Maids VS Apocalypse

Mark’s eyes were wide open as if he heard something shocking. There was nothing difficult to understand about the concept, it was just that he never looked at it from that angle.

’So it’s like moving the level cap but for stats...’

"Now, what do you think would happen if you tried to expand that limit without reaching it first?"

Mark kept his lips tightly sealed, not falling for what he thought was a trap. That earned him a frown from his superior.

"You can answer questions, you know? Just don’t ask any."

Mark raised an eyebrow before his eyes drifted down. After a moment of thought he looked up and voiced his conclusion.

"The whole thing would hurt like hell."

"Well yes, but also no." Ramsay shook his head. "It would still hurt even if your stats are maxed out, just not as bad."

"Then-"

"Your poor physique wouldn’t be able to handle the strain." Ramsay fixed him with a glare. "It might not kill you the first or second time, but if you keep stretching yourself without taking the time to grow you’ll end up ripping yourself apart. You would be lucky if all it does is cripple you for the rest of your life."

A chill rolled over Mark as he finally realized what kind of predicament he almost placed himself in. He never expected that leveling up, which is one of the most important aspects of a System, was a death trap that could kill someone just for going through it.

"Hang on..." Mark furrowed his brows as another thought rose up in his mind. "If it’s really that dangerous, why didn’t the System give me a warning or something?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"I just told you to not ask questions." Heaving an exasperated sigh, Ramsay shook his head. "It does give you a warning, though only when your HP gets dangerously low.

"... seriously?"

"Seriously."

Learning of another design flaw was no cause of celebration and so Mark could only grimace.

"For something that claims to help people survive, this LRGS thing sure doesn’t know how to keep its hosts out of danger."

"Most of the time, people would train for a while before they could go out hunting for AP," Ramsay said. "Even those who get it from quests wouldn’t know how to use it right away."

"Still a design flaw."

If he were the one who created the System, Mark believed that he would have placed a warning at the start of every path to danger. The whole problem with leveling up could have been prevented by a simple notification telling him he’s physically unfit for it.

’First the tutorial and now this...’

A spark lit up in his mind and his gaze shifted to the maid standing beside him. Lara remained expressionless as usual, but her eyes seemed to question why he was looking at her.

"Lara I... I’m sorry..." he said after a while, "I... I didn’t know..."

Leveling up once was like taking a dip in hell so Mark couldn’t even begin to imagine what going through it nine times would feel like.

In his desperation to survive the crisis from the other day he had given his maid every bit of AP he had. Thanks to that she was able to repel the hordes of monsters, but now that he learned what she must have gone through back then, he couldn’t help but feel that he had done something terrible to her.

As the panic gripping his heart continued to grow, the silver-haired maid tilted her head slightly, showing a bit of confusion.

"I’m not sure what you mean, Master."

Her response was odd, to say the least. It was then that Mark remembered she didn’t know much about the System and the way it works.

"Did it... did it hurt when I..." he searched his mind for the proper way to describe it and as he did the conversation they had with Rebecca came to mind. "I assigned you quite a bit of Aether the other day so..."

Lara’s ruby eyes glinted as if she finally understood what he was referring to. She didn’t answer right away, looking away from him and heaving a sigh. A few seconds later she placed a hand on her chest and spoke in an even tone.

"Indeed, receiving such a high amount of Aether all at once was truly a painful experience."

"I’m sorry..." As if by reflex, Mark lowered his head and apologized.

Ramsay could only sigh as he watched the scene unfold. Lara wasn’t done yet with what she had to say, making it feel as if Mark had interrupted her.

"This vessel is quite resilient." She said. "It also has high pain resistance."

Mark looked up with a start. His mouth flapped but no words came out. He didn’t know what to think, finding it difficult to understand how she felt about what happened.

"Young miss over there isn’t entirely human, remember?" Ramsay clicked his tongue, sounding more annoyed than before. "Her constitution is different. She also has a strong healing factor."

As if he was hearing it for the first time, Mark was once again shocked by the realization that his silver-haired servant was actually a dhampir.

Dhampirs were naturally stronger than humans on top of their other supernatural traits such as high-speed regeneration. They aren’t easily hurt, and when they are, recovery is as easy as taking a sip of blood.

’Is that... Is that why she had to drink so much?’

Mark finally understood the reason behind Lara’s sudden craving from the day before. Most likely she had used a lot of energy during the battle and needed a high amount of blood to fully recover.

"That’s why, Master," Fixing him with an intense look, Lara spoke in a rather serious tone. "Please do not hesitate to assign to me as much Aether as possible!"

A little stunned, Mark didn’t know how to respond. He turned to his superior for advice but Ramsay kept looking at him as if the whole ordeal was a pain.

"I mean, why not?" He said. "It will be months before you’re ready for your next level up, and Ms. Dhampir over here could use the extra stats far better. She isn’t bound by the same rules as us"