Jin-woo woke up sore. Unusually sore.

Everything was either stiff as a board, or hurt to move. His whole back, legs, arms, chest, neck, and other areas he didn’t even know that could get sore. There were parts of his shoulder that felt like it would simply fall off if he pulled hard enough.

But that wasn’t the only new discovery he made.

He started stretching, testing his body. All his injuries had been healed miraculously. He assumed it was one of two things that resulted in the sudden health and lack of bleeding cuts. The first was as simple as his body’s regenerative properties kicking up to overdrive when he had fallen completely to sleep and entered deep REM stages providing him with a consistent way to keep himself going in the slog of this dungeon. The second was a combination of his natural healing processes, the ones he noted previously, and the effects of the safe room. Their combo allowing him the ability to heal much faster than he could imagine.

Activating both analysis skills did not shed any light around what the answer could have been. But he wasn’t about to complain. He could feel energy course through him, the mental and physical fatigue and lethargy were gone. It was like he had not fought what felt like an endless number of Giant Rats

“Woah…” Jin-woo exclaimed, finally getting a good look at the inside of the room using his analysis skills. A massive barrier of energy surrounded the room, touching all the edges and leaking out of the doorway slightly. Complex patterns of code seemed to flash randomly throughout the entire thing. Just the ones he saw made the system start spamming errors and ‘unrecognizable code’ warning messages.

His Earth Power Stone seemed to hum in his pocket in response to all the system messages and the flashing code. It was warm to the touch, but not in a bothersome way. Comfortable.

I won’t get a better chance to ‘integrate’ the power stone than now. That and leveling. He had been worried that applying the stat points or attempting to modify and integrate the power stone would result in him forcefully being comatose for long durations of time. The danger of being eaten alive in his sleep were too real for him to even suggest doing it in such a dangerous place.

But here was different. As long as he didn’t have a time limit in the room, he could accomplish both tasks and take his time studying the options. The only thing that really limited him was the growing need for food and water. He didn’t take with him any of the military-grade biscuits, not expecting it to take this long searching through tunnels for a way out. If only he had known.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Jin-woo pulled out the power stone, studying how unremarkable it looked. Just another stone, but what was inside was so much more. He allowed himself to peak past the curtains that covered the system codes that made up the majority of its function and power. He reeled back in shock at the sheer complexity and size. Its structure beyond what he could handle at the moment in its whole. Mathematical impossibilities seemed to be as common as dirt here.

His work with Demina had been the only path he had in order to accomplish something beyond the most basic comforts such as making his system status and notification more palatable. Actual change that could help him grow stronger than the original purpose of what he received. Without her help, much of what he had seen and dealt with during the corruption crisis was quite frankly beyond anything he could work with.

Even with an enhanced mind and body like his. Languages that simply exceeded anything a human mind could attempt to wrap their head around.

His attempts at understanding triggered a cascade of notifications. He scrolled for nearly an hour reading and trying to understand what was being told to him by the system. Eventually, Demina stepped in and translated the text into something far more palatable and easier to digest. Her work was invaluable to him. If only there was a way to let her know that he appreciated her.

[MODIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:]

[MANA COST: 300]

[MODIFICATION COST: Rare Earth Crystal (Basic) x2]

[STABILIZATION COST: Rare Earth Crystal (Basic) x1]

[INTEGRATION TIME: 2 hours]

[WARNING: Modification without stabilization resources may result in catastrophic failure]

"Of course. Can nothing in this reality be as simple as a standard software update?"

Jin-woo had to curse as he continued to study the Earth Power Stone with growing fascination. The limit of his mental strength was reading, with the help of Demina’s translations, the smallest parts individually creating an overall picture for himself. It was slow and grueling work that would take him ages at this rate, but without any recourse due to the limits of his mana, he was stuck with this.

He could already feel his mana pool teetering dangerously low after long hours of research and dedication. He recognized his need for further rest before he set out further in search for ‘Rare Earth Crystals’ of the basic variety

Demina continued her assessment of his chances:

[POWER STONE ANALYSIS:]

[INTEGRATION COMPLEXITY: Extreme]

[CURRENT RESOURCES: Insufficient]

[RISK ASSESSMENT: Fatal]

"Two hours for integration," he turned the stone around in his palm. "Plus resources I don't have, for modifications I barely understand." The stone pulsed softly, as if responding to his touch. He continued to frown at the implications and his need to go through with it in order not to die to anything above the F rank. He couldn’t even imagine what a D or even E rank would look like if he struggled this much with some rats.

He pocketed the Earth Stone, it would be some time before he could put some work towards it.