Jay side-stepped the blow, but he wasn’t fast enough. With a quick, panicked reaction, he let off a blast of Spirit directed at the blade, knocking it to the side, missing his shoulder by inches. The creature rotated the weapon so that the blade was facing Jay once more. He dropped to the floor and raised his gun just as the weapon flew past where he’d been standing with lightning speed. The wolfman let out a growl, but before he could muster a response, Jay delivered a Spirit-charged shot to the creature's chin, sending him stumbling back. He grunted and rubbed his jaw as Jay’s mouth dropped. The attack hadn’t even left a scratch.
“I guess I should congratulate you. That stung a bit,” he said in his growling voice.
Oh shit-- That was all Jay could think before the next sword strike came, aimed directly at his neck.
He raised both his arms in an attempt to protect his neck and let out another burst of Spirit, infusing it with a will to defend. The blade glanced off the energy and was sent flying back. The wolfman recovered quickly, however, and swung the weapon around with the momentum, attacking from the other side. Jay ducked the arcing blow and lashed out with a swift punch, landing in the creature's chest. It had no effect, but he hadn't expected it to. With a mix of will and Spirit, he shot out another blast focused on the creature's sternum. It let out a roar of pain and stumbled. Blood poured from a small circle wound that had formed.
The creature panted and let out another growl. “It seems I underestimated you, but you still won’t be walking away from this alive.” He gripped the chest wound with a slight whimper. “I would give myself three minutes before I succumb to this wound. Let's see if you can hold out that long when the beast takes over.”
Jay readied himself, dropping into a combative stance. A shudder ran through the creature, and it dropped the sword, crouching low before launching in Jay’s direction. He tried side-stepping the attack, but the creature turned in mid-air, lashing out with its claws and catching Jay in the left shoulder. He let out a cry of pain as the attack easily tore through his armor, rending flesh and carving a deep trench all the way to the bone. He clenched his teeth and turned just in time to catch the creature lunging again. Taking no chances this time, he projected his Spirit forward in a wave, forming it into a defensive wall. The wolfman, now with a primal glint in his eyes, tore through the structure easily and continued his trajectory toward Jay, but that was just what he was hoping for. Claws swung towards Jay’s head, but they stopped short as a line of sharpened spikes of Spirit shot from the ground, impaling the creature. It gasped as its eyes focused on him, and the creature smiled.
“I may die here, but at least you will join my brothers and me in whatever comes after this Hell,” the Wolfman grunted out as the life finally drained from his eyes.
**Boss fight complete! Congratulations!**
Jay shook his head, unsure of what the creature had meant, but he had bigger issues to deal with right now.
“Warning: Spirit level critical. You will fall unconscious in 2 minutes.”
Overdid it, he thought with a sigh as he activated Defiance and fell to the ground panting.
The adrenaline faded as he lay on the cold stone floor, and the searing pain entered his mind. Jay clenched his teeth as his shoulder burned and began cycling his Healing technique. The wound didn’t close, and he could feel his blood continuing to leak out. That was when the warning popped up.
**Warning: you have been poisoned!**
His mind swam as he began to grow lightheaded.
Lan! What do I do?
“Okay, stay calm and pull one of those weak injectors out.”
Jay did as she said and quickly stabbed it into his arm, waiting a few moments for something to happen.
**Warning: The poison in your bloodstream has nullified the effects of - health injector!**
Didn’t work! he yelled through his mind as the world began to take on a grey hue.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck. Cycle that Healing skill like your life depends on it and hang on.”
The pain grew worse, but faded slightly before intensifying once more as notifications began filling his vision.
**Skill level increased: Pain Tolerance 9 - 10**
**Skill level increased: Pain Tolerance 10 - 11**
**Skill level increased: Pain Tolerance 11 - 12**
**Skill level increased: Nausea Resistance 4 - 5**
**Skill level increased: Regeneration Boost 10 - 11**
The feed continued like that as each of those skills grew rapidly.
Any minute now!
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Jay’s vision dimmed, and he struggled for every breath.
“Uhh, shit, shit, come on…Yes! Got it!”
Jay waited for something to happen, but nothing did. He was about to say something when he noticed his mind felt slightly clearer.
Uhh, Lan, what did you do?
“Nothing. You, however, just gained Weak Poison Resistance!”
What?
Jay went to check his notifications, but he was still far more woozy than he thought. He blinked a few times, feeling the world starting to return to normal, but it still wasn’t enough. His head was pounding, and all he could think about in that moment was a nice nap as the world faded to black.
***
He awoke several hours later to rays of sunlight coming from far above. He covered his eyes and groaned as he tried to blink away the grogginess. Notifications assaulted his vision, but he shoved them to the side, for now. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and winced as an aching pain emanated from his shoulder. He let out a sigh of relief as he felt that the wound was scabbed over and mostly healed. Taking a moment to stretch, Jay readied himself and, as he was about to rise to his feet, decided he needed a few minutes to read his notifications first. Most of them were related to the three skills that had rapidly grown earlier. They’dall reached Level 14, along with a new skill called Weak Poison Resistance. This had culminated in him reaching Level 18, but the last two notifications were what he was really interested in right now. The first one was his Dungeon Complete notification, which informed him that he had earned 920,231 points in total.
**New title received: Artifact Destroyer**
The second, he didn’t know how to feel about.
**Artifact Destroyer: You destroyed an item of significance that was over 500 years older than you. Reward Granted: Superior Heritage Box**
He sighed as the box appeared and threw it into his storage space, declining to open it.
“Jay, open that immediately,” Lan interjected.
Not right now.
“Yes, right now!”
Why do you care?
“Because whatever that box contained will probably be one of the strongest items on this planet, at the moment.”
What? he asked, slowing a bit.
“Think of it this way. A heritage box is extremely rare. They normally contain something that works very well with your innate class. It’s seen as a great boon to get an Uncommon one, and you just got one at Superior.”
What’s the difference between Uncommon and Superior?
Lan snorted. “You know the difference between your Rare skills and the Uncommon ones, yeah?”
Well, yeah, but I've never seen Superior.
“Huh, I guess you haven’t. I’ve just grown so used to your bullshit luck that I thought you had.”
Fuck off and tell me what the difference is.
“Oh? Do you want me to explain, or to fuck off? You're sending some mixed signals.”
You know what I mean.
She laughed before answering. “Items and skills all have grades or rarities. There are ten in total, but unless you reach Level 500 and start down the path to godhood, you probably won’t see anything past Legendary.”
What are the grades?
“Common, Uncommon, Rare, Superior, Epic, Legendary, Artifact, Mythical, Divine, and Transcendent. Now open that damn box, or so help me, I will find a way to shake you until you do.”
Jay sighed before pulling the box from his storage space with a groan. Fine!
He opened it with little fanfare, and his eyes lit up as he examined the items inside. It was a pair of plain white running shoes with yellow laces and the motif of wings on each side of the heel. He almost sputtered as the description popped up.
Exalted Shoes of the Ceaseless Runner - Superior: Level 17
Effects:
A pair of ordinary shoes, at first glance. Upon closer inspection, their true nature is revealed. These well-worn running shoes, once owned by the Ceaseless Runner, now have a purpose once again.
While wearing these shoes, Running does not consume Spirit. These shoes will regenerate if at least one of them still exists in the world. If your Running skill is at or above Level 14 when you first equip these shoes, you will gain the upgrade option Fleet-Footed.
“You know what? Forget what I said. With your dumbass luck, you will probably have a mythical item before you reach Level 50,” Lan said in an annoyed tone.
Jay ignored her, pulling his old shoes off and slipping the new pair on before he rose to his feet. He ignored his shoulder’s protests and began running up the staircase. He was sad to see that the no-Spirit-consumption effect only applied to the amount used in Running and didn’t reduce the strain that his boosting skill placed on his pool when he used it to speed up the task. The boon was still more than worth it, though, especially when he selected the Fleet-Footed upgrade as it popped up.
Fleet-Footed
Effect:
Every step you take while running increases your speed by 0.1% up to a maximum of 100%
This effect resets if you stop moving.
Spirit consumption is increased proportionally with speed.
He couldn’t even argue with Lan, at this point. He really was fucking lucky. After running a few laps on the surface to get used to the new shoes, Jay pulled out his last health injector, sighing as he used it. He would rather have let his shoulder heal naturally, but he still had dungeons to clear, and he couldn’t afford the downtime. Plus, the twenty he’d just acquired as dungeon rewards didn’t hurt, either.
He had hoped Lan would have helped him with the rest of the choices again, but she mostly left him to his own devices with some minor input here and there. Ultimately, he ended up coming out of the shopping spree with a basic one-handed sword with some durability enchantments and the ability to accept will intentions on top of Spirit. He also procured five high-quality health injectors, an antidote in case he became poisoned again, and finally, a ring that boosted his max Spirit by 200 points, bringing him to 2000 total.
All things considered, that dungeon had been more than worth it. It had been painful and had taken almost a full day to complete, with it now being the morning of Day 11, if he was still tracking time correctly. He thought about pulling out his phone to check, but decided against it. He would know soon enough, with the next reward coming on Day 14, but for now, he needed to keep leveling, and he had just the target.
**Warning: you are approaching a Level 21 dungeon. It is not recommended to take on dungeons higher than your level without entering a party first.**
