"More slimes?"

Alex seemed from annoyed but ready to go.

It wasn't another slime.

It was the "angel," Clare.

"Since it was the first night. I thought I'd check up on you."

The angel looked into my eyes, just her head her head sticking through the portal.

She walked out, still looking like the modern, commercialized angel.

Blonde hair, feathery wings, beautiful, unrealistic proportions, in a sexualized toga, glowing in the night.

She made her way towards me. As she did I noticed that my party members seemed uncomfortable and even hostile.

They didn't directly express it, but the hostility was clear. They seemed angry, but also passive.

"Hey, Cracken. You guys seem pretty banged up for the first night. Let's see."

Clare pulled out a piece of paper out of thin air.

"Mmm. Oh wow. F-Rank's all around. I'd be surprised if none of you die by the fifth night."

"If you're here to demotivate us, I don't think that's necessary. We're already on edge"

"Why do you think I would want to do that? I'm here with the gift. You're gonna love it."

The angel flicked her fingers above her head.

A light glowed around Gob and Alex.

What was happening?

They were leveling up.

The light soon disappeared from Alex, but the light came and disappeared at rapid speed a few more times for Gob.

As I'd planned, he had done most of the leveling up.

For the first time, Clare looked at one of my party members.

Until now, it had been as if she didn't recognize their presence.

"Oh interesting."

She looked amused at the spectacle: Three of us not leveling up, Alex leveling up only once, and Gob leveling up a bunch of times.

"Let's see. What was it again?"

The angel looked at her papers again.

"[Innovative Self-Torture] was it?"

She had said the name of one of my abilities.

"You killed off almost all of the slimes with just the goblin. That probably meets the criteria."

And as she said that, a [System] window popped up in front of me.

[Innovative Self-Torture]

[Effect: You like to torture yourself for fun, for views, as a challenge. You find new ways to make the situation harder on yourself. More unexpected.]

[You have gained 5 Ability Points.]

"If you want to make it out alive with this party, you'd better make good use of those ability points. They're a gift from the gods!"

Clare grinned.

"Ability points?"

This was not something I'd seen in the original Fantasy Survival.

"Well then. Bye Cracken. Let's see if you live to see me another time."

Clare waved me goodbye and made her way back to the portal.

She ignored the rest of my party.

※※※

3 minutes later.

"Are you serious?"

In front of me was another pop-up window from the [System].

"This changes everything!"

I was scrolling through a special store which only accepted ability points as currency.

There, I found items on sale that I'd never seen before in the original Fantasy survival.

What were these items?

Well, my original plan was to focus on Gob for a while. Level him up and eventually turn him into an OP─OP for an F-Rank, that is─melee character. Pretty much a more mobile Barbarian.

To dod that, I would have to sacrifice some of the other party members. One if everything went well, more if not, until Gob was strong enough that he could help level the rest of us up.

However through the store, I could buy XP potions.

With only 15 points, I could buy only three of the cheapest potions.

But at this level (Lv. 1 and F-Rank), this would be enough to level up just as much as (if not more than) Gob did if my calculations were correct.

I'd told Gob and Alex to hold off on leveling up their attributes while I was thinking.

But now I really had to think who was I gonna level up and what attributes.

Not everyone will satisfied with the way I was running the party and the fact that they didn't get any stronger.

But now it was my chance.

I'd show them that I'd had plan all along.

I really didn't.

※※※

25 minutes later.

"I want you to invest a couple of points into dexterity and invest the rest into sense."

"Whatever boss says."

For the first time, I was happy that the rest of the party couldn't understand what Gob and I were talking about.

If they knew that I was making the goblin─not exactly known for their mind─invest into sense, which affected things like intelligence and perception, my party would be think I was out of my mind.

In my original plan, I would have made him invest into strength, along with a couple of points of dexterity.

But we weren't going the traditional route anymore.

I had to be "innovative."

"I want to invest all your points into health," I said to Alex.

Raising health was going to increase his overall "HP." He'd be able to take more hits, basically.

"You're kidding. I'm a vampire."

Alex looked to me with contempt.

"Sure. Today, I was fighting with my bare hands, but magic is where I am strongest."

Alex was right.

Vampires. Their mana grew quickly. Their physical attributes, on the other hand, grew a lot slower compared to most heroes.

By end game, they were spellcasters with special abilities. And very low health.

I was going to change that.

"I'm sorry, but please do as I say. I have a plan."

"I assume your plan isn't to get us killed."

Even while complaining, Alex did I as I asked.

So.

Gob the goblin was investing into his intelligence.

Alex the vampire investing into his HP.

Now, it was time to make use of my precious ability points.

※※※

I handed over three F-Rank XP potions to Iris.

Aerin was standing by, looking at me suspiciously.

"Drink them all. They'll level you up."

"Wait, what did you say?" Aerin interrupted. Or at least tried to.

"Once you're done, invest all your attribute points into strength."

"...!"

Iris looked surprised. Unsure how to respond.

"Are you crazy? I mean, I don't even believe that drinking those potions will level us up, but you want her to do what?!"

Aerin was up in my face now. If she could, she probably would have attacked me. Or snatched the potions out of my hands.

There was an awkward silence as I shrugged at Aerin.

Iris broke that silence.

"I believe you are our leader for a reason. I don't believe I was sent here simply to die. My faith is unwavering."

Iris seemed to be speaking to herself more than either one of us.

"I will do as you say."