s status, the familiar blue panel flickering into existence before my eyes. This was something I’d been looking forward to — a major path that determined my growth, and I was eager to see how things had progressed.

[SUMMONER STATUS]

Name: Cade Marlowe

Rank: F

Spirit Essence: 560/2,100

Active Spirits: 2/5

[MAIN ATTRIBUTES]

- Summoner’s Touch (Basic) Lv. 4

- Infinite Vitality (Basic) Lv. 3

- Perfect Fit (Basic) Lv. 4

[EXTRA ATTRIBUTES]

- Emperor’s Presence (Combat/Support) Lv. 10

- Strategic Apex (Utility/Combat) Lv. 6

- Conqueror’s Will (Support/Combat) Lv. 2

- Warlord’s Command (Support/Combat) Lv. 10

- Sanctified Immolation (Combat) Lv. 10

- Chains of Confession (Combat/Control) Lv. 7

- Inquisitorial Authority (Commander/Debuff) Lv. 1

- Martyr’s Endurance (Survival/Support) Lv. 2

I studied the numbers carefully, my eyes lingering on each line.

’Darn. My main attributes have been rather stagnant because these villainesses are too damn tough to pull.’

At this rate, it would take ages before I saw what these skills could really do at higher tiers. The thought was frustrating in a way that made my jaw tighten.

I shifted my attention to the extra attributes — the ones that actually saw combat use.

Emperor’s Presence and Sanctified Immolation sat comfortably at level 10. My favorites, the flames that didn’t burn me, the presence that made enemies hesitate while strengthening me in the same breath. Little wonder their proficiency had climbed so quickly.

Strategic Apex at level 6 gave me pause. That one surprised me, though thinking about it, I supposed it made sense. Even Kassie had complimented me on my combat decisions — and that woman didn’t hand out praise like candy. If she noticed something, it was probably real.

’Strange that I apparently have a talent for making good calls under pressure. Would’ve been nice to know that back on Earth when I was bombing every important decision in my life.’

Then my eyes dropped to the bottom of the list.

Inquisitorial Authority. Level 1.

Conqueror’s Will. Level 2.

Martyr’s Endurance. Level 2.

The backbenchers. Gathering dust while the others did all the heavy lifting.

Inquisitorial Authority was a debuff—supposed to weaken enemies, strip away their combat effectiveness. Conqueror’s Will gave me mental resistance, a shield against psychic attacks and manipulation. Martyr’s Endurance was the reason the white flames didn’t cook me alive, and why I’d started feeling strangely comfortable around heat in general.

They were all useful skills and important skills.

’And skills I barely used.’

The reason was simple, and it annoyed me every time I thought about it: the tier of beasts I’d been fighting since arriving in this world was completely unreasonable.

Inquisitorial Authority would probably work wonders on low-tier creatures—Feral Tier Spirit Beasts, maybe even some Savage Tier. But I’d never actually fought a Feral Tier while thinking straight. Most of all that crossed my path seemed determined to be at least Primal Tier, as if the universe had looked at my F-rank status and decided to make things interesting.

’Interesting’ being a polite word for ’trying to kill me.’

All my attributes were basic tier. Meant for Feral Tier threats. Instead, I’d been expending them on Primal Tier nightmares and having to pump everything through Emperor’s Presence just to stay competitive.

If this wasn’t pitiful, I didn’t know what was.

But — and this was the thought I clung to when frustration started to curdle into something worse — it was also an avenue for growth. A brutal one, sure. An unfair one, definitely. But fighting above my weight class meant my skills were tempering faster than they would have otherwise.

I couldn’t settle for average. The world wouldn’t let me.

So I sucked it in and stopped complaining.

Looking at the attributes again, though, I felt the urgency pressing against my ribs. These skills needed to advance to the next tier. I didn’t know what the level cap was — that hadn’t been covered at the Academy — but with Emperor’s Presence and Sanctified Immolation both sitting at level 10, I had a strong suspicion they were close.

After a moment of staring at the status panel, I dismissed it and turned my attention to something else.

Something I hadn’t properly examined since... well, since I’d first discovered it.

’Inventory.’

The word formed in my mind, and a new panel materialized — different from the status screen, more compact, more utilitarian.

My inventory was a feature I’d discovered back at the C - rank gate after gaining the Nave feature. Materials and gains from my kills automatically transferred to this space, stored safely outside physical reality.

Though I wasn’t entirely sure this was standard.

The thing was, spirit cores — the most important harvest from killing a spirit beast, aside from the crystals you collected in gates — those didn’t transfer automatically. I still had to physically extract them from corpses, same as anyone else.

But the processed materials? The refined components that normally required breaking down a beast’s carcass through specialized techniques? Those appeared in my inventory the moment the creature died.

It wasn’t like the body disappeared after the transfer, either. The carcass remained perfectly intact, just like in any other kill. Which meant...

’The glitch.’

The thought surfaced with a familiar mix of gratitude and wariness.

’That damn thing.’

I felt — and I could be wrong about this, but I felt — that I had a different lodestar from everyone else. The glitch, the ability to summon villainesses, the main attributes that shouldn’t exist could all be pieces of the same puzzle.

The inventory was probably another piece. An extra boon from whatever cosmic error had dropped me into this life.

It meant I could gain processed materials automatically and still harvest the physical carcass afterward. In situations where moving a body was impossible — underwater kills, hostile territory, anything that forced a quick retreat — I wouldn’t lose everything.

The downside was inconsistency. It didn’t trigger with every kill. I could drop ten beasts and only see materials from two of them. Luck factored in somehow, though I hadn’t figured out the exact mechanism.

Still, it was an interesting boon.

I pulled up the inventory contents, curious to see what had accumulated.

[Inventory]

Gear — Bloodthorn Twin Daggers, Frostfang

Accessories — None

Artifacts — None

Materials:

- Blizzard Mauler Pelt (high-grade cold resistance armor material) ×6

- Permafrost Fang (Epic-grade weapon component) ×3

- Patriarch’s Ice Crown (rare crafting material—can create frost aura equipment) ×7

- Ancient Mauler Heart (alchemy ingredient for cold-immunity potions) ×1

- Cratakiti Hook-Barb (weapon crafting—makes excellent grappling tools) ×14

- Gorewraith Bone Plate (armor crafting—lightweight but strong) ×8

- Spatial Membrane (rare alchemical component for anti-teleportation wards) ×1

- Leviathan Spine Segments (flexible armor material that moves like water) ×1

’Oh... wow.’