《Berserk of Chaos》 The Before ¡°Caspian are you ok?¡± Caspian nods rubbing his head the welt on his forehead is likely to disappear soon but for now, he can feel it pulsing there. No one prepares you for how dense a coffin is especially when you seem to walk straight into them every day. You would think he would get better and avoid the hundreds of empty wooden and stone coffins in his family¡¯s store after living and working there for roughly 17 years but nope they still seem to always appear out of nowhere. Caspian lifts his backpack back onto his back and continues out the front door. ¡°Bye Mom see you after class¡± He yells back as he turns heading for the bus stop and the end of the block. After waiting just a few minutes he sees his bus make the corner and head down the road. As it gets closer he can tell today won''t be his day. The bus is packed he prays to his guardian angel a whole lotta people just happen to be riding the bus to his little corner of town and he''s about to witness some mass exodus. No luck not a single person gets off just shuffle around a bit to make room. Not that he needs too huge a space he isn''t exactly some massive dude but if he were probably wouldn''t have been called Casper the unfriendly ghost all of high school now would he? He wasn''t even that standoffish in high school he got good grades, had friends, and even participated in the blacksmithing shop club something he still questioned the efficacy of in a town with only about 500 people in the middle of who knows Idaho. Alas, none of those things seem to matter to people just his pale complexion and the knowledge that he spent his nonclass time surrounded by bodies, Dead bodies. Caspian eventually reached his stop about half an hour from his town at The Tower. The Tower was well a tower. It had been built by some enthusiastic startup as the next thing in virtual reality and technology. It was supposed to have allowed willing participants to truly live out that urge for a different life. To be an adventurer climbing the tower where projections of beasts visible through special glasses could fight to grow stronger. That dream had never quite panned out funding had been cut and now it was an empty fantasy environment used solely for online college courses. Not a bad place to spend all day learning about anatomy and physiology but community college was still community college. Caspian had followed the same routine wake up bonk his head on something, go to class learn something, then go home and get lectured about something for the past two years. He was beginning to get a wee bit sick of the monotony he just wanted to go live in the real version of the tower a place of exploration and adventure or at least a place where he could punch something without consequence. Hed watched enough Isekai anime to know the only way any of that was happening was a world-ending disaster, a portal, or getting hit by a delivery van on a rainy day, and for some reason that didn''t seem very likely. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. The way home wasn''t anything major same cramped bus, same long ride, different bus driver but that was likely the single difference from yesterday and the day before that. That was until the train slammed into the bus. The train was odd in two ways one it was a steam locomotive looking straight out of the 1800¡¯s, and two it was on the highway, the middle of the highway. These two facts hit Caspian at roughly the same time he felt his fists collide with the wall of the bus brought up just in time to protect his head as he flew from his seat, but not all that helpful as the rest of the crown crushed down on him, and certainly nothing to stop the bus from becoming a meat tenderizer as it rolled end over end. ¡°We''ve got a whole lot coming through just probe them and send them it''s not worth it to filter for ascension criteria with this kind of a backup they''ll prove their worth and all that ¡­ welp good luck this time around¡± Caspian heard the words but couldn''t place the speaker as if they were everywhere and talking through him, not to him. His vision cleared into a pale almost translucent box floating in front of him ¡®Heck yeah¡¯ he thought here came his OP abilities and life of glory. As he began to fade back into unconsciousness the box seemed to slam into him and he was woken again seeing the words displayed more clearly. |Do you wish The Troden Path or The Path of Exploration| An easy choice really but he concentrated on the two options the first seeing to pull at him slightly. He felt new knowledge fill his mind and the two options faded into a new understanding. |The Troden Path| Live along the path trodden before you history has paved a way for you to walk Ascendant take it and make your duty known. Receive bonuses for passive skills and social-related abilities Receive a small amount of xp for killing beasts and a large amount of xp for improving your community. |The Path of Exploration| Journey forth on your own or with companions discover new things walk the path of danger and discover both fears unamaginable and vistas unseen. Depend on yourself and none can stand in your way, become complacent, and lose it all. Receive bonuses to tests of body and mind and combat-related abilities. Receive a bonus to xp earned outside a community and that which is hard fought. Receive a higher chance to find rare or forgotten places and objects. The choice seemed easy but he could see many others making a very different one with the additional information either way that wasn¡¯t him Caspian chose and felt a flood of what felt like pure energy rush his body. |Choice: The Path of Exploration| -Bonuses received -Stats added -Class choices are available! Choose a class: errrrrrror -New Ascendant class is automatically chosen Class: Fighter Subclass: EMPTY Blessing: EMPTY Path: UNKNOWN The Tunnel and almost dying a lot |Choice: The Path of Exploration| -Bonuses received -Stats added -Class choices are available! Choose a class: errrrrrror -New Ascendant class is automatically chosen Class: Fighter Subclass: EMPTY Blessing: EMPTY Path: UNKNOWN Caspian woke up in a cold sweat though the cold¡­ stone beneath him was a welcome discovery. Why was he lying on stone? When had he gotten here? Everything felt weird and far away like a dream. As he pulled himself up, he felt bigger than he should but also noticed that that weird pane box thing he saw in his dream was still there ¡­ and it followed him when he turned his head. Focusing back in he realized it had changed from his dream, which seemed less and less likely to be a dream. Class: Fighter Subclass: Attempt Ascension? Blessing: Attempt Attunement? Path: UNKNOWN He focused on the Subclass option. Do you wish to attempt to ascend and develop a subclass? Note: More experience is required for stable ascension Continue? Y/N ¡®Nope definitely gonna wait for the stable version of that¡¯ Thought Caspian. Now the question was just how to get experience. Should he try to find a weapon? Perhaps build a shield or something for protection not to mention armour and the like. Maybe it wasn''t a good idea to go full combat with no knowledge of this new world but hey the other option seemed boring as hell so no going back now. Looking around Caspian found himself in a long dark tunnel a dungeon perhaps or an underground city? Maybe there were dwarves or something? Goblins? With no real expectations and nothing appearing when he focused on his fighter class, he delved down the hall into the darkness. Maybe 50 feet down the hall the light of what he was now realizing was the only torch nearby right where he woke up was barely illuminating anything. He kept walking keeping his eyes moving in case he wasn''t the only thing in the tunnel. Nothing for what seemed like hours just a straight damp hallway devoid of light looking back he could not see the torch anymore but somehow he could still see though minimally. Suddenly a soft chime rang in his ear. ding New Skill! New Skill: Dark Vision Lvl 1 -See in the dark and never lose your way ¡®Wow ho ho a real skill¡¯ Caspian thought as his vision became slightly clearer a vague outline of the hallway becoming more clear as it extended further. Maybe he could gain some new skills from just doing things to prepare for when he ran into a fight. Not an hour later he was rewarded with a soft chime in his ear. Ding Dark Vision Lvl 2 With the level up came a new alert as well.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Ding You have improved a skill! You have proven your dedication or are under the influence of a master perhaps both continue on your path and reap the rewards to come. Not much more than a positive message but results were results and with more dark vision came the realization that something was moving at the other end of the tunnel. Caspian moved slowly forward unsure exactly what to do when he saw what seemed to be a boar or pig or some other swine though this one had 4 tusks two horizontal ones like a regular boar and 2 that pointed down like a sabertooth tiger. As Caspian watched it ram the wall the knowledge of what it was floated through his head. Four Tusk Boar: Easy. Not exactly sure what to do with the information Caspian snuck closer ... and closer. So close he was now standing next to it without it noticing. As he looked at the massive pig he felt his stomach rumble. Not having any food for hours would sure make a man hungry perhaps he could cook this pig somehow or eat it raw. He knew you couldn''t eat raw chicken cause of some bacteria but was the same for pork? Magic pork? Caspian was pulled out of his thoughts as the boar rushed him seemingly able to have heard his stomach Caspian did the first thing he could think and punched it in the top of its head the Four Tusk Boar was immediately driven a half-inch into the floor stopping its motion as it dug a small furrow with its snout. You have killed a: Four Tusk Boar XP earned Bonus XP earned for killing your first enemy Bonus XP earned for fighting solo Bonus XP earned due to Path Bonus XP earned towards Ascension Power flooded Caspian as the notifications rolled across his vision. Fighter class upgrade available! Become Brawler? Y/N A brawler certainly sounded more specific than a fighter and specifics usually meant power in games. But was Caspian a brawler? Hed always thought of himself as more of a Mage type though he supposed there wasn''t much to do about that having already gotten the fighter class. He accepted the upgrade. Lvl 1 Class: Brawler Subclass: Attempt Ascension? Blessing: Attempt Attunement? Path: UNKNOWN Well, he had an actual level now so that was cool but not too much else he wanted some cool new skill like a teleport or shadow blade or to conjure a sword or other weapon already. As he contemplated where to go from here he paused to admire the furrow in the ground the boar had made. Was he that strong? Also, why was the boar so easy? He understood that that''s quite literally what its info said but still one punch from him and it was just, what, dead? The body didn''t disappear so that was nice could be food. Kneeling he touched the corpse and found his little clear pane reappear before his eyes. Would you like to loot this Corpse with current tools? Y/N Did he need tools? Did he have tools? He selected yes either way may as well try. Before him appeared a pile of sausages, pork chops, and the 4 tusks all laid out on what appeared to be a piece of the boar hide now made into leather or something like it. He picked up the raw meats and tasks holding them in bewilderment. What happened did this boar actually turn into its component loot? Did this mean tools would add some new features to the process? Excited and very hungry he bit into one of the pork chops tearing it from the bone. Ding You have earned a new Achievement! New Achievement: Opportunistic -You have run into the fire asking not how to protect yourself but how to benefit from it. You might not have the knowledge but you can get that later. -Bonuses to new paths -Bonuses to skill upgrades and fusions As more power flowed through Caspian so did a sickly feeling. He definitely shouldn''t have eaten raw meat. Feeling the meat return from his stomach his head got light as he vomited across the ground in front of him dropping and immediately falling onto his new loot and the sharp end of one of the tusks. Caspian was awoken by a loud ringing in his ears and a dull pain in his stomach. Ding Ding Ding Ding Notifications swam through his vision. You have new skill options! You have gained Experience! You have gained an Achievement! You are now Lvl 5! Level 5!! What the flip had happened to him his face felt slimy and there was still a pain in his stomach rolling onto his side he was able to feel consciousness slowly beacon him back to reality. As he combed through his notifications and there were a lot he learned two things. One raw meat was poisonous and two he had just gotten very very very lucky. In between the roughly 100 you''ve gotten poisoned by raw meat notifications were ones for the fact that whatever he had eaten had restored a slight bit of health and supposedly that boar meat was able to neutralize a small amount of poison. He had been left with roughly 3 health of his supposed 50 maximum though without the window giving him specifics he couldn''t tell maybe it was 1 or 10 or something. Whatever the case he had gained levels in Poison Resistance, Self Heal, a new skill called Brawlers Resolve, and a new skill called Disciple of Entropy. Brawlers Resolve: -Gain a boost to resistance against all that might try and corrupt your will -Steady forth warrior what you do not fear can not hurt you Disciple of Entropy: -Bring forth that which has been lost lose that which was brought forth -You hold the endless cycle in your mind and bend its forces to help you on your journey Ascendant Loot and all the discoveries that come with it Though Caspian found both of the descriptions of his new skills rather ¡­ vague he did find the achievements he had gotten rather helpful. Achievement: Hearty Achievement: Tough And so on until Acheivment: Death Wish Along with Achievement: Natural Healing Achievement: Natural Recovery And so on until Achievement: Natural Bastion Caspian was realizing some things. One was that the closer he got to his limits the greater the rewards, and that skills and achievements not only could be affected by each other but very clearly worked together to make you more powerful just look at his new Natural Bastion and Brawlers Resolve. He could now quite literally heal himself with belief and more specifically the belief he shouldn''t be hurt by something. That sounded pretty freaking OP to him. Caspian, now full of excitement began running down the seemingly endless tunnel. With all his boosts his vision was ¡­ strange. He couldn''t see his way down the tunnel. He could however feel it. His vision went dark after about 30 feet down the tunnel but he could tell the path was clear far past that and quite suddenly that it wasn¡¯t. At about 60 feet he could tell there was a weak beast. Caspian couldn''t tell whether it was another boar or something else but whatever it was he knew it to be weak. As he got within eye line he was able to see its stats. Six Tusk Boar: Hard. Hard? Was it that crazy it had 2 more tusks? Then he mentally pulled up his stats and saw the likely reason his health was still around a quarter. Shouldn''t he be healing crazy quick wasn''t that what all those achievements were about? As soon as he consciously thought about it he felt his stomach settle, his chest tighten, and his muscles ¡­ grow. He quite literally grew 2 inches these new abilities were incredible. Looking over his body he could see his slim and almost ghostly frame had filled out slightly not a ton but he certainly felt stronger, more agile, also his fists felt more ¡­ durable. Looking back at the boar now that he was back to full the stat panel had changed Six Tusk Boar: Medium. Well, medium was better than hard so what else to do but punch it. He wound up pulling his fist back as he slowly approached and punched forward destroying a small section of the floor but missing the boar who had loudly squealed and jumped aside. The boar landed and rocketed forward all 6 tusks seemingly bending in real time to point forward as the large boar slammed into him. Caspian felt his ribs crack and his arm bend the wrong way. Flailing his arm he swatted the boar away slightly avoiding the rest of the bulk of the animal. This fight might be harder than he thought. With careful concentration on what his chest normally felt like he was able to redirect some of his now bleeding arm damage into healing his chest but only about a fifth of the damage he had taken total. ¡°Alrighty porker your tougher and my skills are not that of some cosmic hero¡± Retreating back to a safe distance Caspian took a long moment to focus on how his body should feel. The healing certainly seemed faster while out of combat which made sense also his undivided attention made a hell of a difference. Ding You have earned a new Skill! New Skill: Concentration Concentration: ¡°Alright so it''s not just a matter of doing stuff I gotta think about why it happens, should have assumed that¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Sitting down allowed him to use his mostly untested senses to roam over his body he focused in on each of his previously injured body parts then over his body dividing it into general areas then into quadrants then further overalayed all those anatomy and physiology diagrams he used for classes over his body. Ding You have improved a Skill! New Skill: Concentration - Meditation - Physician Meditation Not only had he just gained an advanced version of a skill but he had skipped a whole level of the skill almost immediately. Clearly, prior knowledge carried over and affected the growth of his new skills. The boar having slowly wandered over suddenly seemed to notice him again and rushed at him. Without opening his eyes depending solely on his instinctual skills he punched and felt a soft squelch as his had passed entirely through the beast. You have killed a: Six Tusk Boar XP earned Bonus XP earned for fighting solo Bonus XP earned due to Path Bonus XP earned towards Ascension You are level 7 ¡°Alright sooo mediating while fighting makes me godly¡± He hadn''t gotten even a scratch with that cray display. Keeping his eyes closed he tried feeling for the corpse then mentally affirming he wanted to loot it and heard a pile of resources settle onto the ground. It was now that Caspian remembered he had completely forgotten his last loot pile though it had been in a pool of dried bloody vomit by the end so on second thought it was probably good not to have tried to carry it. Looking at his new loot pile he saw something very very very interesting. Not only were there various types of meat preparation but also an eyeball and a simple ring sitting atop the boar leather mat. Item: Boars Eye Item: Basic Traveler Ring ¡°Heck yeah, it is a storage item I got a storage item. Suppose a rucksack isn''t a whole lot of room though¡± Storing his new loot into the ring was pretty self-explanatory he just touched it and thought about the item fitting into a bag and poof it disappeared. ¡°Guess it''s time to do a bit more leveling.¡± Continuing Caspian found and fought roughly 3 more Four Tusk Boars, and 2 Six Tusk variants. They gave less experience on subsequent kills it seemed. He raised the last Six Tusk to a medium difficulty by purposefully letting it reinjure his left arm. This seemed to give quite a bit of extra experience but time would tell if the strategy was a good one or not. You have killed a: Six Tusk Boar x2 You have killed a: Four Tusk Boar x3 XP earned Bonus XP earned for fighting solo Bonus XP earned due to Path Bonus XP earned towards Ascension You are level 9 As Caspian progressed and felt his body further strengthen he could tell his fists were becoming more and more dense making punches with them far more effective. It would negatively affect his future agility if he decided to use a weapon luckily that seemed less and less likely and he was starting to like the full fist damage self-heal thing he was getting going. With each level up the lack of a subclass and blessing was beginning to bother him but maybe they were ultra rare or super specific also who or what was the blessing a blessing from was it like a charm or like some divine might? Waiting didn¡¯t seem like a problem so far and if he got stronger he felt he may have more or at least more advanced choices which was never a bad thing. He was also getting far better at concentrating on his body both the separate aspects but also how it moved and how his muscles felt. Physician Mediation Lvl 5 Brawler¡¯s Resolve Lvl 7 Not too much of a surprise based on how the skills worked but Caspian did not love the fact that his most interesting-sounding skill Disciple of Entropy had not leveled at all. Perhaps better understanding was needed he couldn''t carry all the loot from the last couple of boars and had it in a pile just sitting there slowly spoiling or it should be. Meat went bad if left out but this meat was just sitting there. Kicking the pile he watched one of the sausages roll from the mat onto the floor and almost immediately turned slightly greyish green. Focusing on it the description had changed Item: Boar meat sausage (Small) (Spoiled) ¡°Alright, so the meat goes bad if I don''t store it right. Pretty self-explanatory that one Caspian even the meat is a little magic¡± Something interesting there because it loses magic to the ambient environment which the mat somehow stops from happening until it''s removed. Focusing on the sausage off the mat versus the ones on the mat Caspian felt he could feel a difference beyond just the color or what his status window would tell him. He could feel the energy leaving it. He could feel it being drawn to him like the thin smoke trail from incense. Hopefully not becoming a bad guy just a powerful good guy Ding You have improved a skill! New Skill: Disciple of Entropy - Scholar of Entropy -You have felt life change to death and vice versa either by a master or the passage of time and you have studied its motions -Bring forth that which has been lost lose that which was brought forth -You hold the endless cycle in your mind and bend its forces to help you on your journey Ascendant -Gives bonuses to knowledge especially that which is attuned to the concept of entropy -Allows you to learn more about your surroundings by interacting with them directly through your energy You have reached Lvl 10! You have gained additional stats based on your class! You have Skill Choices! You have Subclass Choices! You have reached the First Teir Ascendant! A lot to digest there thought Caspian that was the same message he got about skill choices he got earlier but why did he just gain some skills and others he had to choose also where did he go to choose them? Immediately his status pane appeared showing a skills tab. ¡°Well that''s certainly convenient isn''t it¡± he muttered. Skills: Dark Vision Lvl 2 -See better in the dark Brawlers Resolve Lvl 7 -Gain a boost to resistance against all that might try and corrupt your will -Steady forth warrior what you do not fear can not hurt you Self Heal Lvl 1 -Heal yourself with your own energy -Dependency is weakness Poison Resistance Lvl 1 -You have consumed that which should not be consumed by the force of will or stupidity either way next time it''ll take longer Disciple of Entropy Lvl 1 -You have felt life change to death and vice versa either by a master or the passage of time and you have learned from it -Bring forth that which has been lost lose that which was brought forth -You hold the endless cycle in your mind and bend its forces to help you on your journey Ascendant -Gives bonuses to knowledge especially that which is attuned to the concept of entropy Physician Meditation Lvl 5 -You know what you are and your will empowers it -Focus on a concept to push more energy into it -Bonus to physical uses of the skill -Increased effect of all body advancement skills heightened if the skill is used while in a state of meditation Available skill choices: 4 Runic Body ArtThis story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it -You have affixed a rune of power to your body either permanently or temporarily and now know the power contained -Allows the ascendent to more easily apply runes to the body by various means allowing for their power to be harnessed -Either for art or for glory you know power is something that can be painted upon you Stalwart Legs -Attempts to resist the forces that move you that are not yours -Bonus to skill effectiveness based on willpower -Let the waters before you part at your will, stone may still pose a problem Bestial Instincts -You have fought beasts and learned their tricks -Increases sense of danger and allows the Ascndant to more easily perceive threats in the environment -Become the beast and let them witness your fury Basic Fighting -You have learned basic fighting techniques -Fight whether or not you have the skills to succeed Weapon mastery -It is time to learn the way of war -Increases your proficiency with weapons Alright, so 5 options but only 4 choices? Thinking about it it made more sense that his little skill choice options probably happened every 5 levels and gave him 2 choices. ¡°Man, it would be cool if I knew more about where I am the figuring it out off the cuff thing is super explorer of me buuuut also sucks when it comes to actually knowing what''s going on. Just make your 4 choices and be grateful¡± Looking over his options some options were clear winners but the fact that he only had to get rid of one made the decision a little easy. Nevertheless, he did have to make that decision. Though with his current state and lack of ya know an actual weapon it seemed like of the 5 he could be pretty sure not picking weapon mastery was the right choice. On top of that currently, his punches were a little scary but at least he couldn''t accidentally punch his leg in two. He could however slice it with his currently non-existent weapon. Anyway, weapon no fist yes, and now on to the next very very important factor of that barrage of notifications. That''s right he had subclass choices. Subclass: Attempt Ascension? Y/N He chose yes cause what could go wrong? He was wrong. He found himself falling through his body and then the floor watching as his body crumpled to the floor he was pulled into an inky black void. Everything disappeared, the floor, his body, even his ring faded from his seemingly incorporeal form just floating through a black void. Then he was standing on a wide platform of something almost crystal clear maybe glass? Solid space? Either way he was still in the void just standing on this platform that very slightly reflected his image like a massive pane of glass or a shallow lake perhaps. Though the surroundings were completely dark it seemed as if there were a light source perfectly behind him no matter how he turned as if the air itself were illuminating everything around in a perfect neutral glow. Suddenly one of his newly acquired skills seemed to kick in automatically and he became very aware of something dangerous behind him. Spinning around and focusing on what his new instincts had alerted off he attempted to push energy into his legs to activate the Stalwart Legs skill while getting into a pose to hopefully use his Basic Fighting. As he completed his spin he was greeted by 3 podiums. The first held a faintly see-through ball of darkness like a shadow taken form. The second one held a ball that seemed to be folding into itself as well as out of itself if that made sense. As if it wasn''t supposed to exist but was also somehow more permanent than anything else. Finally on the third podium was a sphere that looked to consist solely of beating muscle and gnashing fangs. Focusing on each one brought up an incredibly short description. Item: Essence of Shadow (Common) -Pure shadow energy used for ascension towards The Dark Ones Item: Essence of Chaos (Legendary) -Pure Chaos energy used for ascension towards The Chaos Blessed Item: Essence of Beast (Uncommon) -Pure Beast energy used for ascension towards The Carnal Ones This felt a little silly was he joining a cult what were The Dark ones and why was one option very clearly far higher in tier? He was assuming Legendary was at least a few steps above Uncommon but did that mean it was better or just less common? Did he want to be like whoever The Chaos Blessed was? Well, clearly reincarnation was real so why go into easy mode here? He chose. Caspian felt the world drop from beneath him as energies writhed in his body and his vision swam with notifications colors and images of his life before the tunnel he had been running through. He realized he hadn''t thought about his life much since waking up here. He died right? People don''t live after that kind of accident but was this all a coma dream? If it was it was super realistic even down to the feeling of your fist going through a giant pig so for now he kept assuming it was indeed real. Arriving back in the tunnel he found himself in a rather deep and strangely ¡­ him-shaped hole. As if the space around his body had just kept burning away he lay in a roughly 2-foot human depression in the floor and not only that but he was now completely naked no nothing. He did have his ring back he pulled out one of the boar mats as he tried to sit up his shoulders and arms were slowed for a second then broke through the slightly narrower top layer of stone. Had he gotten bigger again but now in a hole? Who knows he wrapped the mat around his waist forming a sorta loin cloth thing. Hey, it just felt more acceptable. Now for that list of notifications, he just got. Lvl 10 Class: Brawler Subclass: Chaos Blessing: Attempt Attunement? Path: Path of Exploration New Skills: ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ Skills Slimes and the power to fight a god You have gained two new skills with Ascension using Essence of Chaos New Skills: Hand of Chaos -Imbue your hands with chaos energy -Increases physical damage done without a weapon -Slightly increases damage done with a weapon -Reduces targets ability to avoid the effects of Entropy -A servant of the endless cycle must be able to interact with its power Scent of Chaos -Give off a light scent of chaos -Objects and creatures in your immediate vicinity have a reduced ability to avoid the effects of Entropy -You have been touched by that which was and will be again either standing a little too close to a master or by experiencing the energy through other repeated means others shall know what your presence means Offering of Energy -Gift an offering back to the endless cycle -Receive an increase in related skills xp gain -The cycle may be endless but you have found a way to guide it to further your power Knowing of his new skills gave him an interesting feeling as to how he ended up in the hole. ¡°Did I melt the freaking floor? Just melted right through it. No Prob¡± How long had he been laying there unmoving he thought. He wasn''t burning through the floor by standing so clearly it wasn''t a crazy fast process or anything. He tried to focus his internal energy to overclock the skill or something in the past he¡¯d just sorta flexed all his muscles and thought really hard but that wasn''t going to work in a fight and he needed to fight now. He tried to feel the energy to push it around and could sorta feel it. He could feel it in his legs for sure all he had to do was tense and he felt his legs get more solid the ebbing of the energy stopping immediately to reinforce him. Could he do the same thing for his Self-Heal and stuff? Likely it was really energy-intensive to heal his whole body but just the injury would be a lot easier and probably quicker. Caspian began to walk down the tunnel feeling no need to hangout by his little ascension hole. As he walked he attempted some of his new skills in combo such as filling his fists with Chaos Energy and then using his fighting skills to punch a wall. Not only was he now able to bury his fist 6 inches into solid rock while shadow boxing but the hole seemed to corrupt the stone somehow causing black cracks to splay out from the hole and the surrounding rock visibly crumble slightly. ¡°Entropy is dope. I am literally punching things into next week. Well maybe more like next year, next decade?¡± This feeling was invigorating and would only get better with time. Right? He began to sprint pushing energy into his legs showing him he could even resist air resistance with the Stalwart Legs skill. He could also see his Dark Vision had reached Lvl 6 and Self-Heal was at Lvl 5. Up ahead he could sense something was off his dark vision was giving him moving blobs and his various instincts were telling him there were multiple people. That''s when the tunnel opened into a massive room. Dead bodies and the remains of corpses littered the ground. The floor was painted in smears of what must be dried blood and lying in the center was an old man being slowly pulled apart by what appeared to be a cluster of piles of jello. They weren''t so much pulling he noticed but more digesting slowly eating the armor and body of the man as he cried out in what from the sound of it was the greatest pain something could feel. Caspian had no qualms with death but was surprised he hadn''t been able to hear the echoes of this from further off. Had it started when he was unconscious and he just hadn''t realized? He was here now and that''s what was important.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. In a heroic or heroically stupid move, Caspian began running straight for the cluster of creatures. About 5 feet from the blobs he expected to be Slimes he watched as an ethereal green vapor became clear floating about his and as it touched the Slime seemed to cause their skin to stiffen and lose its sheen of slime. That was until his fist imbued with as much energy as he could slammed into the side of the Slime firing it like a pinball across the room where it collided. This was a massive win and his best superhero entrance so far for all of the 3 seconds it took for the slime to hit the wall and come shooting back seeming to have gained speed from the collision. ¡°That''s gonna bloody hurt isn''t it¡± And it did as the slime knocked Caspian to the ground causing him to not only flip over due to the force but watch as a quarter of his health was simply sheared away. ¡°Gotta focus on not letting it hurt me which is definitely easier said than done¡± Focusing on his bruised and battered face Caspian was able to send some healing energy in to repair the damage and start the auto-recovery process. Jumping to the side almost unconsciously Caspian barely missed another Slime flying above his head as he ducked. Step one should be to save the dude then he could figure out a way to fight these things. He ran pushing energy into healing and his Scent of Chaos as he went. The Slimes seemed slowed but he felt one bite down on his leg or absorb his leg. Not important what was important was running. He heaved the old man off the ground and tossed his limp body over his shoulder as he prayed he had the strength stats to pull this off. He buried his feet into the stone as he leaned forward and took off. The world seemed to bend and warp around him as he ran for the far wall of the chamber. He hit the wall slamming his feet into the wall as he tried to stop hearing an audible groan from his new companion. Laying the man down he saw the robes of the man were embroidered with intricate designs as well as two on his sleeves that seemed to stand out. Why did he know they were runes of power? The embroidery blended into the pattern but to his eyes stood out as if they glowed. A thought for later. Now how do you hit something that actively gets stronger from the force? He knew he was doing damage to them but if he hit more than one he was gonna need to get a lot better at dodging and they may have more skills than just rebound and absorb. Ding You have killed a Lesser Slime (Medium) Ding You have gained a skill level Stalwart Legs Lvl 3 Bestial Instincts Lvl 3 Basic Fighting Lvl 2 Hand of Chaos Lvl 2 Scent of Chaos Lvl 3 Unsure of what had killed the slime but not ready to look a gift in the mouth Caspian got ready to try a dry em with his scent and punch em with his hands as that had killed at least one. It was now that Caspian was greeted by a new and interesting notification. Ding You have a target available for offering Would you like to gift this offering? Y/N He accepted without any further thought. Ding You have gained a skill level Hand of Chaos Lvl 2 Scent of Chaos Lvl 3 Ding You are in the presence of a new Rune of Power symbiotic with your Essence of Chaos Would you like to add the Rune: Absorption Y/N Again no need to think Caspian accepted the prompt as he ran for the slimes. In his head, he could see the rune from the embroidery floating in his mind. Acting on instinct he slammed an open palm against his chest pushing Chaos energy into his breast as he did. He felt the energy press into him searing with pain he pushed against unsure why he knew but knowing nonetheless that this was the right path to follow in the moment. Almost immediately the energy going in redoubled back out then he felt 2 things occur simultaneously. First, his Runic Body Art became Body Art of Chaos. Then quickly after he felt the energy of every bit of blood his foot came in contact with pour into his body accelerating him to mock hesus and causing his Scent of Chaos to become very visible as the slimes 15 feet ahead of him appeared to dissolve into mist. The power fantasy overcame him just as a large shape moved in the distant darkness and he got a very different notification. Ding You have been noticed by a powerful being You have been Slowed You have been Poisoned You have been Paralyzed by Fear of UNKOWN for 30 seconds Caspian proceeded to stop moving as his momentum turned his run into a roll and his vision went black as he felt the ground repeatedly collide with him.