8 Living Mana (2/2)

[Strong(Strength of 10 or more) - You are strong. Doubles physical damage bonus.]

[Fledgling(Reach level 5) - You've just started learning. +10% to experience.]

[Beginner(Reach level 10) - Now you know a little. You can step out of the tutorial zone now.]

At this point, I'm almost scared of picking colossal. The more damage reduction I have, the more like steel I become. Unfortunately, steel is very hard to move. Halving the strength requirement and bonus strength would help quite a bit though, so I pick the perk.

A rush of strength floods my limbs, and I become unbending. My body is so stiff, I can lift my arm out in front of me and relax, but the limb won't fall. As if attached to wires, it floats in the air without me having to move it. Even with the extra strength and lowered requirement, shifting quickly is now a chore.

At least the endurance will go to good use since I use so much stamina moving. I brush off bits of ice and take the golem's core. After pulling the mana into it, I run off to the next enemy. My footsteps are awkward and unweildy. If I stand still, it isn't a problem. When I move, the weight becomes apparent. Hopefully a perk or two into strength will let me move like normal. Otherwise I need a few points in dexterity.

I raced over towards the next pool while killing bats. Even if one of them slammed into me, I wouldn't be thrown off balance. I was like a wall now, and they couldn't fight me anymore. One slammed into my back, and literally splat. Blood shot everywhere. It was super gross.

Of course, some bats had started giving out less exp. If a creature was ten levels below me, I still got full experience. at 11, it would give 9/10ths. At 12, 8/10ths. So on and so forth. At 20 levels below, the critters no longer gave experience. With the dramatic increase in exp requirements as I leveled, anything less than full exp was near nothing.

Still, these bosses helped quite a bit. They gave at least a level a pop, and the mana cores were interesting to say the least. With that in mind, I pushed onwards as my steps thumped against the ground.

Bored of the bats, I trained random skills as I walked. I would juggle between some shadow boxing and trying to learn some acrobatics. I busted my ass at least a dozen times before I learned the skill. I'd sprint, jump, anything for fighting the boredom. I really missed having someone to talk to.

Micheal would help tremendously with that, but there were only two options. Either he died in this cave within seconds of leaving the pillar of light, or he starved to death in the pillar of light. I was lucky as shit to defeat the first bat. A stalactite stabbed through it before it ate me. I doubt that would happen for him.

Even then, I had to spend multiple days trying to get a skill, that kills me, strong enough to kill bats. I mean, the chances of him doing anything similar were non-existent. The sentinel even said it was impossible for me to be here doing this stuff. I'm guessing I was trapped here during some freak accident, and he spawned outside. I sure hoped so.

Agony wasn't workable with a team, unless someone was very long range. Agony worked by an area system. It covered about fifty feet from me now when cranked up. It left most bats squirming for mercy, killing them in less than two minutes. I couldn't imagine facing me at level one. Agony's aura would kill me in 6 seconds.

Facing Baldag-Ruhl wasn't that far off into the horizon anymore. I would probably get two more perks in strength, and finish my tree's with skill level ups before I tried killing him. Him being a cluster of enemies made Agony brutally effective.

With that in mind, I trained and trained and trained. I focused in on the task, and in a moment I reached the next pool.

BloodHollow Bear(Lvl 76) - An enormous, terrifying creature. Fight with caution as it's red aura and monstrous strength are very effective tools for dismembering adventurers.

This time there was no fear. Defeating this piece of shit wouldn't even take fifteen minutes. I ran towards him, my steps thumping on the ground. When I hit the bear, it flew back. When it him me, I barely felt pain. My fists sunk into the beasts soft body, like punching a pillow. Within a few minutes, I beat the thing to death.

I gained a level, and placed a point into strength. I gave the bear to Baldag-Ruhl, ran, found another pool with another bear, killed it. The cycle repeated three more times before I gained another level, another point in strength. I drilled relentlessly between trips, eager for skill levels.

That was when I reached a cyan pool. Filled with disappointment, I approached the glowing water before a screeching howl roared out. For the first time in weeks, it was a human voice. I shut off agony before running towards the source of the sound. A part of my filled with hope at seeing Micheal.

Micheal wasn't there. A short, brown haired girl was here, with a bow at her side. Leather armor, with a white aura and a bow on her back, she had dropped a cup of tea across a heated gem. The drink steamed while she held both her hands against her sides, shaking.

I glanced at her, wondering if agony really hurt that bad. I suppose it would, especially with a low health pool. As I neared her, she scrambled backwards while screaming. I frowned as I approached and said, ”What the fucks your problem?”

She nocked an arrow and sent it flying towards my chest. The blade of it sunk at most an inch deep, so I pulled it out. Her face went pale. She shouted, ”Get away from me, troll!”

I rolled my eyes while leaning against a nearby boulder. I said, ”I'm not a troll, but you are dumbass.”

Her chest stopped heaving and registered the insult. Terror turned to irritation as she said, ”What are you, besides ugly?”

”I'm Daniel. What are you, besides weak?”

She frowned. She couldn't have been older than 20, but was definitely not young either. Another arrow spun from behind her, straight at my eye. I bent my head down, and the arrow hit my forehead, driving into the bone a half inch. With all my pain reduction, it hurt like smashing your hand in a doorway. In other words, pretty fucking bad.

I pulled the arrow out before cutting agony up to full. She howled in torment along with a new voice before I walked up. I picked her up and pulled her next to my face. I cut off agony and said, ”If your friend ever so much as touches me again, I'll feed you your teeth through a hole in your throat.”

I dropped her before pacing off towards the other voice. A spindly shit-stain of a man was on his knees, grabbing the sides of his head. I picked him up and said, ”Why are you both firing arrows at me?”

He shouted, ”You look like a monster?”

”Even I know you need a notification before recognizing monsters. The schema isn't recognizing you, so you aren't monsters. No fucking duh.”

The girl answered for him, cradling her stomach, ”I thought you were the dungeon boss. When you got near me, everything was pain. Doesn't that sound like a monster to you?”

I frowned before letting the guy down. That actually makes a lot of sense. I suppose walking around with agony cranked to full all the time wasn't very...prudent.

The short guy picked up his bow and arrow, giving me a stare of defiance. I said, ”Alright, alright. We got off on the wrong foot. How about you guys introduce yourselves, and we start from there.”

The two of them shared a glance. Not just any old ordinary glance, a glance that tells a conversation in a moment. It could only happen between two people who understood each other exceptionally well. Whatever they said, the girl glanced at me and said,

”I'm Stacy. He's David. We're here to explore our first dungeon since the schema started. We finished our tutorials about a week ago.”

I nodded and said, ”You already know my name. I spawned here when I first entered the schema. I've been here for weeks now.”

Their jaws dropped as David said, ”What the hell? How are you still alive?”

I frowned as I said, ”What do you mean still alive?”

Stacy answered, ”We've been trapped here since we entered. Even the weakest fodder here is strong as hell. There's no way we could ever beat a level 45.”

I said, ”What level are you then?”

”I'm level 17. David's level 15. What level are you?”

I laughed out loud before saying, ”I'm level 57.”

Disbelief turned to shock as David said, ”That's thirty levels higher than anyone I've ever seen.”

I rolled my eyes before saying, ”You should have seen the sentinel. It's level was well over a thousand.”

They stared at each other before Stacy chimed, ”You can identify sentinels?”

I nodded before they said, ”Uh, well...that's super weird.”

”So is the schema. You guys seem like you need help getting out, and I need company. How about we party up?”

They frowned before I shrugged and said, ”Suit yourself. Good luck getting past the bears. They're over level 75.”

David spit out his answer, ”Of course we want to party up. Like, damn. You took me as a real cool guy when we first met.”

Stacy said, ”You still look like a troll to me.”

I frowned at her as I said, ”And you're as pretty as a shit sandwich. So?”

She fumed before David said, ”Where are you headed?”

”Towards more pools of water. I need to give the dungeon boss some bear meat or else he'll hunt me down. It's a tough life.”

”Why the hell would you help the boss?”

”The same reason you would. To not die, and to get out of here.”

He nodded as if I said something deep and profound. I glanced at Stacy. She glared back. I said, ”You guys ready to go?”

David replied, ”We can pack up and go in five minutes. We have some food if you want it.”

My eyes locked with his, intense as living death. I said, ”For the love of god, please.”

As he pulled out a piece of bread and jerky, a bat swooped towards him from behind. I lunged towards him and swung over his head. My fist snapped against the bat's jaw, knocking it down. Before it could stand and charge again, I stomped it.

I stomped and stomped and stomped until nothing but a bloody mush was left. Blood had splattered onto my face, hands and feet. David and Stacy seemed shellshocked. I turned to them and said, ”Come on. Let's go. I can eat while we talk.”

Skill unlocked! Intimidation(lvl 1)