Thinking of Hopp, who was still unconscious, Carl's confidence increased slightly.
The combat power of Barbarians on the Giant Path was still quite formidable.
When they reached level 6, they would also gain the Elemental Blade trait.
With this trait, they could unleash an effect similar to the third-circle spell Elemental Weapon while raging. Their weapons would also directly gain a function similar to Returning Weapon during that time.
Although Rage lasted for a limited time, the thought of a three- or four-meter-tall giant wielding two two-meter-long axes wreathed in flames and throwing them made Carl shudder.
Gradually, the water temperature began to drop. Carl tossed her clothes in and continued soaking, then climbed out of the tub, changed into dry clothes, and drank some broth.
Once she had eaten and drunk her fill, Carl went to Hopp's room and checked her condition.
Hopp's body temperature was still extremely high, but it seemed that this had already become her normal temperature.
An orange-red glow shone from her chest. Even the astonishing thickness of her frontal armor could not conceal it.
"This is probably the change brought about by the Hellfire trait."
Carl poked the spot where the fiery light showed through and studied it with a scientific gaze.
But naturally, she discovered nothing. Biology was not her specialty, after all.
Carl poured a little clean water over Hopp, then cooked more broth and fed it to her.
Afterward, Carl returned to her room and entered the Dream World.
As usual, Carl glanced at her attribute panel. Seeing that the data had barely changed from level 2, she felt somewhat discouraged.
In this world, attributes did not automatically increase with level. Class users had to train themselves.
Many class users remained stuck at level 4 because they could never raise their attributes any further.
Fortunately, each class core enhanced the growth of certain attributes for its class users. Otherwise, even fewer class users would have been able to reach level 5.
As an Artificer whose primary attribute was Intelligence, Carl's Intelligence attribute was already sufficient to carry her smoothly through level 8.
However, an Artificer's abilities from levels 4 to 8 did little to improve combat power, so Carl planned to raise her Warrior level during that period.
"All right, the battle begins!"
At Carl's words, two Hopps with fiery lights glowing from their chests appeared in the Dream Space.
Their figures and appearances were identical to Hopp's in the outside world. Even their body temperatures were higher than normal.
After taking a deep breath, Carl condensed armor over her hands and legs, then charged at the two Hopps.
In the blink of an eye, the moment Carl moved, both Hopps drew Hand Axes from behind their waists and threw them at her.
They were so fast and powerful that they directly chopped through the armored bracer Carl raised in defense.
The fierce pain made Carl convulse, but the Armorer's level 3 trait took effect. The armor automatically reconnected with her severed arm, transforming directly into a steel prosthetic for her to use.
Carl ducked and rolled along the ground, closing the distance to one of the Hopps.
Using the strength of her waist and abdomen, Carl flipped her body when both arms touched the ground, then somersaulted and "launched" herself forward.
The two Hopps, whose weapons had yet to return, closed in. One of them even raised both hands in a stance for unleashing a Kamehameha, apparently intending to hit Carl with a Burning Hands spell.
The Tiefling racial trait of Hellfire caused a Tiefling's Burning Hands at level 3 to have the power of a second-circle spell. If Carl took the attack head-on, it might wake her from the dream in pain.
Fortunately, a Tiefling could use this ability only once per day.
"Whoosh!"
Taking advantage of the other party's posing, Carl swept her leg out and tripped her.
Carl then rapidly pounced on the other Hopp, attempting to use wrestling techniques to entangle the two of them.
The axes, which also had the Returning Weapon trait, had already flown back. With two "thunks," they struck both Hopps, then fell to the ground.
The Hopp phantom preparing to cast Burning Hands had finished gathering power. Completely ignoring her companion's safety, she cast the spell directly at her entangled companion and Carl.
"Whoosh~"
After a brief flash of pain, Carl watched herself fall back to the first layer of the Dream World, her body trembling slightly.
"Fighting two level 3 Tiefling Barbarians on the Giant Path while using only part of the Artificer's abilities is still pretty difficult."
Covering her face, Carl gritted her teeth and waited for the phantom pain of being burned alive to gradually fade from her consciousness.
Carl manifested a fully automatic rifle beside her, applied the Rapid Fire Weapon infusion to it, and prepared to return to the second layer of the Dream World for another bout of slaughter.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
The moment she appeared in the second layer of the Dream World, Carl opened fire at the spots where she remembered the two Hopps being.
As the bullets flew out, the two Hopp phantoms had already taken shape in the air and threw axes at Carl.
"Clang! Clang!"
Relying on the "gun sense" she had developed delivering packages in her previous life, Carl raised her weapon and knocked both axes away with two bullets. She then aimed at the two Hopps and activated full-auto fire.
Relying on their agility and instincts from Unarmored Defense, the two Hopps still advanced some distance through the hail of bullets.
As the saying went: beyond seven steps, the gun was faster; within seven steps, the gun was both accurate and fast.
Even without deliberately aiming, Carl swept the muzzle rapidly, and the two Hopp phantoms were still hit.
Watching them dissolve, Carl did not feel happy about her victory. Instead, she felt an indescribable emptiness.
"As expected, cheating in a game really does reduce the fun."
"But then again, these are abilities I can genuinely use, so it doesn't count as completely cheating, right?"
Scratching her hair, Carl canceled the weapon in her hand, then reconstructed the Hopp phantoms.
It was not that Carl did not want to switch to different phantoms. She simply knew too little about anyone else, so the phantoms' combat power was too unstable.
Carl could also transform into a Giant Lizard or a Grotesque Aberration, but one had a Challenge Rating of one-quarter, while the other had a Challenge Rating ranging from one-half to three.
Neither had much value as a training target.
"If I get the chance in the future, I could find some goblins to practice on. I just don't know what level they are... To be safe, I should raise my Warrior level to 3 first!"
In the real world, Hopp slowly opened her eyes.
Feeling that her body temperature was much higher than usual and that her strength was abundant, she raised her hand, clenched it, then relaxed it.
Seeing the clay bowl with a little broth still left in it, she blinked and rose from the bed.
She opened her pocket watch. The hands had already reached the two o'clock mark, and the color was blue.
"Is it two in the morning? Have I slept for almost an entire day?"
Rubbing her stomach, Hopp opened the door and looked into the hall.
On the shelf beside the bathtub, a pot of broth simmered gently over a Rune Stone, still giving off faint heat. Carl had deliberately illuminated the area with glowing Rivets, as if afraid Hopp might fail to notice it.
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