Chương 6: Chapter Six: Stretch Armstrong

I continue to trail in the wake of the Train with no sign of the valley mentioned in my quests.

[Status of Sebastian Bet] Pillar Difficulty: Death is Certain Floor 1: The Last Tribe Time Used: 02: 14: 02: 52 Time Left: 2187: 09: 57: 08 Level: 3 Body (BDY): 3 Mind (MND): 6 Agility (AGI): 4 Power (PWR): 3 [Unallocated Points: 0] Class: Undecided Form Association: Undecided Skills: Emit [Lvl 4] Polarize [Lvl 1] Cogitation [Lvl 4] Condition: Mana Mutation [Permanent] Multiple hours have passed but the time spent walking has taught me a few things.

Having stat points in BDY does not change the fact that I am out of shape. I am not magically immune to dehydration or starvation either. Now for the useful stuff. The itch on my skin lessens the higher my level goes up in <Emit>. My skills don't level up just by using them. For example, <Polarize> hasn't leveled once despite my constant use of it to dim the harsh sunlight. My body heals much faster than normal. I glance down at my right hand and flex my fingers.

It is still extremely swollen, and my fingers won't clench all of the way, but my wrist no longer needs the chain to hold it in place. Secondarily, my shoulder only cracks occasionally, and there is a purplish-brown bruise covering the area which isn't too bad. Within only a couple of hours, my injuries have healed significantly. What used to take weeks to heal is now something that probably only takes a matter of days.

Even the scratches from earlier have scabbed over already and the blisters from the cave are nothing but faded smudges. My shackle chain swings next to me in a lazy arc as I twirl it around to pass time. Small wisps of smoke curl off of the metal as I use <Emit> at full force through my hand. A couple of the links clasped in my hand glow with a faint red light due to the extended exposure to my skill.

Hot metal bites into my hand, but I think the material is somewhat non-conductive given the lack of heat spreading to the rest of the chain. I have been using this time in the woods to experiment with my skills. <Cogitation> hasn't leveled up again, but I surmise it might be because the skill is best trained during times of stress like before. I wasn't particularly stressed when I first gained the skill, but every time it leveled afterward, I was forcing myself to focus. <Polarize> hasn't leveled one time.

This makes sense of course. It already is at peak sunglasses efficiency. <Emit> is where I have made the most progress. After I had started focusing on the skill, I attempted to see what exactly the difference was when I imagined myself turning it up and down slowly. Just like a sliding light switch, the lower it went, the more itching I felt, the higher I turned it, the more the itching subsided. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

It took a while, but through the itchy sensations, I felt a change in temperature as well. Earlier, I had assumed that the cave was nice and warm. After that, I thought the sunlight was warmer than normal as well. Turning down <Emit> once again, my body shudders due to the itchiness, and some of the familiar warmth of the skill dissipates. The skill emits some sort of heat. Or to be more exact, I believe it to be some kind of thermal radiation.

I have been imagining the heat of this radiation going through my hand as a test. So far, I have been fairly successful as I can feel the heat concentrated in my hand and flowing into the chain, hence why it is smoking. I couldn't say why but changing the spot at which the heat leaves my body is easy enough. Imagination alone is all it takes for me to change the location, yet no matter how much I try, attempting to move the energy itself is impossible.

I don't know where the radiation comes from, but my body seems to exude the energy through the skill too. At first, I had thought the skill itself somehow created it, but when I tried to use the skill while mentally holding back anything from my body, nothing happened. I'm unsure how to describe the sensation, but I could feel the skill activate and nothing emerge like I was shooting a blank out of a gun. Have I become radioactive somehow?

Last time I checked I was not in a state of decay that could produce such a thing. Did the endless treatments somehow leave my cells damaged permanently? Has my body become some sort of fur- Meow Pawl's voice pulls me out of my stupor, and I finally hear the snap of branches off to my right. I had begun to think the monsters stayed away from the Train's pathways, but I guess I had just been lucky enough not to see one until now.

While quickly hefting the goblin leg, my mind concentrates on the area where I hear the noise. Time seems to move slower as I crouch slightly and wait for the sounds to get closer. It doesn't take long before it finally breaks through the tree line. < Goblin - Level 2 > Unlike my last scuffle with a goblin, I waste no time before rushing it. As I use <Cogitation>, I can see the goblin hasn't spotted me yet.

Unlike its friend, the monster is uninjured, but alongside its staple loincloth, the beast holds a knife in its left hand. I am one level higher, so realistically I should have the advantage, but I don't trust this metric given my anorexic state compared to its visible musculature. I am still around ten feet away when the goblin spots me. Quickly, I wind back the leg like a baseball bat just as the goblin begins to ready its knife.

As I raise my makeshift club in the air, the goblin finally notices what I am holding and its eyes go wide and the hand holding the knife falters for just a moment. Exposing the moment of hesitation, I finally reach the goblin and swing the leg with all of my might at the hand holding the knife. My timing is perfect, but the goblin is still able to pull up a partial guard for my attack and the leg smashes against its forearm with a loud crunching sound.

My efforts were not in vain though as the impact causes the goblin to grunt in pain and drop the knife. Unfortunately, the leg crumples under the force as well and falls limp in my hand. Not wanting to waste my chance, I quickly drop the leg and drive my shoulder directly into the goblin's sternum. Expecting to knock both of us to the ground, I attempt to shift my hip so that the fall won't cause me to fly off of the creature. In my haste, I fail to notice that the goblin did not decide to follow the script.

Due to how close we are, my shoulder charge didn't result in enough momentum to seize the goblin's balance. Instead, I hear a dull growl sound out from the beast before a heavy fist clips me in the hip and I am thrown to the side. My body tumbles forward and I use the movement to pitch myself onto the ground away from the goblin. Using every bit of coordination I can summon, I turn my roll into one that lands me on my feet before wheeling back around on the goblin.

I barely have a second to react before the goblin runs at me, not even bothering to pick its knife back up. Knowing exactly how fast the last goblin was, I make a break for the woods, dodging out of the range of its massive hands and getting to a more even playing field. I hear the goblin right on my heels as I sprint into the woods and slide through a narrow opening in between two trees.

Clearing the gap, I feel a sharp scratch on my upper back from the goblins' outstretched hand and hear a loud crack as it slams directly into one of the trunks. Whirling around, I glance at the chain in my hand before rearing back to whip the goblin. My blow connects and goblin wails while struggling to get through the thick trees. I was lucky enough to hit its face with the end of the chain, and I watch as blood flows freely from its temple down into one of its eyes.

Suddenly, an idea sprouts in my head and as the goblin finally gets around the obstacle that was stumping it, I run straight back out of the woods and into the open path. Once again, the goblin is not smart enough to find a new way through the trees, and it struggles to get back out of the opening that I had originally used as an escape. Dashing back toward the goblin, I twist the chain around both of my hands and get close to the monster.

It wildly swipes at the air due to how close I am, but I use its primitive reaction against it and wind one of its flailing fists in the chain and dart around the large trunk to pin the hand against the wood. The creature cries out in pain upon contact with the heated links and I twist the hand as hard as possible while using the trunk as a brace for me to pull with all my strength.

Due to the goblin's position in between the two trees, it cannot back out of the narrow opening without pulling its hand back, but I continue to hold it in a position where the goblin cannot put any real power into fighting me for it. While the monster squeals, I rail against the trunk and grunt with exertion while I twist, twist, twist. I hear a satisfying pop and crunch, and I feel the chain tighten even further. The goblin's squeals turn into full screams, but I still don't stop twisting.

The tough skin of the goblin sizzles from the heat of the chain but I still don't stop twisting. I listen to the tremors in the wood as the goblin beats against the tree like a trapped animal, but I still don't stop twisting. I can feel the tendons rip as the goblins arm bends to my will, stretching farther and farther, giving me more and more slack to work with. < Cogitation Lvl. 4 -> Cogitation Lvl. 5 > Time becomes a blur as I continue to pull and twist.

My own hands are covered in blood and purple by now, but I do not stop. I don't stop as I hear the beating on the other side of the tree falter. I don't stop when the screams of the beast fall silent. I don't even stop when I feel the arm go slack in my hands. Instead, I feel a giggle bubble out of my mouth. I don't know why, but I can't stop thinking about that old toy I used to see on TV. What was the name of it? < You have defeated: Goblin - Level 2 > < Congratulations! You have reached: Level 4 >