Alex was lying on the floor, completely exhausted from the exertion. His wounds started closing up, and he was completely healed in a few seconds like he had never been injured. His body recovered completely, but he was mentally exhausted, so he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep after a few minutes.

After waking up, Alex checked his legs and found them back to normal, like the injury never happened: no scarring, no weakness, no lingering pain. His tattered armour and weapons also looked brand new, which was ridiculous. It was like he had never left this room, he looked around, and everything looked mundane, but he noticed that there was no sign of him bleeding which indicated that there was some kind of magic that kept everything pristine which, included him and his armour.

Alex's attention was grabbed by the notifications that he had ignored up until now.

[ Passive skill unlocked – Physical Damage Resistance Rank 1 ]

[ Passive skill unlocked – Mental Stability Rank 1 ]

[ Passive skill unlocked – Untethered Mind Rank 1 ]

Alex immediately looked at his screen and looked at these skills; this was a great development. If he could learn skills on his own, he could better prepare for the fights like the one he just barely survived.

[ Physical Damage Resistance – Your body utilizes endurance stats more effectively, which decreases any physical damage taken by 10% ]

[ Mental Stability - You can think clearly under stressful situations, and your mind is resistant to mental attacks ]

[Untethered Mind – Alters the link between your mind and body, your body is less hindered by physical damage ]

The explanations of the skills were short, but he got the gist of it. He kept staring at Physical Damage Resistance; if he could get a few more ranks in it, that fight with the Leshy would have gone differently.

He lifted his sword and stared at his leg; he had to try it. If he could increase the resistance by self-harm, it would give him the edge he needed. He stared for a while but couldn't do it; getting over the mental block was too hard.

He started preparing himself for the fight waiting outside, and he wasted a lot of his remaining time in this room. Only 56 hours left, and it was even a whole day since the Floor 1 started; he needed to spend as little time here as possible.

When he was ready, he ran through the portal to the other side; shied in front. He kept going, only slowing down to go around the trees. He didn't give that monster any time to send its vines through the ground, assuming it was still there. He stopped after a few minutes, back to a huge tree; he looked around to find nothing.

He relaxed a bit and leaned against the tree to catch his breath; if the Leshy had moved on, he had to be careful of his footing. It definitely left those traps around. Alex picked a direction and started moving slowly, shield dragging in front to trigger any traps. He was feeling a bit hungry, he hadn't eaten the night he was teleported here, and it had been quite a few hours since then.

He needed water and something edible; he had never gone hunting and wasn't sure he could kill and prepare meat from an animal to eat, so he was looking for any fruits. This was a dense jungle; there were bound to be some wild fruits somewhere.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

He kept going leaving some markings towards the portal. After a few minutes, he triggered a trap with his shield. He immediately got alert, he was a few hundred meters from the portal, and if that Leshy attacked again, he wouldn't have the option to retreat into the portal again.

He stopped and looked all around; there was no sign of the Leshy, so he slowly started moving again, still very cautious. He was making quite a bit of noise, and was sure he was easy to spot. He kept going, but the rustling noise stopped him in his tracks; the Leshy was here.

The rage came back, and the memories were still vivid in his mind; he didn't want to feel helpless again, so he rushed towards it. Alex kept the shield low; this creature primarily attacked from the ground, so he dragged his shield and built-up momentum. The first hit on the shield almost stopped him, but it was a huge improvement from the last time. Alex gritted his teed and pushed forward, and went around the vine. He kept moving his shield forward, putting his whole-body weight behind it.

He slammed his shield into the Leshy whit enough force to feel it all the way to his shoulder. The creature bent back several broken vines but didn't move from its spot. Alex was a bit dazed, but he thrust his sword forward and went straight through Leahy's midsection.

He didn't get to enjoy his success as the Leshy swung its arm, and Alex was sent flying back; he landed on his back and groaned. His ribs were definitely bruised, if not broken already; he got back up in time to see vines almost upon him. He dove to the side, wincing at the pain the movement caused; once he had his bearing, he saw Leshy still at the same spot, his sword still embedded in it.

He was having doubts if this thing could be killed with a sword, but it wasn't time for deep thoughts. He had to manage with what he had. He didn't have time for careful footing, and if he was too cautious, he wouldn't have any way to kill this thing. Thankfully he still had his shield; he gripped it tightly and started running; this time, Alex didn't care if he trigged a trap.

He was weaker in terms of strength but was faster and could easily predict its attacks. He had put all his stats in dexterity, so it was time to use it to his advantage. He ran in a circle around the creature; he noticed it had difficulty with fast turns and attacked in a straight line in front of itself so far.

He avoided all attacks and kept circling it; after avoiding another attack, he ran towards it at full speed, his eyes glued to the sword. He grabbed it with his left hand and his right palm on the blade and pushed sideways with all his strength. With a tearing noise, the sword bisected the creature.

Alex was almost spent; his right palm was almost completely cut off, and his hand was useless. He kept the sword in his left hand, his shield dangling from his wrist. The vine attacks had stopped, so Alex could finally see it up close. The creature was still not dead; it was still completely silent, no screeching or howling even after its top half was dangling from a few vines.

There was some black mass writhing just below the cut, and Alex assumed it must be the heart or whatever was keeping this thing going. He approached it, which turned out to be a bad idea as the ground exploded with vines all around the Leshy.

Alex was caught off guard and was skewered in many places; both his legs were pierced in many places two vines jutted out from his back. He thrust his sword forward, but there wasn't much force behind it as he couldn't turn at all. It was a miracle that he could move at all. The sword pierced the Leshy at the right spot as it jerked back, but it couldn't move back as well as these vines were coming from its legs.

Alex could only pull back and thrust again as his body was stuck, and this movement was making his wound worse as his vision was already swimming. After the third attack, the Leshy went limp, and much of the vine's toughness was lost, and slowly all of the vines turned into black ash.

Alex dropped to the ground; he was dying, there were too many wounds, and he had a hard time focusing. He got up, which surprised him, given the wounds on his legs; he started jogging towards the portal. He had a clear trail to follow, but he was stumbling his way through, he knew this was the work of the passive skills, but he was too focused on going forward to contemplate that.

He didn't remember how he got through the portal but came to his senses, watching the holes in his legs close up. He sat there once again, so close to the edge of death, but he started laughing. He had done it; he had killed that monster, and he was proud of his accomplishment and proud of not cowering in fear and following through with his resolve.

He sat there and looked at his notifications.

[ Physical Damage Resistance Rank 2 ]

[ Mental Stability Rank 3 ]

[ Untethered Mind Rank 3 ]

All three skills had ranked up, which wasn't a surprise but what was a surprise was that he had a new line added to his status.

[ Origin Energy – 10 ]

This was definitely from that Leshy, he didn't know what this energy was used for, but it was still got to know. He moved on to the following notification.

[ Passive skill unlocked – Regeneration Rank 1 ]

[ Regeneration – Your body will heal from any injury as long as you live. Healing speed depends on all three physical stats and can be increased by using mana ]

Finally, there was use for mana. Now he won't feel like he wasted his free points on mana. Alex rested for a few more seconds but quickly went out to collect his sword and shield. He had no recollection of where he had left them, so he went looking.

He found his shield quickly; it was pretty close to the portal, badly dented and still drenched in blood. His sword was where he killed the Leshy; speaking of it, there was nothing but ash remaining of the monster. He wasn't sure if the same thing would happen to all the creatures or if it was it something to do specifically with the Leshy.

He collected his equipment and went back, he had to try getting his physical resistance higher, and it was time to check if he could do that in the safe room. He came close to dying and didn't know how long that luck would help him, so it was time to prepare properly.