The spear thrust caught the Manticore just below its crystal-plated shoulder. For a split second, Kael saw his own shocked expression reflected in the beast''s crystalline hide.
"I actually injured—"
The Manticore''s paw turned him into paste before he could finish the thought.
---
Kael''s eyes snapped open, a wild grin spreading across his face. "I actually injured it! Before the transformation!"
His status window flickered to life:
[Kael Tercel] [Rank: E] [Class: Swordsman] [Level: 12] [HP: 642/642]
As he stared at the unchanged numbers, something clicked in his mind. "The window doesn''t show everything," he muttered, flexing his arms. "Each loop, my body remembers. The exercises, the movements... it''s not just about learning the patterns."
He dropped to the floor and began his routine. Pushups, squats, core work – exercises he''d done across seventeen deaths. This time, though, he paid attention to how his body responded.
''Just as I thought,'' he realized as his muscles burned with familiar effort. ''The body treats each exercise as regular training. Even when I die and reset, the muscle memory remains. If I were to work out and die for another hundred loops...''
The implications made him pause mid-pushup. "I could build strength almost inhumanly fast. Each death adding to the foundation..."
Two hours until the guild hall. He made every minute count.
---
"Marcus, want to make a bet?"
The familiar scene played out, but as Kael gripped the borrowed spear, he noticed something different. His muscles, worked to exhaustion and reformed through seventeen deaths, responded with unexpected precision.
[Spear Mastery Level 4 Obtained]
[Skill: Dash Level 2]
[Skill Obtained: Combat Prediction]
Kael paused mid-sequence, surprised by the last notification. "That''s new."
He began moving through forms, each motion flowing naturally into the next. As he practiced, whispered conversation reached his ears.
"Impossible," Marcus muttered to Enforcer Lee. "Isn''t Kael a [Swordsman]? But his footwork... his precision with the spear... This can''t be his first time wielding one."Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
"It is," Lee replied, her sharp eyes narrowed. "But you''re right – his talent with the spear is... unusual. I''ve never seen someone adapt to a new weapon this quickly, even accounting for natural aptitude."
"I''ve been teaching spearmanship for eight years," Marcus said. "It took me a month to achieve that level of form. He''s done it in hours." A pause. "After this dungeon raid, would it be possible to recommend him for a class change quest through the guild?"
"I''ll look into it after the dungeon," Lee replied thoughtfully. "Though something tells me this raid might be more interesting than usual."
Kael pretended not to hear them, but their words made him reflect. "They''re right," he thought, examining the spear in his hands. "Even with the advantage of the loops, this progression is extremely rapid. Could it be that I had some innate talent with the spear all along?"
[Title Obtained: Swordsman Who Has Talent With The Spear]
[Effect: STR +3, SPD +4]
[Note: Some warriors find their true calling with unexpected weapons...]
The notification almost made him stumble. But it made sense – his body had been learning across seventeen deaths, building a foundation of muscle memory that no status window could properly reflect. Each failure had been teaching him, not just about the Manticore''s patterns, but about himself.
He moved through another sequence, feeling how his enhanced muscles responded to the spear''s weight. The weapon felt like an extension of his body now, nothing like the awkward tool it had been just seventeen deaths ago.
"Time''s up!" Lee called out. "Everyone, form up!"
As Kael moved to join his team, he couldn''t help but smile. His stats might still show him as a weak E-rank, but his body told a different story. Seventeen deaths of exercise, of practice, of learning – all compressed into what others saw as a single morning.
"Alright, you crystalline bastard," he muttered as they entered the dungeon. "Let''s dance."
The familiar corridors passed by exactly as he''d predicted. Three lesser crystal beasts, two trapped passages, one false wall. His perfect knowledge unnerved his teammates, but he barely noticed their concerned glances. His mind was entirely focused on what waited ahead.
The Manticore''s chamber doors loomed before them.
"Remember," he said to his team, "when it transforms, fall back. Don''t try to be heroes."
"When it what?" someone asked, but Kael was already moving.
The massive doors swung open, revealing the Crystalline Manticore in all its deadly beauty. Amber eyes locked onto Kael immediately.
Right paw tensing. Claw dash incoming.
Kael activated [Dash], sliding under the attack with millimeters to spare. The Manticore''s crystalline claws whistled overhead as he came up in a roll.
Tail sweep tell – that chime!
He was already moving before the tail struck, using the spear''s shaft to vault over the sweeping crystal appendage. His teammates gasped.
"Now for the real test," Kael muttered, settling into a thrust stance. "Let''s see if I''ve got the timing right..."
The Manticore''s throat began to glow.
Perfect.
Kael charged forward instead of back, catching the beast off guard. His spear struck true, piercing the crystalline hide just as the beam attack was charging.
The transformation began instantly. Crystal plates split and reformed as the creature grew to twice its size, raw power radiating from its enhanced form.
But Kael was smiling.
Because now he could see it – the slight delay in its movements, the fractional decrease in speed that came with all that extra mass. Exactly what he''d been counting on.
"Everybody back!" he shouted, readying his spear. "Time for round two!"
[The Nameless One observes.]
[Loop Nineteen: Active]
[Death Counter: 17]
[Status: Evolution in Progress]
[The little swordsman begins to understand... but understanding brings its own dangers...]