Chapter 15 (1/2)

Randidly began ripping through paths as his skill level shot up. He began with Pathless IV, which gave him 1 stat point at 5 and 10.

Congratulations! You have completed the Pathless IV Path! +3 stat(s). You have realized that all paths are the same, and all paths lead to the same place.

In a rare conversation between them during training, Randidly asked Shal whether he had any further recommendations about stat distribution. Shall just snorted and spun his spear, the spearhead ripping through the muscle of Randidly’s shoulder.

So after careful consideration, Randidly decided to return to his initial plans of raising his skills at mage craft. So 3 of the stats went into Int, 1 into Control and Focus.

But Randidly didn’t stop there. The training had had truly unfathomable results; Randidly had more than enough PP to complete Pathless V, Pathless VI, and Pathless VII.

Altogether, they gave 25 stats. 10 went into Int, and 5 to Control, Focus, and End. End was due to the fact that as Randidly’s skills expanded, he began to use an increasing amount of stamina just to fight. The brief skirmish with the howler monkey had disturbed him.

The day after, Randidly unleashed his magic with wild abandon, throwing out Mana Bolts as fast as he could. None of them landed, but their strength definitely caught Shal’s eye. And the boost in power was enough to give Shal pause.

That day Randidly’s mana based training shifted, and the Howler Monkey’s became his new training partners. It was less of an exercise in him overcoming, but more of him surviving. Entangling Roots and Mana Shield underwent a baptism of constant use, their skill level rising quickly.

Mana Bolt became Randidly’s bread and butter, the increase in his Int was enough that a direct hit to the face of a Howler Monkey would stun them, giving him time to escape.

Struggling in this new environment, Randidly completed Pathless VIII, which netted him 11 stat points to distribute. These all went into Control. Shal began forcing Randidly deeper and deeper into the forest, and now it was a common occurrence for 7-8 monkeys to be chasing him down. He couldn’t afford to miss. That would mean being caught. And being caught led to one thing.

Death.

There was only one time that this was close to happening. The combined rock throws and a tackle by a monkey had broken through his mana shield and brought him to the ground.

The monkey had a rock in hand and brought it smashing down towards Randidly’s head. He reflexively activated Iron Skin, but he still felt something crack when the rock struck him.

Although Randidly was dizzy, he still instantly produced the dagger he had found inside the snake, but the monkey reacted quickly, using his free arm to catch Randidly’s wrist. Because it was so unexpected, Randidly did nothing for several seconds, he just laid there, gaping.

The howler monkey, screaming its glee, raised its stone and brought it down again.

Again Randidly activated Iron Skin, but the pain in his head grew only larger, the vision in his left eye fading to black.

For a split second, Randidly wondered whether this would be the point that he died. He felt somehow instinctively that Shal would not save him.