As Chad navigated back to the lake with the others, he checked over his newly available skills. He left the stat points alone for the moment, still not entirely sure where he wanted to put them.

Well, I'm pretty sure they'll go into my arm, of course. But where specifically I dunno.

So far, he'd made it just fine putting his points wherever. And now that he had a few extra, he could certainly afford to put more into his arm and still keep more for an emergency leg fix. However, he though it might be prudent to wait until he was back home to experiment.

Besides, I'm in no rush. I'm pretty sure I can already take out some big ol' fish no problem.

With that settled for the moment, he dove into his skill options.

Conjure Gauntlets -- It's not always easy to find a blacksmith, much less one that makes touch-screen compatible gauntlets. Functional and fashionable!

When activated, conjures a pair of spiked metal gauntlets onto your hands. The gauntlets can be summoned and dismissed at will for the duration of the skill. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 3 hours.

Another conjure skill! Chad grinned despite himself. Dang. I wonder if there's one that makes a whole suit of armor, or if I have to do it piece by piece?

He couldn't be sure what the gauntlets would look like or how strong they'd be. Considering that they were being magically conjured, he assumed that they would be magical as well. But once again, he wasn't sure if he really needed them. His right arm had so much constitution dumped into it that he'd be shocked if the equipment itself. His left arm wasn't meant to see much serious combat, either. So it didn't quite feel right.

Setting the skill aside for the moment, Chad looked over the next option.

Death Grip -- Have you ever gone on one of those roller coasters that goes upside-down and it makes you think, "Gee, this safety bar feels pretty wobbly, I sure hope they checked it right and it doesn't go flying open for no reason." Well, worry no longer. Hold on tight, everybody!

Passively prevents items from becoming dislodged from your hands unless intentionally released. If grappling with an opponent or other living organism, your grip will remain intact unless the opponent's strength or dexterity exceeds your own strength.

Now that was an interesting skill. Not that Chad was clumsy or anything. He didn't have a problem with dropping things, not at all. But knowing that he wouldn't have to worry about it in the first place sounded nice. Especially since he didn't foresee many things being able to contend with his strength.

However, his final skill option really caught his eye.

Power-Up Punch -- Nothing makes you feel like a badass more than atomizing rock with your bare fists. Is standing around like a doofus beforehand practical? No, but since when has that ever stopped anyone?

When activated, allows a punch to be charged before striking. Charging increases the next strike's damage and impact by 5% per second (maximum 100%). Cooldown: none.

It was tempting. So tempting. But some small part of Chad's mind wondered if it was simply overkill. He could already punch through rock and cause earthquakes with his fists. Did he really need to make his punches even stronger?

...Actually, I kind of do. He scratched his chin thoughtfully. We don't know how strong that portal is, right? Then I don't know if I can afford to pass something like this up...

They knew the thing was strong, strong enough that not even the military could put so much as a dent in it. But until they knew how strong, he had to assume that overkill was their best option.

Unless we have someone who knows better.

Turning over his shoulder, Chad called back to his new friend. "Hey, Nick! Got a question for you!"

The blue-skinned alien didn't look surprised. He'd gotten used to answering questions from Major Geoffries over the course of the day. Evidently, he didn't see an issue with giving information to people who were doomed anyway.

"What is it?"

"Do you know how strong that portal is?"

The elf cocked his head to the side, the question catching him off guard. "Strong? What do you mean?"

"Like, how hard is it to break? Someone has to have tried busting one of them up, right?"

Nick stared at him, then began to laugh.

"Uh..." Chad frowned. "What's so funny?"

"Your joke!" Nick grinned widely. "Obviously!"

Chad and Squawkers exchanged glances as the parrot clarified. "Uh... He's being serious. We want to break the thing if we can."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

That just made Nick laugh harder, doubling over as he did. His words came out through gasps for air. "Oh! That makes the situation even more comedic!"

After calming himself down, Nick wiped a tear from his eye. "Ah, my apologies. Of course. I forgot that the portal is unfamiliar to your people, so you wouldn't know. It will not break."

Chad's frown deepened. "Really? Have people tried, then?"

Nick scoffed. "If it could be broken, then our strongest warriors would have done it. Since I've never heard of such a thing, it's obviously unbreakable."

"How are you sure?" Squawkers pressed. "Have you seen people try?"

"No," Nick admitted, "But like I said, I've never heard of such a thing either. If anyone had achieved such a feat, then their fame would be known throughout the worlds. So it's impossible."

That seemed like faulty logic to Chad."Have you considered that they're just too weak to break it?"

Nick shook his head at the idea, speaking patiently as though to a child. "The our people represent the strongest and highest level individuals in the universe. Their skills and strength have been honed over the course of many cycles. If they cannot do something, then it might as well be impossible."

Squawkers cocked his head. "Well, they don't seem that strong to me. Sure, there's a lot of people, but I don't see them beating Chad anytime soon."

"Thanks, Squawk!" Chad grinned at the praise.

Nick frowned. "You do not comprehend the bounds of our strength. The forces allowed through the portal thus far are a pale mockery of my people's true abilities. One day, you'll understand... if you live that long."

"Alright, buddy." Chad shrugged. "Keep being all doom and gloom. Doesn't mean I'm not gonna try anyway."

In his head, the issue was settled. The portal was strong enough that it may very well be unbreakable, even by crazy alien warriors. Which meant that Power-Up Punch might not just be the best pick, but actually necessary.

He knew what he wanted to choose, but had long since realized the value of a second opinion. A quick talk with Squawkers found the parrot shaking his head in disbelief. "Honestly. What kind of world are we in? How is this the best option?"

"You don't like it?" Chad asked.

"Of course not!" The bird fidgeted with annoyance. "Death Grip is clearly more interesting! An unbreakable grip? It has way more tactical applications!"

Chad frowned. "Why? I'm already strong enough to hold onto whatever I want."

"Yeah, but can you do it without destroying whatever you're trying to hold onto?" Squawkers pointed out. "The skill doesn't say you have to be using your full grip strength. You might be able to hold onto an egg without crushing it, even if someone's trying to force it out of your hand."

Chad thought about that. It was a good point, but...

"...But it's fine. Whatever." Squawkers sighed as if reading his thoughts. "Go on. Get your damn 'punch things harder' ability, for the good of humanity or whatever. Even if it's boring."

He chuckled. "It doesn't have to be boring! You never know, maybe this'll let me do something even cooler!"

"Like what? Make a bigger earthquake?" Squawkers asked dryly. "Wow, how exciting. I'd never considered that."

"You'll see. I'll make it cool."

As Chad thought about how exactly to follow through on that promise, they reached the lake's shore. The group looked out over the sparkling blue waters from near the treeline, none of them entirely willing to get near the lake itself. As idyllic as it seemed, there was no telling what kind of creatures lay beneath its surface.

Major Geoffries turned toward them. "Here we are. Squawkers, is the monster you spotted still here?"

"Let me check!"

The grey parrot shot into the sky, circling once in the air to scout around. A moment later, he dove back down to meet them. "Looks like it. It's pretty close to the center, but it's got a big shadow."

"Hm..." The Major crossed his arms. "Well. That's good news, at least. Now we need to get it over here"

"Do we lure it over?" Someone suggested. "Or try to flush it out?"

"It looks like it's pretty deep in there," Squawkers clarified. "So unless you brought torpedoes or something..."

"We need to get it onto or near land if we can," Geoffries said. "Even if we did have a boat, we wouldn't go out there on one. It's too dangerous."

Chad nodded in fervent agreement. At least someone else had nixed the idea.

"Well..." Squawkers cast a glance around the group. "Then I suppose it's time to plan."

***

Chad waited at the lake's edge as the sun dipped toward the horizon. Between leveling and scouting the area, they'd spent a much longer day than expected here. Luckily, they only had this final thing to do before going home.

He looked to the soldiers on either side. Rather than rifles, most of them bore the extra equipment they'd unloaded from their truck. Rocket launchers and machine guns lined the area, all pointed out toward the water. Behind them, a few men watched the treeline just in case of a surprise attack.

With a final nod, Chad looked to Squawkers. "Ready?"

"Ready!" The bird returned his nod.

Major Geoffries glanced at them both. "Remember your fallbacks. The last thing we want is this thing chasing us home."

With that, the parrot lifted off, grey wings flapping as he perched on a tall tree nearby. Chad reached down and picked up their bait -- the carcass of a particularly large and aggressive deer that they'd killed. They couldn't be sure that the thing in the water would bite. But at the very least it would make a nice splash.

With a quick flick of his wrist, Chad sent the animal sailing into the center of the lake. It arced high into the air before landing with an audile plop.

The surface of the lake shifted. The water rose up from below, on and on until it seemed to tower above the trees around them. Soon, a shape broke through the sheets of water to reveal what lay beneath.

Initially, Chad thought it was an island. Some kind of sunken landmass that had suddenly floated to the surface. But no. Instead, he realized the craggy structure before them was a massive shell, covered with plants and algae and strange spiny protrusions coming out from every side.

A round, wrinkly head emerged from the depths below, the deer carcass grasped in its powerful jaws. It turned toward their group, fixing them with a beady black eye, then bit down with an audible crunch.

Tortimer (Lvl 19)