《Mad Man - Litrpg Progression》 Chapter 1 The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Chapter 2 This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Chapter 3 Demarcus tossed the green ball of lightning into the air and caught it. William wondered why Demarcus wasn¡¯t being shocked. He had a strong suspicion that the new black gloves he wore had something to do with it. ¡°So that ball,¡± William said. ¡°Why is it green?¡± ¡°Because it carries the same color as grass?¡± Demarcus said. ¡°I meant, why is the electricity,¡± William said, using the new word he¡¯d learned, which seemed to be a more controlled and weaker type of lightning, ¡°coming from the light bulb yellow, but that green?¡± And more importantly, why is mine blue? ¡°I¡¯m not your teacher,¡± Demarcus said. ¡°And with that said, freeze.¡± Demarcus stood up and approached William who could do nothing except sit still. ¡°My friend made this for me,¡± Demarcus said. ¡°It¡¯ll shock you, but without the heat. Now open your mouth.¡± Oh no, William thought, knowing where this was heading. Despite his resistance, his mouth opened as casually as ever. He needed to find some sort of way to counteract this forced hypnosis. Demarcus shoved the ball into his mouth with one swift action, his fingers pressing against the top of William¡¯s nose, and the base of his hands against William¡¯s chin. Almost immediately, William¡¯s hair shot outwards, racing to get away from the electricity. His eyes began shaking, tiny but quick movements left and right. ¡°Close your mouth,¡± Demarcus said and even though his entire body shook, his mouth closed. ¡°Alright then, this¡¯ll be it for this session. I¡¯m not really in the mood to watch you shake, so I¡¯ll be gone. This¡¯ll continue for at least an hour.¡± Even though Demarcus stated the temperature of the ball had been limited, it sure as hell didn¡¯t feel like that. It burned, a searing expression up against the top of his mouth, against his tongue, on the inside of his cheeks. But the shock was worse. He thought he knew what spasming was. Not after this. His body quickly clenched and stretched its muscles in rapid succession, making him act like a fish out of water. The lightning inside of him wasn¡¯t like this. He felt his thought freeze, and halt, but he still felt curiosity as to why. He knew the energy inside of him was lightning. The rat he electrocuted would surely agree to that, but there must have been a difference between the lightning ravaging his body, and the blue lightning he was able to create. *** [The skill Lesser Shock Resistance has reached level 10] [The skil Lesser Shock Resistance has evolved into Shock Resistance. [The skill Shock Resistance has reached level 4] [The skill Lesser Mental Resistance has reached level 6] [The skill Lesser Lightning Manipulation has reached level 6] [The skill Greater Pain Resistance has reached level 4] [The skill Lesser Heat Tolerance has been gained.] His face had frozen in an expression of pain, the face muscles contorting as much as they could. The pain had been constant. He thought that after a while his tolerance ot it would grow, but that wasn¡¯t the case at all. Instead, it grew worse, little by little. He couldn''t¡¯t spit it out. It seemed only death could remove the orders placed on him by Demarcus. He didn¡¯t swallow it either. He feared that his heart would be impacted if he did that. Somehow, his lightning manipulation went up a level. The number ticking from 5 to 6, a definite change, but it sure as hell didn¡¯t feel definite. He knew not what the improvements were, or why this had improved his ability at all. He guessed that dumping a bunch of electricity into his body would result in his own electricity being strengthened. He hadn¡¯t been able to impact the ball in any way. It felt different from the light bulb, almost another thing entirely. He could sense it, an alien force within his own body. He¡¯d tried many times to absorb it, but nothing worked. The biggest gain was in his shock resistance. If he did this again, he would probably gain greater shock resistance. Also, his body was more or less in one whole piece. That¡¯s not to say that there were no repercussions. Occasionally, even though the ball of lightning had more or less dissipated, his body would uncontrollably break into a spasm. He could deal with that though. Certainly better than having a ruined back. He decided that he was going to ask for the lightning ball once more. He stood up and pushed the table and chairs to the side of the room, making space for himself. His number one priority was to train his lightning manipulation, but that didn¡¯t mean he couldn''t strengthen his body whilst his mind was exhausted. He and brought the lighting out of his left palm like before. The small bolts of lightning reached longer, and were brighter than before. But, it wasn¡¯t enough. Whilst he was down in the cave, his number one problem was the lack of sight. He looked up at the lightbulb. Somehow, by forcing a lot of electricity into one spot, it became lighter. Lighting was the same, flashing white into the eyes of anybody nearby. A large amount of electricity forced into one spot resulted with a large amount of light. That was the statement echoing through his mind. But how can I do something similar? He looked at his hand. Maybe if he forced a bunch of electricity into it, he could produce light. But there was something he was missing, a piece scratching at the edge of his mind. Another quality of the lightbulb. Right! It was hot. He would essentially be burning and melting his hands by forcing so much electricity into them. But then that also meant that if he gripped something, he would not only be shocking it but also burning them. He could make his hands extremely dangerous weapons. It would force him to come close. That meant the opponent, or opponents would have it easier to retaliate. There were also certain enemies he didn¡¯t think he could approach. If they were airborne or could stick to walls and ceilings, he couldn¡¯t do much about it. He¡¯d need to learn a ranged way of attacking. He began his training by slowly pushing the lighting through his arm. Not having the fury to back it up, he couldn¡¯t do it all in one fell swoop. Instead he pushed in a certain rhythm, like a log banging up against a gate, slowly pushing his electricity through his arm until it reached his palms where it could go outside. Frustration bit at the corner of his mind. It was a lot more annoying then the pain he felt from the process. He wondered if the pain was lessened by his abilities. If that was the case he paled at the sensations he would be feeling without it. The thing with frustration was that it wasn¡¯t dangerous, just highly uncomfortable and unpleasant. He knew that it was a good sign though. Nothing good came easy, and pushing his lighting through his right arm was highly mentally draining. [The skill Lesser Lightning Manipulation has reached level 7] An hour had passed when he was finished with that. His mind felt weak, like a shell of what it was before he started training. He got the distinct impression, from somewhere, that pushing further wasn¡¯t going to end well. Shaking with the occasional spasm, his body came into focus. William got down on four and began doing pushups. He could do twenty five at max, but he only did ten before switching to another muscle group, figuring it would stretch out his training session. [Strength has gone up by 0.1] As he did his situps, which were by far the most comfortable exercise until his stomach started hurting when it became the least comfortable exercise, he noticed that the general sense that his muscles were tiring came before the sharp, jagged pain as if broken glass stabbed into his gut. This must be a side effect of greater pain resistance. I can push myself way further than I thought I could before. Wanting to see exactly how far he could go, he kept pushing, reaching 93, before the pain became too much. When he tried to get up, his stomach wasn¡¯t capable of bending. He was at the point where he could exhaust his body fully. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. [Strength has gone up by 0.3] *** [Strength has gone up by 0.7 [Stamina has gone up by 0.3] [Endurance has gone up by 0.4] William decided to stop training a little bit before he thought Demarcus would appear. He really was just working of feeling. Could be a couple hours off, or he could hear his steps coming now. Either way, his body was beaten, but it was still functional enough to explore the space below. He had a plan. It involved him dying, which usually meant that it was a bad plan, but if Demarcus allowed him to keep his body after death, then it could work. However, last time, Demarcus had already disposed his body by the time he woke up. To prevent that from happening, he scratched a message into his arm. Please leave my body here. I want to use it as a cushion. I¡¯ll tell you what I find down there in return. He banked on his torturer¡¯s want to hold conversations. He didn¡¯t know what else he could offer. With that done, he pushed all of his electricity to the center of his chest. He felt it straining against him, as if a warning him not to go further, and when he pushed past that sensation, his chest blew up. *** ¡°So you wanted to keep your corpse?¡± Demarcus said. ¡°Did you let me keep it?¡± William eagerly asked, and glanced behind him, but he found nothing there. ¡°Of course not,¡± Demarcus said. ¡°You keep forgetting I¡¯m your torturer. You need to think things through more clearly.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you curious what¡¯s down there?¡± William said. ¡°I could tell you if I just get some sort of way to get down there without the fall breaking my legs.¡± Demarcus grinned predatorily. ¡°Now that we can work on.¡± *** [The skill Rough Skin has reached level 9.] [The skill Demarcus¡¯s Torture Technique has reached level 5.] [The skill Greater Pain Resistance has reached level 5] [Due to repeated damage on the bones, the skill Tough Bones has been gained.] ¡°You¡¯re welcome to tell me what other wishes you have,¡± Demarcus said as he closed the door. William lied on the floor gasping. Phrasing. I¡¯ve gotta improve my phrasing. For once Demarcus hadn¡¯t frozen him during their session. Instead, he approached William and beat and broke William¡¯s legs. Didn¡¯t matter how much William struggled. It really beat into him just how powerless he was. He needed more strength. That was the only way he could protect himself. Each one of Demarcus¡¯s strikes felt like a warhammer driving into his skin at full force. His strength was scary on just a conceptual level. And what was even more horrifying was the fact that Demarcus said he feared some of the creature¡¯s down there in the hole. With his legs broken in a hundred different places, there wasn¡¯t much physical training he could think of doing. Although perhaps there was a blessing in all of this. William eyed the new skill he¡¯d gained. Tough Bones might just be the ability that could help him deal with the fall. If he strengthened his bones, they could handle the high amount of force. That meant breaking them over and over again. That¡¯ll work. I¡¯m certain that¡¯ll work. He grabbed the metal chair and began banging into his legs. He¡¯d realized that there was no avoiding pain, and also, he¡¯d kind of grown to like it. Something about it was just so intoxicating. Hah I feel like I¡¯m growing crazy. He giggled to himself. Nonsense. *** [The skill Tough Bones has reached level 3] [The skill Rough Skin has reached level 10.] [The skil Rough Skin has evolved into Leather Skin] When he¡¯d heard Demarcus approaching he crawled over to the hole and dove in head first. It was always a trippy experience to go from dying to sitting up straight completely healthy. William didn¡¯t think he could grow used to it . ¡°Hey,¡± William said. ¡°Mind if I ask you a question?¡± ¡°Depends on the question,¡± Demarcus said. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ I can¡¯t figure out why somebody as strong as you would ever work as a torturer. Couldn¡¯t you be a king?¡± ¡°A certain somebody forced me to do this. That¡¯s all I¡¯ll say on this topic.¡± Who could have forced him? Who¡¯s strong enough to do that? Father? No. Even father wouldn¡¯t be able to force something like this onto Demarcus. William wanted to press forward on that question, but he knew Demarcus wouldn¡¯t give anymore. Another question and it was torture time. He decided to switch topics, and try something else. ¡°The thought of staying here for the rest of my life is a disturbing one you know,¡± William said. ¡°It should be.¡± Should? William frowned. ¡°I¡¯ve already told you that I don¡¯t deserve this,¡± he said. ¡°I haven¡¯t done anything worthy of this. I haven¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Is this all it¡¯s going to be?¡± Demarcus said. ¡°Bah,¡± William leaned back in his chair. ¡°There¡¯s no getting through to you is there. Isn¡¯t there something you want other than causing me harm?¡± Demarcus opened his mouth as if he thought to say it, but then changed his mind and shook his head. What does that mean? ¡°So, want me to break your legs again,¡± Demarcus said William sighed. *** [The skill Greater Pain Resistance has reached level 6] [The skill Leather Skin has reached level 2] [The skill Tough Bones has reached level 6] Whoever said all pain was alike, was a fucking moron. The pain Demarcus inflicted was of a higher tier, as if it had ascended, and William was chock full of it. He lied down on the ground moaning in agony. This was the worst one yet. What got into him? William¡¯s head hurt. So much to think about. At least he had time, or did he? All time should be spent on how to escape out of this scenario. That meant training, or thinking of ways to gain strength. Also means not to philosophize on what I should spend my time on. Leveling up had certainly netted him the largest boon. Perhaps he¡¯d get another boon the next time he leveled up, although he doubted it. But it would probably come with some sort of gain. He figured he could probably kill another rat before dying. That probably wouldn¡¯t level him up, but it would bring him closer to his goal. But there was no need to rush, he still had quite a lot of time until his next torture session. His goal was to improve his lightning manipulation. He had a feeling that he¡¯d experience a large growth in skill when he crossed level ten so he wanted to do that. He also wanted to create a mechanism like the lightbulb. When he thought about it, he should be fully able to do it. The thing emitted electricity and that was something he could create, but no matter how quickly he moved the lightning through his body, it didn¡¯t produce any light, and if he grouped a bunch of it together, he simply exploded, his body incapable of handling the energy. He was missing something. He looked at the light, his eyelids squeezing, and noticed that there were more pieces, namely metal. Was that the thing he was missing? Metal. He looked down at the chair he sat on. That was metal. He wondered what might happen if he charged electricity through the chair. Maybe that could produce light? Either way, it would improve his lightning manipulation, so he decided to do it. Grabbing the chair by its two forelegs, he began streaming lightning through it. But something strange happened. It resisted him. So he pushed harder. The resistance only grew. Biting the inside of his cheeks, he pushed all he could. Nothing happened, and he heaved exhausted. I must be going about this in the wrong way. Maybe pumping it full of electricity from two different locations wouldn¡¯t work. He tried only doing it from one angle. Didn¡¯t work. He tried doing it with only one finger. Nope. He tried doing it without touching the metal, just streaming electricity to the edge of his fingers. He saw a lightning connection form, and thought he succeeded, but after a couple of minutes, when nothing changed about the chair, he realized something was off. His electricity was clearly coming into the chair, but there must be something else to it. It wasn¡¯t just pumping it full of lightning. That wasn¡¯t how the heat was produced. He looked up at the light once more, trying to find any clues. Why is it connected to a wire? If it really was only as simple as filling a metal with electricity then there would be no need to keep it connected. No, the wire must be continuously supplying the metal with electricity. But when he tried to do it, the metal wouldn¡¯t take any more electricity. Could it be that I have to remove electricity simultaneously? He¡¯d never done anything like it before, but he grabbed the chair, and willed the lightning within it go back into him. It quickly complied. Now, with his left hand, he pumped the chair with lightning. Then, he pulled it out. I can feel it heating up. [The skill Lesser Lightning Manipulation has reached level 8] Chapter 4 [The skill Lesser Heat Tolerance has been gained.] Despite his high level in pain resistance, the heat hurt like hell. After each grip, he waved his hands through the warm air, doing his best to cool them down, and then he¡¯d grip the chair. He constantly circulated electricity through the chair at the same time. The constant switches furthered the mental exhaustion he gained from the lighting manipulation. If he took too long, the chair would cool down. He thought that it needed to reach a high enough temperature, before it would begin emitting light. Fortunately, his supply of lightning regenerated at the speed he was losing it. He wasn¡¯t sure where it was going, but had an inclination that it might be getting transformed into heat. If he was going to walk around with a metal like this, he would have to be completely immune to the heat of it, and that only meant that he needed to continue training with it. *** [The skill Lesser Heat Tolerance has reached level 5] He looked at his hands. The outline of the hair had been burnt into his palm. Two red lines deep into his skin. He felt that he was oddly calm about the damage done to his body. Although, he wasn¡¯t going to complain at the lack of stress and anxiety. They would hinder his goal. He dropped down through the hole, legs first. They cushioned his fall. No bones breaking really, just the flesh acting as a soft surface. It was going to be easy to bring a rat over. Some of the blood escaped him with the fall. That and the noise, the squish of his flesh, would surely be enough to bring over a rat. The darkness cloaked him. He felt that it was colder down here than up there, even though they shared the same air. That was good, but it didn¡¯t matter. The only thing that mattered was gaining strength and escaping the torture. That was all. He heard the pitter-patter breaking the steady noise coming from the river. Soon he¡¯d have dead rat beside him. Just had to play the role of a corpse. Probably the easiest thing he¡¯d done since now. The rat approached him. The sound of its feet hitting against the red stone growing louder. He could almost feel its rough fur against his hands, its warm blood spilling out to his bashes. He smiled at the thought. It was right beside him now, just a couple of feet away from his head. ¡°Hello,¡± a dark voice said and giggled. But I heard a rat? Confusion, shock, and horror filled him all at once. Suddenly, he felt the strong and overwhelming urge to lunge at the creature. Twisting his body upwards with his stomach, a task that went much faster than he thought, he shot his electricity filled hand towards the voice. It was smacked away. The blow came quickly and swiftly, knocking his hand of course. Their hands only touched for a brief moment. And, he felt none of his electricity streaming in, as if there was some sort of barrier, keeping it away. He¡¯s like the chair. Does that mean he¡¯s also a lightning mage? ¡°Pesky lightning mage, you¡¯re remind me of him,¡± the voice said. ¡°It¡¯s you, not you¡¯re.¡± ¡°What?¡± The voice said. ¡°You said it wrong.¡± ¡°Now you¡¯re die. Bye bye.¡± William¡¯s head caved in. *** ¡°You said there were monsters in the darkness,¡± William said. ¡°I just went down there and I was killed by an intelligent being. Probably not human, too short, but strong and intelligent enough to talk, not well though.¡± ¡°What part of monster means they can¡¯t possess intelligence?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the image. When you say monster I¡¯m immediately thinking of a large, hideous and stupid thing. That¡¯s a monster.¡± Demarcus chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s a pest at worst. No. A monster carries certain thoughts. Thoughts most of us can¡¯t even perceive. The worst evil would be if they could share those thoughts with others, but they can¡¯t. So they try to show their thoughts through their actions, but that limits them to your interpretation. And since you¡¯re stupid, there¡¯s not a lot of interpretation going on.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just bullshit,¡± William said. ¡°Monsters are born with urges to kill and wreak havoc. That¡¯s what makes them monsters.¡± ¡°My dear little William, where do you think those urges come from?¡± ¡°My urges don¡¯t come from intellect. I don¡¯t eat after thinking about it. It¡¯s instinctual.¡± ¡°How come you don¡¯t eat stone, but you eat bread?¡± ¡°Because I can¡¯t eat stone.¡± ¡°And isn¡¯t that knowledge?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a thought.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a hidden thought, deep inside of your mind, one that you were probably born with. Monsters are simply born with other hidden thoughts.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± William said. ¡°I guess your idea is more reasonable then I originally gave it credit for.¡± ¡°Great,¡± Demarcus said. ¡°Let¡¯s move on to torture.¡± ¡°About that, could we do fire torture?¡± ¡°You¡¯re asking for fire torture? You do know that¡¯s one of the worst, most excruciating methods of torture, and with me doing it, it¡¯ll be that much worse. Are you sure you want to do it?¡± William swallowed the saliva in his throat. I have to become stronger. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Demarcus said. ¡°We¡¯ll do it next session. We¡¯ll be working on your fingers today, lucky you.¡± ¡°Yay¡­¡± *** [The skill Greater Pain Resistance has reached level 7] [The skill Lesser Mental Resistance has reached level 7] [The skill Leather Skin has reached level 3] It didn¡¯t hurt as much as he remembered. It wasn¡¯t tolerable by any means, but sometimes he¡¯d remember the acts from before, cringe at the incoming pain, and face a milder version of it. It was all very strange as if Demarcus was doing something different, even though William knew he wasn¡¯t. He got down on fours and began doing pushups. He had to be more careful with where he placed his hands if he was going to do it properly. Down on fours, he strained through pushups. Without his fingers, he placed his hands in a more balanced position, right beneath his shoulders. He realized one benefit to gaining a fully healed body each time he died, was that he never got sore from training. Essentially it meant he could get in a lot more training then he otherwise would be able to. When his body grew exhausted, William swapped to heat resistance training. He placed his fingerless hands down on the seat of the chair and circled electricity through them. His body took over after a while, switching between giving and taking electricity. It increased his speed by quite a lot. The chair¡¯s temperature grew, but the pain seemed to increase faster, much faster. His hands begged for release after only a few seconds. It wasn¡¯t hard to guess why. They¡¯d entered the torture sensitive from the nasty wounds Demarcus had inflicted. He would have caved in to the pain, but because the process was largely muscle memory, or perhaps mana memory, he could dedicate all of his focus and will into pushing the pain away. As the metal turned bright red, he could feel his hands burning into it. The blood that rushed there quickly evaporated, creating a sticky substance. After only a short moment, William couldn¡¯t handle it anymore and took his hand away. The pain expanded by tenfold after the initial layer of skin had been burnt off. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He returned to working out as he waited for the chair to cool down to a more reasonable temperature. He placed his hands beneath his shoulders and kept his body straight as he did another pushup. Training went smoothly. Nothing interesting happened. All in all, he could consistently get the chair to become red before the pain became too much. His body ached like hell, the physical exercise taking its toll. [Strength has gone up by 0.4] [Stamina has gone up by 0.2] [Endurance has gone up by 0.2] [The skill Lesser Lightning Manipulation has reached level 9] That didn¡¯t matter though. In combat against the rats, he wasn¡¯t using his body. It was the electricity that did the job there. And against the figure he met yesterday, he¡¯d die with his body ready or not. He simply hoped that the figure wouldn¡¯t be there when he jumped down. He was excited though. One more level until lesser lightning manipulation reached lightning manipulation. It seemed that these jumps were substantive, like when it had gone from tough skin to leather skin. He wondered if the jump to lightning manipulation would buff everything, or if there would be new abilities he could unlock. He hoped for both. When he heard Demarcus walking towards the door, he quickly made for the hole. He grit his teeth and leapt downwards. His legs twisted like always, although, not as much as the last times. Progress was being made. Bringing electricity forth to his hands made the surroundings light up. He really wanted to explore more of the area. Maybe he could find something beneficial. Most likely, he¡¯d end up finding another meaner enemy. That always seemed to be the case in this area. Luck wasn¡¯t on his side. A sentiment he really thought he should have grasped by now. A rat found him, and whilst his electricity did short work of the rat, it didn¡¯t matter. The disease had gotten into him. That meant he was dead in a couple of seconds. [The skill Lesser Disease Resistance has reached level 5.] [You have gained 30xp] *** ¡°What the hell do you do when you¡¯ve got no options,¡± William said. ¡°You¡¯ve always got options,¡± Demarcus said. ¡°No, good, options.¡± ¡°Define good.¡± ¡°Something that will not lead to death.¡± ¡°Everything will lead to death.¡± ¡°Bah, alright, something that will push away death as long as possible.¡± ¡°It seems you do have options then.¡± ¡°No,¡± William said. ¡°No that¡¯s not what I meant. What if you want to do something, but you don¡¯t have any way of achieving that thing.¡± ¡°That right there is the eternal struggle of all living things. The fight between the inner world and the outer world, between want and ability.¡± ¡°Pretty words, but that doesn¡¯t help me:¡± ¡°Increase your ability. That¡¯s the answer I guess. Identity the problem, and increase your ability to deal with it. Do that, and you¡¯ve got the answer. ¡° ¡°That¡¯s so boring.¡± ¡°Maybe. Sure some will see that as boring. Others will find that growth the most mesmerizing thing in the world.¡± ¡°Nope, it¡¯s boring:¡± Demarcus chuckled. ¡°Alright, then, you said you wanted heat torture, didn¡¯t you? Well, you¡¯ve probably already realized that I¡¯m holding a torch. The cool thing about this torch is that it doesn¡¯t produce smoke. This type of fire is special in that way. Do you know what¡¯s also special about this fire?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It¡¯s very. Very. Hot.¡± *** [The skill Greater Pain Resistance has reached level 9] [The skill Demarcus¡¯s Torture Technique has reached level 6] [The skill Lesser Heat Tolerance has reached level 10.] [The skill Heat Tolerance has evolved into Heat Resistance.] [The skill Heat Tolerance has reached level 5] That¡¯s one way to increase my heat tolerance. One really awful way. But hey if it works. Apparently, the trick to increase heat tolerance was to keep going through the pain, especially when it became unbearable. Now, that¡¯s not something he could have done alone. Part of it being unbearable was that he couldn¡¯t handle it, but when Demarcus so kindly froze him and put the torch beneath his back, that problem was solved. I¡¯m going to torture that man one day. As he moved his skin broke like biscuits, flakes falling off. It was a horrible experience, drenching him with pain, but it did make him realize that he could survive without his skin. Gritting his teeth, he got down on four and began his training once more. With his body exhausted he turned to the chair. He had all of the pieces. His body was capable of resisting heat. He also wielded a good enough grasp of lightning manipulation to do what he wanted to. This meant he should be able to make the chair bright enough to use it as a light. Putting his hands on the legs, he took a deep breath and began to heat the chair. After a short moment, it turned red, but the pain was on a much lower scale than what he¡¯d experienced before. He smiled widely. It stretched from ear to ear. The light emanating from the chair increased and increased until it reached a point where the pain became too much. It was bright enough to make the whole room just a little bit lighter, which meant it was doing its job. He removed his hands which required him to pull his hands away with a lot of force. It was time to move on to stage two of his plan. He needed to separate a small part of the chair to bring it down. The hole wasn¡¯t large enough to bring the entire chair down. The problem was that it was entirely made out of metal, which would make it really tricky to separate into pieces. He gritted his teeth as he analyzed the situation for a solution. Damn, I¡¯m gritting my teeth a lot, come on mind not the time to notice that, back to figuring out a solution. His mind fired up until it found a way that might work. He grabbed the chair and put it down sideways so that the legs pointed horizontally. Then he grabbed the chair Demarcus usually sat on, making a note to start heating this chair up in the future, and banged the legs of the heated chair with the head of the other chair. The chair bent slightly where it was being struck. As William continued hammering off, the bending grew, eating into the metal. He knew it could only bend so much before detaching. After a couple of hundred strikes, the leg finally fell off. No going back now. Demarcus is going to be pissed. He grabbed it and waved it around. It didn¡¯t weigh too much. Enough for it to not feel fickle, but not enough that he had to strain to move it. He circulated electricity through it and realized that he¡¯d created a weapon. Progress. I¡¯m probably going to be able to beat the rats with this . He heated it until it illuminated a strong red. It hurt and burnt the blood in his left hand sticking to it. It made it so that he had one functioning hand and one-rod hand. He still had some time before Demarcus showed up, but he didn¡¯t feel like training. He was itching to get down there. Now he had a weapon and a source of light, which meant he should be capable of getting much longer than he would have in the past. As long as I don¡¯t meet that freakishly strong figure. He sat down, letting his legs reach into the darkness. He sucked in a breath of air, and then before he had the chance to dread the pain, he jumped down. His legs shattered. When the surge of pain calmed down, he looked around his surroundings. The rod of heated metal produced enough light for him to look three meters in each direction. It could produce more light if he shot even more electricity through it. Instead of eagerly starting to move, he waited for the rat. If he couldn¡¯t kill it without incurring that horrible disease, nothing mattered. A few moments passed before he saw the red eyes in the distance and the pitter-patter. Like always, he waited until it got into striking range, and then he lashed his rod towards it. He could feel his electricity streaming into it as it spasmed and squealed. It only took a couple of seconds before it was dead. [You have gained 30xp] [You have reached level 2] [Please select one of these three random stats to increase by 3. Agility Intelligence Endurance ] Three! That was a huge gain. A lot of his training only netted him small fractions of that. Furthermore, there were stats here he¡¯d never seen before. He almost couldn¡¯t believe that he could increase his intellect just by pressing a button. Levelling up seemed to be a much better way of gaining strength than what he¡¯d gone through. Whilst intellect and agility were appealing, at the moment increasing his endurance would help him the most. Before he became strong enough to handle the fall without breaking his legs, little mattered. He chose endurance. With that done he crawled away from the river, avoiding the corpse of the rat. The last thing he wanted was to acquire the disease now. For the first time in a long time, he felt that he was getting somewhere. It was a nice feeling, and one he wanted to get much more of. Anything signalling his escape from this hell was a benefit. For the first time, he saw something down here other than the floor and the hideous rat. It was a bookshelf with lots of mould growing everywhere on it. He spotted red branches and vines growing through it. The thing supported a whole eco-system. Almost all of the books were gone, but he spotted one book on the highest shelf. Is this supposed to be a library? The book¡¯s cover was darker than the darkness around it. It almost sucked in the light around it, and William almost felt as if it pulled him towards it, although he thought he was simply making that up. He climbed up to the book, breaking some of the weak shelves at times. He found that he needed to use the vines as support. His body was much lighter than he¡¯d realized it was in the past. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was because he hadn¡¯t eaten anything in days, or because he¡¯d grown in strength. Finally he grabbed the book, and immediately realized that it was in a language he couldn¡¯t comprehend. Of course it is. Chapter 5 Opening the book was a tense thing. He felt that he wasn¡¯t supposed to do it, but something inside of him desired---required it. He grabbed the cover, a thick black substance which felt much like metal but with a cringe-inducing touch, like dry wood. His eyes immediately shot to the lines of text, analyzing them and taking in all of the knowledge, despite not understanding the knowledge. He felt it take a spot in his mind its own little bubble of knowledge. He wondered why this book had been left behind. Every other book here had been taken or ruined, but here this one was, abandoned. Had it not appealed to others as it did to him? Or was it something else? Perhaps the language? He wasn¡¯t sure what its contents were, but he felt it was something he shouldn¡¯t leave behind. He didn¡¯t have anywhere to store it, though. It lasted for a presumably long time on this shelf, I might as well leave it here. There was no use in reading a language he didn¡¯t know. That was like looking at a headache-inducing painting. Not something William was going to do willingly. He placed the book down, although hesitantly, and then walked away. He grabbed the red vines, hot like everything else. He could feel a liquid coursing through them. They were squishy but that only aided him in getting a good grip and climbing down. The first thing he¡¯d met in this world that wasn¡¯t actively trying to kill him. A good thing he supposed. As he crawled deeper into the place, he noticed more bookshelves. All of them were empty, the plants having overrun them. This place had been a library once, and a pretty big one from the sights of it. He wasn¡¯t sure how many bookshelves there were, but he was crawling past multiple. Alright. So which of my options is going to prevent death for the longest time? I need some sort of base. Simply crawling through the bookshelves isn¡¯t going to do me much good. So how do I do that? It doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that I have to find a base. Wherever there¡¯s a good base there¡¯s certainly going to be intelligent life who created it, and I doubt they¡¯ll simply allow a stranger in there. No, I need to create my own base. I might as well construct the base here. The closer it is to that hole, the better it¡¯ll be. So I¡¯ve got to bring stuff over here. Great. I could just angle the bookshelves to form a square and have my base within it. It would provide me with some sort of privacy, and, more importantly, hide me from enemies, but it would be too weak to hold against even one of those rats,, and most of these bookshelves are riddled with holes. I need to find something to build the walls out of. Planks or rocks. So I might as well start exploring to find those things. Staying here isn¡¯t going to do me any good. They won¡¯t just magically appear. Unless window? Thought as much. Lacking a compass, William had no clue as to what direction was which. He thought the best strategy for moving would be to do so in a straight line. That would prove difficult if he tried to move against and through the bookshelves, so he followed what he thought the old library¡¯s path was. He dragged himself without turning. After a few minutes, the tip-tapping approached him from the edge of his hearing. It wasn¡¯t like the rat that usually came to eat him. These rushed at him, quickly approaching him. William almost didn''t have any time to react. Full of panic, he jerked his head towards the noise, spotting two pairs of red eyes. He swung his bat, and instead of electrocuting the rat to death, the rod smashed into its head and sent it flying. Fortunately, the other rat stopped its charge when it saw its friend, or lover, or what the hell these were to each other, fly away. It jumped back and analyzed William, its red eyes shining still in the darkness. ¡°Come on,¡± William said, waving his head with new-found adrenaline. ¡°I¡¯ll take you both on. Come on!¡± The rats scampered away. At first, William was distraught at the prospect, finding that he¡¯d lost two sources of experience, but the more he thought about it, at the moment he really could only take one enemy at a time. Especially these rats. If he were struck even once, the disease would take him, and he would be dead. He continued to crawl, making sure to stick close to the bookshelves. He waved his rod up and down in case there was some sort of book he could read. He doubted it, but it didn¡¯t hurt to check, Also, if there was a bookshelf that had somehow retained its quality, he could deconstruct it and use its plank to build himself durable walls. He found neither a book nor a bookshelf not rotting, but a plant growing a radiating green in the centre of its pink flower. He peered closer at the light and found that it came from a crystal. Fine, emerald green, and it had a distinct feeling of being dangerous. The light it radiated wasn¡¯t strong enough to light up the surroundings, but it was strong enough to catch his attention. He wanted to snatch it, but it looked expensive, and he felt that he¡¯d get in trouble if he¡¯d do it. How can I get in trouble with a plant? No, perhaps the owner of this plant? But it¡¯s not like they¡¯re around. They won¡¯t know that it¡¯s me. The second his finger touched the crystal, a cold liquid rushed through the tip of his finger, through his flesh, through his bone, and soared around his body. He felt as if he was in heaven for a few moments. He drooled and sighed in relief, all the stress in his body disappearing. He toppled down on the floor. Shaking his head, William stood up. Wait for a second, I¡¯m getting the feeling that something¡¯s wrong here. He looked down. My legs¡­ they¡¯re whole. He immediately realized how useful the crystal could be and looked back at it, but found that its green glow had been entirely lost with a red one. He touched it, but its healing properties were gone, that and the amazing sensation. He cursed, and his eyes immediately shot over to the rest of the plant and his surroundings for more of the crystal, but he couldn¡¯t find any of it. He felt frustrated at the prospect, and an itching welled up around his body. Gritting his teeth, he pushed off the annoying sensations and tried to calm himself down. [The skill Lesser Mental Resistance has reached level 8] He wondered for a moment if it would be worth it to take the crystal. No. Something¡¯s telling me the crystal won¡¯t turn green if I remove it from the plant. What a wonderful plant though. I¡¯ll have to take one of them to my base when I¡¯ve got the ability. With his ability to walk back, he could traverse much faster than before. He wondered if he should simply return to the proximity of the hole and figure something else out. Wandering through the darkness wasn¡¯t the safest thing to do, but at the same time, he wondered what else he could find. This place seemed magical. It wasn¡¯t an ordinary library, that was for sure. As he continued walking, he found that a row of bookshelves blocked his path. They were infested with plants, holding up their structure. William thought about turning, but in doing so, he¡¯d risk losing himself. If he died whilst lost, then he¡¯d lose the rod of metal, and everything he¡¯d acquired. He wanted to play the long game, and use his ability to come back from death to his advantage. Also, he felt the closer he was to the hole, the safer the place would be. Demarcus had said there were really dangerous creatures here, creatures even he feared, and if that were the case, then William sure as hell wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against them. He punched through the bookshelves. It didn¡¯t hurt him nearly as much as he¡¯d predicted, and the wood fell after three strikes. The endurance he¡¯d gained made a difference. He wondered if he could handle the fall without breaking his legs now. Just as he broke a hole wide enough for him to get through, he heard a blood-curdling screech. It had that quality of sound all far-away sounds carried. William hoped it wasn¡¯t him breaking the wall which had created that sound. He wanted to stay as far away from that creature as possible. He also wanted to move in a straight line, so he kept going forward. After all, he¡¯d already broken the bookshelves, so there was no undoing that. After wandering for some time, he found exactly what he¡¯d wanted. It was a heap of some barrier-like structures he¡¯d never seen before in his life. They had a plank shooting upwards, it was one meter tall, and one meter in length, but with short width. At the bottom, there was another plank with the same length but larger width and shorter tallness. William figured it was for stability. These had kept their structure. If he could separate the different pieces, he wagered he could create some sort of barrier out of them. He just needed something to stick the pieces together next. There were about twenty of them, all laying over each other. He could carry about half. He figured he¡¯d make a round back here. With his hands full, he started back to his base. He figured maybe taking this path was a risk. If the crystal he absorbed belonged to another creature, the last thing he wanted was to go through the crime scene, doubting a thing so valuable would simply be left alone. Preferably he¡¯d take another path, but he didn¡¯t know his surroundings well enough for that. Hoping for the best, he continued on his path. ¡°Psst,¡± A figure said from the shadows. William¡¯s head immediately jerked in that direction to find a shadowy outline on top of the bookshelves. He almost felt his heart stop as he dropped all of the planks, and prepared for a fight. ¡°Calm down. Not here to fight you.¡± William giggled out of stress and didn¡¯t lower his weapon. ¡°What the hell?¡± ¡°Strange expression,¡± the figure noted. ¡°But that¡¯s not important at the moment. Listen. I¡¯ve got the real stuff. You interested?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you come down here?¡± William said. ¡°So you can smash me with that bat? No thank you,¡± the creature said. He got me there. ¡°What do you mean by real stuff?¡± ¡°I mean power. Not the temporary bullshit everybody¡¯s tripping about. I mean real, permanent power. I can get you that.¡± Enticing. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just get it yourself?¡± ¡°It¡¯s complicated, but simply put, I need power to get power. We¡¯ll split it out later. Now, I¡¯m not going to waste my time, are you interested, or would you like to wander through these halls for the rest of your pitiful, short life? And trust me, it¡¯ll be short.¡± ¡°I¡¯m interested.¡± ¡°Great, let¡¯s start with introductions then. My name is Sthehfh Vhih.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t pronounce that,¡± William said. ¡°How about I just call you Steve? My name¡¯s William.¡± ¡°Ahh, I¡¯ll just call you Whihlhlhihahm.¡± ¡°Fine by me.¡± ¡°So, I¡¯m sure you already have, but to be sure, have you heard of the map?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°You came down here naked with a rod, and you haven¡¯t even heard of the map? Are you suicidial perchance?¡± ¡°You could call it that.¡± ¡°I¡¯m getting lots of questions about you. Way too many to be healthy, so I¡¯ll just ignore them. Somewhere here, there¡¯s an indestructible list of the books and their location. Info tells me it¡¯s on the first floor, and where it is.¡± ¡°Is there a second floor?¡± William said. ¡°You really know nothing do you? Yes of course there¡¯s a second floor. Back to the topic, I need you to go fetch it for me.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you do it?¡± ¡°Not strong enough to get past the guards.¡± ¡°Guards? How do you know I am strong enough? And what the hell would I get out of that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know you¡¯re strong enough, but I¡¯m hoping. The map shows us where certain books are. If I can get my hands on those books we can both gain powerful techniques.¡± ¡°How do you know they haven¡¯t left the library?¡± ¡°Each second in a conversation with you leaves me more and more astounded at your sheer stupidity. The books of this library can¡¯t leave it! They¡¯re somewhere here.¡± ¡°Alright¡­ How do you know the can¡¯t be destroyed?¡± ¡°They¡¯ll reappear where they were originally stationed. Duh! If you¡¯re not here for the books, then what the hell are you here for?¡± William thought if he should tell his actual goal to this creature. He decided against it, his gut telling him that the creature was untrustworthy. Giving away information about his situation could come to bite him in the ass. ¡°Reasons.¡± ¡°Too many questions. Way too many, but here¡¯s one, are you in?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got to get these back to my base, and then I might be down.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll find you then:¡± ¡°How will you find me?¡± William said. ¡°Reasons,¡± the creature said and disappeared from his view. So there¡¯s the intelligent life Demarcus was talking about. I wonder just what type of place this is. On his way back, he kept his heated rod close to the shelves, to see if any books had reappeared, and to his surprise, he spotted a book. It looked fresh and new. So he wasn¡¯t lying to me. Interesting. He grabbed the book and placed it on top of the stack of wood he was carrying. It might contain something interesting. Who knows. For a few minutes, he was undisturbed as he made his way through the tunnel, but that didn¡¯t last. It seemed he couldn¡¯t catch a break on his way back. It was the heaving he heard first. Loud, strained and rhythmic, coming from ahead of him. Is this a bear? He immediately dropped everything he¡¯d been carrying. His rod was once again high up, illuminating the path, ready to strike down at a moment¡¯s notice. At first, he only noticed a figure leaning over the red crystal. He was happy that it was human and not some sort of monstrosity instead. He wasn¡¯t as tense when he approached, but he still kept his weapon held high. ¡°Was it you?¡± The figure said. ¡°Did you take it from me?¡± He got close enough to illuminate the creature¡¯s face and was utterly shocked. Before his torture, the sight would be enough for him to turn tail and run away as fast as he could. It was a human, or humanoid, except with black veins, that protruded out of the skin at certain points, covering every area of skin. The only part not covered was its eyes, and it glared at William with absolute hatred. ¡°Nope it wasn¡¯t me,¡± William said, taking a step back. ¡°I can smell it coming from you,¡± the figure said, and moved towards him. Not on two legs, it moved on four and did so in an unsettling and smooth manner. William charged so much electricity through the rod that it was burning into his hand, but the adrenaline rushing through him was enough to cloud away the pain. Of a sudden, the creature leapt towards him as he swung the rod down with full force. It connected right on top of the creature¡¯s head, smashing it into the ground. William quickly shoved his rod down at the creature. But it wasn¡¯t spasming as he expected. The black veins were quickly turning ashen, but the creature¡¯s movements weren¡¯t being prohibited. The damn thing bit into his thigh, and he could feel something seeping into him. Clenching the creature¡¯s shoulder with his free hand, he decided to bash it with the rod was the best option. He struck with so much force that the bat bent. He could see the damage being inflicted, but the creature didn¡¯t stop its assault, as if the hurt wasn¡¯t paining it. It ripped off a large part of his thigh, and he could feel the effects of the poison spreading through him, weakening him. He felt his blood streaming out, that part of his body a void suck¨ªng him dry. The smell of ash hit him. [The skill Lesser Poison Resistance has been gained.] [It is possible to merge certain skills. Would you like to merge the skills below? Lesser Disease Resistance Lesser Hemorrhage Resistance Lesser Poison Resistance Yes/No ] Not now window. I¡¯m not going to lose now. I¡¯m going to lose. No. I won¡¯t lose. I just won¡¯t lose. I can¡¯t have it. He willed all of the electricity in his body to stream through his left arm. His body and mind put up many different warnings, strongly telling him to stop. A spike of pain shot through him. He ignored all of it and focused on shoving the electricity through him, and it did so, in a flash entering the creature. Both his left arm and the creature exploded. Blood, bone and flesh splattered all over him. The feeling of weakness washed all over him, and he collapsed in utter exhaustion. Black spots filled his sight. [You have gained 200xp] [You have reached level 3] [Please select one of these three random stats to increase by 3. Vitality Strength Dexterity ] Suddenly, he felt a hand grip his mouth and force it open. Something hard with sharp edges was forced in there. Out of pure instinct, he tried to spit it out, but his mouth was forced shot. He tried to struggle against it but found himself incapable of doing so. A liquid streamed through his body. William immediately recognized it as the sensation he¡¯d gotten from the crystal attached to the flower. In an instant, he felt the liquid absorb all of the pain he had around his body. The cold and unresponsive parts of his body vanished too. His sight cleared up, but he felt absolutely amazing, and instead of doing something, he relished the moment. In the state of absolute bliss, he found himself, he couldn¡¯t really sense anything, but some part of his subconscious knew that he was being dragged, that he heard somebody grunting. After what felt like only a couple of seconds, the sensation of bliss vanished and was instead replaced by a horrible scratching and terrible frustration. It lasted about twenty seconds longer than it had before, and he spent his time scratching his hair and grunting, desperately sucking at the crystal in his mouth. Slowly, the frustration dissipated. [The skill Lesser Mental Resistance has reached level 9] ¡°What th-¡± ¡°Shhhh,¡± the creature said at him, putting its finger on his lips. William grabbed its arm and tried to stream lightning into it, but nothing inside of him was responding. It seemed he¡¯d completely emptied his reserves. Then, he heard another voice. It came from his right, where a rotten bookshelf was hiding them. William intuitively knew he should be quiet. ¡°What was that noise?¡± A deep voice said. ¡°Lots of blood here,¡± another said, this one somehow deeper. ¡°Seems like its bits of one of those crystal addicts. I¡¯d wager it was a strong mage that did this. No real burn marks, so it''s not a fire mage. Probably some sort of telekinesis mage, or maybe a really strong lightning mage.¡± ¡°Where do you think they went?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the question now isn¡¯t it? Can¡¯t you sniff them?¡± ¡°No, only fresh blood and ash here. Nothing else. Should we pursue them?¡± Suddenly, William heard the shriek once more, the one he¡¯d heard when he broke the bookshelves and the strange plant surrounding them. It was much closer this time. Whatever it was, it was heading right in his direction. ¡°Looks like they pissed off that monster. They¡¯re moving quickly. Let¡¯s head there, we could probably catch them whilst they¡¯re still fighting.¡± ¡°Alright, do we go for the kill?¡± ¡°No. They seem way too strong for that. We¡¯re just going to tell them this is our area, and then we¡¯ll report back to the master.¡± William heard them walk away. His heart pounded loudly. He hadn¡¯t sensed even an inch of kindness from their voices. They spoke in the same way Demarcus spoke, and he had a feeling they wouldn¡¯t be on his side. After waiting a couple of minutes in silence he spoke. ¡°What the hell was that?¡± ¡°Whihlhlhihahm, those were some of the guards you¡¯re going to sneak past.¡± At the sound of his name, he realized who was holding him. William took a moment to inspect this creature. It was more rat than it was human. Short, furry, and hideous. Its eyes were black dots, but despite that, he had the feeling it was looking right at him. It reminded him of the rats that had attacked him. Fortunately, it wasn¡¯t giving him a disease. ¡°Steve. Are you insane?¡± ¡°Partly, but anyhow, after they deal with that monster they¡¯re going to head back this direction. I suggest we get a move on before that. I saved your life so I think you owe me one.¡± ¡°Please, you saved me out of your own selfishness.¡± ¡°Guilty as charged, now then, you said you were going to your base. If it¡¯s in this direction then you¡¯re on their territory, and that¡¯s not something you can afford.¡± William sighed. ¡°So what do I do then?¡± ¡°You could tag along to my hideout.¡± Chapter 6 When Steve said hideout, William thought of walls, of a warm place, a hidden place. William thought it was something that would aid him. He was completely wrong. The supposed hideout was mainly a moved bookshelf. ¡°Tada,¡± Steve had said as they arrived at the spot, and at first, William was confused about what he meant. In his hands were the two books he¡¯d found, the black taboo one and the other that had spawned on his way back. Since they¡¯d been moving away from William¡¯s torture place, a spot he never wanted to return to again, he had figured there wouldn¡¯t be any harm in bringing the books. He thought there might be a way to use the system to gain the knowledge they held. He also brought his metal rod. Steve hadn¡¯t needed it. Apparently, he had a form of lesser night vision. It allowed him to see about fifteen meters in each direction. A useful skill here in the darkness. ¡°What am I looking at?¡± William said. ¡°The hideout dummy.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t be serious. This is your hideout? All you¡¯ve done is move a shelf to box in two other shelves. I¡¯ll give you props that building this against the wall was smart. Only three directions you have to cover, but the protection doesn¡¯t do anything.¡± ¡°It¡¯s sufficient to hide us against the creatures of the first floor. Hence, the name hide out.¡± Essentially, I¡¯m back to square one. ¡°No,¡± William said. ¡°If I¡¯m to find a way out of this hellhole, I need a more stable base to recurate. It¡¯s a good location, but we¡¯re going to have to bolster up the defenses.¡± ¡°Bah,¡± Steve said. ¡°You can do that. I¡¯ve got business to attend to.¡± Steve walked into the darkness, and eventually, William couldn¡¯t hear his steps. He was alone, once more. But he wasn¡¯t in the same spot he¡¯d been at the start. The crystal healed his legs, and he was in supposed neutral ground. There were also the windows hovering in front of William. He¡¯d been too distracted conversing with Steve to pay them the attention they warranted. Now though, he could look into them. [The skill Lesser Poison Resistance has been gained.] [It is possible to merge certain skills. Would you like to merge the skills below? Lesser Disease Resistance Lesser Hemorrhage Resistance Lesser Poison Resistance Yes/No ] He¡¯d never received a window like this, and he wasn¡¯t sure if turning three skills into one would be worth it. If merging them turned out to be a bad decision, he didn¡¯t care much about losing his disease resistance and poison resistance as they were low-level. The same couldn¡¯t be said about his hemorrhage resistance which was level 9, just one level away from upgrading, and also a very useful skill. On the other hand, each time his skills upgraded, they¡¯d turned into a much stronger version. Perhaps these three skills would do the same. After all, they were similar to each other. It was a risk, but William bit his tongue, enjoying the calm of the pain, and pressed yes. [The skill Potent Blood has been gained] A flash of heat spread through his body as the window. He stood shocked for a moment, somehow feeling better. Full almost. What¡¯s that? [Potent Blood - Blood with a stronger ability to heal wounds, stop bleeding, and combat disease and poison. Furthermore, the body requires less of this type of blood to function.] Could I do that all the time? It seems like the skill¡¯s kept all of the aspects of the original skills but also gained a few new abilities. Nice! He turned his attention to the next window. [You have reached level 3] [Please select one of these three random stats to increase by 3. Vitality Strength Dexterity ] He hadn¡¯t seen vitality and dexterity before, finding them more appealing. He had a method of increasing his strength after all. At the moment he found himself beaten up much more than before. Increasing his defensive stats could be worth it, or he could increase his dexterity and deal more damage through better technique. I¡¯ve only got a rod. Can¡¯t be much technique in that. I might as well increase my vitality. Pressing vitality filled him with energy. His eyes widened, and he clenched his muscle. A similar feeling to a night¡¯s good rest filled him. He was happy with the choice he¡¯d made. On the way here, Steve mentioned one of the differences between a neutral area and an area under a group was the quantity and quality of monsters. The only real creatures Steve would find below his torture cell would be the rats, whilst here, where it was neutral, there was a much more diversified amount of monsters. To him, that meant more danger, but at least he didn¡¯t need to worry about an organised group. Right, so I¡¯ve got to get to constructing some walls. I¡¯m going to need the material for that. Something hard and heavy, preferably. These shelves'' weak, rotten wood just won¡¯t do the trick. They won¡¯t defend me against rats. Walking through the area with Steve showed William how little he knew about the space. Even though Steve was capable of telling different directions apart, William felt they were all the same. Wandering around the area all willy-nilly would surely lead to him getting lost, and that was death. Moving in a straight line, following the bookshelves, would be the best method for him. Before, he hadn¡¯t appreciated how convenient walking was, especially compared to dragging himself against the floor. The dust wasn¡¯t constantly getting into his face and lungs. The odd pebbles weren¡¯t scraping against his torso. All in all, it was a much more pleasant experience. Or at least, that was the case until a figure smashed into him from the side. He didn¡¯t have much time to react. He hadn¡¯t heard or smelled or felt anything. His short range of sight, provided by the weak light produced by the rod, only extended two meters in each direction. He¡¯d noticed something bolting towards him, begun to turn his body, and then it slammed into him, He flew and crashed through a bookshelf. As the dust settled, he realized that his shoulder had been dislocated. That was about it. His body had become much stronger than he remembered. He snapped his shoulder back into place as the next attack came. More aware this time, he stuck out his rod full of electricity towards the creature¡¯s direction. Its black fist struck the centre of his chest, breaking a few bones. Then, it spasmed. His rod had connected against its chest. It was red, and naked, with no hair on it. The creature was about the size of three pigs and looked to weigh a lot. Its limbs, and head almost melded into the darkness around them. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Fucking bastard,¡± William said as he steadily charged his lightning through the creature. It went for nearly twenty seconds, faint steam coming from the creature somehow though it survived. He didn¡¯t have any more electricity to give. The creature raised its fist, preparing to smash into his chest once more and kill him. William swallowed, thinking things had gone better than they usually did this time. But then, before it could strike him, its leg''s right leg spasmed, making it fall to the side. Hah! Loser. The creature growled, showing its lack of teeth. William cringed with disgust at the sight and quickly got up. He smashed his rod into the side of the creature¡¯s head. The creature¡¯s head jerked to the side, and his rod bent, looking more like a ¡°j¡± now than a line. As occasional spasm¡¯s disturbed the creature¡¯s movement, William raised and smashed the chair¡¯s leg into its head. With each strike, he released a grunt. He felt his sweat build up around his body. The creature passed out. William didn¡¯t stop. He kept striking until he heard cracks, and felt his rod splash into the blood. The smell of the creature¡¯s blood was a bitter thing, filled with a strong smell making William want to get away. After a moment too long he realized that a window had popped up showing the creature¡¯s death. [You have gained 400xp] [You have reached level 4] [Please select one of these three random stats to increase by 3. Intelligence Vitality Agility ] He sighed. I might as well increase my intelligence. Hopefully smarter me will be able to avoid these stupid fights. When he pressed intelligence, instead of feeling a new sensation in his brain, he felt it right below his heart. That was where his electricity rested when he wasn¡¯t using it. Were intelligence and magic connected? He knew mages were smart, but he hadn¡¯t thought being smart was magical. Intellect has always seemed magical I guess. As he sat with his back against the bookshelves, he heard something. A soft noise that grew louder. His eyes immediately jerked towards the spot, finding four eyes, two purple, and two red. They shone dully, and slowly approached him at the same speed. He waved his rod around, which was quickly losing its colour as he had no electricity to surge through it. ¡°Come on then, I¡¯ll take you on.¡± Can¡¯t show weakness. Any sign that said he was weak would bolster his attacker. Even though he knew he was doomed, it was nothing he could show to the world. Damn this place. Damn everything about it. The creature continued to approach him. It got close enough for the weak light emitted by his rod to reach the tip of its face. First, he saw its black nose, and as his vision of the creature grew, he saw its jaw. A jagged thing, revealing two large teeth, big peeking out of its closed mouth. It was a wolf carrying two heads attached to the same body. The head inspected him closely as it continued to approach him. Then it stopped in front of the corpse of the large creature that had attacked him. One head reached down and took a bit, ripping off the flesh and swallowing it. The other head kept its eyes on him. ¡°Help yourself I guess,¡± William said. It ate for a couple of minutes, then rose and walked backwards until he couldn¡¯t see it. Eventually, its eyes faded into the darkness. Relief filled him. It could have gone a lot worse than that. He was still expecting the two-headed wolf to rush out of the darkness and attack him, but nothing happened. That went alright. After he¡¯d finished resting, and replenished about half of his electricity, he stood up. He found himself back to the original bookshelves he¡¯d been following by going through the man-sized hole he¡¯d created when he¡¯d been smashed through the old bookshelves. He wondered what would happen to the books that used to appear here. Would they fall to the floor? Even though he was primarily searching for resources, he never stopped looking for interesting books. Sure, he might not be able to read them. Well, that wasn¡¯t something he was entirely sure about. He hadn¡¯t opened the book he found on his way back, so maybe he could read it. He made a note to spend some time with the books and see if the window could help him in any way. Maybe it could give him a language comprehension skill, and whilst he thought about it. Where were the limits on the skills he could gain from the window? Why hadn¡¯t he gained a night-vision ability? He thought about the question as he wandered the halls. Most of his skills he¡¯d gained from the torture. Exposing himself to shock gained him a lesser shock skill. Exposing himself to pain gained him pain resistance. Perhaps to gain night vision, a form of resistance to the dark by the eyes, he simply needed to expose them to the darkness. But there was plenty of darkness! It surrounded him in all directions. Clearly, the lack of exposure wasn¡¯t the problem. Perhaps, there was another variable. Maybe the windows weren¡¯t simply giving him skills. It was possible that it was simply aiding him in what he was already attempting, or doing. He¡¯d been resisting the pain to a certain degree when he gained the ability. The same could be said about shock, poison and disease. His body already naturally tried to resist it. By this logic, his body would already have naturally tried to acquire lightning manipulation when he got it. The window must have only helped or made it possible. Maybe he was looking at night vision the wrong way. Maybe it wasn¡¯t about trying to see through the darkness, but simply seeing better. If he focused on straining his eyes to see as much as possible for a long enough time, maybe the windows would come in and help him, or further what he could do. He thought that it was a feasible theory, and decided to put it to the test. He strained his eyes to focus on the edge of the light, where it melded into the darkness. Trying to see just a little bit further. No window popped up immediately, but he thought that he simply needed patience. Either that or there needed to be a stronger challenge. Perhaps he needed to strain his eyes even more than what he was already doing. But how could he do that? He spotted an outline he hadn¡¯t seen before at the edge of his sight. It looked like a clump of mossing higher up on the bookshelves. He approached and took in the details of the object. A moss, green and fresh grew in the shape of a book. William realized that fresh green moss had entirely surrounded one of the books. He wasn¡¯t sure if he should take it, the moss looked distinctly venomous. Then, it leapt towards him. The whole book somehow jumped towards his face at a fast speed, flying through the sky. As it flew, it opened, revealing its yellowish pages. William only had enough time to take a step back. It was enough time for the book to miss his face and instead land on his chest. He immediately wanted it off him, feeling that it was like a parasite. He didn¡¯t want the moss to grow all around him. Just the thought of that was disgusting enough for him to flinch. He got a grip of the moss and pulled but to no avail. The thing seemed stuck to him. And the moss hurt, like spikes digging into his hand. Even though it looked wet and fresh, the thing was anything but. The tips of the moss were dry and pointy. Touching it made filled him with the feeling of cringe. Getting both his hands involved, William pulled with all of the strength he could muster. What the hell is this thing and why is it sticking to me? He could feel a sensation coming from the area it stuck to him, a wet sensation. [The skill Potent Blood has reached level 2] Why is my blood levelling up from it? That skill came from a bunch of resistances so that must mean that it''s resisting whatever the hell this thing¡¯s pumping off me. Get the hell of me! Deciding to get serious, he placed both of his hand''s palms flat against the moss and streamed it full of electricity. It quickly heated up, steam oozing off it, but he didn¡¯t care for that. He wanted to see if it could handle heat better than he could. It squealed. The sound told him he was doing the right thing. He could feel more of that went sensation spreading through his body, and that made him increase the amount of electricity he shot through it. [The skill Potent Blood has reached level 3] It fell off him and stopped squealing. Grabbing his rod, which he¡¯d let fall to the floor, he looked at it closely. There was clearly a book beneath the moss, but he wasn¡¯t sure if it was worth it to take the book and the moss. I never got a message. It¡¯s not dead, just incapacitated. Deciding not to take it, he grabbed it, keeping as far away from him as possible and placed it on one of the shelves, right against the wall of the shelf. He wasn¡¯t going to bring it back with him to the base, but maybe in the future, he¡¯d want to find it again. He could still feel the wet sensation around his body. It was dissipating by the second, he assumed that it was his blood fighting against it. Maybe returning to the hideout and avoiding creatures like that was for the best. He sure as hell wanted to do that, but then what? Then what? Annoying question. He needed to become stronger. He couldn¡¯t spend his entire life in that little spot. The fact that there wasn¡¯t any water there made it physically impossible for him to live there. It would simply be a slow way to reach Demarcus. No, he needed to continue, build a base, and grow stronger. He continued walking and straining his eyes. It only took a couple of minutes before the feeling of wetness dissipated entirely. Maybe his potent blood combatted poison much more effectively than poison resistance ability. There was also another upside. When his potent blood became stronger from resisting poison, it would also become stronger at resisting diseases. Hopefully, it would reach a point where the rats wouldn¡¯t kill him anymore. Suddenly, his subconscious screamed something was wrong. He immediately looked around, trying to figure out what it was that was wrong, but he couldn¡¯t spot it. He realized that was exactly the problem. He couldn¡¯t spot the floor ahead of him. The path simply ended, a large void appearing right there in front of him. Another step and he would have fallen right into it.