After heading out to the front porch with Squawkers, on account of it being "better than this damn deathtrap of a house," Chad finally had time to take a look at his level rewards. It was something he'd been meaning to tackle for a while, but hadn't quite gotten the chance to. He still had two skills to select, as well as a trait upgrade and skill upgrade.

As he pulled up his skill selections, he was met with a wall of text.

You have (2) skill(s) available to select.

Please select from the following skill options (selection 1/2):

Below were listed three skill options, just like he'd seen before.

Dampen Pain - Once again, the old adage "no pain, no gain" is proven true, unfortunately for you. Whatever you did to earn this, it couldn't have been pleasant.

Provides a passive increase to pain tolerance. When activated, reduces your perception of pain by 90% for 1 minute. Cooldown: 1 hour.

It was pretty obvious why he'd been offered this one. If the Ghoulture fight itself hadn't been enough, then gritting his teeth through every bump and pothole they'd hit on the journey home must've played a factor. Still, Chad wasn't entirely sold on the skill. After all, he'd survived the experiences, hadn't he? It wasn't comfortable, sure, but he'd done it. And Gram Gram probably had some ibuprofen or other painkillers to make things easier next time.

Setting it aside for now, Chad looked at the next option.

Flyswatter - Ever get tired of those pesky little buggers buzzing around your head? They're pretty hard to hit, aren't they? Well, it's time to finally teach them a lesson.

Provides a passive 50% increase to hand size when attempting a slap. When activated, increases the damage, surface area, and speed of your next slap by 100%. Cooldown: 1 minute.

Wait. Does that mean my hand'll get bigger when I try to slap something? The thought made Chad chuckle. Wow. Guess we're going full cartoon with this one.

The skill probably would have come in handy against those Lobhobbers. A bigger hand might have meant more of the things getting swatted out of the air before they could land on his exposed skin. Though he wondered if the effects still applied when slapping himself.

Curveball - Watch out, baseball. There's a new pitcher in town, and he's not playing fair. At all.

When activated, your thrown projectile's flight path to be manipulated. Cooldown: 1 minute.

Now THAT'S cool. His eyes sparkled. Chad imagined throwing a cinderblock at something, only for it to turn ninety degrees in midair. I could throw literal homing missiles with that one! I wouldn't even have to aim!

Chad agonized over the choices. He wasn't entirely sure if he'd get to choose multiple or if he'd get another set of three after making his selection here. He hoped for the former.

Even if Flyswatter might look dumb as hell, it might be pretty damn effective. Though... He read over the descriptions again. I mean, I can't pass up Curveball. It's just too good. Especially with how far I can throw things? It's like being able to snipe things with a damn grenade launcher!

As Chad imagined throwing a literal grenade miles away with pinpoint accuracy, he confirmed Curveball as his selection.

Please select from the following skill options (2/2):

To his disappointment, the previous options disappeared as Chad was presented with a new group of three skills. At least he'd gotten his favorite of the lot. But it was good to know that when something was gone, it was gone for good.

Underwater breathing - If you don't want to sleep with the fishes, you'd better learn to swim with them!

Provides a passive 20% increase to CON when submerged in a body of water. When activated, enables you to breathe underwater for 5 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour

Chad stared at the option in confusion. "Why did I get Underwater Breathing? Is this some kinda joke?"

He didn't like water. At all. Not the ocean, not lakes, not even pools. Hot tubs were ok just because he could always touch the bottom. It wasn't just because he sucked at swimming, either. He had far too many bad memories associated with large bodies of water.

Could the skill help protect him in the unfortunate event he was forced underwater? Probably. But in his mind, the better defense was simply to stay away from the stuff. Something that was entirely manageable, as inland as they were. North Texas did have its share of lakes, but he'd kept away from them most of his life and saw no reason to stop now.

Extended Magazine - Rat-a-tat-tat, Rambo is back! Let's hope you've got the physique to really sell this reboot.

Provides a passive 30% decrease to firearm ammo expenditure when shooting. When activated, decreases ammo expenditure by 100% for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes.

For once, Chad recognized the skill. It was the same one that some of Rick's men had received themselves. It had been a godsend for them, given their limited ammo stores. But despite its obvious usefulness, Chad wasn't sure if he needed it.

It wouldn't have really helped against the Ghoultures, he mused. Those things soaked up way too many bullets for even this to make a difference. Plus, I haven't really been using guns thanks to the ol' tournament winner here.

With a bit less excitement than before, he looked over the last option. Hopefully this one would be more up his alley.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Duelist - You know those fight scenes in movies, where there's a literal army of orcs or warriors streaming around a suspiciously undisturbed duel between main characters? This is kind of like that. Though you might still get brained by a stray club or something.

Provides a passive 10% increase to all stats when facing an opponent in single combat. When activated, challenges an enemy to a duel, inflicting them with a taunt for 1 minute. Cooldown: 1 hour.

The description was right up Chad's alley. And the effect? Well, if he encountered another big bad like that Ghoulture, then this would be perfect.

And one-on-one is kind of my style, anyway.

Satisfied, Chad looked over his skills. He now had three of the things: Adrenaline Surge, Curveball, and Duelist. Duelist and Adrenaline Surge felt like great options for taking down big single targets, while Curveball should help with his ranged game.

Annie should be proud of me, branching out like this. He chuckled. Ok. That's done. Now it's time to figure out what those upgrades are.

Without further ado, he focused on the line of text in his status screen.

Skill Upgrade: Please select a skill.

Ok. Seems pretty straightforward. With a thought, Chad selected his favorite skill -- Adrenaline Surge.

Please select a second skill or proficiency.

He blinked. That's weird. Why is it asking for another one? Deciding to play along, Chad picked Curveball.

The following skill(s) will be lost:

Adrenaline Surge

Curveball

The following skill will be gained:

Guided Missile*

WARNING: This action cannot be undone. Skills used for Skill Upgrades are lost forever.

Please confirm your selection.

"Huh."

"Aaaaaah! I'm back." Squawkers finished a loop through the skies, fluttering onto Chad's shoulder. "Get anything good?"

"Yeah. But this Skill Upgrade thing is kinda weird." Chad canceled out of the menu, recapping the results to the parrot as he tried again with two different skills.

The following skill(s) will be lost:

Curveball

Duelist

The following skill will be gained:

Marked Target*

WARNING: This action cannot be undone. Skills used for Skill Upgrades are lost forever.

Please confirm your selection.

The parrot hummed. "That sounds more like a fusion than an upgrade."

"I know, right?"

"You can pick a proficiency too, right? What happens if you do that?"

Shrugging, he selected Duelist and his Fistfighting proficiency.

The following skill(s) will be lost:

Duelist

The following skill will be gained:

Cage Fighter*

WARNING: This action cannot be undone. Skills used for Skill Upgrades are lost forever.

Please confirm your selection.

I kind of like the sound of that one, Chad grinned. "It works!"

"Does it say you lose the proficiency?"

"Nope, don't think so... He reread the prompt. "I'll just lose the one skill. This one definitely sounds cool, though."

"Well, lets try some others first."

At the bird's insistence, they tried a bunch of other combinations. There were a lot. Many of them sounded strange -- Curveball and his Persuasion proficiency, for example, yielded the hilariously named Sales Pitch skill -- while others didn't sound quite in line with Chad's fighting style. It was hard to tell based on the names alone. But after a lot of trial and error, he settled on one that he liked. It was a combination of Adrenaline Surge and his Fistfighting proficiency.

The following skills will be lost:

Adrenaline Surge

The following skill(s) will be gained:

Ultra Instinct*

WARNING: This action cannot be undone. Skills used for Skill Upgrades are lost forever.

Please confirm your selection.

The skill name just spoke to him, more so than anything else he'd seen. "I want to pick that one."

"Are you sure?" Squawkers seemed skeptical. "You like Adrenaline Surge a lot, right?"

"Right. But it's called an upgrade. It wouldn't make things worse, would it?" Chad reasoned. "And I don't want to lose two skills to get one back. I don't have a lot of 'em, you know."

"I dunno…" The bird shook his head. "I guess we'll have to test it with something, though. Go ahead."

Chad nodded and confirmed the selection. A description of the new skill appeared in his vision.

Ultra Instinct* - Because who doesn't need a bit more anime in their life?

When activated, stuns a target opponent for 0.5 seconds and increases strength and dexterity by 50% for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 1 hour.

"Oh hell yeah."

"What?" Squawkers bobbed impatiently. "What did you get? What does it do?"

"It's gonna make be an even better melee fighter. I mean, dexterity and strength? Plus a stun? Damn."

The parrot whistled appreciatively. "That is pretty nice. Dunno if you really need it, but..."

"I always need more firepower, buddy. Speaking of..." Chad rubbed his hands together. "Time for the best part."

He'd intentionally saved the best for last -- the trait upgrade.

Trait Upgrade: Select a trait to upgrade.

Specialized Training (I)

Arm-ed Combat (I)

Late Bloomer (I)

It was the easiest decision he'd made all day. There wasn't even a question about what Chad would choose. As much as Arm-ed Combat had helped him out, he couldn't resist seeing what a more upgraded Specialized Training could do for him.

Specialized Training (II) - Allows allocation of stat points to specific areas of the body. Physical stats only. Stat point effectiveness is prorated based on specificity.

Rank I - 6 total selectable areas.

Rank II - 22 total selectable areas.

Hell yeah.

He quickly navigated to the stat point allocation screen. After confirming that he did indeed want to use Specialized Training, the familiar featureless human outline appeared before him. Rather than being divided into six sections as before though, additional white lines now traced through its interior to form twenty-two distinct sections. Areas like the head, neck, shoulders, and abs were now separated from each other and individually selectable.

Chad focused on the new sections of the arm. He could now choose between four sections on each: the hand, forearm, upper arm, and shoulder.

Awesome. His grin widened. So, if I pick one...

Stat +1 STR will be applied to the following:

Right Forearm

Please confirm your selection.

With a final confirmation, Chad felt the familiar rush of energy course through his muscles. His forearm swelled -- then continued swelling.

...Ow. Ow, ow, OW...

As the muscles bulged, Chad felt an uncomfortable pulling sensation through his hand and upper arm. After what felt like five minutes, the growth stopped. Hissing with discomfort, he checked over the limb.

"Woah," Squawkers commented. "That looks... uh..."

His arm was... gross. It didn't look at all how an arm was supposed to. Not with these proportions. The forearm had ballooned in size until it was even thicker than his upper arm.

"Yeah..." Chad stretched slightly, finding that his muscles a bit stiffer than they had been moments before. "Can I fix that?"

"What if you put some constitution in it?"

"Do I have to?"

The parrot crossed his wings. "We had a deal, didn't we? Or do you want Annie to keep hounding you about this?"

"No..." Chad mumbled and obliged. The muscles shrank, not back to their original size, but to a more manageable one.

"See, that wasn't that bad, was it?" The parrot crooned. "Now you just need a few more of those and you'll be fine!"

"Hmm..." Chad thought for a second. "What if... I don't need to put constitution in the whole arm?"

A quick glance back at his stat screen revealed he still had nineteen stat points to play with. If he was smart about where he put them...

We've got some time before dinner. Let's see what I can do here.