Chương 11: The sad reality

My body transforms once again as stats grow and increase. I close my eyes and enjoy the euphoric sensation of growing stronger. The effects are weaker and spread out, so I know my stats increased more evenly this time. After it ends, I smile.

"Watcha got for me, system?" [You have slain Hobgoblin lv. 5 x3] [Partial experience granted x6] [Tamer(lv. 4) > (lv. 5)] [Class skill selection available] [Human(lv. 4) > (lv. 5)] [Control Tamed Being(lv. 6) > (lv. 7)] [You have earned a reward for clearing a room] [Accept(1) / Bank / Consolidate] My eyes light up at the new message. YES! YES! Without hesitation, I tap on the message that mentions a skill selection. Five different skills appear before my eyes.

[Sense Tame's Vitality] [Through the tamer's bond, sense the amount of vitality in your tamed being. Distance and intricacy scale with skill level, bond level, and perception.] Eh, not really what I'm looking for. Not nearly enough impact for what I need. [Heal Tame] [Through the tamer's bond, transform the tamer's mana into health to be received by a tamed being. Distance and speed scale with wisdom. Efficiency scales with intelligence. Efficiency, distance, and speed scale with skill level and bond level.] [Conditional: Awakened mana]"FUCK!"

"Why even show me a skill I don't meet the requirements for!?" I chew on my cheek in annoyance as I stare at the screen. Damn, can I keep the skill selection in my back pocket and awaken my mana later? How would I even go about awakening my mana? My perception is probably high enough for it. My wisdom and intelligence are also alright, so it can't be too hard. Worry permeates my heart. This might be my only chance to get back into the mage scene. Regardless, I go back to the skill selection.

[Powerful Voice] [Bolster the loudness and distance of your voice. Distance and intensity scale with skill level, endurance, and strength.] Pointless. [Connection: Whip] [Through a different use of tamer's bond, form a connection with any whip that you wield, beginning the process of weapon enlightenment. The depth of the bond scales with skill level and perception.] This would be perfect if it were for my beautiful gauntlets. Not only do I not have a whip, but it's simply not my kind of weapon.

I've never used a whip before, but I have seen one used, and I simply don't think I would like it. Nor do I know when, if ever, I will get access to one. With my hands clasped, I hope for something more useful as my last option. [Mutation: Identify > Identify Living Being] [Transforms the general skill Identify into the class skill Identify Living Being. Allows the Tamer greater insight into all living beings around them. Distance scales with perception. Information provided scales with skill level.] That's…

actually not that bad. Knowing about the enemy won't ever be useless. My brow furrows as I look at the other skills again. Unlike my species' tailoring skills to my lifestyle, the skills for my class are clearly all made for a standard tamer. Sadly, there is nothing standard about me. And the only damn powerful skill is locked. There's nothing stating that I need to choose now, so I move. On the way back to my homeroom, I wash the blood off my gauntlets in the stone bowl again.

Once I get back, I quickly devour the half-salad and coke from last time. Only two chicken salads and drinks are left. The timer on my food and water supply is diminishing. After I finish, I sit in the center of the room cross-legged. My hands rest on my knees, and I take deep breaths, attempting to relax. My mind's eye turns inward to find the elusive mana stat. Several minutes pass. Clarity comes to me as I realize the influence of my increased perception. I feel my muscles more intricately within myself.

It's easier to notice the discrepancies in my breath and occasional twitching. My heartbeat feels pronounced now that I focus on it. Along with it, there's a pumping and flowing feeling that moves around my body. For a moment, I follow the feeling as it swirls and moves in one constant flow through my body, powered by my heartbeat. My expression darkens once I realize it's not mana. It's just the blood in my veins. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Which, in hindsight, is also incredibly interesting. After a few more minutes, an idea appears in my mind. Status. [Vitality: 14] [Strength: 12 > 13] [Agility: 14 > 15] [Endurance: 12 > 13] [Fortitude: 10 > 11] [Intelligence: 12] [Wisdom: 14 > 15] [Perception: 18 > 19] [Unassigned: 1 > 2] This time, I got one point each in strength, agility, endurance, and fortitude. That's not important right now. I toss both of my free points into perception and close my eyes again, returning to meditation.

Minutes turn into hours as I search and search, but can't catch a single grasp of mana. System, time. [8. 56 cycles until next phase]"Dammit!" My head hangs in frustration. I often thought that fights would take up the majority of a warrior's life. But the reality is that battles on this small of a scale don't take much time at all. The longest battle here hasn't even lasted five minutes. Most were less than three.

What really puts this into perspective is that this one session of meditation lasted longer than all of my fights here combined. I pick up my gauntlets and move down the rooms. Each is filled with corpses of my past victories and proof that I have what it takes to survive. My eyes shift to the most recent shieldman when I get to the furthest room. It lies on its back with its hand on its chest wound, eyes empty and unseeing. A deep breath, and I walk to the unopened cell door.

What I expect is five hobgoblins, or perhaps three with some normal ones mixed in. Instead, there's only one figure in the room. Seven feet tall. Green-skinned. Patchwork trousers instead of a loincloth. Large, jutting tusks in a massive under bite. Contrary to the spindly limbs of the goblins or the dense, thin limbs of the hobgoblins, this creature boasts size above all else. Arms like a power lifter and legs like tree trunks.

Instead of abs like the hobgoblins, this being is barrel-chested with a thick stomach, not of fat, but of muscle. Orc. I've read, watched, and listened to many stories containing orcs before, but standing before the real thing is intimidating. Not just that, but terrifying. It holds a massive wooden club shaped deliberately like a baseball bat, filled with giant, pointy metal rods. The entire thing is about five feet long. A coldness penetrates down my spine. This won't be easy.

It's facing directly towards the cell door, so assassination also isn't an option. My eyes can't pull away. God, its shoulders are massive. It's only about a head taller than me, but it has to weigh at least double. Maybe even triple. Probably should have put those extra points into strength instead of perception. It's not the only notable thing in the room. Instead of another cell door behind the orc, there's a large wooden door. It must be almost nine feet tall.

It includes two giant, circular, hanging rings to pull it open. So, is this the boss room, or is it the guardian of the boss room? Speaking of, the room appears to have taken a jump in size, going from a foot increase in every wall's length to over five. The ceiling is also a few feet taller. My gaze takes me back to the giant creature in front of me. How can I even kill such a creature? Thankfully, my gauntlets have spikes on them. The thing's fat and muscle would likely absorb blunt strikes.

A sword would still be better. Opening my skill selection menu, heal tame stares me in the face. Awakening my mana is the best move, but I achieved nothing even though I meditated for several hours. Plus, I'm not sure if the system would appreciate me hanging on to a skill selection for so long. Though the system seems both detached and imbued in everything so far, it hasn't given me any quests threatening my death or anything. Still, I need to choose a skill. Progress must continue.

With a tear in my eye, I say goodbye to heal tame and press my finger on my newest skill. [Class Skill Gained: Identify Living Being lv. 0] Good. Not what I wanted, but good. Meditation isn't sleep, and I've had a couple of fights since I last slept. Mostly, I want to be fully rested for the next fight. The hobgoblins were far smarter than their small cousins, but they didn't know how to use their weapons properly, making them easy targets. The orc, however, doesn't need to know a thing.

It probably just needs to swing once, and it'll disable, heavily injure, or outright kill me. The more I think and walk, the more worried I become. Its reach is better than mine, even discounting the massive weapon it has. If I had a spear, I could at least try to stay out of its reach, but I don't even have that. My face scrunches as I realize what I have to do. My best chance is to move out of its effective range. I have to move past the range where it can hit me with the spiked end of the club.

In other, other words, I have to get as close as possible to an enemy that towers over me in weight and in size. With a grip strength that could most likely crush my head like a grape. I get back to my room and take off my gauntlets, then use my jacket as a pillow. As nervous and awake as I am, I don't even bother trying to fall asleep naturally. I sigh.

"Kevin, fall asleep." My eyelids pull themselves closed, and I don't resist. The sleep is dreamless. My eyes shoot open. System, time, stamina, and health. [8. 48 cycles until next phase] [Health: 195(178)] [Stamina: 205] The time just to confirm that I indeed slept. It felt like a few seconds, and I didn't wake up groggy at all. Nervousness fills me. Loosely, I notice that my stamina doesn't have parentheses next to it. Then again, I've never seen it at max other than when I started.

I stand up and stretch, working out the pains of sleeping on lumpy stone. My gauntlets slip on my hands as I walk to the next battle. Anticipation rises. There's no time like the present. Before long, I arrive at the dreaded cell door. Identify Living Being [Orc lv. 10] Finally, it works past a few feet. To my surprise, a new message appears below it. [Identify Living Being(lv. 0) > (lv. 1)] The skill doesn't give me anything I don't expect, and I know it will give me more as I level up, so the lack of information doesn't annoy me too much. Looking at the creature, I think it might barely fit through the cell doorway, making abusing the thing through one not a smart option. Taking a deep breath, I toss open the latch.

"Kevin, focus on avoiding the orc at all costs. Punch it as hard as you can. Don't feel pain during the fight." The door swings open and the orc's eyes focus on me like a robot being powered up for the first time. I tap my gauntlets together, nerves at an all-time high as I step into the room.