Maria quickly began distributing the 250 Free Stat Points that she accumulated before opening up her [Log] and [Inventory] to take a look at her loot.

  "Reputation-related titles...I guess I'll get better treatment now?" Maria mumbled to herself before continuing to look down her [Log].

  "Oh, isn't this that guy's chains? [Inspect]"

  "Oh...that's weird. The stat boost is random..."

  "Yes, sa~"

  Maria was too preoccupied with looking at the chains that had been binding her earlier so she didn't pay too much attention to her [Log] to see that her INT stat had risen to an absurd level. After a while, she nodded happily before she began swinging them around.

  "Hmm...I can probably use this as a weapon or—Oh, I know!"

  Maria retracted the chains and wound them around her dainty arms before locking one of the shackles onto the handle of her Calamity. She started laughing and then began spinning her weapon around using her newly acquired chains.

  "Hahaha, I'm a genius! A chain-scythe or ax! This will open up a broader way for me to attack!"

  "M-Master, please stop swinging that dangerous thing around!" Lilah yelled.

  "Oh, sorry. Anyway, now that I can use the Skill book, let's learn Dark Ray now!"

  Maria pulled out the Dark Ray skill book and quickly slapped it onto herself. This was the objective of this entire trial so she was glad that it was over with and she could finally learn the skill. She only hoped that the skill was worth all the trouble that she went through.

  "...what's with this skill? It deals damage based on my target's health percentage? The cooldown's a bit long, but it's still really strong even at level 1!" Maria exclaimed in shock.

  She was really pleased with the skill. The shackles that she got were already a pretty good item so now that she got another good skill on top of that, all the trouble that she went through inside this place was all worth it.

  "I also got so much gold! Though the number is a bit dubious, it's still gold!" Maria cheered happily. She also didn't forget about the final item that she got, [Devil of Greed, Asmodeus's Soul]. Maria wasn't sure what it was but since her other items were awesome, that too would bound to be awesome as well.

  Maria couldn't find the item inside her [Inventory] so she went over to Greed's corpse and looked around. It didn't take long before she noticed a blinking light within Greed's chest. She stabbed her hand into the corpse and quickly grasped the blinking light before pulling out her hand.

  Within her grasp was a black crystal that was pulsating with a dark light.

  "Is this that devil's soul?"

  *DING*

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  Maria tilted her head and mumbled to herself, "Huh? What's this?"

  Ash walked over to her side and took a look at the black crystal before answering his Mistress's question.

  "My Lady, this crystal is the core or [Essence of Life] of the devil that you just killed earlier..."

  "Hmm...So it's his soul?"

  "Yes, My Lady. It's Greed's Soul..."

  "It says that I can absorb this thing...should I do it?"

  Ash widened his eyes in shock before he exclaimed, "Master, are you crazy?! If you absorb that devil's soul—"

  "Will it make me stronger?" Maria cut off and asked.

  Ash was a little skeptical at the question, but he still answered her, "Y-yes, but doing so would be highly risky! Your body and mind may become affected by Greed's soul!"

  Maria smirked when she heard Ash's words. In the end, Universe Tales was still just a game. Even if she did consume the item in front of her, at most, it will affect her in-game character's body, but not her mind.

  It'd be a pretty flawed and dangerous game if an in-game item was able to influence a player's mind. The pain receptor of the game was already too much for most players so if there were items that directly affected the mental state of the players, UT would be quickly put out of commission.

  While Ash was giving his long tirade, Maria had made up her mind so she quickly popped the small crystal into her mouth.

  "Also, there are the repercussions from the God's that need to be taken into accou—MY LADY!!!" "MASTER!" Ash and Lilah screamed together in horror.

  Maria frowned a little when she felt the sharp texture of the crystal in her mouth. She quickly swallowed it down despite her two companions' protest.

  "Ah, relax you two. It's an item that's meant to be used! What's the worst that could—Eh?"

  Maria began feeling her body heat up all of a sudden after the message window popped up in front of her. It felt stifling and uncomfortable, but still manageable.

  "T-this feels weird..."

  "Master, are you okay?" Lilah asked as she moved around her and checked Maria's body from all angles.

  Ash didn't dare get too close or touchy with his mistress since he was quite afraid that she would smash him away. He could only send her a worried look.

  "Mistress, we should get out of here. It's dangerous if we linger here any longer," Ash said.

  "Yeah...we should get going—"

  Maria tapped on the [YES] and her body was sent out of the instance along with her pet and champion.

  After being teleported out, Maria looked around and saw that she had been transported back into her original place before she went into Death's Trial.

  "Phew... damn, I'm feeling really, really hot..." Maria complained.

  "...Do I have to deal with this stupid heat for almost 3 days—AHHH!!!"

  "OW! It hurts! Guhhh—"

  "Master!"

  "My Lady, w-what's wrong?!"

  "Hey, Ash! Don't just stand there, do something!!!" Lilah hysterically screamed.

  "W-what can I do?! It's definitely because of that [Essence of Life] that master consumed earlier! It's causing her body to change!"

  "Then why is she in pain?!"

  "How am I supposed to know?!"

  Lilah tried to approach Maria who had now collapsed in a fetal position on the cold, forest floor, but an energy barrier had formed around her and prevented anything from getting too close.

  "AHHHHH!!! OWWWWWW!!! HAHAHA, IT HURTS! IT HURTS!!!"

  Amidst her screams, Maria's avatar was slowly changing. Her white wings which were turning a little bit gray were immediately washed in black and the two smaller wings on her lower back immediately grew to the same size as her primary wings.

  Her nails began changing into claws and a long bone sprouted from her lower back. It was quickly wrapped around in flesh and skin at the same time that another pair of black wings sprouted from her back.

  Those were the only visible changes that occurred but even after the transformation of her avatar's body seemed to have stopped, Maria continued to lie on the ground while occasionally groaning out in pain.

  The pain receded only after another half hour later. Maria opened her eyes and quickly jumped to her feet as if nothing happened.

  "Phew, I'm glad that's over~"

  "M-Master! Are you okay?!"

  "My Lady!"

  Maria's two companions quickly rushed over and asked in unison. Concern and worry were apparent in both their eyes. Maria looked at the two and grinned.

  "Hehe, no problems here~ I've undergone something even more painful than that so I'm fine!"

  "..."

  "..."

  The two didn't seem so convinced since just a few moments ago, Maria was just screaming out in pain. It didn't seem like she was used to that sort of excruciating pain at all.

  "Stop looking at me like that. Anyway, there's some good news from this, I did get stronger!"

  *DING*

  Maria was rather pleased seeing the first message window since all of her skills had leveled up but she frowned when she saw the second message window.

  For some reason, her affiliation had suddenly changed and it was because one of her titles had changed.

  She quickly opened up her [Titles] menu and tapped on the two titles that had changed earlier.

  "W-what the hell?"

  Maria quickly tapped on her reputation and quickly read the description.

  Maria took a moment to process what just happened and suddenly screamed, "...What the hell?!!"